#89 - sweet romance.

last night, i was doing the internet chat with a certain friend in germany & she was looking for a romantic comedy to watch. eventually, she settled on marley & me, starring jennifer aniston, owen wilson & a naughty dog. personally, the closest i get to watching romantic comedies are films with michael cera or seth rogen. today, to avoid the rain falling outside, i checked out nick & norah's infinite playlist, starring cera & the sometimes hot kat dennings & an infinite playlist. ellen page was nowhere to be found.

as a supporter of all things indie rock & skewly arrested development-related, going in, the film could've had michael cera sitting around in his apartment with any cute girl listening to british sea power for ninety minutes & it would have been fine with me. over the past few years, i've been a big believer in indie rock as a great catalyst for bringing people together, so i'm a fan of the film's "dorky love through indie rock" approach. the indie rockness starts right up in the opening shot, which features a merge records (happy 20th anniversary!) sticker & a poster for a show at nyc's bowery ballroom. during the night, they visit all the indie joints--bowery, arlene's grocery, union pool (or "brooklyn pool" in the film). the opening credits play over a devendra banhart song...& then later devendra has one line as a customer in a deli, where he assures norah that she'd know if she'd had an orgasm. creepy.

the film weaves two plots together. the first revolves around a group of high school seniors, including nick (cera) & norah (dennings), trying to find the locale of a secret show by the fictional band where's fluffy?  this plot provides the backdrop for the main plot--nick & norah shedding their exes & falling in love over the course of a single evening. they argue a bit & say nerdy things to each other & get excited about bands & he has a handiwipe handy for her & she calls him "her musical soul mate except for all the cure" and they fall in love. that's the best kind of love! anyway, i enjoyed the film. you should too.

a few items of note...

near the beginning of the film, nick's band, "the jerk offs" are playing a show in the l.e.s. opening for bishop allen. since this gig is at arlene's grocery, we can assume that nobody got paid.

there are a few random cameos--seth meyers (as half of a horny couple who mistakes nick's yugo for a cab), andy samberg (as a scary homeless dude) & kevin corrigan (as a guy at port authority with a turkey sandwich).

favorite line i can identify with #1: "...nicky is definitely worth the underwire. he just needs a little push is all."

favorite line i can identify with #2: "look, other bands, they want to make it about sex or pain, but you know, the beatles, they had it all figured out, okay? "i want to hold your hand." the first single. it's effing brilliant, right?... that's what everybody wants, nicky. they don't want a twenty-four-hour hump sesh, they don't want to be married to you for a hundred years. they just want to hold your hand."

#89 - sweet romance.
snack: ike & sam's kickin' cayenne kettlecorn
drink: grown up soda dry cola


since nothing goes better with a movie than popcorn & a soda, i cracked open a bag of ike & sam's kickin' cayenne kettlecorn to munch on. it is hands down the best popcorn i've had this millennium. the individual pieces are fully popped & fluffy at times and at other times crunchy & sweet & salty all at once. the cayenne flavor's not too crazy, but it's there enough to give the popcorn a slight peppery taste, which goes well with the other prevailing taste, which is like a subtle, sweet caramel...not unlike every single character michael cera has ever played.

the popcorn's made by a company located down by avenue i here in brooklyn, which means i'm a selective locavore, right? it's trans fat & cholesterol free and made with only five ingredients--popcorn, corn oil, sugar, salt & cayenne pepper--which is an amazing feat given the wonderful taste. it's a good thing that it tastes as godlike as it does & that, as a result, i finished off the bag today, because it apparently expires on cinco de mayo.

tonight's beverage of choice is a grown up soda dry cola, made by a company based here in the city. even though i assume they don't have a bottling plant on 57th st, we'll call them local as well, especially since they've donated to both 826NYC & the madison square park conservancy. their cola's made with cola nut extract & like all their beverages is 100% natural, kosher & no-caffeine. no high fructose corn syrup in this bad boy...cane sugar all the way. i prefer the cane sugar sodas over the HFCS ones. it gives them a feel similar to that of fountain soda, even though it's bottled.

...so it turned out that my snack & drink choices tied in nicely with the film & just like with the film, they were both subtly sweet & not too "in my face."  when i was done with them, i felt satisfied & hopeful and the best part?  it was all done in a way that felt neither icky nor manufactured...how sickly perfect is that?