Pre-weekend Weekend Lunch Invite 58. Chicago's Group Portrait Poem

Whew! The past few weeks have been hellishly busy. This week has a few gems, but I'll make it to even fewer than normal. So very tired. :-)

Movies

Movies this week:

• Boiler Room - A college dropout is recruited as a stockbroker in a high-intensity firm called which is involved in unscrupulous practices, but he yearns for his chance to score in the Boiler Room.
• Phörpa (The Cup) - In this, the first film produced in Bhutan, two Tibetan children turn a monestary on its collective silent ear when they get a television to watch the world cup. I may be way off on this, but you can take your chances on the following translation from the Italian description on IMDb as fed through Babelfish:

  Two tibetani [sic] children are in [sic] escape from the Tibet occupied from [sic] the Chinese for being begun [sic] to the monacale [sic] life in a monastero [sic] on [sic] the Himalayas. Here other boys, gotten [sic] passionate of [sic] soccer like they know [sic]: they are in development in [sic] world-wide [sic] in France. A [sic] day they decide to carry out an escape in order to go to assist [sic] to the semiend [sic]. Discoveries from monaco [sic] the Geko [sic], risk the [sic] expulsion from the convent. The Kempo test must resolve the moral issue: to renounce to the futilitˆ [sic] of the soccer encounter [sic] or to please desires [sic] of the boys?

• Diamonds - A retired boxing champion hits the road with his son and grandson in search of 13 valuable missing diamonds which he believes have magical abilities when combined with a holy grail, a gold monkey and Allan Quatermain.
• Hanging Up - This is a comedy about three sisters who have to deal with the emotional impact of the near-imminent death of their father, who through the years has been irritating them to no end.
• Pitch Black - Darker than Dark City and less subtle than Event Horizon, Pitch Black has received excellent sound-bites from reviewers.
• Whole Nine Yards - A hit-man in the witness protection program finds himself discovered by his neighbors, one of whom wants to pay him for a wild night in his previous profession.

Thursday

Tonight's good bet at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) is Eddie Nebula & The Plaugue is playing with Dead Blue hand. At some point I'll have heard some of these bands but tonight they're still new to me.

A pretty solid synth-alternative band, Julia's Star is opening for Splashdown (who I think I might have seen but really don't remember what they're like -- despite being played on WBER) at Milestones (170 East Ave.)

For those trying to bring a little culture to their lives beyond eating yogurt, the Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.), is showing Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968 as part of their Black History Month celebration.

WBER's Alternative Music night at Red (171 St. Paul.)

Friday!

Meanwhile, and very entertaining, Amy's Comedy Cellar is at 7:30 at Christian's Cafe in Village Gate Square (274 N. Goodman St.) Last week's show was excellent. The combination of sketch comedy and stand-up made for a much better show than the open-mic comedy on Tuesdays.

Tonight at the Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.), they're showing the heartwarming tale Apocalypse Now.

Karaoke at Boston Brew Company (251 Exchange Blvd.)

Saturday

O'Bagelo's, 165 State Street, noon.

Later at Monty's Krown (875 Monroe Ave.) is The Riviera Playboys. Never heard them, but the Krown has been drawing good bands week after week.

Also, The Buddhahood is at Frankie & Louie's Bayou Bar & Grill at The Centers at High Falls tonight.

Sunday

• Futurama: Lesser of Two Evils - The Professor hires a Bender look-alike to guard a jeweled tiara for the Miss Universe contest, but it disappears.
• King of the Hill: Naked Ambition - After Bobby accidentally sees Luanne naked, his friend Joseph convinces Bobby to help him spy on her.
• Simpsons: Missionary: Impossible - Homer is forced to join the Peace Corps after he reneges on an anonymous $10,000 pledge to PBS.
• Malcolm in the Middle: Sleepover - When Malcolm and Stevie (Frankie Muniz, guest star Craig Lamar Traylor) sneak out to an arcade at night, Stevie's wheelchair is stolen.
• The X-Files: I don't normally mention The X-Files, but tonight is a special episode. Known for signaling the death of a series is the dreaded series crossover. This is probably true, but nonetheless it won't be some Simon & Simon/Riptide schlock, but what will hopefully be a very amusing X-Files/Cops crossover.

As another third Monday arrives, another Camera Rochester meeting appears at Atonement Lutheran Church at 1900 Westfall Road from 7:30 to 9:30.

For those into something unknownly different, a show called Audience Quiz is at The Old Toad (277 Alexander St.) As Ian told me:

This is an ancient British ritual known as the Pub or Table Quiz -- performed in hostelries since before the start of recorded time. Little has changed in the millenia since early Man first formed groups aroiund the fire (or bar) and competed first for the spaces closest to the warmth (or alcohol) and then for tacky beer holders & T-shirts. Competition is fierce driven by the desire to lord over the assembled lesser beings. Sometimes rules are bent or broken -- the participants who brought a laptop and Grolier's CD and what seemed to be the entire Simon School MBA class were two of my favourites.

Open mic comedy at the Colosseum Caffe (262 Park Ave.) starting around 9:30.

Open mic poetry at Java's (16 Gibb Street) starting around 9:30.

Wednesday

South Park today at Rohrbach's at 315 Gregory Street at 10:00. Tonight's "classic" is Hooked on Monkey Fonics - The boys compete against home-schooled children in the spelling bee.

If you'd like another view of history, the Dryden Theater at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.), is showing Malcolm X as part of their Black History Month celebration. This is the 1972 version by Arnold Perl -- the 1992 Spike Lee version of Malcolm X will be on Friday.