Chicago: More Bars in More Places

And the weather is also a bitch.

And so was the woman I just had to deal with.

It's a bitchy morning.

Sorry. I regret spreading negative juices on your mornings.

TGIF, amirite OMG LOL!~!!

The 60 minute is a great session beer

Hahahaha, what does this mean?? I see beers described this way on the menu at Hopleaf and have always been puzzled.

At the Belgian Beer Festival They Told Us That A Session Beer is just what it sounds like--one that is easy-drinking (not overpowering on the palate, and not too alcoholic) so that you can drink more than a few in a session.

We also learned about BREAKFAST BEERS.

Re session beers: that is EXACTLY how I feel about Budweiser and also Modelo Especial.

You didn't like the Simpsons movie? I liked the Simpsons movie. :(

I thought it was too dark at parts.

I thought the Simpsons movie was pretty bad. There were some decent jokes but they've totally lost all idea of what the tone of The Simpsons is supposed to be. Plus WTF two-thirds of the movie not even taking place in Springfield, and most of the non-Simpson family characters (ie the funniest part of the show at this point) being reduced to one-line cameos. Needed more Milhouse.
That being said, I AM NOT ARGUING ABOUT THE SIMPSONS ON THE INTERNET.

Bart is supposed to be a hellraiser, not some whiny kid with daddy issues.
Marge is supposed to be perpetually loyal, not someone who ditches her husband.
Lisa is supposed to be too smart, not a lovelorn, boy-crazy sap.
Homer was pretty good except for lame speech about marriage.
Maggie was Maggie.

There is only one other woman in the office. I need to talk to her about her printer, but she's been on the phone for at least the past hour. So, instead, I am reading Bel Canto.

Lisa is supposed to be too smart, not a lovelorn, boy-crazy sap.

Not true. She's shown this side before.

I didn't think the movie was OMG AWESOME. But it played like an above-average extended episode of the series, so I was def. entertained, even though I chuckled only intermittently.

I enjoyed it a lot.

Yeah, I think there are precedents in the show for everything that happened in the movie. But we don't have to argue about it.

The animation was great.

I think there are precedents in the show for everything that happened in the movie.

This is true, but the precedents are all in the shittiest episodes, usually after the writers and producers lost the plot. I just feel like if you're going to make a big movie, the main characters should follow their main character points instead of minor characteristics. There are maybe like two or three episodes that deal with Lisa being boy-crazy (when she falls in love with Nelson, when she falls in love with the environmentalist dude), compared with like 1,000 episodes where she doesn't fit in because she's too smart, so I'm not sure why they would pick the former to be her defining plot line in the movie.

I just hate movies.

Does anyone have jon/via/chicago's e-mail? Jon, if you're reading, what is your e-mail?

-- jaymc, Thursday, October 4, 2007 9:43 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Plus WTF two-thirds of the movie not even taking place in Springfield, and most of the non-Simpson family characters (ie the funniest part of the show at this point) being reduced to one-line cameos.

Too many movies based on TV shows do this -- take the sealed environment of the show and throw the characters into the "real world" (Brady Bunch, Wayne's World, Mr. Bean).

You could add the last episode of Seinfeld to that list, maybe.

n/a continues streak of being wrong

it's NOT like an extended episode! as Stuart Klawans pointed out, it's The Simpsons do a summer blockbuster thriller event movie!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/klawans/2

DR MORBIUS DID YOU ACTUALLY SEE THIS MOVIE Y/N?

Needed more Milhouse.
so true
also kirk "can i borrow a feeling" van houten

i agree with nick -- not enough peripheral characters, too much "family"

I was the one who said it was an extended episode, for the record.

PS That article is really painful to read, and the movie failed as a "summer blockbuster thriller event movie" too.

I will be renting the Simpsons movie. But probably not before I break down and buy another season of the show. I have seasons four and five -- definitely a sweet spot -- and I'm still debating whether to get three or six. I'm leaning towards six. Three is classic, but I think six has more re-watchability. Maybe.

i agree with nick -- not enough peripheral characters, too much "family"

I've heard people say the opposite: that the reason it was good was that it focused squarely on the family and didn't get carried away with pointless Bumblebee Man cameos.

the one time i larfed (and no one else did) was when lisa was waxing on about the glories of "colin" or whatever his name was and she said, "And he's REAL!"

I don't like bumblebee man but i love moe and milhouse

Yes, it was good because it didn't get carried away with actually being funny.

i think like SPRINGFIELD more than i like THE SIMPSONS

superintendent chalmers

Whatever, I don't like the movie enough to defend it.

I guess what we've learned is I was disappointed because I actually expected a Simpsons movie to be funny and have jokes, when actually I should have been expecting an action movie/family-centered drama.

I did like Homer's spiderpig song.

xpost I used to do a bit where I'd impersonate Superintendent Chalmers and Agnes Skinner both yelling at Seymour.

There were actually more decent gags than I thought.

I am going to party in Oshkosh B'Gosh, WI tonight. We have a gig in the morning but hotels and small-town college bars tonight!

I am missing midwestern baked goods SO MUCH today. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about when I say "bear claw", as in the pastry? There seem to be a lot of croissant-ish ones in my GIS but I'm talking about the coffee cake ring with some sections flipped out and some flipped in, with almond paste and silvered almonds in it.

Yes. Yum.

For some reason I was always under the impression that the paste in a bear claw was dates.

Hmm. Dates don't seem very...Swedish? Or Northern European in general. But it would be funny if I've been eating dates all this time and never knew it.

You're probably right about the almond paste.

Who said that bear claws were Swedish/N. European, though?

Wikipedia: A bear claw is a sweet breakfast food, popular chiefly on the West Coast of the United States. It is an almond-flavored, yeast-raised pastry shaped in a large, irregular semicircle with slices around the outside, evoking the shape of a bear's claw. Bear claws often contain almond paste or raisins.

That's weird about the western thing, because bear claws were the standard "coffee cake" at my Swedish church. Not, like, that cinnamon cake stuff that you can buy a box mix version of.

You know what I almost bought at Harvestime the other day was one of these:

http://www.neweuropemarketplace.com/NEMImages/HomePage/Jans-Poppy-Seed-Roll.gif

Except it had gross-looking icing on top.

Speaking of baked goods, what would you be more likely to buy at a bake sale?

1. Vegan cookies w/ chocolate chips, nuts, oatmeal
2. Extra-spicy ginger molasses cookies
3. An entire pie (of the apple or pumpkin variety)
4. Individualized servings of apple crisp
5. Baby-sized pies of possibly varied contents (apple, cherry, etc.)

Me? The cookies, both varieties.

1. Vegan cookies w/ chocolate chips, nuts, oatmeal- Hell fucking no.
2. Extra-spicy ginger molasses cookies - Probably.
3. An entire pie (of the apple or pumpkin variety) - No.
4. Individualized servings of apple crisp - Yay.
5. Baby-sized pies of possibly varied contents (apple, cherry, etc.) - OH MY YES!!!!

Would you be more likely to buy a plate of cookies or a package of two or three?

Also: the vegan cookies are so awesome that you wouldn't know that they were vegan unless you were told. John's had them before, I think. He can attest to their excellence!

Yes, I saw the Simpsons Movie, and it made me laugh more than any film since perhaps... Kung Fu Hustle?

How many on a plate?