Cheap Things to do Around Cheshire, CT

Free event for teenagers at the Cheshire Public Library on Friday, November 4^th from 3:30-4:30 PM in the Mary Baldwin room on the main floor during Teen Games Drop In Day. Teens can enjoy access to free Nintendo Wii games such as Rock Band II and Mario Kart Brawl, along with free snacks. No registration is required.

Also on Friday, November 4^th and Saturday, November 5^th check out the Highlands Health Care Center’s Annual Craft Fair and Bake Sale from 10 AM through 4 PM. Free to go check out handmade crafts, baked goods and even sell cash for gold. All proceeds go to benefit the Resident Council at the Highlands Health Care facility.

Even more free fun can be had during the Tuesday Matinee at the Cheshire Public Library on November 8^th from 1-3 PM. On that day the library will be screening Operation Petticoat starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. The approximate running time is 2 hours and 4 minutes and it will be shown in the Mary Baldwin room located on the main floor of the library. No registration is required.

Every Saturday evening at Highland Bowl in Cheshire is Dancing Duck night. Enjoy the “Early Duck Special” for $8.99 per person and get unlimited bowling from 7 PM through 9 PM. There is a 3 player minimum, 6 player maximum for the two hours, or enjoy that rate for 1-2 bowlers for the first hour. Free shoe rental included and you must arrive before 7:30 PM.

Finally, with winter rapidly approaching check out Mount Southington. On their website they have discounts on season passes, group passes and daily passes. Mount Southington also offers discounts to military personnel and weekly printable coupons, so check their website often for new deals.

Movie Review: "The Ides of March"

                The Ides of March stars George Clooney and Ryan Gosling.  Clooney plays a hotshot politician, Governor Mike Morris, seeking the Democratic nomination for president in a tight campaign.  Gosling is a high ranking official, Stephen Meyers, working for Morris’ (Clooney) campaign. While reviews of the movie have only been so-so, and the box office numbers have been even less stellar, movie goers really need to reconsider this film. For women this film has plenty of eye-candy to look at in Clooney and Gosling, with more storyline twists and turns than a daytime soap opera. For men it also has eye-candy in Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood along with plenty of action to keep them interested.

                This is one of the first roles for Gosling playing a character close to his own age.  Normally, he takes on roles of twenty-somethings due to his boyish looks and charm.  Gosling does a great job of tackling his first adult role with acting so flawless one forgets they are watching a movie at times. Having acted since he was a child, Gosling might as well be a seasoned performer anyways.

                The movie pulls back the curtain on what politics is really like and it is shocking.  Friends betray each other and horrible lies are covered up all for individuals to try and further their own careers.  Presidential campaigns have historically been dirty, but movie goers will be surprised just how far it goes.

                In the movie, Meyers (Gosling) is mentored by Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character, Paul Zara.  Zara (Hoffman) is a well known campaign leader who has helped Meyers (Gosling) rise up the political ranks so quickly.  However, Zara (Hoffman) is quick to try and dispose of Meyers (Gosling) after he learns of a near betrayal.  The student becomes the teacher though when Meyers (Gosling) turns the tables on Zara (Hoffman) and gets Morris (Clooney) to force him off the campaign and give Meyers his position. 

                Gosling has been nominated in the past for an Oscar for best leading actor for his role in Half Nelson, and his performance in this movie could earn him a second nomination.  In The Ides of March, Gosling goes from a wide-eyed innocent young man, to a political hotshot covering up a dark secret, and finally to a vindictive top political official.  What he prides himself for not being at the beginning of the film he becomes at the end.  During the entire 102 minutes of the film movie goers will be riveted at every turn.  The film itself is not long and goes by even quicker when viewing it. 

                One of the film’s few flaws is in the story telling. While the film is based on the play “Farragut North” by Beau Willimon, it reads a lot like a true presidential political story. John Edward’s affair in a seemingly perfect marriage with someone working on his presidential campaign came as a shock to many. His subsequent child out of wedlock with the same woman was even more surprising. The Ides of March heads down that path at first, before taking a surprising twist that few will see coming. While the twist vastly improves the film, the story’s second act is a bit too Law & Order ripped straight from the headlines for certain individual’s tastes.

The Ides of March has plenty of star power behind the scenes as well.  Clooney directs the film and Leonardo DiCaprio is a producer on the film. In this film Clooney does a better job of directing than in his previous film Leatherheads. Nobody saw Clooney as a goofy, aging, football player in the 1920’s, no matter how he directed that film. Leatherheads only grossed $31 million at the box office in the United States, according to Box Office Mojo.

                Strangely, thus far theater-goers have not seemed to agree that The Ides of March is a better film.  Leatherheads out-earned The Ides of March on its opening weekend ($13.8 million versus $10.1 million) and is currently projected to make more than The Ides of March will at the box office, according to Entertainment Weekly. Theater-goers should really give this film a second thought and viewing. Unless of course one prefers to see Clooney get green-lighted to direct more slapstick comedies instead of true to life dramas like Good Night and Good Luck, and The Ides of March.

Occupy Wall Street

Protesters in New York city, as well as other major cities, have every right to be occupying public areas, last time I checked the Constitution at least. Their rights are protected under the first amendment so long as they are peacefully protesting. In all the videos I have seen, it appears as if they are thus far.

The one issue nobody seems to be addressing is what the goal of these protestors are. Leaders of the protest groups even admit that they are unsure of what their final goals are. Protestors in the Occupy Wall Street demonstration even admitted as much in a press release, that I saw Jon Steward discuss on The Daily Show.  

I am all for protesting against injustice, but at least know what it will take to get your group to stop. I agree that the highest 1 percent of tax payers should give a bigger percent of their income to their taxes. If legislation is passed though, will it get the protestors to leave? Nobody really seems to have an answer.

Oh Lindsay

Why is this news? Who cares what Lindsay Lohan is wearing or what she is even doing these days? The last time she made a movie that was relevant was at least five years ago. It is hard to understand the fascination with her still.

At first, yeah it was kind of funny watching what a train wreck she was turning into. Now it is just sad. At points it seems like the tabloids and its readers are just waiting around for her to die. It is really sickening. Until she gets help for her drug and alcohol problems nobody should be writing about or taking pictures or videos of her.

Clearly she is such a liability at this point that she can’t get any acting roles, so she has to do wild and crazy things to still get attention. If everyone just ignores them hopefully she will finally get help for her problems. Here’s an idea, the next time one hears about Lindsay Lohan let’s have it be about her movie or music career instead of her pretending to be a lesbian.

You con? or Uconn?

Being from Connecticut there are few choices in terms of sports teams to root for in the home state. The University of Connecticut has always been a popular choice because of their successful men and women’s basketball programs, and more recently their football program. However, this could all change soon. 

Several Division I colleges are jumping to bigger more powerful sports conferences. This will weaken the Big East conference significantly, and guess where Uconn plays? Why is this happening? The same reason that any business makes any change, it’s all about the money. Unfortunately, by this happening the Big East is trying to recruit teams that are not even on the east coast. Their latest target is Boise State, which is in Idaho. In order to get from Laguardia airport in New York to Idaho is a 5 hour flight, as I heard on Mike and Mike in the Morning earlier today. 

The funniest part is another school, TCU, promised to join the Big East last year when they are located in Texas (also not on the east coast). Now, they want out to join a better conference and make more money but in order to do so they have to pay the Big East $5 million to leave a conference they never officially joined. Only in America! How much longer until Uconn does the same thing…not that anyone would blame them.

Live Like You Were Dying

Life is short. This is a shocking realization that everybody comes to at some point in their life. On Monday I learned that my good friend's mother had passed away after a long illness. I found this news out just a day after the one year anniversary of my own father's passing. I felt horrible for my friend because I know what it's like to lose a parent, especially one you are so close to.

Before these last twelve months I never really thought much about death and/or dying but now I realize how naive I was. It sucks, it's hard to deal with and it never gets better, you just kind of learn to live with it. Hopefully like me most people won't have to lose anyone close to them for a long time. However, I know this year has more than made up for that in my own life.

The point of this post, particularly after my last post was so negative, is to tell people to enjoy family and life. People spend so much time trying to live in an isolated environment and complain about everything. Really they should get out, enjoy life and stay close to their family because one never knows when things can change forever.

Stupid Mass-holes

People are getting stupider. When stumbling across a story about a family getting lost in a corn maze in Massachusetts and dialing 9-1-1 to help get them out, it makes one wonder why they were there in the first place?

Can you picture it? “Hey sweetie, let’s take our five-year-old and three-week-old baby to a corn maze as the sun’s setting!” Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, not seeing any flaws in that plan. Except for when the five-year-old starts throwing a temper tantrum and they can’t find their way out. Never mind the fact they are carrying a new born baby through an outdoor corn field that probably has tons of diseases in it.

Glad Massachusetts tax payer money was used to send a K-9 unit out to rescue the helpless family. That was a great way to spend hard earned money for your state Massachusetts.  No wonder your sports teams have had such bad luck over the years when your citizens can’t even find their way out of a corn maze.