The New Flavor

Man, is it hard to find time to blog these days. Lots of stuff happening though, which is always a good thing...

Thanksgiving was nice, but incredibly surreal. I heard from no fewer than four people from my past, ranging from college all the way back to high school! I sometimes question the usefulness of having a blog, but then something unexpected like that happens and reminds me that it's a good thing. Definitely brightened up the holiday. Also let me know that more people are reading my little Internet footprint than I had imagined. Since I don't use sitemeter or any of those tracking type devices, it was definitely news to me.

On the sports front, this is the best time of the year. The NFL rolls towards the playoffs and basketball season starts heating up. Football has been great, with my
G-Men leading the NFC East after a nice defeat of the Cowboys. On the basketball side, my beloved Knicks have turned into cellar dwellars. Since I hate the Lakers, and they never air Timberwolves games on television, I've been forced to either resort to the occasional Clippers game (way to go Cassell), or play lots of
NBA 2K6 on the Xbox 360. Hey, at least the Knicks are good in the game.

Also, the past month has seen the rediscovery of a wonderful relic from my early childhood...the Drive-In Movie. That's right, the Drive-in has officially become the new flavor for the Exile. Now, in case you're wondering, no there were no drive-ins in Brooklyn. However, during my summer months spent down South (in my case, North Carolina), my older sister Sheila would always take me to drive-in theaters. I had forgotten some of the key films I had first seen at a drive-in as a kid. Among them, The Road Warrior, Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (they thought I was asleep in the back) and lots of schlocky films like Van Nuys Boulevard and Corvette Summer.

Anyway, the drive-in has changed a lot over the years. No more hooking that grainy radio to your window. They now provide the audio over your car radio, and in Dolby Stereo! This is great because I had basically stopped going to the movies recently. Just not enough time, and the little dude is in his terrible twos, hence he can no longer sit through any movie. The only time I get to the theater is when I take my daughter, so my recent slate of films has been...juvenile to say the least. It's not the end of the world, because like an increasing number of Americans, I'm absorbing a huge number of films on DVD (recent Exile picks include Murderball, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and March of the Penguins). Still, it's nice to be able to go out to the movies again. I'm all about the
Pacific Vineland Drive-In in City of Industry. First-run double-features for $7. Sweet.