Weekend Review

My old friend Jason owns a business in Cincinnati, and he brought some of his staff up here to NYC last week to work on a big account for two weeks. I told him he could count on me to help a few times after I got off work. I went down there for four hours on Thursday and 2.5 hours on Friday. I feel like a loser, but I'm not a manual labor guy, so I quit. What an a-hole.

Because of my active imagination, my skill with the spoken word, an overall self-centered attitude and sometimes whiny disposition, I seriously thought of four or five solid reasons why it would be OK to ditch my commitment to a friend like that.

So I left him a voice mail.

I left his joint at about 5:30 p.m. on Friday, and hoped to get home for about a 60-minute nap before two social engagements. Remember how I got turned down for that reality show? Well, the casting gal's assistant called to say I could either put myself back in the pool, that I had a good chance to be on a future show, or I could take myself out of the pool so I could ask out the casting girl, who apparently has some ethics. That should be a red flag right there.

So I met the casting girl for a drink at a very cool bar in what I'd either call the Lower East Side, Alphabet City or the East Village. I still don't have my NYC geography down just yet, but this bar, The Bourgeois Pig, was very cool. Casting girl and her friends were plenty of fun before I stepped out at 10 to meet friends Mary and Frank so we could hit a co-worker's holiday party, which we stayed at until about 3 a.m.

Saturday was quiet and somewhat productive. A friend came over and we watched "Reign Over Me." I've got a note for those of you who like Adam Sandler movies: He's supposed to be a funny guy, and he's not. And he keeps trying to make serious movies, and he fails at making them good. The story could have been good, and I even feel guilty ridiculing his effort in what has a 9/11 element to it. I just don't think I've ever enjoyed one of his movies.

Sunday was outstanding for one reason: The Cleveland Browns were on television. I got the groceries done, packed my lunch and got a few other things accomplished -- even hung some Christmas lights around the crib -- so I could get horizontal and enjoy that game.

Afterward, I was looking forward to watching the "60 Minutes" interview with NFL star LaDainian Tomlinson, but it turns out that wasn't Bob Simon's best story. He'd be a good softball pitcher, what with the following questions to Tomlinson, who's very active in the San Diego community with kids and charities:

+ "What's more important, what you do on the field or off of it?"
+ "Who gets more joy out of handing out toys, the kids? Or you?"

Dude, you don't ask questions when the answers are obvious. Of course LT is going to say off-the-field is more important, and that he gets more out of his community service than do his beneficiaries.

And though it was clear Simon put a lot of effort into the story -- they showed him interviewing LT back in the preseason -- that's no excuse for an out-of-date voice-over on television's most successful news magazine show. Simon's narration included a note about how the Chargers were struggling to match last year's success, that they "still might make the playoffs." The show aired a few hours after San Diego clinched the AFC West Division and a spot in the postseason.

Netflix gave me "Superbad" over the weekend as well. Much like its predecessors "Knocked Up" and "40-Year-Old Virgin," I wouldn't call this a very good movie, but there were certainly plenty of entertaining scenes or lines that juvenile men would appreciate. Which is why I would recommend it.