The Hopp Stop

• Earlier this year GQ magazine ran a great oral history of the making of GoodFellas. Lots of fun tidbits therein. I find these oral histories to almost always be total winners. E.g., previously GQ had an oral history of the making of Dazed and Confused (my Googling is coming up empty on that, sorry).
• Fluxblog, a great music blog, has its year-end “survey mix” of material from 2010. Eight discs worth of MP3s to download and check out.
• Very fun new tower defense game for iPhone/iPad (universal app): iBomber Defense. I’ve been enjoying it over the last couple days. Here’s the Touch Arcade review.

Yesterday was a rainy day in LA, so we decided to visit the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City and then see a movie at the theater across the street.

The Annenberg Space had a great career retrospective up for two of the best sports photographers of the 20th century (and both are still working), Walter Iooss and Neil Leifer. The exhibit was a treat for me, as a huge sports fan (and lifelong Sports Illustrated subscriber, as the two contributed much of their work to that magazine) and budding photographer, but I think the rest of our group enjoyed it as well.

The movie, however, was not to the same level. Metacritic gave it a 47 rating, in the yellow zone, which usually means “mediocre but enjoyable.” I think the rating should have been more around 35, in the red. Not worth the time. There was a ridiculous cross-country treasure hunt (which Vanessa reports was not in the book), a “hip, urban sidekick” satyr who cracked wise to obnoxious effect and some tiresome “missing daddy” Psych 101 plot elements. Oh well. For Vanessa’s sake, since she enjoyed the books, I hope the second book is better and has different screenwriters.

Vanessa and I went down to the Metreon this evening to see “The Hangover,” the latest comedy from the director of “Road Trip” and “Old School.” It’s fricking awesome. It’s the funniest movie I’ve seen in at least the last couple years, better than my beloved “Role Models” by a fair bit. Hopefully nothing similar will happen when I’m in Cabo this weekend for my friend Mino’s bachelor party.