The Phlegm Monkey

I've been battling one of these head/chest/coughing-like-a-madman things for a few days now. I'm wrestling with the phlegm monkey, and he's winning.

As I cough, and rest, I did catch the Sci Fi miniseries "The Lost Room" on DVD. It's compulsively watchable, and the kind of thing that I'd love to spec if it was a TV series, though as the 6-episode thing it was, it works well.

I'm in no hurry to see Grindhouse, and I guess few other people are either. I think it's sort of caught up in one of the problems with Hollywood today: while a movie like 300 has a see-it-on-the-big-screen feel, if you are going to make an homage to '70s b-movies, which most people probably have only seen on TV or video anyway, you can't be surprised if they decide to wait for a few months until the DVD comes out. I am.

Now, if there was a drive-in around the corner showing it, that would be a different story.

It's also being reported that a LOT of people are leaving after the first movie, unaware that there are two of them, which certainly isn't helping word of mouth (since by most accounts the second movie, Tarantino's, is the stronger one). Look for the distributor to try to emphasize this in ads this weekend, though with a truckload of new movies opening, it'll still probably drop off a lot.

Apparently there are plans to release longer versions of both movies separately on DVD.

Otherwise, Let's Go Mets. And the more I hear about the parking/traffic hell that the Dodgers high-touted new parking plan has become, the more I miss New York, where you can take the subway to the game and not have to sweat any of it.