I, Shane › Shane Adams’ personal weblog

Reign Over Me is a surprising movie.

The trailer gives up most of the story, but what is surprising is that, unlike some goofball comedies (do you hear me, Will Ferrell? Ben Stiller?), it doesn’t give away the farm.

What is also surprising is how amazingly good Adam Sandler is in the movie. He is fantastic. Paired with the always-good Don Cheadle, we find a very sad, but heartwarming fictional story about a man who lost his family in one of the planes in 9/11 and has completely reverted to a guy who has no worries in the world and blocks the thoughts and memories of his old life from his mind.

Written and directed by Mike Binder, I found myself thinking, “Man, this is really good.” I honestly think that if this movie were released closer to the end of the year, it would perhaps be considered for some awards, particularly for Sandler, who is so against-type, but still brilliant.

I would recommend this movie to just about anyone.

Love Monkey: A Novel
By Kyle Smith
RATING: 3 out of 10

I mentioned it before, so it should be no surprise when I say that this is my least favorite book that I’ve read in the past year and a half.

I had high hopes for the book. It was dubbed as the male version of chick lit, and I have read a few chick lit books, specifically the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. I liked them and I was looking for something else since Nick Hornby’s last couple outings haven’t been all that great and I needed something light to read.

Perhaps it was my adoration for the TV show of the same name starring Tom Cavanaugh (of Ed fame), but I had some high hopes.

Boy was I wrong.

In Love Monkey, we find Tom Farrell, a copywriter at Tabloid, a New York - wait for it - tabloid newspaper. He’s a miserable case, which many of us can relate to…unlucky at work, unlucky in looks, unlucky in love, etc. He spends 80% of the book pining for a girl named Julia, who he meets and woos while she has a boyfriend from back home.

She’s very obviously unhappy in the relationship and he encourages that unhappiness by taking her fancy places and being witty (at least he thinks so). Along the way, she never really shows a lot of interest in him past friendship. He is, afterall, about 10 years older than her, and not very cool, despite his attempts at coolness.

Even despite this unrequited love that he claims overtakes him completely, he manages to date 3 other women at the same time, treating each of them with disdain and meanness…perhaps one of the most clueless men in the history of dating.

The book is based in Manhattan and when 9/11 happens, I was expecting a poignant turn. Not so. The main character really just brags about where he was when it happened and uses the story as a way to get laid, further cementing his place as the most unlikable main character I’ve read about in the last 2 years of reading.

The story comes to an abrupt end and you’re left thinking, “Is that all?” But wait…there’s more. A full 15 pages of information on the author, who like his literary likeness, Tom, can’t seem to stop talking about himself. Could have done without that.

Overall, I pretty much loathed this book. It was poorly written, it mixed metaphors, and the fact that it was turned into a failed (but likable) TV show is confusing, considering that it had absolutely nothing in common with the show except the characters names and the title.

Worst book I’ve read in several years. DO NOT READ THIS BOOK.

This morning, I visited my friendly orthodontist. I had braces when I was a kid. Looking at my chart today, I got them almost 20 years ago, in 1988. I was 12.

Fast forward 3 years. I’m 15 and I’m getting my braces off. My teeth look PHENOMENAL. I lose my nightly retainers within 3 months and I never get new ones.

Fast forward 15 more years to today. My front teeth have turned enough for me to revisit the orthodontist, which was arguably the worst experience of my young life. I was originally scheduled to only have them for 18 months and I think it ended up being about 32 months. Not. Cool.

So many things to mention.

• The orthodontist I visited with was not my former orthodontist (who was a long-time family friend), but his son, who I both grew up with and was baptized with. Weird enough. But he didn’t give me ANY good news.
• In addition to my front teeth that are getting more crooked by the day, I’ve developed a nasty crossbite. That’s when the bottom teeth stick out further than the top teeth…it’s not a horrible thing…just something to be aware of.
• The ways to fix it are:
  1. Surgery - they crack the bone in the roof of your mouth and put a spacer in there to bring out your jaw. Ouch. No thank you.
  2. Braces for 2 years - Not exactly ideal. 2 years is a long dang time.
• I also have the option to just straighten my teeth and not worry about the crossbite. I can do this either by:
  1. Braces for a year - seemingly the best option right now. It will straighten my teeth and start to correct the crossbite. But they won’t guarantee anything.
  2. Invisalign for a year - would be nice, considering it feeds into my vanity that made me want to correct my teeth in the first place, but it’s crazy expensive. And it is less successful in bringing teeth down (my top ones are a little high).

So here I am - 30 years old and considering getting braces for the second time in my life. I likely won’t get them for about 12 more months because my vanity once again. Alli and I are going to Italy this summer and I don’t want to have braces in the pictures. After that, I could get them, but then my brother will likely be getting married about a year from now and I don’t want braces in those pictures either.

But after seeing how straight and perfect my teeth were after braces, I really am leaning toward getting them again. Sure, it’s vain and all, but I want to have my old smile back. Am I crazy?

I have a little bit of an addictive personality.

When I got hooked on the Harry Potter books, I read all 6 very quickly. The same could be said for a lot of things.

This last winter, I finally found a drink at Starbucks that I like - the beloved Gingerbread Latte.

Imagine my disappointment when I realized that the Gingerbread Latte was only SEASONAL. Boo.

I’ve realized that I can drink coffee now. And as I drink more, the more coffee I want. I started off getting the Gingerbread as a Misto (the Starbucks equivalent to a Cafe Au Lait, which is regular coffee with steamed milk). As I got more used to the taste of coffee (it used to be unbearable to me), I began to be able to drink more coffee-like drinks. I used to think that it was the espresso that I couldn’t handle, but it truthfully was just finding something that I liked.

After the Gingerbread Latte went on hiatus, I had to find something to get there. Starbucks replaced the Gingerbread with a new item, the Cinnamon Dolce Latte, a cinnamon and brown sugar concoction of awesomeness that at first I thought was…get this…too sweet. I settled on drinking a Vanilla/Cinnamon latte, which I liked. Over time, I like to try different things, so I tried the Cinnamon Dolce a couple more times and the more I drank it, the more I liked it. Now, I am getting a grande nonfat sugar-free (if they have it) Cinnamon Dolce Latte, and if I’m feeling extra saucy, I’ll even add an extra espresso shot.

Re-read that last line. An extra shot. Little boy’s all grown up, I guess. I’m even looking into buying a coffee maker. I know. Who is this guy?

Or I could just buy my own Starbucks franchise so I wouldn’t have to pay…that would be ideal.

To celebrate my triumphant return to the blogodome, I’ve decided it would be totally sweet if I posted something every day for two weeks straight. It might be difficult considering that we are taking the Senior High group to Branson this weekend, but I’ll just get ahead of the game.

Be on the look out for some new posts coming soon. I’ll be accepting recommendations, but I’ve also got some stuff slated to talk about, including the following:

• A post about my Jayhawks disappointing loss to UCLA in the tournament
• A movie review of Reign Over Me
• A top 10 list - the Most Grossly Mis-Cast Movie Roles
• A commentary on dentistry and orthodontia
• My new Starbucks addiction
• My first book review of the year
• the possible launch of a new topfive blog
• …and many more!

Keep an eye out for these posts and more. The first to come by midnight today.

Alli’s grandma passed away this weekend so I am in Ohio with her family. I likely will not be posting this week.

If I’m being totally honest, I’ll say that I will watch ANYTHING that JJ Abrams puts his name behind. It could be a TV show about a sensitive garbage man who gets sucked into the world of mobsters and has to save the planet starring Greg Grunberg and I’d still watch it.

JJ Abrams is the man.

Even Felicity was a decent show. ALIAS was one of my all-time favorites and made Jennifer Garner a star (for a while…she has returned to obscurity now). Mission Impossible: III was the best of the franchise. But let’s be honest. LOST is what made him famous.

Rightfully so. The first season of Lost was genius. It was just strange enough to keep people completely rapt, but the characters were so strong that they were drawn in to the island completely.

Season Two carried on the tradition pretty well, but as the season went on, it faded. That loss of sheen has been more prevalent during this 3rd season, particularly since none of the writers seem to want to answer any questions. The early rumors were that JJ originally pitched Lost as an 8-season arc. If the ratings don’t improve over this season, I imagine they’ll have to figure out a way to wrap it up sooner than that.

That being said, last night’s episode of Lost was probably the best of Season 3. The reason? The writers finally abandoned the Jake/Kate/Sawyer forced love triangle (see Ross/Rachel/Joey) and got back to the basics…answering some questions and focusing on the most interesting characters, namely Sayid.

Naveen Andrews portrayal of the former Iraqi Republican Guard Interrogator (read: torturer) has always been terrifically spot-on. In this episode, we get more of his backstory when he and Locke and Kate (and that crazy French lady) discover another Dharma station called The Flame that is manned by the mysterious man in the eye patch.

Without giving too much away, I’ll say this: if they can manage a couple more solid episodes like this one before the end of the season, I’ll watch Season 4. If not…well…you might find yourself permanently deleted from my DVR schedule. I watch too much TV as it is.

Volleyball and Poker…

They will converge this Saturday, March 10 in a fundraiser for some of my friends’ volleyball team. Buffalo Club won nationals at the US Open Volleyball Championships last year, the first Kansas City team to do so. To raise money for the defending bid, they will be holding a tournament this Saturday.

You can find details at the site I built them here.

(If you read the feed, go to the site…there’s a video)