Coffee Town (2013)

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CollegeHumor recently made a feature-length film titled Coffee Town. I didn’t have any clue about the movie until I saw a little post on the Tumblr Radar, which I’m assuming they had sponsored for promoting the film. Otherwise, I hadn’t heard very much about it, but I entered to win free tickets to view an advanced screening, since the film doesn’t premiere for another 2 weeks. (It’s available for rent on iTunes right now, however.)

Disclaimer: I was able to watch this movie courtesy of CollegeHumor. I am not being paid to write the review but the screening was free for me and a friend. (Information about screenings and the possibility of attending for free at the end.)

Description:

CollegeHumor’s first feature film!! Coffee Town is a workplace comedy for the generation that increasingly doesn’t work out of a traditional office. When a 30-something website manager who uses local café as his office learns of plans to convert the space into a bar, he enlists the help of his two best friends to help save his freeloading existence. Directed by Brad Copeland (Arrested Development), the film’s all-star comedy cast includes Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), Steve Little (Eastbound & Down), Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), Adrianne Palicki (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and Josh Groban (Crazy, Stupid, Love).

Review:

This movie was much funnier than I thought it would be. The trailer gave me very low expectations for the movie. I also had some kind of pre-conceived notion that a feature film produced by a company that specialized in short web content wouldn’t be very good.

I was very wrong and I’m happy I was wrong.

There aren’t many movies that I can immediately name that have had me laughing throughout the majority of the length of the movie like Coffee Town did. I was also laughing out loud a lot, which I don’t normally do so much at the movies. (I am an inside-my-head laugher.) Even though there weren’t very many people at DC screening (I’d say 20 people tops) everyone was cracking UP.

I think part of the movie’s success comes from the fact that it didn’t take itself too seriously. It is fully aware of how ridiculous its jokes are, which allows them to push the jokes a little farther than “safe” while still be really funny. These are the kinds of jokes that you normally don’t laugh at in a cinema. It’s the same kind of humor that you find on CollegeHumor.com, but feature-length.

The movie blasted by. I didn’t even realize that an hour and a half had passed when the credits started rolling. That’s always a good sign, when you don’t feel the time passing during the movie. It didn’t seem like a streeeeeeetched out Internet video. It was just good jokes throughout the entire movie. There’s the little romantic subplot with the girl, which didn’t matter much, and the movie knows that. They don’t try very hard on that and I appreciated that. They used this subplot as an opportunity for more humor, which they took full advantage of. CollegeHumor definitely did a great job of taking advantage of every possible moment for comedy.

I didn’t care much for the characters, but they just managed to be not-annoying enough to make me think they weren’t funny. Normally, I really hate those dumb characters in comedies, with no redeeming qualities and who serve no purpose other than to screw everything up. But the characters here toed the line very carefully and managed to be hilarious.

I personally thought Josh Groban shined in this movie. My friend was surprised to see him acting, but he was really funny. I think I can chalk that up to a good screenplay, but the protagonist (played by Glenn Howerton) definitely was overshadowed by the other, more interesting characters.

If you are at all intrigued by this movie, I highly highly recommend you try to check out a screening near you. The screenings left are:

  • Atlanta, GA (Midtown Art Cinema) – July 17
  • St. Louis, MO (Plaza Frontenac) – July 18
  • Minneapolis, MN (Lagoon Cinema) – July 19
  • Chicago, IL (Logan Square Theatre) – July 21
  • Detroit, MI (Main Art Theater) – July 22

Get tickets for a free screening of Coffee Town and/or We Are the Millers here. You have a really good shot, and I think it’s worth it to try.

The movie was well-worth my time.

Day 10 — Someone you don’t talk to as much as you’d like to

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Dear Jeff,

I’m disappointed in myself for letting us drift apart the way we have. Even after I moved, I was able to talk to you about anything, any time. You always made time to see me when I would come back to visit, and I don’t think I ever communicated to you exactly how much I appreciated you taking the time to see me for a few hours, despite knowing that I would drag you into a Victoria’s Secret and then run away in an attempt to embarrass you publicly.

Sorry. Thanks for always indulging me in this silly game.

You would indulge me in long phone calls about nothing particularly important, and you would talk to me, really talk to me. About school, about your relationship, about struggling through life. You trusted me enough to tell me the kinds of things that I always hoped someone would trust me enough to tell me, even though I would never wish that kind of struggle upon you.

I can’t pinpoint when it started to happen, when we started to drift away. I do remember, however, our last phone conversation.
It was painful. We had nothing to say to each other.

There was so much silence between us.

I’m so sorry for that conversation. I wish that it wasn’t like this between the two of us. I still always want to tell you when big things happen in my life but I just can’t help but feel like you don’t care as much as you used to. Don’t feel bad if you don’t. I haven’t been a very big part of your life in years, so there is no reason for you to care as much as you used to.

I just want you to know that I still love you very much, as you remain one of my dearest friends. Although it’s unlikely, I hope we don’t have so much silence between us in the future.

I wish you all the happiness in the world.

Love always,

Starr

Day 9 — Someone you wish you could meet

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Dear Leo,

I struggled for a while trying to think of which living person I most wanted to meet. While there are a lot of great options out there, I suddenly remembered my first love: Jack Dawson, brought to life through your unbelievable talent.

Maybe it’s excessive Tumblr-ing, but I’ve found myself getting increasingly upset that you haven’t won an Oscar yet. You had your first nomination when you were 19 years old, for crying out loud. What upset me most is that you’re great. Am I biased because I’ve loved you since I was 6? Of course I am, but my childhood crushes do not affect how much undeniable talent you have.

Your acting has matured with you, but you never lost that magic you brought to the screen because you, Leo, are GREAT. You are great and it pains me that you haven’t been rewarded by your peers for that. Years in Hollywood has only gotten you 3 nominations and one single Golden Globe win. I joke about how you didn’t get an Oscar nod for J. Edgar, but seriously – you played a hotly controversial, closeted, American political figure. How did you not get a nomination for that? Why can Kobe Bryant have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but I can’t put my hand in your handprint? Just… why?

Aside from how I feel you’ve been snubbed every year at the Oscars, I do admire you. You helped me get into environmentalism, and I truly respect your devotion to healing our planet. Even though I know you’ll be missed from the big screen during your acting hiatus, I am glad to know that a worthwhile cause will be receiving more of your attention.

I don’t know much about you, admittedly, and maybe that’s why I want to meet you. I’ve known OF you for most of my life, but I would love to know more about you. My friends who try to bring you down a notch like to remind me of your perpetual bachelordom. Whatever, I don’t care. And I don’t care that you aren’t with Kate Winslet. (I think that’s a really silly fantasy a lot of people have: that you should marry one of your close friends because you two like each other and play love interests in movies.)

I’d be terribly embarrassed if you ever read this, but I hope one day I get to meet you, because you’ve made a lasting impression on me in more than one way and I’d love to thank you for that.

Love always,

Starr

P.S. Also, please teach me to do this:

Bed to 5K

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I used to be a very active girl, honestly, I was.

But somewhere between moving away from my taekwondo classes, recreational basketball team, Chinese school ballet, and… now, that changed. I went from being the fastest and splitty-est person in my class (there are photos of me doing all kinds of splits) to the 10+++ minute mile runner.

That’s disappointing for me. Not only to be out of shape, but to have become very out of shape after having been very in shape.

Over the past few years, I keep telling myself I’ll get in shape, I’ll take up running and all these good things. But the habit never lasts very long.

This time, I am trying to enforce it. I’ve signed up for my very first 5K ever. I will be participating in the Cosmic Run in DC this October, and I am starting as an absolute novice.

Click to register with me!

I really liked the premise of this run. It’s not a very hardcore or competitive race – you’re not timed during the run. You don’t even have to run. Some people just dance and rave through the entire thing. (Very tempting option, believe you me.) I have been getting into EDM lately, especially for when I do get off my bum to exercise, so the idea of an entire event set to an EDM soundtrack, complete with fluorescent colors and LED lights, and rounded off with a great big EDM party sounded totally amazing and fun. Who knows, maybe I’ll even wear a fun costume to run in. (Neon tutus have always appealed to me…)

So far, I had been running on a pretty regular basis, until I got back on campus to start packing up my apartment for moving out. I am better about my schedule when I’m at home, since I feel safer running in my neighborhood than I do around my campus in the evenings.

I’ve been trying out the Beginner’s 5K training plan on RunKeeper. It’s been pretty good to me, so far, as far as starting to get used to running more. I hope I can stick to it and be able to run the 5K continuously.

I’ll keep this blog updated with my progress here, so long as I… keep running between now and October!

I’m a little bit scared that I’ll do terribly. Part of the reason that I’m so out of shape is that once I started getting out of shape, I was too embarrassed to take part in the sports and other activities I loved so much. With any luck, that won’t be an issue this time around.

Do you have any tips for someone running her first ever 5K after several years of not… moving… much…? Have you participated in Cosmic Run before?

Eurotrip 2013 Checklist

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I will be leaving a post-graduation family vacation to Europe shortly and I couldn’t be more excited! We visited Southern Europe exactly 10 years ago, and now we’re going on a little cruise around the Baltic Sea, so it’s a whole new set of cities that I have been really excited to visit. Although we’re no longer visiting Amsterdam as our original itinerary included, the freed up space means I finally have the chance to visit Paris!

I don’t know if I will get to see all these sights while I’m abroad, and I’ll probably want to see more than I’ve listed here, but I hope that I get to check off a good number of these items by the time I return. 🙂

London, England

  • Buckingham Palace
  • London Eye
  • Tower Bridge
  • Tower of London
  • Big Ben
  • Westminster Alley
  • St. Paul’s Cathedral
  • Piccadilly Circus
  • British Museum
  • National Gallery
  • The City of London  (Click for a great video on the difference between London, the city, and the “secret” City of London, courtesy of C.G.P. Grey.)
  • Trafalgar Square
  • Brick Lane
  • King’s Cross Station
  • Hyde Park (thanks Katie!)

Copenhagen, Denmark

  • The Little Mermaid statue
  • Round  Tower
  • Rosenborg Castle
  • Christiansborg Palace
  • Kronborg Castle
  • Frederiksborg Palace (basically, if I don’t see at least one castle or palace whilst in Copenhagen, I will be sorely disappointed)
  • Tycho Brahe Planetarium
  • Viking Ship Museum
  • Tivoli Gardens (time permitting)
  • Gefion Fountain
  • Christianshavn

Warnemünde/Berlin, Germany

Bit confused here because Berlin is quite a bit inland, so… we shall see. Mostly listing Berlin attractions.

  • Westmole Lighthouse
  • Berlin Wall
  • Tiergarten
  • Gendarmenmarkt (Deutsch is a real challenge for me…)
  • Olympic Stadium
  • Brandenburg Gate
  • KaDeWe
  • Neue Synagogue
  • Berlin Cathedral
  • Victory Column
  • Reichstag
  • Checkpoint Charlie

Tallinn, Estonia

  • Old Town
  • Kadriorg Park
  • Town Wall
  • Open Air Museum (Rocca Al Mare)
  • Tower Kiek in de Kök
  • Viru Square
  • Russalka

Saint Petersburg, Russia

  • Russian ballet at the Mikhailovsky Opera and Ballet Theatre OR
  • Russian ballet at the Alexandrinsky Theatre
  • Peter and Paul Cathedral
  • St. Isaac’s Cathedral (I am listing many cathedrals on this list. While I’m not religious, I would be a fool to not look forward to visiting these amazing buildings that are a testament to the long history of these nations and to the long history of Christendom.)
  • Palace Square
  • Yusupov Palace
  • Anichov Bridge
  • Bronze Horseman
  • Peter and Paul Fortress
  • Gatchina Palace and Park
  • Cottage Palace
  • Nevsky Prospekt
  • Hermitage Museum
  • Peterhof Palace (thanks for reminding me of these 2 important ones, Barry!)

Helsinki, Finland

  • Church in the Rock
  • Esplanade Park
  • Upenski Cathedral
  • Seurasaari Island
  • Kamppi Chapel of Silence
  • Design District

Stockholm, Sweden

  • Millesgarden
  • Old Town
  • Canals
  • Drottningholm Palace
  • Skeppsholmen
  • Royal Palace
  • ABBA Museum 😀
  • Ericsson Globe
  • Nobel Museum

Paris, France

  • Eiffel Tower
  • Notre Dame
  • Île de la Cité
  • L’Arc de Triomphe
  • Sacré Cœur
  • Champs-Elysées
  • Place de la Concorde
  • Pont Neuf
  • Tuileries
  • Panthéon
  • Louvre
  • Musée d’Orsay
  • Les Invalides
  • Luxembourg Gardens
  • Trocadéro (thanks Alex!)
  • (Can we get to Versailles?)
  • (Maybe Monet’s garden at Giverny?)

So in short, I want to see beautiful parks and squares, castles and palaces, and cathedrals wherever I can, in addition to the places that make each city unique.
I didn’t list many specific museums that I am interested in visiting because I don’t want to worry too much about admission costs and also I don’t know how much time we’ll have to go visit and browse at our leisure. I’m the kind of girl who likes to read all the signs… but I’m usually alone on that. ^^;

I pride myself on being relatively good at articulating how I feel, but I don’t know if I can accurately communicate how excited I am for this trip. Europe is a continent with such a vast and massive history, and so much of it is accessible to the public by just walking around. There is no denying the magnitude of events that happened where I will soon get to walk, taking in the same sights as names I first learned in textbooks did centuries ago.

It’s going to be amazing, no matter which sights I get to see.

What should I see while I’m abroad? What should I pass on? Please leave any and all suggestions in comments! 🙂