Raindrops keep falling my head
I'm still drying out from a decent day in New York. My brother and I discovered a nice back way into the Met, which we would've exploited more had we not had other things to do in the city.

I should've taken some photos while wandering around Manhattan in between the actual things I had to, but then again, how much of a tourist do I really want to look like if I actually have places to go? However, I did want to mention this Joey Fatone photo that was blown up really big in Times Square -- I swear it's Elvis Costello after a few too many cheeseburgers.

While I did some of my usual social visits in Manhattan, such as visiting Gobo and seeing the New York staff, I also was able to see an advanced screening of Garden State (making up for the one I missed in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago). And I lucked out in a huge way getting a pass: The New York Times site actually had a popup offering readers an invitation to the free screening -- thus the first ever useful popup ad in history. Unfortunately, because of some horrible weather in the late afternoon, in which I got rained on really badly, there wasn't much of a crowd (only about 60-70 people). I'd also like to think popup blockers might've stopped a bunch of people from even seeing that invitation.

But getting back to the movie, one of the quotes on the posters called it this year's Lost In Translation, and it's actually not a bad comparison at all. In this case, Zach Braff plays the actor trying to find himself in a not-so-familiar place (in this case home, where he hasn't been for nine years), and Natalie Portman is the sweetly troubled soul he discovers on that journey. Along the way, Braff's character learns a lot about his old hometown friends he left years ago and tries to resolve some long-standing family situations.

I really liked this movie, and much like Lost In Translation, it's because I could connect with the main character, who comes home to New Jersey and yet it doesn't really seem like home -- even when it comes to seeing old friends. Braff even said that a lot of it was based on his own life (oddly enough, we're both from Jersey and we're both Class of '97 from Northwestern, although I'd never heard of him, never mind met him, until Scrubs came out). While there were plenty of humorous moments, it was also very striking and poignant -- a delicate balance for any writer/director, especially for a first major feature film.

Braff had a decent script and did a solid job directing and acting, but Natalie Portman really shined in what could be called the livelier version of Scarlett Johannsen's character from last year. Plus, the soundtrack was amazing and really matched the mood of the film. It was the first time in a while that I was drawn to a soundtrack that didn't feature songs that I was familiar with.

And yes, I think it's really fitting that I happened to watch this movie on a rare trip home to New Jersey. But hey, it's a nice time for movies about Jersey that have nothing to do with the mob.