On Bedford Street, the Avon marquee glowed, the white tree lights sparkled, the wholesome crowd at Lucky's smiled…. but Tigin was dead, Egane Korean BBQ patronless, and Bradford’s dart machines deserted. The trendy UMPs* were probably down near Market, Black Bear and the Summer St. Theatre, but I got coerced into seeing Cloverfield at the mall. I don’t LOVE seeing movies with hordes of scruffy teenagers, but I choose to view it as an adventure. The Stamford Downtown Events Blog** tipped me off to new restaurant Republic Grill. Republic was almost empty, but it had tasty food for good prices, so I’m sure it will get busy soon. Finally, I have found a salad with quality green leaves…. for FOUR bucks!!! YES!!! Republic is five days old, and I liked it, which means Patricia Brooks will be sure to review it next week. Actually, she probably won’t, because it’s a sibling of the Tengdas in Greenwich, Darien, and Westport, and she already gave them the rare rating of excellent. If you go to Republic, ask for the white fish special roll with spicy sauce and tempura outside. Also, if you don't mind, try the watermelon mojito and let me know how it is.
On the way home from the movie, I saw a cop car illegally (!) parked outside McDonald’s with its lights flashing… and NO ONE IN IT. I rubbernecked the sidewalk: Ooh, was he cracking down on some loiterers, investigating an incident? Nope, he was inside, STANDING IN LINE. To some people, that looks like slacking. To me, that shows someone who’s in charge; he knows his audience, and he knows they won’t steal his cop car. If he trusts us enough to leave his car unattended, that shows us something about ourselves. He thinks we’re the kind of people who don’t steal cars, and that makes me proud of this city.
Even Stamford’s youths were mellow, behaving amiably and orderly from previews to credits. Thank you, high schoolers. Cloverfield kept you quiet with all of its pointless noise, and my fondness of you increased when you booed it at the end. I TOTALLY agreed***.
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*Upwardly Mobile Professional, term designed to replace outdated “Yuppies,” since these days, you don’t have to be young to be moving up in the world, at least in the FC.
**The blog rarely gets updated, so don't bother checking it. I'll let you know if anything interested gets posted.
*** Cloverfield was a predictable combo of all the action/horror/sci-fi movies I’ve ever seen: 28 Days Later, Blair Witch Project, Transformers, Spider-Man, etc. It echoed every other movie in which a city gets attacked by a scary creature and/or covered in ice (Day After Tomorrow with Jake Gyllenhall). If you think Cloverfield offered something new, please comment. Oh, and the creature looks exactly like Voldemort mixed with a dragon-ish character from some other film that blends in with all the others. Save your money, and Tivo the old episodes of Battlestar Galactica on the Sci-Fi Channel. How ‘bout those Cylons?
