Sunday, February 06, 2005

"Yeah, you blend"

The Movie: My Cousin Vinnie, 1992 (Dale Launer, screenwriter, Jonathon Lynn, director)
Who Says It: Marisa Tomei in her Oscar-winning performance as Mona Lisa Vito, the very Noo Yahk girlfriend of the title character played by Joe Pesci
The Context: Vinnie and Lisa have just arrived in the heart of Alabama from the heart of Brooklyn, and he tries to convince her that he fits in more than she does. Her response is a bit sarcastic.
How To Use It: To indicate when a person sticks out just a bit

If you haven't figured out by now, this is Tom writing as ersatz-Ellen, hoping desperately that I'll "blend." But I know that for one, the typos will be a certain giveaway. Otherwise, there's no difference!

Here in Cambridge everyone is preparing for the Super Bowl. For us, the allure of the day is having our French neighbors over to eat nachos, chile, onion dip, and pigs-and-blankets while waiting for the half-time show. It's kind of a special bonus that the locals are so darn good. I've already experienced sports fan bliss. I'm a lifelong Sox fan, and, well, need say no more. All winter long I've had people ask "So now how can you live in the world? You can't complain about the Sox curse anymore, can't define yourself as a perenially-suffering soul, can no longer wallow in that pain."

I'm not having all that much trouble, to tell the truth.

It is somewhat inspiring to see a team like the Patriots excel. They play beautifully as a team, and there's so much to be admired. When the Sox were losing (that is, before 2004), I would take some solace watching the great Celtics teams, cause you knew that they would ultimately find a way to win. But for me there's only one team that's ever mattered at a very deep level--the Red Sox.

I guess there's just certain categories of people. You're a baseball person or a football person. Dogs or cats (dogs for me.) Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard (Nantucket). n'Sync or Backstreet Boys. (Tell me why/ain't nothing but a heartache....)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Tom,

Greetings from Singapore where the Super Bowl occurs on Monday morning and we'll have our Irish and Indian neighbors in for a good ole American cookout to celebrate Chinese New Year later this week.

Looking forward to your week on the substitute Ellen gig.

Carla Forbes-Kelly

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

Hey Tom -- great post -- glad to see your boyz pulled it out at the last minute. I'm also glad I won't be back in New England until the worst of the gloating has passed...