The Coffee Experience

I thought it would be fun to write a bit about my love for coffee as I've always considered it one of my greatest passions. In particular, it got me thinking . . . why do I love it so much? Many would say it's due to its addictive properties and I know that those are partly to blame. However, when I think about coffee, I think about so many things besides it's taste and how I feel afterwards . . . I think about the experiences that are connected to it.

When I think about coffee, I think about mornings at my parents' house, sitting at the kitchen table with my Mom while my Dad is at the computer, talking about everything and nothing at the same time.

When I think about coffee, I remember being at the cafeteria at Bates College after dinner, filling up two paper cups with a combination of coffee and cocoa powder (a "poor man's mocha"), and then stacking them on top of one another for easy travel to the library.

When I think about coffee, I remember being at a cafe in Dubai with my buddy Val, sitting outside as the sun was going down late in the afternoon, just hanging out and joking around.

When I think about coffee, I picture being by Sebago Lake in Maine in the morning, walking barefoot in the sand, as I carry a mug, a book, and a chair to the beach.

When I think about coffee, I picture having dessert on Thanksgiving with my family, with a big cup of Dunkin Donuts accompanying my pumpkin pie and ice cream.

When I think about coffee, I see crazy weekends in Medford with J.T. and Payne, having recovery afternoons before we got ready for another wild night, and making sure iced venti nonfat white mochas were in the mix.

When I think about coffee, I'm in Zurich on a cold January afternoon, a tourist on a mission, trekking from cafe to cafe and trying a cappuccino at each one . . . and recording each visit with a photograph such as the one above.

When I think about coffee, my favorite show Seinfeld comes to mind along with all of my favorite coffee shop scenes. And for the record, just like Jerry, I get my coffee on the outside!

When I think about coffee, I think about a first date when a fun conversation kept going and going . . . and eventually led to dinner :)

When I think about coffee, I remember being in a hospital bed and my Mom bringing me iced coffee and maple scones when she visited . . . truly one of the only things I had to look forward to at the time.

To me, coffee is all about the experience and it always will be - so many great memories are connected to it and so many moments in the future will be. I've laughed with coffee and cried with coffee, kissed with coffee and yelled with coffee, triumphed with coffee and failed with coffee, dreamed with coffee and woken with coffee, loved with coffee and hated with coffee. Ultimately, I have lived with coffee . . . and I always will.

In closing, I share with you the best part about my coffee experiences: I can definitely drink coffee late in the day and be just fine . . . unlike this guy.

I'd love to hear about your feelings for coffee and to know if you feel the same way that I do . . . that coffee is all about the experience!

My Top 25 Comedies . . . in no particular order

As many of you know, one of my biggest influencers is Bill Simmons. Bill has written many articles over the years in which he breaks down individual movies, lists his favorite movies and/or moments within certain genres, and/or weaves memorable movie quotes into his commentary on sports and pop culture. Naturally it's only fitting that I get involved in writing something similar and over the weekend, I chatted with several friends about the idea of writing about my favorite comedies.

My original plan was to actually do this in two parts (in an ode to a two-part Simmons mailbag or other column) with 20-11 today and then 10-1 tomorrow. Additionally, I had planned to include a brief paragraph on each selection that would help explain my rationale for its positioning within the list. After a prolonged period of reflection on this plan that lasted maybe . . . 2 minutes, I decided to keep things simple for now and just get down what I feel are my favorite 25 comedies of all time, without any ranking among the 25. I chose 25 because the number 20 became too restrictive . . . as it is, numerous movies I love were kept out of the top 25 (I've listed many of them below such that you can either support or refute their exclusion) and I also excluded many movies that I find funny because I didn't feel they were true comedies (you can find examples of these listed below as well).

Despite the lack of ranking below and my feeling that comfortably doing so would be next to impossible for me, I can unequivocally say that my favorite comedy of all time is Dumb and Dumber . . . I challenge you to come up with a compelling argument for why any other movie ever made is funnier . . . in fact, I think I'll dedicate a post in the future to breaking down why I think Dumb and Dumber is the funniest comedy ever . . . in any event, it's just my opinion but if your opinion differs . . . well, you're just an idiot :)

Criteria used to make my selections

1. Rewatchability: how well does the movie hold up if you watch it a second time or in the case of Animal House, a 43rd time?
2. Quotability: how often do I quote lines from the movie in my daily interactions with others? For example, I probably use the expression "someone with a morally casual attitude" at least . . . 5 times a week . . . not to describe myself of course . . .
3. Laugh-out-loud moments: how many times did I actually open my mouth to laugh as opposed to just smirking? For example, during the opening montage of Wedding Crashers, I usually laugh out loud between 5 and 10 times at things Vince Vaughn does.
4. Unintentional comedy: how many moments are there that I find to be hilarious, yet were probably not intended to be? When Walter Peck says "May I please . . . see . . . the storage facility?" to Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters, I find this to be ridiculously funny . . . although I'm guessing most of the audience in the theater never did.

 With that, here are my top 25 comedies of all time:

• National Lampoon's Vacation
• Dumb and Dumber
• Spaceballs
• Ghostbusters
• Dazed and Confused
• Austin Powers
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
• Billy Madison
• Happy Gilmore
• Ace Ventura
• Wayne's World
• Old School
• American Pie
• Caddyshack
• Back to School
• Animal House
• Superbad
• Wedding Crashers
• Airplane
• Road Trip
• Anchorman
• The Wedding Singer  
• Monty Python and The Holy Grail
• Liar Liar
• Tommy Boy

Notable Exceptions

 

One big exception you may have already thought of is Blazing Saddles and my only reason for not including it in my Top 25 is because I have only seen bits and pieces of it and therefore don't have enough experience with it . . . also, I thought I Love You Man was hilarious but felt it was too new to include (and is it really a comedy?). The Hangover is also a very tough one to omit and if I were to put this list together a year from now, it would probably make it easily but for now, the ones I've listed above have stood the test of time and I can't leave them out! Other notable exceptions: Young Frankenstein, South Park The Movie, Bachelor Party, One Crazy Summer, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Major League, Austin Powers 2, Blades of Glory, Can't Hardly Wait, Clueless, Real Genius, Weird Science, Revenge of the Nerds, and Porky's.

 

Movies I find hilarious for many reasons but I excluded b/c I felt they fit into other genres

 

The Goonies, Beverly Hills Cop, Swingers, Back to the Future, Kindergarten Cop, Commando (chuckling), The Karate Kid, Sixteen Candles, 48 Hours, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Beetlejuice

 

What do you think? Any egregious omissions? Any that you're particularly flabbergasted about? Any movies I classified as non-comedies that you think should be deemed comedies (for the record, I did not go to IMDB.com or any other film-related website to identify proper genres so apologies in advance for my naivete). Let me know!