Coffee Break – The Growing FTS Family, Alexander Payne, and Breaking Bad, Bitch!

Remember: Coffee Break is full of odds and ends I’d like to discuss including films I’m watching, links I like, stuff I’m into and oh yeah, coffee!

That attractive mug is from the print company Indigo Ink, where my bff Jess works. It’s pretty snazzy if I do say so myself. You might notice that I’m in the podcast dungeon, working diligently. I’m currently in the process of managing quite a few updates for FTS. You’ll be able to see all the changes in the upcoming month and I’ll put out a detailed post in the next few days that explains the major changes. What I’m saying is, stay tuned for some exciting updates this week that you will hopefully really enjoy.

I went on an unexpected journey through Alexander Payne’s filmography this week. I’ve been meaning to check out his work ever since seeing The Descendants back in 2011 and after my dad kept bugging me to watch Sideways I thought why the hell not.

I put on Sideways for a late night couch watch which turned out to be the best possible viewing environment. The movie stars Paul Giamatti as Miles Raymond, a wine aficionado and struggling writer learning to deal with his troubling depression and inadequacies. He takes his close friend Jack Cole (Thomas Haden Church) on a week long road trip to Santa Barbara County Wine Country as a pseudo-bachelor party/wedding gift. It’s a humanist comedy that extends well beyond the odd mismatch in personalities of the leading duo. Both men are completely flawed and difficult to root for in the beginning, but Payne brings their faults to the spotlight in a way that ultimately makes you sympathetic to their plight (something I’ve found to be a reoccurring theme in his work.) Sideways didn’t knock it out of the park for me like The Descendants did but I laughed hard on more than one occasion. It’s a simple, sweet film that just felt right.

Next up, I finally sat down and watched 1999’s Election. This was one of those movies I’ve always been interested in but just never made time for. It recently made it’s way to cable so I had no more excuses. Starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon, the comedy follows the proceedings of a high school student government election race. The film utilizes multiple narrations from all the film’s major players which turned out feeling perfect for the scope of the movie. I loved all the performances in the movie, including the two stars and even the supporting players like Chris Klein, Jessica Campbell, and Nicholas D’Agosto. Overall, I thought the movie was sharp, witty and another success for Payne.

Breaking Bad on Funny or Die: Leading up to the finale I felt so emotinally drained with everything I witnessed over the past few episodes of the show. Thankfully, Funny or Die was loaded with a bunch of hilarious BB-related videos to lift my spirits. Go over to the site and check ’em out, and don’t miss my favorite Huell’s Rules!

The Droid You’re Looking For Breaking Bad Posts: John at TDYLF always has amazing, creative posts and infographics over at his site. Luckily for me and all the other Breaking Bad fans, John loves the show just as much as we do. He’s got a slew of fun posts over at his site that include everything for BB death tolls to character Baseball Jerseys. Make sure you stop over there and check out all the goodness.

There I am with some of the finished products. Take a look at the blue crystal and teddy bear eyeballs. You can see more below!

Please do not make fun of my terrible frosting skills exemplified via the cookies.

Perfick.