The Empire State Strikes Back

This month, movie theaters suffered the latest installment of one of the ugliest trends in graphic design and shitty movies: I'm talking about 'Know1ng,' the latest crap-heap of sub-entertainment from that toolshed Nicolas Cage. I reported on the 'numbers as letters' trend last June and it's only gotten staler since.

Here's a great tale about my nemesis Cage. This week, my great Brooklyn friend Kristina saw the 'Ghost Rider' star and grade-A bonehead filming 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' on the subway in Park Slope. She reports that she and a crowd of subway passengers at the 7th Avenue stop "were asked to move to the side" when a "fellow passenger yelled: 'Fuck you, Nicolas Cage. We're not moving. Who the fuck shoots a subway scene at 7 p.m. rush hour? I am just trying to live my life and I ain't taken orders from Hollywood. Welcome to Brooklyn - go fuck yourself.'"

I wish someone would put that anonymous subway rider in a movie, because he is a true hero.

Here is another excellent tale of a famous actor being cursed at by a New Yorker. My friend Mike reports that he saw Tim Robbins crossing the street in Manhattan with a friend. Robbins was cut off by a trash truck passing through a yellow light. Robbins began hollering at the truck when one of the garbage men leaned out the window and shouted, "Shut the fuck up, Shawshank!"