Friday, December 10, 2010

Day 11 - Is Your Life Really That Bad, Julie Powell?

Day 11.

The fact that the Julie part of Julie & Julia often tends to drag a little is something that I've been meaning to touch on for awhile now. I mean, the always charismatic Amy Adams does what she can with the role she's given--but to be honest, sometimes the character of Julie Powell is straight up insufferable. While she does somewhat redeem herself towards the end of the movie, her incessant whining and overly dramatic nature in the beginning of the film really starts to wear you down--especially after 11 viewings.

And with that, I'm going to go ahead and kick off the newest recurring feature of the Lawrence/Julie & Julia Project, entitled: Is Your Life Really That Bad, Julie Powell?


Julie, I know you begin this movie being all sad and mopey because you're moving to Queens. But is Queens actually that bad of a place? I mean, sure, maybe its a little bit of a downgrade from Brooklyn, but you still live in New York--arguably the greatest city in the world! Plus, I assume the cultural opportunities and experiences of Queens are unmatched (Not being from New York, I really wouldn't know)! Off the top of my head, I can think of a few solid advantages you have living in Queens that you wouldn't have anywhere else.

1. The transportation! Both LaGuardia and JFK airports are in Queens. So if you ever wanted to leave Queens, you could do so quickly! Okay, I guess that's a bad example.

2. The food! Surely someone who appreciates food as much as you do can't complain about the variety of eateries and diverse cultural restaurants in Queens. Did you know that KFC was founded and perfected in Queens? (And by KFC, I mean Korean fried chicken.)

3. The government! How many other boroughs can claim that Paul Blart: Mall Cop is their king?

King Kevin James VII remains the sole heir to the Queens throne.

Plus, the Mets! Those guys are a baseball team, right? Yeah, they definitely are. Not to mention all those old Jewish and Italian people! I'm sure you'll learn to love 'em and their kooky ways, Julia.

But the main reason I don't think you have a reason to complain? YOU LIVE OVER A FUCKING PIZZA PARLOR!!! I MEAN, HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!

What sane person wouldn't want to live right over a pizza parlor???

I don't know about you guys, but I would KILL to live right above a place where they cooked pizza all the time. I mean, imagine that--waking up to the scent of fresh pizza at 3 pm, strolling out the front door in your bathrobe, stopping in to say hi to Gino, the pizza chef/proprietor, who gives you a free slice or two of pepperoni for breakfast. That is what America is about, is it not? Authentic New York Pizza whenever you wanted?

You have it easy, Julie Powell. So please, stop complaining about living in Queens. I know that I, along with pretty much everyone else in the entire world, would gladly take your place.

I mean, all the pizza I could eat and semi-regular sex with a guy who looks like Mark Ruffalo? That's pretty much all I've ever wanted in life.


Julie & Julia
Quote of the Day: "I stole it from my mother the last time I was in Texas."


  1. I've been to Queens. Julie wins this one.

  2. LOL...I stayed in Queens when I went to NY a few years ago. The part I went to...wasn't the safest looking place to be. Haha! BUT...if you ask my Dad...anywhere in NY is the BEST place to be.

    And I think you just confessed your man crush on Mark Ruffalo. LOL!!!

  3. I lived in an apartment right above a pizza parlor on East Grand Street in New York for about 6 months. It's actually possible to get tired of the smell.

  4. You are a beautiful human being and your quest is noble. All the best luck! Cheers.

  5. Julie Powell is incredibly insufferable-- it made me feel squicky about the normally delightful (and beautiful) Amy Adams because all she does is ACT LIKE A BITCH.

  6. I hope you are tracking the time of day and other key information about your viewing (guests, what your snack food item was, homework or no homework, etc). This is such a unique opportunity for piles of worthless information...for which I live for.


    yo tambien.


    Yep, that would do. ;)

    And i agree with you; living ANYWHERE in
    NYC could be awesome. (:

  9. Moving to Queens is a huge downgrade. Unless you're from Long Island, then it's a slight upgrade. You don't want to live near the airport. I lived about 5 minutes from JFK and I swear there was something wrong with the people and I'm sure it was from all the jet fumes. I agree, Julie gets this one.

  10. Queens can be cool, but Queens is HUGE so you have to look at specifically where in Queens she lives. Long Island City. It's a cement playground devoid of the coffee shops and ethnic restaurants that make other parts of New York trendy or fun. Really, you should go visit, and I promise you will eat your words on this one.

  11. this is my favorite new blog, EVER. love it!

  12. As a Queens resident, the fact that Julie spent 9/10ths of her blog and movie degrading my home kind of pissed me off. Though granted she lived in a rather sucky part of queens. (And it wasn't really LIC, it was more LIC/Astoria/Woodside no-man's land if I guessed her area correctly based on the supermarkets she frequented). There are plenty of coffeeshops and TONS of ethnic restaurants in Astoria, especially in the Steinway area. And LIC has gotten really trendy lately, fwiw.

  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

  14. I don't know, she says it's Long Island City in the movie. I visited when I was considering living there in 2008 and it was not trendy. But I agree that Astoria is very cool and fun.

  15. As a resident of Queens myself, I also hate Julie's constant whining about my borough. If she loved Brooklyn so much, she should have sucked up the inflated rent and insufferable trendsters and stayed there. LIC isn't the best part of Queens, but it's on its way up and is ideally located for accessing the "better" neighborhoods including Astoria, Sunnyside and Jackson Heights, all of which have amazing restaurants and nicer residents than Manhattan OR Brooklyn.

    Sure, there are crap parts of Queens. There are crap parts of every major city, and the majority of non-major are cities are almost entirely crap. Get to know Queens before you judge it. And if you need a food guide, call me.

  16. I'm compelled to respond...First, your blog is so fun and glad I found it - huffpost I think...

    Second, once upon a college town I lived over a pizza place. Yeah, it was nice that your friends would visit the pizza place and stop in to see you too. Nice that it smelled good when you checked out the apartment before signing the lease and you thought "I would love to smell that all the time". Delightful ;-)

    But there is a reason that they don't make perfume, deodorant, lotion or shampoo that smells like pizza.

    And after a while, it doesn't smell like pizza anymore. It smells like the cardboard box they deliver it in. With 3 day old pizza in it. And so do your clothes, sheets, towels, hair...All. The. Time.

    Keep writing - you can finish this odyssey and not smell like pizza while doing it!

  17. In reality she lived above a deli, not a pizza place, the Pizza place was fake and only for the movie. I agree that eating a pizza would be awesome, but living above a deli wouldn't be that bad either. All she did was whine about everything and anything that didn't suit her anyway. I was one of her minions that read her blog way back when, way back before she got her little book contract that she wanted. It wasn't about the food at all, it was about getting that book contract. She could care less about the food and calling herself a 'foodie' was a huge joke and a slap in the face to those who were actual foodies that loved what they made and created. She just wanted to be published and with the help of her husband she got that chance. He is an editor after all, who know how many times she whined to him about helping her get something published, so how many calls did he make to make that happen so she would shut up about it. There were many out there that cooked their way through Mastering the art of french cooking and NEVER got a book contract out of the deal. So in my own opinion, shes a waste of my time sitting there reading her blog before this all happened. You can like her all you want, you can congratulate her all you want and you can defend her all you want, but I'll take a good Stephen King book over her's anyday. My opinion is, it was all about her, what she wanted and screw anyone who got in her way. Think about it, what's she doing now? Nothing, but sitting in her pajamas NOT writting. Delete this comment if you want, but I feel everyone is entitled to their own opinion about this woman, who doesn't really care about food at all, just herself.




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