Catching Up

Man, what a weekend. So much happened.

I started it off on Friday, one of my days off, by seeing an early screening of "No Country For Old Men." My friends Brandon and Harris saw the Coen brothers drama with me and we all thought it was brilliant ... until the end. None of us are really sure what to think about that part. Give us a week more to discuss it in depth, and I'll get back to you with our conclusions. You should go see it, though. It's truly great, possibly the best flick of 2007 so far, rivaled only by, maybe, "Gone Baby Gone."

Saturday marked my first experience with Yale-Harvard. I've gotten tons and tons of e-mails about my column, some good, some the usual hate-mail stuff. It's not original to say: "Pat, you're so funny" or "Pat, you're so stupid." I appreciate both sentiments, but give me some specifics, OK?

After the game on Saturday I did something I've never done. My old college roommate, Ryan Dixon, was in town for the game, him being a Yale School of Management grad and all, and afterwards him and some friends went to Black Bear. I've never been there. I avoid trendy places. If you've ever met me, you'd know I'm not very trendy. Nope. Anyway, one thing that was great about Black Bear — keep in mind I didn't eat or even really drink — is that there are televisions on every table, just like the sadly dead TK's. I miss TK's for that reason. Now that's an example of a place that was decidedly not trendy. God rest its soul.

Getting up so early exhausted me Saturday, though. I fell asleep on my couch at like 9 p.m. and didn't wake up until 8 a.m. I rarely go to bed before 1 a.m. Weird.

Last night I watched the "American Music Awards." Why would I do such a lame thing? For you, my friends. I've got a running diary all set for Friday's Weekend. If I'm out and about, people always tell me how much they love my diaries, so I'm going to try to get to every awards show this year. The "AMAs" begin the fun Friday. I had friends Jay Kubeck, Helen Bunch Blanchard and Rachel Hinkel joining in, and I think this one is pretty funny. We'll see. A teaser: Carrie Underwood, above, plays a big part in my column.

The Patriots can't lose. And as much as that's kind of nice, it's really making football season boring for me. I think I switched over to the game once during the "AMAs." I would have been in hell in a normal year, having to divide my attention.

This might be harsh, but why would anyone read a memoir from Scott Weiland? I could ghost write the thing using only one run-on sentence: So I helped start this band that ripped off grunge — we were called STP — and as we went on we got better, mostly thanks to my bandmates who started to write more original music to play behind my garbage lyrics and then I joined this awful, awful band with what's remaining of GNR, we're called Velvet Revolver, and yes, we do sound worse than even that name sounds, and, oh yeah, I was in rehab like 60 times over this period, and did I say my name is Scott?

The contestants for the celebrity version of "The Apprentice" were announced today. I have two words for you: Gene Simmons. OK, another two words: Marilu Henner.

"Beowulf" topped the box office last weekend. I have to admit, I hated reading the story in high school and in college, and I just have no interest in seeing this movie. I'm not much for Robert Zemeckis, either.

After weeks and weeks of hype, "Frank TV" finally premieres tonight. I feel like I saw every episode of this show while watching the baseball playoffs. Yep.

Oh, my God, oh my God: Blockbuster is coming into the 21st century by itself, not just copying others. I have a passionate dislike for the video-rental giant. I'm sure it's a tad irrational, but, you know, I'm probably a tad irrational.

We'll talk soon, OK? Hang in there during this short week.