Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Let’s talk about Joe

As some of my loyal readers may have noticed, this guy named Joe comments on the blog a lot. I want to tell you a little bit about Joe. To begin, he’s my dad. And there’s something so endearing and ridiculous about having your dad be your blog’s biggest fan. It sort of reminds me of high school, when he would come to my soccer games and sit in the stands. Hmmmm. Actually, he missed a lot of those because he was at my brother’s baseball games. What’s up with that, Joe?

What’s up with that? is something Joe likes to say. He also loves the word “outstanding,” is a member of Mensa, and is fond of statements like the following: You can’t have that cheese. That’s nacho cheese. (If you don’t understand this one, I can’t help you.)

A propos of Dan’s comment on the last blog, Joe (who used to be a junior high school teacher) is now splitting his time among several activities: golf, listening to audiobooks, driving a trolley through Chicago giving tours, and starring as an extra in movies. On his repertoire, but sadly not on IMDB, are Flags of Our Fathers, Fred Clause, and The Dark Knight. If I am forgetting one of his roles, he will surely tell us in the comments section.

During the filming of The Dark Knight, the director requested that the casting agent go to wherever the extras were hanging out and bring him back the two “most Italian looking guys” for a gang scene. Guess who was chosen? That’s right: Joe. He got “arrested” in one of the scenes, so it’s possible you might even be able to find him in this film.

If I had to guess where Joe was right now, I would say he’s in the kitchen drinking “pop” out of a coffee mug while playing Scrabble on his laptop. But if I’m wrong about that, he will surely tell us in the comments section.

6 comments:

Joe Cog said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Joe Cog said...

In two gang scenes for "Dark Knight," our holding area was in a vacant suite of offices on the same block as Berghoff's, where the arrests took place. The gangs involved included not only the Italian (Moroni) gang, but a Jamaican and a Chechen gang as well. I got along better with the young black kids than the old Italian guys, but I hit it off best with the extras that someone thought looked like Chechens. On the bus for too long after we were arrested en masse, I said loudly' "Tell the director to hurry up, it's about 200 degrees in here and the Chechens are starting to smell bad!" I was emboldened because earlier in the day I had walked by them (we were encouraged to hang with our ethnic groups so we could be mobilized faster) and muttered "Chechen bastards" and they laughed. I felt proud to be arrested by Gary Oldman.

Dan said...

Chechen bastards. Quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever read on this blog.

Elizabeth said...

Dad! Are you going to get in trouble for commenting about the movie prior to it's release? Aren't you still supposed to tell people you were in "Rory's First Kiss" or something?

Sarah, I LOVE this entry! My favorite part is the "mug of pop."

Joe Cog said...

Hey, just how many people on this blog have I fathered?

Care said...

Yes, let's talk about Joe...but first let's talk about "pop". I was on a business trip in New Jersey many moons ago. A pizza delivery guy showed up at my hotel door (what other food can you trust in New Jersey?), and I asked him if he remembered the pop. He screamed..."ARE YOU FROM CHICAGO?!!" He said, "You know they call it "soda" here?!" We bonded instantly.

Now about Joe....you gotta love a guy who's this consistent. The last time I saw him was probably a week ago. When I walked in the house, he was sitting in his recliner playing Scrabble on his laptop. And he was drinking out of a mug...but I don't know if it was pop.