Now, another update. On Thursday, I had a DVD stolen from my car, Born
into Brothels, a title which was sufficiently enticing to find itself
in the hands of some unknown thief, instead of in my admittedly unlocked
car. I suspect the teens who were skateboarding nearby, but I've got
no proof. So one minute I'm unloading groceries, and then 20 minutes
later, I'm flushing beet red from embarrassment as I call the local
the video store and then, on their advice, the police to report the
petty theft.
This morning was the first day since the incident that the manager
was scheduled to be in the store, so I headed there after my morning
workout at the gym. I explained the situation, repeated my story to
her, and gave her the police report number and the officer's name. After
she did quite a lot of typing into the system (hopefully not about what
an absent-minded twit I was), she declared, "All taken care of."
Sure enough, I returned home, logged onto Blockbuster.com
and saw that the movie was no longer considered to be in my possession.
This means I can go back to having three movies at a time, under the
terms of my rental agreement, and the next one on my list (ironically
enough, the pickpocket-heavy Oliver!) is already winging its
way to me. Huzzah.
Originally, this was supposed to be the weekend for Otakon regional
gatherings, but it turns out that the Philadelphia are event will be
next weekend, and my husband, The Gryphon, and I won't make it. Since
the pet sitters (a very nice older couple) had already planned on taking
Una for the day, during which time they planned to take her to a big
dog park, along with their own doggies, she told me I could leave her
anyway. I dropped Una in the morning, and then came home to a quiet
house and got caught up on Otakon
press relations correspondence, which always seems to eat up more time
than it should.
Then The Gryphon and I went out to dinner, choosing to eat at Charlie
Brown's Steakhouse. We originally wanted to go to the Iron Hill Brewery
in Media, but there was some sort of town-wide music event taking place,
and it would have been 45 minutes before we could have been seated.
Also on Saturday, I watched the extras on the DVD for Black Snake
Moan, which I'd rented on a friend's recommendation and watched
Friday. It's a much better movie that you might expect, just reading
the description. I mean, Samuel L. Jackson chaining Christina Ricci
to a radiator to cure her of her self-destructive ways? It certainly
sounds like a very exploitative movie, and yet it turns out to be a
perceptive film about the power of redemption, about moving on from
pain and loss, and finding healing.
In addition to fine acting, the movie is extremely well written. As
I was watching the DVD extras, I learned that the director took great
care to find locations that would work and to dress the set with meaningful
props. This was an exceptional film, directed by Craig Brewer, who also
directed Hustle & Flow.
I also liked the incorporation of blues music and was pleased to discover
that Samuel L. Jackson had learned how to play the songs in the movie.
Even though the music was prerecorded, his hand movements are genuine.
Rating: ***** (5 out of 5 stars)
Sunday was another quiet day. The Gryphon made me breakfast of Cream of
Wheat with raisins and brown sugar. I spent most of the morning working
on the new
Alice in Wonderland icons, trying to figure out Twitter,
and uploading pictures of my 20th high school reunion to Facebook (which
took a long time, since I actually tried to identify everyone).
By the time I got around to doing anything constructive — writing
a poem — it was almost dinner time. The Gryphon made a delicious
dinner of oven-baked chicken with sweet potatoes cut into strips, sprinkled
with some spices, and baked. The meal was topped off with spinach salad
including green onions, grape tomatoes, a little Parmesan cheese and
a dressing made from olive oil and basalmic vinegar. It was much better
than if we'd gone out, honestly.
After dinner, we watched a movie we'd rented but not watched the previous
day, In Bruges. It's a very dark comedy starring Colin Farrell,
Brenda Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. The movie follows two hit men (Farrell
and Gleeson), as they cool their heels in Bruges, Belgium, following
a job in London.
The older of the two, Ken (Gleeson), gets into the spirit of the trip,
enjoying sight-seeing of the many medieval buildings. The younger guy,
Ray (Farrell), would rather sit in a bar, drink Belgium beer, and flirt
with pretty local women.
This film reminded me of some of Quentin Tarantino's best work, which
feature people that, based on what they do, the viewer would have every
right to despise. And yet, they're so flawed, so human, so vulnerable
and even pathetic that they become more likable. Watching the documentary
extras afterwards, that was something Gleeson pointed out. He said that
the shocking thing about violence is that often the people who do those
terrible things are not monster but, in fact, only human.
We both felt the movie was well-done. A warning, though, for those
who don't enjoy foul language: it's got a lot of it! One of the more
entertaining extras was called "Fooking Bruges," and is just
a montage of all the cuss words. But the dialogue is in character and
brilliant (there's something terribly amusing about watching two hardened
criminals using blue language while holding tourist maps and pointing
at the sights).
The setting is also amazing: they look like they're inside a Hieronymus
Bosch painting. Of course, there is a reference to a particular
Bosch painting, as well. I became enamored of Bosch's work in college,
back when I learned that he had inspired Monty Python member and intensely
creative director Terry Gilliam.
Afterwards, we worked on Wild
Violet. The Gryphon worked on the home page while I redid the
banner graphic and then sorted through submissions. This might not have
always been the most enjoyable reading, but it was infinitely superior
to reading Otakon e-mails!
