Couple of movies..

CRASH:

I had no idea what this movie was about before I watched it. "Crash" brought images of cars, so I was prepped for an action flick. Nope, not so much.

Don't get me wrong -the movie was reall good. It's supposed to be a critique of the racism still rampant in L.A., and has offended a great number of people. The movie makes it seem like everyone is racist, or will become that way soon enough. Hopefully, those with rational logic will see that it is just focused on one topic and aimed to project a message.

What I really enjoyed was the connections between the characters, and how smoothly they transitioned from group to group. That was where the crafty creativity came in, and that is what helped the movie to not just be a dramatization of a situation.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN:

Saw this one at the cheap show. I'd been wanting to see it for a while, from interest, as a show of support, curiousity, the like. Somehow, in all the reviews, I missed picking up that this was a romance. As in love story. As in the type of movie I generally avoid. I remembered this somewhere in the middle, and was rather disappointed to realize we'd be approaching a sad ending.

Overall, it was very good. Well acted by all. There wasn't as much time spent with the sheep as I expected there to be. For the squeemish in the crowd, you only need to close your eyes for one "love" scene. Other than that, it was just fine and not at all the gay porn some people would like to make you think it is.

THE STATION AGENT:

Had you ever heard of this movie? I hadn't, until my roomie started playing it off the DVR. Its center character is a dwarf who's obsessed with trains. He works as a model train painter/assembler, and goes to monthly meetings to watch movies about trains. Then, after a death, he inherits a train depot in the middle of nowhere, and is befriended (rather aggressively, to be honest) by some locals.

Things were gong well until it was over. Just, ... over. The storyline really had some good beginnings, some good development, of our main character and the supports, but it went nowhere. It really felt unfulfilling and pointless. What was the meaning? The purpose? The message?? Meh.

Happy Pi Day!

Today, in America, is 3/14, the day when nerds across the country celebrate Pi Day. I know this, not because I'm a nerd, but because my home page is hosted by them (Google, I thank you).

Fun things to do today...

1.) Find your name in Pi!

2.) Eat Pi! (like the fruity, tarted kind. Not the numbers)

3.) Find your Pi age - "Simply use 3.14 as a unit of measure. Instead of being 31 years old, you are 9pi years old (approaching your 10th birthday). With this same approach, you can find out your next pi birthday (don't forget to celebrate it when it comes!)." {source: WikiHow}

3.14) Get more tips and explanations right from (my) source.

A Weekend in the Windy City

I can't remember a time in my life when I enjoyed St. Patty's day as much as I did this year. Which, ... when you stop and realize St. Patty's isn't until this Friday, is pretty damn cool.

Jenn and I were planning to meet in Chicago for a playdate, but she got distracted by a job interview and couldn't make it, so I went on my own. My buddy Sam lives there and since we haven't seen each other in ages, he invited me to crash at his place, which was just killer. Sam lives in the Ukranian village in this beautiful flat with a view of a Ukranian cathedral. His 2 roommates are great guys -friends from NMU, and that really made sleeping at their place way more comfortable.

I took the train into Union Station (a gorgeous building!) and came out to find a carful of sexy men waiting to take me home. A perfect beginning to my adventure! We went out, walked around the town a bit, drank some beer, got caught up on life, and eventually made it back to the flat to crash.

Next morning was the downtown parade, so we woke about 9a, had a carbomb to get the engines running, poured our 'cokes', and bussed our way into the city center. We met up with some gal-pals and made it to the river in time to see it turn green. Really. GREEN. It was so bad tho - we were standing along this construction site, watching, and we weren't all that impressed. I mean, yea, the river was green, but c'mon, I live along the Detroit river -I've seen a green river before! Then Sam comes over and tells us to move, shifting our view a bit further downstream. HolyMoly! It was crazy, crazy green, just unbelievable.

The parade itself was fun. There were curly-haired ninjas, giant kilted Irishmen, candy, flying bottles of OJ and milk (seriously- who thought that was a good idea??), and of course, beer. The weather was INCREDIBLY sunny, warm, and clear. Afterward was naptime, a fondu party, and more incredible beer at a brewery, then a pub.

Sunday morning was similar, though things started a titch later. Bill drove us down to the southside parade. One of the boys made the observation that, despite the city's intentions, this was not about a parade. It was a massive street fiesta, with WAY too much green-coated, drunk-ass white kids. Beer was EVERYWHERE. It was sad though- the real Irish must just be sobbing in pain. I mean, the Irish were good drinkers, they new good beer. And all these kiddies, out there under the guise of celebrating St. Pat, and they are drinking High Life, PBR, and tons of other shitty ass beer.

We walked around, talking, meeting people, drinking, enjoying the weather. I think we saw enough of the parade to notice the ninjas, and then backed away. I guess there were men in little cars and on flying carpets. I missed that part, though. That neighborhood must just stink to high hell the day after. There's tons of spilt beer and broken bottles, some contained potties (or Drop Zones, as they are called there), but mostly people were just whizzing wherever they could.

We had time for a late lunch of damn good pancakes at the OHOP (yea, you saw right), and then it was time for me to get back to the station and on out of town. *sigh* Here I am.

Week, In Review

I had a *delightful* end-of-week and weekend. It certainly started off shaky -not feeling well, visiting the doctor, etc. But then things made a turn-around. !!

Thursday was the first of the month, so we had a Feminist Meetup at SweetWaters. It was odd, at first, with everyone arriving late. But then people came, and came, and suddenly there were 12 women gathered about. 12! That's the most we've had, since I joined on! No matter our topics, I always leave feeling so good. Spending over an hour having intelligent discussions with smart, strong women is just so uplifting.

At the end, I spent some time talking with M about how to initiate conversation with my oh-so-quiet roommate/landlady. She left, and then I sat talking with A and C. Wow. It was great, like part 2 of the discussion. Such smart women that I really connected with. Another hour or so later, we wrapped up with a plan for ice-skating the following day.

The ice-skating didn't happen -the girls were delayed at dinner- but I got to spend some time watching 12 year olds play hockey. (damn entertaining, if you didn't know!) They came to get me so we could go to C's house. I met a bunch more people, all of whom were very friendly and quite interesting. C's dad was awesome -the kind of dad who takes in "strays", and is so friendly. At the end of the night (about 3am), he cooked up grilled cheese 'appetizers'. It was great.

Saturday was a lazy day; just relaxing. And today, I did my usual. I cruised up to Caribou for coffee and crosswords. I got an extra one, too, from the Wall Street Journal. The nice guy next to me saw me working the New York Times and offered the one from his paper. How cool was that?

I don't know about you, but I think this is a good lead-in to a Monday!