Driving around
Tuesday I rented a car for my day off. It was great to have a car and run around and do a bunch of different things here, rather than just hanging in my apartment all day.
I didn't get to West Hartford for Trader Joe's and Best Buy, though; my car's lock broke, so I had to take it back. But the Bristol office had no more cars, so I had to take it to a half-hour away to Waterbury to exchange it. I got lost a few times on the way, a lot of time wasted.
But at least I was going to see "Pan's Labyrinth" in Waterbury, and I made it just in time. What a movie. I liked it a lot, even if the story was very simple. It looked great, was well acted, and it was nice to see a fantasy movie centered on female characters. A rich, dark fairy tale full of creepy, scary shit both human and not.
I then had a delicious lunch at Panera Bread and then got home to rest for a bit before going to give blood. But I spent an hour there only to be rejected because I have a blood enzyme deficiency that no one's ever turned me away for any other time I gave blood. Go fig.
I got out with just enough time to get to "Children of Men." Wow. That's it. Wow. Another fantasy film of sorts, just far more realistic and cutting too close to home. The acting was great -- from Clive Owen's disaffection shell-shocked into empathy, to Julianne Moore's almost-silly terrorist, to Claire-Hope Ashitey's directness. But it's Chiwetel Ejiofor who stole the whole thing for me. I've been into this guy since "Dirty Pretty Things," but he's far removed from that role with this. And Alfonso Cuarón's filmmaking is superb, an excellent closed style filled with dread and death at every corner. The long-take sequences especially so.
So that was my hot Mexican director day, with del Toro and Cuarón. I'm not interested at all in Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Babel," though, so I won't be completing the trifecta.
I also sneaked in some grocery shopping, and I bought a nice seagrass rug (it feels funny under my feet). May have to post a photo of it later on.
And hey varouna: Remember the Blue Parrot? Well, the dirty bird is gone. It has been bought up by a guy who runs the new Rockstar Gentlemen's Club in Wolcott (on Route 69, heh heh) and has been remodeled into Lovelle's Cafe. I took a stop in to see what it looked like now, and I know someone who tends bar there too. It's now actually clean, and looks good, and while there still was no pole, one was being installed next week. It's the end of an era. Plus I ended up talking to a nerdy goth girl stripper with a master's in folklore and mythology who teaches at a UConn campus. Because if I'm gonna hang out in a strip club, you bet I'll be discussing Viking and Icelandic myths.
In all, I was out from 10 a.m. until about 12:30 a.m. Now if only I'd been healthy being out all day! I'd been fighting a cold that I thought I had under control until when I had my temperature taken for (almost) giving blood -- it was 99.2! I likely had a fever earlier that I left unmedicated. (I've never been big on taking medicine; I'd rather eat, sleep, take my vitamins and let my immune system do its work.) I bought some medicine, and things have improved greatly. I'm back to no-cold status, but still needing some rest. Been totally headache-y for a while.
And now, Papa Bear Bill O'Reilly on "Colbert Report"!
I didn't get to West Hartford for Trader Joe's and Best Buy, though; my car's lock broke, so I had to take it back. But the Bristol office had no more cars, so I had to take it to a half-hour away to Waterbury to exchange it. I got lost a few times on the way, a lot of time wasted.
But at least I was going to see "Pan's Labyrinth" in Waterbury, and I made it just in time. What a movie. I liked it a lot, even if the story was very simple. It looked great, was well acted, and it was nice to see a fantasy movie centered on female characters. A rich, dark fairy tale full of creepy, scary shit both human and not.
I then had a delicious lunch at Panera Bread and then got home to rest for a bit before going to give blood. But I spent an hour there only to be rejected because I have a blood enzyme deficiency that no one's ever turned me away for any other time I gave blood. Go fig.
I got out with just enough time to get to "Children of Men." Wow. That's it. Wow. Another fantasy film of sorts, just far more realistic and cutting too close to home. The acting was great -- from Clive Owen's disaffection shell-shocked into empathy, to Julianne Moore's almost-silly terrorist, to Claire-Hope Ashitey's directness. But it's Chiwetel Ejiofor who stole the whole thing for me. I've been into this guy since "Dirty Pretty Things," but he's far removed from that role with this. And Alfonso Cuarón's filmmaking is superb, an excellent closed style filled with dread and death at every corner. The long-take sequences especially so.
So that was my hot Mexican director day, with del Toro and Cuarón. I'm not interested at all in Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Babel," though, so I won't be completing the trifecta.
I also sneaked in some grocery shopping, and I bought a nice seagrass rug (it feels funny under my feet). May have to post a photo of it later on.
And hey varouna: Remember the Blue Parrot? Well, the dirty bird is gone. It has been bought up by a guy who runs the new Rockstar Gentlemen's Club in Wolcott (on Route 69, heh heh) and has been remodeled into Lovelle's Cafe. I took a stop in to see what it looked like now, and I know someone who tends bar there too. It's now actually clean, and looks good, and while there still was no pole, one was being installed next week. It's the end of an era. Plus I ended up talking to a nerdy goth girl stripper with a master's in folklore and mythology who teaches at a UConn campus. Because if I'm gonna hang out in a strip club, you bet I'll be discussing Viking and Icelandic myths.
In all, I was out from 10 a.m. until about 12:30 a.m. Now if only I'd been healthy being out all day! I'd been fighting a cold that I thought I had under control until when I had my temperature taken for (almost) giving blood -- it was 99.2! I likely had a fever earlier that I left unmedicated. (I've never been big on taking medicine; I'd rather eat, sleep, take my vitamins and let my immune system do its work.) I bought some medicine, and things have improved greatly. I'm back to no-cold status, but still needing some rest. Been totally headache-y for a while.
And now, Papa Bear Bill O'Reilly on "Colbert Report"!