FASERIP.
Yesterday I was scrambling to get my sales analysis done-- some important numbers don't come in until noon-- so that I could get out of work on the half-day on time, since Terra & I had tickets to go see The Amazing Spider-Man. I know it wasn't a box office smash, but I'd heard universally good things from the nerd community, so I wanted to go. Verdict? It is a good Spider-Man movie! A lot of it was an origin story retelling, but that doesn't always bother me-- though I think that Grant Morrison's four panel Superman origin has a lot going for it-- since the origin story is one of those focal points in the character's story. I always sort of marvel at the disdain for reboots-- no one seems shocked that theater is a lot of classic scripts, for instance. "Ugh, another Shakespeare re-imaging!" is not something I hear a lot. Anyhow, the highlight of the movie is...well, really threefold. First off, Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy. Just visually, for one thing. Seeing her in a short miniskirt, high stockings...& a lab coat? Was...affecting. Second off; she's smart, she's brave, she calls people on their garbage, she's pretty fantastic. Second, a geeky Spider-Man. He tells jokes. He invents stuff. He figures out formulas. He weaves a giant spider web for a perfectly plausible reason. Third, believe it or not, The Lizard. I didn't really understand how The Lizard could be an interesting villain, but when he tracks Peter Parker to his high school & attacks him there, things get real. There is a fight scene where The Lizard-- a scientist who has used a transgenic serum to give him regeneration & hulking reptillian strength-- is just grabbing chemicals from the science lab, smashing the glass beakers in his hand & crumbling chemicals together to make explosives. Playing up the mad scientist angle in the fight sold it to me. I guess the invisible fourth thing about the movie is that it isn't afraid to "go for it." I've mentioned before that part of the motto behind my current Oubliette campaign is "aw fuck it, just go for it!" whenever I think a thing might be a little too weird, a little too on the nose. Amazing Spider-Man has a similar philosophy. Heck yeah, the union workers all line up the cranes so Spider-Man can swing to Oscorp more easily. U! S! A! Silly, but I'll take it! After that, I split off from Terra & went to meet Kat at Astor Place, with a brief stop off at Kit Marlowe & Co. to say hello. We watched the Fiasco episodes of TableTop, which I think are fantastic, & she agreed. Eventually we were joined by Jocelyn & Brian. Kat & I were hanging out on the fire escape & they almost snuck by, but Kat spotted them! Then home & it was just a matter of trying not to fall asleep before Jenny got home. I was not entirely successful. At least this morning we spent a while cuddling & listening to music together, that was nice.