Tag: movies

Latter Days

I’ve been wanting to see Latter Days for awhile now. I could swear I remember recommending it. Or maybe disrecommending it… Anyway what better time to watch it, then when I’m flying so that I can distract myself from irrational anxieties? I think the movie rocks. It may even be in the lower echelon of my favorite 10. Probably not the top ten best movies ever, but I had a number of themes I found very appealing. The skin factor gave me a moment or two of discomfort playing it on the plane next to a mother whose son was sitting just on the other side of her, but oh well.

Latter Days is the story of a mormon missionary and a gay waiter tramp. boy meets boy, and… *spoilers*

Batman Begins and Fantastic Four

I saw Batman Begins almost two weeks ago with and . Aside from some (major) physics beefs, mostly related to the doomsday device, it was a good movie. And it had a philosophical notion or two buried in there. “It’s not who you are on the inside, it’s what you do that matters.” The theme of redemption is another big one. Not bad on the skin, better for those into bruises. The special effects eye candy was good.

Friday night I saw Fantastic Four with Mitch (the roomie), Tom (friend of mitch, from nebraska, 2nd generation japanese immigrant), and Adam and Troy (gay couple, formerly downstairs, no sex relationship). Troy was doing the driving. Some lively political discussion ensued. Troy voted for Bush, probably as a ‘moral values’ thing, and is somewhat upset with how things have been going. I pity the boy. He has a few places of not-broken-ness. I noted the gas prices on the way to the theater and was appalled that they were in the $2.50 range. The speed of their ascent worries me.

As for the movie itself, total fan service. And, ya know, I’m okay with that. Chris Evans (with a nice hairy chest, thank you) naked in a pool of hot water in the snow? Jessica Alba in her skivies in public? A movie centered around showing off their powers? The science here is enough to make me cry, so I just ignore it. The plot that shows up for the first 15 minutes and the last 25 minutes hangs together well enough. Total explosions, skin, superpowers fluff. And I liked it. I expected Miss Alba to be totally implausible as science chica based on the previews and one review. She doesn’t exactly make the most credible scientist, most of the female science types I know are not going to crack a gasket over people using words like the noun “variable” in the discussion of interpersonal relationships, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Thing’s story is told with some depth and sensitivity, he pretty much makes the show, as much as any of them do.

Yes, I’m complaining about comic book movie ‘science’. That’s like two giant steps away from anything resembling reality, and I weep for the future, but so it goes. =)

movie time with Jhim and Robbie

My 4th of July wasn’t too terribly eventful, but it was pretty fun. Reversing the situation from last week, is in my city of residence for work-related purposes. So, he, and I did something much like what he, , and I did. Hang out, catch a movie (Bewitched, I was rather disappointed, they could have done so much better…) and dinner at the chicago diner. is a great guy, who I would recommend to just about anyone for an evening of around-the-town fun. is also quite cool, and it’s fun (if not difficult) to make him blush, even if it doesn’t show on him.

More travel woes

Today was a 9.5 hour day, just getting from my dc hotel to my chicago home. 5-6 hours of that spent in a plane on the ground, no breaks. I saw Vin Diesel’s the Pacifier. It was okay. Then like 95% of million dollar baby. I missed the last few minutes of that, but a web search provided me with a plot synopsis of the two major events I missed. Depressing movie that. The christian critique of it that I googled up amused me. The critique had no problem with people beating the shit out of one another, but was utterly horrified by assisted suicide for a quadraplegic amputee no longer able to breathe without support. What crap.

Also, by dint of much time on the phone, my student loans are on track for consolidation. Woo! … *collapse* *snore*

Pride summary

Saturday: Gymnastics, Howl’s Moving Castle (good for disney, somewhat disappointing for Miyazaki) with , Mexican also with Robbie, CGMC concert with where I spotted , Seth, and Wayne. (well, Seth spotted me). The concert was somewhere between okay and good. The summer practice period is pretty short, and they usually team up with another concert for it. This year, they did not, and it showed. While the staging, costumes, and coreography were impressive, the music was less so.

Afterwards, and I walked to the pick me up. Much food was had. informed me of a great deal of the inner workings of lj’ers of which I’d previously been unaware. Fascinating.

Home & bed.

Next day, big-ass, nasty tasting, tequila rich margarita in a plastic cup and bad chili with straight coworker to start the pride parade. Watching the parade with the straight coworkers from the neighborhood. Counting the protesters. (there were 7 of them). The marching band played “jesus loves me” for them. Then off to ‘s party. Wildness ensued, though I took little part in it. I had a drink or two. I remember a beer and a fruity malt beverage while surrounded by bears. I met (and may I say, christian, nice catch) and the cute, sweet, self-proclaimed slumlord, from austin. Dinner at mamacita’s where someone who doesn’t speak english so good apparently had a problem understanding both “no cheese” and “sin queso”. *sigh*. Hugs & home.

Sleep.

Up at 3:30am on a monday packing for a trip to DC. Drug Information Association annual meeting. Another waitperson with english troubles, who also understood neither “sin queso” nor “no cheese”. I miss san fran. Or maybe just El Sombrero in Berkeley.

If I do get and take a position with the gao, odds are good I will try to get a rotation through San Fran’s field office, working for the Natural Resources and the Environment team. I’d try to liver in the lower Haight. Mmmm, axum. Mmm, punky lookin’ guys.

I’m now slightly tipsy after having visited Halo (sadly asocially) and taken advantage of their second drink free happy hour special. And chatting with gay men, while in a bed & breakfast in dupont circle. I was also singing a bit of Sarah McLachlan to myself on the way back from the bar. (over and over again). I don’t think it gets much gayer without another guy being involved. *wistful sigh*

“Hey your glass is empty. It’s a hell of a long way home. Why don’t you let me take you? It’s no good to go alone.”

“Bedazzled” Review

I rented this movie expecting it to be lame. I wasn’t horribly disappointed. The characters are 2 dimensional stereotypes, at best, the acting is kinda enh, barring the female love interest, who does a good job with some crappy lines. The plot and dialogue are generally uninspired. It does have a happy, feel good ending, and a yin-yangish, but generally childish view of evil. Not much in the way of eye candy.

2 out of 5 stars. Rent it if you’re bored, single, there’s nothing on tv, and all your friends are out of town (fit my situation perfectly =)