I must REALLY miss home, because when I saw this poster, it just hit me as right... on a historical note, notice how well-featured Cuba is in this picture... lovely bit o' Floridabilia.  ¶ 12:30 AM (0) comments

  I knew when I woke up yesterday that my 29th birthday wasn't going to be the best -- maybe not the worst either, but certainly nothing good.  Why?  Because YOU aren't here!  Or -- I'm not THERE.  Either way you look at it, I'm little miss Newintown, don't have any friends around, and no amount of celebrating can sustain joy in the absense of friends.  So for having a good day, low expectations were my only hope!  We cleaned up the apartment, did a little laundry, talked about going to a water park (which never panned out), and then finally decided to just go see Spiderman2, which was pretty good, and really funny.
 
My first words upon the close of Spiderman1 were, "another Raimi masterpiece"!  My thoughts upon the close of Spiderman2 were less clear, but something along the lines of, "Raimi's lost it!"  "It" meaning "all restraint"!  The scene in which the chuckling emergency room crew means to take Dr Octopus's arms off is a full-on laugh-out-loud homage to Evil Dead, complete with a surgical-steel chainsaw -- and the cameo by Stan Lee is surpassed in its thrill quality by the scene with Bruce Campbell as a theater usher in which that distinctive, twisted, slow-low comedy works so well you can almost hear the vertebrae in Campbell's neck clicking as he shakes his head "no" --  (in a later scene Peter Parker says on the phone, "someone needs to do something about that usher!" -- the viewer is left speechless and on the edge of hiliarity!)  It's obvious that someone told Raimi after Spiderman1 was a big hit that what they liked about it was HIM, his distinctive sick humor -- and in this one he let loose and wild with it.  Because of that, it's probably a lot less cohesive and "solid" than Spiderman1, but dear god in heaven when it's being funny, it's some of the funniest shit ever.  You also have to hand it to Toby Maguire for managing to be the biggest dweeb ever to hit major motion moving pictures: the goofy straight-backed grinning Peter Parker riding his scooter down the street, or slo-mo strutting across the college campus have to be the essense of dweebhood, concentrate.  It almost prevents you from wondering about a leading lady whose love prospects have so far included an unGodly-wealthy corporate prince, a superhuman superhero, and a NASA astronaut who's been to the Moon!
 
After the film, we went to a LUNCH DINNER COCKTAILS KARAOKE place right near the theater called VAL'S.  It's a wonderfully tacky place with unimproved 50's furniture and these delightful paintings of naked ladies on the wall that put tremendous effort into being classy, and effortlessly fail.   Think woodpanel, hidden red fringe-lights, green hanging room-lights, chairs with wheels and a 70-year-old bartender.  You half expect a young Sean Connery to strut through the front door in a tight polo shirt and tighter trousers and order a martini shaken not stirred... the karaoke was old-school cheese, and delightful.  Lots of 50's tunes.  Lots of Elvis.  Although the songbook was extensive.  For Heather, I sang No Rain, and apparently, I did so in key.  No one was more surprised than me.
 
A year from now, I'll be 30 -- but home.  I'll take it!!!




  ¶ 5:24 PM (0) comments