Boy, what a good weekend! Y'all should be so lucky.

Yesterday, Mary and I watched Gangs of New York, one of fifty gajillion movies I've walked away from, slapping my head and wishing I'd seen when it was new in theatres, only this time I slapped my head very hard and repeatedly. If you missed this film, then for the love of mike, get to a video store today, because it's just downright astonishing - a freight train of resentment, divided loyalties, inevitability and futility. Jim Broadbent is spectacularly cast as Boss Tweed, but all eyes are quite anchored to Daniel Day-Lewis, who utterly dominates his every scene as Bill the Butcher, one of the best screen villains, ever. Seriously: go see this movie.

In other news, I'm amazed to see that Bataclan 1972, a long-circulated bootleg of Lou Reed, John Cale and Nico performing in Paris, is finally getting a legitimate issue this week. At the time of the show, the Velvet Underground still existed, only with none of the original members in it. Nobody ever bought those albums. Cale and Nico had been recording her really stark, eerie albums for Island at the time. This version even adds two of the bonus tracks that Gold Standard stuck on their bootleg, and apparently restores the show to its proper order as well. First new purchase of 2004, I think!

The kids are being great today. We watched Finding Nemo and I made soup.

Anyway, Friday evening, I had a super Clix tourney at Champion, which was a real madhouse. We had twelve people for Clix and there looked to be another 10 for MechWarrior and the shop was moving! Champion is in this really scary, long-dead strip mall in Smyrna and the owner is finally moving to a new place on the East-West Connector about five miles away, so while we played, shelving was coming down around our ears. In what would have been a real heartbreaker had I not already had the LE on offer, I was 26 points shy of winning the 2nd place prize - and that's with me carrying 1750-odd over three 400-point rounds. D'oh!

Saturday, I went to Madison and picked up hotcoffeems and her li'l girl and we went to Athens for a really yummy breakfast at Bluebird, where I had not been in years, before hitting the J&J for a mostly disappointing excursion. Well, Mary found a couple of comics she needed, but Gerald was oddly understocked in those fields where he specializes. Usually, you can dig through his new arrivals and find some really nice condition late-60s Brave & the Bold or Metamorpho or early-70s Metal Men or the like for about $2 each, but evidently the treasure hunters beat us there. The cold weather kept many of the outdoor vendors from coming, but I did find a very nice condition copy of Altered Images' Happy Birthday for a buck.

When we went downtown, I referred to Devlin as "my buddy" and Boodge wanted to know where my other "buddies" were, suddenly realizing that my children weren't with me. So cute!! Also, we stopped on campus for a moment and I defaced some really dumb Illiterate Society flyers. We watched Gangs of New York in two parts, split between Boodge's nap and going to sleep later. (This is, the childfree would be shocked and offended to learn, the default state of watching movies after children enter your life. Most films suddenly get split in half, unless it's Barry Lyndon or something really long which instead becomes a multi-part epic shown over multiple nights.) We had dinner at one of Madison's best restaurants and I don't think the day could have been any better had I slipped it a $20 ahead of time.

Speaking of which, yesterday, I tried bribing my mom to keep the kids for another twelve hours so I could actually watch some of these "NFL Playoffs" of which people speak, but she wasn't having it. We got home around 11 am and had lunch and then we had some chores and family activities which kept us busy for a few hours. I stuffed the body of the boychild's inflatable Hulk with packing peanuts, though I'm still not absolutely sure how to reattach the head. I vacuumed and we put away the Christmas decorations (yeah, on the eleventh, bite me) and we finally watched Finding Nemo together. That "I can speak whale" scene is funnier than anything, although the casual, informed commentary about the dentist's skills is just simply genius. The great thing about breaking down the characters and the gags in a Pixar film is that, inevitably, with the exception of A Bug's Life which is bloody awful, you find that the motivation behind every character is rock-solid and makes perfect sense, which is why so many of what seem like throwaway gags work so darn well, and better than any other kid-friendly entertainment.

I "cooked" up some soup just full of veggies and gave the kids peanut butter sandwiches and a pack each of my Snyder's Coney Island chips. Julian happily sucked down some soup, complaining only that I should slice the carrots thinner, and then asked for some crackers. I didn't think I had any, so he dipped a potato chip in, got it good and soggy and decided he liked it. Within minutes, he'd taken this to a conclusion only logical to a child and poured the entire bag in the soup and stirred them in good and mushy. It took him a couple of bites to realize he'd made a bad move: it's not like we're talking about haute cuisine here, but I can't think of many ways to ruin the taste of a bowl of soup more emphatically than overpowering it with whatever weird stuff they put on those chips to make them taste like hot dogs and mustard.

We put on "Scream of the Shalka" intending to finish it and within four minutes the phone rang. My son - dude this! - ran up, answered, realized it was his mother and said "I'm watching Doctor Who. Can you call me later?"

We finished the show without further interruption. I think it was a bit rushed in places and unclear in others, but I enjoyed it all the same. Richard E. Grant is a fine Doctor, and I can't help but hope he plays him on the new television series. Then we put on part one of "The Android Invasion," which was entertaining. The phone rang twice during it. Nobody budged. If that was someone from whom I genuinely wished to hear, I apologize and really should buy batteries for this answering machine. If it was just their mom, well, she talked to them later, before bed, anyway. (You will not believe this, really you won't, I mean it's so unexpected, but she and Married Boyfriend have split up. Astonishing.)

Now. What can I do to make next weekend as good as this one was? It's a mystery to me, but I intend to have fun trying!

Also, I'm looking for a babysitter for tonight so I can go play at Dr. No's, meaning dramaqueer should pretend to be home sick with the creeping bubos or Grubb's disease or impetigo or something.

(Originally posted January 12, 2004, 08:08 at gmslegion, seven comments after the cut.)

dramaqueer
2004-01-12 06:23 am UTC (from 216.19.111.185) (link) Select
I won't pretend to be sick, but I will pretend that I will be at Sam's house until about 10:30. :-(


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I'm no fan, but
cupids_psyche
2004-01-12 06:52 am UTC (from 208.253.246.93) (link) Select
in light of the way the shit's been going down lately, THIS
ran up, answered, realized it was his mother and said "I'm watching Doctor Who. Can you call me later?"
was fucking brilliant!!! OMFG - suddenly I have a great amount of love & respect for the boy-child.


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operatic
2004-01-12 12:58 pm UTC (from 128.192.16.119) (link) Select

We had dinner at one of Madison's best restaurants

*ooo!* Which one (if I may ask)? T really loves visiting Madison, and it'd be nice to take her to a good place there sometime...


We put on "Scream of the Shalka"

Is that the BBC animated Dr. Who? Might have to try to borrow a copy from you at some point.

Very glad to hear of the great weekend y'all had. Yay! :) *hug!*

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hotcoffeems
2004-01-12 08:45 pm UTC (from 216.78.52.104) (link) Select
Psst, you! The restaurant was the Chop House, which is pretty satisfying foodwise in general, and also features The World's Best Dessert (it's this thing...it's got like puff pastry and cream and caramel and chocolate...and is served with homemade vanilla ice cream). Y'all come on down, y'hear?
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Thanks! :)
operatic
2004-01-13 11:11 am UTC (from 128.192.16.119) (link) Select
Ah, yes; I remember where that is (I think an Italian restaurant used to be there, but I'm not sure). That dessert sure sounds tempting... :)

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gmslegion
2004-01-13 06:56 am UTC (from 209.78.214.253) (link) Select
What she said; also, the Chop House serves up some sinfully addictive onion peels.

You're welcome to borrow "Scream of the Shalka," but you can also watch it for free online here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/
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michaelpop
2004-01-12 01:57 pm UTC (from 64.60.70.67) (link) Select
even 'tho i have no vested interest in any of the teams, i have to admit that this years crop of playoff games make for some good television. so many sudden death games and fabulous endings.
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