No clever title either, apparently.
Friday
Friday night MB and I went to that jazz/house/disco band performance. It was pretty fun and a lot less of a pain than seeing his classmate perform heavy metal Wednesday night. We had time to eat dinner, and even dessert. And we did *not* have to wait outside.
The music was fun but a lot of the audience was annoying. It seemed to be mostly gay men and straight women. We were sitting at a table against the wall, and when we went to the bathroom, had to step over a lot of people. When I did, these women just stared at me. Like, what? Is this a private party or something? Then when MB did, one of the women said loudly to her friend, “People should really say excuse me when they walk by!” Oh gee, maybe people shouldn’t sit with their legs all splayed out in a very crowded club right in front of the bathroom.
Then there was one woman who seemed to be swimming in a sea of gay men. She had on this annoying silver scarf, and kept dancing right up to the tiny stage, putting a thumbs up or clapping like a robot right in the lead singer’s face. Then she’d turn around and blow kisses at one of her gays sitting at the table behind her, and do horrible vogue-wannabe movements with her arms. Then suddenly stop stock still and start Blackberrying madly. Then start dancing crazily again, over and over.
I wanted to kill her.
At least the music was fun.
Saturday
Exhausting overall. At about 1 I went to pick up my parents from Penn Station. From there we hopped the subway to the theater. Chicago’s been out FOREVER, but there were still a zillion people waiting to get in.
This is the fourth time I’ve seen this show. The first was many years ago in Boston with ES. Then I saw it through work for free, and then I think ES and I saw it again because we got cheap tickets. All the performances, including this weekend’s, were good, but the best had to be the time both Bebe Neuwirth and Ann Reinking were in it (I think that was the time through work).
This performance was very good. We had great seats – orchestra right – and most importantly, my parents really enjoyed it, my dad in particular. He kept saying how “professional” everyone was. Plus we were so close we could see the sweat glistening on the dancers’ bodies, including the amazing pecs of this one guy. *squeeze*
After the show we headed over to the restaurant, where MB would meet us, having decided to forego the musical portion of the day. It was a challenge because suddenly it was all rainy and windy. And my parents walked really slowly. I tried really hard to slow down, but they would still end up way behind me.
I wanted to take my parents somewhere other than Asian food so I picked Kellari Taverna, this Greek place I *think* I went to through work. The food was pretty good. For appetizers we had fried octopus in this delicious vinegary sauce, and fried zucchini and eggplant “chips.” Then we just got a couple of pounds of fish – I forget which ones, I let MB do the choosing – and a couple of sides, potatoes and green beans. For dessert we shared a chocolate souffle, which was incredible.
The food was good, but a little overpriced. Still I was happy to treat my parents. Most people have big banquets when they turn 70, and spend thousands of dollars. But my dad wanted something low-key.
After dinner we took my parents back to Penn Station, made sure they knew what train to look out for, and headed home.
Although I was pooped it was still early, not even 9. We thought about going to see the midnight showing of Monty Python’s Holy Grail, but then MB noticed that Swedish vampire movie we’ve been wanting to see was out.
It was GOOD. The vampire stuff was very subtle, and we noticed that they didn’t show a lot of violence, which I think is how it is with lot of European films. For instance, a guy would be slitting another guy’s throat, and they’d only show the guy from behind, but it was just as menacing and disturbing.
The people behind us were, guess what, ANNOYING. They kept making loud, snarky comments all during the previews. Now I know the previews aren’t the movie, but they are like mini movies so everyone should shut the fuck up. Then when the actual movie started, which it did so silently, with no music, against a scene of softly falling snow against a dark sky, the girl behind us goes, “It’s so QUIET.” Really? Do you think it’s cuz YOU’RE IN A MOVIE? Luckily they all shut up once the film started.
Sunday
I was semi-productive in the morning, getting a load of laundry done. That afternoon I headed out to meet YP to see The Secret Life of Bees. I actually had no idea what the movie was about. It wasn’t bad, of the Fried Green Tomatoes/Steel Magnolias type. Some melodrama, some stereotypes, and lots of crying.
At home I found that MB had bought another guitar (!!!). That makes four. Oh well, he really loves it and a got a good deal.
After getting some food – noodles at the Lower East Side Noodle Bar – we had a quiet evening in. There was a new It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu (that show is frigging hilarious), plus we watched the pilot episode of Sons of Anarchy (enh) and an old Family Guy.
~ ~ ~
In other news, I decided to start a movie blog, in addition to my book blog, to keep track of all the movies I see. I may or may not add very short reviews, or at least one word ratings (eg, Sucked, Just Okay, Pretty Good, Awesome). At the very least, the movie posters are cool to roll through.