Gone East

Speaking of lightning: GO SEE THE NEW X-MEN MOVIE!!!

I haven't made the effort to go see a movie on the day it opened in a while. When I first got to Cali in June 1994 Hmmm....coming up on nine years -- it looks like Berkeley might be a keeper....Providence was 1985 to 1994. Western Massachusetts was 1977 to 1985 UMass isn't counted in that timeline, since college isn't the same as working and picking a place to live. Berkeley will soon bust Providence for length, and in both Western Massachusetts and Providence, the last couple of years were hard and I was unhappy. Things here in Berk just get better. But, I Joann. When I first got here in '94, it was just in time for summer blockbuster season. I wasn't ready to look for work yet, and Jack was in between contracts, so the two of us would go to a new movie every friday matinee. The first showing of a newly released flick. It was a great time. And since then, there's only been a few films that i've made the effort to see on opening day. The new Planet of the Apes was that for me. I was so psyched -- it combined my teenage lust for the original series with the prospect of Mark Walberg having a naked swim with boys like the first film. Alas, that one sucked. More often than not, my effort to make a film on opening is driven by marketing, rather than buzz, so it's always a risk. But these past weeks of coming attractions were just so enticing, and I'm real pleased to say that the movie was worth the opening day effort. I haven't enjoyed a film so much in a long time. It's well done, well acted, well written -- it's a lot of fun.

There's so many plot issues you could pick at. I won't go into them to avoid spoilers, but you know -- you don't care. This is a film where you just lay back and have a great time.

I liked it guys.

I saw it with Marc Gasway -- he of the infamous ne argument in election night scrabble. And with Gabe Hughes. Gabe is a student that I do some academic coaching with. Big sweetheart of a kid. Definitely a sweetheart -- he's a teddy bear that just likes to hug people all the time. Definitely big -- seven feet tall. Gabe's the starting center for the Cal Basketball Team. So he gets a bit of fame from that, and he's always expressed impatience and tension over that attention. And last night I saw why. The three of us went for bbq at Everett & Jones after the movie last night. And we're waiting for our order, and this guy approaches us. "Gabe Hughes. I'm a big fan." And he shakes Gabe's hand and says nice fan boy stuff for a bit, but then he gets into what he really wants to say. "You know, you just gotta think smarter under that basket. If you think about what you're doing more, you won't get so many fouls. Then Braun wouldn't have to sit you so much of the second half." And he's saying it with a smile, but it's clear that what this is for him is an opportunity for him to finally say what he's been yelling at his television for so long to the actual guy up there. Gabe gets fame just for playing and being in the newspapers and on tv, but the fans think that since they put so much effort into watching you and buying tickets to see you, that they have the right to start telling you what you are doing wrong and what you need to do. And there's this naive superiority that assumes the fan is the only one who thought of this, and Gabe himself never realized that reducing the number of fouls he makes would be a good idea. And Gabe, bless his heart, just kept smiling and nodded his head and was polite to the guy. Shook his hand goodbye.

I was proud of him. I was impressed.

Speaking of being impressed, sorry the thunder storm was punk.

So, what's the story?

The Old Man in the Mountain fell down! It's gone!

Geez.
Sitting here in Cali, this news really bums me out. It's gone. Damn.