Reviews and musings on various films.
We have no school today. I am so far enjoying this day very much; I’m still in my pajamas, drinking tea and eating a bagel. I am going to see “Milk” this afternoon with some friends. I will also be doing some present shopping and a lot of homework this afternoon.
I have a lot cleaning to do before I go, which I am now going to begin.
I have awoken, am eating yogurt, and am about to head out.
I have not been this excited in a long time.
Both my sister and I had excellent dreams last night. In mine, I was at the Mock Trial state finals, which take place in Faneuil Hall in Boston, except that Faneuil hall was in Orange instead. We were facing Newton South (who we lost to in the finals last year), and the trial was just beginning. The judge made a comment about how pleased she (it was the judge from The Dark Knight) was to see so many spectators from both schools there. When she said this, everyone who was their from Newton South, parents, students, teachers, etc., stood up, and all started switching chairs continuously. Everyone was running around, and it was very loud and confusing. The judge seemed fine with it, so I stood up and objected, saying that their had been a gross infraction of the rules of conduct. I requested a few minutes for my co-counsel to gather themselves before we proceeded with the trial. The judge agreed, but instead of having a brief recess, for the next few minutes, people came up to the microphone and sang or played songs, like an open mic. I got fed up with it, and decided to leave. I left Faneuil Hall, and rollerbladed through Orange (I was wearing the black shorts I have with a paint stain on the fly [I had changed out of my suit pants because I was hot]) and my suit jacket. I rollerbladed down Route 2, into the center of Greenfield (which is not on Route 2), where I decided to turn around and go back. The only problem was that the way back was uphill a lot of the time, so it was going to take a while. Soon I came to a river. On the way there, I had parked in Greenfield, and walked the rest of the way, so I had swam across the river, but since I had rollerblades now, I couldn’t do that. I rollerbladed upriver, until I came to the bridge that connected Greenfield to Orange. It was the bridge that goes over the dam in the center of Shelburne Falls. I went over the bridge, back to the courthouse (the entrance to which was located in a very low concrete building, sort of like a fallout shelter. Going into the building, I met a classmate of mine, Jake Edwards, who in the dream was also on the Mock Trial team, although he isn’t in real life. We entered Faneuil Hall through the back door, and our coach, Gary, saw us, and told everyone we were back.
That is where my recollection ends. I have several theories about this dream. The fact that there are so many different geographic locations that were brought together tends to signify that I am doing way too many things (true) and that my focus is all over the place (also true). Jake Edwards is probably in the dream because he appeared on my street last night while I was walking the dog. Apparently he has a friend in number 18, the big brick house, who he was picking up. He didn’t know I lived there, either. Orange is probably in the dream because I drove there the other night to pick up my friends for the dance we went to. Mock Trial is there because, well, I think about it all the time, even though the season doesn’t start until November.
Koko’s dream involved a bunch of characters from various Joss Whedon shows. There were credits in her dream, and Joss Whedon was in them.
I would have written sooner, but yesterday was so exciting that I couldn’t. Therefore, I will present a chronological narrative of what has transpired since I left Penn Station yesterday.
I arrived at the apartment easily, with a minimum of confusion on the subway. We hung around for a while, and eventually left to play Frisbee in Central Park. While playing, I noticed some people practicing a martial art, which I thought to be Aikido. Upon asking them, I learned that it was in fact the Butterfly form of Chinese Kung-Fu. We talked about martial arts for a while, and it somehow came up that I trained in Indonesian Kung-Fu. They asked me to do a demonstration, so I showed them two forms; a stationary form and the staff form. Then we left the park. We went to the 5:20 showing of The Dark Night. IN IMAX! I had already seen it twice, and it did not disappoint the third time. Especially when seen at 72′ x 53′. We picked up some pizza on the way home for dinner.
This morning we woke up at about 10:30, and left the house at about 11:00, walking towards Columbia University. We got breakfast at Nussbaum & Wu, which was the ultimate culture clash experience. There were Asian workers, salsa music blaring, and the best pastrami (the only pastrami) I’ve had in a while. We briefly walked through the Columbia campus on the main lawn, before dropping off my friend at the subway, as her bus left at 1:00. We walked back towards the apartment, and I stopped to get a cinnamon Danish (amazing) at the Hungarian Pastry Shop (recommended to me by my mother, and pointed out to me by the friend I was staying with). We sat at the Sip, a tiny cafe and bar that is open 10AM-4AM every day, and has table and counter tops made of pennies. I reserved my train ticket on my friend’s laptop, and walked down to Broadway to get cash (I used her credit card to make the reservation). I said goodbye to her when I got back, and walked off to Central Park, intending to meet the martial artists again, as I recalled them saying they’d be in the same place the next day at 1:00, but when I arrived, they were nowhere to be found. So now I am sitting under a tree, finishing my Danish, and waiting to leave for my train. I am taking the C train from 110th St. to 34th St., where I can get to the Amtrak station underground. My train leaves at 4:30, so I will leave here at about 3:30, to leave time for an approximately half-hour long train ride, retrieving my ticket once I arrive, and boarding the train. This gives me another hour-and-three-quarters, in which I will probably just relax, and observe.
At the moment, there is a children’s storyteller with a PA and a banjo telling a story to a group of children and parents. I think the story concerns many animals in a pit, hiding from what they believe to be the end of the world.
There is a lot to see here, so I’m looking forward to having such a large block of time to see it.
Today after school I am heading into the city to meet some friends. I will be staying there tonight and tomorrow night. While I am there, I am also thinking of trying to see The Dark Knight in IMAX, since there are a bunch of IMAX theaters near where I am staying, and none terribly close to where I live.
Now I’m old enough to legally see the movie. Pretty unexciting. The problem with 17 is that there aren’t any new priveleges you gain except for being able to see R-rated movies. And I could already do that, because no one cares. But it’s exciting anyway. Happy birthday to me.
