I had a good weekend. Drove down to Richmond with shadowandlight to visit autophanous Spent a very long Saturday driving, shopping, entertaining cats, playing Apples to Apples, eating Mexican food, chatting (in the Olden Days sense of the word), going to a movie, and otherwise being amused.
Saw “Strange than Fiction“, which worked well as a chick flick but should not be mistaken as anything else. Realized, somewhat belatedly, that Maggie Gyllenhall is hot. Sure, I loved her performance in “Secretary”, but I guess her somewhat ungainly high-school girl appearance in that movie had obscured her charms. Was pleasantly surprised at not finding Will Ferrel irritating.
Picked up Heinlein’s “The Door into Summer” while there, and finished it yesterday. It made me happy. Heinlein was never afraid of a happy ending, one of the reasons I love him so. Also, he understood cats.
Started running again this morning, for the first time in at least a month and a half. Did 16 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), which basically means repeatedly running flat-out for thirty seconds, and then staggering along for ninety seconds gasping for breath. I ran with some trepidation, because the last time I ran after a break, my left knee went into Total Failure Mode for a couple weeks. Which was the original reason I hadn’t run for awhile. So far, so good; I’m not feeling any unusual knee pain. I guess all those unilateral deadlifts paid off.
Had a great time at drumming class last night. I’ve been getting the itch to play music with other people something fierce lately. If you know of any opportunities in that vein, feel free to pipe up.
The door into summer is cute.
You’re taking a drumming class?
I’ve been going to a world music drumming class at Heathcote for a year or so. It’s fun.
See, now, I didn’t think Stranger Than Fiction was a chick flick at all. Sam and I saw it and loved it. 🙂
Understand that by “chick flick” I mean: A heartwarming, romantic, formulaic movie of the kind you can safely take a girl to on a date with the confidence that neither of you will hate it and it won’t kill the mood. I don’t mean a movie that only women will enjoy.
The reason I made a point of qualifying it as a chick flick stemmed from the conversation that followed the movie. I had known nothing at all about the movie when I went in, so I had no expectations. I came out of it having enjoyed it, but knowing I would have enjoyed it more in the context of a date. One of the friends I saw it with, however, had been led by the film’s advertising into getting her hopes up for an I Heart Huckabees style high-concept intellectual quirk-fest. She was sorely disappointed. I tried to explain that as high art it was null, but that perceived withing the right context – e.g. having been wined and dined, and then watching it while a guy tries to stick his tongue in your ear – it wasn’t half-bad.