Evening Entertainments

All week I have been enthusiastically reading other people's blogs. Some people's blogs are quite boring of course, but occasionally you latch onto someone who's a good writer and also updates frequently. That last reminded me that I have been somewhat lax with my own updating lately. It has been an eventful week. I guess we are trying to cram a lot of fun into the last little bit of time we have left together before I leave.

On Monday we went to see a show by Barrel of Monkeys. It turns out they are not the same as the Neo-Futurists, even though they use the same space. They are a theater group that does creative writing workshops in local elementary schools and then performs some of the pieces. I guess during the summer they do performances for the general public. Some of the skits were a barrel of laughs all right.

Example:
When I Fell Off the Top Bunk
By Stephaun, Loyola Park After School Program
When I was three I was on my top bunk and I fell and my mom came in and said "Are you okay" and I laughed, she picked me up and I bit her.

And another example:
The Little Cowboy
By Devonte Vivians, 4th grade, Reavis
little cowboy: Dad can I go out an feed my horse.
Dad: NO boy because it is danger out there.
little cowboy: But my horse is out there, he can keep me from the danger.
Dad: That horse is the danger.
little cowboy: Dad please, I love that horse, how can I show him that if I do not feed him, he will die.
Dad: I said NO okay boy.
Mom: Wat did you do that to that boy he is become a little cowboy he can not be one if his horse is dead so let him feet that horse.
Dad: I sad NO and no means NO I said.
little cowboy: I wish I can live by my self.
Dad: boy you can go feed your horse and you can ride your horse boy because I love you and I am your dad and I will all ways love.

One must admit, they're pretty brilliant. The execution was uneven, though. Some stories were superb and the theatrical versions tended to disappoint. Other times, the stories were pretty mediocre and boring sounding, but the plays came out hilarious. I should mention one in particular, a Poetry Corner style reading of a brilliantly angstful lament entitled "I am Poop"--a deeply felt rendition.

At $10, I felt it was a bit pricey. But it was certainly well-attended, so it's clearly what the market would support. All in all an interesting experience, and of higher intelllectual and artistic quality than what we did the next evening.

That was, see The Da Vinci Code at the Brew and View. Don't get me wrong, the theater was awesome. They had long padded benches with tables in (also more tables with chairs) in lieu of your typical seating, and naturally served beer of the most plebeian varieties. The shabby but wonderful run-down garishness of a fine theater fallen on harder times. Gold moulding, private boxes now dark, and a screen just slightly too narrow for today's movies!

Alas, today's movie was an extreme disappointment, and mind you we weren't expecting much. We thought to ourselves, well, we wouldn't pay full price to see this. And we probably wouldn't want to see it sober. But even drunk and discounted it was pretty grim. We hadn't read the book, but the big surprise was obvious as soon as we got through the academic versus academic expository dialogue. And the puzzles got solved so fast, and in such difficult accents, that we hardly understood that they were puzzles before they were dispensed with. As one review I read put it, it should have been a TV miniseries, not a movie. Yeah, perhaps it would have been better if either of us had read the book. But who has time for that!?

On the way home we got into a tremendous argument about just what kind of bad it was, focusing on the question, "Would it be rational for a Christian to change ANY of his or her beliefs about Christianity due to watching this movie?" Colin answered a vehement no, while I felt it was kind of beside the point. Or as Colin put it later when we were in a better frame of mind for thinking: when someone already holds to irrational methods with regard to beliefs--faith, anti-intellectualism, etc.--purely rational arguments aren't what will be most effective in convincing them. But I don't think this long, vehement argument improved either of our opinions about the movie.

We made up in time for our monthiversary yesterday though, fortunately. I don't know how we got started celebrating them, because neither of us have done it muchc in past relationships. But we have got into the habit of celebrating our relationship on the 16th of every month. Yesterday it was 21 months. We went to a really great Italian restaurant called Mia Francesca, and as we happened to have a $50 gift certificate from Colin's bank, we had whatever we wanted, including appetizers, wine, and dessert! It was festive and wonderful, the food delicious. Even the bread at the beginning was superb, warm and crusty, and it only got better from there.

It's been a really long time, actually, since we went to an Italian restaurant by choice. I think it was a type of cuisine we had both overdone in the past, and besides, what we were likely to order was relatively easy to make at home (and much cheaper). But Mia Francesca definitely renewed our faith in restaurant Italian food. It's the fresh ingredients thing, I guess, or unusual ingredients. We might get good bread in the grocery story, but not bread this good. Besides, wild mushrooms and Italian sausage don't usually appear on our grocery lists. Anyway, a lovely night. The people at the next table were obviously on a first date. After 21 months together, we unabashedly spilled stuff on ourselves, left long happy silences, and generally appreciated each other.

Our last monthiversary together for a very long time.