24.10.2001
feeling kinda
Q: when is a lewis not a lewis?
A: when he's in a fucking Woody Allen film.
i hate Woody Allen. the depth of my antipathy for him is unreasonable. most times, i can separate a person's life from what they do as an actor. however, given the nature of his work, i can't do that with him. as you may have guessed, i don't hold a very high opinion of his personal choices. marrying your stepdaughter isn't cool.
so i don't spend a lot of time watching Woody Allen films. and it's a damn shame, really, because he is talented. but i can't stomach that weasely little man for longer than, say, 5 seconds.
but i made an exception last week. i rented Hannah and Her Sisters. why the change of heart? because. because Lewis Black has a role in the film. and having seen a fair bit of his comedy stuff, i was curious to see him doing something a bit different.
so i gritted my teeth and found the Woody Allen section of the video rental place. the man has an entire section just for himself. isn't that special. found the movie, rented one other just to be safe, and headed home.
i've been really tired recently, and my attention span isn't what it should be. it took me three nights to watch the first film, The Big Kahuna. i kept falling asleep. then i'd try again the next night, fast forwarding to the last bit i remembered. Kahuna, by the way, is a fascinating, nuanced film. it's billed as a comedy, but i find it hard to think of a film where the characters spend a lot of time meditating about the meaning of life, death, belief and love as a comedy.
so i finish Kahuna, and finally bite the bullet. i put Hannah and Her Sisters in the VCR. and i promptly fall asleep on the couch.
repeat this scenario several times over the course of the week. try to spot Lewis. fail miserably. try not to be too irritated while watching the entire film a second time. feel very fed up while watching the film in 'cue' the third time around. finally figure out where Lewis is, after reading the 'in order of appearance' cast list.
jesus flippin' christ. the man had a two minute walk on, maybe a half dozen words of dialogue, all in the first 20 minutes of the film. and he was unrecognizable! if he'd had more dialogue, i would have keyed in on the voice. as it was, i really couldn't tell that it was him. and this is the part that threw me the most: he looked incredibly tall next to Woody. i'm sure they fucked around with camera angles to make that happen. i had this idea that he was my height; guess not. he looked like Kareem abdul Jabar next to Woody. (okay, maybe the fact that i was lying down on the couch while watching messed with my perspective.)
and to add insult to injury - when i took the movie back? $40 in late fees. that's right, people - i could have bought two or three copies of the movie for home entertainment, and not spent as much money.
i think i really should stick to pay per view. it would be kinder to my budget, in any event.
so, what else... i wanted to take a nap this afternoon in the worst way. what an odd phrase that is, isn't it? why would you want to do something in the worst way? wouldn't it be better to do it in at least a mediocre way, if not well? but somehow that phrase has come to mean the ultimate in craving. strange, how this language of ours works.
oh, yeah - the nap. the lab brought in lunch for all of us to celebrate shipping the latest product. and they got lunch from Blue Ribbon Barbeque. i've been told by Those Who Know that it's real barbeque. i wouldn't know; i went for the cornbread and beans and rice. mmmmm. there wasn't anywhere really to sit, so we all slopped up our plates and went back to our desks. the guy who sits next to me said there was something missing - 'amber and frothy'. it would have tasted good, but it was all quite tasty sans beer as well.
here's the flaw in bringing in lunch: you can't expect any productive work out of a team that just stuffed their faces with every form of carbs imaginable. just doesn't work. there were many quiet cubes this afternoon. ;)
i ducked over to the brewery after work, just to get a good dose of socializing. it felt good to touch base with so many people, floating in and out. played a few rounds of cribbage, kibbutzed over a Scrabble game, and indulged in a lot of conversation. m now has her PhD, and came in after doing her defense to celebrate. whoo hoo! oh, right - that's doctor m to you, bub. :)
i was also much amused by the continuing adventures of the dynamic duo, who were in rare and competing form tonight. plus, it's been just gorgeous weather for mid/late October. little cool, not chilly, nice breeze, still remnants of warm from the day radiating off buildings, and clear sky. made for a lovely walk home.
