Hi, it’s me. Just sitting here eating my assorted bagged snacks. Don’t believe me?
Pictures prove everything.
Collection May 9, 2009
A few weeks ago, my friend Chris was showing B-town and I his photos from France. There was one of his lovely lady, Kate, taking a picture of some wall graffiti. Chris informed us that Kate has a whole collection of graffiti photos. I thought, “Man. Kate is so cool. I want a photo collection.” In the coming weeks, I mulled over copying the graffiti collection outright, a sign collection, a building collection, etc. I finally decided on bathrooms. There are numerous places in Portland which have neat, one-room, regular house-style bathrooms that are usually pretty unique to the establishment.
Here’s my (uninspiring) first photo, taken Thursday, April 30, at Stacatto Gelato:
You may not know, but it’s a bit tough to take a picture of such a small room. Maybe, with enough practice, I’ll become the awesomest bathroom photographer the world has ever seen! A girl can dream.
Let me draw your attention back to the above photo. Notice the cord above the toilet? And the two holes in the cabinet the cord leads to? That’s a video camera. (WTF?) Under regular bathroom use circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it, but because I was snapping pictures, instead of putting stuff in the toilet, I found myself staring dead into the center of the camera lens. It was not on. I don’t think there’s any sort of creep-o voyeurism going on here; my theory goes like this: because there’s such a large window in the bathroom, it makes it a vulnerable choice for break-ins. The camera is there, only turned on during off-hours, to capture the mugs of any poop thieves.
And. We’ll leave it at that. I considered asking, but … no.
Now, when I mention visiting locales, I can post an accompanying picture of the bathroom. You lucky reader, you. You’re welcome.
April Movies May 3, 2009
This wasn’t a very good month for the movie-watching skills of yours truly. Not only did I watch very few movies for the first time in April, but those I did watch were not stellar choices (not even close). Here’s the list:
Gigantic (2008, dir. Matt Aselton)
Heaven Can Wait (1978, dir. Warren Beatty, Buck Henry)
Victor/Victoria (1982, dir. Blake Edwards)
Hamlet 2 (2008, dir. Andrew Fleming)
Alien Trespass (2009, dir. R.W. Goodwin)
The Informers (2009, dir. Gregor Jordan)
An American in Paris (1951, dir. Vincente Minnelli)
Adventureland (2009, dir. Greg Mottola)
BMX Bandits (1983, dir. Brian Trenchard-Smith)
That’s it; a measley 9. I’ll just go straight down the list …
Gigantic. Quirky and cute, with odd, sometimes interesting, characters. But … I did not get this movie. What was with the hobo? Was he imaginary? I’m pretty sure he was imaginary, but why? I’m disappointed this part of the “story” did not conclude. Or I guess it did. Main male charater whose name I forget kills imaginary hobo, then says to people walking by, “You don’t understand. This has been going on for a long time.” At which point I realize hobo is nowhere in sight. He was either: well enough to run away; rolled at least 3 revolutions to reach some off-screen point; victim of an unexcusable continuity error; or imaginary. We didn’t get a chance to find out because he is never seen or mentioned again.
Heaven Can Wait was okay.
Victor/Victoria. I really like this. At times it suffered slightly from some over-acting on the part of Julie Andrews, but that was rare. It’s a very good, very fun, romantic, underdog story set as a musical.
Hamlet 2. Is hilarious! It’s an easy movie to poo-poo because it looks so cheesy and idiotic, but it’s really a great comedy. It’s got some stellar jokes (my favorite being the whole Elizabeth Shue bit) and a lot of heart.
Alien Trespass. Bad.
The Informers. Oh god, it’s awful. I can’t believe this had a some-what wide theatrical release. Yeesh.
An American in Paris. Yeah. It’s good. It’s a musical so it’s charming. It’s Leslie Caron’s first movie and she’s adorable.
Adventureland. I liked it. It’s a college-age romantic comedy set in the 80’s. I think that’s brave since there are so many great teen romantic comedies that were made in the 80’s. This one stands up to those classics and provides something extra because the characters are a little older, a little more mature.
BMX Bandits. Pretty bad. I only saw it because it was playing at Clinton Street Theatre as part of a double feature and my friend wanted to go for his birthday. I didn’t stay for the second movie – RAD, so maybe I’ll have to check that one out in May. Nicole Kidman is in BMX Bandits, and boy have her acting chops come a long way.
That’s all. It’s so enticing to add “folks” to the end of that, but I’m holding myself back. Here’s to better movies to watch in May!
