Caterwauling

Yesterday I had the bright idea to go get an oil change at my friendly neighborhood mechanic’s. Turns out, I drove all the way out to BFE and they’re not even open on weekends. Gah.

So, I hauled ass all the way back to Alexandria to my old mechanic where I’ve taken my car for the past four years. And whee, that $30 oil change turned into $100 to include power steering service. Which, I learned now that I probably could have done it myself for $7, but don’t say that to someone who isn’t overly sure how to release the hood. (Damn latch; I always cut myself on it.)

My other goal for the weekend (other than getting to Pennsylvania, which I did today) was to go see “The Last Kiss.” Because Zach Braff? *fans self* Seeing his lips on a movie screen is enough to make me happy for a few hours. 😉

A REVIEW WITHOUT SPOILERS

Let’s say neither the film were the soundtrack were anywhere NEAR the magnificence of “Garden State,” but not bad, in any event. We got back Cary Brothers and Coldplay (thumbs-up and thumbs-down, IMHO), and Snow Patrol’s “Chocolate” was in there, but I doubt I’ll do anything more than grab a couple of MP3s and not the whole album. (I’m still annoyed that on the new “Grey’s Anatomy” soundtrack, you can only buy the acoustic version of “Chasing Cars” with the whole album.)

Oh well. It’s hard to live up to perfection when you achieved it the first time around, hence why I will never have the problem of wanting to return to any mythical “glory days” because they have yet to occur. 🙂

In any event, when the hell did theaters stop offering matinee prices? I mean, it’s highway robbery to charge us $9 or $10 plus whatever online fees we incur for the regular show, but at least getting off for $7 or $7.50 wasn’t too terrible in comparison. Some of my local theaters only offer “cheap” prices before noon, if at all.

LACK OF SELF-CHECKOUT SHOULD BE A CRIME

And damn it to hell, I raced from car odyssey to theater, only to miss the morning showing by 10 freaking minutes. I would have ducked in late, but the ticket agent was all chatty with the people in line and I wasn’t getting anywhere. I tried all six ticket kiosks but each one said to go to another kiosk to make the purchase. Argh! I did go back and got behind every fucking moron on their cell phone who had 9 million questions for the two box office people. Dimwit in front of me was calling his friends in the car, supposedly, and asking when the next showings were. (The whole day’s listings are on the fucking billboard, illiterate. Gah.)

In any event, “The Last Kiss.” I really liked it, only for the fact that it’s the way I write. (I know it’s a remake. Bear with me.) I could/would have written that film, given the time and budget. 🙂 I like those heart- and gut-wrenching moral dilemmas. I absolutely get Braff’s character, who’s wondering if there are any surprises left in life.

SOME DAYS, I THINK MARS SHOULD BE A DWARF PLANET

I kind of got mad at Eric Christian Olsen’s character (I got him, but his actions annoyed me as a chick). Now, I was just happy to drool over the long-haired hottie from “Rent,” but his overnight relationship with “Danielle” reminded me of someone from 100 (OK, five) years ago. It’s a Mars/Venus thing, of course. She asked him to drop by at 8 p.m., auspiciously for sex but actually to meet her parents. And he ran for the hills, never to return to her again.

Now, I’d never pull such a stunt — I have introduced exactly zero of the people I’ve dated to my family. Mostly because occasion never really arose, but also because I learned the hard way that it’s a Big Thing to meet the family. Which, I don’t get, but I suppose that I have to. I happen to like my family. Most of the time. 😉 So to me, introducing someone to them means exactly nothing insofar as getting serious. (Does meeting the parents imply a ring is coming? I don’t get it. Really.)

Hell, my family wishes they could meet someone who’s ever lucky enough to occupy cognitive real estate in my world. I highly doubt they’d hire a wedding planner (they can’t afford to, for one!) — instead, it would just secure it in their minds that I’m mostly straight. 😉 My family has one rule for my dating life: Don’t bring home any terrorists. Anyone else would just be accepted as someone I haven’t gotten too annoyed with yet!

Anyway, I didn’t mean to call the show a “$9 nap.” It would be for men, though, minus some rather hot sex scenes. I didn’t really like Jacinda Barrett, not that I like Rachel Bilson either, but I identified in a big way with Rachel’s “Kim.” I loved the ending, not necessarily for where he ended up but literally for the way the movie closed.

That’s a very “me” type of ending. I’m satisfied with questions. I’m put off by resolution. It’s almost like I enjoy being in existential limbo — at least I know there’s still hope for better things, no matter what they might be. Because when you have to make a choice (and believe me, I know that fork in the road altogether too well), you just have to plunge ahead in one direction, but that doesn’t stop you from knowing in your heart that you have to leave something behind and hoping against hope that the road might bring you back around that cul-de-sac one last time to get it right if you didn’t already. …

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 17th, 2006 at 8:23 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.