A busy weekend
So this weekend I returned home for my mom's wedding. It really was a nice time, and I don't just mean the ceremony; it was one of those visits home that is deeply and obscurely satisfying. I went for a walk downtown and in our small town's surprisingly great used bookstore found a copy of this, which almost deserves a post of it's own; the range of artists, from ones I've heard of (Motorhead! Glenn Branca! Madonna! Simple Minds! Bush Tetras!) to ones I've never heard of (Telephone! Fashion! Leisure Process! ) is quite interesting, and the photo-and-quotation format means it almost functions like a yearbook or something. It makes you wish Noble (or someone) had been able to do one of these every year, because the book's main worth is in giving a slice of what was happening in 1983 - not just who was popular or well-regarded, but what all concerned were thinking at the time.
The rest of the visit was rather more bucolic; I played fetch with my dog, finished the (excellent) book I was borrowing from a friend, spent a lazy Saturday afternoon doing crosswords before heading back, and thoroughly enjoyed the wedding. My mom and Wayne are in Paris right now, hopefully enjoying themselves to the fullest; the ceremony itself was short and sweet, the food was delicious, the venue gorgeous, my spur-of-the-moment speech/toast well received (I can't exactly remember what I said, but I was fairly deep into the draught Tuborg and properly made Tom Collins at that point, and very nervous when I stood up), and I had the oddly pleasurable and adult sensation of having my relatives on my mom's side ask me what I'm up to these days. I don't know them as well as aunts and uncles on my dad's side, so it's always nice to catch up. I forgot my iPod which at first irked me (and I do wish I'd had it for the car ride, without music I wound up basically passing out on the way there and the way back) but forced me not to do any work while I was home, and that was nice.
Sunday I spent with my brother and a few friends at the movie theatre; we saw District 9, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Inglourious Basterds. All three were just a little bit better than I expected, which makes District 9 very good indeed, G.I. Joe more enjoyable than Transformers was and Inglourious Basterds riveting. It was surprisingly painless to watch three movies on the big screen in one day, although little things helped - having a break between two and three to get some supper, no repeated trailers and few bad ones, and so on. If we get three movies coming out at the same time we want to see again, I think we'll have to repeat the experience.
The rest of the visit was rather more bucolic; I played fetch with my dog, finished the (excellent) book I was borrowing from a friend, spent a lazy Saturday afternoon doing crosswords before heading back, and thoroughly enjoyed the wedding. My mom and Wayne are in Paris right now, hopefully enjoying themselves to the fullest; the ceremony itself was short and sweet, the food was delicious, the venue gorgeous, my spur-of-the-moment speech/toast well received (I can't exactly remember what I said, but I was fairly deep into the draught Tuborg and properly made Tom Collins at that point, and very nervous when I stood up), and I had the oddly pleasurable and adult sensation of having my relatives on my mom's side ask me what I'm up to these days. I don't know them as well as aunts and uncles on my dad's side, so it's always nice to catch up. I forgot my iPod which at first irked me (and I do wish I'd had it for the car ride, without music I wound up basically passing out on the way there and the way back) but forced me not to do any work while I was home, and that was nice.
Sunday I spent with my brother and a few friends at the movie theatre; we saw District 9, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Inglourious Basterds. All three were just a little bit better than I expected, which makes District 9 very good indeed, G.I. Joe more enjoyable than Transformers was and Inglourious Basterds riveting. It was surprisingly painless to watch three movies on the big screen in one day, although little things helped - having a break between two and three to get some supper, no repeated trailers and few bad ones, and so on. If we get three movies coming out at the same time we want to see again, I think we'll have to repeat the experience.
