Social Sociability

Wednesday night I went to see the movie Cloverfield. When Will asked me if I’d like to go with him to see it I had no idea what it was about but said yes anyway…because even though it sounded like some kind of horse whisperer make me want to puke fare when the object of your affection asks you on a movie date you do not pass go…you do not collect $200…you just go.

So, since I didn’t know what the flick was about, not only did I not have high expectations I had no expectations. And you know what…I liked it. I liked it a lot. If you are like me and don’t get out to the picture show often then you might have as little clue what I’m talking about as I did when I walked into the theater. The whole movie is centered around a Godzilla like attack on Manhattan yuppies. Filmed in the style of “The Blair Witch Project” there is never a moment that you wonder if this could possibly a real event. If it had…you would most surely have heard about it. Unlike “The Blair Witch Project” this movie was actually good. Borrowing on the accidental genius of Steven Speilberg in Jaws you don’t really get a good look at the monster until the end of the movie. But that doesn’t matter because all you really need to know is that it’s big…and it’s angry. This thing is hungry baby I want a toy throwing a tantrum angry. Aside from the fact that the general public would have been made aware of such an attack long before the tape surfaced there were a few things that let you know that there is nothing real about the events that took place in this movie.

First off, the movie opens with our gang attending a going away party for the hero of our tale. The first thing I noticed was the complete absence of any unattractive people at this party. Where were all the ugly people? Surly this guy had to have at least one visually unappealing comrade…or is our hero Rob a complete and total snob? Secondly, why does Hollywood always show women running from things in heels? Toward the end of the movie I noticed one of the heroines scaling a wall still wearing her party shoes…her heeled party shoes. This is despite a clear shot of the gang standing outside a shoe store while trying to figure out what to do next? I’d like to think the next thing on my to-do list at that point would be to grab some trekking shoes…even if they didn’t quite match my Mizrahi party rags. And finally…the whole reason these cats are still running around Manhattan instead of boarding the evacuation copters is to rescue Rob’s best-friend/jilted lover who has fallen and can’t get up. Now…I really like Will. I like him a lot. But…I wouldn’t trek a block down the street with Godzilla close on my heels to lift a bookcase off of him much less journey through the dark deserted subway tunnels snaking underneath Manhattan where just about anything can lie in wait. He’s a big guy with rather nice fore-arms. He can lift the damn bookcase off his own self…he doesn’t need me risking my life for that. Besides…who would there be to mourn demurely at his subsequent funeral if I get myself torn in half by some hungry baby Godzilla. Nope…he’s on his own and I would hope he’d do the same. Though…I must admit…such gallant efforts to save my life would only deepen my affection for him…while at the same time making me wonder if I’m not falling for a complete and utter fool.

All in all…it was a good movie and I’d recommend it to my friends. Afterwards we went for drinks and conversation where I found that non-bloggers don’t fully get blogging. While he completely understands “the writing process” he isn’t completely comfortable with being a character in my story…even with all of the names changed. The following evening Lydia and I double teamed him trying to explain that not only are very few people reading this and of those it is highly unlikely that anyone that knows him is reading this and of those it is highly unlikely that they would know it’s a blog written by yours truly much less that he is the hero of this tale. But…despite our efforts he remains bugged. We are at an impasse on this and as I told him that if I’m going to write about my life, and he is going to be a big part of my life that he would also have to be at least a small part of my blog tale. Un-fazed he told me that he’s not mad…it just gives him a bit of anxiety thinking “he’s out there”. I assured him that he really isn’t and challenged him to find this blog. I told him that if he could find it I would remove any and all reference to him. He laughed and said he didn’t think he’d take me up on that challenge but was curious to know his blog name. Nice try there buddy…I refused to ante up the information and then rejected his idea for a blog name. It was pretty bad and conjures up images of this gay guy I used to go clubbing with. No thank you…don’t want to think of William as a pasty faced gay man…even it he is a hilarious pasty faced gay man. We ended that part of the conversation with him knowing that he wouldn’t be an absent figure from my blog but just in case any of you run into him on the street…don’t tell him I told you any of this.

Rounding out a busy week (and let me tell you…there is much I could blog about) I had dinner with my friend Zabel last night. She’s a fellow grad student and wanted to check out this Armenian restaurant for some student government function she’s spearheading. The food was great and while the dishes were pricey you could feed 3 people off of one plate. I barely made a dent in my food so in addition to the leftover pizza from my evening with Lydia I now have roast lamb/rice/tahini/humus in my fridge. If I’m not careful I will become a house. We had a great time chatting…I almost never see her. She, being so busy with all of her extra-curricular activities and me being wrapped up in all of the Leila drama we rarely get together. It was only recently that I found out she is Iraqi. Last night toward the end of our time I asked her how old she was when she moved here and she told me she was 15. Doing some quick math in my head I said “So…you lived under Saddam?” Yup…she sure did. We talked for a little bit about that…my impression being that it wasn’t so different from living under Bush except that you can criticize our government without fear of getting thrown into prison or…worse. Basically…Saddam is an idiot not fit to rule and I have no doubt that if our country didn’t have rules against cruel and unusual punishment there really wouldn’t be much difference between the two “leaders”.

It was a good time, and as I drove home I thought to myself that despite all the difficulties of living in a city like LA the diversity of the people you can meet and get to know is really quite astounding. I mean…if I were to get all of my friends together in one place it would resemble a UN sub-committee meeting. Present would be representatives from several states within the United States in addition to England, Spain, Cambodia, Israel, Cuba, Iraq, Mexico, Canada, Chili, and Argentina. And those are just the folks that immediately come to mind as I’m sure I’m forgetting one or two of the countries from which my crew hails. I do love all of my friends and I have to tell you…I don’t miss Leila one little bit. I have actually been more social since cutting ties with her than I was before.

What was I so afraid of? Change? I don’t think so…especially not given the drastic change I gave my appearance today. I’ve gone from blonde to a dark chestnut red brunette. I love love love my new color and I cant wait to show it off tonight as I go for a beer with my English representative, Paul who I haven’t had much chance to chat with this week. So now I must go put on some purple eye-shadow to bring out the green in my eyes. Yes…I’m going to go with Paul over to farts and darts. Leila might be there later but I cant avoid the place forever…and I miss it just a little.

Hopefully she won’t show up…though I doubt it. Im just not the kind that wont do what I want to do simply because I want to avoid someone. But no worries…while I might be polite should the occasion arise, I won’t be letting her back into my life. I don’t really have room for her anyway!