the wackness the wackness

wa-wa-wa-wa-wackness. it was aight. i'm glad i didn't pay for it (i'd be glad if i didn't pay for a LOT of movies i ended up seeing actually). it's a classic bildungsroman (that's coming-of-age story for you non-english lit types) of the teenage variety that unfolds over a hot and sweaty summer in nyc in the halcyon days of 1994. when the tunes were hype, giuliani was cleaning up the streets, and our protagonist, luke shapiro, is trying to suss out love, life, depression, and family, all while selling pot out of his pushcart. it's was a little *too* melodramatic for me, with luke's older counterpoint (an exceptionally stringy, swarthy and rumpled ben kingsley as a shrink who trades psychotherapy sessions for pot) taking up a bit too much air time and a few too many debaucherous drug montages. i think it would have been better if they kept it simple. luke is unpopular, falls in love with stephanie (ben kingsley's stepdaughter, played by a long-locked and coltish olivia thirlby), stephanie is bored and breaks his heart, the end. it was a sweet story that dragged a bit, but it wasn't a waste of time.

the best part of the movie was probably method man doing his version of a kardinal offishall impression and rinsing one of the most egregious jamaican accents this side of dr. rei's. i bet it was meth's idea to "stretch" himself as an actor. bad call, meth! bad call! the second best part of the movie was that me and dr. rei found ourselves sitting next to a trio of virgin boys who could knew luke's pain all too well. they were pretty vocal with their advice during the movie, "don't do it man, don't do it man, don't do it man" (when luke is about to tell stephanie that he loves her) and it was pretty hilarious. the third best thing was the soundtrack. the fourth best thing was that everyone was obviously there on these free preview passes, and somehow, there were more than a few old couples (like, full on white-hair, stooped, and sensible nursing shoes style) who found themselves in the theatre. it was great!

the thing that ruined it for me more than anything was that the lead actor looks like this guy i dated whom i'm incredibly grossed out by now. we call it "having a touch of the chatz". this guy had more than a touch of the chatz and it was hard to watch.





tonight for dinner i made a pasta with chopped up scapes (garlic tops) sauteed in chili oil from T's chilies. i added in thinly sliced rounds of baby yellow and green zucchini and tossed everything with egg noodles cooked al dente.
i topped it with a poached egg and it was glorious. absolutely, utterly, glorious. summer in a bowl. on the side i made that tomato watermelon feta mint preserved lemon salad that i've been going buck for. it's so good. also summer in a bowl. so really, for dinner, i had two bowls of summer.

and now i'm going to go to a yoga class and hope and pray that i won't have to lie and talk about my bum chakras. pleasepleaseplease no bum chakras tonight, s'il vous plait.

fin.