motherbridge
I walked directly to the Meridian 16 after work yesterday to meet Ivan for a movie. It was raining and we were both carrying umbrellas over our heads when I happened to see him right across the street once I got to 7th Avenue on Pine. The light was red when he got to the corner so he just waved at me, semi-vigorously, for several seconds, a huge grin on his face. So I responded in kind.
I had sent him the trailer to Mother! weeks ago to ask if he'd be interested in seeing it with me, and he said yes; it opened last Friday but we had to wait until his day off on Tuesday. Shobhit was with me at a movie that had this trailer before it once, and he laughed at it. I think he expected me to find it similarly ridiculous, and under any other circumstance I would have. It even seemed too close to horror as a genre for me to be interested. But this was a Darren Aronofsky movie. He did Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler and Black Swan -- all excellent movies. With him attached, I was all about seeing Mother!
I had told both Shobhit and Ivan that I see any movie by Darren Aronofsky, which is for the most part true. I had somehow completely forgotten that his last movie was Noah, and that was his first movie I ever actively avoided. I still haven't seen it. I'm now convinced that no matter how bad it was, it had to have been better than the oppressively self-indulgent Mother!
After Ivan crossed the street and we were walking toward the theatre together, he said, "I'm apprehensive. This is a very polarizing movie." He had read a bit on it. I deliberately chose not to read any reviews or even look at the aggregate sites on this one before seeing it. I did see its 68% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes by accident when Googling show times, though. Its MetaCritic rating is even higher, at 74 -- "generally favorable reviews." Usually MetaCritic's score is lower than Rotten Tomatoes.
I honestly don't know what the hell anyone who likes that movie is smoking. Entertainment Weekly, at least, was sensible with the solid C they gave it.
I just felt increasing contempt for it, until the credits finally rolled, and I turned to Ivan with my eyes rolling, and I said, "Oh, my god. Fuck that movie!"
The only truly great thing about it was Michelle Pfeiffer. You could watch her in the first half and then just leave the movie in the middle after she disappears and get just as much out of it. Aside from her, the only benefit to having seen it was how much fun I had writing my own C- review -- which I've gotten zero reactions to. I'm unusually proud of this one; I want more people to read it! I mean, whatever. One day I'll re-read that review myself and I'll be entertained by it.
Ivan and I walked home together after the movie; the rain had stop
ped so neither of us suggested waiting for a bus. He kept on to go do some shopping at Central Co-op as I went inside, where Shobhit had made a dish out of the stuffing to the second veggie burrito he'd gotten at Chipotle the previous evening, just adding some vegetables and kale to it. It wasn't half bad, and Shobhit even rolled out some dough to make a couple of parathas for me to eat it with. I was super hungry, not getting home until just before 8:00 -- that movie had way too many trailers beforehand. And then I wrote the review.
Ivan and I talked a little more about how baffled we were by the movie, after I returned to the living room. And Shobhit and I attempted to do some of the New York Times crossword but it was too difficult and we kind of gave up. Then we watched the latest two episodes of Difficult People on Hulu, which even caught Ivan's attention, somewhat to my surprise. It was time for bed after that.
In other news completely unrelated to anything except that yesterday I was Googling the exact address of the 3101 Western Building across Elliott Avenue from my work building so I could add it to check in there for this photo I posted of the elevator in which I have to press "UP" to go down one floor to the Skybridge from Western Avenue, I happened upon this web page by someone who earlier just this year (on Valentine's Day) detailed information about all of Seattle's most notable skybridges. My work building's skybridge is featured: constructed 1986!
I am reminded again of Marie S from IT, who has worked for PCC barely more than a year and once last year mentioned that she once worked in the 3101 Western Building for a different company, which had offices both over there and over here. And they built the skybridge, according to her, because office workers were jaywalking across Elliott Avenue and it was too unsafe.
The thing that is annoying about that skybridge is that even though it connects to the third floor of 3131 Elliott (my building), the floor it connects to at 3101 Western is its Upper Parking (hence "UP") garage level. This is why it's impossible to get to the 5th floor where I work without having to use an elevator somewhere: there is no direct access from outside to any stairwells in this building -- only exits. I can get to the fifth floor without using any elevators in 3131 Elliott by coming in via that skybridge -- but even in 3101 Western, there is no access to stairwells from outside in that building either, so you have to take the elevator one level from the ground floor down to the parking level where the skybridge is at. The one truly convenient thing about it is it's a way to get across Elliott Avenue without waiting for the stupid-long pedestrian light on the street.
