shorts shorts shorts
I'm just coming off a pretty busy weekend: the Oscar Nominated Shorts were available to see at the AMC in the U District, and between the showtime schedule and Shobhit's work schedule, it was easiest not to wait for any of them until after the work week started. So, I knocked them out three days in a row: the Animated Shorts at the 5:45 showing on Friday; the Live Action Shorts at the 7:15 pm showing on Saturday; and the Documentary Shorts at the 1:50 pm showing on Sunday. Their cumulative total run times increased with each one—85 minutes to 105 minutes to 160 minutes—and so did their overall average quality. Last year I actually watched the three sets each two days apart, Friday 2/15 and Sunday 2/17 and Tuesday 2/19, which theoretically I would have preferred this time too, although it was nice to get them all done and out of the way as well. Besides, the Documentary Shorts are never running after 4:15 pm during weekdays, which is too early for me, so I had to see it Sunday afternoon; the Live Action shorts never run after 8 p.m. the rest of this week, which is far later than I prefer and so I saw them a 7:15 Saturday when it was more okay to be out later; and although I technically could have made the 5 p.m. showings of the Animated Shorts this week work, the 5:45 showing on Friday was a hell of a lot more workable, allowing me to make it there barely on time busing straight from work without having to leave work early.
So, anyway. I likely won't see another movie now until next weekend. I get three movies a week on the AMC A-List Plus membership, and I burned right through all three for the week as the week for that program resets every Friday. That means I can't see another one at an AMC with no extra cost until Friday, and I have dinner plans with Danielle on Friday—which happens to be the 20th anniversary of when she first moved to Seattle from Spokane in 2000, living with me in my Belltown studio apartment for four months. It nearly destroyed our friendship, but as you can plainly see, we pulled through. I was telling Laney on Saturday how I used to marvel with people on how "small" that 550-square-foot apartment was, and it hardly seems small anymore, when people regularly talk to me about having houses with less square footage! With bedrooms!
In any event, this anniversary dinner was Danielle's idea, as she does not have the girls that weekend. I figure we'll get a new, 20-years-later photo with our old apartment building in the background behind us. Although it will have to be after dark. We're going to eat at Palace Kitchen, the only nearby restaurant I remember having still been in business back when she moved in with me. It's a block away.
Speaking of talking to Laney on Saturday, that was because she came over at 11 a.m. for a double feature, this time in the condo rather than in the theater downstairs because the two movies were streaming on HBO and on Amazon Prime Video: Blindspotting and The Last Black Man in San Francisco. I had emailed her with this idea a while ago, since I knew she had not seen either movie, and both tackle issues of race and gentrification in the Bay Area (Blindspotting specifically in Oakland; The Last Black Man in San Francisco specifically in San Francisco), and both were co-written by either one or both of its stars. Both were also directed by white guys, which is slightly complicated, but mitigated by having been written by their black stars. Also, and I did not think as much about this aspect the two movies very much have in common when I recommended this very good double feature, Laney noted that both were very much about deep, intimate straight male friendships. Blindspotting is the only one of the two that deals directly with police violence against unarmed black people, but both tackle gentrification very directly, albeit in very different ways.
Interestingly, the critical consensus was a fair amount higher for The Last Black Man in San Francisco than it had been for Blindspotting—although both were very critically acclaimed—and yet Laney and I both agreed that Blindspotting is a lot better, and certainly more entertaining, not to mention more provocative. As Laney put it, The Last Black Man in San Francisco is "much more of an 'art film,'" and although it did have its own fair share of humor, it was a lot more subtle, and Blindspotting, its jarring shifts in tone notwithstanding, is quite a bit funnier.
Also, Laney lived in San Francisco for a couple of years in the early eighties, so I knew there would be that extra little bit of interest for her, since she has her own small history with the Bay Area. And, I was right. We had a great time spending the late morning and afternoon watching those movies.
As for yesterday, Shobhit gets his own Social Review point for the weekend too! After he had suggested I make eggs for breakfast Saturday morning—and I made over-easy eggs served on toast, which was super tasty—yesterday morning he suggested we go to Tenth West on Queen Anne, a new favorite spot of his, for brunch. We had a few places to go and redeem coupons anyway, and we just added Tenth West to our itinerary.
We went to the Ballard PCC first, to use a weekly member coupon for a free scratch-made PCC spread or dip. We took a half-pint container of pimento cheese spread. The coupon specified that a purchase was necessary, and Shobhit insisted on trying to redeem the coupon without a purchase, which I knew was a pointless waste of time. We got to the register, and of course, the cashier said we had to make a purchase, even if it was for one of the tiny little chocolates at checkout. So we walked away to find something to buy, and I practically hissed at Shobhit, "I fucking told you that!"—maybe just a tad more forcefully than was really necessary. Still, I get really tired of fighting losing battles like this with Shobhit, only to still be proved right in the end. It's fucking crazy making.
We found a 5oz can of Newman's Own Organics cat food which happened to be on sale, $1.39. Oh, shit! I looked this up in the system and have realized they weren't just on sale. They were on clearance. If there are any of them left when we next go shopping, I guess we should clean them out. That $1.39 retail takes the regular retail down by 41.8%; my staff discount adds another 15%. We maybe should have bought more of them even then. Note to self for next weekend's paycheck!
We then headed to Petco, for which I had a 25% off coupon for the brand of treats we buy for the cats, only in a 21oz tub, but it was about 10:30 when we got there and they were closed: they don't open until 11 a.m. on Sundays, it turns out. Tenth West is very close to there anyway though, so we just went over to get our breakfast: we shared a breakfast bagel sandwich and also a pesto panini sandwich, both of which were super tasty, although we both needed more salt and pepper. The last time Shobhit was there, when he went by himself—I told you this quiet, neighborhood café has become a new favorite, especially for him—he had complained about the lack of seasoning, and the lady who runs the place comped his meal. He really did not want her to do that, and he protested, but she insisted; she said they don't use a lot of salt because of people's health requirements. She said he should specify to get his meal seasoned the next time he comes in, which he actually did with our young, kind of inattentive waitress this time, and she clearly did not fully register the desire. Next time, we'll have to be more specific: we were told to do this when we come in, so make sure you tell the cook that we want salt!
That was the only thing even remotely close to a complaint, though, and honestly, it's not that hard just to put salt and pepper on yourself. I was thinking whenever we get the opportunity and Dad and Sherri happen to be in town (maybe when they're here to see Jersey Boys at the Fifth Avenue the weekend of Sherri's birthday in April), maybe we can see if it's possible to take them there to eat. We both thing they'd like this quiet, cute little place.
We finished there in about 45 minutes, and when we got up to pay, Shobhit's coffee had not been put on the check. The same lady who runs the place was ringing us up, and she was totally blasé: "Well, I'll just give it to you then." Uh, all right then! Shit, I should have left a tip that factored in the cost of the coffee, which I just realized I did not do. Oh well; the waitress herself was not that great a listener anyway.
Anyway, we then went back to Petco, and got ourselves a 21oz tun of Greenie's Cat Treats, which should last us many weeks—right through and after we get back from Australia. Which we take off for three weeks from today! I've got tons of specifics on my Google Calendar already just for Adelaide, the third and final city on our mini tour of the country, as Uncle David has already gotten tickets to three different shows at Adelaide Fringe on Saturday March 7. That will be our "Adelaide City Day," after two days on Kangaroo Island; Sunday the 8th is set to be much more laid back, hopefully warm enough for us to spend time at the beach, which is only maybe a mile from their house. And then, we fly back Monday March 9.
And speaking of Australian cities, I finally found cool versions of Google Maps that indicate all the so-called "suburbs" (which account for what we might call neighborhoods, outside any Central Business District): for both Sydney and Melbourne. How cool is that? Unfortunately no one has done the same for Adelaide, although I did find this page with a map narrowed down to "City of Adelaid" (CBD) boundaries, on which you can zoom out and move the cursor over surrounding suburbs to see their boundaries as well. I think these are specifically "Local Government Areas," though, which is not quite the same as "suburbs" which can have smaller boundaries. It's the best I could find for Adelaide, though.
[posted 12:17 pm]