no time to gamble
My evening last night was totally sucked up by either watching or reviewing the new James Bond movie, No Time to Die, which was . . . fine. Objectively better than the previous Bond film, Spectre, and a bit disappointing that the "Spectre organization" figures so prominently in the plot of this one, without which I actually think this movie would have been better, but, whatever. It's also way too long, at 163 minutes, the longest Bond film ever. It could have been anywhere from half an hour to maybe even an hour shorter, but I think they thought this being Daniel Craig's last outing as the character gave it more import.
I still had a good time, though, and still found it to be an enjoyable and good action movie. I was happy to see it in the theater, which I did with both Shobhit and Tracy. Tracy didn’t bother coming into the office yesterday—I think she only has one day this week—and Shobhit came down the hill to Pacific Place from home, which meant we all converged to meet there from three completely different directions.
Shobhit had texted me to ask if I wanted him to bring me a shot of something. I said I might have said yes, but I didn't think it was a good idea on an empty stomach, and I was looking at not getting dinner until nearly 9:00. Shobhit then suggested I get a slice of pizza on my walk from work to Pacific Place, and I was like, that's a good idea actually. I looked up "pizza by the slice" on Yelp and found a place in Pike Place Market that was both highly rated and I had never eaten at before. It's in the building across Pike Place from the main Market building, which I almost never actually walk inside of. Well, I found the place, only to find out they are not currently selling by the slice, clearly due to COVID. Shit sticks.
So, I looked up sandwich places. Shobhit had also suggested getting a burrito from Chipotle, but their burritos are too big and I wanted something lighter. Finally I found Potbelly Sandwich Shop on Fourth and Pike, which I had never been to, and got a half-length "Veggie Melt." Unfortunately the woman taking my order heard me say "lettuce, tomato and onion" but not the more crucial part I said first, "mayonnaise and mustard," so I wound up with a sandwich with no condiments at all. To their credit, the sandwich still tasted pretty good, although it clearly would have been far better with the condiments. I snarfed it down as quickly as I could while walking the rest of the way to the theater.
Tracy was already there when I arrived. Shobhit had a virtual job interview at 4:00 and was just barely heading downtown from home by 4:40, so he arrived just after 5:00, which was fine. Tracy and I sat in one of the upholstered seats up there on the fourth floor of Pacific Place and chatted while we waited for Shobhit to arrive.
We all enjoyed the movie, I think, although I think we also agreed that it was neither the best nor the worst of the Daniel Craig films. We can mark that off our list, in any case. Again, though: way too long. It was something like 8:25 when Shobhit and I got out of the building and that was after a 5 p.m. showtime. We caught the #11 bus home and it was still close to 9:00 before we were back in the condo. Ivan was in the kitchen and immediately asked what grade I was going to give it. "Probably a solid B," I said. Which was right. I then went to the bedroom to spend roughly the next hour writing the review before then going to bed.
I think today will be my last bicycle commute of the year. It was rather dark on my ride to work this morning, and, while totally dry, it was a tad cold—45°. It's probably time to hang up the bike until spring.
I have my virtual Happy Hour with Laney after work today with her video chatting from the Oregon Coast, I think. Thus, although the weather is fine today for such a thing, the weather doesn't really matter as I'll be inside. I'm relieved there is no rain in the forecast for tomorrow when Seattle Pride will have their "Fall Pride Event" at Volunteer Park—allowing me to add a third photo album to my Seattle Pride 2021 collection on Flickr, as it's a bit comparatively pathetic as of right now.
Unfortunately, there is rain in the forecast for Sunday, when Ivan and I will be doing the Argosy Locks Cruise, which will force us to spend a lot of time inside on the boat rather than in the open-air areas. On the upside, the chance of rain has gone from 70% to 60% to 50% when I just checked, so maybe by the time Sunday actually gets here it won't rain at all after all. Here's hoping. For just Sunday, because when it's convenient for me I love it when it rains! Ha!
It just occurred to me this morning that I should watch some movies about or set in Las Vegas in the lead-up to our trip there at the end of the month. I like this idea. Maybe five movies, one for each of the previous decades if I can make that happen? I'm in the process of narrowing down:
1970s: Diamonds Are Forever (1971), a Bond movie!
1980s:
1990s: Casino (1995) or Swingers (1996); I'm not certain I've ever seen either one
2000s: Ocean's Eleven (2001) or The Hangover (2009)
2010s: Last Vegas (2013), I suppose?
I could maybe move Casino to the 1980s column as I just read it's set in the seventies and early eighties, and I'm not finding any other good contenders for the eighties. And by all accounts Swingers was a contemporary snapshot of Vegas at the time, and probably would be interest to compare and contrast to today.
[posted 12:37 pm]