And God Said, Let There Be Lips. So last night Gary and I celebrated his emancipation from the asses at work by going out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Gary had Thai pasta, I had a rather lovely quesadilla that was stuffed with eggs, bacon, peppers, tomatillos, black beans, and cheese. Gary imbibed in a Pina Colada and we both splurged on cheesecake, we were at the Cheescake Factory, after all! Gary had the classic cheesecake with cherries and sauce and I had the Chocolate tuxedo, which was chocolate mouse, classic cheescake, and chocolate ganache on a chocolate graham crust. With lots and lots of REAL whipped cream. We couldn't even finish all the whipped cream, and the last bites of the cheescake were rather forced. However, it's not often we gorge so thoroughly so we had a wonderful time. I insisted on paying, which is always good for a laugh because we have a joint account. But it's the SYMBOLISM of the thing, I told Gary, as I slid my brand-spanking new Platinum (Debit) Card into the leatherette tab holder. I offered to buy him dinner to celebrate, so there. Then we had to walk around the mall for a while to let things settle. We peeked in most of the jewelry store windows. I saw a lovely pair of diamond earrings but at $3K they were a bit much. No thanks. I'm perfectly happy with the $30 ones with the little sapphires he got me. Actually, I don't want any jewelry that's worth more than my engagement ring, and that's an heirloom. He's the youngest kid of six but I'm the fiance that gets the heirloom, haha! The funny thing was, though, that right after we got engaged, he had to go ut of town for a week, and the rings needed to be repaired and resized. I took them in to the jewelry store and had all the work done. AND PAID FOR IT. I know, Gary has done more than enough paying it back if you want to look at it that way, but I remember at the time it both amused and annoyed me. It also amused and annoyed me that he had to go on a business trip right after we got engaged. I called my mom to tell her the news and my dismay that Gary was now in Pittsburgh and she replied with, "Well, you know that your father was in the navy, and after he proposed, he left for a year and a half on deployment." Thanks Mom. More movie quotes: ". . . Frau Blucher. . ." "I am not left handed." "Mein Furhrer! I CAN WALK!!" Dr. Strangelove, Dr. Strangelove . . .Love the Bomb I actually watched that movie in its entirety for the first time this morning. I laughed until my throat scar felt right to split, and I wallowed in sadness over how things stay the same. Except now the Politicians are the ones running the war, not the Generals. Replace Jack Ripper (love the names of the characters in this movie) with Idiot Son of an Asshole Bush and see what you get. I think I might watch "Eyes Wide Shut" just to see what Kubrick was up to near the end of his life. "Strangelove" and "The Shining" are brillo, and "2001" while a bit odd here and there, is superb ("I can't let you do that, Dave"). I generally have little patience with directors who are DIRECTORS, you know, the ones that everybody thinks are brillo if they film a plastic bag floating down the highway. Like Fellini. I don't get why people dig Fellini so. I've seen "8 1/2" 1.5 times. I walked out the first time because I was so annoyed. Then I went to see it again because I figured I was "in a bad place" or whatever when I tried to watch it the first time. I don't think I was in a bad place, I just think that movie is, for me, unwatchable. I've seen "Casanova" a couple of times. This time I was confused by the production. There's all this hoopla going on with these costumes and all and then I see them on a concrete floor in a soundstage, and I can see the pipe pocket on the cyclorama. I was fully expecting to see a grip in modern dress smoking a fag on the edge of the shot. Or the big-ass galleon scene which so obviously takes place on a sea of black visqueen; I fully expected to see the same grips, shirtless this time, waving that visqueen just on the edge of the shot. Fat grips, fat overweight HAIRY grips. Like Neanderthal hairy grips. Shirtless. Smoking fags. Showing buttcracks. On the edge of the shot. I guess I just don't GET Fellini. I am getting "Satyricon" from blockbuster.com this week. I'll see if I get anything new out of it now that I'm 34. Who knows? Does age imply wisdom or at least an open-mindedness, or less thereof? I can watch Igmar Bergman films, though. Go figure. Although I do remember seeing "The Best Intentions" which I thought could have ended at three different opportunities in the picture, thus saving us all from the over 3 hour mark that it was. At the end, the only people left in the theatre were myself and the three guys who shared an office across from the sound booth in the theatre building. They were mathematics graduate students. We all stood looking at each other, like we were survivors of some disaster and we all desperately needed a drink. That was back in the days of my grad school tenure at the University of Alabama and the film society showed a different movie everynight, $2 admission or you could buy a 10 movie pass for $10. And truthfully, where else could you see a double feature of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Fearless Vampire Killers"??
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