Pee People Party!

What a wonderful start to the weekend. Last night, my lovely wife and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine at the Ritz. That means we got a free date because we happen to know the manager (not in the biblical sense). I was dreading seeing this movie due to its titular subject matter. A couple years ago, I discovered a new level of vehemence when Bravo! premiered its Show Moms reality debaucle. I had no idea that my blood could beat so violently through the veins of my neck. I hate parents like that. Being a Haddonfield-bred man, I've had to deal with my fair share of soccer-parents pushing their kids to be cut-throat atheletes. But beauty pageants? I can't understand someone wanting to live so vicariously through their 9-year-old that they'd put them through the bulemia-inducing self-esteem trauma that is a beauty pageant. But thanks to recommendations of a couple of good friends, not to mention a killer cast of characters (Greg Kinear, Steve Carrel, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin...dang!), I decided that perhaps this movie would not cause my vision to turn blood red with hatred. And the movie did not disappoint as I laughed and cheered many times. But perhaps my favorite aspect of this movie was the tremendous effort it made to relate to my disdain. It's like the filmmakers understood that fury I have for o'er-competative parents. Whenever a person was out of line in this area, there were five others right with you telling them to shut up. If Greg Kinear was subversively encouraging his daughter to not be a fatty, there was an entire dinnertable full of family as outraged as I was. It was a great support group. By the end of the movie I had "All Things Go" permanently stuck in my head, occasionally being interupted by Rick James' "Superfreak". Rick James, bitch!



I woke up this morning at 1:00 in the afternoon because I had procrastinated last night's bedtime until it was 4:30 am. I spent a small moment in my bed reminiscing my former life's sleep schedule (it brought a small tear to my eye) and then I got right to business. There was quite a lot of nothing to be done and I wasn't going to waste any time. After a quick buzz cut and a shower, I hopped to it and sat on my ass for the better part of the afternoon. The most I accomplished were two loads of laundry and an hour of learning both Anthrax's "Room for One More" and Igor Stravinsky's "Firebird" on my electric guitar.

But the blissful lazing-about was not meant to last. Liz's production of Urinetown had scheduled a party this very night to watch a bootlegged copy of the play. I have to admit I was a little excited. You see, I used to be a theater geek. Nevermind the fact that I hate musicals, the theater was full of fun people and a great spirit was among them. So I was not surprised when the people I met tonight were amazingly cool. And they were just the way I remembered theater geeks: gossipers of cast mates past, drinkers of cheap and terrible wine, and above all, canters of loud songs at the mere mention of a play. All this happened tonight and it was glorious. The gossip was a bit disorienting as I didn't know any of these people: "Are you sure Matt's gay?" "That guy dressed as Aragorn is a creepy pervert" "I heard Paul McCartney was dead" (that last rumor might be 30+ years too old). There was definitely a girl drinking white merlot because it sounds fancier than white zinfandel but as we all know, tastes like Juicy-Juice. And over the course of the evening I heard songs sung from Tommy, West Side Story, and Miss Saigon...or rather my rendition of the Family Guy scene when the old theatre owner sings "la la la Miss Saigon, la la la Miss Saigon" whilst stretching his eyes to look Asain. And I got my first taste of Urinetown (that sounds gross). I wasn't too put off by it. It seems like an enjoyable satire...for a musical [retches].

All in all, a good party was had by all.

Speaking of Aragorn, my movie today is the way Lord of the Rings SHOULD have ended. I think we all thought of this as we watched Return of the King and I'm glad someone finally made this movie: