Saturday Morning Blogfest

I think I'm turning into my father...I got woken up this morning at eleven AM by the deep, throbbing bass that is the mating call of every American male ages 18-22, and the first thing that popped into my head was "They get ten minutes. After that, I'm going down there." Even though my colleagues warned me against banging on odd doors, I'm not afraid. Most of the people who live in my building are spotty college students who haven't gotten over the novelty of underage drinking in the parking lot. All I can say is--don't make it too easy for me to call the police.

Happily, they stopped. And I am somewhat mollified by a cup of sweet, sweet PG Tips tea. This was the longest week ever. In addition to getting promoted at work, I went to see two plays and "The Dark Knight" last night. I won't officially start as a tailor until Monday, but my boss has had me working on special repairs, which have been challenging. Yesterday I listened to four Sondheim musicals. Now I dream in internal rhyme. Also, on Thursday the laundry team went out for lunch for two hours, and then Wednesday and Friday I was defending liberty in ninety degree heat. Yesterday was the first time I actually worried about fainting though.

So all I want to do today is lie around...sleep a little...eat some foods...work on my new sewing project. It's so hard living in Virginia where every day is beautiful. In Wisconsin, if a beautiful day like this comes along, you feel obligated to "go outside and play." But here, where gorgeous day follows gorgeous day, I have to just stop and say "No, I will not go play outside today, today I am staying in and watching TV."

I got back from watching "The Dark Knight" at one o'clock in the morning, but I couldn't sleep right away...as those of you who've seen the movie will understand. Honestly, for me, the most distracting thing about the film was that it was filmed in Chicago, so there would be super-intense chase scenes happening, and I'd be thinking "I don't remember Lower Wacker being that long..." And the whole movie was just so dark. There were lots of moments where I was screaming internally--"Batman, what are you doing?!" And it didn't end. It just went on and on and on, getting darker and darker, until it didn't really matter who won or lost because the whole world had been destroyed in the process. The film made me feel really jumped-up inside, really unsettled.

It was really hard to watch Heath Ledger...I wanted to savour every scene he was in, but it was difficult to like his process, because his character was so inaccessible. Everytime you think you got a handle on what was motivating him, the next sentence out of his mouth would totally negate his prior statements. It was hard to watch him--it was more than a performance. The moment where the Joker put a gun to his head, I thought "wow, that looked a little too easy."

I can't say I enjoyed the movie, because it was hard to totally enter the world. It was dark, violent and upsetting. But it was definitely worth the price of admission, and I'd like to see it again. I can see why this movie has gotten so much press--it definitely kept me up last night, thinking.