What I Did This Weekend

So Friday night, we ended up going to Snakes on a Plane. I was actually kind of reluctant to go, and tried to stear things towards The Descent, but it was late (for me) by the time we actually left for the theater, and by that time of night, if you're going to the movies, it really is a Snakes on a Plane kind of night. Anyway, it was alright. They could easily have trimmed at least 15 minutes off (especially if they'd had a more efficient screenwriter), but once things got going, it was a pretty solid B-movie that unfortunately is being crushed under the weight of its own hype. What annoyed me the most was that it was clear that the audience had made up their mind before the film even started that they were gonna LOVE this movie, and, more to the point, that it was gonna be so-bad-it's-good. They were just giving it up for the movie without it ever earning it, laughing and cheering wildly at stuff that was maybe worth a little chuckle. This really cheapened the whole experience for me, which was a shame, because once it gets going it really does start earning the cheers. But even through the crazy middle act, it could have been paced more efficiently.

Also worth noting is that we went to the AMC Burbank theater, usually a pretty busy place, and arrived at about 9:38 for the 9:30 show. Not only did we have no trouble getting in, but we had no trouble finding four seats together. Thus, I'm not particularly surprised that it didn't do much at the box office. As Devin points out, yeah, everyone was talking about the movie on the internet, but nobody said they wanted to actually SEE the thing.

This is what we did Saturday:

The Angel City Derby Girls are a local rollerderbyteam, and they were playing the Central Coast Roller Derby Voodoo Dolls at the YMCA Roller Hockey Rink in North Hollywood (Roller Hockey Rink apparantly being a euphamism for Basketball Court). These girls are fucking badass. They were really knocking the shit out of each other. The girls all have cool names like Vodka Toxic, Mo Effen Vengeance, Bette Noir, Penney Dreadful, Joanjetta...even the comedian doing rinkside commentary was called Lenny Bruise. A lot of them had scary makeup on, like professional wrestlers, and they were all wearing the traditional short skirts.

There was an after-party at The Tonga Hut, a nice little tiki bar in NoHo. Unlike the Safari Room, The Tonga Hut really commits to its decor--there's nowhere you can look and not see a tiki bar, and there's indoor waterfalls and stuff. Bigger and more comfy than the Tiki Ti in Silverlake. The mai tai was pretty tasty, lots of dark rum in it, and layered so that the drink seems to get stronger as you drink it down.

Sunday, it was last minute shopping at the Santa Anita Mall for Brandie. She had gone to Disneyland the day before, wearing boots, and was in so much pain she could barely walk. We were starving, so we decided to go to Dave & Buster's in the mall, thinking it was like a Chili's/Appleby's/whatever type place. We walk up, and the greeter says "Welcome! Have you ever been to Dave & Buster's before? No? OK, think Chuck E. Cheese for adults..." At that point, if it hadn't been for the situation with Brandie's feet, I would have turned around and walked away. But we were kinda stuck. So we ate in the dining room.

I get the Chuck E. Cheese analogy, but it seemed like a pretty loose definition of "adult." The menu was basically just bar food. The drink menu was about three times the size of the food menu, with all kinds of shooters and "over-unders" and "martinis" and whatnot. There was a huge video arcade, several bars, dozens of TV's (all tuned to sports)...what a nightmare. And on top of it all, we had a truly awful waiter.

Anyway, on to happier things. Like today's edition of The Big Screen. And also my Boy Howdy Profile, courtesy of The Fake Life. Or Bandini reporting good news in the Taco Truck War. Or Jerry Lee Lewis' Iago.

Most of all, I want to bring your attention to this LA Weekly piece on This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which focuses on the issues of copyright and fair use being finally brought to a head by the release of this movie. The fair use aspect may actually prove to be a bigger and more important aspect of this film than the expose of the MPAA.