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Yesterday I took myself to see the love-triangle drama
The Sun Never Sets right after work at Pacific Place. It was . . . okay. I saw it just as something to see, really; it was either that or
Onslaught, and I saw
The Sun Never Sets because the MetaCritic score was higher, 67 versus 57. I'm tempted to say I might still have had a better time at
Onslaught, but given how reliable MetaCritic scores tend to be, in all likelihood I would have been just as aggravated by it, just in different ways. I mean, whatever; I got a new movie review out of it.
I'm at 67 movies in my movie log (this is exclusive to going to the movies, though sometimes I do review streaming releases—something I have not yet done this year), an average of just over eight movies a month. At this rate I'll make it to 97 by the end of the year, and because I'm a freak I'll feel better if I at least crack 100—and that shouldn't be too hard since I tend to see more movies in the fall when awards contenders are getting released in much higher numbers. I made it to exactly 100 last year, and I had only gone to 59 movies by this same point. Hmm, maybe this year I'll make it to 110!
That seems surprising, given the unusually large breaks from movie-going I had to take this year: the week I had my bike accident in May; the two and a half weeks Shobhit and I were in Europe in late July through mid-August, as well as the full week preceding it; we haven't even yet gotten to the five-day trip to Albuquerque at the beginning of next month. I was tempted to mention my Birth Week but that happens every year so does not qualify as unusual.
Anyway, I rode my bike home from the movie, wrote the review, and was done before Shobhit even got back from a SAG-AFTRA meeting he chose to attend in-person downtown from 6:00 to 8:00. Until he got back, I found myself just reading my e-book copy of the 2023 biography
Madonna: A Rebel Life on my phone. It has a great deal of detailed information about the
Like a Prayer era, which is of great interest to me, in large part because that was by a long shot my favorite album of hers until
Ray of Light came along. (
Like a Prayer would be my #2 Madonna album even today.)
This biography was written by a woman named Mary Gabriel, and it only occurred to me to wonder yesterday: there have been so many books written about Madonna, but most have been written by men; I have only read a few, but think this is the first by a woman that I have ever read. It definitely puts a different spin on it, and I am finding this one very absorbing, if increasingly noticeable in its active participation in mythologizing Madonna and her place in contemporary pop culture.
To be fair, I just googled "Madonna biographies written by women," and immediately four different ones (including this one) popped up. That said, that's four out of probably dozens of books that have been written about Madonna, and not even this four are straightforward biographies, otherwise finding specific ways to contextualize her through things like a feminist lens.
I did read the book by her brother, Christopher Ciccone,
Life with My Sister Madonna, in 2008, and I found it to be terribly written, utterly absent in new insights, and stupidly spiteful (it does get quoted extensively in
Madonna: A Rebel Life, though, alongside many more quotes from more recent interviews with Christopher). The first Madonna biography I ever read was when I was 15,
Madonna: Unauthorized by Christopher Andersen, which I got for Christmas in 1991 and of course I devoured. At that time the book had all of eight or nine years of a music career to cover; Madonna has been consistently active for the 35 years since. I only wish
Madonna: A Rebel Life had come out recently enough to cover whatever led up to releasing
Confessions II, her most magnificent album in over 20 years; but, it was published in 2023. It'll still cover far more of Madonna's wildly expansive career than any other biography to date though.
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One thing I did not mention yesterday about my three-day weekend was how much more got taken care of in regards to the trip to Albuquerque, which is more expensive per-day than most trips of this duration, just because of when and where it's happening: the annual International Balloon Fiesta is a big deal. And I talked for a few years with Danielle about going with her, but she's nearly impossible to plan anything with. Eventually the conversation shifted to Jennifer, so now Shobhit and I are going with her and Matthew.
Anyway, I was ready to book the timed-entry tickets that would be best to purchase ahead of time, especially this time of year—as in, things that don't have any direct connection to the Balloon Fiesta but will still have higher demand than usual due to the number of people who will be in town. Probably the most notable example of this would be the Sandia Peak Tramway—and if there's an aerial tram or gondola nearby,
I have to ride it. I purchased our tickets to that for the evening of Monday, October 5; as well as tickets to Meow Wolf immersive art installation in Santa Fe for the same day; and the Harvest Festival at ABQ Biopark Botanic Garden on Saturday October 3.
I texted Jennifer to run these by her, including the proposed times, and she was good with it all; she had me purchase for all four of us and she's sending me a check for her and Matthew's half. I asked if she has Venmo and she said, "No I don't use anything like that." This made her seem sort of surprisingly behind the times, but whatever. She's got a long history of being deeply reliable when it comes to paying me back for things, and was so quick about it here that she actually sent me a photo of the addressed envelope with a check in it, which she put in the mail yesterday.
The one thing they want to do that was not something I had on my own list was to visit a winery. We looked at a few places together while texting, but in the end decided to play it by ear, and probably find one to go to on Sunday the 4th. Shobhit's only concern was that one of us would need to not drink and thus be able to drive us back to the hotel. Jennifer even did try to find one within walking distance of the hotel, and there was one but its selection of wine types is a bit limited. I told Shobhit I can be the designated driver in this case, it's fine. I'll make that sacrifice so Jennifer can choose at least one of the things we all do together. Otherwise I'm really driving all the points of interest we're going to, so this seems fair to me.
There is no major trip again after New Mexico in October until Shobhit and I go to Massachusetts for our anniversary in June. That's a good eight months, although I do also have my Birth Week in late April / early May to plan, and that always involves planning as intricate as any vacation. And with lighthouses as the theme, I'm looking at probably at least three overnight stays during the week, two of them likely in hotels (one would be the traditional overnight stay with Jennifer). Tracy expressed interest in Cape Disappointment, which apparently she has never been to. My lighthouses tour would be otherwise exlcusive to the Puget Sound region, so I figure I could make the trek to Cape Disappointment at the end of the week. This would mean staying with Jennifer during the first weekend. In any event, I'm already marking my calendar with tentative ideas.
I mean, I'm coming up with checklist ideas for trips we're aiming for clear through the end of next year at this point: New Mexico in October 2026; Birth Week in April/May 2027; Boston and Provincetown in June 2027; holiday season in Vancouver with Alexia in December 2027; Asia and Australia at the end of December 2027. I really just can't contain myself with this shit, I have a sickness. But it's so much fun! I love all the planning, all the research, the experiences themselves, and even the coverage of it through photos and travelogues during and afterward. I do this stuff often enough now that it's pretty continuous: as soon as I'm done organizing the photo and written coverage of one thing, I am planning and researching the next, and the next after that, and so on. Honestly it makes me feel like I'm living my best life.
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[posted 12:34pm]
