— पांच हजार चार सौ ग्यारह —
There were seven of us at Action Movie Night this week—Shobhit's and my first time back in four weeks, because we had a candidate forum to attend two weeks ago. Neither of the Chrises made it this time, and neither did Ben or Sean. Among the regulars, that left Tony, Jake, Ryan, Derek, Joe, Shobhit and myself.
It was my choice of film, my second time, and it was the 1994 film
True Lies. I had actually wanted this to be my first choice, but I could not find it anywhere, especially when I got told it was my turn to choose a lot sooner than I expected.
This movie is incredibly hard to find, certainly online. And you cannot find it anywhere to buy online on DVD or Blu-Ray without it being stupid expensive. This was a big surprise to me, because Shobhit and I had
watched on on HBO Max in 2020, but it is no longer streaming anywhere. Well, that's not exactly true—it's now on Paramount+, with a paid subscription. Fuck that noise. Also, I don't think it was even evailable there when I had my first movie choice, back in November. I've also seen indications online that the picture quality on Paramount+ sucks, but I cannot confirm or disprove that.
With a lot of extra time to think about this, though—especially after initially thinking I'd be choosing a movie two weeks ago and then had to postpone—I went to the one store on Capitol Hill still selling DVDs on Sunday, a place called Spin Cycle on Broadway, to see if they had it. And they did! I got it on DVD for six bucks. That's barely more than if I'd paid to rent it on Amazon. Plus, I feel way better playing movies from DVDs or Blu-Rays in the Braeburn theater than trying to stream them anyway. Although the movie I have in mind for my next choice, I will have to stream.
Anyway, I really thought
True Lies would be very on brand for this group, but the response was kind of . . . middling. We always queue up the movie before everyone moves from the kitchen into the theater, so it's a surprise what the title is until the title comes onscreen. When True Lies appeared, Jake said, "I'm actually surprised." (Maybe because it's so different from my last choice, which was
The Hunt?) And Tony said, "I saw this baby in the theater!" I think I did too. I would have been 18 when it was released.
Shobhit said a couple of times, "This movie has not aged well." There's an argument to be said for that, sure, as it's very much a product of its time. It's very cliched with its Middle Eastern terrorist villains (although Tia Carrere is also one of the villains, which was very different) and how it treats Jamie Lee Curtis as the naive housewife is a mixed bag at best. But the action sequences are bonkers and ridiculously entertaining, so I'm still glad I made the choice.
Anyway. I've now chosen two films for Action Movie Night, the first from the 2020s and the second from the 1990s. My next choice, assuming I stick with it, will be from the 2000s, and will be much more highbrow in tone—yet I still think the group will like it—than either of my previous two choices. I kind of aim to be a little more eclectic with my choices than a lot of other people in the group tend to be.
— पांच हजार चार सौ ग्यारह —
— पांच हजार चार सौ ग्यारह —
I made the dish we brang on my own to the movie night last night, and I made pasta: farfalle with a jarred sauce to which I added sauteed red onions, green onions, radishes, mushrooms, and chopped veggie sausage. I put shredded parmesan and grated bleu cheese on top of it all. It looked quite lovely in the serving dish I brought it down in; I should have taken a photo.
I felt like I put plenty of salt and pepper into it. I have to admit neither was all that detectable, and Shobhit immediately went for the salt and pepper shakers in the Community Kitchen.
I found it to be especially tasty, still, when the bleu cheese was part of any given bite. When we took the leftovers upstairs after the movie last night, what was left fit into a quart container. I'll be having that for dinner tonight.
True Lies is a rather long movie, even for its time—if actually pretty standard for a James Cameron movie from any era—it's 141 minutes long. So, by the time we got back upstairs, it was close enough to time to start getting ready for bed.
— पांच हजार चार सौ ग्यारह —
Are you wondering why today's DLU (Daily Lunch Update) has a bunch of dicks in it? Well because today is the first day of Pride Month, of course!
We are facing the kind of state sponsored anti-queer acivity that we have not seen across the nation in arguably decades, and as far as I'm concerned, that means I need to lean into my love of dick more than ever. Fuck anyone who doesn't like it! Well, not literally.
I know this sort of thing gets tricky, and it's actually an age-old debate among Pride organizers: how much to be so-called "family friendly" versus how much to be pointedly sex-positive. This is especially a point of contention as it pertains to the Pride Parade itself, which I suspect is the reason why the more sexualized contingents now tend to be near the end of the parade: to allow families to take their children away if they feel like it.
I will be marching with Shobhit in the parade this year, for his City Council campaign contingent. It remains to be seen how many people will march with us. It will be my first time marching in a Seattle Pride Parade
since 2003, when I last marched with Seattle Lesbian and Gay Chorus; and my first time marching in
any parade
since 2008, when Shobhit and I last marched with Trikone-NW at Vancouver Pride. So, 20 years and 15 years, respectively. Honestly, the parade is largely so much the same every year that I'm happy to have a year to mix it up a bit again.
We invited just about all our friends to join, and I really didn't expect Gabriel and Lea to join, but he still called me up to let me know they were already committed to another contingent and were already planning to march in the parade themselves: with Lea's new employer, a shoe company whose name I cannot remember (Brooks?).
Anyway. Between multiple Pride events, Shobhit's and my anniversary, the Seattle Solstice Festival, Lynn and Zephyr's wedding, Shobhit's campaigning, and all the movies I still aim to see, June is poised to be kind of a nutso-busy month. Let's hope I don't get sick! I'm going to go knock on some wood now.
— पांच हजार चार सौ ग्यारह —
[posted 12:31 pm]
