Yesterday morning I woke up at 9a to go to the bathroom, checked the phone (still no dial tone), went back to sleep to have my vivid dreams that I always have in the last few hours of sleep, (much making out with Philip Seymour Hoffman), then when I got up for real the phone was back and Phillip Seymour Hoffman was on Inside the Actors Studio!

I don't know why, but these two things together made my day pretty bright right from the start. Also, I could check my email and frankly nothing makes me happier than that. Nothing yet from Omar, so my Christmas hysterics apparently did nothing for his cold heart. Somehow, it doesn't bother me anymore, I really don't care.

Yesterday in the afternoon at the Academy was Love Don't Cost a Thing (boy are they having weird movies at the Academy these days!), which I had no intention of seeing, but at night it was House of Sand in Fog, which I thought I wanted to see, but as the time to leave the house came closer and closer, I wanted to go less and less. So we decided to skip it.

About an hour later, I decided that I wanted to go to the movies after all, I just didn't want to see that movie. So I decided to go see Master and Commander. Shocking that I haven't seen it yet, I know, but things happen and I never got around to it.

There was a 10.20p playing at the AMC that was, according to Moviefone, at 100 N. La Cienega. This was a giant lie! Fortunately, I left the house really early, since I had all of the driving around aimlessly to do, you want a lot of time for that. I drove down La Cienega, realized that I had passed 100 North, since the numbers were South, turned around, and realized that I must have passed it again. Not that I saw a movie theatre.

So I went around the block again, carefully, and found 100 N. Which is Lowry's. Was there a movie theatre attached to the restaurant of which I was previously unaware? no. Did I have the wrong address? I called Information and they said the same thing 100 N. La Cienega. I leaned out the window and asked a security guy who said that there was a theatre around the block on Wilshire, so I drove by it but it wasn't it at all.

It was getting really close to 10.20p, and at this point I had to pee so badly I was ready to cry, so I just decided to forget it and go to the Beverly Centre up the street and at least pee. I thought that they had a theatre in there and maybe there'd be something to see there. Maybe it was the AMC, too!

So I drove into the parking structure, got out, looked across the street and saw the AMC. It's in a mall directly opposite the Beverly Centre, because you cannot have too many malls on one block, with a huge sign advertising the movies in question. Why did I not see it? Because it is carefully offset from the street in such a way that you can only see it if you turn your head the moment you drive by--even stopped at the traffic light ten feet away you cannot see the sign. And that ain't no 100 North, especially since it's on the 300 N block.

So I drove back out, having to pay a dollar for the privilege of being inside the structure for five minutes, drove across the street, parked, ran inside, bought my ticket, ran downstairs, and finally went to the bathroom. I frankly didn't give a shit about the movie at that point. Until my bladder was empty, then I cared again! I was twenty minutes late. And the movie started 30 seconds after I walked into the theatre.

And the movie was great! I dug it the most, I really did. It was so exciting, the battles were amazing, and like Girl With a Pearl Earring, the wonderful way you saw the day to day details of living at that time. And boy was that a hard era to live in.

And life on a ship is so fragile, they are so close to death every minute, it's scary as hell to imagine living that way.

The performances, of course, were terrific. My man Russell was as great as one would expect. As I said when I saw Gladiator, this is a man who men will follow into battle not because the script tells them so, but because of the man himself. And this movie is the same thing--because we can skip the bit where we are being convinced that the Captain is a leader of men, we can get so much deeper so much faster into these relationships.

Paul Bettany was also excellent, as was the officer whom everyone hated, not to mention that amazing kid with the arm, the one who looked exactly like Mark Lester, who played Oliver. What I want to know was where was David Threlfall in this movie? I mean, I know his face really well but I never saw a peep of him until I saw his name in the credits. And this is one of those kind of movies where you never really catch anyone's name properly, so I haven't the foggiest as to who Preserved Killick, Captain's Steward might be.

As I went in, the girl wouldn't validate my ticket, because the movie was ending at 1a and the parking lot would be closed by then, so no-one would be there to collect my ticket. If it turned out not to be true, I was going to wring her neck, but she was right.

So a little tip for those in the LA area who want free parking--if you don't plan on moving your car until after 1a, you're golden!

Today's horoscope:
There's such a thing as being too prepared. The person that doesn't get it can throw you completely off course. Next time, start building on bedrock instead of untested assumptions.

One year ago today:
Yesterday I had an early date and a late date, like a real slut. You know, except for the fact that these dates were with women and children, but hey, I'm trying to change my image.

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Last Updated Mon 29 December 22:57:09 2003