Right, well, it's my day off and I'm not sticking to one topic. Please join me, won't you, as we pinball around my psyche.
1) I saw 3:10 To Yuma last night, mostly because I was in the mood for something entertaining but not taxing, and the neighborhood theater where it's playing has cheap admission and bargain prices at the concession stand. Usually, I'm not a popcorn sort of guy, but I make exceptions for Bond pictures, Indiana Jones movies and non-"serious" westerns.
Anyway, as for the movie...eh, it was okay. I enjoyed it enough while it played, but I saw it less than twenty-four hours ago and damned if I can remember much about it. And I like westerns. If I didn't spend so much time going on about Vincente Minnelli, I'd go on and on about the greatness of Anthony Mann and Andre DeToth, and don't even get me started on Sam Peckinpah, or we'll be here all week. I'd love to see the genre make a comeback, but 3:10 To Yuma doesn't seem like the harbinger of greater things. I am cautiously optimistic about The Assasination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, however. The Ron Hansen novel from which it's adapted is great.
2) Hey, speaking of Vincente Minnelli, look! A clip from The Pirate, neatly showcasing Minnelli's stylish direction and the absolutely brilliant comic performances of Gene Kelly and Judy Garland.
You know, you can find this on DVD online for less than fifteen bucks. Buy it! Buy it now!
3) If you have errands to run and you want to do them in blessed silence, may I suggest weekday mornings? I went to the bank, Petco, a book store and an auto supply store and...nothing. No crowds, mostly no other customers at all. It was nice. Well, except...
4) The bank. I keep going to the same branch of the bank, with the fading hope that the same teller--let's call her Busty--will return, but she never has.
Several trips in a row, I was serviced (ahem) by Busty, a well-rounded, curly haired brunette who favored low-cut tops with no bra. Once, she was wearing a button-down number with several of the buttons undone, and as she leaned forward, her spectacular mounds burst forth like Vesuvius, only with popping nipples instead of scalding lava. I realize it's probably wrong to just stare gape-mouthed at a woman's tits (and I'm pretty sure it was obvious I was staring), but Holy Joe, they were spectacular. And huge. And right there!
Busty's gone--I hope she didn't get in trouble for displaying her Twin Peaks, but she was rather blatant about it--so now going to the bank is as exciting as...going to the bank.
But in memory of her charms, here's Mike Nelson, Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo.
5) Actual headline in today's New York Times: BLACKWATER TOPS FIRMS IN IRAQ IN SHOOTING RATE. Funny thing is, I've known this for years now, and I don't have the resources of the Paper Of Record at my disposal. It's almost like The Times, like all mainstream American media, has been willfully ignorant of what was always there, like they've chosen to simply ignore the pernicious forces the U.S. government has hired to do its dirty work. Weird...
6) I always mention my cats when I do one of these random thoughts things, don't I. Well, not today. Nope, no mention of adorable, fuzzy Monika or dangerously psychotic Delmar. No mention at all.
