Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Haven
March 22, 2003
Kayaking season has started, so Mr. Karen took off for wetter and wilder parts east this weekend. Often when I have a Saturday alone I’ll cocoon at home, listening to NPR and working on whatever quilt project I’ve got going. Today NPR was not an option, because I did not want to hear the all war all the time programming that preempted the regular shows I enjoy. I don’t think I have a civic obligation to overload with information on a situation I can’t do anything about.
I decided to take refuge in the movie theater. NPR and CNN could not reach me there. I picked an early show of the The Two Towers for maximum news avoidance– with the commercials and previews, I was guaranteed three and a half hours of being out of touch. I liked the movie a lot. Sure, the plot picks up in the middle (there’s no “previously on The Lord of the Rings) of some events and leaves off in the middle of some others, since that’s how trilogies work, but the visuals are so great that the plot almost doesn’t matter. The scenery and costumes could nearly carry the movie all by themselves. Legolas and Aragorn are nice to look at, too.
I liked hiding out in the theater so much that I bought a ticket to a twilight show of Chicago on my way out of The Two Towers. A short shopping break (yes, I brought my own M&M’s into the second show; but they got me back by charging me for the medium popcorn when I only had the small) and I was back in the dark, taking in another world on the screen. I liked this movie, too. (I am not much of a critic, truth be told; a movie has to be really bad for me to not enjoy it.) I wasn’t completely sold on Richard Gere’s song and dance routine, but it wasn’t awful by any means. During the jailhouse tango scenes I had a few moments of regret that I’ll never have a dancer’s body– I didn’t have a dancer’s body even when I was dancing lo so many years ago– but I was soon distracted by the flashy costumes and infectious rhythms.
Now that I’m home again, I’m escaping into my other solo Saturday routine, watching Trading Spaces. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stay up for Iron Chef, as I woke up at 4:15 this morning and finally gave up trying to go back to sleep around an hour later. I don’t get up that early during the week; I don’t know what’s going on there, but I sure hope it doesn’t happen again tomorrow. Sleep is another favorite haven, and get a little cranky when I don’t get enough time to retreat to it.
H is for Haven