~Saturday~ Another glorious day of eight hours of sleep. Today I’m thankful for holiday weekends.
I met Robert at the Regal Brier Creek Stadium 14 theater, for the 4:30 showing of:
As expected, it was pretty much an audience of women and gay men, with the occasional husband who goes to chick flicks to appease his wife, or is a closeted husband. I mean it happens. BTDT.
This film has received very mixed reviews, but I really, really, really liked it, in spite of:
- Never having been a Christina Aguilera fan
- Generally not caring for mainstream movies
- Hating Hollywood endings (see item #2)
- Generally turned off by “boy-gets-the-girl” and “rags-to-riches” storylines
- Exorbitant ticket prices
Some reasons I did like it:
- I adore Cher, and in spite of film critic Laura Boyes’ contention that she is “a latter-day Marlene Dietrich who bares her limbs as long as we’ll have her, can certainly act, but as a plumped and stretched version of her former self, her instrument is diminished,” in this movie, I thought she looked and sounded great, particularly for 64 years old. Give the diva a break, Laura. You’re no spring chicken yourself.
- I’d estimate that, in my lifetime to-date, 95-98% of the boy-gets-girl movies have no representation of my humanity in them, but this film not only had gay characters in it, they were not ridiculed or reviled for being who they are. Stanley Tucci, as he did in The Devil Wears Prada, plays a gay best friend, and there’s even a scene in which boy-meets-boy leaves the impression that eventually boy-got-boy.
- I like musicals (let me put a look of surprise on your face that a gay man likes musicals)
- Robert paid for our tickets
I’m quite surprised that IMDB top-bills these stars of this film: Cher, Christina Aguilera, and Alan Cummings. Of course the first two are no surprise, but Alan Cummings? Stanley Tucci’s character got much more screen time than Alan Cummings’ character—at least the way I remember it, and Stanley’s part was way more germane to the plot. Again, IMHO.
I generally don’t go for blonds, but I thought Cam Gigandet was absolutely adorable in this movie, particularly in scenes when he looked like this. So cute!
I began my holiday letter today, and as I’m wont to do, I went through my Google calendar for the year to cull the salient events to include. I got through July, which is a good start seeing how it’s not even December yet.
I met Joe in front of Flex and we walked over to The Borough, where we ended up having only one drink and leaving.
It was a light’s out night at Flex, purportedly for Brigner’s birthday, but I’m quite sure this isn’t the first birthday Brigner has had this year. Just sayin’. In any case, they finally got it right and turned off those damn televisions, which had all but canceled out lights out in the past lights out nights.
Of course with great darkness comes great risk, especially at Flex, so I pretty much kept to myself when not talking with Alex, Steven, Walter or Jorge.
Later, all of us went over to Legends, where we got a drink from Dick, who is nowhere near as fun a bartender (particularly when it’s busy) at Legends as he used to be at Flex. Oh well.
Again, I spent some time far from the madd(en)ing crowd, and at one point when I was sitting alone at a table and barstool over by The View side’s bar, this young kid who was with his fag hag, leaned over and said to me, pointing at a guy on the TV, “Would you give up your wife and children for that man?”
His name turned out to be Patrick, and he asked several people around us that same question, including a (presumably) straight girl sitting nearby, for whom he rephrased it, “Would you give up your husband and your family for that man?”
Earlier in the evening, Walter had mentioned going out for some breakfast later, “to the IHOP,” to which I had countered, “or maybe The Diner,” thinking about the roach factor at the downtown IHOP, and knowing that he probably didn’t know about 24-hour diner on Glenwood Avenue, since he’s been living in Atlanta for quite a while now.
At about 1:30, I knew that I didn’t want to add yet (at least) another hour to my evening, and that would probably be after 2:00 some time, and with people who were far more inebriated (nothing personal) than I was, so I sent Joe, who was with the group in The Spotlight Theater watching the drag show, a text message that I was heading home.
