Weekend Splurges and Television Watchage

I'm not feeling well today. I woke up with a slight sore throat and a mild earache; other symptoms of a building cold have manifested themselves. Throughout the day, I've had cold and hot spells, nausea, dizziness, and a small headache. I'm hoping that a hot shower and a light, healthy dinner will be enough to counter it. I may call in sick tomorrow if I don't feel better.

I spent the weekend with Jason and Stephanie. Friday evening, we spent driving to various Blockbuster stores to take advantage of the 1.99-3.99 sale they were having. They were clearing out a lot of there foreign film inventory so we all got some good deals on interesting stuff. I bought my first Kino film: Alila which is an Israeli film described as "Altmanesque" on the back. How could I resist?

Stephanie and I watched The Curse of the Golden Flower and The Seagull's Laughter. The latter is an Icelandic film that Stephanie bought at one of the Blockbusters. We observed Jason's cat, Bullet. We played Blokus and MarioKart. I cooked a cottage pie Saturday. Stephanie spent a long time attempting to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew and may have sustained ligament damage. We had a generally good time. I bought far too many movies. However, the purchases weren't simply a way to cope with depression or not deal with things so my movie mania has become less a crutch.

The reason I say I bought too many is primarily because I have so many that I haven't watched. I would say how many, but frankly, it's a little embarrassing. Stores keep having sales, and people keep making interesting looking film. My best recent purchase was Warner Bros. Classic Comedies Collection which assembles six great comedies from the 30s and 40s. So far I've only watched Bringing Up Baby which was fantastic.

Yesterday evening, I watched one of the films I'd purchased after returning home. It was The Spiderwick Chronicles and probably the most mainstream thing I purchased. Though it definitely stripped away a lot of the darker material from the book, it still maintained a surprising darkness. Freddie Highmore played twins which isn't something that I've seen done recently. The most recent film I can think of is the Parent Trap remake. The film also starred Mary-Louise Parker and Joan Plowright, two actresses that I admire. (One of the most amazing performances I've seen is Joan as a gentile guardian in Tea with Mussolini; she manages not to be buried by the much more flamboyant performances of Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Cher.) I was happy to find out that Holly Black, author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, is writing a second string of children's novellas.

I also watched the second episode of Castle and the pilot of Better Off Ted which was really funny in a droll way and probably won't make it. (Of course, I say this while acknowledging that I know nothing about television programming. I liked Kitchen Confidential for heaven's sake.) Castle is really engaging despite the cop show setup. I don't really like cop shows, but this one feels like an updating of Murder, She Wrote with it's quirky premise. Nana and I are watching the third episode this evening after I bring her up to speed. I can't imagine her not liking it so I hope it will distract from the absence of season two of Ugly Betty.