We have actually been to a movie theater a few times over the past month! This is unusual, and our return has kind of reminded me why. There were literally twenty minutes of previews before the movies even started, and that's not even counting the damn Nicole Kidman ad. They were short on the liquid "butter" that is the only thing that makes movie theater popcorn worth eating, and the Coca Cola "remix" machines ran out of Diet Coke, leaving us with, like, Fanta and various fruit flavored syrups. And then there's the constant fear of being shot, which may just be me, but this is America, so it's on my mind.
But regardless, as to the actual substance of the movies, well, they were perfectly fine. We saw Moana 2 with my niece and nephew, and they were suitably entertained by it, which was all that mattered. I did not find the plotting to be all that compelling, but I enjoy a spunky heroine as much as the next person, and the animation was much higher quality than, say, everything I ever saw as a child. We also saw Wicked, which was honestly very well made. People want it to be on the level of a West Side Story when it's essentially Hairspray, but it was entertaining. The "Ozdust Ballroom" sequence goes on for what feels like years and some of the dancing is literally laugh out loud aggressive. On the other hand, Ariana Grande is really quite solid, even though as a general matter I despise her and her boyfriend Spongebob. And Cynthia Erivo has some lungs on her, to be sure. Did it need to be two and a half hours long? No, but essentially nothing does in my view, and it didn't feel super long.
Anyway, we left the house! Unlikely to be repeated, but lessons were learned.
I'm still here! It's been a crazy few weeks. I had to go to DC for work, where I did everything from taking people's coats and getting them nametags to chatting up state Attorneys General (hooray for weird plurals!) over veal I sincerely did not want to eat. Perhaps the most notable part of the experience was that hotels in DC were for some reasons thousands of dollars per night, which makes sense, because spending several days in DC is exactly as valuable as owning an economy car. It was also kind of nice that DC was about 30 degrees warmer than Chicago over this period, though I did have to come back eventually, and was absolutely not equipped with the coatage for that.
I've also been rehearsing extensively for my amateur theatrical for lawyers. Objectively it is insane that I spend this much time on something I will never be compensated for (and indeed even spend money on, as RFK Jr. costumes aren't free), but it does keep me off the streets. This year has a Back to the Future theme, I guess because we just found out that movie exists? Also, fart jokes. So if you happen to be in Chicago January 10-11 and want to spend $50 on something, let me know. Or just buy eggs; I hear they are killer expensive in Joe Biden's America.
