We drove down to see Mom Saturday and spoil her for her birthday. I took eclairs, and Your Sis took flowers. Mom requested a lunch at a new Greek-Italian restaurant, and I indulged my love for gyros. My LOVE for gyros. We then took her to the mall for shoe shopping. We crawled under the house to fix her furnace filter, and I discovered it's a job I should do alone from now on. Mom doesn't need to crawl under the house for anything. We did get to wear haz-mat suits, and that was fun. Mom handed me a box of school yearbooks and photo albums of my first wedding. I suppose she's revised history so that never happened, and that's fine. The boxes and all inside them smell like cigarettes, and they are currently airing out in the garage.
As we drove back into Hendersonville, Your Sis noted that we were driving past the movie theatre and suggested we see Watchmen. Right now. We pulled into the parking lot and saw the movie was starting in five minutes. We ran in, bought tickets, ignored the food stands, and took in the movie. She loved it. She read the comic about five years ago and remembered a little about what went in there. But the film has its own story to tell and she liked it. She wants to see it again very soon.
The second viewing only made me like the film more, becuase I could divorce it from the comic. It has a different punchline because the details of the conspiracy change, but do so in a digestible way. The comic has such a detached, formal tone that the movie's energy is wildly distinct. I don't agree with all the changes made, but I understand them. I want the directors-cut DVD right now to see what was trimmed for time constraints. I suspect a lot was. There's a continuity gaffe in the last half hour of the film because of such edits, but it's not a horrible mistake. Just a head scratcher.
The movie is able to build on certain themes and especially the conceit of the 1985 setting. There are celebrity cameos and cultural markers the comic eschewed, and the movie seems to use an '80s-style score similar to that of Blade Runner.
The consensus online seems to be that it succeeds as a film but not so much as an adaptation. I agree. But then, again, this film could easily be four hours long if it was more faithful to the comic. It certainly gives V for Vendetta a run for its money as the best Alan Moore adaptation. The opening-credit sequence alone is worth the ticket price. Be warned: It's a hard R. Blood and body parts abound. Not that the rating stopped the dumbfuck parents who brought small children to see this.
On Sunday, I solved a puzzle that was a few weeks old. I hurt my thumb when my ergonomic office chair tipped over, and I thought I had sprained it. I iced it once to lessen the swelling, but a shock of pain erupted randomly. I couldn't find a pattern to it. I could still use my thumb, but any common activity would surprise me with pain. Just this weekend, I noticed that I no longer could make the joint jerk. My thumbs are double jointed, and I can "pop" them backward but not with my right injured thumb. I made it work again, and in doing so, made the pain go away. Your Sis thinks I slightly dislocated my thumb and then fixed it.
Sketch of the Day
A quick Comedian sketch made for a message board. The character damn near steals the movie.
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