I Walk On Guilded Splinters

I don't have much to write about as my whole being seems to be taken up with the possibility of a lay-off. I have a lot to say about the whole process, but think it's best if I don't. But trust me, if I've seen you or talked to you in the past few days you've heard my diatribe on the topic.

I'd tell you about my weekend, but I can't remember Friday for the life of me. I might have watched a movie, but it wasn't one of my Netflix ones, so I can't track. Saturday was very exciting as I made an emergency trip to my eye doctor. Let's hope BC&BS will pay for it. They don't seem to pay for anything freaking else. I watched the Red Wings kick the Avs' butts, which is always enjoyable. That evening I had a graduation get together to attend. A friend got his Masters in something or other (are you enjoying the detail?), so we celebrated the end of his paper-writing days. We had dinner, chatted, ate cheesecake and then watched the 40-year Old Virgin which was funny, but did cause me to shake my head in some spots. Men are just weird. What was with the scene where the guys were hanging out and just breaking fluorescent lighting tubes? After the movie we sat around and chatted and before I knew it was past midnight which pretty much meant I wasn't going to make it to the other party I had that night.

Sunday was another very exciting day – Mass, grocery store and movies. I was desperately in need of food as I was down to one Boca burger, some frozen spinach, one slice of American cheese and Ramen noodles. Pathetic.

I did watch some interesting movies, however. The first was called "And starring Pancho Villa as Himself." It was an HBO movie starring Antonio Banderas as Pancho Villa. I didn't know Spaniards were capable of pronouncing Spanish without the "th" sound every other letter, but he sounded Mexican! I thought it was fascinating, but that could be because of my natural love/affinity of all things Mexico. Way back in 1914 Pancho needed money for his revolution because President Wilson had an embargo against Mexico, so he sent a letter to Mutual Film Company offering to let them film the revolution for $20,000 (if I remember correctly) in gold and 20% of profits. They took him up on his offer, but Pancho Villa and the revolutionaries did not come across well (remember this was the silent film era). Randolph Hearst owned land down in Mexico and as he was in danger of losing said land if Pancho won, he was intent on turning American sentiment against PV. Frank Thayer of Mutual Film Corp didn't like the way the newspapers in the States were treating Pancho, so he proposed another film. Mutual and Pancho agreed and the second movie was made. This was apparently the first almost 2 hour movie. Before that movies were only 2 reels of 15 minutes each, while this one was going to be 7. The original movie is long gone but records of its existence remain, and from all accounts it changed the way most Americans viewed him and the Revolution.

The second movie I watched was K-Pax with Kevin Spacey. I liked it. Quite a bit. Of course, I love Kevin Spacey as an actor and artist. I think he's brilliant. I'm not really a fan of sci-fi, but to me this was not really a sci-fi flick, but an exploration of people and relationships – how's that for sounding high-falutin'? Brief synopsis: Jeff Bridges is a psychiatrist at the Manhattan Psychiatric Institute and Kevin Spacey is sent there because he says he's from the planet K-Pax. Jeff obviously doesn't believe him and goes about trying to figure out what's really going on. In the meantime, Kevin is curing the other members of the hospital and bringing about other changes. At one point I thought the ending was going to piss me off, but it didn't – but I'm not going to ruin it for you by telling you the ending. I seriously recommend this movie.