Avi It Is: Mind Bloggling: December 2005

Four Movies in Three Days, NYC

Hot soup was my first stop. Chipotle my second. Movie after movie after movie after movie my third. My first two loves in life are movies and food...in no particular order. I don't know too much about either but I appreciate each with an intensity that I don't have towards most things. If I have a spare moment during the day, of which there are many, my thoughts usually turn to what my next meal might be or what movies are playing locally. Being in NYC food and movies are easy to come by. As far as foods go, soup is my favorite. After stoping to order a medium gumbo at a local soup shack, I head to my first pic "A History of Violence." Not knowing much about the movie, lest a few decent remarks by some friends, my first thought was that the movie would literally chronicle the history of violence. I wasn't sure how the movie would do this. Violence must surely be old as time, has violence gotten better or worese? What's to chronicle? The title however refers to the main characters shady sorted past which includes a history of violence. It's a slice of life picture. No real climax or denoumont. Mostly character development, characters being the most interesting thing in the movie. Two great sex scenes make most of the confusing parts of the movie worth while...what is going on? who is this guy? what was this guy? why doesn't his wife know anything about him? why does she look so great in a cheer leader uniform? Why does his wife protect him from the authority? Is the second sex scene out of love? Fear? Why was the directing so unanimously praised?

Movie two: The Squid and The Whale. A good picture. They mention Binghamton University, which is in my fair city, Vestal, NY. You should see it.

Movie Three: Walk The Line. I feel asleep a third of the way through, waking up intermintantly. As far as famous musician movies go I liked Ray better.

Movie Four: Jesus Is Magic. This movie gets a 6.7 on a 10 point scale. For those of you who don't know, this is Sarah Silverman's standupcomici'mawesomemovielookatme. Most of the standup is pretty funny...most of the interloods/skits/songanddance fall short of funny.

Can You Egypt

An affordable way to spend a vacation: go to a developing nation. The people are nice, food is cheap, people are friendly, and the food is cheap...along with everything else. The first thing that srikes anyone as they enter the country is that Egyptians won't accept their own currency. As you enter the country, before getting your passport stamped, your required to buy a visa, good for 30 days. Thinking ahead, I exchanged some money at JFK. I tried to pay the gentleman who was selling these visas in Egyptian pounds, but he wouldn't budge. "I don't accept Egyptian pounds." He exclaimed, as if I was the one being unrealistic. "Am I in Egypt?" I thought to myself. "Did I go to the wrong country? I guess it's possible, I didn't really check my ticket...come to think of it, the guy next to me on the plane kept talking about how great the food is in the Philipines." As I suspected I did in fact fly to Egypt...and finally agreed to pay the man in U.S. Dollars. The second thing your likely to notice after you've officially entered the country is that there are no traffic laws...or laws of any sort. The first time you enter a vehicle in egypt may be the last time you enter a vehicle. And if you're lucky enough to exit the car, via the door, and not through the windshield or out the door without first opening it with your hands you may just consider walking everywhere else you have to go...or riding a camel or the more common donkey.