(500) Days of Obsession

Last Friday afternoon I decided to treat myself to a movie, and headed to Leamle Playhouse 7 to watch "(500) Days of Summer." I enjoyed this movie so much that I smiled the whole drive home; I enjoyed it so much that I called my friend Alia to "discuss" the film (I can always count on Alia to have seen any movie I have, and long before me); I enjoyed it so much that I continued to ponder its qualities well into the weekend.

And why? For one, I loved the focus on downtown L.A. Like I said in the previous post, I love downtown, and for once a movie captured what I've known for years: downtown L.A. is beautiful. Two, the story is deceptively simple. At first it seems like the usual simpy love story with hipster stylings, but it's more than that. It is a story about obsessive infatuation. Something I am a familiar with, just ask the guy I had a crush on in junior high who's mother had to ask me to stop calling the house and hanging up. That's right, I have had moments of embarrasing stalkerish behavior, as I suspect many of us have, and it's through that specific lense that makes this story interesting. It's about that guy or girl that becomes the starring role of our fantasies, that person we are sure is the perfect match for us, if only he/she would let it happen. But the problem is these objects of affection, become just that, an object.

In "(500) Days of Summer," Tom(JGL) is obsessed with Summer (Zooey Deshenal), and the film illustrates this obsession by only revealing Summer as Tom sees her. Throughout the movie, Tom focuses on a handful of memories and refuses to look at the negative aspects of Summer. In fact, the audience is never given more than a two-dimmensional view of her. We don't know about her family, dreams, aspirations, and it is as if she is only a an extension of Tom's psyche. This is because she is only a fantasy to Tom. In one well-done scene we are given a split screen. One side shows Tom's expectation for the night, and the other shows his reality. But at some point fantasy must give in to reality, or else you are a creepy stalker who sleeps in piles of women's shoes. Just saying.

I love downtown! Downtown is my favorite!

Two Saturdays ago I took my nephew to Pershing Square in downtown L.A. to look at a free light and art exhibit. As Gabrielito, my nephew likes to say, "Ooo. I love downtown! Downtown is my favorite!" And I agree with him. There is so much to see and do, and most people don't even know it. Most people think it's dirty, rundown, and overrun with homeless, and though there are those aspects, there are also a million little treasures. There is great architecture, exciting art galleries, performance events, cool tunnels (another aspect my nephew enjoys), and lots of good eateries and drinkeries. That's right, I said drinkeries.

Here are some pix from Gabrielito's and my date downtown for some lights and art. These are caught by both he and I.
Back in the car on the drive home I asked Gabrielito if he liked it, and he said, "Yeah, but where was the art?" Looks like we have a young art critic on our hands.

If I had a blog's 1st Entry

Everyday things happen to me that I think to write about. I see something ridiculous on T.V. and I think if I had a blog I would write something about this. The President's health care plan is falling apart, and I want to say something about it, and I think if only I had a blog. I watch really cool movie that I want to share with people, a restaurant that has yummy food, an art exhibit, random happening, a trip to Alaska, these are the everyday things that occur in my life that I create opinions about, that run wild in my brain with nowhere to go, and I always think if only I had blog.

I have another blog, but that's poetry and immigration focused, and generally not fun. Where do I go to when I have a thought that doesn't have to do with poetry, my childhood, immigration, god or no god, the universe, death? I've been a writer my whole life. I know this because I have been developing opinions on every little happening since I could form a thought (unfortunately for my mother), and now it's time for these opinions to find a place to go.

If I had a blog I would write about really unimportant things that make me happy. If I had a blog I would fill it with photos from trips, photos of L.A., reviews of movies, deep thoughts on bad reality T.V., art, events, and other stuff like that. So here it goes...