What a week, Part 3: Cedar-Lee Madness

Eventually, I forced myself to go to bed, as I had to work in the morning. The next day, I sorta happily yet exhaustedly made it from one appointment to the next, eventually earning the chance to go home around 5ish. I drive back to the Heights and decide that, despite being tired, what I really wanted to do was catch a flick at the Cedar-Lee. I get there a few minutes after the block of movies started, and the only one still in previews was RocknRolla. I'm not much of a Guy Ritchie fan, but if you are, you might be pleased to know that he seems to be back to early-career form. For what it is worth.

The much more important aspect of this trip to the movies is that it was half-price beer night. Remember, I was tired. Also, I hadn't eaten yet. I rarely eat before about 2 pm, as morning food often gives me a stomach-ache, and the afternoon had been too busy to sneak away and grab something.

That background in mind, the next thing to know is that I drank that first beer in a remarkably brief amount of time. You know how sometimes you have a drink, and you know it’ll take you a while before you ask for another (if you ask for another), but other times it hits your lips and the only thing you can really think is “uh oh…” ? This wasn’t just “uh oh” – this was more like, “uh oh fuuuck”.

Before the opening credits had passed, I was pondering the purchase of #2. By the end of the movie, it had been 3 and, after exiting, I saw the sign that would spell my doom … the one that noted that ticket-holders get reduced-priced drinks at Parnell’s next door. Far be it for me to waste a coupon, especially in this dreadful economy, so I took advantage. While there, I decided that I didn’t need to go home, but instead would go back to the Cedar-Lee and catch the movie I wanted to see in the first place. Only I had mis-read the schedule and it wasn’t coming till next week. So I went and saw “Rachel Getting Married” or whatever it is called instead.

This film is much more my favored style than the Guy Ritchie one, but I just didn’t like it. There were some interesting parts, but the whole rehab/black sheep/Oscar lunge thing is pretty played out, and I really don’t have a good feeling about Anne Hathaway. That being said, there were a couple interesting songs that I guess will be on the soundtrack, and some of the secondary characters were perfectly cast (especially the bride’s best friend, father, and step-mother). Even still, the thing had this casually bourgeouis, self-congratulatory and oh-so-faux bohemianism vibe to it I just couldn’t get behind. And like I said, Anne Hathaway. She just seems to be who she is.

The fact that I had a few more beers may not have helped my ability to appreciate the micro-details that might’ve swayed how I feel about the film, though. And, of course, as I exited, I remembered that now I had ANOTHER coupon for a reduced drink next door and, by golly, I would use it.

And I did. There were a pair of douchebags going nuts about the Cavs game, which was irritating, but there was also a nice older gentleman in the corner watching coverage of the previous night’s election. There was a shine in his eye and a smile on his face, and we spoke over the course of our drinks about how special the previous evening was.

Eventually, the drink was drained, my composure steadied, and I hustled home to feed/water/walk the dodger and go straight to bed.