I have a confession to make.
I didn’t watch the Super Bowl. Although I did actually know who was playing (and was able to correct my father when he misidentified the Colts as being from Baltimore — which they were, twenty years ago), I saw neither the game nor the commercials that ran, and I missed the Prince halftime show. Which leads me to another confession.
I’m not that big a fan of Prince. I think I might be alone on this.
Yesterday, Ray and I met up with Natalie for lunch and then we went to see Pan’s Labyrinth, which we had all heard good things about. I know several people who’ve seen it, and read even more good reviews both in the media and in the blogsphere, and all of them mentioned at some point that it’s dark. I just don’t think that I quite caught on to how dark it actually is.
So, if you haven’t seen it, let me make sure you’re adequately prepared: fantasy elements aside, it’s not a children’s movie — even the faun (who, for the record, is never actually identified as Pan) swears up a storm on occasion. It’s extremely dark (and I mean that literally – it seems like it’s always nighttime or shady). It’s bloody – there are some extremely graphic scenes. And it does not have a happy ending. If you’re in the mood for subtitles and upbeat, see Volver instead.
Guillermo del Toro seems to have an obsession with tragic stories about children set during the Spanish Civil War. If you haven’t seen his earlier work – La espinoza del diablo (The Devil’s Backbone), you ought to see it. It’s not quite as dark, and features the lovely talents of Marissa Paredes (Huma Rojo in All About My Mother) and Eduardo Noriega (Abre los Ojos; the crazy half of the gay couple in Plata quemada (Burnt Money)), who, if nothing else, is pretty to look at when the story drags. There’s even a third Spanish Civil War movie in the works … of course, none of this explains why he chose to make Hellboy, so we’ll just going to assume he made it to raise money to make his other movies.
So, thus cheered up and enlightened, Ray and I spent the evening finishing up the third season of nip/tuck (yes, it’s trashy, but it offers no false pretense and you know what you’re getting). Apparently I missed a new episode of Rome, but thank heaven for DVR.
Ray is also being very secretive about planning a birthday party for me. I have one coming up – this will be my fourth 29th birthday (do the math very carefully — if any of the following people: Janis Joplin, Chris Farley, Evita, or Our Lord and Savior come to mind, you’re off by a year). Since my birthday is the day after our friend Bianca’s, they decided to plan a joint party for the two of us — fitting, since I don’t really know anyone anymore … and that was a depressing realization. Ray asked me: “Do you want me to invite anyone you don’t work with?” and I thought and thought and thought and realized that those are the only people I know. How pathetic am I?? Natalie won’t even be here – she’ll be off in Salvador da Bahia celebrating Carnaval working. The down side to working on the Middle East is that it’s not possible to accidentally find yourself in Brazil during Carnaval on business. I shoulda thought of that before I started learning Arabic.
Anyway. I’m not actually taking this post anywhere productive, so I think I will wrap it up here. I didn’t see the Super Bowl, I don’t care for Prince, Pan’s Labyrinth is depressing as all get-out, and I’m depressed about aging another year. And Rush Limbaugh says there’s no global warming.
And that’s Monday afternoon. I hope your week is off to a great start!
