I saw Moore's new film, Fahrenheit 911 on Friday night, in a theatre by NYU. I was surprised to see that most theaters in the area that were showing it, were showing it on two screens. I wonder if it's like that most places, or just the very liberal places like New York.
I thought the film was great. Moore has a great gift for combining humor, ridicule, and righteous anger. No, Moore was not fair, and he didn't try to tell just a little tiny bit of the other side of the story. But he shouldn't have to, because a one-sided attack is still morally superior to the administration's continuous lies.
Most of the film was old news to me, with the notable exception of the parts about Bush's previous dealings with the Saudi's and James R. Bath, and the 10 congressmen that tried to challenge the 2000 election, all without having the support of one single senator. But even the parts I knew were brought home by the grisly footage of burned children, limbless soldiers, destroyed homes and families, and grieving mothers. We're not supposed to see war footage these days. It puts a damper on things. But I'm glad I saw it. Everyone needs to see it. Maybe next time we go to war we can be a little more fucking cautious about it.
Yesterday I went to Flushing, which is fairly close to where I live. It has a reputation for having the best Chinese and Korean food in New York. Flushing also happens to be the home of my friend Ben. I walked all along Main St, which was a vibrant scene, full of Chinese shops, street vendors, restaurants, groceries, and more. I even went in a very nice Chinese restaurant supply store. For food I grabbed a skewer of Xin Jiang-style barbecue (this is the first time I've seen that style), which was full of spices, smoky, and very tasty. Next I went into a small dumpling shop and had some pork and fennel dumplings. They were OK, but not fresh - they were basically reheated frozen dumplings. Cheap, though. I also got some pearl milk tea, which was not as good as California ones. That's a big problem in the New York area, I can't find any decent pearl milk tea places! Finally, I went to Sichuan Dynasty, which got a Village Voice Best of New York award. I tried the mentioned spicy rabbit stew. And it was very, very, spicy. Not to mention delicious. Loved it.
It was a nice trip, I'll have to go back sometime. Ben tells me there is a great xiao long bao place there, so I'm sure I'll be trying that soon.
I knew that a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly was coming out. I did not know, however, that Richard Linklater was directing. I also didn't know that it was going to use an improved version of the effects used in Linklater's Waking Life. The book is excellent, Linklater is incredible, so I cannot fucking wait to see this movie.
Since I've moved to New York, I've seen three movies. The amazing part is, I didn't have to sit through one damn trailer, and only had to pay for one movie.
The first movie was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The movie felt kind of rushed, but the storyline was coherent and the direction was a little more interesting than the last two. I especially liked the handheld camera in the Dursley's house. I saw this for free at the Director's Guild on 56th St. The Screen Actor's Guild can see movies there for free with a guest, and I went with a friend who was borrowing someone's card. There were very strict rules, I was told. Make very sure your cell phone is off. Don't talk at all during the movie. Stay until the credits have stopped rolling. Don't get up at all during the movie either. It was all worth it, and the movie had very nice credits anyway, so I didn't mind.
The second movie I saw was The Chronicles of Riddick. Not exactly the kind of movie I would see by myself, but my friend Adam got a free ticket. I didn't think it was so good. One of the characters seemed so familiar to me, and I just now looked it up and saw it was Karl Urban, who played Eomer in Lord of the Rings. I saw this movie in Brooklyn, and ate a nice dinner afterwards, but it took me two fucking hours to get home. Still, two hours to get through three boroughs (I had to go through Manhattan) without a car is not horrible, I guess.
The last movie I actually paid for. I saw it just last weekend - City of God, which I've been meaning to see for a long time. It was completely wonderful, and horrifying, and funny at times too. The direction was great (everyone compares it to Scorcese for good reason), and the storyline was captivating. It really showed something I've never seen, the life in a Brazilian slum, and the characters that inhabit it. It was sort of like V.S. Naipaul's excellent book Miguel Street about the slums in Trinidad, except with all the light-heartedness in that book replaced by people shooting each other.
Some recent restaurants I've eaten at since moving to New York:
I just finished reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It's a book that I've been meaning to read for a while. Recently a few separate people raved about it to me, so I figure I had to read it. And, yes, it was that good. Definitely the best book I've read since Egger's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.