SATURDAY. 9:53 AM. I think I got up a little too early this morning. Though I didn't stay out late last night -- a conscious attempt to not spend a whole lot of money and to not drink myself silly.

After work yesterday, I met Dustin at the Sony Metreon for lunch and to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I bought tickets online that morning for a 2:30 PM showing. The theatre was sold out. The movie was fun, a little slow in places, but altogether entertaining and worthwhile. I want them to make the next movies now! The set design and special effects are pretty spectacular. The qidditch match is blurring but fun. John Williams did the score and it's a little repetative in parts but that tinny, lullaby refrain is enchanting (and stuck in my head). All of the actors are pretty good particularly the young bloke playing Ron Weasley and Alan Rickman is hysterical as Snape. (Of course, how could you go wrong with British lads? Best boy goes to Sean Biggerstaff -- yes, that's his name -- who played Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Qidditch team captain -- do we sense a theme? And Mr. Biggerstaff is of age...)

If you want more on Harry Potter, you can always go to this blog...

We did get to see the "Forbidden Love" teaser for Episode II: Attack of the Clones before Harry Potter. I think Hayden Christensen will make an all right Anakin Skywalker. Lucas is obviously going for the mass teen appeal. But, like Mark Hammill, Christensen is a relative unknown (a teen heartthrob from Canada) and may just add some freshness to the film. Though I really thought that George Lucas was not going to direct the second movie. Alas, he is. I don't think he should be directing. Writing, fine. Producing, fine. But he should hand the reins over to someone else. Again, it's about creative freshness.

I must make an aside concerning Hayden Christensen, who is gaining popularity in the US after co-starring in the family melodrama Life is a House. I haven't personally seen the film (though it's being touted as this year's American Beauty). But as soon as I saw the TV trailer for Life as a House with Hayden as the gothy, pierced, eye-liner wearing, troubled son, I thought to myself... gee, I wonder if this film will further alienate this character, further code his deviance by making him sleep with men? Afterall, queerness has consistently been pathologized by the mainstream media. Turns out boys and girls that Kevin Kline's angsty teen is a drug addict who is pimped out by the neighbor's daughters boyfriend (who is sleeping with the daughter's mother) to men to make money for drugs. How convenient. And I'm sure as soon as this little shack-turned-fabulous beachfront house is done, the pariah son will become the prodigal son (and lose all that icky make-up, black clothes, and queerness). This kind of thing just upsets me.

Of course, Lord of the Rings will make me happy again. Only a little over a month away!

>>

What else? Last night after the movie was a gentle, friendly, comforting evening. I had a little renewal of the human spirit or should I say humane spirit. In the light of what's going on in the news, I am happy for every little bit of goodness. Dustin and I were walking to catch the #33 bus (my favorite bus in the whole city... but it is notoriously slow and infrequent). We see the #33 as we near the stop and run to catch it. We get alongside the bus and the bus driver closes the doors and pulls away (not unusual for Muni). The driver of a taxi nearby rolls down the window and shouts, "Get in." I'm like, "No, we don't need a cab." He gestures and says, "Get in." So we jump in the back of the cab. He says that he's going in the direction of the bus and basically takes us a couple of blocks ahead of the #33 so we can catch it. I think that was the closest thing to spontaneous teleportation I've witnessed. It was one of those great "city moments" that everyone romanticizes about. Thanks to the taxi driver! Cheers.

Later that night, Dustin and I head over to Rob and Murphy's house for dinner. They wanted to get together to do something and we wanted something indoors and quiet. So, Rob cooked a ton of food (like a mini-Thanksgiving) and we drank wine and talked about Harry Potter, Star Trek conventions, fist fights, jazz singers, Julia Child, and cooking shows. We also played Lunch Money, a card game where you pretend to be little schoolgirls beating the crap out of each other. It was fun, full of witty banter. Thanks to Rob and Murphy for dinner and good conversation.

In other news, I am still keeping up with my word count for my novel. As of today, the 17th day of NaNoWriMo, I should have over 28,300 words. I think I do. I haven't checked recently. Tonight, Dustin and I are holding a 25K Word Potluck and Gathering at his house. It should be fun.

Lastly, here's an interesting article on chatting online and "instant messenging." You can usually find me on AOL Instant Messenger or Yahoo messenger. My nickname is 'writerpunk'.

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