Mentally Replaying: "datura," Tori Amos
I'd rather be: having tea in Tokyo
Desiring: something I can't put into words
Enjoying: solitude

There's something utterly intoxicating about "datura" and I think it's because I don't know what most of the plants/flowers that make up the lyrics are:

royal cape plumbago
arica palm
pygmy date palm
snow-on-the-mountain
pink powderpuff

So it's sort of like hearing someone speak in a metered pace in a foreign language. Only I understand the words, it's the phrases that have no meaning. But they sound beautiful. I want to know what these things are, but I don't want to break the spell.


I got up very late today. I've been very tired and haven't been allowed a good night's rest for various reasons. Today I feel aimless. there are things I should take care of, but I feel like lounging. I want to curl up with a good book and some green tea and forget everything.


But this entry has been in the works since Friday night. I had a late night at work and didn't get down to the LBC till 930pm. Molasses and I had planned to go see Kill Bill so we raced to the theatre only to find that they could either shoehorn us into the front row or we could wait for the one that started at a quarter to eleven. We moved onto our second choice which was Lost in Translation.

It was written and directed by Sofia Coppola and stars (in no particular order) Bill Murray, the blond chick from Ghost World, Giovanni Ribisi and the city of Tokyo, Japan. Then there was the Japanese party that sat behind Molasses and me who wrote themselves into the movie by speaking very loudly (mostly in Japanese) through most of the movie. This is probably the only time in my life where I wasn't at all irritated by someone speaking loudly during a movie (I frequently speak during them but try to keep it down).

I think the party behind us was dragged to the movie by someone who had already seen it and told them they had to, if only for the images of home. There's a part where Bill Murray is speaking to his wife via cell phone and he says he'd like to eat like the Japanese do because it's so healthy. His wife, irritated by his extended absense, remarks that maybe he should just stay there then. One of the ladies behind me calmly said "That's a good idea!"

This movie is extremely human and is a tale of the vagaries of human emotion. It's movement is subtle and deeply touching and shows how two people become the salve for each other's loneliness. And it made me want to visit Tokyo.

Of course because of the late start, Molasses and I had dinner after the movie at Hof's Hut and talked a little bit about it. He didn't really like it because there was no story as far as he was concerned, and therefore no plot. I guess the name "Sofia Coppola" meant nothing to him.


Yesterday we ended up spending the entire day in Pasadena. I had a doctor's appointment for my finger and planned to run mage game at night at the City Hall there. Both ended up being pointless. I sprained my finger on Tuesday, by Saturday it was pretty well healed. No one ended up showing up to the Mage game. I'm probably going to end the chronicle and fuck around with some TT. But I can' depend on people so fuck 'em.

The part of the day that made it all worth it was seeing Thrennis who is just a fabulous guy. Through the magic of the internet he got hooked up with the Cam some five years ago, a few years after his marriage and life-long affiliation with the Univeral Church of God had ended. He is extremely learned in a bunch of fields I wish I had the patience to get into - theoretical physics, philosophy, comparative religions - and he's just plain a sweetheart. We had lunch with him, squidded about games and comic books, wandered around Pasadena, went my doctor's office who told me my finger was ok but made them take my vitals anyway, headed to a comic book store and a game store and took a stroll through his old college campus. It's a very beautiful place with several historical (protected by law) buildings, carefully manicured gardens, fountains, sculptures, koi ponds etc. The school closed down long ago but the Church cannot seem to sell off the land. Developers don't want it because they can't do anything with the historical houses. Landowners don't want it because they can't do anything with the extensive lawns. There was almost a deal to sell it to company that needed training facilities, but there is a high school across the freeway that would have to be included in the deal and they didn't want it.

I have a strong urge to make comparisons between the campus and Thrennis, but they won't sound kind so I'll lay off. He's not so good a friend for me to start tearing into him like that. Let it be said then, that I wish good things only to happen to both Thrennis and the campus, something that will turn their lives around while preserving their beauty.


We went to dinner at an Armenian place in Pasadena and it was quite delicious. I had minced kebab that I just couldn't finish and then the sweetest, most fragile baklava I've ever tasted, ever. After that we parted ways and Molasses and I headed up to the City Hall.

There we waited for an hour for someone to show up and then they failed we headed off to see Kill Bill.

With all the gouting blood, major scene breaks, and unsympathetic characters Molasses didn't like it. I still think it was a fine way to pay homage to old kung fu movies, with a distinctly western eye. And has been noted elsewhere it didn't shy away from showing the true extent of violence women can achieve when they put their minds to it. While I'm a pacifist myself and feel that grace and forgiveness are far to rare in this world to ignore them as viable options, I think I have to go with being glad that in a fictional portrayal of female revenge and honor, the story didn't blink.

If you want stories of revenge and honor among women that are real look at the French Reign of Terror of 1848. The earliest photographs show legions of women calmly knitting while heads are rolling. "Hell hath no fury..."


We came home late and tired and a little cranky for different reasons. The Agent came in a little later and inquired about our evening. We told him about the movie and he remarked that he didn't like it either. I was still mulling over bits of it and couldn't (can't) fully state why I like it. It feels like the parts Molasses and Agent Orange don't like are the reasons that I do. And I feel frustrated at this.

It hearkens back to Lost in Translation and the many levels of meaning the title holds. It's like explaining a joke from another language. Puns in one language don't make sense in another and if you've missed the joke and aren't in on why everyone else laughing, then you've just missed out. Either you get it or you don't. In many ways I feel that Lost in Translation was the better movie, but of course one has to allow that the two are on completely different planes of reality.

As a sidenote, Molasses presented me with Endless Nights as a gift for my third anniversary at my work place. I feel like a bum because I never do anything for him on his work annversaries which is in July but he insists it's ok. This is the first time in years that I've been perusing a harbound graphic novel that I didn't borrow from someone else. It's brand-fucking-new and the smell just floods all of my synapses with memories of England and the first Sandman book that I read (which happened to be while I was touring the UK).

ah reality. you sweet little bitch.


bleeding heart
persian sheild
cat's whiskers
royal palm
sweet alyssum
petting bamboo
orange jasmine
clitoria blue pea
downy jasmine...