At any rate, the night was great and full of good times. The next night was equally fun as a bunch of us got together to hit up a sick little "Barcade" in
Barcade & Karoake
That's right, kiddies, this place promised to be sick. A bar where you can get $2 beers, coupled with old school .25 cent video games! Life was good. It was a "Welcome to LA" party for Scott Huff's baby sister, Sasha, so the masses rolled out. It was Huff, Joey Stapes, Justin Bonomo, PokerWire Amanda, and assorted other characters...and we were fired up for a good night.
Of course it took a bit of a twisted turn when we got there and the "Barcade" was boarded up, yo. Bad beat! So bad! No games for us this night, but we are a fairly flexible group so we just reformulated the plan. Off to MonkeyBar (!), which was a solid watering hole, also in
Eventually we rolled our asses to a karoake bar a few blocks away, which was actually open, and proceeded to drink ourselves into complete oblivion, while performing renditions of tunes that really should never see the light of day, or the cochlea of ears. Still, it was an absolute blast, and good times were had by all...
Oh man, way too fired up about this to even know where to begin. The Cubbies have risen from the grave and are only 1 game out of first as this is written! Life is good! Life is damn good! I have been able to catch almost every game since I have been home and they are planning damn well. It brings a little tear to my eye...
Any of you who want to begin chiding in with your comments about "the last 99 years" or how you think the boys from the North Side will somehow blow it, please stop by my place. I will stab you in the jaw.
"Sunshine"
I am a bit of a psychotic movie buff when I have the time, and thus basically hit up everything that I can devour when hanging at home. I read up on a new film, "Sunshine", and the premise sounded like it was perfect for me: years in the future, our sun has begun to die and a mission has been sent to "revive' it via a nuclear reproduction of the "big bang", but on a smaller scale. The survival issue coupled with the spiritual issues raised by technically interfering with God's plan (if there is one), and saving ourselves once we seem earmarked for extinction, was something that really piqued my interest. I have always been massively interested in Armaggedon books/movies, and this one fit the mold. Why, and how, I ever became obsessed with those kinds of tales is an issue for another blog...
I digress though...the movie was absolutely fantastic, full of beautiful imagery and stunning religious overtones. It was one of those rare movies where you were watching a science-fiction tale, full of space ships and such, but really you felt that you were viewing a slice of the human condition itself, opened up and run through intense circumstances for your personal education and self examination purposes. I was definitely left somewhat breathless by it, and lost a little in my own head.
It would have been one of the best films I had ever seen, had the writers and producers not "jumped the shark" towards the end and added in a plot twist that was both completely unnecessary as well as wholely unbelievable. With this twist intact, the film is still stunning and lingers on in your head for days; without it though, it would have been an all time classic for the ages.
Eh, such is life. Still, check it out if you like this sort of thing. Although a completely different story, it reminded me of my favorite book ever, "Ender's Game", by Orson Scott Card, which is also set in a sci-fi setting, but really speaks to much more than that.
On a funny note, when we were walking into the theatre a homeless guy was muttering to himself about how he "said that he was going to hit you, and so he did". He was just a little bit off, so we scuttled past him quickly and headed off into the film. Just as we got by though, he walked towards me and said...
"Hey, you're Joe Sebok. Enemies don't make friends.", and put two fingers up on his shoulder, as if to make a piece sign, but then snipped them back and forth to try and ellicit the imagery of scissors perhaps.
Now, what the sack was that all about?! Just a weird moment in my strange little life...
I'll have to try and figure out what it means...
peace,
J
joepoker@joesebok.com
