June 30, 2003

Weekend of Mirth

What a spectacular weekend. Kicking off Friday with yet another birthday party in honor of your’s truly (my birthday refuses to die this year) this time at the over-priced (yet, fun as hell if you don’t go too often) Dave & Buster’s. This marks the first time I have ever been thrown a surprise party. Thanks to Liz and countless deceitful friends, I was kept in the dark for over two weeks as they plotted and schemed to get me in place and slightly inebriated, setting me up adequately for a thorough surprise. Video games, good friends, and alcohol make for a great birthday. Fun was had by all, and profit was had by Dave & Buster’s.

Saturday found Liz, my parents and me back in Kutztown to go to a gigantic flea market and the best used bookstore. It’s always weird going back to your college, even if just for a day, to see all the changes and remember how thankful you are for having paid that teacher to let you graduate.

Sunday my roommates (now ex) and I gathered one last time in our Conshohocken house to try and remove various smells, scratches, burns, and blood stains in an attempt to retrieve our security deposit.

Afterwards we went and saw the new zombie movie, 28 Days Later. As of right now, this is easily the best movie of the year, and further, the best horror movie in a long time (and it all but made me forget the “eh” feeling I was left with after seeing the Hulk). Seamless camera work, superb storytelling, and unflinching violence culminate into a masterpiece. Some of the most beautiful things about this movie is what you don’t get. There are no hit-you-over-the-head plot explanations, no gratuitous gore, or any of the other shameless current “horror movie” devices and conventions. You are only given snippets of information. Just enough (sometimes less) to get by. Much like its undead predecessors, this causes you to relate to the plight of the characters that much more and forces you to work to get details out of the story. It seems stupid to say, as though it should be a given, but the characters feel real. They aren’t larger than life. There are no witty one-liners. The film wouldn’t allow for it. In my opinion, this film made its place in horror history this weekend. Simply put, you must see it. It was just fantastic…and demands repeat viewings.

Commentary (1):

1. Kevin Cornell says… jun 30, 2003 | 5:17 pm

You know what else demands repeat viewings? You guys ACTUALLY cleaning -

ZING, ZING!