Limbo King

Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.
-- Gerry Adams

Monday, May 24, 1999
One year ago: Nosferatu
Two years ago: Song of Solomon

My dance buddy Adam is back working on campus, and dropped by my office to surprise me. We chatted about this and that. Then off to the festival!

• Titanic Town
  (IMDB page for this film) I'm usually reluctant to see films set in Northern Ireland. Too sad! Too violent. But I did enjoy this film. Julie Walters is wonderful as a Catholic mother who gets fed up by the skirmishing and shooting between the IRA and the Brits, all over the council housing estate! She forms a group and does a signature drive. Both sides use her for their own ends, though, and the other folks on the estate resent her seeming to speak for them. Her family feels the effects of the controversy. I enjoyed this, even though the heavy accents and the sound system meant that my buddy A---- and I were saying "What?" "What did they say?" to each other quite a bit. I also liked Elizabeth Donaghy, who played the daughter -- very pretty!

• The Lifestyle
  (IMDB page for this movie) This documentary exceeded my expectations. I was expecting something with a lot more sensationalism and sniggering, but there was blessedly little of both here. Director David Schisgall answered questions afterwards. The folks depicted were normal Americans, except that recreational sex was their hobby, instead of RV'ing. This won't be appearing on cable, because of the presence of erect penises in some sequences, so look for it in the theater or video. Most of the movie is people talking, though, not doing.

I went over to the Century Ballroom after the two movies. I went into the cafe to say hello to the folks there, and walked into a birthday celebration for Mike, the Limbo King! He got this title through winning a limbo contest at Two-tone tuesday last summer. It was funny to see him wearing the special crown that someone had made him, with a limbo bar in the front. When he had his birthday dance, it was a song that had some latin bits to it, so they got a broomstick and made him go under it each time that part of the tune came around. Birthday dances are fun! Everyone who knows the birthday person jumps in and dances a few bars with zir during the dance.

Earl was surprised to see me, since he knows I'm mostly going to the film festival during this time, but I need that little bit of dancing, at least once a week!

I'm really enjoying the Monday evenings at the Century. Because there isn't a lesson before the dance, most of the people there are beyond the beginning stages and there is room to dance! I'll be glad, though, when I can sign up for classes again, at the next session. I need that drill to maintain my skill level. I'd like to do Benjamin Soloman's class next time, even if we did start out at the same time. (He was the guy in the D.A. haircut, this night.)