Sleepy Hollow

She sends forth her sympathies on adventure; she embarks her whole soul on the traffic of affection; and if shipwrecked, her case is hopeless -- for it is a bankruptcy of the heart.
-- Washington Irving

Saturday, November 20, 1999

When I'd suggested that I come up to visit this weekend, Jack had warned me that he was going to be brewing beer with a work buddy of his. This was ok with me (though I'll admit that I didn't realize it would take all day). We got up at a fairly early hour, for a weekend morning, left his daughter A---- with a few bucks (she promised to do some cleaning up), and drove out to the country to R---'s house, a big glass carboy in the back of the van.

It doesn't take long to get to the country in Bellingham -- the city isn't that big! But we did do some casting about to find the place, since Jack had only been there once before. R----, his wife, and their two young kids live in a nice suburban house, at the end of a cul de sac, with a grand back yard! It was drizzling and chilly, but Jack and R---- would be able to do most of their work under the deck. I spend the day reposing on the couch, chatting with the other family members, and reading my Nicola Griffith book (and dozing).

Home brewing is a good geeky hobby! Lots of gear (R---- made himself a special rack with burners and pipes and several levels, using plans downloaded from the net), details of the brewing to pay attention to (temperature, recipes, grain varieties, hop varieties, yeast types, flavoring agents), special terminology (sparging, wort), and you end up with beer! Jack and R--- each have about four or five gallons of Scotch Ale, now.

I think Jack felt that he wasn't entertaining me enough, so he was asking R--- about fancier types of restaurants that we should try for dinner, before going to see the movie this evening. We got several recommendations, but in the event, Jack wasn't feeling great when we got back to his place. He sacked out in his recliner while I checked email and the web. Jack has the cable modem working now, hurrah! I like being able to get mail when I'm at his place, and I hadn't been able to do that ever since he moved to Bellingham.

The cable modem made it possible to check the movie showtimes very conveniently. (I'm using Hollywood.com for this, nowadays -- sidewalk often doesn't seem to have the info since they were sold off.) Only one theater was showing Sleepy Hollow, on two screens. I woke Jack up around six o'clock, startling him by touching him on the shoulder. "It's better if you just shout 'Hey, Jack!'", he said, but I don't believe that. It's hard for him to wake up, no matter how. We drove up to Sunset Hills shopping center and I ran to buy the tickets. I decided to get them for the 7:55 show, so we could eat a leisurely dinner somewhere. Jack wasn't up for any of the possibilities in the immediate area, so we drove off in a semi-random fashion, wandering through Bellingham neighborhoods (including the Alphabet district, my favorite neighborhood monicker up there). We didn't find a restaurant until we were already back downtown. Jack saw that The Teriyaki Bar was open, a place that he eats at often for lunch during the week, so we decided to eat there. I was nervous about Jack's parking choice, in a bank lot that threatened to tow if you were unauthorized.

The food was just fine. I had the garlic chicken bowl; the shredded parmesan was an odd touch, but it all tasted good. Jack had a similar dish, but made with marinated steak. We do sometimes read while we eat, these days. I was reading the alternative paper (called the Every Other Weekly, which always makes me laugh) and saw an ad for the Pickford, a rep movie theater run by a local non-profit. The midnight show tonight was Ghost in the Shell! Would Jack like to see it on the big screen? Yes, of course! I wondered if we'd be able to stay awake, but we would try.

Jack teased me on the way back to the car, by walking around the corner first, and exclaiming as if his car had been towed! but it was still parked where we left it.

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We got back to the theater in good time. I waited in line while Jack tried a motorcycle video game. Waiting in line is just difficult for him! so I actually suggested that he do this, and told him where I'd try to sit so he could find me in a few minutes. It was unfortunate that he accidentally kicked the young woman who was sitting next to him, when he came to site down. (Note: foreshadowing!)

The theater wasn't quite sold out, but it was certainly ninety-five percent full. We were bugged by the amount of talking as the movie began; the folks in the row with us being some of the talkers. Jack gave them a minute or so, then asked them to please not talk. The girl next to us started to bitch, in a loud voice, about Jack kicking her leg, five minutes before! So Jack replied, also in quite an audible voice, saying that if she wanted to have a discussion, he was willing to take it out in the lobby. I was glad that she subsided, along with the other talkers in the theater. Of course, that meant it was incumbent on us to really keep any whispered comments between us to the very minimum!

I really liked the movie! Jack enjoyed it also, but not as much as me. It's an unusualy film for these days, high-style horror, tension, and drama, with a few funny scenes. I liked the creepy, spooky village, and Johnny Depp was suitably nervy and high-strung. I do think that Christina Ricci didn't have enough to do, but the story wasn't really about her. (It never is, for Tim Burton.) I think more characters fainted than had their heads cut off, and that's saying something! I really do like Tim Burton. I never did see Mars Attacks, but his other stuff just does it for me.

I don't think it matters that the story isn't that close to what Washington Irving wrote. I was impressed!

When the show ended, Jack pointed us to the exit at the back of the theater. We went out, and were immediately deluged with rain! We were trapped, also, at the back of the strip mall, with a very long way to go to get back to our car at the front. Well, there was no help for it, so we started off on a long, wet trudge. I must get some new shoes! The ones I have leak at the slightest suggestion of a puddle, so my feet were soaked up to the knees by the time we were done.

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Bellingham is so small that it made sense to go back to Jack's place before the midnight movie, instead of going to get a drink which had been my original idea. I took off my jeans and shoes and socks, wrapped my lower half in a velux blanket, and took turns with Jack on the computer until it was time to go downtown again.

This was our first time at the Pickford. It's not too different from the small art-houses in Seattle, like the Grand Illusion or the small theater on Capitol Hill (and the brochure design is very similar which makes me think they are connected) -- a smallish room with red velvet drapes, and ten or twelve rows of seats. Oh, and a movie screen in the front.

Jack had to run out several times as we were waiting for the film to start: for coffee (I was touched that he bought a large mocha so we could share it!), a bio break, and to get flyers for the Bellingham Science Fiction and Fantasy club and leave them in the theater lobby. A few other members of the club showed up and sat behind us. I did nod off a few times during the movie, though I enjoyed it. The whole ending sequence in the abandoned museum (or is it an old aquarium?) was very powerful.

What a long day! I was quite exhausted by the end of it, but still had some trouble sleeping. I used Jack's booklight in bed, to read some of Michael Bishop's Brittle Innings (I've been doing a few chapters a week, for a while). then went downstairs and read my P. G. Wodehouse novel. Finally I was drowsy enough to go to bed and actually sleep.