Mad About Mambo

Love stories are only fit for the solace of people in the insanity of puberty. No healthy adult human being can really care whether so-and-so does or does not succeed in satisfying his physiological uneasiness by the aid of some particular person or not.
-- Aleister Crowley

Sunday, August 6, 2000
One year ago: Last Day
Three years ago: Three Kinds of Friends

I let Jack sleep a bit this morning, while I walked down the block to the espresso stand and got hot chocolate for his daughter H----, a latte for me, and an Americano for him. When I got back he said I should have gotten drip coffee, or a cappucino. Oh, well!

They left fairly early -- Jack has a bunch of stuff to do for Vikingcon, and H---- is leaving tomorrow for a week-long rafting and rock-climbing trip. The YMCA really does have a good teen program in Bellingham! Jack gave me a big hug and said, "I love you" before getting in the car, which made me feel good.

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In the afternoon, I decided to go to a movie downtown. There wasn't much playing that appealed to me, that I hadn't already seen! But one title looked interesting: Mad about Mambo.

This is a story set in Northern Ireland. A poor Catholic boy learns latin dance, to improve his soccer game! He thinks learning to samba will make him play more like the Brazilian star who's joined the Belfast team. Of course the boy falls in love with his rich, pretty dance partner.

All of this was by the numbers, though the character of the girl's father, a self-made man, was fun. The dancing wasn't as good as in other dance-based movies I've seen. (Shall We Dance was probably the best recent dance film.) One puzzling thing: the title mentions mambo, but the boy learns the samba! I wasn't unhappy to have seen it, but it's not one to go out of your way for.

In the Barnes and Noble downstairs from the theater, I looked for two books. I read Potent Pleasures, by Eloisa James, recently, and enjoyed it very much! It's a bit out of the way for a romance, and the sex is hot! There was a teaser in the back for the author's next book, due out in August, but I didn't find it. (I see now, looking at Amazon, that it's coming out in hardcover first. Do I really want it that much?)

The other book I was looking for was anything by Kage Baker. I really liked In the Garden of Iden, and Sky Coyote, novels about time travel and immortality. But it looks like the third one won't be out until 2001, so again I'll have to wait.

I bought a few other books, but was frustrated about the books that were on my mind!