On Mother’s Day, Janice and I went to the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation. Waltham, Massachusetts, which was rechristened “International Steampunk City,” hosted numerous events focusing on the subgenre. Steampunk blends 19th century speculative fiction with modern sensibilities and has been growing in popularity.
We also went to the Outer Limits comic shop and had lunch at Margarita’s, whose namesake drink was good, but the service was slow. This coming weekend, the festivities continue with high school chum Damon F.P.’s visit and a cookout!
Around Easter a few weeks ago, Janice and I visited her extended family in Pennsylvania. We had a pleasant time, and spring greenery had arrived there a few weeks ahead of New England (my allergies have since caught up).
In addition to seeing Janice’s grandmother, we went to Zern’s flea market and Talarico’ssandwichshop. On the way back, we stopped at Cracker Barrel, which reminded me of the Ninety Nine and the Black-Eyed Pea, a homestyle Southern restaurant near where we once lived in Virginia. I’m a big fan of family eateries, even it’s not healthy to visit them too often.
I’ve recently started reading and contributing reviews on Zagat and Yelp, as well as coupon e-mailing lists Groupon and Living Social. Just over a week ago, we used a Groupon at Pomodoro, a nice Italian restaurant in downtown Needham, Massachusetts.
On Tuesday, 3 May 2011, Janice and I went to the Needham Public Library for a presentation on the Phantom Gourmet, a local television show that focuses on New England restaurants. Mike Andelman, part of the family behind the show and its events, was approachable and informative. Even with the economic recession, Boston has become a “foodie town,” with numerous cuisines and options.
During the Boston Comic Con, I had lunch at Café Jaffa, a Middle Eastern restaurant in the Back Bay. Like a few friends, I’ve been on a falafel kick lately, and if I had to become a vegetarian, it would be a staple of my diet. Speaking of vegetarian friends, Janice and I attended Ken G.‘s annual Cinco de Mayo party at Jillian’s in Worcester, Mass.
Unfortunately, on the way home that night, my car started making a lot of noise. The next morning, I took it to Boch Honda, where pipe repairs and a fluid flush totaled $800.
I hope that each of you has had a good Passover/Easter week. I’ve been busy with work, especially after the departure of former associate editor and fellow bloggerBianca S. (who had been my strong right hand on two sites) and subsequent departmental reorganization. We’ve also moved cubicles within TT’s offices in Newton, Massachusetts.
Janice and I will be visiting her family in Pennsylvania, but I don’t yet know when I’ll see my parents in Virginia again. In the meantime, I’m helping to plan a cookout coinciding with Damon F.P. and hopefully Dexter V.H.‘s visit in mid-May, a trip to Corbin A.Y. and friends in Manhattan in June, and a visit to David I.S. in Upstate New York and business trip to Chicago in July!
For the past few weekends, Janice and I have been busy with spring cleaning. We started going through our books, videos, and appliances partly because our annual lease-renewal letter was late, and we feared that we might have to scramble to move. Although Janice’s commute by train is long, we didn’t relish the idea of looking for another affordable, spacious, and conveniently located apartment closer to Boston on relatively short notice.
Fortunately, we were able to renew our duplex‘s lease for another year in Needham, Mass., despite some nagging problems such overflowing gutters, needed repainting, and poor insulation. At least we finally have hot water! We then shifted our attention to cleaning for an upcoming visit by my brother.
Of course, nature abhors a vacuum, so I have to restrain myself when visiting comic and game shops. I’ve also been trading HeroClix miniatures with people in the local groups, so I have a lot of cataloging to do. Even after thinning out our shelves and the much-heralded advent of gaming PDFs and e-readers, I’m still attached to bookcases full of science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, science, history, and classic literature.
If I had to move, I’d want space equivalent to the full basement that I’ve used for hosting sessions and storing boxes of comics and magazines. Janice isn’t a pack rat like me, balancing my obsessive-compulsiveness with asceticism. We still have to deal with our CRT television and bulky entertainment unit, a computer desk, and other odds and ends. My department at work is also shifting cubicles.
After doing some spring cleaning of our bookshelves and having a good brunch at Zaftig’s Delicatessen in Natick, Mass., Janice and I met Thomas K.Y. and his friend to screen Sucker Punch. Despite mixedreviews, we enjoyed the crossgenre action movie.
Emily Browning plays a young woman who’s institutionalized after a family tragedy. In a 1950s American gothic asylum, she befriends characters depicted by the attractive Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, and Jamie Chung. Carla Gugino, as a Polish psychiatrist, teaches the girls to dance and escape their unpleasant reality into shared dreams.
They’re menaced by orderly Oscar Isaac, who appears in the alternate universe as a pimp, and Jon Hamm as a lobotomist/”high roller.” From the first-level dreamscape of the burlesque show, the girls descend into a world where their obstacles are represented by giant samurai, World War I zombies, orcs, robots, and a dragon. Scott Glenn appears as an old man who guides them on their missions to find clues to escaping their multilayered prison.
Snyder isn’t bashful about alluding to his inspirations, which include Heavy Metal, Brazil, and Kill Bill, all of which I also like. In fact, I enjoyed Sucker Punch more than similar movies such as What Dreams May Come and Inception. The skimpy costumes notwithstanding, the movie isn’t as exploitative as I had feared, and the fight scenes are well-choreographed, if sometimes hard to follow.
I was also favorably impressed with Sucker Punch‘s soundtrack, which includes Browning covering the Eurythmics, as well as Bjork, some metallic tracks, and “Love is the Drug” sung by Gugino and Isaac over the credits.
Overall, I’d give Sucker Punch a 7 or 8 out of 10, a solid “B,” or three or four stars out of five. The film is rated PG-13 for violence, sexuality, and language. Fans of high fantasy, dieselpunk, or psychological thrillers who keep their expectations in check should enjoy the visuals even if they recognize most of the story.
Gene's Worlds 