Out with the Old, In with the New Problems

So I was up till five yesterday morning, burning off DVDs so that I could get them in Saturday's mail. They were already late, and waiting for one more day probably wasn't a big deal, but I needed it out of my home. Anyway, there was a bit of a feeling of relief when I unloaded the DVDs at the post office, and now I've got four more weddings to do. Luckily, they're all smaller ones.

Anyway, a new problem surfaced - our kitchen sink faucet mysteriously broke off in the middle of the night. I don't even know how it happened, but the plastic casing just snapped the hell off and neither my mom or wife even touched it. We're blaming it on the cat, but we all really know that it was likely me, sleepwalking and burning DVDs in the middle of the night and hosing myself off because I'm such a dirty boy.

Talked to my brother and checked online and it seems that there's no easy way to fix the stupid faucet other than getting on my back, shoving my head under the sink, and taking a nap. I am not looking forward to it whatsoever, being behind on the weddings and really sick of little projects.

On top of that, I'm starting to feel a bit ill, like I'm coming down with something - a terrible feeling to pile on top of being overwhelmed. Hopefully it'll be gone by tomorrow, or at least weakened.

So, I rewatched United 93 today with my wife, after telling her that it was quite interesting in the sense that the movie works more like a eyewitness account to the things that happened. It tells the story actually in a pretty objective manner, considering how the country feels about the whole thing. The terrorists are frightened, one of them calls to say he loves them on the phone, the pray as the passengers do... It's pretty mature of Paul Greengrass to give this event such a respectful, insightful glimpse into part of that day's tragedy. It's almost like the director chose to step back and let the events unfold, bringing very little directorial ego into the project. It's well made, an important film to watch, but it sure as hell isn't easy to watch it. As it unfolds, there was a tightness in my chest and a sense of dread because you get the feeling that the actors in the movie weren't characters - they were actual people. The mundane conversations between them before the hijacking wasn't exposition for the story, it was just chatter about everyday things. I would imagine that when my kids get to the right age, they'd be showing this in school - the film is that important. A lot of people generally avoided it, saying it was too fresh in their minds, and too real. But I think films like United 93 truly explores our humanity, the value and fragility of it, and the cost of religious fanaticism. I was just speechless at the end.

To brighten up my disposition, I made my wife watch Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, a Shane Black movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. Shane Black was this dude who wrote Lethal Weapon, the Last Boy Scout, and so you'd be expecting this macho, buddy movie crap that used to work in the 80s. But it's delightly untrue, because it takes all the cliches you'd see in the movie and turns it all around, even breaking that fourth wall occasionally to wink at you. It's funny as hell, the characters are very likeable, and it showcases two very good actors with their comedic chops fully loaded and gunning for gold.

Okay, that was a weird thing to say.

Watch them both. In that order would be preferable.