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In a moment of fatigue and weakness Aimee and I decided to go see
Shanghai Knights Wednesday night. I loved Shanghai Noon,
so I was pretty excited about a sequel set in London starring (the
original British) Queer As Folk's Aidan Gillen in addition
to my guys Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan. Owen Wilson is a god, Jackie
Chan is the man, Aidan Gillen is hotter than hell, but they could not
save this movie. Which is not to say I didn't giggle a bit, but it's
not a great sign when you laugh harder at the outtakes than you did
during the film. I did love the fight scenes, especially the
Singin' in the Rain tribute involving Jackie and an
umbrella. However, the pesky plot kept getting in the way, something
about avenging a father's murder and a stolen seal. Someone should
release a two-hour feature of Owen Wilson sitting around cracking
jokes, I'd pay money to see that.
Last year on Valentine's Day Aimee single-handedly kept me from
sinking into the blackest of depressions by sending me flowers and
then bringing over Bring It On and a bottle of champagne. Much
later that night I remember lying on the floor of my apartment and
thinking, "The floor is good. I think I'll just stay here a
while." This year I decided to return the favor by taking her out to
a swanky dinner at Rancho Nicasio. We got lost on the way there, and
it took us two hours to get our meals because the kitchen was so
slammed. However, we still had a marvelous time, and the food was
fantastic. The Hot Club of San Francisco was set up in one corner of
the room playing their brand of old-time jazz, and the dance floor
filled immediately once they launched into Cole Porter's "Night and
Day." Suddenly every couple in the place, young and old, were
swinging in each other's arms and smiling into each other's eyes. It
was so damn cute. Optimism about romance is at a near-record high
right now; I'm not exactly sure how that happened.
I never made it out to the Chinese New Year parade Saturday evening
because it started to rain and there's nothing sadder than soggy
dragons. However, the gods smiled on the peace marchers on Sunday and
gave us gorgeous weather. A group of us—including Aimee, Sophie,
and Patrick—left from my church right after worship to BART over
to the city. We all carried signs: a big heart for Aimee, words from
Presbyterian hymns for me. Sophie's said "Please don't do that,
thanks!" which were her own words when Aimee asked her what she wanted
to say to Dubya about the war. Once again the most thrilling part of
the march for me was hearing the cheers of the people sweeping from
one end of Market to the other. I was highly encouraged by the size
of the crowd, and the reports of the massive turnouts around the world
on Saturday brought tears to my eyes, particularly when I saw the
pictures of the million that marched in London. Momentum is building.
Shanghai
Knights
Rancho Nicasio
Hot Club of San Francisco
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Heidi J. De Vries
