The Magnificent Mile, A Disappointing Drive & Sin City

Thursday 31 March 2005

It was official. We were running out of essential items of clothing. Laundry had to be done. For some reason, Jingli felt an overwhelming desire to play basketball in the park, so we did so in pretty biting wind. He was ecstatic that for the first time in his life, he didn't sweat after a game. Me, I just sucked.


At Noyes Street

Lunch with DeYoung again, at Philly's Best this time. As I sank my teeth into that epitome of sandwich perfection known as the Philly's cheesesteak, I knew I had attained Nirvana. Of course, this means that at one point in my life I was attaining Nirvana possibly three times in a week, but I'm not complaining. It was so big Jingli had to pack up part of his sandwich for later, another first for him. What a momentous day.

We went to Peter Galassi's apartment with Nate to say hi and stuff. He wasn't home, but the apartment was unlocked. It was also gloriously unkempt, exactly how I remembered it. I left a rude note on his computer. However, as we were walking out the door, who should come along but the man himself. After a quick chat, we bought tickets for the Sin City premiere tonight. That should be exciting.

I felt awful that I couldn't hang out with more people because of our tight schedule, though I admit it's my own fault for trying to squeeze too much into too little time. However, we did serendipitously run into people, like Jon Volk and Carol Sweeney in Belmont yesterday and Emir on the El today.




Under the El tracks



Jingli looked down today at the Magnificent Mile; he was probably still beat-up over his lost pictures. He wasn't in a real mood to take many pictures, even though the weather was beautiful, and the Chicago architecture as stunning as ever. I had to persuade him to take them; I didn't want him to regret it later.



We started at the Water Tower and John Hancock Center, and proceeded down Michigan Avenue, walking past all the fine (and really expensive) stores. As usual, the Apple Store lured me in, though I'm proud of myself for not succumbing to the temptation to consume.


The John Hancock Center

Something that annoys me about clothes in the U.S. is the fact that all their designs are so goddamned safe. No crazy designs, no weird-ass prints, they just look the same: blah. It's sad that you have to look to the European labels like FCUK or Australian ones like Quiksilver to get cool-looking stuff.





Anyway, we passed by the Wrigley Building, which still looked as awesome as ever. The gothic-looking Chicago Tribune building, the stately Michigan Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River; everything was as how I remembered it.


The Chicago Tribune Building


The same building reflected in another one that no one really cares about




He finally finishes his Philly's cheesesteak


The Chicago River


On the Michigan Avenue Bridge

Millennium Park, with its giant metal jelly bean all covered up (bastards) was further down the street. The huge video screens with their faces spitting water were still there, and they still looked as stupid and pointless as ever.







We ended the walk at the Art Institute, and it was a pity we didn't have time for it on this trip. I know, it's criminal, but we didn't have a choice. Something had to go.





Once we got back to the apartment, we hopped into Sarah's car (Thanks Sarah!) and set off for Purdue. The plan was for me to drop Jingli off there and return to Evanston in time for the Sin City premiere at midnight. We were already setting off late, so that wasn't a good start.

Along the way, I realized I'd forgotten to get gas for the car. As the levels were getting dangerously low, we had to stop at a gas station in the South Side, after which we got terribly lost. Construction work on top of shitty signs and dark streets just don't make a very good combination. We ended up on a different freeway than the one we were planning on taking, but it would've been fine had we not also run into a massive traffic jam that stalled us for over an hour. Three hours after we set off, we decided to call it quits and head back, because we would've gotten to Purdue too late for him to do anything. I felt terrible to disappoint him yet again, especially since it was really my fault. He didn't show it, but I know it must've been a terrible let down.

Sin City was l-o-n-g. It was two hours, but felt more like four. There can be too much of a good thing, and I found the main problem to be the same one that the first two Harry Potters had. It was much too faithful to the original comics, packing too much stuff into the movie and taking too much time for many sequences. Three stories plus a framing sequence is really just a tad over the limit for a good, tight movie.

However, it did look fantastic, with gorgeous black and white compositions with occational splashes of color. There's really nothing like a stripper in a sleazy bar shot in black and white. Mickey Rourke was amazing and Rosario Dawson unbelievably hot. Elijah Wood had a cool appearance; him and Nick Stahl must have had tons of fun playing against type as crazy murdering bastards.

I saw Martha for the first (and as it turned out, only) time during the trip at the movies. It was wonderful, but alas, all too short.