i got home from work and noticed a message from adam collins, with whom i hadn't spoken in a while. i chatted with him until sara called, then sara and i went across the revier to Newport for food and a movie.

we ate at dewey's, where i inadvertantly impressed the waitress by thanking her for the things she did. ("you're awesome!" she told me.) i guess thanks are uncommon in that profession.

after the meal, we stopped over at barnes & noble, where i picked up the latest issue of photoshop user magazine (to see whether it's any good -- i think it will be), and a new zappa biography that came out last year. now, i've read so much about zappa that i should by now know everything, but it seems i always learn new things about him, so i just don't stop. zappa's my elvis, after all. (yes, i stole that quote from groening. it's apropos, though.)

from there to the film. when sara gets stressed out with school or life in general (or both), she usually grabs me to go see a stupid film (often horror), or just one we don't care at all about. (most recently: white noise. whoof.) this time, since there weren't any truly dumb-loooking ones out there, we caught million dollar baby, a film that's getting major hype lately, and is hailed as a masterpiece.

my opinion: good, but not great. i think, though, that it was just that it didn't appeal to me personally. i think that there was nothing in particular wrong with the film; in fact, there were so many things right that i'm forced to chalk it up to a taste issue.

one of the reasons i was skeptical was that it just looked like a glorified katrate kid-type movie, which it sort of was until a certain point deep into the movie, where things took a big left turn. i won't spoil it, and to discuss it at all would do so. rent it when it comes out, if you like: it's definitely worth that. it's not the best movie i've seen all week (that would be dogville), and it's not the best movie i've seen in the theater all week (that would be bad education).

but yeah, i liked it.

after that, i took sara home, and went home myself, where i called laura and discussed dogville with her for quite a while. then to sleep.