In Florida. Again. Ho Hum.

I've been in Fort Lauderdale for the past week for work... work work work. Actually, I didn't really do anything all that cool. And also actually, strictly speaking, I was in Coral Springs, about a 15 minute drive from Fort Lauderdale. Coral Springs is in Trivial Pursuit as the answer to the question: What is the only American city which forbids McDonald's to put up their Golden Arches sign? They have very strict zoning laws there. There is next to no advertising, no billboards, and even shop signs are generally hidden by the lines of palm trees crossing right in front of them which apparently is a zoning requirement for every commercial building here. I'm ambivalent about this: On the one hand I really like it because I hate billboards and obnoxious advertising... anyone who has been to the Poconos knows how ugly that sort of commercial behavior can make a place. But on the other hand, everything winds up looking exactly the same; buildings all look the same, streets all look the same... and I am not a fan of characterless uniformity.

I did take a quick afternoon jaunt to the Everglades for another airboat ride... It was kind of junky looking though because apparently there's a drought going on, so there wasn't much water. St. John's river up by Orlando was actually a lot prettier. But at least now I can say that I've been to the Everglades, and anyway alligators there are quite used to tourists, so we were able to get much closer to them than I had on that other trip.

 I made it down to Fort Lauderdale beach one afternoon, but it was too cold to swim, like only 76° or so. Brr. So I just sat and read a book for a while. It's a nice beach. A bit overrun, and right next to a busy highway, but it's clean and well kept.

Other than that, I got not much. I saw Cloverfield and Sweeny Todd at the local Regal Cinema when I got too bored to live with myself in the hotel. Cloverfield, GOOD. Loved it. But if you were too cool to enjoy The Blair Witch Project, you're probably too cool to like Cloverfield. Actually I have a theory about that: I think that in a weird way, enjoying those two films requires a certain kind of imagination in order to get involved in that shaky cam "This is really happening, no for real I swear" style; You have to allow the film to kind of suck you in, suspend your disbelief even more than usual, and fill in the blanks yourself in order to get that “There” feeling; They don’t give you all of the visuals and answers that a typical film does, so you kind of have to fill in that missing information yourself. And also, you have to sit in the back of the theater to avoid nausea from the shaky cam. Or maybe that's just too much work, I don't know.

Sweeny Todd was odd, it had everything I hate in a movie; it was a musical, and it was gory. BUT it was gory in that macabre Tim Burton way, only more so than usual for him and it's a fun if highly disturbing story. I probably never need to see it again, but I'm not sorry I did.

Anyway, I feel like I've been in Florida far too often for this job. I hope I get another cool new location to go to, soon.

Comments

[Sissy]

Okay. Now that I know you are a fan of Cloverfield and Blair Witch, please rent The Last Broadcast. This is an old IFC flick. Maybe as old as '97, but worth every second I spent watching it....all three times. I beg people to watch this all the time, and only one person in the past ten years has taken my advice. And in the middle of her screening, she called me, voice trembling through a half-whisper in the dead of afternoon sunlight, to scorn me for making her watch the twisted tale and then made me stay on the phone with her until the bitter end. Like you said, it has everything to do with the capacity to engage in the shaky cam component.

I read years ago that Blair Witch received slack for robbing The Last Broadcast of its originality.

[messiestobjects]

Is it gory? Because as a rule I don't like gore. That's part of why I liked Blair Witch so much, because it was all about the tension and left the rest to your imagination.

[Miss Luongo]

Coral Springs sounds like it was planned by a bunch of uptight Stepford people.

[messiestobjects]

A bit... like I said, I'm ambivalent about it. I really like the no billboard thing. That's zoning I can get behind.

[Gary]

Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign...

uh wha? wait - wrong thread?

[messiestobjects]

Gary I think Sissy's right about you. That second kid has robbed you of your senses.

I mean, I get what you're saying here, but the strain and joy of having a new kid has reverted you to some sort of primal state where you converse in hair band lyrics.

Well, that's cool I guess.

[Miss Luongo]

Taylor Dossie wants to be your town Selectman. He doesn't like neon. Also, he requests that you please submit your "papers" to the town hall immediately.

[messiestobjects]

You shouldn't make reference jokes that no one who hasn't seen Gilmore Girls will get.

[Miss Luongo]

I was hoping all of the Gilmore Girls fans would chime in. Anyone? Bueller?

[Gary]

I hate Taylor. I really wished he would die. And Emily Too. God what a bitch.

[Sissy]

(grunt) Hold on. My daughter rented all the season boxed sets from the library. Lemme see what she has to say.

MO - the more I ponder, it's not so much kid #2, it's the drugs that he's taking to endure kid #2.

[messiestobjects]

You could be right. After all, he's not even taking the opportunity to rejoin to the snarky comment I aimed at him. Maybe it's an energy thing, you know, the lack of it. Because he's strung out on drugs.

[Sissy]

Yeah, but don't go trying to change things just yet. He just cut a wicked awesome song for me to use for gym. Whatever his short-comings may be right now, he is still able to work his wankery.

We have to take what we can get.

[messiestobjects]

Gary's such a ladies man.

[Sissy]

It goes back to that flattery thing.

[Miss Luongo]

Things are looking junky around here. What's up with that?

[messiestobjects]

You're not helping.

[Miss Luongo]

Maybe you should change your blog title to messiestobjects' messy blog.

See? I help.