Post-Gluttony

So, Thanksgiving yesterday went like this:

1) Baked and ate frozen croissants. Yum.

2) Read Joan Didion's Blue Nights from beginning to end. If you choose to read this book, that's how I recommend reading it. It repeats itself and loops back on itself to such a great extent that it might not be necessary if you're a close reader, but you won't miss a thing if you read it all at once. I read Play It as It Lays some years ago and didn't enjoy it; I felt more ambivalence about Blue Nights, but it made me think, for sure.

3) Ate small lunch.

4) Went to see Cloud Atlas before it was completely gone from the theaters. The theater we went to, in Sherman Oaks, was not the nicest I've ever patronized, but it had balcony seating, in which I have always wanted to sit for a movie. And we did. And it was a hell of a movie. It was pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be, not an iota less.

5) [redacted]

6) Heated frozen turkey/stuffing/mashed potatoes. Ate. Drank weird orange/almond champagne and got happily tipsy.

7) Watched Starship Troopers for no particular reason. Cloud Atlas was better, but honestly, every time I see Troopers I'm reminded that it's a surprisingly good movie. Its tone is utterly masterful, walking a difficult fine line between the characters taking themselves seriously and the audience enjoying the movie unseriously.

And then I read some more, until it was time for bed. In sum, I spent the day precisely as I wished to, and it was heaven.

On Wednesday I decided to stop reading the Patrick Melrose novels after I finished the second one, Bad News. It was a chronicle of 48 hours of intense, terrifying drug abuse, and had, in my opinion, few redeeming qualities. I wanted to keep plugging until I hit Mother's Milk, the fourth, which was on the shortlist for the Booker, but I just can't. The first two books dulled my interest in reading and generally harshed my buzz, so I'm done for now. I might revisit them some other time.

Today I am NOT going out. I hate Black Friday. I have friends who love it, and yay for you guys, but I think it's harmful and absurd and I'm going to cower in my apartment and read instead. Peace out.