Last night Josh and I went to the SIFF opening night. We went last year as well. The film was Son of Rambow. The general consensus was that it was cute . Fair enough. It wasn't profound. It wasn't amazing . But it was really quite charming. It's about two boy in England in the 80s who want to make a sequel to Rambow. One boy struggles with his older brother and lack of parental role models. The other struggles with his family's strict religion, and his own desire to embrace culture and make the film. It had a great soundtrack of 80s music. And it was just cute. The audience seemed to agree.

The after party is a pretty big affair for SIFF opening. Lots of food and drinks, all included. I ended up having about 4 Saphire tonics. And an amberweizen. Yum yum. The food included some Ezell's and Tup Tim Thai. And TS McHugh's. And Ten Mercer. It was a good selection. Derek Mazone was there DJing lots of fun 80s music. Had I been in the right mindset, I woulda ripped it up on the dance floor, but alas... I found myself making fun of the adorable old couple cutting a rug instead. There were a few standouts, for sure. Actually, Josh and I looked around and noticed that everyone was doing the same thing. So... as superficial and cruel as it felt, it came pretty easily.

We ran into Kate and Jody, which was great. Here's the thing about events like this. For people like me at least. The set-up is awesome. We've all just seen the same movie. We're all into film, at least a little. There's free booze and food around every corner. But we don't know each other. So, with the exception of people who are incredibly connected in the SIFF community - it feels like you're at someone else's high school dance. You find yourself wanting to just walk up to strangers, but the vibe just isn't that conducive to that sort of forwardness.

All in all, a great time was had.

This morning I went to go pick up my car and drop off some drycleaning, before heading out to Kirkland to have lunch with my Mom and Aunt Delphine. My mom had sent me the address to this Thai restaurant - not too far from where the Costco furniture store is. Exit 20A - 116th. Google Maps failed me miserably. It wanted me to go to 117th place, but the address was 117th Lane. These two locations aren't that far apart, but there wasn't a good connection between them. Argh. I was planning to get there ridiculously early, and I ended up getting there the same time as them. But then I was really impressed with the food. I'm usually skeptical of non-Seattle restaurants. There are always exceptions, but many are either too chainy or too... well... just plain bad. I had a yellow curry dish with brown rice and it totally hit the spot. My Aunt Delphine sent me home with some rhubarb crisp. Yummers. She's pretty much my oldest living relative, so I really appreciate the time I can spend with her. She's sharp as a tack. Oh! She told the cutest joke. Keep in mind my Mom and she both grew up very catholic. The story goes:

There were three nuns at a baseball game. Behind them were three rough & tough guy types. When the guys sat down they were frustrated that the nuns' habits were blocking their view. So they decide to be a little obnoxious. One guy says "I want to move to Oregon. There are only 100 nuns there." The next says, "I want to move to Arizona. I hear there are only 50 nuns there!" The third one says, "I want to move to Las Vegas. There are only 25 nuns there!"

Finally, one of the nuns turns around and says, "Why don't you all just go to hell? There are no nuns there!"

Cute, huh? She's like 80.

I came home, chilled out, worked out, chilled out a little more... and then Jenny and I went to see another SIFF film, called Away From Her. It is this incredibly beautiful, slow-paced film about a man coping with his wife's Alzheimer's. It really resonated with me. Sure, it was a little bit of a downer. But it was so eloquent. The acting was amazing. One thing I truly appreciated about it was that it portrayed an older generation as full, complete humans. I feel like so often "old people" are given these shallow, dimwitted, luddite roles. The stereotypical "granny" or sad old man. These characters were raw and vulnerable. Yeah, I cried a couple times. It shows what devotion really looks like - messes and all.

I'm excited to see more movies this week. Ah, SIFF.