"the best thing to wear for the day"

While my keyboard spent yesterday drying out under the radiator, I spent yesterday drying out at Ellen's and Drone's. The keyboard never fully recovered from it's excessive booze consumption (a new keyboard was probably long overdue anyway, though the raspberry jam wedged between the C and D keys was charming and all) but I finally have, thanks to some quality movie watching and not drinking for 24 whole hours (the two glasses of wine with our thai delivery dinner totally don't count.)

In case you need Netflix inspiration, first up was Croupier, in which Clive Owen is a hot-looking autobiographical novel writer and former gambling addict who spends his time writing, croupier-ing, banging girls who are not his live-in girlfriend, and looking hot. Naturally, death and mayhem ensue. Quite entertaining and exposes the fine line between the writer as himself and the writer as a character. (Or something . . . it's been a long time since my liberal arts degree.) Next up was the end of 13 Going on 30 at Drone's. Jennifer Garner wasn't quite as nauseating as I thought she'd be, and I didn't see enough of the rest to provide any further commentary. This 12-year-old girl fave was followed with the end of one of my alltime childhood favorites, The Neverending Story. Though I had to laugh at the cheesiness of some of the most serious, climactic moments, it was in more of an "awwww, that's precious" way than a snarky one. And dancing with Drone to the fantastically 80's synthesizer theme song was certainly an early highlight of 2006. Then it was back to Ellen's, where we had saved the best for last. Throughout Grey Gardens I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cover my eyes. It's a 1975 documentary about Big Edie and Little Edie Bouvier Beale, the aunt and cousin of Jackie Kennedy, who live in virtual isolation in a decrepit, raccoon-infested East Hampton estate and are pretty close to batshit insane. While this is something you really must see for yourself, I think the jist of the film is best captured in the following exchange:

Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Oh, look. That cat's going to the bathroom right behind my portrait.
Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: Ughh, how awful.
Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: No, I'm glad. I'm glad somebody's doing something that they want to do!

In the "special features," mega-fan Todd Oldham describes Grey Gardens as "like watching a car wreck, only more compelling," which is a pretty accurate analogy. The Edies' fashion choices (think sweaters used as head scarves and, curiously, bathing suits) also belong in record books. Speaking of fashion, interspersed throughout all of the above were episodes of Strangers With Candy. While the comedy is hit or miss, it's all worth it just to see Amy Sedaris' incredible assortment of hideous, ill-fitting, high-waisted pants.

And now it's off to waitress training day number two. Surely I will have no trouble memorizing the entire written-in-Italian menu in the next 45 minutes.