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More than meets the eye

Most of our Poker friends, the Filipinos, the Koreans, the white fellers, Thai, even the Guatemalan, went out to see Quincy (KPT's token Black guy) perform at the Ice House in Pasadena, Friday evening. We don't really get to do anything other than Poker on most weekends anymore so it was sort of a rarity. In fact, the last time i was out with my Poker friends was the last time Quincy performed at the Improv in Hollywood. Basketball was one thing we tried but that proved to be more difficult than trying to get them to come on time for Poker Tournaments. Since then we've stuck with just Poker. Anyway, as much as i enjoy hanging out with this fun bunch and as much as i wanted to go, my Friday night was already set in stone. A night out in Hollywood...

Not to paint the town red or anything, not exactly (we too old for that!). We came out to see one, if not our favorite childhood heroes on the big screen, the Transformers. It's really cool because they've got Bumble Bee, Optimus Prime, and a couple other of the Transformers parked around the movie theater (The Arclight Dome on Sunset Blvd) for everyone to see. So although the cars were only conceptual, it was quite a unique movie experience...

Save for the traffic violation traps the Hollywood PD's set on Sunset Boulevard, it was one glorious evening. A block away from the Arclight Dome, traffic at its usual sluggish pace (Friday night on Sunset... forget about it!), i got stuck in a very precarious spot on the intersection. I had no where to go but to stop, blocking a good portion of the intersecting lane. You know when you see someone do something really dumb in traffic and you say to yourself "Look at that idiot, what is he doing?!?!". Yes, that was me Friday evening on Sunset Blvd. In my defense though, it was an almost unavoidable situation. It was difficult to tell whether i was going to be able to clear the intersection or not from my perspective. I suppose i should have been more cognizant considering Sunset was crawling with cops (saw like 6 cars pulled over) that night, but it was really hard to tell. I love the cop too because although he was sure it wasn't a moving violation, he wasn't sure whether it was a point against my record or not (all too confusing if you ask me). "Hi, do you know why i pulled you over?" the officer dutifully asked. I think that question in itself is meant more to irritate than to elicit a real answer. Especially in this case because it was pretty obvious why i was pulled over. I was momentarily confused, or maybe extremely annoyed because i couldn't talk for a couple of seconds. "Uhmm, i have a pretty good idea why" i finally said. Surprisingly, he seemed to be satisfied with my response. He then said he was going to write me a ticket before i got my chance at mitigation.

As all cops do, he was taking a very long time to check-out my DL, Registration, and Insurance. This gave me the chance to scrutinize the situation some more. But, since he'd already stated he was writing me up a ticket (which he made seem like he was doing me a favor...) there was really nothing much i can do about it. Then i thought maybe i can mess with him a little. To gain a small victory if you will. While i was thinking of this however, my cousin chimed in with innocuous ideas that he thought would help my cause which only irritated me even more (Like; tell the cop you have a clean record and no criminal background. Come on!!). I thought i might change my answer to why he pulled me over too. He might find it strange that i would do that but at least it would make me feel better, i thought. I thought i might say "racism", because that would be really fun... When the cop finally came back to issue me the ticket, i was prepared and i began my heartfelt attempt at a small victory. "I couldn't help but notice you drive a Ford Explorer there Officer, not a typical cop-car i must say". He remained unfazed. And before i could say anything more, he calmly said they were Real Cops with Sirens and Guns and everything, as he walked away. Leaving me no chance at a rebuttal. I felt completely defeated. Worse yet, my drivers license was greasy with food... Asshole!

As soon as the movie started rolling however, it brought immediate reprieve. It was good, really good. As always, i have a few minor gripes (keyword: minor...). After all no movie is perfect, not since the Godfather anyway... First and foremost, I thought the two kids in the movie should have been in college instead of High School because no High School Girl should ever be that good looking lol. Anyway, I thought it was a little teeny boppy and dare i say it, bromidic? Well at least the boy-gets-girl sub plot. I would have liked it a little differently (But what do i know?). But in Shia Labeauf and Megan Fox's defense, the teeny boppiness and corkiness of the flick is all Michael Bay's doing. You can chalk it up to him too if you think some scenes, though funny, were completely irrelevant to the plot. They could have omitted those scenes to make the movie a little less epic-like. Besides it's an action flick, it needn't be 2 1/2 hours... Don't get me wrong, i like and appreciate long movies (especially on a Friday night). But its one thing to be long and meaningful, another to be too lengthy due to un-needed inserts. Thats boring!

Notwithstanding the length of the film, it was a witty and overwhelmingly exciting flick. It's soo good that you can't help but forgive Michael Bay for, well, being Micheal Bay. For his faults. Ya its teeny boppy, its corny, perhaps way too long, Megatron is not even a giant hand canon anymore (or at least he didn't turn into one), but in spite of that, of Michael bay, the movie is just freakin' awesome!!!

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Monday, July 09, 2007