off the top of my head, i can't name one single hugh grant movie that i like, that is until about a boy (was he in 1988's lair of the white worm? i liked that movie, although he had a minor role). i always figured him to be a one trick pony, the stammeringly charming good looking british guy. in this movie it's more of the same but here was a trick i didn't mind seeing.

if you're going into the film thinking that rachel weisz is going to have equal billing with hugh grant (as the trailer lead me to believe), think again. she has a small (but significant) role in the movie, but she doesn't appear until an hour into the picture. by that time i was getting worried, thinking that perhaps i went to the wrong movie, or maybe there was some false advertisement and that rachel weisz wouldn't be in the movie at all. if you're looking to catch some rachel action, i recommend seeing the mummy at home before coming to the theatre.

hugh grant plays will freeman, a longtime bachelor who figures out that single mothers are an untapped resource of available women he could potentially date, so he pretends to have a kid and the story sort of rolls along from there. it's a british comedy, so initially i was turned off, they're sort of slow to get started, but usually if you can stick it out, they get good. i was surprised to discover that the movie is actually based on a book, by the same author of high fidelity, and although i haven't seen all of high fidelity the movie, i didn't like it, so i figured i wouldn't like this one either. but this movie has been getting a lot of good buzz lately, and the premise when i first heard about it seemed pretty promising, and then add the rachel weisz element and i was curious to pay money to see this film.

besides the story which i thought was great although slow in the beginning, i was also fascinated with will's apartment. i'm not saying i like it, but there were interesting elements. for instance, i couldn't help notice the hardwood floors, darkly stained, on purpose or tear and wear? the fish tank with what appears to be sharks? supercool, but can a guy with lacks and shuns responsibilities so much have what it takes to take care of a salt water aquarium? the television, hdtv widescreen, nice. i did love the color scheme, sort of a grey/blue combination, very guylike. when did i get all into interior design anyway? this is what happens when you buy a place.

possible spoiler: i thought the ending was great. i felt tingly just watching it unfold on the screen. i liked how will freeman not only saved marcus from bombing on the stage, but then will purposely made an ass of himself so that marcus would look cool by comparison. a brilliant move.

if you like a funny movie that has a good story line with no special effects and nobody dies and nothing gets blown up and people interact with other people, then please by all means see this movie. in a summer season of weekly big budgeted blockbusters, it's refreshing to see a film that's the exact opposite, and good to boot. slow to start, but once you get into it, the ending will leave you leaving about a boy with a smile.

the final thing i was doing last night was browsing an issue of metropolitan home in bed, the one about "the modern mix, a marriage of styles." that last thing brought me to when i usually sleep on the weekends, and that's when the sun rises and i can see the light outside my bedroom window as a blue hue on my venetian blinds. this tells me i am dangerously close to pulling an all nighter, and if i don't want to suffer the consequences tomorrow (today), i better get some sleep.

i woke up at around noon, replying to dan's answering machine message. we agreed to meet in harvard square at 1pm by the au bon pain walls. before i left my house, i quickly ran into the backyard to get a dosage of nature because i knew i wouldn't come back home until tonight. the anemones were completely opened in the midday sun, although one of the older flowers was starting to disintergrate, the petals having fallen off.

my father also showed me something very distressing: a bamboo shoot had sprouted out onto the lawn a good 8 feet away from the bamboo plants. this is bad because we originally planted the bamboo without taking the proper precautions, which is burying steel plates underground to stop the rhizomes from extending. it seems drastic, and the first few years it didn't even seem like the bamboos would make it, but now they seem to be thriving, and now they seem to be extending their range. it's not so bad if it was just in our backyard, but because they're growing right on the edge, they've already started to spread into our neighbor's yard. my father thinks this is all a big joke and isn't particularly worried, but this is the kind of thing that'll keep me up at nights because if left unchecked, it will over time completely take over the lawn. at least we sort of know about the threat. our poor unsuspecting neighbors have no idea what's in store for them. nothing short of digging up the ground around the bamboos and pulling out all the rhizomes is going to stop the expansion, and i'm even afraid that we might have to kill the bamboos entirely in order to keep them from growing. and they're especially dangerous right now, because the bamboo shoots are like 1 cm thick hard spikes poking out of the ground, and god forbid if anyone should step on one without wearing shoes.

i got to harvard square and waited for dan along the au bon pain walls, drinking a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice, watching the myriad of people walking by, listening to the live music being performed in the pit. when they played the beatle's "i should have known better" it just really made my day, just glad to be alive on this gorgeous saturday afternoon in harvard square. dan showed up and we went to go get our movie tickets. because we were there early enough to get the first showing weekend matinee, we decided to see about a boy right away instead of waiting for a later showing (where we'd have to pay more). after getting our concession stand food, we went into the screening room, the trailers having already started. three frat guys sat in front of us, which normally isn't of particular interest, except one of them was uncomfortable with his own sexuality and had to sit one seat apart from his friend, to establish that "i'm not gay" distance. hey man, you're coming to see a film titled, "about a boy," maybe you should reconsider your outlook on life! during the movie, i got buzzed on my cellphone three times, john miller trying to call me having returned to boston this weekend from new york city.

when we left the theatre, i called john back, and i made tentative plans to call him again in another hour, as he was entertaining his nephews. dan and i went to the games people play (where a television was broadcasting the yankees-red sox game, red sox ended up losing 2-3) and then across the street to the movie posters shop. i called j.mill again and we agreed to meet once more by that ubiquitous au bon pain walls in 30 minutes. dan and i browsed through the harvard book store, which i didn't realize also sell discounted books. i bought myself two small cookbooks, one about japanese/korean cooking, the other chinese. whether they'll be put to good use who knows, but i just like the well-photographed step-by-step instructions.

when john arrived we decided to grab dinner at borders cafe. i've eaten at borders a few times, and some people just absolutely love the place, but i'm just not passionate about mexican food. for my money, i prefer asian cuisine, like thai or korean or vietnamese, with old standbys like japanese and chinese. i think i might be biased though, but i like food that have very strong flavors. i also like brazilian food, and just thinking about it makes me hungry! leaving the restaurant i saw the score for the nets-celtics game, celtics were trailing by 6 points in the 2nd quarter.

we took the 66 bus out of harvard square went to dan's apartment in allston. i haven't seen the place since i helped dan move a few weeks ago, and john had never seen the new apartment at all. the place is definitely very homey now, the only things missing are a proper couch and a coffee table suitable for gaming. we lounged around in the living room on dan's temporary mattress aka couch. with fuzzy reception dan was able to receive the bastketball game on his television, where i saw the celtics trailing by 21 points at the end of the 3rd quarter. we decided to forgo basketball so we could sample a few games on his dan's newly bought nintendo gamecube, and then afterwards we watched the final 20 minutes of touched by an angel, the one with one of the angels ends up taking ecstasy at a rave and loses faith in the lord. i have never seen an episode of touched by an angel before and i don't think i ever will. that was followed by rockin' for the usa: a national salute to the u.s. military, hosted by cuba "my career is completely dead" gooding jr., featuring the talents of marc anthony, jeff foxworthy, clint black, and jessica simpson (jessica wasn't so bad). i left before celine dion made her appearance.

not knowing the schedule, i wasn't sure when the harvard bound 66 bus would come. i waited by an area which i thought was the bus stop because there was another guy waiting there. when the 66 finally arrived, it didn't stop but pulled over two blocks away. my companion and i ran to catch it, but like some sick joke, the driver drove off before we could make it. my companion decided to walk to harvard square instead of waiting for the next 66 (another 30 minutes? another 60 minutes?). i didn't have the stomach to trek back that distance, so i decided to wait, figuring that sooner or later another bus would come, maybe it'd be another hour, but at least i was waiting at the right bust stop now (intersection of cambridge street and linden street). 15 minutes later, a 64 came along. now a 64 bus doesn't take me to harvard square but instead goes to kendall square. i figured i could take the red line back into harvard. fortunately, it also goes through central square, and i hopped off and took the subway one stop to harvard, where i caught a 73 bus and came home.

i came home and the first thing i did was to check the basketball game score. i wanted to find out how many points the celtics ended up losing by. i turned on sports channel and my jaw dropped when i heard that the celtics had actually won tonight's game after being down 21 points in the 4th quarter, making history as the largest 4th quarter point deficit comeback during a playoff game. now i'm so disappointed that i didn't see the game! i won't make that same mistake monday night, when the nets play the celtics again in game 4 of the series in boston. if the celtics can win on monday...i am getting goosebumps! somebody pinch me, this has got to be a dream!