i got lunch from boca grande today. are all my old eating places changing the way they do their business? you used to order first then pay afterwards, but now it's the other way around. at least the blonde woman behind the counter was the same, sort of (she seemed more volumptuous than i remembered her). later, because of all the beans, i felt kind of gassy for the rest of the day.

after work i sped to adam weiskind's place in brookline. adam, my former coworker from screen house, whom i haven't seen in 4 years, is moving to chicago, and was having a farewell party. i went briefly to pay my respects. he had chicago-styled pizza for the guests. friends, former coworkers, people he'd met on the train, even folks from his gym, all showed up.

i got back home by 8pm, taking a shower before julie showed up. we went to pick up our sandwich orders from topspeed, ate at home, before driving out to kendall cinema to catch garden state at 10pm. i was surprised to see that the movie was playing in their main screening room, and that it was actually mildly crowded for a late weekday night. garden state is the story of failed actor andrew largeman who returns home to new jersey after the death of his mother. back at home, he reunites with olf friends who never seemed to have left the place. having lived a life heavily blurred by prescription medications, new jersey has a detoxifying effect on andrew as he starts seeing his life with fresh clarity and does some soul searching. oh, he also finds a girl and they fall in love. natalie portman plays sam, the girl, and although she's supposed to be a young adult in the movie, it's hard for me to see her other than a child-like. "why is he going out with a teenage girl?" i kept on asking myself. zach braff, playing andrew, also wrote the screenplay as well as directed the movie (how convenient). braff (of scrubs fame), who looks like he could be related to david duchovny, has these lips that look like he's pouting even when he's not. the movie have a plot but it seems to be more about little vignettes of cuteness. it's good until the ending, where it just runs out of gas, and the movie takes an unexpected weird turn as childhood friend mark takes andrew and sam on a journey to retrieve his surprise farewell present that involves going to a hotel where people watch couples having sex through peepshows. this film is definitely not that kind of movie. it does end on a happy note though. afterwards, julie told me that it was a total chick movie, and that she cried. i'd categorize it as your standard indie film, short on story, long on characters and situations. i didn't get the sense that it was a chick flick (it's no notebook). as far as moments go though, there are some pretty good ones. also, be sure to catch bilbo, who makes an appearance playing andrew's father.