i just grabbed some quick slices of scallion pancakes and i was out the door by 3pm, heading into boston to the museum of fine arts (wednesday nights after 4pm is free admission) to meet alisa and giovanna for a few hours. the last time i visited the MFA was last year, when i brought jawei there (he was also an old-of-town visitor from taiwan). i sometimes think alisa and giovanna see the world as a series of photo opportunities; it's been a while since i've met people who just seem to love posing for the camera. we left the museum after 6pm, they went to get dinner (none of us had lunch), while i headed down to boylston station for a movie screening at the boston common theatre.

i met sara and joel, who escorted me into the theatre. we sat in one of the bigger screening rooms but sara estimated that there were only maybe 100 people at this screening. the movie: children of men, about a dystopian future where england is the last surviving civilization and for some reason women can't give birth to babies anymore. the best science fiction films pose tough what-if questions and explore them in creative ways. with society unable to reproduce, the death of the youngest living human at age 18 is big news. suicide becomes routine as people lose their desire to continue living. in the name of homeland security, the government curtails personal freedoms and deports all illegal immigrants. clive owen plays theo faron, a man who gets mixed up in a scheme to help with the escape of kee, who is miraculously 8 months pregnant. directed by alfonso cuarón, some of the choreography in these long tracking shots are pure genius and almost warrant a repeat viewing just to admire the cinematography. hopefully i'm not giving away too much, but one of the last scenes, when kee gives birth to the baby, it made me tear up a bit, it just so that beautiful. and is it a coincidence that the movie comes out on christmas day, the birthday of another miracle baby? it's a tough movie to sell but those who see it won't be disappointed, especially fans of intellectual science fiction.

back in porter square, it was early enough that boca grande was still opened, so i grabbed a chicken colorado burrito.