weird weekends

Yesterday I caught up with a few of my favorite people from a long time ago, my Book Soup co-workers Alex, Linda, Theresa and John. We were supposed to go to the Getty but I ruined things like I tend to do. I swear it wasn't my fault this time! I loathe traffic and so the fates that be decided to stick me in it for two hours on the 91. It was 4pm by the time I got to Linda's house, so instead of trekking out to the Getty, we packed some French pastries and this delicious milk oolong tea Linda got from San Francisco and went to the park by the Huntington Beach Library for a picnic and talked about scholarly things, and books, and movies, and tv shows, and culture. (I'd gone running there before while attempting to train for the Long Beach marathon but never for a picnic.) It was quaint. I like that word. And I like things that are quaint.

Anyway, they turned me on to this documentary series on the BBC called Weird Weekends with Louis Theroux. He immerses himself in these lifestyles and situations in order to gain understanding, in the process fully devoting himself to the cultural experience, to extreme measures. I'm typically not a big documentary fiend, but the way he goes about his 'research' is really interesting and subversive. I wish I could get the show on dvd but I'm not sure where to find it. There's an episode on porn stars that Linda and Theresa said was really interesting because, like his other episodes on bodybuilding and hypnotists and gangsta rap, he basically assimilates himself into the different situations and it makes for interesting/engaging tv to say the least. And informative. Interesting and informative don't always go hand in hand, as I'm sure you know.





In any event, the Getty trip is being rescheduled, and I'm glad because it means I'll get to see them all again real soon.

Oh oh, also, this guy I used to date who knows lots about bikes asked me-- when I said I was looking for a cute vintage-y bike-- "You mean a dutch bike, right?" And I said, a cute vintage-y one, silly. And he said, "Yeah, you mean a dutch bike." Ummm do I ever! They are exactly what I mean. I can has dutch bike?