Weird Sh*t

I very rarely see movies at the theater any more, mostly because the time between a film's original release date and the date it gets released on DVD has become ridiculously short. Unless I see a movie on opening weekend, or unless I just hear from a lot of people that a movie is really great, I'm usually content to wait until I can get it from Netflix. (On the other hand, seeing a movie during opening weekend can sometimes prove to be a mistake, like, for instance, when I went to see Sex and the City on the day it came out and wanted to KILL half the people in the audience. With that one, I kind of wish I had waited.)

Anyhoo, this past Friday night, I had intended to go downtown with a friend, to check out all of the Christmas lights and maybe grab a few drinks, but when I heard that the temperature was going to be in the 20's, that plan lost a lot of its appeal. Which is how I ended up at the indie movie theater, to see Synecdoche, New York. A guy I work with had literally gushed about this movie, saying that it was the best film he had seen in ages and that it had instantly become one of his all-time favorites. With a review like that, I had to go see it, right?

Wrong. That movie is weird.

The thing is, I like to think of myself as the type of person who can appreciate weird, independent-type movies. I enjoy movies with a subdued tone (a la The Royal Tenenbaums), and most of my favorite films are the quirky, cult-classic types. But Synecdoche, New York...I just didn't get it. I mean, I think I understood its message or theme or what have you, but it terms of how that message was conveyed, it was just weird. Not that I wouldn't mind watching it again, but I definitely wouldn't put it in my list of favorites.

And speaking of "weird," I discovered something very, very odd this weekend, so odd that I'm really kind of dumbfounded by the strangeness of it. But first, I need to share a little background information. Several weeks ago, on Halloween night actually, I met a guy at a bar. (Imagine that.) After we chatted for a few minutes, he asked if I'd like to go out sometime, and because he seemed nice enough, I gave him my number. It was actually a couple of weeks before we met for our first date (in the meantime I caught a cold), but during the interim he befriended me on Facebook, which is something I guess most people do these days when they meet someone, if only to do a preliminary check on whether that person is, in fact, somewhat normal. After checking out this guy's profile, I wasn't sure whether we were really compatible for anything long term, but I figured, what the heck, there's no harm in going out a couple of times.

So...this guy and I went out for the first time on November 14th, and then again on November 21st and 28th. After our third date, I never heard from him again, and as much as that's a blow to the ego, I didn't really mind him not calling, because as I mentioned before, I didn't see us having much of a future. Of course, we're still friends on Facebook, which has the benefit (not) of allowing you to see exactly what someone is up to, even when you don't necessarily want to know.

And this is where the weirdness comes in. You're not going to believe this, but when I signed on to Facebook yesterday, I was greeted by the news (via the newsfeed page that you see when you log in) that this dude got MARRIED on Saturday. Yes, that's right, only two weeks after going out on his last date with me, this guy has now promised to spend the rest of his life with someone else. I know what you're probably thinking: either he was just getting his last kicks in with me before tying the knot, or he suddenly rekindled a relationship with someone from his past and decided he couldn't live without her.

Here's the thing, though. Everyone he knows appears to be just as shocked as I am, at least judging from the responses on his Facebook wall. It appears that this guy has completely lost his mind.

As Philly astutely pointed out, the only thing that would have been weirder would be if it turned out that the reason he never called again was that he had died. Although, I don't know. This is pretty weird.

Of course, I hope for the best for this guy and his new family (apparently, he's a stepfather now, as well), but damn! That was quick.

Also on the topic of weirdness (what is it with me today?), I have been craving the strangest foods lately. Yes, I realize what that is usually a sign of, but I honestly don't think that's the case here. My first craving was for a Whopper from Burger King, and that one can be explained by the fact that it seems like every time I've turned the radio on recently, there's been a commercial for Whoppers. Before yesterday, I hadn't eaten a Whopper since high school, but last night, I just had to have one. I guess that's a sign of effective advertising.

My other craving has been for banana popsicles. I had two last night, and then another one for breakfast this morning. This one is a little weirder, I think. But I honestly think it was due to all the wine and rum I drank on Saturday night, and I was really just thirsty. For some reason, banana popsicles hit the spot. I think that banana is definitely the best flavor.