What started out as an ordinary Friday, ended in a blizzard of weirdness by the time midnight rolled around.

Again, this morning was all about not doing much. And I could really get accustomed to not doing much. Aside from showering, the only thing I accomplished was changing the headlamp on the scooter. All works just fine, by the way.

But around 1pm is when the day started in earnest. I again rode to downtown to hang out with Cole. I’m getting used to riding in this town, which is vastly different than riding in other towns. I’m not really sure why.

I parked in the same spot as yesterday, next to a Bajaj and an older, probably early 60’s Vespa.

That mostly just made me miss having an old Vespa. I’m hoping this doesn’t translate into me getting another old Vespa. But I’m betting it will. My scooter plans and herd must not expand beyond my means.

Or I have to have a garage. In which case, the scooters will breed like rabbits.

We ate at Long Life Vegetarian Chinese Place and again it was good. Josh joined up this time and we had a lovely dinner. I got Soy Chicken & Tofu in Spicy Sauce, and though it’s not very spicy, it is pretty good. Not as good as the Veggie Beef though.

And when we were finished feeding, we walked over to Comic Relief, the poorly-named, but awesome comic book store. I bought too many comics, but regret it not.

The jewel in the crown of my purchases being Incredible Change Bots by Jeffery Brown, possibly my favorite writer at this point. The book is a parody of Transformers and it made my day.

I also picked up Summer Blond by Adrian Tomine and Only Skin by Sean Ford, which is turning out to be basically amazing.

My problem with me and comics is that I don’t live close enough to a good comic book store to really keep up. For example, I was reading Buffy Season 8. I read the first five issues and haven’t been able to get to a store to get the rest. Now they’re up to issue 14. I can’t just jump in and read it without reading 6-13. Sad. The same goes for the new Firefly comics. The same would go for Angel Season Six, but I never saw Season Five, so it just didn’t matter much.

Speaking of Firefly, I was telling Cole about the fanfic by Steven Brust called My Own Kind of Freedom. I’ve not yet read it, but I’ve heard it’s great. So if you’re a fan of Firefly, check it out. And if you’re not a fan of Firefly, why aren’t you? Seriously, go watch it! All of the episodes are available for free (and legally) online at Hulu. You will thank me later. There is also a movie you’ll have to rent called Serenity. And then the fanfic. Which is here.

We staggered home eventually and Cole and Josh made us breakfast dinner. Pancakes, french toast, sausage and bacon (all vegan). It was magically delicious.

And that brings us to Bowie, doesn’t it.

Last night, we watched The Man Who Fell to Earth. It was a huge slice of weirdness ala 1976 starring David Bowie, Rip Torn and Buck Henry. And it has to be seen to be believed. Now, I’m a huge fan of weird. Give me a weird movie and I’m all over it.

But this one was unbelievably tedious. Though it clocks in a bit over two hours, it seriously felt like four. And I’m also a fan of long movies. I’m the only person in the universe who liked The Postman. Long movie? No problem! Weird long movie? That’s ok too! Man Who Fell to Earth? Oh my…

It’s definitely got a 2001: Space Odyssey feel to it. Yeah, it’s sort of like if 2001: Space Odyssey was a softcore porn staring a very skinny David Bowie for eight or nine hours. Should it be watched? Yeah, probably. More than once? I don’t see how.

The movie looks good, very late 60’s (though it was from ‘76). It was shot almost entirely in New Mexico. The plot is meandering and basically pointless, but I’m guessing that the plot wasn’t the point or something.

Anyway, if you have a burning desire to see David Bowie or Rip Torn nude¹ , then you pretty much have to see this. As for me, I’m just glad that it didn’t give me nightmares. Very glad.

And then I went to sleep. I nodded off a little bit during the Bowie movie, but not enough to actually miss anything. Sad, really.

Miles today: 5
Miles total: 4987

1. We were delightfully spared the sight of a naked Buck Henry. Thank you. Thank you SO much. [↩]