Friday Night Lights

I got some skepticism from people when I decided to attend school in Indiana, especially after living in NYC. "Maybe you'll meet a nice farm boy, but I don't know what the art situation is there" said one of my co-workers. (NYCers, by and large, are annoyingly certain of their monopoly on culture. They have a point. I miss it a lot. But it is rather obnoxious.) I confess to having some doubts about Indiana myself, after crossing the state line for the first time and being confronted with a humongous cross. I needn't have worried. Here is what I did tonight.

Two friends and I met up and walked downtown to a Japanese restaurant, called, well, Japanais. Or Japanee. It's hard to tell--I think the store says one, and online says another. Either way: holy hats, it was delicious. First off: dollar beer specials. Sapporo for a dollar? Yes please! Secondly: their Crazy Roll might be the greatest thing ever invented. Salmon, tuna, avocado, cream cheese, tempura-fried, and drizzled with a spicy orange sauce. My friends had Udom Vegetarian soup, shittake rolls, and intriguing rolls with salmon roe. I ate all their pickled ginger, because I love me some ginger, and all the food was really decently priced, too.

Then, we headed over to the Buskirk-Chumley Theater (very much like the Smith Opera House or the Reg Lenna, for those of you from Gtown or Jtown) for part of Bloomington's four day PRIDE LGTBQ Film Festival. The lobby was bedecked with rainbow banners, and the place was pretty packed. Five dollars for students, and so worth it. The night started off with the Quarryland Men's Chorus, who did two numbers. The highlight was the soloist's preamble for "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life," from Spamalot. He said, "I'm sad! I'm a poor grad student and I can't find me a sugar daddy!" and a guy in the audience yelled, "there's one over hereeee!" So that was hilarious. And it just got better, as the second song was mainly a large joke about Catholicism that culminated in lots of confetti.

Next up were four short films--each night had two major films and then short films, too. My favorite was called Hammerhead, about a little boy who was obsessed with sharks and whose mother had recently started going out with a woman. And it was set in North Yorkshire, so it's hard to go wrong! There was also a powerful documentary, called Latecomers, about a man--now woman--who had a sex change in her late 60s, and a man who just came out to his family in his 50s, and their reasons for waiting that long. I've never had to defend my sexual orientation, so it is something that I take for granted. The whole evening made me think about things that I sometimes neglect to think about, especially how hard it must be for people who are married or in relationships with people when they are really attracted to another sex. I can't even fathom what that must do to you, and how hard that would be to reconcile.

The short film we really wanted to see played yesterday, unfortunately--it's set in Indian and is called "You Can't Curry Love." The title alone makes a winner. We are going to stalk it out online, so I have high hopes for that. After the shorts there was a lengthy-ish intermission, so one of my friends went to the lobby to get more delicious mystery beer (I tried some of hers and it was really tasty. I wish I knew what it was!). The other friend and I moseyed over to the Blu Boy Bakery next door--conveniently, there is a door connecting them and the theater! She got a scoop of eggnog ice cream and a scoop of pumpkin, and I got pumpkin and chocolate. Probably it goes without saying that it was good, like all food in this town, but it was GOOD. We also ogled the truffles. The blood orange and dulce de leche truffles were beautiful--it looked like spun sugar/stained glass on top of them! Most had designs painted on, too.

We brought the ice cream back to our seats for the feature film. We went specifically to see Contracorriente (Undertow), a movie about a small Peruvian fishing village, where two men are secretly in love, and one of them is married and expecting his first child. And then there is a horrible accident. I knew something was going to happen to one of them, I just knew it. But it still whacked me over the head when it did. And yet, it was really original how they handled it--it didn't feel tired or stereotyped or anything. But it was so hard to watch--their love for each other, and how they had to be on their guard all the time, and how that must tear someone up inside. Because he really did love his wife, too. Anyway. It was very impressive. We cried a bunch. It felt so real, and awful in its realness. I would recommend, but be prepared for an emotional draining.

After that, it was nice to go out in the lobby and have the Men's Chorus holding rainbow umbrellas and being cheerful. We walked through campus to catch our respective buses, and it was still and peaceful (even if the bus wait was pretty chilly). And now I'm in my apartment, heading to bed. Good Friday night? Yup, I think so.