Well, they're almost here, anyway. Mom and Dad Bork are thinking seriously about selling the house in the suburbs and moving downtown. We'd be thrilled to have them so close, and the place they're considering is sooooo coool. It's an old office building on Michigan Avenue that's been converted to condos. The windows in the units are the same windows from when it was an office building because it's a historical landmark and the facade can't be changed. I have a super crush on these big black-paned windows and am sold on it for those alone. It's also across from Millennium Park and the Bean, and walking distance to Macy's, also a major selling point. For me, anyway. I took some photos when we got to the unit after climbing up three flights of stairs from the 10th to the 13th floor (yes, they might live on the 13th floor. I warned my mom about poltergeists, but she didn't seem too concerned. We'll see how concerned she is when her furniture is stacked to the ceiling and her toy clown is trying to strangle her...). I was motivated to take the pictures because of our headgear.
It's warm here in Chicago, and humid, though not nearly as humid as the weather gurus kept predicting, and for that I'm pretty happy. I had to go to the Michigan Avenue Mac store yesterday to pick up Trevor's computer (the screen was getting fixed), and it was the release of the new iPhone. There was a line two blocks up the street and I overheard one of the employees say that the wait was 3-5 hours just to get in the store and buy your phone. They wouldn't even let me in! I had to show the guy my ID, give him the receipt for the repair work, and he went and got it for me. Luckily, all of those crazy folks only had 80-ish degrees of gorgeous weather to wait it, and not the 96 degrees and super-high humidity the news had promised. I think all of the rain we got Thursday night cut down on the heat.
Last night Trevor and I met both Dans and Mona at the AllRise Gallery, which has just relocated from Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park to a half block away from us on Grand (right across the street from our video store!). The show was actually really interesting, and the space is terrific. We'll certainly go back, and I hope they get some people in there to buy some art so they'll hang around.
After that, Trevor and the gang went out to Archie's Bar in Dan's neighborhood. I, being tired and lazy, went across the street to the video store to rent The Ruins, a B horror movie based on a book by Scott Smith. I'd listened to the book on tape a couple of months ago while commuting, and it was so much fun and terribly stressful; I was constantly yelling at the car stereo and gripping the steering wheel for dear life. The movie didn't disappoint, though it was less stressful simply because of the cut down length (which was necesssary), and the fact that the book was able to get, though the perfectly done third-person limited narration, into each of the four main characters' heads throughout their terrorizing journey. The movie was terrifically gory, which was absolutely to be expected since the book was just as, if not more, bloody. And it was pretty well done, even though some of the character traits were shifted, and of course plot and story points were changed. Scott Smith co-wrote the screenplay, which I'm sure contributed to the faithfullness to the book's creepiness. I'd not recommend this for the faint of heart, but if anyone's looking for a disgustingly bloody B horror movie, absolutely check it out. Read the book, too!
And speaking of third-person narration (when does anyone get to say that?) I heard the "Dueling Critics" on our WBEZ program 848 yesterday morning discussing the new play at the Chopin Theatre, The Strange Elephant. It's apparently a fantastic piece of 'meta-theater': the characters spend much of the play trying to capture and destroy the third-person narrator. It sounded like fun, and the production itself with the set pieces (an enormous mechanical elephant--who wouldn't want to see that?) would be a hoot. I'll try to convince Trevor to go. We also have to see the zombie play by the Sandbox Theatre Project. It's called Multi-Purpose Doom, and Lovely Lisa Munzenrider's boyfriend, Josh, was asked to participate. He turned it down. He turned down a play about zombies. I will never forgive him. We of course will go to see that one, especially since it's a guaranteed good time. The last play I saw them do was a romantic comedy set in a storefront neighborhood gym. One of the actors spent the entire 90 minute play on the treadmill. Seriously. It was hilarious.
And speaking of Lisa, we've got a lunch date so I'm going to spruce myself up to something presentable and meet her for a sandwich. I might persuade her to go the Penelope's to do a bit of shopping...
Rock on, True Believers!
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