I had a fun evening hanging out with Alisha. We went out to Costco, where everything comes in massive quantities. I bought three giant steaks and a package of pork sirloin chops big enough to serve as ballast on the Titanic. There was a Christmas wreath about four feet in diameter, but I didn’t buy it because I’m not festive enough. We had Lebanese food for dinner. Every time I have Lebanese food, I’m reminded how much I love it. I’m not sure why I forget in between though. Too much choice? Maybe. Later on, we saw some swirling lights in the sky that were projected from somewhere on the ground. We drove through the city, hunting them down. It felt like we were chasing tornadoes, or UFOs. Eventually, the source turned out to be the giant Canadian Tire store in the east end that was having a grand opening sale. I wonder how many other people followed the lights to Canadian Tire. I guess that marketing worked on us because we ended up going into the store to check it out.

I also watched Jarmusch’s Broken Flowers. It was great, actually. I love the random quality of Jarmusch’s films. It was the story of a guy who just broke up with his girlfriend. He finds a pink letter in his mail, from an anonymous former girlfriend telling him he has a 19 year-old son who has left on a trip to find him. His neighbour talks him into going on a trip across the country to visit a number of his ex-girlfriends to try to determine who is the writer of the letter. The film has a peculiar slow but funky pace to it, and the dialogue is simultaneously real and surreal, ordinary yet extraordinary. I think that’s a trademark of Jarmusch. In a lot of ways, his films remind me of Tarantino. Like Tarantino, Jarmusch takes a lot of care in selecting music. In this film, the soundtrack was some kind of African jazz by Mulatu Astatke, which matched the 1970’s prime of the main character’s life, but not necessarily the present-time setting of the movie. Bill Murray was the perfect choice for the lead, as the ultimate laid-back, worn-out guy. I highly recommend this film. 🙂