I seem to do this a lot… writing about my weekend halfway through. I don’t know what’s up with that. Anyway, it’s been pretty good so far. Friday, I took my favorite shoes to the shoe repair dude to attempt a repair. The soles are cracked and I can feel the road through the bottom when I walk. When it rains, my feet get soaked. Stepping on a rusty nail would be pretty unhealthy in these things. Unfortunately, the repairs will cost more than the shoe is worth, so I guess these ones are ready for the trash. It’s a pity because I really liked them, but sometimes you just have to let go of what you love.

I went for dinner on Friday night at Spencer on the Waterfront. It’s a brand new restaurant on the lake in Burlington. It’s not something I can afford to do very often, but it’s something I’d like to afford to do all the time. The food was wonderful. They follow a “slow food” philosophy, meaning everything is supplied by small, local, independent farms. That means it’s fresher, more organic, and somehow more “real” than factory-farmed fast food. My iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese and caramelized walnuts was delicious. My mouth is watering just thinking of the rib eye steak with fresh cut shoestring fries.

My movies from zip.ca already arrived. I ordered them on Thursday, and they arrived on Friday. Nice! I got Coffee and Cigarettes, by Jim Jarmusch. He’s the same director who made the Johnny Depp film Dead Man. I can definitely see the similarities. It was done all in black and white, and the dialogue was quirky. Basically, it featured short, improvised conversation scenes between celebrities like the White Stripes, Iggy Pop, Tom Wait, a couple of dudes from Wu Tang Clan, Steve Buscemi, Bill Murray, and others. They were almost all drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. It was mostly improvised, and reminded me a lot of an improv montage. There were even a few callbacks. Overall, I’m not sure if I can recommend it. It’s somehow fascinating, but barely interesting. What an odd combination.

I also got Broken Flowers and The Machinist, both of which seemed a bit heavy for my limited attention span last night. Zip.ca said they also sent me Donnie Darko, but it wasn’t in the envelope. I have to figure out what’s up with that. Instead, I watched Lucky Number Slevin. It’s an entertaining, but somewhat predictable thriller, sort of like a not-as-cool The Usual Suspects. I found Lucy Lui quite cute and appealing in this. I’m glad she’s broken out of her hardcore-badass typecasting.

Tonight is dinner at Dad’s. There’s no improv this week.