My one comment is that I am leery about them updating The Silver Surfer. Not because of any disagreement in the characterization, but because I met the actor who played the 2000s version. For what it’s worth, those movies mean nothing to me, but knowing that Doug Jones is one of the nicest celebrities that I have met in my adult life is a testament to his craft. Every time I see him in monster make-up, I get a little psyched to know he’s out there being weird. So happy that The Shape of Water amounted to anything because he really deserves more of a platform.
But anyway, the past seven days have had their fair share of great little activities. I’ll start by saying that I’m sticking to my goal of producing a short story every month so far. I have just published one called “Release” with another recently put in the can that is temporarily called “Stencil,” though it is likely to change once I know what I want to do with it. Even if it’s yet another story that poured out of me, I feel like it needs more infrastructure than usual before I can share it, so keep an eye out for an August release.
To quote Tom DeLonge: Where do we go from here?
I’ll start with one of the bigger highlights from around midweek. We decided to travel around and entertain ourselves. The suggestion came up that we should check out the new shopping center that recently opened around the Marina Pacific area. It’s a bizarre place right now because on the one side, you have an incredibly established mix of stores and a movie theater that has some of the nicest seats in the area. While I think that AMC in general has gotten too far into price gouging, that may just be a sign of the times.
With that said, it’s one of the last vestiges of what the area used to be. To look across the street from the new shopping center is to notice a place not dissimilar from a haunted abandoned mall. It’s a factor made all the more tragic because the movie theater, The Marketplace, was one of my favorite places to hang out throughout my entire 20s. It was where the greater variety of indie cinema was allowed to play, and you’d discover some gems if you were a risk-taker like me. Nowadays it’s boarded up and hidden behind an equally empty El Torito building. Given how much that particular restaurant meant to my high school years, it’s hard not to feel like the world is moving away from what made me like it (not nearly as bad as The Pike shutting down the Barnes & Noble, but that’s a story for another time).
But to get back on track, the shopping center has been a curious addition because of how well established the area across the street has always been. That, and it used to be a hotel complex where I’ve had a few memorable experiences. I’ve seen a few concerts there as well as one Halloween in the early 2010s being told that Robert Downey Jr. would be there. The story goes that he was at the nightclub that was across the way from the hotel, and you had to pay to get in. Long story short, nobody met Robert Downey Jr., though my grandmother got freaked out when I joked about meeting the actor while sharing a clip from Charlie Bartlett (if you know, you know).
Nowadays, it’s not necessarily a mess but speaks to how I am not a target audience of the Belmont Shore crowd. For starters, they have given in to paid parking establishments that may have expanded the potential for crowds, but it also means I’m less interested in going there. Luckily, there’s a limited free time, but it still brings politics into what sucks about living in Long Beach. It doesn’t help that what is there is nothing special and mostly features boutique stores that appeal to niche crowds. I went into a Warby Parker because it’s the one place that made sense, but everything else kind of looked stupid. Well, everything but this roller rink establishment, which kind of looked cool.
But other than that, it was kind of depressing. It looks nice and has a good layout, but there is no incentive to go there. Many complaints about the death of third spaces hold some truth because who would want a high schooler loitering around a Warby Parker? They’re probably getting more out of an empty El Torito or the barren lot just shy of the bordering Petco, where the only thing you can visit is a Chronic Taco. Everything else is gone.
Maybe it’s the sense of Long Beach losing some “smalltown” feel, but then again… did it ever have that? I’ll have to get back to you on that.
The other thing we did was visit the nearby beach. I haven’t been in a few years (and that was in Big Bear), so it was interesting to notice that my life next to the ocean hasn’t been all that fulfilling. For decades, I’ve seen the water, but I haven’t spent too many of those years with my toes in the sand watching some guy paint the tiki torch characters over by the all gender bathrooms.
On some level, it’s not terribly different from what you’d expect from the surf and turf. You just sit there and watch the boats float in and out of their port. Families are there splashing around and relaxing under umbrellas. I can’t say my visit was all that memorable, but it was fun to get out of the house and let the sun radiate on my skin while the wind blew everything through mishigas. I guess I’m not one to romanticize the experience all that much, but it does have a nice meditative quality, which allows you to look into water and try to find a different thought than whatever cement and gravel will do to you.
To shift topics, I also learned about a sports league for women’s flag football. I was at a Sizzler and became a little perplexed by what ESPN was broadcasting. Some Irvine team was playing, so I was curious to see what their goal was. Much like softball, there is something truncated about women’s flag football where everyone is moving faster on a shorter field and the point values seem to balloon at an alarming rate. In general, it seemed more interesting than regular football, which is too slow to begin with. I can’t say that I was totally invested, but it worked well with the potato wedges.
Most of all, it made me wonder if these are all programs that every school has developed since I’ve been there. I am not an expert on the greater world of sports, so every now and then you turn on The Ocho and discover how creative the human experience can be. Flag football isn’t terribly original in that sense, but it does bring an interesting potential to the competition. Most of all, I wonder what greater opportunities lie in the realm of athletics for the next generation and whether all of these novelties will amount to anything meaningful. After all, there’s an upcoming softball league starting up. WNBA will add a third of their cumulative team count between 2020 and 2028 (The Portland Fire logo is fun, even if it looks like a rose). I also remain a fan of AVP women’s volleyball, even though I probably should watch more.
Before I start winding this down, I want to touch on the art that’s mattered to me in the past week. Such Brave Girls is a British comedy that reminds me how much I love those trashy little stories that only ever seem to work with an accent. It could be that their limited output (six episodes) forces them to be strategic in what they actually include, but they often have this brisk and effective way of delivering jokes about familial dysfunction with enough gross-out humor without totally upsetting the audience. While I am currently on a Tim Robinson kick and have really loved Detroiters, I am taking a break with Such Brave Girls and appreciating what good writing for raunchy plotlines can do. It’s moments like this where I realize that I’ve maybe become too button-up in my older years… which I say even as I currently listen to dirty south rap of Outkast and Wet Leg’s super fun and super horny new record “Moisturizer.” Still, I am not exactly seeking out rude humor as much as I used to.
I don’t know… maybe I’m out of touch. We’ll have to see how Happy Gilmore 2: Chubbs’ Revenge goes.
But to close out, I want to mention the real highlight of everything. Ladies and gentlemen, after years of being fascinated by this word and desiring to ingest it into my life, I have finally consumed a Pizookie. You can’t tell me it’s not a fun word and one of the great innovations of contemporary dessert. You see that name and you automatically know you’re in for a good time. It may not be your bag, but Pizookie draws your attention and makes you proud to be an American.
As you can guess, this meant that I was at B.J.’s (another first) and had direct access to the waitress who could deliver. As the WNBA All-Star Game played in the background, I ordered the chocolate chip Pizookie and dug into it.
There’s a joke in Horrible Bosses where Jason Sudeikis mentions that you don’t go from cold to hot desserts. It felt very much like that at first. On the bottom was a gorgeously cooked chocolate chip cookie, and on top was vanilla ice cream. Two delectable favorites together at last, contrasting in their odd reminder of time’s precious fragility. If you waited too long, it would all melt into a mess. This meant that you had to go all in and strategize just how you want to do it. Unlike a cupcake, where I tend to eat the frosting before the bread, I contemplated the way to mix it so that I had the creaminess gel with the gooiness without having the remainder dissipate before I could touch it.
The short answer is that I really like Pizookie. I am not necessarily a dessert person, but this does combine the two that I can appreciate in small portions. It’s so delicious, and I argue the cookie allows for the textures to blend very well. I know people who ordered the cake options and had more difficulty getting a desired effect. For me, I had what I wanted and feel like it created a satisfying experience. Odds are that I’m more likely to make a janky, homemade version for future use, but then again… good on the B.J.’s crew member who landed on that deal. I hope you get your Hulu-distributed movie one of these days (and, if you’re lucky, an Oscar-nominated song by Diane Warren).
It’s crazy to think that we’re quickly approaching the end of July. It’s been a fantastic month, and I’m hoping to make the most of the final 10 days. I’ve managed to beat the heat more often than not and been around people who like having me around. That’s all that matters. For as much as I haven’t touched on everything that is happening in the world, I feel like this column is solely about what matters to me in my personal life. This is where this week took me. I know I rambled more than usual, but that’s how it goes.
So until next time. Hope all’s well and I’ll see ya when I see ya.
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