socialist-style living in Prince George's Plaza

Yesterday I went up the Green Line to Prince George's Plaza to visit Dreamy Ron and go see Prince Caspian at a new movie theatre that has yet to be discovered by huge crowds during the week. We watched the film with three others in the theatre, no cell phones went off, and no text windows flashed before my eyes. It was wonderful, and so was the movie.

While the Pevensie kids got pulled away from narnia for 1300 years, their acting as if they had never forgotten their combat skills as Kings and Queens of Narnia was impressive. The melee swordfighting choreography and battle scenes were awesome. I especially liked the Telmarines' double-shot catapult. I would like either a catapult or a trebuchet for Christmas, thanks. Oh, and I still haven't gotten a battle-mastodon mount for Christmas either, by the way.

If you watch closely, there seems to be a shout-out to the Bear community in the scene when Peter and King Miraz are dueling to the death. A talking brown bear attends the battle, and when Peter is in grave danger in the fight scene, you can see the bear clutching his pearls in excitement. Maybe I was looking into it too much, but you know how Disney is filled with creative gays.

If you're familiar with the series of books, you can spot the evil Silver Chair in some scenes, and the debut of Reepicheep the mouse, who plays a role in the next book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. That one was my favorite, and I hope it's the next film in the Chronicles movies.

The new P.G. Plaza is recently developed, much like Columbia Heights. The Plaza proper has dancing fountains surrounded by nice condos and office space, and reminded me of the Soviet-style quartal I lived in in Kazakstan. There, each quartal surrounded a central recreation/play area, and the first floors of each apartment lining the quartal had bread stores, pharmacies and other places to get your basic victuals. Four quartals surrounded a small bazaar where you could get fresh meat and vegetables. If you wanted other stuff or harder to get produce you had to take a bus into the city to the main bazaar. Anyway, I found it interesting that these newer socialist-style developments so closely mirror Soviet-style living arrangements. The only thing missing is for the residents to have a summer home, or dacha, where they chill over the weekends. I suppose an American's beach share is sort of a comparison.

I'll have to credit Manhunt with practicing skills that can also be applied to my job search. A job hunt is a lot like dating or tricking - it takes time and selectivity skills, as you need to be able to filter out any options that would have you wasting your time e-mailing or calling about the job, as you certainly don't want to find yourself in a situation where you want to get out quickly. Headhunters are like trolls or PNP queens - they're flighty or extremely desperate, depending on the hour. An interview is like a coffee or drink date, and the hiring process is sort of like the follow-up dating situation. Being hired is a kind of a relationship, as you'll be with that job in the long-term, so you have to choose carefully.