Do you believe in magic?

Saw Donnie Darko Director's Cut last nite. I can't say that I needed the extra footage, but it was cool to see DD on the semi-big screen. Things I liked about the new scenes: the moment between Donnie and his father, the Drew Barrymore scenes and the chapters of the book that they cut over the time travel scenes. I didn't think that it was necessary to explain so explicitly Donnie's time travel, it seems pretty appparent without, maybe I have just seen the movie too many times. Last thought on DD, I love the last scene, when Gretchen waves to Donnie's mom and she waves back. It is such a perfect and sad ending.

I also saw Garden State last weekend. I fell in love with this movie as I watched it, but when I it ended, I was extremely pissed and had to give the screen a dirty look as the credits rolled. [SORT OF A SPOILER]: I couldn't believe that this movie would succumb to the happy-ending syndrome, which I am very turned off by at this time in my life. It took awhile for me to realize that love is not like how it appears in the movies. It just can't be, it's all magic and I have not found that magic in my real life. I always get sucked into the movie magic and believe what I am seeing as reality. It take a moment or two for me to step back and look at the film as just that, a film. Zach Braff beautifully shows the change in his characters by creating a wonderful fairy tale story, using Noah's Ark symbolism. The more I thought about Braff's incredible ability to tell these characters stories, the more I loved the movie. I can't help it. How can you not fall madly in love with Braff's character, Largeman. The way he holds Sam (Portman)and kisses her in the rain. You know life is not this magical, but you hold on to this amazing represenation of love and life and hope that this can happen for you. Is it wrong to idealize like this? Will it put you in an early grave? I used to think that love was like this, that it would happen to me like this, but recently I gave up on the idea that it would. This does not happen to people in real life. And if it does, it is only momentary. I'd like to think it's still possible, I am holding onto these ideals very loosely, I still have an ounce of hope, as stupid as that may seem.

Speaking of magic last nite, Liz and were walking home from Visions, via Toledo, and as we walked up Columbia Road, we saw a lot smoke in front of safeway and a pick-up truck on the sidewalk. Liz asked me what was going on up there. I told her "magic" or they are power-washing the sidewalk. For the life of me I couldn't believe that they would actually power-wash the sidewalk in Adams Morgan, because it is disgusting out there and would just get gross the next day. But, as it turns out they were power-washing and it looked good.