The first day of the new year was marked with a big match between Liverpool and Chelsea. Watching football is mroe fun with company, so I went down to Sportsmans Bar in Blok M along with Yoga and Anita, Deeka, Rija and assorted guys on the Big Reds mailing list. Unfortunately, a good first half for the Reds didn't last, and eventually Liverpool started 2005 with a 1-0 loss (damn you, Joe Cole! Again!). At least the bar had a foosball table, so we could make like Joey and Chandler in
Friends.
Speaking of which, Star World's been playing all the old episodes every weekday. I'm something of a lapsed
Friends aficionado, who's been out of the loop during the last few seasons, and there was a time when I thought that the old episodes, the ones that originally got me hooked - upon re-viewing - were not as funny as I remembered. But after watching them again recently...I'm laughing, and it's not entirely out of nostalgia, you know?
Anyway, I think this was the second time I recall having an opportunity to play foosball. The first time was about two years ago on an out-of-town trip to a villa that happened to have one. That one was free, unlike the table at Sportsmans - luckily it's just Rp 2,000 per coin, which gets you 11 balls. On both foosball playing occasions, I was pretty good, winning most of the time. The downside, though, is that I seem to have tendonitis in my left wrist. At least, that's what I think it is. So I guess that puts a damper on any plans to get a foosball table for home usage and furthering my Joey/Chandler emulation.
Then today, the second day of 2005, Halief and I saw
Bad Santa, which eventually made its way to our local cineplex. As with our experience watching
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story at the same place, you could count the number of people in attendance on your fingers. For some reason, this number included a married couple who brought along their kids. And these kids were just about past the toddler stage. Normally I wouldn't take much notice, were it not for the fact that these parents seemingly thought that a near-empty theatre gave them license to allow their kids to run up and down the aisles. And I also have to wonder, what the hell were those people doing, bringing their kids to that movie? Either they were boneheaded enough to think it would be a wholesome Christmas film, or they figured that all the swearing, boozing and sex would go over the heads of their non-English speaking children. It's people like this that make me wonder why they bother putting ratings on films.
Later on, it was time to catch
The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. Cue this post's Cosmic Pop Culture Coincidence: one of the guests was Lauren Graham of
Gilmore Girls fame - who was also in
Bad Santa. There was another Lauren in the movie: Lauren Tom, whom you might recognise from her guest stint on
Friends as Julie, Ross' first girlfriend who causes Rachel heartbreak when she realises she has feelings for the greasy-haired mug. I wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for all those old episodes I've been seeing lately. The pop culture planets align once again...
