Last night I got back from a very short trip to LA with some friends. Though we did spend most of the trip lost, it was still a great time. It's been so long since I've been to a beach with either warm weather or good solid waves.

I also flew back on Southwest instead of Jetblue (our hotel was right by LAX and Jetblue only flies to long beach). It was my first Southwest experience, and I must say I wasn't terribly impressed. It's certainly no jetblue. And the chaos seating thing is pretty annoying. But it was acceptable, and only $100 for one way even though I bought a one-way ticket just 48 hours ahead.

I find it bothersome that I'm beginning to develop some brand loyalties. I love jetblue, and recently I bought Let's Go Amsterdam even though I wanted a general Netherlands tour book, cause I'm kind of attached to Let's Go.

One of the several reasons I flew back early is because I wanted to be able to see saved before I left for the summer, which I did tonite. As you all know, I've been looking forward to this film for months.

In the trailer it wasn't clear whether it was going to be brilliantly spot-on, or just over the top. I'm afraid their touch wasn't as good as I was hoping and too much of the treatment of christianity is a too parodied, but I still enjoyed the movie. The first reel is pretty brilliant, and most of the movie is quite sweet. The first climax is adorable (if sappy), and the second climax is really quite poorly done and hurts the movie significantly. I enjoyed the film. But it doesn't hold a candle to Michael Stipe's last production.

Eva Amurri (as the crazy Jewish girl at the christian school) and Martin Donovan (as the pastor/principal of the school) put in excellent supprting parts. But Mandy Moore is just shrill and Macaulay Culkin never quite puts anything into his role... As for Jena Malone in the lead role, she's definitely playing Laura in the film version of Noah's life.

(The film version of the Berkeley stage of Noah's life currently has Jack Black as Ben Webster, Nicholas Cage as AJ, Elijah Wood as Joel, Steve Buscemi in a bit part as Russel, and, of course, Roan Atkenson as Soroosh. I'm not sure we've got the casting past those most obvious ones.)

Tommorow I leave for 5 weeks in the netherlands. I can be reached by email as usual and I will try to post occasionally, though I'm not entirely sure what my internet situation will be. Tonite I'm again trying out my theory that the best way to fly to Europe is to stay up all night the night before. This time I think I'm playing several hours of nethack. I must say that last time was a much better excuse.

Oh, and at Saved! I got there just as the trailer for Garden State began. I still think that this is the best trailer I've ever seen. Here's a link, but the internet version can't quite do justice to the experience of seeing this trailer on the big screen with a real sound system.