  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly John, Chris, and I went to see the theatrical release of the restored and remastered urlLink The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly today in the U District.
Absolutely awesome movie. I'd seen it before, but I'm sad to say that all those urlLink Clint Eastwood as Cowboy Badass movies all run together for me and I often can't remember which of my favorite scenes goes with which movie. Anyway, seeing this classic up on the big screen again was a blast and had me smiling for the rest of the afternoon. Clint Eastwood as Blondie is ultra boss as the badass, urlLink Eli Wallach is unrecognizable and the real star of the movie as Tuco, and urlLink Lee Van Cleef utterly succeeds as the meanacingly handsome, sneering bad guy "Angel Eyes. " Loved it, loved it, loved it. Chock full of good stuff, and great to see in all its big screen glory.
After the movie, John led us on a stroll down the Ave to Ruby's for lunch (seared yellow-tail sandwich with avocado and spinach for me) and then back up the Ave to Twice Told Tales for some used book browsing and then to the coffee joint next door. "Coffee and pinball" they advertise, but the real treasure of the back room was urlLink CRYSTAL CASTLE ! Crystal Castle was one of the only video games I played devotedly, back in my middle school years.
Mike Groff and I spent a great deal of time at the video game nook in the Clackamas Town Center playing this game with some of the others in our junior high talented and gifted class, like Derek Liebertz and Dagny Haug. Seeing a working model of this game was strangely nostalgic for me; I couldn't bring myself to play it, in case it (like so many things of my youth) did not live up to the memory. Chris was not so daunted and played Bentley Bear through three levels before falling victim to the vicious gem eaters and the evil bees.
Just like old times. We accepted an invite from Ray & Christine to join them at their pad for dinner and screening of Ray's recent purchase: the first season of urlLink King of the Hill on DVD. Ray's only just decided to take the plunge into King of the Hill, and though I've seen the episodes before, I still found myself laughing out loud aplenty.
We also watched a good portion of urlLink Undercover Brother (user comments on IMDb say "Better than the preview makes it look" and I agree) while Ray and John went outside like manly men and grilled some lamb burgers, corn on the cob, and toasty buns. Great way to end a sunny, sociable weekend. Came home feeling very relaxed and full of meat. 
