Today I Ate Curry and Watched Super Hero Movies

So remember how I talked about all of those summer projects I intend to undertake?  I didn't start any of them today.  And I might as well tell you that I'm not going to start any of them by the end of the week, either.  I've got so much on my plate, you see.  Ahem.

Today my mother came to visit.  I like seeing my mom, but whatever my usual routine is, her visits tend to disrupt them, since they're all-afternoon affairs.  Still, the day was "productive" in its own way.  For one thing, we tried a new Thai place.  I live a few blocks away from Pusadee's Garden, which has the best Thai in the city, and so despite my love of Thai food (I've even worked on cooking it myself, inspired by Sarah), it's hard as hell to get me to try new Thai.  Frankly, it's more than that -- I'm a creature of habit. What can I say, I take comfort in knowing what to expect.

Anyway, we went to The Smiling Banana Leaf in Highland Park.  The fresh spring roll was good, but not as good as the ones at Tram's; the green curry was OK, but not as good as Pusadee's.  The Shrimp Red Chili, though, was very good.  I'm not sure it's fair to review a restaurant based on one visit, so consider this just first impressions -- I wanna go back to try their massaman curry, which I'll likely end up doing, since Pusadee's has decided it's only open for lunch on the weekends now.

Look, it's what I had for lunch today. Most of the photos on my phone are of food and cats.

After that Mom and I watched Captain America and Thor.  Neither of us had seen the captain, and Mom hadn't seen Thor; tomorrow I'm going to watch The Hulk, which I haven't seen, and maybe revisit the Iron Mans, and all of this is in preparation to go see The Avengers.  I liked Captain America; man, we Americans never get tired of killing Nazis, do we?  Even seventy years later!  Probably because all of our wars since have been tragicomic misadventures in Red Scare hysteria or neocon overcompensation.  But I digress.

Seeing Thor again, I was struck by the same thing that struck me the first time watching it, which was (Spoiler Alert!) the way Loki gets short shrift.  Or actually, what I really want to ask is, why do we hate Clever?  From the beginning of the movie, the character of Loki is set up to be a diplomat and a smooth talker -- "What's the matter, that silver tongue of yours turn to lead?" another character taunts him -- a soft-spoken and clever man.  His godly power involves making false copies of himself.  Of course, by the end, he turns out to be a schemer, a betrayer, a manipulator.  (And the movie does everything it can to make you forget that his father has lied to him his entire life, concealed the truth of his identity, all the while favoring Thor in little soul-destroying ways because for reasons that Loki wasn't made privilege to and are not his fault, the benighted dark-haired brother of Thor can't be allowed to sit on the throne of Asgard.  Because mulling on that might make you, the viewer, feel bad for Loki.)

Now, Thor's got character faults: he's arrogant, short sighted, and a bully.  Of course, by the end of the film lessons are learned and he becomes a noble, thoughtful leader.  But let's look at how this is set up: we've got a big, brash, handsome, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, muscular, super-white guy who's Got Lessons to Learn but turns out to be the hero who makes his father proud in the end.  We've also got a slim, dark-haired, dark-eyed, quiet young man who's thoughtful, cunning, and clever, who's willing to deceive to win.  Put aside the plot -- we already know who we're supposed to root for.

But why?  Why isn't being clever, thoughtful, and cunning a virtue?  Why aren't we on the side of the guy who can talk his way out of trouble instead of having to hit everyone with a giant hammer?  Well, there's a lot of reasons why.  My point is to invite you to think of what it says about us that this is the case.

I'd also invite you to think about what it says about us that the hero is a big ol' Aryan and the secret villain is a little dark guy.

Anyway.

After all that it was burritos for dinner.  Tomorrow I'm going to watch The Hulk -- and then I have An Event.  More on that later.  Then Friday is a big traumatic day for me and my kitty Chief.  Chief is going to the kitty neurologist.  More on that later, too.

Wee little Chief. Last time I saw a neurologist it cost $50,000. Let's see what Chief's charges.