Poptarticus

Shannon’s Super Sexy Blog. Music. Travel. Randomness. And a Lot of Wine.

Chasing the Hangover

Major Strasser: What nationality are you?
Rick: I’m a drunkard.
Captain Renault: That makes him a citizen of the world.

From Casablanca

Ah, the holidays. They are so exhausting! I am worn to a nub. Sunday was pretty crazy, and yesterday I spent all day on the couch recovering. So that was my Christmas – partying, then recovering. Not so different than my day-to-day life, really, except for the pound of See’s candy I added to the mix.

I had Christmas dinner at Eric and Christine’s. Eric’s Ukrainian pastries were the inspiration for the name of my blog. So, of course, he sent me home with a big bag of Ukrainian Poptarts. It was an incredible meal and a fun afternoon, and the fun didn’t stop there. I went to an all-out Christmas party on Christmas night, a big annual thing thrown by bartendress extraordinaire Sooty. It was there that I noticed I was starting to, well, get kind of hammered. I guess waiting until 4:00 P.M. to eat wasn’t such a good idea, not when there was so much good wine being opened everywhere. At Sooty’s, I ran into this guy E.T., a local OB dude, in the kitchen. He told me he had a bunch of good wine in his car and he wanted me to try some. He told me I have a reputation in Ocean Beach – as a WINE AFICIONADO. People want to go out to their cars and get wine for me to try, even if I haven’t seen them in two years and even if I never even spoke to them about wine before, ever. Whoo hoo! A reputation that isn’t in the gray zone or colored black (or red) is fine by me. I am so happy I have this reputation.

Anyway it sort of got me into trouble in the end, as wine sometimes can. It wasn’t like I was hammered at the party, but I knew I was on my way. One nice thing that comes with age is the knowing that you are on your way to hammered, instead of just arriving at hammered. My brother was with me, and also Lil’ D. Eventually we took off and went to the Lamplighter bar but it was so insanely packed that we left right away. So we ended up back in OB, at Cheswick’s Bar because it was the only place open on Newport Street. I drank a vodka and soda and gave my brother a lecture on how the Beatles could be considered the first punk rock band, because what is punk rock, really? How can Blondie be considered punk rock, or the New York Dolls, but not the Beatles? In my state, my brain was rushing way too fast for me, but I had a rapt audience and it was fun in there. Nothing like a dive bar at midnight on Christmas, to get you into the holiday spirit. I am serious. It was hella fun. Plus having my brother there kept me from getting into any scrapes. He’s very effective at that. It’s almost like having a parent there or something.

But I paid for the excess of it all in a big way. Yesterday I laid on the couch and watched TV for twelve straight hours. After a bit of time (and some food, and more wine) I started to feel better, at any rate I could move my head around a little. It was a fine day for nothing but watching movies, and here is what I watched:

A Philadelphia Story. This is the BEST film to start with when nursing a hangover, because all they do in this movie is get drunk, wake up really hungover, and then start drinking again to cure the hangover.

It Happened One Night. This was the first time I have ever seen this film. Clark Gable is unbelievably young and hot in it. Claudette Colbert’s eyebrows are kind of freaky, but the film is a classic and towards the end I was sipping on a glass of Pinot Blanc, and this was a good sign.

Casablanca. I love this film. It’s one of those movies that you can watch over and over and you’ll always notice something different in it. And the script! I love Captain Renault… he’s so totally corrupt but so lovable at the same time. There are so many brilliant moments in this film – the singing “duel” in Rick’s bar between the German officers and everyone else; Ilsa’s face, shining with pride and love, when her husband leads the French side in this duel; Rick rigging the roulette table so the Bulgarian couple can go to America without the young wife having to sleep with Captain Renault in exchange for exit papers… the entire film is made up of stellar moments like these.

I caught the very end of Sign “O” the Times, the Prince concert film. Why hasn’t this been officially released on DVD yet? This is one of the best concert films ever made. It’s a strange film, very colorful, and with some trippy effects in it. And Prince is a genius. I need to break out that CD again.

Then… Chilly Scenes of Winter. I love the Ann Beattie novel this film is based on, though I don’t really know why I still have my original paperback when I’ve unloaded so many other books over the years. The film has a cult following, and it is a decent film with some real weirdness in it, like Gloria Graham as a crazy mother, and Mary Beth Hurt’s horrible permed hair. I mean, it is truly horrible, that hair. But it definitely brings one back to 1980 again. Also, I love Peter Riegert, especially when he was young. That guy was hot back in the day!

At this point, I started to watch The Country Girl with Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly, but Bing Crosby bugs. I can’t take that guy. So I switched over the The Group, based on that risque Mary McCarthy novel. I’ve seen pieces of this film over the years but have never watched it all the way through. Yesterday was no exception – I watched the last half or so. Then I watched the last part of High Society even though I hate that film. Bing Crosby. Yuck. Then I watched the last part of a really weird film about a woman who has an insane Ally Sheedy living in the apartment above her, playing her music really loud and screwing lots of guys. Ally Sheedy isn’t looking too chipper these days.

So, it was a long day, but I got some rest and today I went to the mall and spent it all. The rest, I mean. You can spend rest. So I have to save the rest of my rest this week, because Sunday is my annual New Year’s Day hangover relief party and I will need it then. So my exciting tales of adventure (yeah) are done, for a couple of days at least.

One Response to “Chasing the Hangover”

  1. tom Says:

    Any Thin Man movie…. where Nick and Nora Charles drink all day long. Nick anyway. Nora just looks fabulous. Asta, well, he’s just a dog. But, the drinking.

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