The Adventures of Team Parker

Some things that I’ve see/done/noticed lately.

1. Pie

I’ve been baking pie, with these instant ingredients.

The ready made pie crust or tart base as we know it in SA, is called Ready Crust and it rocks! No more biscuit crushing, butter melting, messing mixing and shaping. It’s all done for you before time. Just bake for five minutes and turn out into your own dish. And I used the Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix. I could have bought the pie in a can and added all the other ingredients but it seemed so pointless. Coz then I’d have to buy other stuff like cloves and nutmeg etc etc which I probably wouldn’t use for anything else while we’re here. And anyway this was easier.

The pumpkin pie was absolutely divine but after polishing off the first one on my own (Sameer doesn’t like pumpkin), I pretty much killed it for myself. Also, the half a can of whipped cream that I used for topping was going straight to my belly. Boo hoo.

2. Movies

[ In case you're wondering, the song used in the trailer is Iron Man by Black Sabbath. Full song with lyrics here. ]

Since we’ve only been to the movies once since December and because Iron Man, which we’ve been dying to see came out Friday, we thought that we had to go despite the insane cost  - $9.50 or R70 each. Because of the high cost, we decided to walk to the theater rather than take a bus or taxi. It was nice and warm out the streets were packed with people. We eventually found out this was because it was Looptopia — a full night of music, art, dance, theater, readings, and family activities that take place around the city, most of it on the city streets. So you’d walk by people in costume walking on stilts or acrobats or musicians or dancers or theatrical skits. There was a great vibe. And then the lightning and thunder and pouring rain started.

We were about to cross a bridge when this happened and managed to duck into one of the towers that control the bridge. Turns out there was a temporary museum set up in there and we wandered through, reading about the history of the bridge and looking at the exposed parts of its mechanisms. The rain calmed down a bit and we hustled on over to the AMC theater. Just as it came into view, it started pouring again and we both very damp around the back and ankles. Oh, and my hair totally minced. That just put me in a bad mood.

The movies are totally weird. We bought our tickets online so we didn’t have to stand in a queue for that but the funny thing about cinemas here is that they have no reserved seating so you have to queue to get into the theater. We got there at 7:15for the 8:30 show and we ended up about one third down where the line eventually ended. But we couldn’t leave the queue so we just sat on the floor waiting and waiting. Oh my god. Total waste of time. Then they eventually let you in half an hour before the show starts. Everyone mauls for seats and then you see people going “Watch my seat, I’m going to the bathroom” or “Hold my seat, I’m going to get popcorn.” What gives? Sameer went to buy munchies and came back with with a small popcorn and small coke which cost us another $9.50. Another R70 for  the smallest quantities of munchies. Bet you’re loving Nu Metro and Ster Kinekor now, hey? After that we decided that this would likely be our last trip to the movies until we get back to SA.

On the other hand, the adverts were better than the cheesy ass ones in SA. Also they have this weird loop playing with movie trivia and clips from movies and actor information. Also, I think I found my spiritual movie viewers homeland. For once in my life, I was not the only person in the theatre clapping and cheering for the trailers. I have to say, American movie goers appear to be a lot more upbeat and fun in the movies. They react more loudly to what they see — cheering, clapping, or awwing — but otherwise they don’t talk or make a noise at all during the movie.

Anyway, for the record, I thought Iron Man was AWESOME! So much fun - yeah! And we stayed until the very end of the credits — again, it wasn’t just me and a handful of people but about 90% of the audience –  and we caught the bonus scene at the end. When what happened happened (I won’t spoil anyone reading) everyone starting wooing, cheering and clapping. Then we all got up and people were laughing and talking excitedly. And as we walked out we heard one guy say “I’m feeling the nerd love tonight!” It was sooo funny!

3. Second City

We went to watch some comedy at Second City, a popular venue for comedy sketches that we’ve read and heard a lot about. Sameer’s been wanting to go for at least a month so we booked tickets online. As fate would have it, the man throws his back out the morning we’re supposed to go. We went anyway and I think that kind of dulled the experience a bit for us. On the plus side we found a 24hour pharmacy directly across from the place so we could get him some Brufin for the pain. It helped a little, so that was good.

Second City is in a very interesting, older part of the city and has a really cool vibe going. Some of the sketches were better than others but the funniest part of the show was actually the improv that they did right at the very end. It had us laughing harder than at any point earlier on. All things considered, we had a good time.