April 30, 2021

Yesterday, I did a sunset skate along the beach path from Venice to the Santa Monica Pier and beyond. We had six people in total, and it was cool! My and one other person were quite a ways behind the other four. I have been improving, I swear. The woman I was skating with told me that she's worried skating is her personality now, and I feel that. At least on Instagram, I've only posted about skating for the past little while. That is because it's the only thing I've been doing. 

Just now thinking about a friend from growing up who I follow on Instagram. She got married and then divorced and is now taking all these girl trips with three other (presumably) single women in their early 30s. It's bars and booties, and low cut dresses, and heavy foundation. It's not a bad scroll. They're out their in a dangerously coiffed pack, feeding off fun and freedom. Desperate to get back in the game with their own sexiness, their sexiness amplified by the women around them. Like life is white hot and ready to blink out at any time.  

What else? 

My husband and I went over to a couple friends' (a friend couple's) house last night. This was after skating. The four of us just talked for a while, and it was the first time in a long time that I've been able to do that with a relatively new person. Being in it and losing track of time because it's interesting. I hope they didn't mind how long we stayed. 

Mlog Time! 

**SPOILERS**

RED ROCK WEST 

1993

Directed by: John Dahl

Written by: John Dahl, Rick Dahl

Watched: 4/28/21

Red Rock West is a Western/Thriller about a man from Texas who drives to Wyoming looking for work and then can’t seem to get out of a town called Red Rock West. He’s an honest man, back from Vietnam, who can’t seem to catch a break because of his injured leg. When he arrives in town (after not getting the oil rig job he drove up for), he’s mistaken for Lyle, a hitman from Texas that the bar owner hired to kill his wife. Taking the job, Michael (protagonist played by Nicholas Cage) goes to the wife’s (Suzanne) house and warns her that her husband’s trying to kill her. She says she’ll pay him double to kill the husband. Well, Michael takes the money and drives out of town that night only to accidentally hit a man. Michael takes the man to the hospital, where it’s discovered the man’s been shot twice. Michael has to stick around for the police to arrive and he discovers that the bar owner is also the sheriff. The sheriff tries to kill him, but Michael escapes by getting picked up by a man who turns out to be the real Lyle. Michael goes to Suzanne’s house to warn her again and tussles with Lyle. Then eventually Michael finds out that Suzanne and her husband (Wayne) are both criminals and they and Lyle all go out to get Wayne’s money that he buried. Lyle and Wayne get killed in the kerfuffle and Michael and Suzanne hop on a train with the money. Suzanne pulls a gun on Michael, but Michael disarms her. Then he scatters the money off the train car and throws Suzanne off with it. Fortunately, Michael has kept a couple of stacks of bills for himself. 

Long summary! I liked a lot of things about this movie. The way the early plot works is nice. I like how in the opening scenes we see Michael shaving next to his car out in the desert and how he’s kept his nice white shirt in the trunk up until the last minute to ensure that it’s crisp and fresh for when he first meets his employer. We’re shown that he’s honest by how he doesn’t steal an unattended cash box at a gas station even though he sorely needs money. It’s all well set up and the later conflict tests him along the same lines. Two complaints: 1) it’s never explained why this husband and wife want to kill each other. The answer given is, Well, you know, marriage. 2) Part of the plot hinges on Michael going back to Red Rock West on Suzanne’s insistence. They’ve slept together, but I don’t at all believe that they have such deep feelings for one another that Michael would risk his life going back there. The plot largely works except for the relationship reasoning, which is of course really important. 

Rating: ★★1/2