A Sucker for the Right Words

I told three different friends I was going to see True Grit tonight and all three expressed amazement. "You? Why?"

I knew why they reacted that way; I'm not the type for mainstream movies, Westerns, adventure movies or remakes. But I was invited to step outside my movie comfort zone and I decided to accept and see what happened.

The delightful surprise? The language. Not a contraction to be heard. Phrasing that required the listener to pay attention. A vocabulary that presumed a certain literacy level. All together, that combination made the dialog some of the very best I've heard in a recent movie, much less a Western.

Post-Grit, we were seeking a place that wouldn't close early on us (it being Sunday night and all ) leading us directly to Avalon and a guaranteed four hours of uninterrupted conversation, overly loud music and a lively crowd.

We took a table so we oculd talk uninterruped, ate a veggie flatbread pizza (pesto, goat cheese, Mozzarella, onions, mushrooms and asparagus) which we both liked a lot, and drank Spanish and Washington state wine while discussing, well, nothing I'm sharing.

And we were interruped by Jason, the bartender, who kept coming over to chat and try to tempt me to try his latest acquisition, 1800 Silver because it was new to the bar.

After much pleading on his part from close range, I agreed to one, not because I wanted it, but because he wasn't going to leave us alone until I said yes.

It didn't rock my world, but it was pleasant enough tequila and I sipped it down. But there are far too many really good ones out there now to settle for the merely pleasant.

My, my, couldn't that statement apply to a host of subjects?