As mentioned in the previous rambling 3 days ago, he who is known by the content solutions handle Drizzt came to visit the Castle Lair for the weekend, after having endured 2 days of testing in Denver.

Thursday night, we went out to eat at On the Border, watched Ninja Scroll, and played Magic. But I covered that before, so let's jump to Friday.

Friday morning, we woke up and played Magic. (Oh God, I sense a recurring pattern here!) Neither of us had really planned on spending the majority of the weekend with this old pastime. It just sort of happened. Drizzt had brought his cards "just in case". Mine had been stocked away in my closet.

Once we had gotten the cards out, and rotated the table up so we could simultaniously play and see the tv (mostly music content was displayed during the games), it just worked. Magic, music, food, drink, and many random pauses during which we would get into talking about something until we would forget whose turn it had been.

After a few hours of Friday morning Magic, we decided to go see Spider-Man. Neither of us had seen it, and both wanted to. A Spider-Man matinee became the central leg of an afternoon trek around the Flatirons Crossing area.

Our first stop was Best Buy. I wanted to pick up the Waking Life DVD, which they had in ample stock. We browsed around the DVD and cd sections, seeing many items of interest. Drizzt discovered that unbeknownst to him, a band he liked called Curve had released a new cd recently (based on what I heard off the albums he had brought, I might soon become a fan as well). He considered purchasing it on the spot, but decided to hold off temporarily.

From Best Buy, we drove across the multi-store commercial complex to the mall. It wasn't likely to be sold out at this showing, but we purchased our tickets early, just in case.

While walking through the courtyard area toward the mall, I saw the Chipotle sign, thought it sounded appetizing, and suggested we eat there. Drizzt was agreeable to the idea. As always, the burritos were as huge as they were delicious. Neither of us finished, but Drizzt agreed with me that they were extremely yummy.

(Had I thought about it ahead of time, we might have gone across the street to Qdoba, where they have a little more variety in the item selection, and slightly better flavor IMO. But Chipotle was certainly yummy. (I wonder what the odds of running into coworkers on their lunch break would have been if we had done this? As it was, I saw one coworker at Chipotle, who was also taking the day off. Truly a small world.))

We got perfect seats for Spider-Man. Dead center, middle of the theater, a few rows up from the bottom of the stadium section. The movie was very enjoyable. A near-perfect execution of a modern day superhero tale, complete with lots of action, a great love story, and fun characters. See movielog entry.

After Spider-Man, I wanted to show Drizzt the Wizards of the Coast store in the mall. It certainly seemed like a place he would appreciate. But to our utter astonishment, they were completely out of Magic cards! A store whose namesake reflects the company that started the craze had no Magic cards at all! They had tons of other card games there, but Magic was out of stock. Unfathomable. (I wouldn't have bought any even if they were there because I so seldom play it these days, but it's still insane.)

With the afternoon nearly spent, Drizzt suggested we stop by a liquor store on the way home. I was agreeable, and in rhetrospect, it was a very good idea. We stopped at the mighty Superior Liquor Market, and picked up some beverages.

Back at the Castle Lair, Magic playing resumed into the twilight. I made Bitscape's Famous Bean Dip (this formula is my second food-related patent to be registered). We ate pseudo-haystacks and drank whiskey-spiked Mountain Dew over the Magic table. What a great combination!

After many hours of Magic playing, some broadening of each other's respective musical horizons, and moderate intoxication, I suggested a viewing of Waking Life. I was uncertain of what Drizzt would think of it, but I suspected he would enjoy it, and it seemed like the perfect way to top off the evening.

"Somebody was smoking some serious pot when they came up with this." Drizzt said the movie was not at all what he expected, but he loved it too. He thought a couple of favorite college professors we had both taken classes from would probably appreciate it as well. (How could you prepare anyone by trying to describe such a movie? It just has to be watched.)

Saturday morning, we played Magic.

I cooked up an enormous quantity of Delicious Dish, while Drizzt figured out how to play Super Monkey Ball on the gamecube. While we ate, we played more Magic.

We had run out of soda, and I was having a craving for orange juice, so we made a late morning trip out of the Lair. Drizzt decided that he did indeed want to purchase the new Curve album at Best Buy. He also wanted to get something for his significant other, who happens to be a fan of the music of Madonna. I had no trouble advising in this matter as we again perused through the DVD area.

After Best Buy, a quick stop at Safeway for liquids, and we returned to the Castle Lair for still more Magic and music.

Late afternoon, we were mostly Magic-ed out. We sat in the center of room, and I put on my NIN And All that Could Have Been disc. We sat on the couch, being bombarded with the power sound from every direction for nearly 2 hours.

After this, both of us were feeling quite restless. Drizzt made attempts to get in touch with a fan he had met at a Spiritualized concert who also lived in the Denver area. This guy had obtained a master board recording of one of the live shows, and had promised to make Drizzt a copy. After getting directions to his house over the phone, and took a zig-zag journey (due mostly to Bitscape's lack of familiarity with the specifics of that area of the city), and eventually arrived at the destination. (Tobias got his exercise this weekend.)

We were welcomed at the house of Drizzt's fellow Spiritualized fan, who had attended over 20 of their shows over the years. The people there were very friendly. They welcomed us in, made us feel at home, gave us beer, and offered us supper. (We were already full from having been munching all day, but we ate a little of the delicious eggplant appetizer anyway.)

This man was totally into his music. A very animated personality, he entertained us for hours with tales of adventures at shows, and was completely unreserved about sharing his prolific views on the music (specifically oriented around Spiritualized and other shoegazing genre acts, which I had known virtually nothing about 48 hours earlier). He played us many samples on the stero.

I scanned his wall of cds (which outpaces my own collection in terms of quantity), and saw almost nothing I recognized. There were a few names I had heard of, but none I was really familiar with.

Although he inhabits a totally different sphere of musical background and tastes, I could not help but respect someone with so much vibrance and passion for his music. He suggested that since I live in the area, we might hook up for a show sometime. Although ours tastes probably have little convergence, I found the thought intriguing, and I gave this new acquaintance my phone number. Who knows? Maybe my horizons will be broadened. May his will too. (I suspect most of the new knowledge would flow in my direction, if for no other reason than that I am generally intravorted, and he verbose.)

Eventually, Drizzt and I departed. Drizzt with 2 new bootleg discs to listen to.

Back at the Lair we played Magic until we got tired of it. (Proving that such a thing is indeed possible.) Drizzt wanted to watch a movie. Feeling in the mood for a Kevin Smith film, I suggested Chasing Amy. Drizzt had only seen Clerks and Dogma (that poor deprived boy!), so we decided to watch Mallrats.

During Mallrats, we pretty much laughed our asses off throughout the duration. Nothing is quite as funny as a good Kevin Smith flick.

After Mallrats, it was quite late, and Drizzt had a plane to catch in the morning, so we went to bed. (I would have been up for more Kevin Smith fun if Drizzt had been up to it, but I could totally understand him needing to get rest for the return trip.)

Sunday morning. We played some monkey ball, ate leftover food made from patented formulas, and got ready to go. I had been ripping a bunch of the cds Drizzt brought, which finished just in time.

I'm pretty certain I like Curve. It's got a good hard edge, which I'm into. The Spiritualized music I heard during the Magic games struck me as the type of stuff that could grow on you after several listens. Only time will tell. Listening to fans talk about it, you'd think it was the best musical creation to grace this earth during the latter half of the 20th century. The complex layered melodies are pouring out of Argo's speakers right now.

I drove Drizzt to the airport, dropped him off at the terminal, and we parted ways. [Insert poetic clich´ here. Something about the "winds of time" and all that.]

I returned to the Castle Lair and slept. I wasn't feeling particularly tired, but I didn't really have anything else to do, so sleeping seemed like a good idea.

Called mom this afternoon. Offered to take her out for a mother's day dinner. Hmmmm...

Even though I have't been watching this season, I'd kind of like to watch X Files tonight since it's the beginning of the final episode. I may or may not be able to squeeze that in if we go out to eat. Oh well. If not tonight, I'm sure I can catch it sometime.

Since it's been a couple hours, I shall now make another call to mom. Don't know when the world will see this, since rage has been down (or acting funny) all weekend. But I think people are starting to get the idea that when rage becomes unresponsive, bitscape.org is the alternate way to get to my content.

So that's all now. Over and out.