It's time you made your getaway

[austin_dern]

Friday --- this may sound familiar --- started late, but that was between the long activity of the previous day and my own fatigue, I suppose, catching up on everything. With the postponement of plans to go to Crossroads Village we didn't have much of anything scheduled for the day. We decided to take in a movie.

Before that we did need to eat and rather than have leftovers we went out in search of a Coney Island. This is pretty much the form which diners take in the lower peninsula, all tracing back intellectually to one Ur-Coney-Island, created by a Greek family and named for the one in Brooklyn for reasons not precisely clear at this remove. We'd kept promising we'd go to one at some point and never quite finding the time for it, but this time we took the available food-consumption timeslot.

Although I didn't have the chili dog that's the particular identifying mark which distinguishes Coney Islands from regular Diners, this did mark my first meal in a Coney Island, and I liked the experience. The food was pretty much equivalent to a Jersey Diner, even if the layout was more like a traditional small restaurant rather than the Jersey Diner experience. But the rough equivalence she drew seems quite justified, even if the Jersey Diner is more likely to be decked in neon or chrome.

For the movie, we went to Harry Potter 7: Part 1, which bunny_hugger worried would leave me hopelessly confused. See, I still haven't got around to reading any of the Harry Potter novels, and the only movie I saw was somewhere around number three or four, seen with rcoony and woodlander years ago. I've picked up the rough outline by cultural osmosis, but she was worried there were roughly eight kerspillion unresolved plot threads going in and where would I have any chance at following any of them?

Mind you, I also never found Babylon 5 challenging to dip into or out of, so I never trucked with the fans' assertions that you can only appreciate that show by watching every episode including the first season dozens of times over in preparation for the next one. My experience with Harry Potter 7: Part I: The Motion Picture: Through The Portal Of Time was that while I had to do my own filling in of the backstory, it didn't seem all that confusing. OK, they're all on the run from something-or-other and Hermione uses some Doctor Who-ish magic to hide her existence even from her family, and then they go camping on every open hectare of Great Britain, four times over. Got it.

There were several compelling scenes, particularly at the Ministry of Magic, although I was confused at just how anyone launches a coup of a Ministry within the British constitutional system. Possibly they haven't quite got a system worked out for that just yet and these sorts of muddles happen. (Fanfic series idea: Yes, Minister for the Harry Potter universe.) But I confess the whole last half-hour seemed like a succession of scenes each of which was suitable for declaring the cliffhanger and going home, to the point when they actually found one I was slightly taken by surprise. I was also a touch amused/cynically annoyed at what became of Dobby, which was a fate completely unavoidable unless somebody actually tried. (Possibly the novel provided reasons for that particular outcome, although would two words of halfhearted rationalization have dragged the movie out intolerably long?)

Anyway. Back home we spent some time playing Wii Dance Dance Revolution, which I'd seen bunny_hugger playing at home before, and which I'd done in the arcade some. This was the first time I'd noticed the game putting my Mii Avatar in among the background characters, with outfits suited to the dance scene. Since this turned up sometimes discotheque settings I saw a curious replica of myself in clothing I would never wear. I was moved to tweet: ``Of all the medallions I would never wear, Wii Dance Dance Revolution shows me in some of them.''

This earned a horrified counter-tweet from my sister-in-law.

Trivia: The Royal Mint made coins (or coin blanks) for 61 countries in 2000. Source: History of Money, Glyn Davies.

Currently Reading: Mars 3-D: A Rover's-Eye View Of The Red Planet, Jim Bell.

Comments

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

I think a conceptual theory of a Coney Island restaurant would have, as its minimal criteria: 1) serving diner food/breakfast, 2) serving coney dogs, 3) serving some sort of Greek food (usually gyros). In addition, they very often have have the fourth characteristic of a Greek-sounding name.

Theio's, the diner on Michigan Avenue where I infamously lost my iPod, isn't a Coney Island because it meets criteria 1 and 3, as well as bonus characteristic 4, but not 2.

As far as I know, Coney Islands occur only in southeast and mid-Michigan, not in the west or northern part of the state. They originate in Detroit.

We do also have diners that aren't Coney Islands, so they aren't a universal replacement for diners here. They are fairly common, however. I saw a lot of them in Ann Arbor, and there are several in Lansing also.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

You're better-qualified to describe what makes the Coney Islands such than I would be; I don't have the experience. It's interesting how they've grown into a regional thing and under that name. I'd look into more regionalism characterizing except online discussions of that always turn into the same Soda/Coke/Pop talk.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

The best anyone can figure as to why the original creator called it a Coney Island is the connection between hot dogs and Coney Island. But Coney dogs, as they are called in the Midwest, seem to be a Michigan invention.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

The Coney Island reasoning seems to be a logical enough connection. Even if the original creator didn't actually have a personal connection to Coney Island the reputation of the place would be worth trading on.

[moxie_man]

If it's any reassurance, I have never read any of the Potter books, nor seen any of the films. No interest on my part.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know about reassurance, but it's kind of nice knowing other people who just aren't aware of the same things I'm not aware of.

Yes you missed the point...

[reptilemammal.livejournal.com]

But hey given you have neither seen all of them or read any of them, you're doing good. I was so amazed they left the "ever so boring" scene where they just wander aimlessly with no clue of what to do. Honestly it was a well done adaption of the book well part of it.

Re: Yes you missed the point...

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to be doing as well as keeping up with the major thrust of things. I'm sure whenever I do get around to reading the books I'll understand more and find endless things to disapprove of.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

As for the Ministry of Magic: there's a scene int he books where the newly sworn-in Prime Minister is quietly appraised of the existence of the Ministry Of Magic, and lines similar to "If things go well, you won't hear from us during your tenure." are mentioned.

I've read (and enjoyed) all the books but I've stopped seeing the movies with #4, out of some vague lack of wanting to. And I own #5.

--Chi

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, so the takeover of the Ministry of Magic coincided with the fall of Her Majesty's Government? That would make sense, particularly if it wasn't so much of a coincidence.

I'm still feeling awfully intrigued by my fanfic idea, except I don't really write those except Mystery Science Theater 3000 stuff.