Saturday, 5 May 2012

The Tarot Card Reading and other stories on the path to find the perfect spliff.

This morning my two of my friends, my sister and I began a road trip with the main intention being to seek out the Rasta shop at the dam. Last weekend my friend was offered chronic without even trying to look like a stoner so this week we decided to make use of the Rasta man's obvious profiling.

We pulled in ,starving, at the flea-market alongside the dam. After walking around looking for a place to eat, deciding against the first cafe we saw because my sister was offended by the sight of two middle aged men eating plain Eisbein without any sides at 10 in the morning, deemed it deliverance country! Which is how we ended up eating chicken curry and roti with lime milkshakes for breakfast. We were already feeling a bit muggy from the random food and full and happy when we crossed the road to the Rasta man's store.

The Rasta shop is a little cement closet full of stoner paraphenelia like Bob Marley rizlers and peace sign weed crushers. Next to the shop is a dusty, off-white sign that reads 'Spinash- 0823789123'- We laughingly decided that 'Spinash' is probably some kind of code for a bankie. If someone calls asking for 'Spinach' the voice on the other end will probably say "Eish sorry! you got the wrong number! Bye!" but if you call asking for the "Spin-Ash" there going to say " Ah I got what you need"
The Rasta man is a pretty cool guy, he seems to have really good energy and so does his cat Tyga!
Rasta man found Tyga! on the street and now the kitten happily tumbles over Rasta beanies and bracelets and basks in the sun outside the shop. The actual buying process was pretty slow since Rasta man wasnt exactly adept at doling out change but the the weed that he stashes in his red tartan design Thermos flask is  amazing.

We'd pretty  much accomplished what we came for so were headed out. We just decided on a drink before we hit the road but just then I happened to chance upon a Tarot card reading advertisement and sought out the store. I've always wanted to do a Tarot card reading and admittedly while I was sceptical I was also kind of scared of what she was going to tell me.
She wasnt really scary though, she was a slightly masculine looking, old Yugoslavian woman with purple hair. Something about her was very healing though, I felt really calm in her presence and I honestly believe some people just have a calming element about them.
I was suprised she immedietly guessed what was bothering me just from looking at me but I know that's often a cheap trick.
She asked me to shuffle the cards and as I was shuffling to concentrate on what my worries were but to just think about them and not say them out loud.
When I cut the cards in half and she laid them out and immedietly started addressing those concerns which I found weird.  Some of the things she said were comforting, some a bit worrying, some things she said made complete sense to me.My theory is that some people are hyper perceptive and that she can pick up on things that are in your sub-concious that are the main things that you need to be advised or consoled about. The correlation between the pictures on the cards and the things she says are spooky. Maybe its all just superstition, maybe its crazy, maybe I'm gullible but I walked out feeling peaceful. I dont know what it is maybe someone telling you things you already knew is comforting. You should be able to motivate yourself, and tell yourself that everything's going to be ok but when someone else tells says it to you, its somehow so much better and so much more profound and maybe thats the point of all these clairvoyancy promises but the things she said, said  more to me than anyone who was trying to get through to me ever could.


Wednesday, 2 May 2012

The Avengers

I've been waiting for The Avengers movie to come out since I watched the first Iron Man. Obviously I can't claim to be as hyped up as those who were waiting since their first comic book or since birth but that's a pretty long time to wait.
Maybe I ruined things for myself by watching the trailer 10 times or dreaming up my perfect scenario. As the video store guy told me "With films like these its best not to have expectations" But then again he was tearing up watching the credits of Thor while I was speaking to him.

It wasnt totally bad, there were really good moments, funny cracks, lots of action. However the explosions came to a point of being gratuitous, the special effects tended to bombard me and in some parts looked like they were from a video game. There were definitely some good private jokes and intertextuality thrown in there but I fear much of the movie was referencing The Big Bang Theory rather than any Marvel concoction. For sure, Loki's personality was modelled on a particularly irate and British Sheldon Cooper and as a bad guy he just really sucked.

Joss Whedon is the leader of the nerd herd at the moment and many will forever and always sing his praises but putting a film like The Avengers, with so much potential, in his hands is surely a travesty.