Faith, Film and Philosophy Recap

Whew! Exhausting, having to travel from the right coast to the left and back in a weekend!

The high points:

Great conference. Philosophers often talk a different language than theologians, but since everyone was talking about film, I think our ideas related to each other well and we had fruitful conversations. The organizers were nice enough to take us out to see a movie on Saturday night - The Social Network, which was a very enjoyable experience - though hard to describe: I could only say it's watching for two hours as a guy acts like a complete jerk while making 25 billion dollars, but you're not 100% sure if he's just a jerk, or neurotically antagonistic to all the people who've looked down on him (for unknown reasons, since his history is never presented or even hinted at), or even if he's borderline autistic. So you never know if you want him to fail, or succeed, get the money, or lose it, get the girl or not. Dinner after the movie at a great steakhouse - Prospectors Bar and Grill.

I had no time to sightsee in Spokane (plus it was raining most of the weekend). But I had such a long layover in Seattle on the way back, that I took the light rail into downtown and had a great time looking around there. Though it started out on a low note. My foodie spider sense (and Zagat's - damn them!) totally failed me when I wandered into The Four Seas restaurant. Holy shit what bad food. Truly a step sideways from La Choy, and several steps down from our local place (which is only average, suburban American Chinese food). But then I started walking north and really liked the BoHo feel of the downtown. Stopped by the Magic Mouse Toy Store - there's how a toy store should be, with lots of jokes and magic, but lots of educational stuff too, and stuff you just can't find at Walmart. Then kept walking till I got to the Pike Place Market. Wish I'd waited to eat there! But found some nice stocking stuffers, and splurged on a chili pepper wreath from Choice Produce - it looks stunning in the kitchen and I look forward to watching its transformation into a dried decoration. Then back to the airport and the flight home!