September Sweeps - Day 580

I'm at the library, and going to do the bare minimum of words today (like yesterday!).  I'm quite serious about not writing every day in September (it's Goal Number One), but another of my goals (Number Five) is to finish my novel, so I gotta figure out a way to do both.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In September: 461

I went to see SHANG-CHI tonight with my cousin.  It wasn't really one I was looking forward to (the ad campaign, while much better than that of SNAKE EYES, was pretty similar, and I could forgive someone for confusing them), but I felt obligated to Marvel Studios for the countless hours of joy they've given me, so I will go to every one, until the magic is gone.*

I had mostly avoided spoilers (someone said a title character from another movie shows up, someone said it was basically a remake of BLACK PANTHER but with Asians, and someone said it had a nearly perfect Rotten Tomatoes score . . . and the first one ended up being true, but in the most throwaway manner imaginable), and hoped I would enjoy it as much as Marvel Studios' lesser films.  I was worried about Awkwafina, because she tends to be so grating in every role I've seen (like a less endearing Gilbert Godfried) that I feared she'd taint the whole production.

But I needn't have worried.  It was as excellent as ever, with fun, action, pathos, laughs, and special effects and scenery that weren't like anything I'd seen before.

I had played back seat movie producer for the last couple of years, wondering why Kevin Feige would feel the need to spend two hundred million dollars on a Shang-Chi movie, on a Eternals movie, when the safer bet would be to make a much smaller, much cheaper movie out of characters with much more limited appeal (not every Marvel film has to be THE AVENGERS in cost and scope).  But his attitude seemed to be Go big or go home, and gosh darn it, he knocked it out of the park again.  

Guess that's why I pay to watch the movies instead of being paid to make them.

Oh, and I even ended up liking Awkwafina's character, which is even more amazing.

Push-ups Today: 55
Push-ups In September: 326

Oh, I meant to say that I got home from the movie, packed up my things (my family was going to the cabin at 7:30 the next morning), and got in bed, turned out the light . . . and remembered I hadn't done any push-ups (I had done sit-ups and my run before it got dark).  I laid there for about thirty seconds, debating what to do, then forced myself out of bed, into the living room, and zomped out a few push-ups, then went back to bed, knowing I had eked out the bare minimum effort in life once again.

Beats the alternative, though.

Words Today: 1095
Words In September: 2149

*This applies even more to THE ETERNALS, which has been--so far--even less appealing than SHANG-CHI, as far as characters and situations I'm invested in.