Kill Bill

Let's get something straight right off the bat, I'm a huge Quentin Tarantino fan and it drives me nuts when people don't "get" his films. But I just watched "Death Proof" on DVD (Tarantino's half of the double feature "Grindhouse") and I've gotta tell ya, I just didn't get it. I mean, it's not that I hated it or anything, I found it interesting and I'd probably even give it a 6 or 7 out of 10, but it simply didn't blow me away like all of his previous films have. And Tarantino films are supposed to blow you away. Period.

So there we were, two nights ago, celebrating Canada Day here in Istanbul by watching the Euro 2004 semi-final between Greece and the Czech Republic when Greece suddenly, somehow, inexplicably, won the game in extra time to advance to the final against Portugal (who they've already beaten once by a score of 2-1 in the opening game of the tournament). It was just us and about a dozen of The 5 Pack A Day Guys sitting in our hazy smoke-filled hotel lobby, with me and Son being the only ones a) not smoking and b) cheering for Greece. The reason we were alone in supporting Greece, in a room full of people, was due to the fact that everyone else was Turkish and, considering that Greece is Turkey's age-old enemy, few Turks feel any desire to cheer for their Greek neighbors. But, in all honesty, the only thing The 5 Pack A Day Guys really felt any desire to do was have another smoke, but that's beside the point

On our fourth day in town Bill introduced us to Ram and it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Or was that Bill introduced us to Ram and our time in Kochi really started to rock... 'n' Rum? Either way, it was Tuesday January 13th and we decided to go see "Kill Bill Vol. 1" at a nearby cinema, just up the road from our hotel, not far from Jew Street.