Social Saturday

Saturday afternoon CornyT and I saw Jet Li's Fearless with a friend. Although I consider myself a passivist and hate violent, gory movies, I love martial arts and boxing movies. The grace and athleticism of hand-to-hand combat can be breathtaking to watch. Fearless didn't fail to provide dazzling, athletic fight scenes. The movie is based on the story of a real Chinese hero named Huo Yuanjia. Huo Yuanjia's father was a master martial artist but did not want to teach him the art because he was sickly and thought he would be better off pursuing academics. Huo Yuanjia learned martial arts in secret by copying his father and later restored national pride to a demoralized China. The movie includes some stunning fight scenes, and although Jet Li is aging he seems as impressive as the first time I saw him in Lethal Weapon almost 10 years ago.
After the movie, we all had dinner at Madam Mam's Thai restaurant. I am pathetic every time I watch and Asian movie I always want to eat Chinese food after. The Thai place was so close so I figured it would satisfy the craving. Ah and it was excellent. It is so fun that we are getting some well established Austin restaurant's in our neighborhood. Madam Mam's original restaurant is across from the University and is a popular student eatery, so I really felt like our area was getting hip when they put in this one just down the road from us a couple of months ago. Soon after that they built a branch of another Austin favorite called Hyde Park grill next to. Yay Go property values!!:) We haven't been to Hyde Park grill yet because it is so crazy busy still but as soon as the hype wears down it will be a nice restaurant option after we watch a movie.
After dinner, we met another group of friends at a new Austin bar called Barton Creek Saloon. Located near some trendy Austin hangouts like Chuys (where the Bush daughter was arrested for MIP years ago) and Shady Grove and just a few blocks south of town down I thought for sure it would be a yuppie haven. Not at all, in fact this converted gas station still felt more like an old 7-11 than a nightspot and with the 90's heavy metal blaring all night we all felt a little like we were in our youth again and were hanging out behind the convenience store guzzling down a six-pack;). I was especially entertained by the giant Moose rack replete with skull holding an American flag in its mouth. Cute. It did actually make for a very relaxed night and we had a good time planning a pie partying and talking about one of our friend's nightmare teaching experiences. All in all it was a really fun day and it was such a nice end to a crazy couple of weeks.