Went and saw X-Men III tonight. Enjoyed the gay metaphor at the beginning – rather touching really, especially with the lonely teenagers – and some of the setup was impressive; the ending was rather flat of course (why, in an age where fantasy and science fiction films are so amazing looking – finally; I love science fiction, and it's great seeing certain things come to life – do the makers of these movies show so little skill with resolutions and aftermaths?). Fairly fun though; of course the Juggernaut was sexy, in an overblown, male-Pamela-Anderson kind of way, and Ian McKellan had a lovely moment at the end. (Why, though, don't any of the women characters ever complain about getting called X-Men?)
What was more amusing was afterward, in the pub, making up powers for ourselves and for imaginary mutants. The best was undoubtedly I–'s 'The Stylist' – he waves his arms rather airily at people and they suddenly look fabulous. A close relative of his was 'Gayman', who can flap his wrist at an army and make them all gay. Pubman is of course able to instantly fill everyone's pint with their favorite microbrew; Organization Man makes everything suddenly very neat (he is often accompanied by his partner, Cleaning Woman).
As for us: R– became Countryman, who could make people weepy and nostalgic with a single twang of his high-tech jaw harp. L– was Philosophyman, who made people rather thoughtful (imagine distracting an army with ontological questions...). Couldn't find anything for P– – don't think he really wants to parallel the Juggernaut (perhaps he'd like to be Good Friends with him though). I decided my power had to depend on putting my fists on my hips and giving people a stern look – I– said it would make them shrivel up. (Stern Look Man?... Testyman?... I'll work on it.)
Which recalls similar silliness following the Harry Potter movies, where B– and W– tried to match up characters and members of the department. They decided that I was Professor McGonagall – which was actually quite a compliment: after all, as M– said, "Well, who wouldn't want to be Maggie Smith, if they could?"....
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