Letters to Holly

Thursday, July 6

Tom Waits for No Man

The weekend is becoming a little more complicated. Your borhter and Andrea are here in Asheville today, and everybody is coming to our house Saturday for lunch. Actually, we're going out, and that causes two hiccups. First, Your Sis and I talked about taking Penn and Andrea to the local seafood place. But, now that will include everyone, including my parents. But my mom can't eat seafood. It's deathly bad. I called the restaurant and they assured me they clean each piece of cookery between prepared meals. If that's the be belived, we have the second concern: Your dad and soy. The fish place says they use canola oil, but that doesn't cover the use of soy in individual dishes or salad oils. My suggestion is that we go to Jason's. We know everyone can find something there to eat.

We haven't done anything with our garden in a while, and it was overgrown with weeds that towers over me. I thought about wacking everyhing down after work yesterday. I got home to find that Heidi had cleared it all away with power tools. That's so hot. We have a little work to do in cleaning up the place before tomorrow, but it won't take long.

I heard on the radio today that Tom Waits is playing Asheville in August. This is as unlikely an event as finding the planet Saturn in your fridge. We are going. It might be a small mob of us, but I don't think Your Sis will come. She doesn't know the man's work.

Moving Picture of the Day
"Rapper's Delight."



In the news
National Geographic is reporting on the effort to identify the remains of Noah's Ark. One group claims a mountain rock outcropping is made of petrified wood. Others say the rock is normal sedimentary material. The debate is really about science vs. Creation. If this is Noah's Ark, and it can be cardbon-dated to a few thousand years ago, its small size will suggest post-flood animal life had to be the work of God. A big boat on the mountain would be enough for some to prove that Genesis stories are historical documents and not myths. Finding a big boat on a mountain doesn't mean it's related to Noah. I've heard of this effort since I was very young. It popped up in tabloids and on "In Search Of." This is similar to the to-do over the Shroud of Turin. Even if the shroud is 2,000 years old, and even if it is the burial cloth of a crucified man, that still doesn't mean it was used on Jesus. If their faith is really faith, the existence of artifacts or their absence shouldn't in any way affect their belief. Faith is distinct from knowledge. These efforts are undertaken to convert the heathens, and to them I ask that they just hand over my financial share of all their efforts. If this is done on my behalf, I'd rather they buy me a CD, not a rotten pontoon in avalanche territory.

Bachelored Once More

Your Sis called to say it was a Girl's Night, and she would be out for a while. I grabbed a burger and hunkered down in the workshop. A teacher pal of hers has asked for two mix CDs, one for "rambling" tunes and the other for mashups. The latter is easier; I just made that for Travis. But the rambling songs are taking a while. I originally had 60 potential songs -- everything from Mojo Nixon's "Are You Drinking With Me Jesus" to Radiohead's cover of "Rhinestone Cowboy" to the "Dukes of Hazzard" theme song. I've managed to whittle them down to 25, but I need to cut about 5 of them to fit on a CD. I don't want to give her a double CD. That's overkill.

Picture of the Day

The Snakes on a Plane marketing is just wrong. The ads and the poster should be campy throwbacks. The subdued modern style has no fun at all. The poster should look like the below example. It needs expository text, dramatic foreshortening, and fucking snakes.





In the news
The Emmy nominations are out. Neither the best drama nor best comedy series from last year are up for those awards this year. "Lost" is up for writing, directing and guest actor for Desmond, a second-season character. I imagine the show's designed confusion alienated voters. Marton Sheen is up for best leading actor for "West Wing," a series that moved away from the White House staff. I'm not sure how he qualifies given that the actor playing Josh clearly carried the show this year. The CJ Craigg actress got a leading actor nod too, a nomination she deserved more last year. Also Hugh Laurie is not up for his role in "House," and that's a bit of a shock.

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The top New York court ruled that gay marriages are not allowed by state law. Unlike the Massachussetts ruling, the court did not rule the state marriage law as exclusionary.

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Wednesday, July 5

Superman Returns

... is a movie taking wrong turns. They got a good actor to resemble Reeve, and a good Luthor in Spacey, but they took an angle on the Superman myths that lacks energy and, worse, humanity. We're left with an odd detachment from the Man of Steel. It's a little sad. They spent a whole buncha money on great effects and prodcution design without hammering out a Superman movie that closes with a sense of happiness, security, or hope. I pray that the obligatory extended DVD version is a better film. But, hey, I got to hear the John Williams "Superman" theme through movie speakers a few times, and that was well worth the money.

We arrived for the 12:15 showing and nabbed some great seats wih our armloads of food. When the movie started, we couldn't help but be distracted by the closed captioning on the screen. Turns out, this theatre runs captions on every first showing of each film on Tuesdays. Nowhere does the theatre tell you that. Not when you buy the tickets, not when they rip the tickets. Not when you buy food or enter the theatre. Your Sis learned that they would exchange our 12:15 tickets for the 12:45 showing, sans captions. So we did. As did about a third of the 12:15 audience.

After the film, we wolfed down doughnuts and coffee at Krispy Kreme (it fit the Superman song: duh-duhnuh-nuhnuh ... KRISPY KREME!) and walked through Home Depot. we're thinking of wall colors and took a dozen paint samples for consideration. We had dinner with Travis while Brevard was smothered by a thunderstorm that washed out the big fireworks show.

Moving Pictures of the Day
If you click this link and scroll down to the video features, you can watch the shuttle launch from an exterior mounted camera. It's very cool.

In the news
So, um, yeah, North Korea fired seven missiles that failed their distance capacity, and NOW we're supposed to pay attention to them? Does this give the GOP a rallying cry for November? I doubt it since they have focused solely on a "war on terror," and while that country was in the original Axis of Evil, we thrown much un-axis-ing their way like we have toward the Middle East. Iran may have nuclear material, but North Korea has missiles. Who do you squash? Both? Really, with our military stretched thin? Doesn't make sense. Until they actually hit Japan, all we can do is ask them not to use basic rocket technology. Next month, we'll ask Russia to give up the telephone.

Monday, July 3

Bachelor Time

We attended a farewell party of a departing teacher Friday night. I chugged most of a six-pack of Woodchuck Granny Apple Cider and devoured the buffet. On Saturday, Your Sis attended a wedding in Rosman, leaving me to myself for most of the day. I witnessed Rooney and Beckham decimate their own team, allowing Portugal to win on penalty kicks. I also saw an aggressive French team beat Brazil. I'm shocked by the amount to flopping in the World Cup. Even professional basketball doesn't have this kind of bald-faced lying. One Portgual player grabbed his head and crumpled to the ground midfield when the replay shoed he was never touched. That should be penalized. The Portugese fans were booing the England team for continuing play, and I can't blame England; who could tell if someone was really hurt or trying to kill momentum?

Later that night, we went to the Averrettes'. Paul was the one who officiated our wedding. It was the four of us and another older couple, friends of the Paul and Polly. Your Sis and I tried to jump into conversations, but so much of it dealt on friendly injokes, reminiscing, and children stories. We just didn't have that much in common. It wasn't a bad time at all, but I'm already handicapped by stories of school. All of our social time is spent with teachers, and I can offer very little. I think this may be why Travis wants to teach.

On Sunday, she went to Greenville to visit a Furman pal, and I had the place to myself again. I watched the director/writer commentary of Sin City. I got to hear Frank Miller, the guy who created the comic, talk about bringing the stories to life while learning to direct at the same time. Because Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez are such close directing buddies, the latter used Kill Bill weaponry for Sin City. I got my montly comic haul from my old store and plowed through them all day. I also drew a bit, gathering momentum on my comic stories again. I cracked open the most recent Harry Potter book. When I finish this, I'll be caught up with the series. Whenever I find myself alone, I always stay up much later, and I hit the bed about 1 a.m.
I got your medical essay, and we'll both work on it this week.

Picture of the Day


I'm nervous about the shuttle launch. It's no secret that the underfunded NASA needs a new spaceship, and I don't see the virtue of launching a rickety, outdated vehicle when its safety is debateable. Yes, yes, let's be pioneers, and let's embrace a degree of risk. But let's give the astronauts a decent, resuable craft. The PC I'm typing with has more horsepower than the shuttle's main computer. When they launch and return, these are the most visible scientists on the planet. Let's give them more than the equivalent of a 1988 Volvo to pin our exploratory dreams on. Five shuttles have been built. Two have exploded. That's a shitty track record.

In the news
According to Bloomberg News, the administration contacted AT&T about a domestic wiretapping program before 9/11. This is counter to the White House timeline of events. If you recall, the pre-9/11 White House focus was on Russia and a missile shield. Maybe they can claim we were tracking nuclear warhead smugglers.