Letters to Holly

Friday, July 14

iPod Person

Because I'm shipping out to Orlando in two weeks, Your Sister gave my an early birthday present, an iPod Nano. She knows I've been eyeing them for a while, and this gives me some respite from the constant musical styles at the convention with which I have little appreciation. I try, but I'm not schooled in music theory and have no context for their composition. I have what Your Sis has for comic art and films: Does it catch my fancy? No? Toodles. Yea? Groovy. The Nano is a nice little toy. I don't need a video option on as the higher iPods have, and this carries about 500 songs. That's a goodly number to commute with every day.

We had our Sunday, but there were some details you might have missed out on. On Saturday, I got up early to clear away the tangle of blackberry bushes and honeysuckle vines. I garbbed the hedge clipper and gouged away at the bushes for about 90 minutes. It was already stifling hot at 9 a.m., but when the cloud cover broke, the heat was brutal. I drank my liters of water and ferried the debris to the treeline, and at 10:20, I could do no more. I had the shakes and was goofy-headed. The next day, my back was a little tender, and even today, I'm feeling it.

Monday after work, we ran at the college as part of our communal diet and exercise. We both weigh a little more than we'd like, and luckily we don't have that much extra mass to lose. I don't think we have to change our meals drastically, just move around a lot more. I ran a full lap of the cornfield, and we might go again today. Probably not, I think as I type that last sentence. I need to mow the lawn before the Ladies Night party at our house Wednesday.

Moving Picture of the Day
The Prestige is directed by and stars the three guys who put together Batman Begins. It also features Hugh jackman. It's about dueling magicians in the 19th century. This is not to be confused with The Illusionist, a film starring Ed Norton and Paul Giamatti as dueling magicians in the 19th century. The Prestige has the superior trailer. Also, Scarlet trumps Jessica Biel.

In the News
Did you order World War III? 'Cause I didn't order it, and no one else here will claim it. I say send it back. I'd rather have World War II and a side of Norman Conquest. Maybe a 16-ounce Boxer Rebellion. On Sunday, Condi Rice dimissed any claim that we destablized the Middle East when we went into Iraq. And that's an easy stance to take considering the Middle East has never been stable to begin with. But we didn't help that any when we invaded a country to stomp out terrorism, the same rationale Israel is using to hit Lebanon. We put a giant gold star on the pre-emptive doctorine. Bush made some noise yesterday when an open mic caught him saying "shit" in regards to the Lebanon battle. But the most important matter was earlier in the sentence when he said Syria controls Hezbollah. The conservatives have tried to embroil Syriah in the war on terror since we invaded Iraq. Many claimed all the WMDs were smuggled there, and some missions in Northern Iraq came close to that country's border.

Excuse me, can you be more confusing?

Buying Tom Waits tickets for this tour is easy And when I say "easy," I mean, "hey, punch me in the liver, what say." Tickets were announced maybe a week ago for sale today. The concert is in three weeks. Just yesterday, it was announced that in there is a two-ticket limit. Not per purchase. Per customer. Ticketmaster says this: Orders associated with the same name, email, billing address, credit card, etc. may have all tickets cancelled without notice by Ticketmaster at its discretion. That means that Your Sister and I can't buy tickets using separate bank accounts because we live at the same address. I understand; this is to reduce hoarding by scalpers. But it makes buying six tickets by two people impossible. The plan initially was for Kathy, Travis, their two Ohio pals, and me to go (Your Sister can't stand Tom Waits. I learned this just this week.) The Ohio people can't order tickets because they are out of state. At least, that's what I gather from Kathy; we're so confused by this suddenly announced process that we're just happy to have what tickets we could snag. And what we were able to get is pretty far away. Look at this ...

Picture of the Day


See that circle? That's what I got by logging into Ticketmaster.com exactly at 10 a.m., when tickets went on sale. Admittedly, I got the cheaper tickets ($54 vs. $75). My Ticketmaster account is pre-established. I had to punch in virtually no personal info. I had the quickest possible ticket purchase, and this is where I'm sitting. Front row, top level, back section. That's absurd. Just an hour and 15 minutes later, there are no tickets left for sale. Look, I'm happy to be able to see him, but only if I'm able to see him. I may as well be sitting at Asheville Pizza. It's going to be a fun night, and I'll need this event to cheer my spirits just a day after the Orlando convention.

In the News
Mr. T is giving up his gold chains after spending time with Katrina victims. Kudos for feeling empathy, but unless he's going to auction those chains for charity. He's gesture makes only himself feel better and provides a blip of publicity.

Wednesday, July 12

Harry Potter and the Franchise I Finally Got Around to Reading

I closed the cover on the last published Harry Potter book last night. The Half-Blood Prince is big step up from Order of the Phoenix in tone and focus. Whereas Phoenix was rambling, bitter, and overlong, this last one sets up the final book (yet to be published) with our hero older, determined, and angry. It's also one big hormone quesadilla. Virtually every student hooks up with somebody, and even supporting characters are geting involved with each other. There's nothing graphic at all; no one does any more than kiss. But it's a massive shift in character distraction and activity.

The franchise is a solid read, and Rowling proves she's no flash in the pan writer as the books progress. This is an epic story told in the Hardy Boys formula, but she's discussing the effects of war on a second generation. None of the magic students, good or bad, signed up for this decisive posturing; they're inheriting it from their parents. One gets the impression that everyone involved would rather quit the business than see this to the end. The books' story is much more substantial than the movies, but the casting is spot-on.

Picture of the Day
This is brilliant. A marketing firm designed this ad to show how roomy the Mini Copper is. They positioned the picture sideways at a subway entrance.



In the News
Israel-Lebanon might get uglier. Israel has no problem attacking civilians in hopes of making the Lebanese turn against Hezbollah.

+ + +

The FDA approved Atripla, a once-a-day AIDS cocktail combining three drugs made by two companies. The pill will cost less than the individual treatments.

Gotta Be The Shoes

Your Sis was in Asheville yesterday, and we ate at Jersulaem garden. Man, I could eat lamb gyros morning, noon, and night. Sheeps is good eats. I went back to wrok while she, unknown to me, shopped for bowling shoes. I've wanted a pair of honest-to-God bowling shoes for years now, ever since I bowled with a group from the daily paper. I don't have the nerve to steal a pair from an alley. Also, Dick's Sporting Goods stopped seeling them around here. So Your Sis, armed with advice from a fellow teacher, checked out Asheville stores and found some potentials. She showed them to me after work, and I agred with all her choices. We found a pair on sale at a store in teh scary, deserted Biltmore Square Mall. Maybe it's from years of watching Dawn of the Dead, but quasi-abandoned malls give me both heebies and jeebies. As I type, I am sporting some brown Skechers bowling-style shoes. Not quite the real thing, but close enough. We also tried to find me a fedora to make a Press hat during the convention, but we can only find outdoorsman lids.

When you come by this weekend, I hope you're ready for more Katamari Damacy.

Picture of the Day
Shoe = fly. Don't bother me.


In the News
Israel entered Lebanon after Hezbollah captured two Isreali soldiers. We seem to be able to corral Israel when they are attacked, but I wonder how much we can keep them back when they're fighting on two fronts.

+ + +

The Department of Homeland Security database of likely targets determines which states get funds to ward off attacks. This equation determined why New York got less funding than states in the Midwest. The list includes donut shops, petting zoos, ice cream parlors, and tackle shops. This is retarded. The 9/11, 3/11, 7/11, and 7/7 attacks hit transportation and bureaucratic targets. The Bali attacks hit nightclubs. Israel gets hit at restaurants and buses. No one is attacking what can only be considered Americana hotspots. This has to be a list dreamed up by congressman trying to shunt money to their states. You'd think Muslim extremists would be more likely to attack the larger coastal cities with all their wild women, homosexual tolerances, and strip clubs. But, no, ice cream parlors are much more likely. Little Jenny and Peter McMayberry are in grave, grave danger from a Saudi fundamentalist with a mad-on for Dairy Queen.

Tuesday, July 11

Another Rocky?!

Not much to report. I'm reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince quickly. Kathy and Travis came over for wings and rasslin. Your Sis will not join us to see Tom Waits. She mocked the man over while eating my wings. I think, in the Middle East, that's grounds for divorce.

Moving Picture of the Day

You can see the trailer for the next Rocky movie. I bet it ends exactly like the first one. This isn't a franchise the people are demanding to see again. The last film, already 15 years old, was awful, but Rocky V at least acknowledged he was aging hard; the film started with signs of neurological damage. This new film seems to ignore that. Also, I don't see no Adrian, and she was Rocky's inspiration.

Monday, July 10

Pirates of the Tempest

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 is a fuhntaztic time at the movies. We saw it Friday in a crammed Mayberry theatre. I've never seen that many people in there before, and apparently the film was just as popular all over the country. It set the highest three-day take in history with $132 million and the highest one-day take at $55 million. One has to watch the first movie or else everything is lost upon them, but this blows away the first film with smarts, stunts, and fun. I'd watch it each day for a week if I had the time. I was as casual a fan of the first Pirates as you could hope to meet, but this was converted me as a die-hard. There's not a sour note to be found. We watched the film with Kathy and Travis. Your Sis had to move twice because the Tallest Man in North Carolina sat in front of her twice. She sat, he sat. She moved, he moved. She moved again right as the film started.

On Saturday, we welcomed Penn, Andrea, Brooke, Your Parents and mine to the villa. Your Sis laid out a great pre-lunch snack of cookies and lemonade, and we took turns giving house tours. We ate at Jason's to avoid food complications. Brooke is a very well-behaved kid. She's at that age where she's happy most of the time, and she can throw out words and animal noises. She liked our cats, and they had no problem with her once she continuously fed them her Cheerios. It was a fun time. I finally gave my mom the Elvis license plate from Memphis, and she adored it as she does all things Presley. We gave your family a tour of the school after Andrea asked, and they left for Asheville around 6. We called up Kathy and Travis and had a long dinner at the pub. At 9:30, the town fireworks went off. It was a decent show for a hamlet this size. We taped the Germany-Portugal game and all watched it after the fireworks. Travis knows German and regailed us with translations of the winning team's player names. The guy who scored both goals for Germany is apparently named "pig-mounter."

Sunday, we met up with the family for brunch before sending them back to Alabama. We stayed near Asheville for some shopping. Your Sis wanted organizational gadgets for the house. We both bought new wallets. I found a cheap, cool Old navy shirt, and she ran into a school coach in Best Buy. While Travis and Kathy weren't up for it, we went to Montford Park to see The Tempest.

Picture of the Day
The play featured a black female Prospero, but happily for me, they weren't injecting a new interpretation. She was simply playing the role. That's her on the left. We got there about an hour before the show and were the first to claim seating. We carried along folding chairs, a cooler of grub, and various drinks. About 45 minutes later, we had to move. We had sat in the dead center near the top of the ampitheater, but everyone who followed sat in front of us in a column. The play wasn't bad. As with all community productions, the quality of acting will vary, sometimes wildly. Prospero was played with projection but no inflection. She was just spouting dialogue with no real feel. This is a character who exudes heft, power, and wisdom. He is the center of the play. She didn't have that. The younger actors (Ariel, the lovers, the conspirators, and Caliban) had energy, while the older ones seemed to have less experience on stage. They had little to no emotion and simply moved from mark to mark. One actor was so weak, Your Sis heaved a sigh of resignation every time he started to talk. Again, I watch these kinds of shows and want to get back on stage. It's a deep itch.



After the show, this was about 10:30, we drove home to watch Italy and France play the World Cup final. We had somehow gotten through the day without knowing who won. When I called Travis to invite them to join us, it was about 4:30, and he said they were still watching the game. I checked my TiVo and noticed it was no longer recording. The game had stretched beyond the network prgramming; the machine will by default stop recording when a show is scheduled to end. Because the final stretched into a shootout, the machine had long ago stopped taping. I turned on the TV just long enough to make it record the rest of the game and turned it right off. I knew it went to a shootout but not how the teams had initially scored. We watched the game and then jumped to the final two kicks, just in time to see Italy win. Only through replays did we see Zidane lose his shit and headbutt the Italian player. That was just as dumb as Rooney's red-card move that cost England their semifinal game. His earlier penalty kick was astounding in guts and skill, but it and his head-butt suggests a confidence that slipped into arrogance. I'm glad the Cup is done. I've feasted on soccer for a while now and can use the break.

In the news
A District Court ruled that companies cannot offer sanitized Hollywood movies as it infringes copyrights. I've been aware of this trend for about eight years now. Rental outlets try to win over customers by taking away all the violence and sex from popualr movies. The president stated about five years ago that this is how he prefers his movies. I have no problem with people using their own purchased equipment to edit movies they buy, but I agree that these companies have broken a law by selling pre-edited copies. There are some companies that will only edit what is sent to them by customers, and that's OK by me.