Thursday, July 08, 2004
A Tale of Two Trips
Last week I went back to my hometown for a whopping five days, the longest I had returned since last August. It was a very strange experience. More and more my childhood home seems like a museum. Witness the splendor of my childhood in this completely historical recreation! I fully expected a crowd of tourists to be at my door when I woke up in the morning, held back only by a velvet rope, as a tour guide commented on how this room had been preserved since the late 1990s. The books, the posters, the CDs that remained post-college. And over on the door, there would be a sign: Please do not disturb the animals...
The town itself seemed well enough. They're finally renovating the high school, sealing off the open courtyard where we used to play frisbee in favor of more classroom space. There's a memorial there to girls who died in a drunk driving related accident. I wonder if they'll just keep it sealed inside there like an idol in some sort of ancient mausoleum. There were other little changes, minor ones really. Like adding the town coat of arms to the street signs. I did a bit of a double take the first time I actually noticed it. Dad recommended a new ice cream place which he felt offered the local farm stand a run for its money...I'm not so sure, but I'm not one to turn down ice cream when offered.
Got to spend time with some old friends. My friend at The Sleeper Cell checked out Spiderman 2, which I thought was quite good. Alfred Molina's portrayal of the good Dr. Octavius sets a new standard for supervillainy on screen. (Not to downplay the greatness of Willem Defoe in the first one...) At some point, If at some point I were going to actually try and compile a ranking of my personal favorite movies based on comic books, Spiderman 2 would be high on the list. Also spent some time with The Baron and The French Connection watching the baseball game that Bob Herbert would later call "A Game to Remember"...although unlike him we were all rather disappointed in the ending. My younger sister and I caught Fahrenheit 9/11. A well made piece of propaganda, particularly in drawing connections between the Bush oil interests and the war in Afghanistan, but it set me to thinking. Way back in college I took a course on propaganda, and a class consensus emerged that truly effective propaganda was not heavy-handed. It passed a message along without you knowing that you were being subjected to a political agenda. (This is why I actually argued that one of my favorite films of all time, The Great Dictator, was an excellent movie, but a flawed piece of propaganda...too heavy handed, especially in its ending speech.) Here, I think Michael Moore has created a masterful polemic...and a timely one...but how many people who watch it will actually be convinced. Let's see what happens in November.
Returned home on the 3rd to catch fireworks on the 4th. Some friends in the Art Museum area had a rooftop deck for ideal viewing of the display. personally, it seemed about average as these things go. Watching the D.C. fireworks from Arlington was far more exciting.
The past few days have alternated between idleness and business. I finally finished Day of the Locust and am in the midst of deciding if I want to plunge into my "serious" book for the summer: The Grapes of Wrath or something a little lighter. (The Bourne Identity anyone?) Meanwhile, I have begun packing up in anticipation to a move to a new apartment. Trying to find a good mover is not an easy task, but hopefully one that I shall complete by the end of today. I would have finished it yesterday if not for an unexpected trip to the shore. It turns out a group of my teaching friends are planning to make regular Wednesday trips to the beach for the rest of the summer...and I got invited to come along.
The recuperation period from my sunburn filled trip to Santa Monica seems to have dulled my memory of how much I like the beach. Or more specifically the ocean. The water was fine: cool and refreshing once one got over the pieces of dead jellyfish floating around on the surface. Typical beach activities including volleyball, frisbee, and my failed attempt to fly a kite ensued. To clarify though, the last of these only failed due to a lifeguard's insistence that kites could only be flown in designated areas surrounded by flags. What kind of a country is this, where kites can only be flown in designated kite flying zones? (sigh)
Ah well, this blog seems to be running long, so I figure I'll just mention that there are some new additions to the blog links. If you like the Red Sox and the sweet sounds of funk music, then be sure to check out Sideshow by the Seashore. And a long overdue addition..e.veryone's favorite Antarctic resident of our nation's capital The D.C. Penguin.
Oh, and some of you may have noticed the picture of those apple flavored candies I found earlier is no longer posted below. That's fitting, as I can no longer find them at my local PathMark. I guess the whole thing just wasn't mento be.
Last week I went back to my hometown for a whopping five days, the longest I had returned since last August. It was a very strange experience. More and more my childhood home seems like a museum. Witness the splendor of my childhood in this completely historical recreation! I fully expected a crowd of tourists to be at my door when I woke up in the morning, held back only by a velvet rope, as a tour guide commented on how this room had been preserved since the late 1990s. The books, the posters, the CDs that remained post-college. And over on the door, there would be a sign: Please do not disturb the animals...
The town itself seemed well enough. They're finally renovating the high school, sealing off the open courtyard where we used to play frisbee in favor of more classroom space. There's a memorial there to girls who died in a drunk driving related accident. I wonder if they'll just keep it sealed inside there like an idol in some sort of ancient mausoleum. There were other little changes, minor ones really. Like adding the town coat of arms to the street signs. I did a bit of a double take the first time I actually noticed it. Dad recommended a new ice cream place which he felt offered the local farm stand a run for its money...I'm not so sure, but I'm not one to turn down ice cream when offered.
Got to spend time with some old friends. My friend at The Sleeper Cell checked out Spiderman 2, which I thought was quite good. Alfred Molina's portrayal of the good Dr. Octavius sets a new standard for supervillainy on screen. (Not to downplay the greatness of Willem Defoe in the first one...) At some point, If at some point I were going to actually try and compile a ranking of my personal favorite movies based on comic books, Spiderman 2 would be high on the list. Also spent some time with The Baron and The French Connection watching the baseball game that Bob Herbert would later call "A Game to Remember"...although unlike him we were all rather disappointed in the ending. My younger sister and I caught Fahrenheit 9/11. A well made piece of propaganda, particularly in drawing connections between the Bush oil interests and the war in Afghanistan, but it set me to thinking. Way back in college I took a course on propaganda, and a class consensus emerged that truly effective propaganda was not heavy-handed. It passed a message along without you knowing that you were being subjected to a political agenda. (This is why I actually argued that one of my favorite films of all time, The Great Dictator, was an excellent movie, but a flawed piece of propaganda...too heavy handed, especially in its ending speech.) Here, I think Michael Moore has created a masterful polemic...and a timely one...but how many people who watch it will actually be convinced. Let's see what happens in November.
Returned home on the 3rd to catch fireworks on the 4th. Some friends in the Art Museum area had a rooftop deck for ideal viewing of the display. personally, it seemed about average as these things go. Watching the D.C. fireworks from Arlington was far more exciting.
The past few days have alternated between idleness and business. I finally finished Day of the Locust and am in the midst of deciding if I want to plunge into my "serious" book for the summer: The Grapes of Wrath or something a little lighter. (The Bourne Identity anyone?) Meanwhile, I have begun packing up in anticipation to a move to a new apartment. Trying to find a good mover is not an easy task, but hopefully one that I shall complete by the end of today. I would have finished it yesterday if not for an unexpected trip to the shore. It turns out a group of my teaching friends are planning to make regular Wednesday trips to the beach for the rest of the summer...and I got invited to come along.
The recuperation period from my sunburn filled trip to Santa Monica seems to have dulled my memory of how much I like the beach. Or more specifically the ocean. The water was fine: cool and refreshing once one got over the pieces of dead jellyfish floating around on the surface. Typical beach activities including volleyball, frisbee, and my failed attempt to fly a kite ensued. To clarify though, the last of these only failed due to a lifeguard's insistence that kites could only be flown in designated areas surrounded by flags. What kind of a country is this, where kites can only be flown in designated kite flying zones? (sigh)
Ah well, this blog seems to be running long, so I figure I'll just mention that there are some new additions to the blog links. If you like the Red Sox and the sweet sounds of funk music, then be sure to check out Sideshow by the Seashore. And a long overdue addition..e.veryone's favorite Antarctic resident of our nation's capital The D.C. Penguin.
Oh, and some of you may have noticed the picture of those apple flavored candies I found earlier is no longer posted below. That's fitting, as I can no longer find them at my local PathMark. I guess the whole thing just wasn't mento be.
