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| 18 September 2002 |
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Bought tickets yesterday to see Nickle Creek in concert on the 27th. My wife and I have heard but a few songs by this trio (a couple of which were Glen Phillips songs--he of Toad the Wet Sprocket--for which they did the music), and already we are awed. These kids are not even twenty, and are already amazing.
It's this sort of talent that always makes me feel terribly unaccomplished in life. Yet, they're just so darned good, it's hard to be jealous. But then, that's the way awe works, I guess.
Anyway, if you don't know, they're bluegrass, though certainly on the modern fringe of the style. Beyond that, all you need know is that they're amazing. Check them out. Soon. |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 4:25 PM
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| 16 September 2002 |
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So, Friday night my lovely wife took me to Barnes & Noble for the supposed purpose of getting me a gift for my birthday, and thereby assuaging her guilt over not having shopped for me earlier (though I still maintain she had nothing at all to feel bad about). This was, however, all a big ruse.
For, when we returned home (me with a happy new cd by Norah Jones--check her out, the woman's voice is amazing), streamers, balloons, and a large group of screaming people awaited us. Friends, snacks, and presents galore! Oh, how I love my wife! She planned the thing totally behind my back, even going so far as to have an extra key made so the guests could sneak in while we were out. And the decorations--they know me so well--were black and blue. Okay, granted, the blue was more like seafoam (or would it be cerulean?--ah well, baby blue at the least), but hey, you work with what you've got, right? I couldn't have been happier--that's all I know.
Again, I say it. The best wife in the world, the best friends. Damn, I'm lucky. |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 4:03 PM
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| 13 September 2002 |
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Been wanting to post this for some time now, and I've just been far too busy at work. I may not even get to finish today, but as this is the first normal day I've had here, I need to at least try.
So, when we were in Lubbock a couple of weeks ago, the subject of Shyamalan's Signs came up. Our friend Chris introduced us to some interesting ideas about the movie that we'd hitherto not considered--ideas which he'd gleaned from several of the Catholic blogs online. If you're interested in delving further into this, a good place to start is on Mark Shea's blog-- here.
The idea is this: the aliens are not actually aliens. After all, no actual spaceships land--heck, they're not even seen. Just lights in the sky. They can be kept out by boards with nails through them. They are hurt by water. And the clincher: they have cloven hooves. The story very clearer centres around the loss of faith by Gibson's character. Why wouldn't he and his family be perfect targets for demons? The whole film plays on our natural human fears--not just of the unknown, but of the unnamable. There are things that creep about just outside of our mortal vision, of which every so often we catch a glimpse, and that glimpse switches on that basic human fear of those things we don't even want to believe in, because they are against everything we are as humans. We mythologise them in something truly foreign, something extraterrestrial, but guess what? They're right there, hovering in the darkness, waiting for your defenses to break. It's a creepy thought, and a brilliant idea for Shyamalan to work within, especially with him in full Hitchcock mode this time. I really must see this movie again. So many small details I did not catch on the first viewing.
But this got me thinking about his other movies. Because Shyamalan is not some lousy Hollywood director. If anything, he really is very much like that other great, Hitchcock (who I had never known was a Catholic). I've not seen Wide Awake, Shyamalan's first movie, but there are obvious themes coming to light in his movies, themes centring on both we humans and the divine--namely, God. So what I was curious about is where Unbreakable fits into this scheme. After all, it's about comics, right? Well, yeah, but with Shyamalan, there's always more. Now, I'll likely just end up throwing around wild theories here, so feel free to debunk anything I say (if anything, I'd be tickled just to get some emails). Alas, I fear I'm not ready to say anything just yet. The ideas that I've got have not yet coalesced, and, frankly, I need more information about Wide Awake to see where Unbreakable fits into the whole body of works. For now, let me just say that what I'm working with is the idea that the main characters of the film are perhaps neither human nor godlike, but agents of the divine. They are on opposing sides, fighting a struggle that has been going on forever. They are not sure of what they really are, or why they should be fighting, but each knows somewhere, even if so deep down he cannot register it on a conscious level, what force it is that moves him--whether it be good or evil. They cannot help but be at odds, even if they have found a certain companionship with each other.
This is what I'm playing with, and hopefully I can develop it more fully sometime very soon. |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 4:49 PM
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Today's the day! The Name Scott's Novel contest (see here for details on what you've missed) has come to a close, and though we received far fewer entries than we'd hoped for, we were certainly not disappointed by those we did get. I am naturally disinclined to give out too much information about the story, and the true nature of things that happen in it (it's a writer thing), and some titles were a bit too revealing of things that don't come out until well past the halfway point of the novel. But since I'm certain I have few readers not already acquainted with those developments, I'm not overly concerned about their revealing nature here in the blog. And so, without further ado, here are all the entries. We will end with the top three, as judged by yours truly.
THE INTENTIONALLY HUMOUROUS CATEGORY:
"The Lawn of Spoki" - Rufel Ramos
"Die, Sheriff, Die!" - Kathy Ladd-Laurange
"The Mad God's Rune" - Kathy Ladd-Laurange
"Blood in the Sand" - Kathy Ladd-Laurange
"Torgo Takes a Holiday" - Robert Escobar
"Why Retiring in a Small, New England Town Might Not Be Such a Hot Idea" - Robert Escobar
"If Loving a Corpse is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right" - Robert Escobar
"Pumpkin Love" - Robert Escobar
"I'm a Living Waterfall!" - Russ Mitchell
"Man Bites God" - Jonathon York
THE SERIOUS CONTENDERS CATEGORY:
"Dusk of Madness" - Russ MItchell
"Urda, Vernandi, and Skuld" - Rufel Ramos
"Carvings" - Anna Kovacs-Mitchell
"Enigma of Death" - Robert Escobar
"Asgard Falling" (or "Asgard Rising") - Russ Mitchell
"Twilight of the Gods" - Friedrich Nietzsche (as suggested by Russ Mitchell)
"Gods' End" - Rufel Ramos
"Last Breath of Asgard" - Russ Mitchell
AND FINALLY, THE WINNERS!
THIRD PLACE: "The Fox at World's End" - Jonathon York
SECOND PLACE: "Howl From the North" - Laura Cain
GRAND PRIZE: "Crimson Light" - Robert Escobar
Thank you all for your entries! We had much fun, and hope that you did as well. Congratulations to the winners! We'll get your prizes to you as soon as Kathy's got the time. Thanks to everyone! |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 2:37 PM
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| 04 September 2002 |
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There are lots of things they don't tell you about marriage before you get married ("they" being anyone from parents, to the random people offering advice, to the stories on tv and in books). And that's likely for the good--it's always best to experience things first hand, and the little surprises in marriage are one of the many, many wonderful things about it.
One of those surprises, which I realised this weekend after visiting friends in Lubbock, and after having just had a friend from Boston visit us here in Dallas, is that besides getting a new family, you get new friends, too. There's this preconception, which I've noticed in various movies, or books, or whatever, that suggests that a spouse's friends often stay that way--friends of the spouse. But it's not true. Not entirely, anyway. Because I can now count among the best people in my life the friends of my wife. These are warm, caring, fun, interesting, and intelligent people who I've come to love very much. It's not something I ever expected. I made the best friends of my life in college--people that are now family to me. They're always there for me, and I hope I've been there for them. I try, at least. And now, out of the blue, I have this whole other group of friends that's just plunked down into my life. No fuss, no muss. There they are, part of my ever-growing family.
Speaking of family, one hears horror stories about in-laws all one's life. Now, maybe I'm just lucky. Or maybe I've been blessed. I hope everyone can have it as good as I do. My wife's parents are so very wonderful. Her grandparents equally so. Heck, every member of her family I've met is just terrific. And they've made this socially inept geek of a boy feel more a part of their family than he could have ever dreamed. It's nice. Lovely, one might say.
They don't tell you these things about marriage. They don't tell you that in addition to getting the most beautiful, wonderful, intelligent, and happifying woman with whom you could hope to spend your life, you also get all these wonderful extras. I have terrific new friends whom I love, terrific old friends whom I also love, a warm and loving family (my own and my wife's--one fabulous family now combined), and most of all, the best wife ever. What could be better?
Apologies for the personal moment of mush. I'll be ascerbic and ranty again real soon, I promise. |
Jelly Pinched Wolf 4:52 PM
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