Proud City, Proud Voter

A story about Boardwalk Empire turns into a story about Joel Gion and a t-shirt‏

I've watched five full episodes of HBO's new show Boardwalk Empire and I'm still not sure if I like it/dislike it/have any real interest in it. It's pleasant to gaze at Michael Pitt (so dreamy), and I love that a Brian Jonestown Massacre plays during the opening credits, but other than that I could kind of take it or leave it.

Speaking of BJM, if you think it seems like I'm obsessed with the Avett Brothers at the moment, trust me when I say that when I first saw the movie Dig! my obsession with Anton Newcombe and Joel Gion waaaaaaaay surpassed whatever I'm going through right now. Which is not to belittle my current fixation, not in the least. Just so you know, when I find something new that I love I get excited about it, sometimes rather enthusiastically excited.

When I lived in LA I had the chance to go see Joel's band, The Dilettantes. When I first walked up to the venue (Silverlake Lounge?), Joel was outside by himself smoking a cigarette. I showed him the couple dollar bills and bunch of quarters in my hands and admitted that I was using my laundry money to see him! Twenty seconds later, the girl at the door refused to take the coins so I had to walk straight back outside and explain the situation to Joel who very kindly gave me dollars for all the quarters and told me that now he had laundry money! That was a strange moment, but he was super-nice about it, plus he complimented me on my t-shirt! That was already one of my favorite shirts, but ever since then it's been my lucky shirt too. That whole night was super-fun -- I talked to Joel and Dave Deresinski after the show and ended up hanging out with people I met that night till like six in the morning.

It might be time to retire this shirt. When I wore it earlier this year when BJM were in St. Louis I still got turned away from that super-sold out show. Maybe I've worn all the luck out of it.

Meatballs

Have you ever seen the movie Meatballs? It's hilarious. The synopsis on imdb is "Wacky hijinks of counselors and campers at a less-than-average summer camp." ("hijinks"!! Best word since shenanigans!) That explains the basic idea but you can't begin to comprehend the laughs without seeing it.

When I was a kid, this one St. Louis tv station used to play the same movie pretty much the entire weekend. One weekend the movie was Meatballs and my brothers and I watched it maybe 10 times in those two days. I've loved Bill Murray ever since that fateful weekend.

I distinctly remember my mom walking in on me and my two little brothers all laying on the floor of her bedroom watching it on the tiny tv from our van and asking incredulously "You're not watching that again, are you?!" Then she told us to go play outside, which we didn't. Then she came back in later and got mad because we were watching it yet again and none of us had moved an inch the entire time. That tiny tv made the rounds of rooms in our old house when it wasn't actually in the van, though I can't really explain why the floor of my parents' bedroom was ever a good spot for it. The screen was maybe 6 inches and the picture was always terrible, but when you love tv you make certain sacrifices.

Jonny just quoted "Don't you change" from Meatballs this weekend, and we both throw out "What, no mustard?" on a weekly basis. I can sing you the entire C.I.T. (Counselors In Training) song on request. Quotes from Caddyshack come up quite regularly as well. God bless Bill Murray! A while back I went on a couple dates with a guy who admitted that he didn't really remember lines from movies and I'm not kidding when I say that that was one of the reasons why we only went out a couple times.

I'm a huge movie re-watcher to this day, using the skills I learned as a child. The last Chicago apartment I lived in didn't have cable so I watched Bottle Rocket every day for six months in lieu of tv. I don't currently have a "go to" movie, but the last time I did it was The Darjeeling Limited. Thanks for all the good times, Wes Anderson!

Jonny watches Polar Express all the time, and he has this funny bit where if somebody walks in while he's watching it he pretends the remote control is broken as if that's a valid reason for watching a kid's movie for the 100th time. [Jonny wants me to point out that this bit originated when he used to watch Beauty and the Beast on VHS constantly and if somebody walked in he'd claim that the vcr was broken and he couldn't get the tape out.]

Speaking of remote controls, my family has always referred to ours as "the mote." I wonder if anybody else calls it that.

Tin Roof, used to be Rusted! + I Killed a Snake

The City of St. Louis sent us a letter recently ordering us to paint our rusty backyard shed, something about it looking too white trash.

So over the weekend Jonny did a bang-up paint job and now we call it The White House.

While he was painting, I did some exploring around the yard and uncovered a ferocious snake!! Without even thinking about my own safety I quickly got my trusty spade out of the shed, braved the hissing and striking, and chopped this menacing reptile into 3 pieces.

I'm no hero, just one girl out to rid the neighborhood of dangerous slithering serpents.

You're welcome Dogtown.

Go Cards!

Listen to this amazing ticket deal we had for today's Cardinals game: the ticket was only $20, plus that ridiculously reasonably-priced ticket was worth $10 in concessions. That means I paid a mere $0.25 out of pocket for a hot dog and a souvenir cup filled with icy cold Coke. Isn't that incredible? And the seats were in the shade the whole time, and we won the game! What a fantastic day.

Check out these cool cats, and sweet baby.

And this yummy dog.

I knew it was going to be a great day when I saw this beautiful Town & Country in all its wood-paneled glory first thing this morning.

You didn't order the uh, Metallic Pea?

I'm back in St. Louis, and I still have 10 more days of vacation.

10 MORE DAYS!!

This morning I found out that my car was dead after sitting all week. After a quick jump (thanks a million Mike and Tracy!), it started up like a champ, so I'm hoping I don't actually need a new battery. If I do though, that's just part of owning a car, I guess. At least I didn't have to pay $500 for four bald tires and a tow like poor Clark had to do with the Family Truckster.

Travel

Isn't it neat that this morning I was in St. Louis and now I'm in Santa Monica?

And my flight was non-stop! Thanks Southwest!

**This was not my plane. **

This is the first of several delicious sandwiches that Jill will masterfully create for me while I'm here.

It was a BLT and it was positively delectable.

Glen Campbell + Loretta Lynn = Happiness

I was listening to Loretta Lynn's album Coal Miner's Daughter today and fell in love with a song called Less of Me. My friend the Internet tells me that Glen Campbell wrote the lyrics. I love the sentiment.

Let me be a little kinder, let me be a little blinder
To the faults of those about me, let me praise a little more.
Let me be when I am weary, just a little but more cheery,
Think a little more of others and a little less of me.

Let me be a little braver when temptation bids me waver,
Let me try a little harder to be all that I should be.
Let me be a little meeker with the brother who is weaker,
Let me be think more of my neighbor and a little less of me.

Let me be when I am weary, just a little bit more cheery,
Let me serve a little better those that I am striving for,
Let me be a little meeker with the brother who is weaker,
Think a little more of others and a little less of me.

Let me be when I am weary, just a little bit more cheery,
Think a little more of others and a little less of me.


Fun facts from Glen Campbell's wikipedia page:
He credits his Uncle Boo with teaching him how to play guitar.
In 1971, he took his show the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on the road for two nights to the Muny in Forest Park (the largest and oldest outdoor theatre in America) in St. Louis, Missouri.

One is going east; the other one is going west, so what?

Last night I was at this place called Anthonino’s on The Hill (a St. Louis Italian neighborhood) for a friend’s birthday party. The painting behind the bar caught my eye and for a second I didn’t know why it seemed familiar. Then I realized that it’s the painting that Tommy’s mom (played by Martin Scorsese’s mom) pulls out to show the guys in Goodfellas! Henry, Jimmy, and Tommy stop by her house in the middle of the night to borrow a shovel on their way to bury Billy Batts, and she wakes up and makes them a big meal. With the cutest mixture of shyness and pride, she asks them if Tommy has told them about her painting.

According to imdb, the painting is based on a picture from the November 1978 National Geographic.

Anthonino’s also had a couple of really cool light fixtures.

Season 4 of Mad Men starts tonight! Yaaaaaaaaaay! Speaking of TV, I'm frustrated with KSDK (St. Louis's NBC affiliate) for showing some Whitey Herzog special instead of Friday Night Lights this week. They're playing FNL at 12:30 Monday morning. This is an outrage. Friday Night Lights is meant to be viewed on FRIDAY NIGHT.