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Today's opening day for The Simpsons movie here, so last night I went to the midnight session with a few friends (most of us are night-owls anyway). I was impressed that so many people turned up at such an hour. Sean insisted that we get there an hour early to get a good seat. That didn't seem necessary but by the time the movie started the cinema was full. And it was playing on two screens at that time!
It was a good movie, consistently funny throughout. It's as though they had been saving up all the good jokes for the last few seasons, letting the show go down a little, just to pack them all into this movie. I enjoyed it.
Friday 27 July 2007
Wednesday 25 July 2007
County Fair
Tonight we went to the Monroe County Fair with some friends to get a taste of rural Indiana. Living in Bloomington (a little pool of Blue in a sea of Red) you rarely see people wearing bib-n-brace overalls or cowboy hats but at the fair almost everyone was dressed either as a cowboy or a hayseed. The rodeo riders all wore big white ten-gallon hats and even chaps over their jeans; those showing off their livestock wore overalls, straw hats and chewed on toothpicks.
The rides were pretty good but the one that sticks you to the wall with centrifugal force nauseated Cindy. We got to eat some American style carnival food like funnel cakes and, Cindy's favourite, kettle corn (popcorn with both salt and sugar). We refrained from trying the deep-fried Oreos and Snickers.
Before we left we stopped to watch the rodeo for a little while and captured a few rides on video. It was quite impressive, really. Some stayed on much longer than others, one of the clowns got head-butted by more than one of the bulls. The commentators spoke with quite thick southern accents so Cindy was blissfully unaware of what they were saying while I had to endure their terrible jokes.
The rides were pretty good but the one that sticks you to the wall with centrifugal force nauseated Cindy. We got to eat some American style carnival food like funnel cakes and, Cindy's favourite, kettle corn (popcorn with both salt and sugar). We refrained from trying the deep-fried Oreos and Snickers.
Before we left we stopped to watch the rodeo for a little while and captured a few rides on video. It was quite impressive, really. Some stayed on much longer than others, one of the clowns got head-butted by more than one of the bulls. The commentators spoke with quite thick southern accents so Cindy was blissfully unaware of what they were saying while I had to endure their terrible jokes.
Monday 16 July 2007
Dylan
Last night I drove up to Indianapolis to see Bob Dylan in concert. It was the first time I'd seen him live, even though I've been a fan for a few years now. (Cindy commented, "We're going to see your god!")
It was great. A good mix of old and new tunes. It's always worth seeing Dylan play his old tunes because he always reinterprets them. It was quite interesting to hear old classics like Rainy Day Women, It ain't me babe and Tangled up in Blue played in his current rolling-blues style. But with his now raspy voice, changing the tunes makes them rather hard to recognise. It made me realise how much more Dylan reinterprets his own songs, compared to most of the covers out there that simply try to recreate the original. (E.g. Dylan played another electrified version of "I don't believe you", different again from the Royal Albert Hall version. And his bluesy "Tangled up in Blue" so much more different from the original than The Whitlams' cover.)
He only played guitar on the first few, he then played keyboard for most of the songs, bringing out the harmonica for the old tunes. (The crowd cheered the first time he brought out the harp, because he doesn't use it as much these days.) It was a great night.
It was great. A good mix of old and new tunes. It's always worth seeing Dylan play his old tunes because he always reinterprets them. It was quite interesting to hear old classics like Rainy Day Women, It ain't me babe and Tangled up in Blue played in his current rolling-blues style. But with his now raspy voice, changing the tunes makes them rather hard to recognise. It made me realise how much more Dylan reinterprets his own songs, compared to most of the covers out there that simply try to recreate the original. (E.g. Dylan played another electrified version of "I don't believe you", different again from the Royal Albert Hall version. And his bluesy "Tangled up in Blue" so much more different from the original than The Whitlams' cover.)
He only played guitar on the first few, he then played keyboard for most of the songs, bringing out the harmonica for the old tunes. (The crowd cheered the first time he brought out the harp, because he doesn't use it as much these days.) It was a great night.
Thursday 12 July 2007
The Simpsons
Some of you might have heard that, in honour of the upcoming Simpsons movie, many of the 7-11s here in the US are being decked out as Kwik-E-Marts.
I didn't realise that Bloomington even had a 7-11; turns out it does and while it wasn't completely converted they were selling some Kwik-E-Mart stuff. So, being the good little corporate drone that I am, I bought some Buzz Cola and a Homer cookie. But I didn't pay $2 for a collectable plastic cup for my Squishee, I refer to all such drinks as Squishees anyway. I also could have bought a box of Krusty-Os but I didn't really want to find that jagged metal Krusty-O.
The closest one to me actually done up is in Chicago. That's a fair way and I have no other reason to drive to Chicago but seeing Jasper in the freezer temps me.
Monday 2 July 2007
Back in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave
I just got back into Bloomington last night.
The first leg from Charles de Gaulle airport at Paris was delayed slightly because we weren't able to fly over the UK for security reasons. At the time I wondered if that meant terrorism, seems I was right.
Then my next flight, from Detroit to Indianapolis, was 40 mins late to board for the more mundane reason that there was too much air traffic for the crew to get to us on time. So I missed the 8.40 pm bus but got the 10.40, arriving after midnight. I was awake for about 30h, I think. Then I slept for the next 12.
The first leg from Charles de Gaulle airport at Paris was delayed slightly because we weren't able to fly over the UK for security reasons. At the time I wondered if that meant terrorism, seems I was right.
Then my next flight, from Detroit to Indianapolis, was 40 mins late to board for the more mundane reason that there was too much air traffic for the crew to get to us on time. So I missed the 8.40 pm bus but got the 10.40, arriving after midnight. I was awake for about 30h, I think. Then I slept for the next 12.
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