It is a film best seen in the company of a likeminded friend, who will go have a beer or two with you afterward, so you can vent your discontent and enjoy some camaraderie, lest you go right home and stew all night.
Really the only speech I saw this week was our own Barack Obama, who seems a shoo-in for the open Senate seat, particularly in the wake of the Jack Ryan divorce papers scandal. Obama was great, wasn't he? How about that lovely bit about the loss of manufacturing jobs in our fair Galesburg? (You may wish to know the paperback reissue of his 1995 memoir will be coming out in late August.) And the convention Web site has video and transcripts for anything you've missed.
What else have you missed?
1. The Bottle Rockets are playing better than I've seen them play in many years. No longer does the performance devolve into an ugly drunken jam, punctuated by pauses for shots of whiskey or whatever. They're tight and good and fun, and the music from the new album is lovely. I'm also finally enjoying Songs of Sahm, thanks to the pony.
2. The new Old 97s album, Drag It Up was released Tuesday.
3. Ewenorker and Sparky's Very Vegas Reception was fantastic. We wore feather boas and watched guests dressed as showgirls and hookers boogie, while infants (and and 8-yr old) dressed as Elvis entertained. I enjoyed talking to tornado ali about my newfound love of men's deodorant (forget that crap about Secret being strong enough for a man, but made for a woman--there's a big difference) and about how seeing Lucinda Williams makes us weepy.
4. My little bird of a grandma is safely installed in the nursing home. The cancer hasn't spread, and she looks a million times better than when I saw her in the hospital. She was of good cheer, asked about the reception and enjoyed the company. It was still stunningly odd to have to pick her up and to feel how frail and light she is. And to see my mother feeding her mashed potatoes and wiping her mouth, because she gets too tired to do it herself.
5. Sunday night, on the way home from #3 & #4, I stopped off at the farm to join MKat and all for an evening sail on the 25' Bluebelle at Clinton Lake, because there's nothing so relaxing as sailing in the shadow of a giant turquoise nuclear reactor. It was a fantastic night. MKat and I took turns controlling the jib on the tacks upwind, but on the return trip, we relaxed, while her husband and her father did the work. The night was so perfect we sailed right to dock, instead of lowering the sails and motoring into the marina, as usual. It was divine. I need that again by now.
6. Saturday's a surprise birthday party for my other grandmother. What does one get a woman who wants nothing? Maybe I can go buy a dish towel and do some quick embroidery.