Christmas eve eve

The first two days of work on Mom's old house are behind us. Jimmy (Beck's dad) and I worked Friday and Saturday and got most of the repairs and painting done in the living and dining rooms.
Jim will be moving in on the second week of January. The house is going to look pretty good. We still have to take care of the furnace issue, and that's going to be expensive.
There are still a few things up in the air today about what we'll be doing this week. I know that we're having dinner tonight with Mary Ellen and Ben and maybe that's enough.
Listening to Scott Joplin today (now). I heard a bunch of his music interpreted by another musician this week on old tape reels. I bought a $10 reel to reel player/recorder so I could transfer some old interviews. So today I downloaded a bunch of Joplin's music and I'm listening to it now. I think he plays too fast. The arrangements I heard seemed smoother. Tape has a warmth to it, too, that doesn't seem to be duplicated by mp3. I won't be switching back, I'm just saying.

One other thing. I'd like to show off our Christmas photo. I kept taking good pictures of Uly and Beck where I looked bad or good pics of me where they didn't look so hot. Anyway, I photo shopped the picture above, cribbing from two other pictures. I bet you can't see the cutline - it runs around the left side of Beck's head and through her shirt. The originals are shown in black and white.

Could I see a show of comments so I know who listens to me ramble? Just curious.

Steve

It's all pretty much the same to me

I try to be no more a connoisseur than I am a fetishist. By that, I mean that cheap coffee is okay by me (at least the taste is, though I try and support fair trade products when possible. I'm just using this as an example, okay?) and so is cheap bourbon (there again, though, I have more or less given up drinking, so this is just an example). Likewise, a holiday is pretty much the same as another day to me, with the exceptions of time off for reflection and meeting with family and friends. I don't like the idea of fetishizing days of the year. We should behave one way, decently, all year round. I'm writing all this to say that I've had the sense from some people I know that they think I might be down because this is the first holiday without Mom. And, that's only true - it being harder around the holidays - if I thought better of those days than I do others. Which I do not.

- Steve

Christmas cards from the edge

Becky and I were writing out and addressing Christmas cards tonight. (Oh, we're running soooo late!) We ran out of cards three-fourths of the way though and I went downstairs to my desk in the basement to find more blank cards.

First stack was some large promo envelope full of cards from the Abbey at Yalta or something and promised a mass in the name of the receiver. Not interested in promoting these folks in so shameless a way, so I threw that out.

Next was a box marked, "Traditional Assortment," and I thought that sounded fine. I start perusing this assortment and find cards that are sealed in envelopes and stamped, with addresses on them. Eleven of them. They use 33 cent stamps. Two of the intended recipients are dead, so I open those and I wince, sweetly, at seeing Mom's signature for herself and her dog Gussie (a rendering of his pawprint). These were cards she wrote and never sent. One was to my uncle Mike when he still lived in Cincinnati which I think was more than five years ago. (Mike and Sharon, how long ago was that?)

The impact — I'm paraphrasing something I heard recently — was difficult to speak of. The unexpected, improbable, impossible artifact of my mother's life was a meteorite and it was charged with symbols. I decided to disperse it. I decided that I should send the remaining nine and I left them as they were, in the envelopes with Mom's return address and wrote this brief note:

I just found this. It was sealed. - Steve 12/07 (and then my phone number)

One more set of Christmas cards. Mom loved Christmas. :)

- Steve

I am legend and how to pirate a movie, overcoming security detail

Not me - Will Smith is, or at least that's the title of his new movie.

I saw it tonight and the line stretched on for quite a ways. I was surprised that so many were trying to get into the sneak preview. If we hadn't come so early, we (Jimmy, the father in law, Bill Williams and Thurman) may not have gotten a seat. At least not a good one. Bill likes down in front and that's always (really) fine by me.

There was security using metal detector wands and bag searches for cameras to prevent piracy. It occurred to me that there was an easy way around this. They don't search popcorn. Go to a movie at the target theatre, get a bag of popcorn and take the bag home. Put your video cam rig in the bag with the lcd screen pointed up. Make a false bottom above the cam and put a plexi window in it. Take this in a bag (like a purse or something fabric) to the theatre on the night of your target film's preview and buy another bag of popcorn. Go to the john, into a stall and close the door. Pour the new bag into the old bag and throw out the overage popcorn. Fold up the new bag for use next time. (Don't waste. Recycle! Reuse!) Toss the throwaway cloth bag or fold it up (better). Get in line and they'll look you over but not your grub. Go in and tear open a window for the lens to see and point it at the screen. Eat away the popcorn on top so you can see the viewfinder. Film the movie onto your dv cam and then stow the rig in the fabric bag and leave. Anyway, if I cared to make a living this way, it should work. How much money can you make at this anyway?

The film was jarring. Lots of good scares and shocks. I was glad to see downbeats in the resolution and in the core of the flick and Smith was good, but the film suffers from poor cg animation. Better that the monsters were unseen as to be seen in such a state. Good solo acting by Smith, but mediocre ensemble play. C+.

Steve