Most people don't realize what a closet country music lover I really am.

Brad Paisley's The World (see the video) makes me feel happy and wistful, all at the same time, and reminds me that there's a little girl from Texas still alive and kickin' in me.

love letters

As I’m sure we all do, I will occasionally receive an email from one friend or another (almost always female) containing some little inspirational message or story, which closes with something along the lines of “you have received this message because someone cares about you, please pass it along to the people that you love”. While I sometimes find the story or message touching, I also generally feel a little bit of a groan (‘oh no, not another one’) and I almost never pass these things along.

But yesterday I received such a message in my mailbox. You may have read this one, the story about the teacher who asked her students to confidentially write something nice about each of their classmates, which she later compiled into individual lists and distributed to the children. The story goes on to tell a poignant story of how one of the children was later killed in Vietnam, and how he had carried his ‘list’ in his wallet all his life, and at the funeral it was revealed by many of his former classmates that they too had cherished their lists…yadda yadda. (I’ve received this one before. ;)

The thing that was different this time was that the sender’s email address was that of a MALE friend of ours. We have been friends with this couple for many years, first only peripherally due to the fact that our sons were best friends, but as the kids have grown into adults and mostly gone their separate ways, our friendship with them has grown closer and closer. I did a double-take on who had sent it, then checked the ‘To’ line to see who all the email was sent to (assuming I might be part of some big distribution list). It was sent to only two email addresses, mine and my husbands. I immediately felt so touched by the gesture…and then a bit skeptical, thinking that perhaps his wife had inadvertently sent it using his email account instead of hers. So I sent back a generic reply: ‘Thank you. That was lovely.’

I got such a kick this morning when I opened my email to find a response back from him: “Please don’t tell anyone that I sent that to you – it will hurt my macho image!” (So naturally I shall blog about it for the whole world to see...muahaha) ;)

It’s funny how that one small, uncharacteristic gesture could mean so much. I think the next time I receive one of those types of emails, I’m going to make it a point to remember that no matter how cheesy the content, the intent of the sender is the real message.

if only...

Boy, if only my life afforded me the ability to whisk myself off to New York on a moment's notice...

I just adore the work of Emily Hubley (who some might recognize as the artist who created the animation sequences in Hedwig and the Angry Inch). Tomorrow night, the IFC Center in New York will be hosting An Evening with Emily Hubley:

"Emily Hubley presents an evening of her animated shorts, selected shorts by her parents, Faith and John Hubley, and TACTICAL DESIRE (2006), animation-in-progress from Hubley's feature THE TOE TACTIC, accompanied by live music composed by Sue Garner, performed by Ms. Garner, Rebecca Gates, Megan Reilly, and Doug Weiselman.

Working in a deceptively simple hand-drawn style, Emily Hubley's subtle, wistful films explore personal memory and the unexpected turbulence of emotional life, veering in a heartbeat from the lighthearted to the melancholy, and back again, as girls morph into fish, volleyball practice leads to unexpected motherhood, and a musical scale reveals itself to be a font of anxiety."

PROGRAM LIST:
Tender Game (1958, John and Faith Hubley)
Windy Day (1967, Faith and John Hubley)
Octave (2006, Emily Hubley)
The Tower (1984, Emily and Georgia Hubley)
Tall Time Tales (1992, Faith Hubley)
Her Grandmother's Gift (1995, Emily Hubley)
One Self: Fish/Girl (1997, Emily Hubley)
Pigeon Within (2000, Emily Hubley)
Tactical Desire (work-in-progress) w/live performance by Sue Garner and others

After the screening, everyone will be heading over to the Waverly Restaurant at IFC for drinks and a Q&A session with Ms. Hubley.

Gawd, I wish I was going! How fun would that be?!!

BOO!

I went to see Monster House (in Digital 3D) today. What a terrific movie! The 3D was excellent and well worth the extra drive if your local theatre isn't showing the 3D version. There are lots of great actors doing the voices in this one. My favorite, of course, is Steve Buscemi (who I've always had a thing for ;) who does the voice of Mr. Nebbercracker, a cranky old man with bulging eyes, rotten teeth and a horrible combover! The story is fun and clever and the 3D just made it all that much more enjoyable. In fact, I wish the theatre here that is showing the 3D version were closer, as I'm sure I'd definitely have to see it again.

As an interesting aside, all of the previews were also in 3D. There is a 3D version of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas to be released, presumably this holiday season. Even though I've seen that movie probably a hundred times, I'm sure I'll have to check it out in 3D.

sour grapes

hee hee. There are times when I'm at work that I wish I could snap a photo, but unfortunately cameras are not allowed around here. This morning as I was walking in, I noticed that someone had draped a banana peel over the top of a sign marking an honorary "*A-Certain-Project-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named* Employee of the Month" parking space. This struck me as sort of funny, then I looked over at the next honorary parking space (same project ;) and saw that its' sign had a withering black banana peel draped over it.

I think perhaps the appropriate fruit the perpetrator should have left should have been a bunch of sour grapes. ;)

I *heart* Conor Oberst

Here's something to look forward to:

Saddle Creek has announced that a collection of Bright Eyes tracks entitled Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005) will be released on CD/LP on October 24. (This will have to tide us over until the next studio release in Spring 2007.)

Have I mentioned lately how much I looooove Conor Oberst? Yes, yes...I know...I use the L-word too freely, but really, listening to his music just makes my heart ache (just like love) so I think this qualifies. Sigh. (Pay no attention to the fact that I am practically old enough to be his mother big sister.) ;)

You follow the footsteps echoes leading down a hall to a room. There is music playing, tiny bells with moving parts. Here the shadows make things ugly, an effect quite undesirable. The bold and yellow daylight grows like ivy across the wall and bounces off of the painted porcelain, tiny dancing doll. Her body spins, as she pirouettes again, the world suddenly seems small. On an off-white, subtle morning you stretch your legs in the front seat. The road has made a vacuum where our voices used to be. And you lay your head onto my shoulder, pour like water over me. So if I just exist for the next ten minutes of this drive that would be fine. And all the trees that line this curb would be rejoicing and alive. Soon all the joy that pours from everything makes fountains of your eyes because you finally understand the movement of a hand waving you good-bye.

Happy (belated) Blogiversary!

Ooh, my poor little neglected blog! I just realized this weekend that the one-year anniversary since I started this blog has recently come and gone (over the July 4th weekend) without my even noticing it. Wow, it just seems like yesterday that I was out stalking that family of mohawk-wearers. (Hmm, I wonder how they celebrated this past Independence Day, and if they did it once again in style, donning their synchronized haircuts and matching outfits?)

This weekend was really nice as I was mostly bach'ing it all weekend (ha...isn't that a funny-looking word, and yet, not really a word. hee.) I had lots of quiet time to myself to relax, play with my guitars, finish watching Season 1 of House, M.D. (wow, what an addicting show!) and of course, bonding with my new washer and dryer. I think I'm in love...seriously.

So one strange thing happened this weekend. On Friday night, all of the phone lines in my house went dead. There were some storms in the area, so I thought perhaps there was a line down or something, so I got on-line to look up the phone number for Bell South...which was another weird thing because my DSL was still working, and since that uses the phone lines, I was a bit surprised. Anyway, I called the Bell South repair number from my cell phone, which was answered by an automated system that asked me my phone number and a few other diagnostic questions, before going off to remotely test my phone line. The automated voice then informed me that, yes, there was trouble with my phone line, and that the problem would be repaired by Monday. I hung up the phone not feeling all that optimistic, and thinking how ironic it seemed to not be able to talk on the phone to a live person at the phone company! But the automated voice did not lie, and sometime on Saturday night my phones started working again. Hallelujah! Actually, there was an odd sense of silence in the house during that 24 hours just knowing that the phone would not be ringing, and I kinda liked that.

So how was your weekend? :)

amazing sand art

Wow, this is pretty cool! (Not sure if this has been around a while, but it's the first time I've seen it.)

Sand Art

Watch Video

hide your children and pets

Georgia has a new driver on the road. (Doesn't she look menacing?!)





Then the very next day she sprained her ankle.

I told her it's a lucky thing it wasn't her driving foot. ;)

Happy Birthday, PP!

Happy Birthday, Pink!!