Saturday, August 25, 2007

Summer Update

Sorry for not writing in a while - I've been watching High School Musical 2 for a week straight now. Before that I was on vacation, my first whole week off in over a year I think. We went back to the same house up in the finger lakes region of NY (see this classic entry for details on what its like: http://popculturesnob.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html) It was about the same this year, but it was hotter- temperatures were in the mid-nineties "up at the lake" and there was no breeze and no air conditioning. Not a good combination in a house with fourteen other people. We still found plenty to do, including going over to Watkins Glen State park and climbing up the gorge. There are 800 steps to the top, but it wasn't really that hard.

Watkins Glen is famous for their Nascar racetrack (famous to me because the Grateful Dead played there back in the day) Of course there are many stores and restaurants with Nascar themes and souvenirs. They had nearly everything racing related with the numbers and logos of every driver dead or alive. Except the one thing I wanted: a nascar key ring with a bottle opener on it. What is a more perfect thing for the Nascar fan? You'll never forget your bottle opener because you always have the keys to your pickup truck with you.

The other major event on vacation was my family's obsession with the new Harry Potter book. I usually wait a year or so after the Potter books come out to buy the paperback, and I'm usually a book behind. This time I knew I had to get it quickly before somebody spilled the beans to me about the ending- especially since I was going to be on vacation with five kids under thirteen. There were five or six copies of the "Deathly Hallows" around the house (and even a few of book five and six) All of us were in different stages of reading, so we had a rule that no one could discuss the book openly. I tore through it in a few days. One cousin claims to have read it in eight hours the day it came out. I'm not going to give up anything big about the book, but if you don't want to know skip the next couple of sentences. Many people were speculating about whether Harry or one of his best friends would die in the book. If you really thought this would happen you haven't been reading the series very closely. It is not a tragic hero story where all your best friends sacrifice their lives- it is about the triumph of good over evil with many sacrifices along the way- but nothing that small children wouldn't be able to handle.

Of course the other huge pop culture event of the summer was the Simpons Movie which was made even better by going on vacation with a bunch of my younger cousins. I was very eager to like the movie and I truly did. If you are a Simsons fan you should love it. I didn't want a movie that was totally different than the TV show. Many critics seemed to want something radical (there was even talk years ago about a "live-action" Simpsons movie- maybe Jason Alexander as Homer? Abigail Breslin as Lisa?) I've got to mention another kid-friendly movie I saw recently, because I was very pleasantly surprised. Mom had free tickets and she asked me to go see a preview of "Mr. Bean's Holiday" Now I know Mr. Bean, but not well - I have only seen bits and pieces of his shtick from his TV show. Maybe we were in just the right mood or maybe it was the crowded preview audience, but the movie was hilarious. Rowan Atkinson is a joy to watch. This is a G-rated movie, but I could see it being popular with college students (they may want to add pot and / or beer though). There is even a very funny critique of the independent film movement and the Cannes film festival in particular. I'm rooting for this movie to do well.

There has been more this summer- for an account of my first trip to a Rennaisance fair check out Todd's blog alcibiades.blogspot.com/2007/08/it-was-opening-day-at-pennsylvania.html
If you want to hear about the singles party I went to or how my friend Pete may have had his identity stolen for an upcoming Fall TV series stay tuned.