Happy Fourth of July ya'll. It was sort of an uneventful and lonely Independence day for me. I was tired as fucking hell yesterday, since Katie left at like 7 in the morning for Wyoming by way of a 3 day stopover in Lincoln to see the Grand padres and such. I don't envy the whole hanging out with little kids part of the weekend, but I do like the vacation aspect. I am sick of Buffalo again and sick of working especially.
Work, of course, was what I did all day during this fourth of July. The Wal-Mart Photo Center was dead, as it always is on Independence Day and for some amazingly ridiculous reason, we were open until the regular time. I worked from noon to nine, alone from 5 onwards. I did, literally, 3 rolls of film during that time. The rest of the time I spent reading my book, Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon. Pynchon is one of those people that I desperately need to read, largely because if I have to have a literary period, which I do I need it to be something I can easily do. That, of course, is 20th Century American literature. I can read the language, I know the history and the culture, and most of the time I have read more of the books already. I don't know much about twentieth century american lit, mind you. I read some contemporary stuff and of course I have read a number of the classics back in high school and stuff.
I've got some Fitzgerald, some Faulkner, some Hemmingway, but by no means and extensive knowledge of any of them. I've read some Vonnegut and Hunter Thompson and Bret Easton Ellis and stuff. It would make for some interesting courses but there are alot of gaps. Now that I found the discount books section at Barnes and Noble I will start reading fiction again, though it still isnt my favorite thing. I would rather have my "literary specialty" in film, but jobs are much less available. I will write my dissertation with films and I have studied them alot more than any specific literature but if I am badly in need of a job there are alot more English departments than there are film, comparative literature, or comm studies combined.
This book is pretty good. Its like a historical re-reading sort of thing, like the I Was Amelia Earhart book Katie and I started reading a while ago. Pynchon has this fictional account of Mason and Dixon and their explorations and stuff, with alot of added sex and shit. I think its pretty good so far, but there is alot of old school vocab and weird spelling and shit. I am gettting used to it, but when all past tense terms are rendered in the apostrophe d sense rather than the "ed" like "render'd" instead of "rendered," it can get a little grating.
Regardless, I read my book at work today. Afterwards I rolled down to UB to check out the Amherst fireworks show. They do it over the little lake on the North Campus (you can see where on the beginning to MTV's Fraternity Life or Sorrority Life Part 2) and they were actually pretty good. I consider myself a minor fireworks gourmet and I would give the show a 8.5. I mean, I have seen some incredible fireworks shows. The St. Louis fireworks were some of the largest in the world, back in the days when the big VP Fair was held over the weekend of the fourth. The town and the organizations that put on the fair would pool their resources and go to fucking town over the River. Fireworks from barges often rock the hardest.
So they open strong, with a number of good little fountains and some pretty colored ones. They had all the classics, chasey ones, designed ones, the ones that turn into other ones. The different ones that crackle, the ones that end with multiple bangy poppers, the ones that glitter on their way down and leave long dangling arms of sparks. I should, at this point, briefly explain the concept of a bangy popper.
The bangy popper is my favorite firework. It is fundamentally a big flash which appears to have a dark circle in the middle followed by an ear shattering boom. There are a number of levels of bangy poppers, there are those which just sort of flash and poof, up to those which are like the drummer from Gwar exploded in mid air while attached to a small hydrogen bomb. I don't know why I selected the drummer from Gwar, he just came to mind. I suppose I could work in the little snake dude that they have eat people at the show, but I would be pushing it, maybe later on. The point is, bangy poppers rock, they are the perfect example of what fireworks are all about, they make a big flash, light up the sky and shake the ground with the type of roar that Madeline Albright might make if she accidentally sat on a vibrating dildo. I don't know why I selected Madeline Albright there, she just came to mind. I suppose I could work in the little gopher dude that she used to have eat people at her parties, but I would be pushing it, maybe later on.
Anyway, the bangy poppers were used well, which means almost all the time. In my perfect fireworks show they would accompany almost every other firework. A pretty shower of purple sparks trailing to the ground, bangy popper, bangy popper, then a red white and blue heart thingy. Just before the finale they set of a series of what must have been about 70 or so bangy poppers right in a fucking row, no intervening shit, I mean, it rocked. It rocked hard. The finale was good, about 5 minutes long in toto, and finished as well with a good series of bangy poppers.
In comparison to Apple Valley, who seems to have an incredible fireworks show, year in and year out, I think UB fell just a little short. In one respect, the fireworks were lower than the AV show. Admittedly, part of that may have been due to the wind, which was really acting up. They did, however, have more creative and gratuitous use of the bangy popper. The show was slightly shorter, about 25 minutes versus the Valley that is Apple who averages near 40. Also, there were way too many fucking people. I mean, way way way fucking fucking fucking toooooooooooooooo many. It was insane. If I didnt know UB parking like I do, the whole getting in and getting out thing would have been a giant pain in the ass. Luckily, with my experience over these amateurs, I rolled the place, getting caught in virtually no traffic either way. I rock, hard, like a hurricaine.
Anyway, I am going to check out Comedy Central's airing of South Park Bigger Longer Uncut. The ads are implying, at least to me, that the movie will not be censored. This makes sense to me, becaue the movie would suck a donkey's balls if they couldnt swear. What would Uncle Fucker even be like if they couldn't swear. It would be like hearing the entirety of an Eminem record on the radio.
Regardless, check you later.
Peace,
MB-K
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment