The Late Bird Report

Movie: Over the Hedge
Ticket Line: very short
Audience: geek and freak families (and one stroller)
Capacity: 85%
Balcony: closed
Organ Recital: Weather-related ("Rain Drops Keep Fallin' on My Head, Oh What a Beautiful Morning" ...) and a new finale
Report: Finally, they got it right. You can watch the previews for this show and not see all the good parts. The 3-D characters are realistic with highly organic and mobile textures and parts. But, they are still characters which makes it so much fun to watch them get in and out of trouble, bounce around and bounce back. Fresh dialogue and surprising stunts. A story with warmth but not a lot of mush. I feel happy and energized. It was all new to me. I didn't know it was already a comic strip.
Don't go to the movie site if you haven't seen the show. There are a few spoilers. It's a great site!! You could skip buying the DVD part and go right there. Sort of.
Analogy: electronic pinball
Will I buy the DVD? On my wishlist
Will I watch it again if it bites me? YES! I may even seek it out.

Visit and support The Byrd Theatre. No commercials. No previews.

Song of the Week

Thanks to Paste Magazine Sampler #23 I have discovered Bruce Cockburn through the song Different when it comes to you. I must have listened to it about 20 times since yesterday. It's on right now -- using the "Repeat One" option on iTunes. I love iTunes.

Different When it Comes to You

match.com profile nonsense

I just had to post about this profile. There's this guy who's retired, likes to spend money and is looking for a female lawyer companion with green eyes and time on her hands! What a hoot! Maybe what he really needs is free legal services. Yep, those days when a man looked for a woman who could just cook and keep house are gone. I don't believe it!

where have I been?

The best spot to be on a really hot day has to be up north in Milwaukee at Summerfest. What a line up! Anyone who's anyone is there playing music. I simply must be there next year.

The Late Byrd Report

Movie: Mission Impossible III
Ticket Line: non-existent
Second Show: same
Audience: suburban Boomer couples; one family
Capacity: 75%
Organ Recital: Summer selections including "Grand Old Flag"
Report: Knock 'em, sock 'em, rock 'em with a hint of old romance (for the chicks no doubt). Classic MI stuff very nicely done but I don't feel any different except maybe I'm more alert and I drive better. I did catch myself before going near-fetal at the half point. Then I took a couple of deep breaths, reminded myself it was a movie and enjoyed the rest of the show.
Analogy: extreme coaster ride
Will I buy the DVD? nope
Will I watch it again if it bites me? gladly

Visit and support The Byrd Theatre.

SP

When I was in high school I had a crush on the most poetic, handsome man in the school. He swaggered. He humbly rambled the hallways gazing soulfully from his saturnine features. He was a tall thing moving like a scottish deerhound (or Mr. Snuffleupagus). It was rumored he had spent a year bumming around the world on tramp steamers (which was why he looked so knowing). I learned that he spoke spanish and got someone to tell me how to say "come here" (venga). One day, after watching him in the cafeteria for days and seeing that he mostly ate alone, I ambled by where he sat and spoke my one word looking him full in the face. Then I hid myself in embarrassment.

Some days or weeks later I saw him at a party. He entered on the arm of the school freak (good-looking though she was). As he lay across the sofa he spoke to me. "You don't want what you think you want." I didn't understand.

Years later I met him at a Mormon gathering. After returning from a mission to Germany he had married a German woman. So I think I was on the right track but my timing was all wrong. And perhaps my approach. I've never been what you call subtle and I call invisible. Except for my humor which is so dry that some have called it not there.

I have only a thought and shadow but it's a great thought and a beautiful shadow.

A Bottom Reader Report

I read "We don't remind ourselves" tonight at the Cafe Gutenberg. Lots of reaction. Two women told me it was beautiful. Shann Palmer told me it could be published. That someone would love to print it. Who?

To celebrate, I took the squiggly road home.

I'm going to try to wind down and go to sleep. Let me know if you'd like to come with me to my next reading. It might be Sunday. Life is so fluid.

Current Fads
Listening. my iMixes/Playlists The Opening Lotus and I Want to Know (unpublished); other voices
Watching. Harry Potter and the Prisioner of Azkaban (2004)
Activity. staying up late
Gadget. none
News Source. the news feeds in Safari
Reading. The Archangel Protocol - Lyda Morehouse; Writing Essays - Harold P. Simonson; On Writing Well - William Zinsser; Wired; MacWorld; Fortune (Yes, I really am reading them all right now—I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)