My Old Kentucky Home

I've never lived anywhere other than Kentucky. I was born and raised around Louisville and currently live in Central Kentucky. I've traveled lots of places, but only one other place has felt even as close to home as good ole KY does. Kentucky isn't perfect and lord knows the national stereotype for us isn't terribly nice (or as accurate as they think it is), but by God this is a beautiful place.
I spent most of the weekend in western Kentucky. It was a great weekend for a drive. The sun was bright and hot and the trees were that wonderful shade of green they get right at the zenith of spring. The thing most people (who aren't from here) don't realize is that Kentucky just doesn't look like one thing. The mountains in Eastern KY look nothing like the rather flat and green lands of Central Kentucky (which is why all the horse farms are here) and Western KY is an amalgamation of both. Rolling hills, farming land and such gorgeous wooded areas. Which I would have enjoyed much more if it wasn't for the park ranger and his warning about copperheads... That was enough to get this city girl back in the safety of her car!!!!

I work in a semi rural town, and every morning I drive in east, so often times the sun is coming up over the horizon as I get to work. I pass some of the most breathtaking scenery... Every single day. Wide open fields green with a sheen of white fog and horses just standing in it, majestic and proud... I promise I really will stop one morning and take a picture.

Most of my friends of childhood have moved away, some to northern states (one could say Yankee traitors :P ), some out west... I wonder if they miss Kentucky. I would be willing to move, the is no denying that with 49 other states out there and a whole world beyond that, there are better opportunities else where. But I wonder if these transplanted people miss the sounds of the different accents. I wonder if they miss people saying "Louisville" correctly. If they miss the way the air smells. Whenever I've been on vacation and I step off the airplane that's the first thing that makes me feel home. It just smells like Kentucky. Like cut grass on a humid day. Like tomato plants and roses in my grandmothers back yard. Like dense wood and creek water from my childhood home.

No matter where my life will take me, I will always be proud to be from Kentucky. Proud to say aint (though very rarely as theater has ruined my Kentucky accent), proud to know that "Versailles" is NOT pronounced the way it should be, proud to watch all the crazy people go to the Derby every year, while most of us actually from here are smart and stay at home, proud to know that some of the wealthiest people in the area (I mean unholy rich) are the most kind and down to earth people you can imagine. I'm more of a snob than they are and I have no money. We are southern people, though we are right on the border. Meet someone from Indiana and someone from Kentucky and you'll see the difference.


Plus most of all, we have a kick ass basketball team :P

Primary Day

For most of the country today is Primary Day. Please, Please, Please do your duty as an American citizen and VOTE!!!!!!!! I don't really care who you vote for (though I would prefer it be a mildly liberal Democrat), as long as you vote. And for those in our esteemed town, please don't vote for the incumbent mayor as my dog could do a better job and his only platforms are more toys for a doggies and peanut butter at every meal.

We, as Americans, are given many many rights, and we truly give little back in return. We were asked by the founding fathers to take a role in choosing who would be our voice. And I think our current federal government leaders is proof of what happens when most of us don't do that, or don't do it wisely.

Our President has a 38% approval rating (he's never had my vote and never will... But anyway). This means, in theory, that 62% of Americans DON'T LIKE what he's doing. Then why the hell did you people vote for him? Not saying every elected official is perfect, or will do what they say in their campaigns. But here's the thing about Bush. He IS doing what he said he was going to do. Was no one listening? Or did we just not care? Did you think his garbling of the English language was cute and thought he's make a funny president? Was it solely because he was a Republican?
Does no one listen to what's coming out of people's mouths any more?

The thing is this: We are a lazy bunch of SOBs in the this country. we're lazy about everything... food, entertainment, sex and politics. We want to be spoon feed our information! Well folks, here's a news flash: WE CAN NOT TRUST THE NEWS MEDIA... They all have a slant, some are liberal, some are conservative and some are just crazy (cough cough FoX cough). But none of them are unbiased. You have to take the information given and then you have to filter out the tiny bit of truth and then search that. I highly recommend Al Franken's books. Yes he is very liberal, but by god he does his research... And it shows the depths of research you have to do to find the truth.

Look, most of us in this country are not happy about how it's being run, on a national, state or hell a local level. Well rather than sitting around and just bitching about it. Please go out and do something. At a minimum vote. Make your tiny voice be heard... If you don't vote then you have no right to complain that your phone company is giving YOUR calling records to the government. You have no right to complain that your city is trying to condemn the perfectly well run water company because they want to be cool like the other big city in your state. And when you do vote, please be mindful of what you're doing... Choosing YOUR voice in our government.

All that said: Bebop in 06... the better Doggie for the Job!!!

Smallville season finale

Okay so the finale was on Thursday, but I'm still thinking about it today. I don't know if anyone reading this watched it. If they did then maybe they can explain some of what happened, and if they didn't... Well they should. It's taken me years to get into it, but like Buffy and Angel (shows near and dear to my heart)... This show rocks!

A few thoughts though...

1: What the hell happened to Brainiac when Clark threw the knife in him? I don't really think he's dead, since he was on the plane with Mrs. Kent, but the whole light show was a bit odd. (of course my love of James Marsters means that I'd love for him to be on ALL next season too).

2: Speaking of Spike... (for the unknowing... James Marsters played Spike on Buffy and Angel... A cool ass vampire who wore a long black leather duster the whole run of the show...) Umm when Lex became Zod/Lex or just Uber evil Lex (see 3 for thoughts on that) and he was on top of the Lexcorp building... Was he channeling Spike when he got dressed? He was wearing Spike's costume to a T. Not that he didn't look good, but still.

3: so is Zod in Lex? I kinda still think it's gonna be in Lionel that is the vessel, because we all know that Clark won't kill Lex. But if Zod is in Lex, is it kinda creepy that he was kissing on Lana?...

And if none of this makes sense... Don't worry it didn't for me until a few months ago either... Now I'm hooked!

P.S. I watched the episode after the finale. Featuring Aquaman. kind of a "meh" episode, but I Loved the shout out at the end:

Aquaman and Superman are talking about what a good team they made (took down some evil device that Lexcorp had developed). And Aquaman said they could start a junior lifeguard association. Clark just looks up and says "I don't think I'm ready for the JLA yet"...

Okay yeah so I know... I'm a geek, and becoming a comic book geek at that... Oh well just don't call me on Thursdays at 8 to make fun of me... I won't be answering the phone.!!!!!

The music of the gods

You know when you're younger, or last week as the case may be, and you play those "get to know you games"? Silly questions designed to somehow let people know about who you really are. You know, the ones you think long and hard about so you can seem witty, cool and well spoken and so not telling the truth to save your soul... Well one of the ones that I always thought of as really odd was: "would you rather be blind or deaf?" I mean either way it would suck, royally.

Me, I would choose to be blind. I mean I would miss seeing, well everything, but deaf... That's a world of harshness I can't even fathom. I don't know why, but I exist for sound.
I have a friend who loves words, loves they way the sound, how they work, what they mean. I love music, I always have and have never understood why. I can't really sing, though me and my shower or me and my car like to play make believe other wise. I can't play a single instrument; can't read music, can't really discuss music theory. But I also can't go more than a few hours with out some kind of music playing. I have over 300 cds in my car, at least 60 at my desk at work and lord only knows how many are stashed around my house. Some women have a shoe fetish or a purse fetish, me I can't go more than a week with out a new CD. Heck, Just yesterday in the mail, I got Bruce Springsteen's greatest hits and Mr Mister's Greatest Hits (I know, I know but I love the song Kyrie). God bless BMG. Please some one save me and get me a dang full sized IPOD!

I feel music differently. I can try and explain it sometime, but all I get is funny looks from people. It's something I feel down in my gut, all through me. I mean have you ever Really listened to anything the Beatles have done, or Eric Clapton's solo in Layla or the guitar solo in Freebird, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon? It's like a holy experience for me, sometimes near orgasmic (sorry that might be a bit TMI). I can practically get high just listening to the Doors or Led Zepplin (which I find to be much cheaper and safer, though perhaps not as much fun as the old days).

Some people's memory is triggered by smells or sights, me it's music. I hear "Baker Street" (you know the one with the weird saxophone solo in it) and I am back in my old house: it's summer time, all the windows are open, it's late afternoon and my mom is cleaning the house. I hear "Black Velvet" (great one hit wonder of the late 1980's) and I'm in the car with my Grandpa going home from school. I can tell my life in songs. Leonard Cohen makes me think of an old boyfriend... We always did it with one of my LC cds going... Don't ask me why... It still kinda puts me in the mood though. Johnny Cash makes me think of the early days of Ben and I, driving into his hometown (aka BFE), windows down... Singing along to American Recordings. (Please do yourself a favor and get these albums... Johnny + Rick Rubin producing is just beyond amazing).

I can hear a song on the radio and tell you how old I was and what I was doing when it first came out... Kinda scary, when you think that I don't remember a lot of things from most of my college classes, but I know what song played on the radio after I lost my virginity ("Two Princes" by the Spin Doctors, for those who are curious), or what song played in a record shop in London while my best friend and I were there with some people we met from Wales ("Perfect Day", by various artists, I also bought the John Lennon Cd: "Legendary Lennon" that day.)



I've loved the Beatles longer than anything or anyone other than my parents. I've loved them more years of my life than not. Going on 19 years now. I mean in order of importance to me: Thy Holy Trinity, Ben, Mom, Bebop, The Beatles... And some days John, Paul, Ringo and George can beat out Ben. I can't explain why I love their music so much in terms any one would understand, I just do. I saw Paul McCartney in concert a few years ago. It was mind blowing, not only how good he was live (compared to 99% of artists today)... But several thousand other people and I were in the same fucking room as Paul McCartney. I mean, THE Paul McCartney... I cried like a little baby. I wept, screamed and had one the best nights of my life. I wonder if having a child will feel as powerful as hearing Paul sing "Yesterday" live?

So being blind would be awful, but I know what a sunset looks like, I can recall the faces of people I know, I can get books on tape. But to never hear John sing "Dear Prudence" or George Harrison's last album, or Paul sing "Let It Be" or to never hear Sweet Home Alabama again... I just couldn't do it, makes me sick just thinking about it. Hell would be a room with no sound...


Bran

X-men 3 or please god don't let them screw up THAT badly

I'm finally starting to see the preview for X-men 3 on TV now. Not that I hadn't been watching it on the web for a while, but seeing it on TV means it's coming soon, like 2 weeks soon.

I must admit that I am a newbie to the world of comic books and comic book heros. I mean I had Wonder Woman underroos, but well, what self respecting gal in the late 70's didn't. So, I am growing to love the world of comic books and the people that inhabit them.

In the past few years, I have fallen hard for the X-men movies. It certainly doesn't hurt that Hugh Jackman is well, in a word, yummy. But what I really love is Magneto, really Ian McKellan could read the phone book and be a god. He's sooo badass, and cooler than just about anyone I can think of. I saw X-2 in the theater like 5 times, and I still do the happy dance when Magneto breaks out of his cell.

But coming now is X-3, which is starting to look like some scary 1970's cavalcade of mutants. Lets see how many random characters we can put through in this 2 1/2 hr movie (heck I wouldn't be all that surprised to see a cameo by the damn Brady family). I have so much hope for this film, but a new director and a seemingly sinking ship of commercialism may just destroy it for good. How sad, How unsurprising.

But you can check the trailer below, maybe I'll be wrong. Maybe it'll be cool, Not Superman cool, but at least cooler than the Fantastic Four.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/tls/

Bran

Get Out of Jail Free Cards

My husband and I have what we call "Get Out of Jail Free Cards". These are lists of people, mostly famous and totally unattainable (though I suppose there are unspoken real people on the lists as well), that should we ever encounter in real life, we could have our wicked, wicked way with them. The kind of people that would make me say "Ben who?". We joke about our lists, adding people as we go. Ben, however, is a smart man and knows that while I am allowed to wax lyrical about the wonders of James Marsters, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Hugh Jackman (as seen above... god they're hot... Sorry, got lost for a second...Back to the post)
it's best that Ben keep his mouth shut. Thus is the way of men and woman.

But to be fair to him, I'll post some of his GOoJFC's as well. Women I could never compete with in a million years.

But at least I can say he has nice taste.

Is it odd that none of my list looks anything like Ben (well Wolverine, sorta... It's the side burns) and none of his women look like me? Are we trying to tell each other something?
And can someone explain the whole Asian chick thing? Not that Zhang Ziyi isn't beautiful (heck she might be on my list too... I'll never tell)... But, god love Ben, he married into the Aryan race when he got me. I could only be more Germanic if I spoke the language (and I would speak the language if I had stayed awake in high school and college German).

Bran

The fake Wedge

The Fake Wedge:



and Flambards

I am a huge fan of the mini series: "Flambards." I first saw it in 1989 on A & E when A & E was still cool and showed actual art and entertainment. The series was filmed in 1978 in Yorkshire, England and was based on three novels by KM Peyton, Flambards, The Edge of the Cloud and Flambards in Summer. It's the story of a young girl sent to live at her uncle estate in pre WWI England. Again, let me say, I love this series, A LOT.


My mom, being one to cater to my wants and whims, the way a mom does, bought me the DVD's last year for my birthday. But I was in the middle of my discovery of the wonderful world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so the DVD's sat until last week. When I watched them, all 13 hours, and was so glad to see that I still loved it.

I loved it enough to try and force my husband to watch some, in that vain hope that he might enjoy some it. Ha, I should have known better... But Ben being Ben, noticed that the actor playing the teacher in one scene, is Wedge Antilles from Star Wars. Now Ben loves Star Wars like I love the Beatles, or like the Pope loves God. Not kidding here. So if Ben says it's true and it's about the Star Wars saga, it'd be a safe bet to say it's true. But being Ben, he runs up to our loft,(his man room) and digs out his DVD's to prove it to me since IMDB is saying otherwise. So we watch the scene in Star Wars (AKA New Hope) where the battle plans against the Death Star are being explained. Luke is sitting next to Wedge (so noted by scripts), they discuss womprats and his T-16 ( and lest you think I'm cooler than I am: I had to verify this with Ben just now). And lo and behold it is the same actor as the teacher in Flambards... Ben was right. God love him... But in the following scene, when they are in their ships, Wedge just doesn't look the same, maybe it was the helmet... But then again, I could tell that Luke was Luke and this guy did not look the same as the Wedge from a few minutes before.

So back downstairs to the computer we go. And this is what we find:

"Portrayal
Denis Lawson portrayed Wedge throughout all three films, except in one scene in A New Hope. During the pre-battle briefing on Yavin IV, Luke briefly chats with a character seated next to him who scoffs at the idea of successfully hitting such a small target as the Death Star exhaust port. In the shooting script and novelization of the film, this character is identified as Wedge. However, given his skeptical attitude and the fact that he was not played by Denis Lawson in this scene, many assume that he was one of the other anonymous Rebel pilots. Fans sometimes refer to this character as "Fake Wedge". While many fans believed that the actor delivering this line was Jack Klaff, who played John D, Pablo Hidalgo recently revealed on his weblog that the actor in question was Colin Higgins. "

quoted from http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Wedge_Antilles

a quick search on IMDB shows that Colin Higgins was indeed in Flambards.
For me, this was interesting factoid but not mind blowing, so yeah! back to watching my show.

For my husband (the man who first decided he liked me because I had gotten him an autographed picture of Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) when I was on vacation), he was both happy to be proved right and freaked out that he never caught that before.

This, my friends, is the life of the married geeks. This would be why Ben knows that they don't teach unspoken spells until the 6th year at Hogwarts, and why I know that Zuckuss breathes ammonia. And brownie points to you if you ACTUALLY know who Zuckuss is!!!

First time for everything

This is the first time for me and a blog. A virgin... Something I haven't been for a long time now. We'll see how well I think I write before I'll let anyone I actually know see this.

This whole idea started from reading a dear old friend's blog. He, however, actually has interesting things to say. I've been reading his blog for sometime. It's been a rather nice way to connect to an old friend. He and I went to high school together, in Crestwood KY, graduating in 93 and 95 respectively. Back then, I adored him with the kind of hero worship that is rather cringe worthy now, looking back. Not that he didn't deserve some of the adoration, but the 28 year old me can't quite comprehend the 15 year old me any more. He tolerated it with the kind, loving manner of an older brother. But he went off to college after he graduated, as did I, two years later. And for nearly 6 years, we knew nothing of each other.

Then one day I was in the office of the theatre I was stage managing at , I heard a voice from the other room. A voice that I hadn't heard or even thought of in years. It took me a moment to be sure it was who I thought it was and then there he was. He didn't see me until I spoke his name, the look on his face was priceless. Two time lines intersecting. It was both wonderful and awkward. Wonderful because until that minute, I hadn't even realize how much I missed him, how good it was to see a face from home, and especially that face. Awkward because we both looked at each other as the people we once were, not who we had become. I wanted him to see me as a grown up, cool and talented, even though I still saw him as the "hero" I once knew and who he probably never was. He treated me as if he were almost afraid of me, as if I would reveal who he might have once been. We saw each other now and then, but never really reconnected in anyway. Which was sad, looking back, because as I was going through a very ugly time in my life, I could have used his guidance. He moved away a year later, and I moved on to grown up life with a job in a bank and a wonderful husband and dog. A few years passed.

Then a few months ago, be nosy on the web and feeling nostalgic. I googled him, and found him, well found his blog and then his e-mail. It's been a nice surprise to finally get to know him as an adult, as an equal. We have more in common than I would have, perhaps, guessed. It is rather amazing what a blog can do.

Now I have no thoughts that this little blog will be anything more than my way of venting to the great unknown of the internet. But maybe it will be found as of some interest to someone. Who knows, I imagine my friend never thought the likes of me would see his blog.

anyway, Thanks for reading this, my virgin post.

Bran-flake