mmm...mmm...good?

The movie "My Name is Bruce" is tongue-in-cheek mediocre -- which means it is mediocre, but that is part of its charm.  I went on Saturday night to see the movie, not just for the film experience, but because the film's star Bruce Campbell would be there.

I never really was obsessed with Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness.  I just enjoy them and his other movies enough to be curious about what this guy is actually like.  Campbell was supposed to introduce the film...he didn't.  That left me sitting for the first half of the movie squirming in my seat worrying that he was not actually there.  I was the one who had convinced my friends to go, and I would have felt pretty bad if he wasn't there.  

The second half of the movie I spent telling myself over and over again that it was intentionally this bad.  When the credits rolled, the audience clapped -- half out of enjoyment, half out of excitement for Bruce Campbell.  A few seconds after the ended, Bruce Campbell made his way down the stairs to the front of the theater.  He looked like a slightly rotund debutante descending for her debut.  The crowd went nuts, blinded him with camera flashes and had their wet Ash dreams fulfilled.

Campbell answered questions for about 45 minutes.  Most were the stock questions of "when is Bubba-Ho-Tep 2 coming out?" and "What was your favorite film to work on?"  Some where a little more entertaining.  One older lady fan asked if Campbell would ever do a Scottish-themed horror film "something like Bruce-heart."  And then there was the obsessed fan who stood up in his spiderman shirt and proclaimed that he worked at Starbucks, but also was Thor: god of Thunder and Lightning.  

Campbell had a stock answer for  a lot of questions and a snarky answer for the rest.  I can only say he fills out the suit of a charming jerk fabulously.  

My comment at the end of the night was that Bruce Campbell seemed like someone I would have dated, been drawn to his sarcastic darkness and charm and been left in pieces as he dumped me because he didn't want to be tied down.  Then, I guess he would have gone off to kill zombies or something.

I always wonder when I see famous people like this if we could actually be friends.  If Bruce Campbell and I had sat down over a beer after the Q & A, would we hit it off?  Not sexually, but just person to person?

Regardless, Bruce Campbell is now an alternate on my list of top 5 celebrities.  So, if something happens to Alton Brown, star of Good Eats on the Food Network, he is in.  

Congrats to Bruce Campbell.

A Tribute to Serde Corp

On Thanksgiving Day, I rolled into Union Station in Chicago at about 11p.m.  I was a little bit concerned about getting a cab at that hour on Thanksgiving -- especially, since the train and the train station were pretty deserted at that time.

However, a cab greeted me outside that would make my entire day.  It was driven by one, Serde Corp.

It remains to be seen if this cab driver actually incorporated his name at some point; however, he and I were fast friends.  We never actually talked beyond a "Where are you headed?"  But, we were forever linked by his music selections.

I have a long standing theory that cab drivers look at their passengers as they get in, judge them and change the music selection accordingly.  I cannot count the number of times I have gotten into a cab, and they change the music almost immediately to easy listening.  I get it, I look like I would enjoy some Toto.  I actually do.  But, that doesn't mean they have to assume it.  

But Serde Corp was already into his music selection when I got in.  It was his playlist, and I loved him for it.

The song that was playing when I got in was "Nightshift."  Serde proceeded to start to softly sing along with the song in his heavy dialect.  "Gonna be some sweet sounds coming down on the night shift..."

I was already smiling so big that I felt a little awkward that he might think I was making fun of him.  I wasn't.  It was just this really wonderful moment of someone freely enjoying their music.

The next song was..."I Wanna Dance With Somebody," by Whitney Houston.  The best thing about this?...He jammed out to "Somebody ooooo...somebody oooo....somebody who loves meeee, yeah..."  Jammed.

The glory of Serde Corp doesn't end there.  The next song to come on was a heavy techno song, which confused me.  This was not like the Serde I knew.  Thankfully, he reached for the iPod, changed the song and the sweet sounds of "The Gambler" came floating to the back seat.  

I don't think I have ever really learned as much about knowing when to hold them and fold them as I did from Serde Corp's passionate rendition of this song. 

It was about this time that we rolled up at my corner.  I gave him a few extra dollars tip.  You know, a little extra for the show.

I went home and bought "Nightshift" from iTunes that night.  

Two Days for Turkey

The Amtrak train the day before Thanksgiving is about as crowded as I could ever expect a cattle car to be.  It was filled with angry, restless hordes and smelled about as bad as I could ever expect a cattle car to.  I entered my train car dreaming that I would be lucky enough to get a row by myself.  That one extra seat would mean the difference between a comfortable six hour ride down south or a cramped ride filled with occasional and strained polite conversation. 

I did not get my own row.

Luckily enough the person sitting next to me was quiet enough and didn't try to engage me in too much conversation.  Luckily, I didn't get stuck next to the older, slightly off man with the pony tail sitting behind me who smelled like he had mistaken his feces for his dove soap.  

I some how managed to not breathe in that much for the six hours and arrived safely at my destination.

The next afternoon I had to do it all over again.  

This time, however, I was in "business class."  This is the train equivalent of first class, except without the gourmet meal.   I eagerly accepted the free copy of the Chicago Tribune and my free soda as I settled into my leather (fake leather?) chair.  No strange pony tailed man in his sweatshirt with a wolf and hawk on it.  I just got a 20-something guy sitting across the aisle from me proudly holding his plastic bag full of bargain basement price cigarettes.  He probably had 15 packs.  I stared at that bag for a full 3 minutes trying to figure out what it must have been like for him when he realized he struck his tobacco lottery.  I then realized he was looking at me and probably thinking I was checking him out, so I just looked at him and gave him my best "for shame" head shake and turned back to my computer.  

It was really all I could think to do.  

My whirlwind trip to Kentucky for Thanksgiving was really for one reason.  My mom.  My grandmother died a couple of weeks ago, and I would not allow myself to miss the first Thanksgiving without her.  I had not been home for Thanksgiving in a few years, but this year, I was glad to be there.  My mom held it together for the majority of the day.  The only time she started to tear up was when she noticed all the similar things she was doing that her mom used to do.  The cranberry sauce, the organized cooking schedule, the notes about mashed potatoes...they were the same.  And that was special.  

I just hope that pony tailed smelly guy found someone besides his wolf and hawk to share Thanksgiving with. 

For Those In The Scholastic Trenches

I have only been in graduate school for approximately one semester. My graduate studies have proven themselves to be one of the most rewarding and, simultaneously, mind-numbing things I have ever done.

I expected the hard work that goes along with it. This was particularly hard, since I have not consistently done any school work since 2001.  However, what I didn't expect were all the other things that come along with first semesters in grad school.

I can only assume that other people would have the same reactions to many aspects of grad school.  For those people, and for others like me who are entering grad school soon, here is what to expect for your first semester of grad school:

1.  Sleep - your sleep patterns will become as off and strange as you could ever expect them to be.  If you have class at night, you will spend your days sleeping late and working on homework until you feel just crazed enough to actually go and shower and get dressed.  If you have class during the day, you will stay up extremely late working on your assignments, get up early for class and then take a nap after you are finished with class.

Don't beat yourself up about your sleep patterns.  Sleeping late or taking naps at odd times does not make you a lazy person, it just makes you a crazed grad student.

2. Spending Money - There are two distinct roads you can take with this. One road is that money will become a paranoia.  With your mounting loan debt, you think about and analyze every purchase.  That dollar you used to lovingly give to the homeless man on the corner becomes a moment of pause when you touch the dollar and think how you might need it more.  Sad, but true. The second road is that you go nuts and decide that with all the loan debt you might as well just keep digging yourself into the debt hole.  "Yes, I need a new sweater for my writing class....yes, I need to go to that concert."  It all makes complete sense.

3. TV - You will see all the bad television you could ever want during grad school.  Your schedule is so unstable that more often than not you find yourself at 11pm watching your second Lifetime movie of the day.  Or you make the glorious discovery that they still show Trapper John M.D. at 7am. Television becomes an occasional reward of sorts for all your hard school work.  While your face is shoved in front of a computer screen for hours a day, any mindless distraction is lovely.

4. Appearance - While your days of wearing pajamas to class should be gone, your days of wearing pajamas all day in your apartment/house as you do homework are here with a force. You will also notice a new love of messy hair. Also, even in your darkest hours of frustration with homework and term papers, you should at least act like you care what you look like when you roll into class.  This is grad school, not your freshman American History class. Leave the pajamas and flip flops where they belong. Hey, you could give them to that homeless man on the corner. Since, you were a jerk and wouldn't give him a dollar.

5. Relationships - Be prepared for these to change, too.  Not in a bad way necessarily, but just an adjustment.  Chances are you will not be on the same time table as your friends anymore.  While they are planning to go to a party on Thursday night, you are trying to finish that last minute assignment you forgot to do.  And, while you are crying softly over the stress of finishing your 20-page term paper, your friends are talking about the latest episode of "Law and Order: SVU." (you can watch it on hulu.com later at 3am when the tears have stopped and your mind is fried) Also, bear in mind that not all of  your friends will understand that your studies have to come first sometimes.  Just be patient and explain that you are spending thousands of dollars on graduate education, so your focus needs to be there.

On the flip side of this, you cannot neglect your friendships you had long before you stepped a  foot in the door of graduate education. Take some time out every once in a while to foster the relationships you already had.  Those are the ones that hopefully will still be there to support you when you are going crazy.

6.  Being Good To Yourself - Grad school is new to you. It is a completely new arena you have to master. The thing a lot of people don't realize (I didn't...and still don't sometimes) is that everyone else you are in class with is going through the same things you are.  They are trying to find their place in the grad school world.  They are feeling threatened by some people in their classes and feeling smarter than others. Don't beat yourself up about the things you are going through and the frustrations you have.  You will learn and what was new to you will soon become your norm.

So...reward yourself.  If you have made it past a particularly bad semester or hard paper or test...reward yourself.  Go out with your friends to see a movie for fun, instead of one that you have to watch.  Go get a good class of wine with your significant other and talk about how jammy and woodsy it is (aka - just make up words to make yourself feel like you know what you are talking about).  Read a book just because you like the cover, not because you were required to read it.  Buy a new pair of shoes or new pajamas or a prostitute...ok, strike that...maybe just pajamas with prostitutes on them.  They sell those, right?

The point is that grad school is tough.  It is not like undergrad where you can just phone in a lot of the time.  You have to work hard and stay on top of stuff, even when you hate it...a lot.  It will be worth it in the end.  At least that is what my advisor tells me.

What a Nice Slot

A quick moment of celebration...

Fried Green Durbins got into the Chicago Sketch Festival.  We are performing Friday, January 9th at 8:00pm.  We are in the North Theater.

It is quite an honor to have such a great time slot. We are working hard on our new show.  

Incidentally, the new show will preview on December 14th at the Gorilla Tango Theater. We are trying out our new material during our 2 week run entitled, "Rusty Rails, the Holiday Train."

These shows in December will be a combination of the preview show and our holiday variety show with special guests.  

We are very excited for all of these shows.

Yippers! 

(FGD crest courtesy of FGD)

i realize i have not blogged in november at all.  i will now offer a personal apology to the month of november.

Dear November-

I realize that years ago you got a leg up from Thanksgiving. That really was a big moment for you, and you really have FDR to thank officially for that.

Before then, you were just one in a long string of painfully cold months.  The inevitable buffer month before Christmas.  

You got the Pilgrims.  December got Jesus.  That doesn't seem fair, November.  

Well, I guess Jesus never had a ship...so...  But, of course, the Pilgrims could not walk on water. Hmmm...

Back to square one Nov.  

OK, you get election day.  I just thought of that.  You get to help change the entire construct of the USA. That has to be worth a lot, right?

And, you do indeed have Thanksgiving.  A day when people get together to gorge themselves for 1 hour on food that took them 2 weeks to plan for and prepare. That has to be worth something.

And, you always bring us the opportunity to see the Thanksgiving episodes of Charlie Brown, the Brady Bunch and Happy Days (as historically flawed as those might be).

So, thanks November for filling us up with gravy and  highlighting the relations between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans.  I truly enjoyed making those cardboard Pilgrim hats in 4th grade.

Sincerely,