October « 2011 « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

October, 2011

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31
Oct 11

Halloween

I’ve taken on the air of the curmudgeonly old man when it comes to this. It’s all for play, to amuse The Yankee, really. But on this, the night of the annual Repetitive Doorbell Stress Inspection, there is a hint of truth in the sarcastic humor.

The calm before the late storm. Note the spooky characters just showing up in the background:

Someone dressed as a police car and was moving slowly through our neighborhood. Someone else was walking a young or miniature donkey through the neighborhood. This is as suburban as the suburbs get, and yet I still saw a donkey moving down the street.

Some kid was giving him all of the Tootsie Rolls, I’m sure.

We’ve also had a homemade Lego (the most creative costume of the night, in an otherwise bland parade of uninspired store-bought costumes or mixtures of things kids found around the house). And everyone has a slight annoyance with the teenagers who aren’t even trying — that’s the time of night when the porch light goes out at my house — but that was a four-year-old. The most costumed thing about her was the bag she was caring. Hurts the Halloween heart, that.

There was a great Puff the Magic Dragon. We had a good Cam Newton and there was also a Trovon Reed, another Auburn football player.

OK kids, you better start practicing. This is the policy we’re adopting for next year: If you can’t describe what your costume is in an elevator speech, you get no candy.

A three-year-old princess just did the get-candy-and-walk-behind-her-group-and-reappear-for-more-candy trick. And my lovely bride rewarded that behavior.

“She’s three!” she said.

And manipulating you already.

There’s a girl dressed as “Crap I found in my mom’s closet from the early 1980s.” I bet there was a Duran Duran cassette in the bottom of that bag.

Alright, those kids can drive. If I card you and you produce a license, you get no candy. Buy your own.

Taller than me? No candy for you. Stunts your growth. And would you mind cleaning that stretch of gutter, since you’re able to peer inside of it?

The little kids visiting, though, are of course adorable:

Remember Valerie from The Princess Bride? She just showed up at the door. Didn’t say a word, got her candy and was off like a flash. After that came four girls, three of whom did not sport any costume. The fourth was wearing her pajamas. Teenagers ruin it for everyone.

And so from here I’m formulating a rough strategy. If you are beyond the age of parental supervision with the trick-or-treating, or if you have advanced past hearing “What do you say?” after every interaction with an adult, you have outgrown Halloween.

I remember trick-or-treating in the fifth grade, just after we moved. Perhaps I went again the next year, but that was about it. (Then we made plans to scare the littler kids in the neighborhood. But there weren’t any kids in our neighborhood younger than us.) That should be good enough. Still want candy? Come rake my leaves and I’ll pay you. You can make a killing in candy bars that way. And I don’t mean the fun size, either, but the sheer unbridled ecstasy size.

We think we might be the only person in the neighborhood giving out chocolate. The reactions on the porch are rather impressive, at least by the little ones who still, you know, care.

The 147th Battalion and elements of the 502nd just deployed on our front yard. There is now a candy shortage. And just a moment later we had to dip into the personal stash.

And then the porch light went out. Time: 7:11 p.m.

That’s all it takes in our neighborhood. People drive in from other towns. There’s a rush for about 90 minutes and then the entire neighborhood is wiped out.

Never did see that donkey again.

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30
Oct 11

Catching up

If you thought everything was just a little bit prettier on the plain, some days I would be hard-pressed to disagree with you. Take this sun set over the Ole Miss Auburn game in Jordan-Hare Stadium, for example.

Time for the fan pictures, because why not. Lots of people out at the game, some of them dressed very warmly against the chill mid-40 temperatures. She was with her grandchildren:

Watching the game from underneath the scoreboard.

I believe she stayed involved in the game until the Rebels were being blown out.

You see these guys at sporting events these days. I heard him talking. It was … unexpected for some reason.

You laugh, but her head was warm:

As always, more pictures can be found in the photo gallery.

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29
Oct 11

Ole Miss at Auburn

Big day today, as we head out to campus with the in-laws in tow. We tailgated with the nice folks from Gameday for Heroes. They’ve helped put donated tickets into the hands of more than 1,200 troops and their families this year. That’s a full infantry battalion. Just an amazing job they’ve done this year.

At the tailgate we saw Ken, for whom I worked at al.com. He was done on a campus tour with one of his kids. Ken graduated from Auburn with a master’s degree. His uncle attended Auburn. His great-grandfather was at Auburn before the Great War. And now another generation of their family maybe enrolling their next year.

We also saw our friend Wendy, who made it into town for the game. Her parents were there, and they’re lovely folks.

We made it into the stadium in time to find seats way up high in the end zone, watched the eagle flight, the band play and the football game unfold before us. Auburn ran out a 17-0 lead and found themselves tied at the end of a first half that felt very unsatisfying.

There was some question about what the second half might hold. Ole Miss had been outscored 77-21 in the 3rd quarter this year. Auburn was on the wrong side of a 55-40 equation for their season’s third quarter efforts. But the Tigers reeled off 24 unanswered points on their way to a 41-23 victory (that garbage time score by Ole Miss shouldn’t have even been allowed, technically). So the Tigers are 6-3, having escaped a murderous October with three wins — two of which were unexpected. Auburn is bowl eligible. Not bad for a team that started fall camp with 54 (!!!) freshmen on the roster. Twenty-one of them played in the season opener, the first collegiate game of their career.

That extra practice leading up to a bowl game is going to be a great addition to the 2012 prospects. But let’s not get ahead of things. There are still three more games to go in this year. And there are also pictures from Ole Miss.

Here’s T’Sharvan Bell, after intercepting a Randall Mackey pass and returning it 41 yards, setting up an Auburn field goal:

At least his hand is in focus.

Aubie had fun with Ole Miss’ rebellious mascot issue.

Kiehl Frazier carries for a minimal gain. Defenses are keying on him when he’s in the game. The freshman quarterback is going to have to stand up and throw the ball eventually.

Dyer found his way into the end zone on this score.

He finished the night 13th all time in school rushing. He’s on pace to finish the year 10th. He’s a sophomore, at Running Back U. He’s that good.

The Yankee and her parents, enjoying the game:

Many heads nodding together

Beyond that window is a brightly flaring tree. Beyond that tree is a campus covered in low clouds. Beyond that non-fog is rain.

And that’s what the world looks like today.

The big JMC Advisory Council was today, where the faculty welcome back alumni, recent grads and local industry pros to get a ground-level sense of the industry and where we should be heading as a department. These sorts of meetings can be insightful, particularly if you’re prepared to hear what the advisory council comes to say. When this happens there are many thoughtful nods, supportive gestures of considerable heft from important people. Also, there are snacks and jokes.

I found myself taking minutes of the meeting. Never done that before. I typed, single-spaced, eight pages of notes.

Outside of the room where this took place were two floor-to-ceiling book shelves filled with old books free for the taking. I went a little crazy. When I stacked them up later my haul was up to my knee. A lot of writing books and a few tomes of literature, which will all look good in the office, and then a few more that will look good as I read them.

One day. I now have two full shelves of books at home waiting to be read.

Shot this video and edited it on my phone, for fun, while waiting on a table at dinner tonight:

I hate the music to it, but it was the only track that fit the edited footage of nothingness that I had on my phone. I need more bumper music! He said to an uncaring world.

“You and everybody else, bub.”

My in-laws are here. They flew in today for a weekend visit, since we don’t have the chance to make it New England for Thanksgiving. Also, they’re missing the first snow fall of the year, apparently. That’s early and unwanted by everyone in their part of the world, but they’ll be enjoying sun and a breeze here.

I really think they come for the football. They were down for the Homecoming game last year. This season we’ve upped the ante a bit, having them for a conference foe in pitiful Ole Miss. Next year they’ll have to come for a more heated rivalry.

Anyway, I was editing that video as they made it to the restaurant. The Yankee, her parents and Brian, who is also in town for football, went to the charity home run derby at the baseball park tonight. I made it home in time to put our name on the wait list. We had corn nuggets and fried pickles and sandwiches and a lovely time all together at dinner.

Feeling sort of wimpy, I may have to call it an early evening. This was a fairly long day after about four hours of sleep. (I was writing things.)

So, just so you don’t go without, YouTube Cover Theater, where we demonstrate the power of the video camera, the Internet and passion for music, in the form of talented people covering tunes because they like the way they sound. This week’s featured artist is Ray Charles.

We’ll start with people in wigs and bad hats covering the tune that was the precursor to soul music:

Who likes harmonica?

Ray. Willie. Must have it here:

Ray Charles covered a lot over his great career. Here he is re-imagining Eleanor Rigby:

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27
Oct 11

A lot of talk about talk

Alabama’s new and controversial immigration law makes an appearance on the Colbert Report:Comedy as commentary is difficult to overcome, is it not?

Class this afternoon, so much of the morning was devoted to preparing there. The students were writing fake stories. Here are the details, write a story based on what you know. There was a fake story about a shooting death, another about a prominent local company moving their operations overseas and one more on a car fatality with alcohol involved.

These exercises are important, because the place we put ideas and the words we use to get there are critical to a story. For most people, winding up in the news is not a pleasant experience. We don’t need to make things worse with a misplaced modifier or some other syntax error.

The future! By Microsoft:

I scrolled down through the comments, hoping the very first one would have some incredible insight. The first three, however, noted that Microsoft envisions better tech in videos than they produce. And then a big argument about Apple and St. Steve inventing the tablet. Also, within about three minutes of each other different people thought this was the loneliest future they’ve ever seen, or the coolest thing ever and “I want one now!”

I’m glad to see that typos will still be a part of our future. Check out the 2:55 mark.

Also in the future, Roy Moore wants his old job back. The last time he had that job he was fired by the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. I remember covering that story like it was yesterday. November of 2003 he lost the job, but this fight had been going on for months. I remember sitting in my studio, watching video from Montgomery and a man in a red flannel shirt, red-faced, veins throbbing, screaming at the top of his lungs demanding Moore’s Ten Commandments monument be put back. I was concerned about that guy’s health. Wonder where he is now.

Because I love myself I visited Walmart tonight. I know! And this after getting a haircut yesterday. Haircuts are one of my least favorite chores, because of the conversations. These are is especially awkward if you go to one of those places where you never see the same person twice. The conversation, then, demands a very basic, elevator level of commitment spread out over a longer period of time than a three floor ride in a large box.

The lady that cut my hair this time smelled of cigarettes. She disliked the cold. She could not decide if she’d seen me before. (She had not.) And she had trouble breathing. The guy that’s cut my hair the last two times, elsewhere at an actual barber shop, scares me a little. And his finished job is a bit severe. The lady yesterday, though, did a nice job on everything but the sideburns. This is remarkably hard, trimming things to be level; no one ever does it right and is no longer something that can be judged.

Everything else, though, centered on the awkward conversation. I like conversation, but the hair chair isn’t the place. Cab drivers need conversation because some of them are already on the edge. Plus there’s the where are you going, where have you been, who will you be when you get there mystery of cab rides. Most any other place a little chit chat is fine. Rapport is great, fishing for repeat customers is understandable, making people feel at ease is applauded. I want you to concentrate on what you are doing. Don’t jam my eye with the clipper. She almost did last night.

Having survived, though, why not go to Walmart tonight? Taylor Swift has a line of greeting cards now. Bing Crosby warned that Santa Claus is coming to town. We change the clocks in two weeks. Halloween is this weekend. This might be a little early.

The checkout line was … post office-like in it’s slowness.

Maybe it was the guy trying to get information from the cashier about her coworker so he could go flirt. There’s another awkward conversation, at least no sharp instruments were used.