5/19/2005

Password for the post below….

….if you don’t mind reading something that MIGHT have spoilers, I’ve written a long post about Episode III. Not a play-by-play of movie or anything - just my general feelings about the movie - and some thoughts about the characters and the story as a whole.

The password for THAT post is: letmein

I hope you all get to see it!

sparta at 5:49 pm

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Protected: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (POSSIBLE MAJOR SPOILERS)

sparta at 11:43 am

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5/16/2005

My pain is worse than yours

“Bruce thinks he has it bad”:http://www.ratsinmybrain.com/weblog/index.php?p=216, but I would venture a guess my pain is deeper. After returning to my home town to visit family and friends before our big move back West, I have come to the conclusion that seeing my childhood home bulldozed and replaced would have been easier to cope with than what’s happened to my home town. (Shudder) His room may be gone now, but my town’s been infested with the Pod People. So far there are very few places untouched. My home town was a quirky little place with a neat downtown, some interesting notes of historical importance, and some nice suburban neighborhoods. Now, we’re not talking suburbs like in Edward Scissorhands, here - not like company housing either - all the houses were unique in some way - no two exactly alike. And lots of landscaping. Even my childhood house - when I was young and it was fairly new - had old trees around it. Now, they bulldoze everything - so you end up with these ENORMOUS houses with these teeny stick trees around it. The DQ is shut up and overgrown - 3 of the 5 banks where I used to bank - or my parents did - are now other businesses. Not other banks - other businesses. The Donut Shop is a landscaping company - and the Mazio’s (pizza joint) is the “new” Donut Shop. The KFC is now a car dealership. They’ve built a newer, “better” library - and the “old” library is going to be turned into offices for the Newburgh Historical Society! Bleech! The hypocrisy of that kills my heart. They’ve allowed some big condo building to be built right on the river - blocking the view of some very large, very beautiful homes that were up on the hill above the town. And all of the new subdivisions are the kind where they build large, blocky homes on postage stamp-sized lots - with no yards and no landscaping. But I knew the doom of my old stomping grounds was complete when I saw the Starbucks Drive-thru. My heart sank. Okay, I like coffee - I like Starbucks coffee - but Starbucks invading my home town is wrong. It doesn’t belong there. Other towns - maybe - but not mine. The Pod People are settling in. To make it worse - they are making the one highway a four-lane road now (two one way - two the other). That means that the madness will spread all along that road from the larger city near-by to mine. *sigh* It will be lined with hotels (chain), restaurants (chain), and strip malls with stores (you guessed it, chain). It will become the latest franchise in Generica. Generica makes you think it’s your town - it might even let you have your little local, ethnic eccentricities - but overall, you have become part of the common-think - the collective. Here are the elements that tell you your town has been, or will be, taken over by Generica:

Starbucks (usually a first step, to soften you up)
Chili’s
Applebee’s
Olive Garden
Baker’s Square
Wal-Mart
Target
Jewel’s /Dominick’s / Albertson’s / Schnuck’s / MAJOR grocery chain
Best Buy
Circuit City
McD / Wendy’s / Taco Bell / Burger King / Subway
Former farm land along a 2-lane road that is going to become a 4-lane
road is being purchased - or put up for sale as retail.
Big signs - big poles - lots of wires
Big blocky homes on teeny-tiny lots
(Mind you - these larger, bigger, “better” places take over and push out most of the smaller, unique stores and restaurants, with the exception below)

Granted, all towns can have these - and not be in danger of being absorbed, but there’s a difference between these things being included and accepted into the charm of the community - and these things changing the community. My home town is changing. So while my childhood home is still there - looking practically as though we still lived there - just with more landscaping - everything around it is morphing drastically. The final step - the sign the morphing is complete - will be when even my dad (and as of a few years ago at least, everyone knew my dad) goes into a store and no one knows him - or cares who he is - aside from the fact that he’s a customer.

I don’t know which you think is worse….but I know how my heart feels.

sparta at 4:30 pm

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5/12/2005

A little birdie told me….

…that AJ and I have a reader in Phoenix! ^_^ Keep reading - and remember that we miss you too! Drop us an email sometime! Hugs!

sparta at 4:46 pm

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A belated post

So, a little while back, two of our friends dragged us…well, okay, maybe not dragged…that word might be a bit of an exaggeration…let’s try…uh…convinced, yes, that’s it…convinced us to go and see “Blue Man Group”:http://www.blueman.com/. This show was AWESOME!!! and we extended our very happy thanks (again) for convincing us to go. We weren’t sure what to expect - and trying to just tell someone doesn’t do it justice. You just have to experience it for yourself. Not too long ago, we acquired the DVD for one of their concerts called “The Complex”:http://www.blueman.com/music/thecomplex.shtml - cool, but not the same as the regular performance. Wherever you live you should make it a point to go and see these guys - in NYC, Chicago, Las Vegas….or in concert somewhere — ANYwhere — if it’s within a 4 hour drive or flight — YOU MUST GO! LOL! Sadly, they do not - will not - prefer not - not sure - admit kids under five. Which is a shame because my little one would love it. Ah, well. Hey, what are you still doing here? Go get some tickets now - go now - scoot!