Miami Nice

Hey everyone! Given how slow the summer movie-going season has been, I was thrilled to have three movies out in an eight day period that I wanted to see and actually got to see. The third movie was Michael Mann's Miami Vice. Back when MV was a tv show, I never got to see it for the simple reason that we didn't get that channel. This happened a lot because for a very long time we only got one channel: KXII, aka CBS. However, I do remember that my friend Amy had a poster of Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett on her wall and he was very pretty indeed. This makes the look devised for Colin Farrell's Sonny all the more bewildering. His hairstylist has got to stop it with the long blondish hair that was first brought to screen in Alexander and makes another unfortunate appearance in MV. He's a good looking guy when he has short, dark hair (see Tigerland for proof). To top it off instead of sporting Johnson's five o'clock shadow, Farrell has a full-on handlebar mustache. This combined with his crazy accent - part redneck, part newscaster, part Irishman and I wasn't sure what to think. Luckily Farrell had great chemistry with his female lead, Li Gong. I imdb'd Gong and found that she was in Memoirs of a Geisha, playing the evil Hatsumomo, and in 2046, a movie I'm dying to see. She has a fairly thick accent so I couldn't understand everything she said, but Gong is stunningly beautiful, has great presence and is fun to watch.

That's the thing about this movie: it was fun to watch. Mann is unsurpassed in giving a movie a beautiful, distinctive look and feel. From speedboats propelling across the ocean to planes flying through the clouds to a stunning house in the middle of a rainforest, Mann's camera catches them all in an eye-opening way. I'm a dialogue kind of girl, but in his movies I'm happy just to watch whatever his camera touches on.

The movie is both simple and confusing, depending on how seriously you want to take the plot. Basically Crockett and Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) go undercover to catch a druglord and uncover a mole. The druglord's right hand man is Isabella (Gong) and as expected, Crockett falls for her. There are many parties involved: Columbians, disco club owners, two kickass female detectives, all sorts of US agencies, confidential informants and white supremists. In the middle of the movie, there's a great scene where the police attempt a rescue. Surprisingly, this scene was the high point of the movie.

I enjoyed almost all of MV, but the ending which left me with an unfinished feeling. The finale was anti-climactic. There is the standard Michael Mann shootout scene, but it's not nearly as good as the ones in Heat or Collateral. The actors all did a decent job, even accounting for Farrell's accent, but as Creede and I were saying last night, this part should have been Matthew McConnaughey's. He needs to fire his agent now. The rest of the movie was cast it seemed straight from HBO: I spotted Sol Starr from Deadwood, Cesar from Rome and Herc from The Wire. Thomas noted that we never did find out who the mole was. But that wasn't really the point of this movie. It was more style than substance. But when Mann can present style in such a wonderful way, it makes the trip worth it.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Ausralopithecus ends in us

-sunday

The Return of Winona

Before there was Angelina, before there was Gwyneth, there was Winona. Since she was a teenager, Winona Ryder has been the actress most representative of my generation. She was goth teen Lydia in Beetlejuice, sarcastic killer Veronica in Heathers, dreamy Kim in Edward Scissorhands, grunge girl Lelaina in Reality Bites, and Joe in Little Women. Great directors wanted to work with her - Scorcese and Coppola to name two of the biggies. She was nominated for an Oscar twice. She inspired Johnny Depp to tattoo Winona Forever on his arm and dated practically every lead singer around. She even had a fling with Mr. Big himself during the height of Sex and the City. Then something happened. She got arrested for shoplifting and went underground. She actually hasn't had a good role since 1999's Girl Interrupted when Angelina herself stole her thunder and the Oscar. I have waited patiently for the return of Winona and it's finally here with Scanner Darkly.

So is Scanner Darkly worthy? I think it was a good choice for her reemergence. SD is helmed by beloved indie director Richard Linklater (not so indie these past few years, actually), it's based on a cult scifi novel by Phillip K. Dick (unread by me) and it's got a killer cast: Keanu, Woody, and Robert Downey Jr. Winona isn't the protagonist in SD; she is The Girl, but it's not a one-dimensional role. She plays Donna Hawthorne, girlfriend to Keanu's Bob. At the beginning of the movie we're told that it's set seven years in the future. Bob is undercover drug agent investigating a group of Substance D users and potential dealers. He and Donna are both among this crew so he's in effect investigating himself. Like Linklater's Waking Life, SD is filmed in rotoscoping animation, a technique that I personally don't like for the simple reason that it makes me dizzy. Linklater's toned the effects down a lot in this film, so I only had to hide my eyes for probably 10% of the movie (it was more like 80% in Waking Life). The animation was helpful in showing some of the hallucinations of the characters and the scramble suits worn by the undercover drug agents. But aside from that, I just don't think it adds anything to the movie. The animation kind of makes SD seem futuristic, but it's distracting.

The performances of all the leads are good. Winona as usual is able to convey much with her eyes and Downey is a standout with an especially humorous performance. The story itself was confusing to me. It's all about paranoia, conspiracies, and watching/listening to a group of addicts do their thing. My favorite parts were the exploration of the Bob/Donna relationship, but that represented too little of SD to make this dark and ultimately depressing work a success for me. Was Winona a success though? You bet. And hopefully her next role will more effectively showcase her talents.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: This car is on an energy diet.

-sunday

P.S. I forgot to mention that The Fountainhead was on significant display in one scene. Linklater updated the screenplay, so I wonder if this scene was taken directly from Dick's book or if Linklater added it. If anyone's read the book, please advise!

The Tale of the Literary Rat

Hey everyone! Every month or so I get recommendations from the Tattered Cover Bookstore. If you've ever been lucky enough to go to this bookstore, you'll know why I take these recs seriously. The TC is simply the best bookstore in the world - or at least the part of the world I've been to. Shakespeare's in Paris is a close second, thanks to its history. When I lived in Denver, my weekly visit to the Lodo store provided a much needed respite. Cyd actually dated a guy who lived above the TC. I could not imagine the bliss of having such an address. And now there's a new TC on Colfax, replacing the one in Cherry Creek. I've yet to venture there, but this seems like a good move to me. In their last newsletter, the TC recommended a new book called Firmin, by Sam Savage. The next day I went to the library and sure enough it was among the new releases. Kismet.

Firmin is Sam Savage's first published work. His picture on the back of the book showed a hagard looking man complete with long white hair and beard. Though he got a PhD from Yale in philosoply, it says his past jobs were everything from a bicycle repairman to a commercial fisherman. Needless to say, my interest was piqued. Between the author bio and the summary of the book - it's about a rat who lives in a bookstore and develops the ability to read - I was extremely excited to begin reading this book, particularly since I was bent on finishing 1984 when I got my hot little hands on my copy. I gleefully told Thomas, mom and Creede all about it. And the latter two at least were also anxious to read it.

And then I read this gem of a first paragraph and I was even more convinced that this book could break into my top ten: "I had always imagined that my life story, if and when I wrote it, would have a great first line: something lyric like Nabokov's "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins"; or if I could not do lyric, then something sweeping like Tolstoy's "All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." People remember those words even when they have forgotten everything else about the books. When it comes to openers, though, the best in my view has to be the beginning of Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier; "This is the saddest story I have ever heard." I've read that one dozens of times and it still knocks my socks off. Ford Madox Ford was a Big One."

All of this leads me to the following; Firmin was not what I expected. When I think of a literary rat, I think whimsical. Not so Firmin. It turns out if you're a rat who can read, but can't speak, you lead a bit of a tortured existence. Firmin has many of the primal instincts of a rat, but thanks to his exposure to works of fiction and non-fiction alike, he is a thinker, a dreamer, a brooder. And he's terminally unhappy with his inability to convince the humans around him that he knows more about books than they do. The two humans he is obsessed with are Norman, the owner of a bookstore where Firmin makes his nest and Jerry, a radical writer who takes Firmin on as a pet.

Firmin is set in Boston's Scollay Square, a hardscrabble neighborhood that is being dismantled by the government. The city has given up providing services to the neighborhood so there's garbage rotting everywhere, making it a rat's paradise. I kept wondering as I read it if this really happened. My curiosity was satisfied by the the author note at the end. Savage states that Scollay Square did exist and that it was demolished in the 1960s to be replaced by the ominous sounding Government Center.

So that was an interesting bit of history I learned. Another thing I picked up was an album recommendation: No Sun in Venice by Modern Jazz Quartet. Thanks to Thomas's Rhapsody service, I was able to read part of the book to this album, one I surprisingly enjoyed. I'm fairly distrustful of jazz thanks to my most hated elective of all time. At SMU I took an Evolution of Jazz class thinking it would be an easy A and a much needed break from the horrors of Fortran and Calculus. My teacher came to class each day dressed in a sweatsuit and a tie. His pretensions knew no bounds. My detestation of him was also boundless and rubbed off on jazz as well. His teaching was an absolute mystery to me. We seemed to spend more time analyzing Earth, Wind and Fire than anything else. I was awarded a B- for my efforts. Obviously, I have yet to get over it. But it's good to know that No Sun in Venice is out there.

Back to Firmin. I can say that I'm glad I read the book and did enjoy parts of it. Savage has a much apparent love of books - and any reader who loves books will enjoy some of his observations on The Big Ones. Firmin just wasn't what I was looking for after 1984. There was a dearth of the much anticipated whimsy. And that was just something I couldn't forgive at the time. I instead got a big dose of Firmin's depression caused by the purgatory he finds himself in. After that perfect first paragraph, Savage writes about how for some books it's impossible for the book to live up to that first sentence. Was this some type of caveat emptor to the reader? Perhaps, because this was the case with Firmin.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: Jesus Saves. Buddha Invests.

Clerks Strike Back

Hey everyone! This weekend Thomas and I went to see Clerks II with Tom and Becky after we had dinner in Louisville at Via Toscana (high marks for food, service and atmosphere). The first thing that struck me when we entered the theater was that when 2 teenage to college-age boys go to a movie together, they still sit with one seat between them. I remember them doing this back in Oklahoma when I was in high school and I'm surprised to see that years later they're still doing this in Colorado. Does this behavior extend all over the nation...the world...has it been in existence since cinemas first opened? Sometimes, I'm really glad to be a girl.

Ten years ago I remember watching Clerks in Arkansas with Chris Setser, I believe. It was one of the first true low low budget indie movies that came out and I loved it. Now we finally have the sequel and get to find out what Dante and Randal and Jay and Silent Bob have been up to all this time. It turns out not much has changed. But things are about to. Clerks focuses on the the existential crises of Dante and Randal and their struggle to maintain their friendship amid change. That doesn't mean Kevin Smith strayed too far from his roots. Also present in the film are riffs on the war between Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans, insults to coworkers and customers, a love triangle, a donkey show and lots of jokes. Clerks II was profane, disgusting and laugh-out-loud funny. Two gray-hairs left the movie about 20 minutes into it. The only thing surprising about this was that they were in there to start with.

The movie takes place the week before Dante is set to leave New Jersey to live in Florida with his overly enthusiastic fiance. So enthusiastic is she that she insists on wearing a "Mrs. Hicks" shirt for pretty much the entire movie. The Quick Stop has closed so Dante and Randal are now working at a fast food joint, Mooby's, run by Becky (fanboy dreamgirl, Rosario Dawson). While Dante is ready to finally step out of his clerks uniform, the other 3 guys are fairly content with their roles in life. I especially enjoyed the antics of Jay. Watching him apply chapstick and dance about in front of Mooby's is a joy to behold. Kevin Smith's Silent Bob on the other hand spent far too much time mugging for the camera. This character took a turn for the worse in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and he has yet to revert course. Jeff Anderson (Randal) showed some surprising acting chops. I imdb'd him and see that he pretty much only stars in Kevin Smith films. His performance here proves he should be able to expand his repertoire.

As long as you have a strong stomach and are up for some silly humor, Clerks II is worth the ride. Smith even tacks on a dance number and an ending that is guaranteed to make you smile.

-sunday

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH EASTASIA

WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH EURASIA

Hey everyone! My summer book reading continued after the now beloved Curious Incident with a classic that I've somehow managed to avoid: George Orwell's 1984. The above slogans are taken from the book. They are the slogans of the Inner Party of Oceania, the futuristic setting for 1984. And curiously enough, about two days after I finished the book, I saw a car with several bumperstickers of these slogans. I was quite happy to be able to identify their source.

1984 by George Orwell was published in 1948. From Thomas I learned that it was based on or in reaction to a similar work by Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin, We. I could also not help comparing it to Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living, published in 1936. I won't bother to recap the plot, as most have probably already read this book or seen the John Hurt movie. And for anyone who hasn't, I don't want to spoil it. I can tell you that it's thin on characters but bursting with ideas and ideology.

1984 was easily the most depressing book I've ever read. And anyone who knows me can confirm that I tend to avoid depressing books like the plague. Movies I can handle, but books not so much. My mom, brother and Cyd were all surprised to learn of my latest reading choice and expressed concern for my state of mind. What could have driven me to such an out of character choice? That would be Jen and Thomas. Jen got huge points with her loan of Curious and Thomas has talked about 1984 for as long as I've known him. And even after reading it, I know he still gets it more than I do. Though I did find 1984 to be wrist-slicingly depressing, I could not help but be amazed by Orwell's prescience. He predicts everything from the internet to video cameras to the government's ability to spy on its citizens.

In true scaredy-cat fashion, I'm someone who has said many times in the past that I don't care if the government monitors my phone calls because I've got nothing to hide. 1984 has made me reconsider this. As long as you trust the government and know who they're after and that you don't fit the profile, you can assume you've nothing to worry about. But what happens in 50 years? Who could be running our country then and what could their goals be? Every right we cede now could come back to haunt us in the future.

Another example. July 1 was the official kickoff of the smoking ban in indoor public places in Colorado. I was in Creede for the occasion and a little shocked to find that the bars in town were complying, as Creede is a stick-it-to-the-Man town if ever there was one. But they were, though there were some complaints voiced. One in particular that I heard was from the town's prior judge. Something tells me cigar smoking may still be tolerated in Creede. Given that I've taken but a few puffs of a cigarette here and there in all my life and that the smell of smoke makes me nauseous, I was beyond thrilled when smoking was banned. But will this be a stepping stone - a precedent - for eliminating something I do enjoy? It's all quite confusing and I'm a bit torn to be honest.

This is what comes from reading classics, depressing books or even worse, depressing classics. But I must admit that I'm glad I did it this one time. I can say though that it will be a long, long time before I tackle Zamyatin's We.

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: My Sailor Protects Your Honor Student.

-sunday

Devil Wears Prada

Hey everyone! The Devil Wears Prada is an ode to high fashion and the fine art of paying one's dues. With is high production quality, endless array of gorgeous clothes and accessories, and cameos from highrollers in the fashion world (I spotted YSL, Heidi Klum and Giselle in a small role), Devil is eye candy for girls. First off let me say that I haven't read the book. Though it was a huge hit, it just did not seem appealing to me. I thought it would be light on story and nothing but page after page of label-dropping. The movie definitely worked for me though. It's got a great cast with Meryl Streep channeling Cruella Deville, the always spot-on Stanley Tucci, and an interesting Anne Hathaway. Hathaway plays Andrea, an idealistic journalism graduate who can't find a job writing in NYC so she takes one as the second assistant to Streep's Miranda Priestly, the editrix of Runway (both substituting for Anna Wintour and Vogue). The opening shot alone was worth the show. It pans about as the entire high heeled staff of Runway skitters around in a panic perfecting the office in preparation for Miranda's morning arrival. Miranda tortures Andrea in ways large and small. Andrea in turn starts out disparaging the fashion world and slowly gets sucked in until she has the obligatory makeover. The movie makes a lot of judgements about women. How those who put their career first will surely end up regretting it, how you should follow your heart no matter whether there are jobs out there that let you viably do so, and how unfair it is that you should have to pay your dues. Pretty much anyone starting out in the workforce has to pay some kind of dues. And those choosing fields in the arts probably have to do so even more. We've all heard the horror stories of assistants in the art world, movie world, etc. It seems that creative types - once they reach the top - must be some combination of more demanding and more unrealistic. But is the payoff worth it? In many ways it seemed to be for Andrea. The obstacle of her equally idealistic boyfriend (a boring Adrien Grenier) not approving should have been easily overcome.

-sunday

Boulder Bumpersticker of the Day: You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.

Emmy Nomination Nightmare

Hey everyone! Last week the TV Emmy nominations came out. The awards aren't until September. I'm not sure how they do it, but the nominations were even more baffling and disappointing than usual. Some of these shows I have never seen. But who really needs to watch the ten billionth sitcom about how stupid guys are to KNOW this type of drivel should not be included in any Best Of list.

Drama Series: "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; "House," Fox; "The Sopranos," HBO; "24," Fox; "The West Wing," NBC. 24 and The Sopranos

Weirdest Choices: Sopranos and 24. I didn't watch Sopranos yet, so I could be speaking out of turn. But I hear it was an off year. 24? That's so 2001.

Most Glaring Omissions: Lost, Rome, Battlestar Gallactica

What They Got Right: Grey's and House.

Comedy Series: "Arrested Development," Fox; "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; "The Office," NBC; "Scrubs," NBC; "Two and a Half Men," CBS.

Weirdest Choices: Two and a Half Men and Curb Your Enthusiasm

Most Glaring Omissions: My Name is Earl and Entourage

What They Got Right: The Office made the list though, so it should have a clean shot at winning this award (deservedly so). Though Will & Grace received 10 noms, Best Comedy thankfully wasn't one of them.

Miniseries: "Bleak House (Masterpiece Theatre)," PBS; "Elizabeth I," HBO; "Into the West," TNT; "Sleeper Cell," Showtime.

Cruelest Choice: The only one I watched of the nominees was Into the West. It was beyond horrible - AND it received 16 nominations.

What They Got Right: Though I didn't yet see it, I hear Bleak House is the stand out.

Actor, Drama: Christopher Meloni, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Denis Leary, "Rescue Me," FX Network; Peter Krause, "Six Feet Under," HBO; Kiefer Sutherland, "24," Fox; Martin Sheen, "The West Wing," NBC.

Weirdest Choices: All of them. In particular, if you were going to choose someone from West Wing (which had a great year), why Martin Sheen? He was barely on this year.

Most Glaring Omissions: Hugh Laurie or what about one of the guys from Rome?

What They Got Right: Nothing

Actress, drama series: Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer," TNT; Geena Davis, "Commander in Chief," ABC; Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC; Frances Conroy, "Six Feet Under," HBO; Allison Janney, "The West Wing," NBC.

Weirdest choices: All of them. Do these people even watch television? I guess I can be happy for Geena Davis though her show is horrid, because at least she made a really good speech when she won at last year's Golden Globes.

Most Glaring Omissions: Polly Walker from "Rome" and Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars

What They Got Right: Nothing

Supporting actor, drama series: William Shatner, "Boston Legal," ABC; Oliver Platt, "Huff," Showtime; Michael Imperioli, "The Sopranos," HBO; Gregory Itzin, "24," Fox; Alan Alda, "The West Wing," NBC.

Weirdest choice: William Shatner. The Emmy selection committee must be being blackmailed by David Kelly and/or him.

Most Glaring Omission: Any one of the guys from Rome (Titus, in particular), Logan from V Mars, Gaius from Battlestar

What They Got Right: I am thrilled to see Alan Alda on the list. His performance on West Wing was superb. He outacted everyone that came near him.

Supporting actress, drama series: Candice Bergen, "Boston Legal," ABC; Sandra Oh, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Chandra Wilson, "Grey's Anatomy," ABC; Blythe Danner, "Huff," Showtime; Jean Smart, "24," Fox.

What They Got Right: This category makes sense to me. I'm a fan of Oh and Wilson. But I would really love to see Jean Smart win just because I love Charlene Stillfield so much (but she did do a great job playing a lunatic first lady as well).

Most Glaring Omissions: Starbuck or the President from Battlestar Gallactica

Actor, comedy series: Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; Kevin James, "The King of Queens," CBS; Tony Shalhoub, "Monk," USA; Steve Carell, "The Office," NBC; Charlie Sheen, "Two and a Half Men," CBS.

Weirdest choices: I can't believe Charlie Sheen and Kevin James were nominated. Not that I watch their shows, mind you.

Most Glaring Omissions: Jason Lee

What They Got Right: The only person I'm happy to see on this list is Steve Carell. Hopefully he will win.

Actress, comedy series: Lisa Kudrow, "The Comeback," HBO; Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures of Old Christine," CBS; Stockard Channing, "Out of Practice," CBS; Debra Messing, "Will & Grace," NBC.

Weirdest choices: Jane Kaczmarek, Stockard Channing, Debra Messing

Most Glaring Omissions: Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls The horror!

What They Got Right: Lisa Kudrow in a good, but extremely uncomfortable performance.

Supporting actor, comedy series: Will Arnett, "Arrested Development," Fox; Jeremy Piven, "Entourage," HBO; Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Middle," Fox; Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men," CBS; Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace," NBC.

Weirdest choices: Bryan Cranston and Sean Hayes

Most Glaring Omissions: Jim and Dwight from The Office!!! How could they?!

What They Got Right: Will Arnett and Jeremy Piven.

Supporting actress, comedy series: Cheryl Hines, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; Alfre Woodard, "Desperate Housewives," ABC; Jaime Pressly, "My Name Is Earl," NBC; Elizabeth Perkins, "Weeds," Showtime; Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace," NBC. The new season of HBO's The Wire won't begin until Sept. 10, but there is already buzz about Police Lt. Charles F. Marimow.

Weirdest choices: Cheryl Hines, Alfre Woodard (good actress in a bad season of a mediocre show and her character was not even meant to be funny), Megan Mullally

Most Glaring Omissions: Pam from The Office and Kelly Bishop from Gilmore Girls

What They Got Right: Jaime Pressly

-sunday

Fourth Festivities

“A place can really make your heart skip a beat, especially if you have to take a plane to get there." --Andy Warhol

Hey everyone! Though it doesn’t actually take a plane to get to Creede, there have been many times Thomas and I wished we had that as an option given the 4-5 hr drive over several mountain passes. Unfortunately, the only pilot we know lives in the British Isles. But as usual, this trip was worth it. We headed down on Saturday to celebrate the 4^th. It was a smaller crowd this year, so it was pretty mellow. I didn’t even get to make it to the theatre. This year’s shows are Crazy for You, The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Jesse James (this event actually occurred in the town of Creede back in its Wild West Days), Sweeny Todd and Enchanted April. I really want to catch those last 2 at some point this summer. But I did get to spend lots of quality time at Sans Souci catching up with my parents, petting the dog, walking about and reading. The scariest part of the trip was when the ladder my dad was standing on collapsed and he fell and fractured a rib. I saw the whole thing happen – too frightening for words. Luckily the rib was the only thing injured.

I also got to see my aunt Cindy, her husband Bob, and their best friends Donna and Ron. Donna was something of a rock star to me when I was a kid so it was great to catch up with her once again. We had a bbq on Monday at Rio Loco, Cindy and Bob’s new place. The weather cleared up enough so that we got to spend most of the day outdoors at the fruit stand, aka their gazebo by the Rio Grande. Aside from Scout trying to steal fish from the fishermen (Bob and Ron), it was a fun and relaxing day.

As anyone who’s been to Creede can attest, the one thing it needs is more restaurants. And this summer it actually got two: Kips Grill and Cascada. I especially enjoyed the latter. The owner has brought in a group of Russians to work the place. Vicki from Belarus was our waitress and she was quite friendly. I can't imagine the culture shock she must be going through though.

On Tuesday we went to town for the Creede parade. We all agreed that there were more people there than ever. I’m talking thousands. The town normally has about 600 residents so this is a big deal. The parade is so popular probably because the peculiarity of its floats (one was a truck full of guys with signs that said “Happy 50^th Birthday, Joe” – basically anyone can have a float) and the massive quantity of candy and beads handed out. It’s gotta be second only to New Orleans for beads handed out per capita. We all got a string, and my mom got more than anyone. The parade started off with a WWII fighter plane buzzing Main Street. I have to say that was my favorite part this year.

Thomas and I had to take off after that to head back to Boulder. We watched the fireworks that went up over Folsom Field from the hammock on our deck. It was twenty minutes of splendor. We were serenaded by a group of tipsy college girls on the other side of the fence. I was shocked by the number of patriotic songs they knew – Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, Proud to be an American, etc. I didn’t know they taught kids these songs anymore, so that was a nice surprise.

-Sunday