MC2 returned to the dirty south...

...for thanksgiving. and as announced here, he and his lady received guests for lunch at manuel's tavern on friday. reno, hostage crisis, and myself were there to greet them, as were the ladyfriend, KB, and The Poet. it was a lovely occasion. only downside was the reminder of what we're missing:

godspeed on your trip back to the west coast, friend.

nightman/dayman:

it's always sunny in philadelphia is amazing. i watched the first few episodes when it was new, thought it was really funny, but somehow kind of lost track of it. my loss. the ladyfriend and i have recently been tearing through the back episodes, and recently got to this particular highlight (a highlight that the distinguished rob "onion tangler" d. had wisely foretold of):


fyi, this is the only musical efforts they've ever had on the show. when i saw this, i literally laughed til i cried.

for those who don't already watch this gem of a show, every episode is available free online here. funniest show on tv.

happy thanksgiving everyone...

palin is back

Me

Hi-
JC and I will be at Manuel's Tavern (one of the first five places in Atlanta I would pick up and move out here if I could), next Friday the 28th, from 11 AM until a few hours later. Please drop by if you can.
JK

MB and Pineapple: For some reason I don't have your emails. If you can, even though you probably already have, please mail me them at jkga@myway.com. When you have time...

Let the Right One In

i saw "let the right one in" yesterday. for those of you who haven't heard, it's a swedish film, set in the woking-class Stockholm suburbs cir. 1970s, about the relationship between a sad, lonely, savagely bullied 12-year-old boy and his newly-arrived next-door neighbor, a vampire with the body and soul of a 12-year-old girl.

i thought it was good but not great upon walking out. it's definitely lingered in my mind and grown on me a great deal, though. upon reflection, as mis- / over-used as the superlative "haunting" is, i'd say it's definitely appropriate here. the relationship between the boy and the vampire girl is sweet and affecting: the timeless story of two despertately lonely kids who rescue each other from a world that appears to care little for their friendless, emotionally isolated existence. except that here, since one of them is a vampire of unknown age or origin, there's a palpable undercurrent of dread and just plain weirdness running through their relationship. this is definitely not a movie for kids or a first date (that depends, i guess). the little "girl" turns vicious and feral when she's "thirsty" (it's a genuinely scary genre flick at times), and although she doesn't enjoy or get off on killing to sate her bloodlust, neither does she apologize for who and what she is. the boy seems slightly disturbed by this, but not enough to not ask her to be his "girlfriend." she's all he's got, and the movie doesn't shy away from the fact that his loneliness may be blinding him to the possibility that he's, for want of a better way to put it, making a huge mistake. the implications and potential course of their relationship become painfully apparent in the wordless coda, which is terribly sad and will undoubtedly be cut out of the american remake (already in the works, natch). but go, reader, for the over-the-top final scene. it's stand-up-and-cheer uplifting, laugh-out-loud funny, perversely heartwarming, and, probably above all, shockingly tragic. don't fuck with a 12-year-old vampire's best friend.

potluck dinner redneck style

...just took this picture in Gainesville,GA...

sex and religion.

i came upon this article on the blog maintained by my neighbor, esteemed athens food critic hillary b. it discusses the differences in perceptions/attitudes toward sex among teenagers of various religious belief systems. just a couple snippets:

During the campaign, the media has largely respected calls to treat Bristol Palin’s pregnancy as a private matter. But the reactions to it have exposed a cultural rift that mirrors America’s dominant political divide. Social liberals in the country’s “blue states” tend to support sex education and are not particularly troubled by the idea that many teen-agers have sex before marriage, but would regard a teen-age daughter’s pregnancy as devastating news. And the social conservatives in “red states” generally advocate abstinence-only education and denounce sex before marriage, but are relatively unruffled if a teen-ager becomes pregnant, as long as she doesn’t choose to have an abortion....

....only half of sexually active teen-agers who say that they seek guidance from God or the Scriptures when making a tough decision report using contraception every time. By contrast, sixty-nine per cent of sexually active youth who say that they most often follow the counsel of a parent or another trusted adult consistently use protection.

it's a cool article/topic. and not simply because i feel like it validates my views on sex ed, etc. big cat and i have discuss some of this before, the fact that if college/travel/"career" aren't really in your vision of your future (or just seem hopelessly out of reach), then having a kid at 18 isn't necessarily screwing up. it feels really foreign to say that, but it's true. anyway, i think this is fascinating stuff. also note the first paragraph on page 3, hits pretty close to home.

6-0!?!

having failed to write a season preview [distracted by all that election nonsense], i would really be remiss if i didn't comment on the early success of the hometown atlanta hawks. through six games, they are fucking undefeated.

i have to say that josh childress has not really been missed. the fearless perimeter scoring of flip murray been a great surprise. add in the wing play of maurice evans, and they've at least made up for his loss. as for the hawks starting lineup:

joe johnson continues to be a star. he'll always be a notch below the lebron's and kobe's of the world, but i would contend only one notch below. a real shot-maker and [unfortunately for his fatigue level] also our best defender.

josh smith is a really improved player. he still takes stupid shots, like he's trying to create new shots on the fly (oh, and please lay off the threes). he needs to realize that, unless you happen to be one of the aforementioned olympian wing players, the NBA is about go-to moves (not creating new looks). smith still gets burned by his man, but his help defense and anticipation are great. and his athleticism is absurd. let's hope he gets back from the ankle injury quickly.

marvin williams has expanded his range over the summer. our starting small forward, who made 1 of 10 3 pt attempts all last season, is 4 of 7 so far this year. he still dribbles only in a straight line, and is prone to charges. but he is improved. notice how he soars for rebounds this year, seems like he improved his ups as well.

mike bibby still can't guard anybody...but he's been shooting well. two big threes in the 4th last night. his backup, acie law, has not looked too good. i actually prefer murray in there at point to close out games.

horford is an absolute beast. he looks stronger, his post game looks a lot more confident, and josh smith's temporary absence has forced him to really step up as an interior defender. he has done so admirably. to wit, his torching of his former gator teammate last night with a 27 pt, 17 reb, 6 block showing. with apologies to smith, of whom my opinion has very much improved, horford is definitely the second most valuable hawk. wouldn't be surprised if he were the most valuable within a year or two.


the hawks go up against the celtics tonight, in what will obviously be a challenging game. regardless of how this game comes out, the hawks really are a team to watch in the east.

btw, doing a google image search for noah, i came upon this blog entry. silly, but worth a glance at. also this.

congressman paul broun: making georgia proud!

i'm sure most have heard about this, but just in case:

The Rockdale Citizen

I think it's save to say that the editors of the Rockdale Citizen in Conyers, GA weren't too excited about the Obama win. Here's yesterday's front page:

In Alaska Africa is a country....

amazing
even more

YES!!!

the day is almost upon us...

i am so nervous about the election. don't get me wrong, there are definitely reasons for optimism. everything would have to go wrong for mccain to pull the upset. looking at the adjustable electoral map, forget about missouri, north carlina, geogia; if obama takes one of virginia, florida, ohio, or colorado/new mexico he takes it. there are some slightly worrying signs. i personally have my doubts about florida and ohio, but feel pretty good about virginia.

anyway, whatever. i'm no more qualified/knowledgable than anybody else to make such predictions. but i just feel so vested in this election. at this point, polls having said what they have, it really would be a little world-shattering if obama did not win.

fuck it. i'm just going to knock on wood and choose to be optimistic from here on out. that's what obama would want me to do.