Nyotaimori

recently i got an email from a teacher at USF asking me to give a 1.5 hour lecture on anime on campus. in return for this generous chunk of my oh-so-valuable time, i would be reimbursed to the tune of 250 DOLLARS. my response to this, obviously, was terror and greed. public speaking? cash money?

cash money won out. so on november 7th i’ll be giving a (theoretically) well-attended event at my alma mater. and i just talked to the teacher and he explained that it’s not really so much about me lecturing as it is about me introducing video clips and playing them. he said if it’s a really gripping story i could show up to 30 minutes worth of video in one fell swoop. i will hardly have to talk at all! for $250! this is awesome!

saturday, download festival, shoreline ampitheatre

conversations with dave and david (aka polly and pollyanna)

ON THE MERITS OF LITERATURE

me: so polly, enjoying your book?

polly: what? my name isn’t polly.

me: well i can’t remember the name of the magician’s nephew.

polly: so i have to be polly?

me: we all have our crosses to bear.

sea basss: mine is cayenne pepper.

THE RIGHT WAY TO GROOVE

me: why doesn’t your little friend dance, polly?

polly: he’s more of a head-nodder.

me: well in all of pollyanna’s stoic excitement he should be careful not to fall out of a tree and break his arm because you know what that leads to.

polly: pollyanna?

me: the diminutive of you.

polly: that doesn’t quite work.

me: shut it polly.

pollyanna: what does it lead to?

me (with relish): jam and home visits.

sea basss: i like marmalade.

me: someone get the baster!

sea basss: i said marmalade!

me: it’s time to marinade!

*download festival IM screen quote

i threw a small party this weekend with rummy fruit drink and ended up cutting the hair of 4 friends. the two should most likely not have been combined together. rum and scissors? who vouchsafed that insanity?

at around noon, i puttered up to the phill theatre to buy serenity tickets for tonight’s extravaganza. walking up to the ticket seller, i eyed the old people with walkers hanging about with suspicion. were they buying tickets for serenity tonight? would i receive tennis ball shaped bruises as we fought for seats later on? the ticket seller smiled at me pleasantly. after all, it is her job.

two tickets for serenity tonight at 9, please. i demanded. politely. she looked at me agape for a moment. Nine? she queried. i nodded delightedly. for what movie? she asked. as if there could be any doubt! what other movie would i possibly be so excited to see tonight that i bought tickets NINE HOURS in advance for it. into the blue? the greatest game ever played? i think not. other than the bump of disbelief i encountered, the transaction went off smoothly otherwise and i am now in possession of tickets for serenity–the greatest ship that ever sailed into the vast reaches of space. except for all those other really important space ships. stupid golfing movie.

…my weirdness, i have become a baseball cap (hat? cap? i don’t know) wearer. i put it on yesterday and drove to i heart teriyaki for lunch (at 3pm). never noticed before, but now people in baseball hats draw my eye like silly string aimed at an unsuspecting foe. i feel like part of something. a larger community. of people wearing baseball hats. not other hats. not those four weddings and a funeral monstrosities, only the simple elegance of a baseball aficionado. we are one. we are brothers and sisters in a common element. i look at them and my heart feels at peace. i speak out to them and say, ‘you beese my homies, bro.’

would anyone like to go to a concert with me? it’s october 8 (saturday) and the main stage will have: the killers, modest mouse, arcade fire, doves, and british sea power. it’s at the shoreline and cheapest tickets on the lawn are $30. starts at noon.

more info here.

also, i give you fair warning now: never play badminton with ellie. never. or tyler for that matter. but only because he is 1.5 and has no motor control so the shuttlecock will constantly just land a little to the side of him while he stares at you in seeming bewilderment. ellie, on the other hand, aims for the eyeball.

1. the open bar

2. colin saying, well, pretty much anything. but mostly “WHOOOOO knOOOOOOOWWs?”

3. the porta-potty

4. the woman in green

5. passing notes in church out of sheer boredom with the greek orthodox (LONG) ceremony *(see extended)*

6. convincing a 10 year old neighbor kid that erica does the voice of lois on family guy. (i really had no part of in that lie. i was just throwing almonds down her shirt when garth started lying to the 10 year old.)

7. jenny’s rage black out where she killed the groom

8. telling jesus to step off

9. (not actually at the wedding, but) the interior decoration job at our hotel

10. getting very drunk with jenny, sarah, and erica, causing us to tell lindsey’s cousins scandalous stories about our college years, causing the rest of the wedding party to shush us during toasts, and granting us the title of rowdy vixens, the belles of the ball.

all other pictures can be viewed in the album from here.

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