By Example

Living up to the tradition of his namesake, our own Rex Grossman took a hard hit Saturday night. His front leg was fractured when he got caught up between my legs. I don't think i stepped on him, but whatever happened, he's down, early in his second season (spring).

Rex' vocal development has been impressive over the last 6 weeks or so and since Saturday he's been very expressive. In the great beagle tradition (half of Rex' ancestry) Rex has a wide array of barks, whines, and whimpers at his disposal.

Right after the accident happened we knew something more serious was wrong than his previous minor scrapes. His yelp was piercing and consistent, downright scary. After taking him to a 24-hour emergency vet, i've spent the last 36 hours fretting about permanant physical and psychological damage i've done to my puppy. Although he does seem to be feeling a bit better, he had to spend last night away from home and when i saw him this morning he looked sad (and stoned).

Though the final verdict is still out and Rex may ultimately require surgery, the doctor i spoke to this morning was optimistic and he could recover in as little as 2-3 weeks... an astoundingly short period of time, in my mind...

***

And, now, mid-post i've gotten a call from the doc & he does, indeed require puppy surgery (Rex, not the doctor). His prognosis is good, though, and he should look a lot better very soon indeed. Rex should be ready to win us a Super Bowl by next season...

Middling Iowa

We found ourselves in Iowa City, Iowa for St. Patrick's Day Weekend, due to a mixture of tightened budgets, familial uncertainty, and serendipity. My brother Tim had the notion to bring his family to meet up with my parents, Brooke, Rex Grossman, and me in the Amana Colonies' Wasserbahn resort. The colonies are pretty much exactly half way between Clinton, Wisconsin and Omaha and the Wasserbahn sign always looks very impressive.

Upon discovering, however, that a nightly rate for the WB hotel was approximately $14,000 Tim rethought the trip. While there was talk of my parents coming all the way to Omaha or cancelling entirely we persevered and settled on the Travelodge - Iowa City (as a side-note...click on the travelodge link and look at the picture of the bathroom {thumbnails below}. Look for a moment. Now, where is the camera?).

Not sure as to whether we'd actually go or not, Brooke and i (& Rex) settled on a single night at the hotel, thinking Iowa City only had, at most 12 hours of entertainment possibility. Serendipitously, however, my good friend nateG informed me that he had been accepted to Iowa's Mass Media program and he and lissa were thinking of making a trip to the big IC that very weekend. Additionally, jackie was also planning on being at home in Center Junction, Iowa (home of the Lib'ry Inn) and possibly making the 1 hour trip in for the St. Patrick's festivities in Iowa City.

So, we piled in the car and Rex made his longest car ride to date without incident (by which i mean peeing on us or the seat). Although having Nate & Lissa and Jackie (not to mention Sandy and Angela who live there) around probably distracted from our familial obligations, we did discover that Iowa City is a pretty damn cool town. From campus and it's old Capitol building to Masala Indian Vegetarian Cuisine to an It's Brothers satellite (untouched by us this trip) the life in Iowa City seems good. Though not as scenic, it reminded me of Decorah with just the right mix of townie life, hippie life, and college life (perhaps a little heavier on the collegial).

St. Patrick's Day started off promisingly enough, with Nate partaking in an afternoon green beer & joel tucking into a Guinness. After dinner and birthday cake with the family we headed back out to wander from bar to bar looking for open seats. The Deadwood bar was definitely a highlight, though the memory is as hazy as the air inside was. To cap off the night brooke, jax and i hit a trashy bar that may have been called the Hilltop where they were passing out Jell-O shots just before closing... a sort of parting 'one-for-the-road' sort of gift...except you pay for it. All in all, the bar scene in Iowa City mirrored the rest of the town, with a good balance of trashy, classy, hipster and poser. If you find yourself inexplicably in Iowa City, fear not for it has much to offer.

Lend me your eyes

I have been made the editor of German film reviews for the Culture Club. Not so much the Boy George variety, rather for George Washington & Georgetown University one. To whit, i call upon any German-Language movie buffs or any German-Language Buff Movie buffs (Pumping Iron, anyone) to write about them... get published, get a byline, don't get a check... That's right, although the writing is rewarding and the being read is rewarding, you won't actually be rewarded monetarily speaking.

The reviews on the website range from in-depth to extremely simplistic, so say as much as you like. Reviews can be in German or English and anywhere from 75 words to 500, or more. Anyway, so far its just been me writing the reviews (is 'it has' a situation for the "it's" or do i stick with my 'only use an apostrophe with "it is"' rule?), so i'd love some fresh blood. So, check out me on the editor's page and think about finally checking out Nosferatu...

P.S. If you happen to be listening to any German music & want to write about it you'd certainly help my brother out, as well, or any movies books music websites of any other language you might be partial to. Essentially, i want to up and vary the dialogue at the site, so, lend me your minds...


Pumping Iron (25th Anniversary Special Edition)

Thunder...THunder...THUnder

THUNderSNOW! Whoaaaaaaaa....

Have any of you ever seen thundersnow? Last night on the news the weatherman was talking about it and i was sort of like, yeahsurewhatever, but this morning at 5:24 am Omaha was racked (wracked?) by thundersnow and it was truly a sight to be seen. Blizzard-like snow conditions alongside the booming and crackling of a thunderstorm.

Because Rex Grossman can only occasionally make it through the night these days without having to get up and pee i was up at 3:40 & 4:45 at which time there was literally no snow on the ground and minimal sleet. An hour later (after the thundersnow had started) there was at least a foot and a half of snow on my sidewalk and apocalyptic signs all around...

Seeing the thundersnow was like this world-altering sort of moment, where you sort of think you know how things work, but now rules are being broken and you just have to accept them. It was a big snow storm, but then occasionally, interruptively, the sky would boom & proclaim a thunderstorm... but the snow & wind would continue. It was a very strange thing. We're most of the way dug out, though tomorrow is another snow day for almost everybody... The sight was truly mesmerizing. Two natural phenomena that simply don't belong together working together to impress me... Man i'm a lucky guy...

Check again

I enjoyed the Oscar broadcast last night--not quite as much as i did Jon Stewart's last year--but nearly. I thought Ellen was very funny in her awkward, embarrassed to be here Ellen way and over the past few weeks i'd made a concerted effort to see several nominated films so i was better informed as to who should win and lose than i am most years. That being said, the evening wasn't without disappointments, but most of my disappointments actually came at the nominee announcements, rather than at the actual broadcast. Films like Stranger Than Fiction and Borat surely deserved nominations in several categories (Borat's one illogical nomination for best adapted screenplay was a nod, i think, to its greatness, and also an acknowledgement of the inherent conservitism of the Academy). I also thought The Departed was tossed a few too many awards (Screenplay & Editing come to mind) beating out Children of Men and United 93, which i felt were very worthy movies that came away with no wins.

As to the show itself, Will Ferrell's song was apt, but it seemed like he'd already taken John C. Reilly's advice with Stranger Than Fiction without reward. I think its a sad state of affairs when the apparatus responsible for determining 'worthy film' (and then by extension most everyone) continues to see comedy as a lesser art. There are just as many terrible dramas out every year as comedies, but great comedies never get the recognition. For my money there wasn't a smarter, more important film last year than Borat, but not only does Sasha Baron Cohen get completely ignored for his stellar performance, the film was essentially wholly ignored simply because it's a comedy. I'm not the first to point this out (obviously, Will Farrell pointed it out less than 24 hours ago) and many have made the case far better than i ever could (Douglas Adams' introduction to P. G. Wodehouse's book Sunset at Blandings [also available in Adams' Salmon of Doubt {an absolutely amazing read}] makes this case quite well), but i think it bears repeating, because, to parrot Stephen King's argument about short stories, great comedy needs to be encouraged and supported, so consume it, read it watch it write it... write about it. Critique it analyze it live it. We need good humor in our world, not just as some sort of salve for our pain, but in its own right, as its own force. Humor is what will allow us all to step back, take a breath, and see things for what the really are... a farce.

Gains & Losses

I buried my guinea pig today. Bitey Gilbertson, possibly the greatest guinea pig of all time has passed away.

2007 has been something of the proverbial roller coaster thus far and i've been in something of a funk, but i feel like the digging and filling of a hole in the ground has worked some therapeutic magic on me. So, as Jonas Mekas' project enters its 54th day i share the sparrow's feeling of freedom and release, with it comes the need to tell my story.

As i said, 2007 has already had its highs and lows. Gilbertson's passing was really hard to take. When we came back to Omaha after Christmas we noticed a sudden weight gain in him. After a couple of vet visits he had some treatment that was working on and off, but he wasn't himself. He died in his sleep, likely of a sudden heart failure.
That same weekend, Brooke's birthday, DaveT, Carolyn & Brigette were visiting and we accrued a new family member. Rex Grossman, a 2-month-old 'Bogle' (or perhaps a Boglin Terrier), came home Sunday afternoon. Part Beagle, part Boston Terrier, Rex seems to have gotten the best of both doggie worlds and is a fine looking, kinda gross, puppy. Aside from a nasty poop-eating habit the little guy is pretty cool.

On a related 2007 hi-low, January was spent watching my precious Bears win their way through to the Super Bowl and after Devin Hester's opening return i thought it was our year. But despite my obvious disappointment at the outcome they had an amazing run and i am actually excited for next year.

My first quarter of teaching at Metro Community College wraps up next week. The quarter went fairly well, though, i think what it was really good for was giving me an idea of how to do this next quarter. I've seen growth in several of my students and will likely only have to end up failing/giving incompletes to a couple of them.

It's also the season of graduate school news. Stanford wrote me to request that i kindly not go to school there, please, but i did get an acceptance letter of sorts from UW-Milwaukee. The last few days have been quite spring-y indeed and though i hear a wintering is coming this weekend, overall, things are looking up.

Da Bears

Oh it's been too long.

21 Years in fact. That doesn't even seem like a reasonable amount of time to think about, but it's literally how long i've been waiting.

The Bears are going back to the Super Bowl. I don't even know quite how to accept it. There is no team i like quite like i like the Bears. And though they were decent last season, this was the first year in a long time that i've actually expected something out of them (granted, every year in august i predict they will go undefeated, but this was the first season i meant it).

I can't quite imagine who exactly will rap, but the Super Bowl Shuffle is back on. Oh oh oh go Bears!