Blogging Minnesota
12:41 - Hello, Ohio!
John Knefel, Jake Goldman, and I just entered Ohio. Road trips are always fun because you get to see all of America and then judge it.
We spent the last two hours listening to a mixture of inspirational music by the inspirational rock band, Europe, songs by the Red Army Choir, and Christmas music.
While we did so, we did another draft of the script for our show, Drilling For Freedom: Our 44th White Dude. Basically what we have left to do is make some final edits on a few Power Point presentations for the show.
Interesting story:
On the way, we stopped at a Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut combination for dinner. We sit down. At the counter are angry high school kids. Eating at another table are angry high school kids. This is a town that really keeps you down, man. If they get out of here, they're going to make that movie!
So, on the PA system, they're playing some ambient 50's music. And then the kids behind the counter switch out the music with Slipknot.
Yeah.
And the kids behind the counter and the kids at the table go crazy, like, “Fuck yeah! This is the type of music I play.” A few of them are trying to impress the girls by talking about their bands that play similar songs. One guy was saying his band was going on tour and he was going to skip college and get out of town with his band. And the girl kept clinging to his arm, like, “Really? That's so awesome. You're so awesome.” Giving him the eye.
Which filled me with wonder. Because we were witnessing a consistently repeated moment in history: the moment a young man looks around him and finds his world wanting. The moment he takes the skills he's developed in spite of the challenges around him. The moment he packs his bags, decides to become a true artist, and says, “I hate it here! These people don't deserve me! I'm leaving this town tomorrow, right after I have unprotected sex with my girlfriend.”
1:50 Central Time - We're Here
We're in Minnesota. Right now we're driving to John's friends' house where we'll be crashing the better part of a week. The city's looking good. Sort of reminds me of Ft. Lauderdale in terms of layout. It's also a lot hotter than I expected being a humid really fucking hot degrees.
After waking up to the sun rising over Chicago, we ate breakfast at the legendary Cracker Barrel. Knefel, never having been before, compared it to a buffet called “Paul Bunyan's.” At Paul Bunyan's, Knefel says, you sit at a long table as waiters bring you an endless amount of food. As soon as you plate is empty, they bring you more eggs, bacon, dough nuts, and the like. Which, to me, sounds like the American nightmare. I just imagine a Paul Bunyan's 2227 in which robot waiters keep piling food on helpless victims, drowning in maple syrup and crushed by pancakes. Every time a plate clears, they rush out and replace the food, like the old Loony Toon.
I'm about half-way through James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I know most people read it in high school. I didn't, though. I think I'm enjoying it despite Joyce's quirks. There's a real possibility I'm not smart enough for books that don't have space ships, time machines, and dinosaurs in them. That's a something I'm quite comfortable with.
Knefel, Goldman, and I have spent most of the morning talking about Palin as Vice President. The general consensus is that she's a “Hail Mary Play” (Knefel's wording), an attempt by McCain to pick up angry Hillary voters and appeal to the ultra-conservative base. At the same time, she's even more inexperienced than Obama is, thus diffusing the Republican argument that someone with his years in office doesn't deserve the White House. She's also being investigated in her home state of Alaska for illegally firing a policeman. As she likes to say, she's pro guns, babies, and God. Yikes.
We're here.
John Knefel, Jake Goldman, and I just entered Ohio. Road trips are always fun because you get to see all of America and then judge it.
We spent the last two hours listening to a mixture of inspirational music by the inspirational rock band, Europe, songs by the Red Army Choir, and Christmas music.
While we did so, we did another draft of the script for our show, Drilling For Freedom: Our 44th White Dude. Basically what we have left to do is make some final edits on a few Power Point presentations for the show.
Interesting story:
On the way, we stopped at a Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut combination for dinner. We sit down. At the counter are angry high school kids. Eating at another table are angry high school kids. This is a town that really keeps you down, man. If they get out of here, they're going to make that movie!
So, on the PA system, they're playing some ambient 50's music. And then the kids behind the counter switch out the music with Slipknot.
Yeah.
And the kids behind the counter and the kids at the table go crazy, like, “Fuck yeah! This is the type of music I play.” A few of them are trying to impress the girls by talking about their bands that play similar songs. One guy was saying his band was going on tour and he was going to skip college and get out of town with his band. And the girl kept clinging to his arm, like, “Really? That's so awesome. You're so awesome.” Giving him the eye.
Which filled me with wonder. Because we were witnessing a consistently repeated moment in history: the moment a young man looks around him and finds his world wanting. The moment he takes the skills he's developed in spite of the challenges around him. The moment he packs his bags, decides to become a true artist, and says, “I hate it here! These people don't deserve me! I'm leaving this town tomorrow, right after I have unprotected sex with my girlfriend.”
1:50 Central Time - We're Here
We're in Minnesota. Right now we're driving to John's friends' house where we'll be crashing the better part of a week. The city's looking good. Sort of reminds me of Ft. Lauderdale in terms of layout. It's also a lot hotter than I expected being a humid really fucking hot degrees.
After waking up to the sun rising over Chicago, we ate breakfast at the legendary Cracker Barrel. Knefel, never having been before, compared it to a buffet called “Paul Bunyan's.” At Paul Bunyan's, Knefel says, you sit at a long table as waiters bring you an endless amount of food. As soon as you plate is empty, they bring you more eggs, bacon, dough nuts, and the like. Which, to me, sounds like the American nightmare. I just imagine a Paul Bunyan's 2227 in which robot waiters keep piling food on helpless victims, drowning in maple syrup and crushed by pancakes. Every time a plate clears, they rush out and replace the food, like the old Loony Toon.
I'm about half-way through James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I know most people read it in high school. I didn't, though. I think I'm enjoying it despite Joyce's quirks. There's a real possibility I'm not smart enough for books that don't have space ships, time machines, and dinosaurs in them. That's a something I'm quite comfortable with.
Knefel, Goldman, and I have spent most of the morning talking about Palin as Vice President. The general consensus is that she's a “Hail Mary Play” (Knefel's wording), an attempt by McCain to pick up angry Hillary voters and appeal to the ultra-conservative base. At the same time, she's even more inexperienced than Obama is, thus diffusing the Republican argument that someone with his years in office doesn't deserve the White House. She's also being investigated in her home state of Alaska for illegally firing a policeman. As she likes to say, she's pro guns, babies, and God. Yikes.
We're here.
posted by Mike Drucker at
12:26 PM
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