This is a video a co-worker sent to me about carp hunters.
Basically, someone introduced an invasive, Asian species of carp into the fresh waters of Illinois. Not only is the fish damaging the local ecology, it has the incredibly bizarre habit of LEAPING out of the water at boats. Which would be fine, if it wasn’t a 5-lb piece of spiky lean meat. I have personally been finned by smallmouth bass, and can only imagine how suck it must be to encounter one of these flying fish.
To combat this, some local gentlemen decided to do battle with these fish in possibly the MOST American way they could – by donning spiked football helmets, taking up swords, and being pulled behind a boat on water-skis. It does my heart good to see people following their bliss, whatever it is, with such gusto. Possibly I’m also moved because of all the time I spent water-skiing as a child, which were experiences equal parts fun and terrifying.
Please enjoy.
For a wonder, this is not happening in Florida. But since I sent my dad this video it’s probably only a matter of time before it is.
I want Eddie Murphy to go the Bill Murray route, and be in a string of brilliant comedies with a profound emotional center that win all the awards and set him up for the legacy he’s worked so hard to create.
I’ve been working on an entry on Eddie Murphy for a few months now, so when I saw that he was going to be in something new I got really excited. “Oh gosh! This is so timely! He must be making a comeback!” Yay!
Then this trailer happened:
As happy as I am to see him in a big film that’s getting a lot of coverage, that is how disappointed I am to see him in a film that is actually about a pretty blonde girl. I cringed as I ticked off the boxes below:
I want Eddie Murphy to make a comeback in a huge way, and be in some amazing film that blows our minds and returns him to the forefront of American cinema. I want Eddie Murphy to go the Bill Murray route, and be in a string of brilliant comedies with a profound emotional center that win all the awards and set him up for the legacy he’s worked so hard to create. He’s smart, savvy, and a great entertainer. I do not want him to be taking shit from a snotty little girl. I do not want him to be the supporting character to a little girl’s journey of self-discovery.
Maybe that’s not what this movie is! Maybe it’s too complicated to be summed up by a trailer, so to get people into the theater and talking about it, the filmmakers went with the ‘Well let’s do the tearjerker Mom Dies Of Cancer angle! That’ll get people to buy tickets!’
I want to believe! I want to!
Anyway, I hope that you’re having a great week, and that you have a great weekend. I went outside to see if I could spot any meteors from the Perseid Meteor Shower last night, but the sky was pretty overcast and I didn’t see anything. Maybe tonight’s the night!
Perhaps other people have already identified the meaning behind this hat tip and I just missed it. Googling has found nothing about it, and so maybe it’s just my imagination, but I’d like to think that the hat tip is referencing another famous hat tip.
Because I am scum, I have still not written the Eddie Murphy post. I just can’t seem to get it together to work on it, and put the appropriate amount of energy and fun into it. But I shall persevere! Probably next week, as this week is going to be busy between work deadlines and writing stuff.
In the meantime, I would like to throw this out there. I am SURE someone has already talked about the connection between Oscar Wilde and Janelle Monae, but in case not…
The business of life has been more wearying than usual lately. I’m doing my best to keep productive and upbeat, but daily horrors on the news are making it an uphill slog.
Currently I’m working on a nice big post about Eddie Murphy and how I miss his creative output (yes, I know he’s still alive). Lots of fun rehashes of some of his best work, both old and … well, mostly old because I haven’t seen much of his work lately. But anyway, stay tuned for that! I’m also three episodes into Stranger Things, the Netflix series that basically has distilled American 80s film culture into a potent brew. I’m loving it so far! When I’m done I’ll do a write-up on that, too.
In the meantime, please enjoy this charming little song, The Unquiet Grave. It’s a folk song about a man in love with a ghost, and dates back to 14th century England. A version of it appeared on Penny Dreadful, sung first by Evelyn Poole and then refrained by her daughter, which is where I first heard of it. After a little digging I found the whole song, sung by a woman with a lovely plaintive voice in a slightly faster tempo than it appeared in the show. I’ll post the lyrics below, with some additional punctuation to make the speakers more clear.
The Unquiet Grave
Cold blows the wind to my true love and gently drops the rain
I only had but one true love
and in Greenwood she lies slain.
I’ll do as much for my true love
as any young girl may.
I’ll sit and mourn upon her grave
for twelve month and a day.
When the twelve months and one day had passed
her ghost began to speak,
“Why sittest thou all on my grave
and will not let me sleep?”
There is one thing that I want sweetheart,
there is one thing that I crave.
And that is a kiss from your lily white lips,
then I’ll go from your grave.
“My lips they are as cold as clay,
my breath smells earthy strong
And if you kiss my cold clay lips,
your days they won’t be long.
Go fetch me water from the desert
and blood from out of stone,
Go fetch me milk from a fair maid’s breast
that a young man never has known.”
T’was down in Cupid’s garden
where you and I would walk.
The finest flower that ever I saw
is withered to a stalk.
“The stalk is withered and dry sweetheart,
the flower will never return.”
And since I lost my one true love,
what can I do but mourn?
When shall we meet again, sweetheart,
when shall me meet again?
“When the old dead leaves that fall from the trees
are green and spring up again.”
When shall we meet again, sweetheart,
when shall me meet again?
“When the old dead leaves that fall from the trees
are green and spring up again.”
I’m on my way to get frozen yogurt with friends. Or actually just watch them eat, since I can’t eat sugar and sugar-free fro-yo tastes like exisential ennui feels. Still! I’m out of the house!
I’m working on a big Penny Dreadful post for Thursday. I have over 1600 words, and am trying to get it into something other than the massive info dump it currently is.
In the meantime, please enjoy this bunch of fangirl stuff in honor of my current Imaginary Boyfriend, The Creature/Caliban/John Clare.
I have no explanation. This is just where I am this week.
And for your listening pleasure, the Calibaniest of Caliban Songs, an acoustic version of Rozz Williams and Gitane Demone’s Flowers. Rozz Williams was the lead singer for Christian Death, and was one of the grandfathers of the goth movement before he killed himself at 34. So, that. Anyway! Here’s the song! I think Caliban would enjoy moping to it.
From Blake’s “Auguries of Innocence”
John Clare on Tinder – “Favorite things: sitting in a darkened tunnel full of cholera sufferers and quoting Blake, being on the lowest rung of society, suffering (mine and trying to prevent yours), misinterpreting social cues”
Me – *FURIOUSLY SWIPING RIGHT*
THERE. All the fangirl is out. Except it isn’t – I’m planning to cosplay as John Clare at Orlando’s Spooky Empire convention, because the costume would be fun to make and I haven’t dressed up for a con in a long, long time. I went after work to a local special effects makeup studio and got some makeup, a bald cap, and some pointers from the shop’s owner. The black clothes I pretty much already have, I just need a coat, wig, and yellow contacts.
I’m in quite a cheerful mood lately. I’m on my way to get frozen yogurt with friends for someone’s birthday. Or actually just watch them eat, since I can’t eat sugar and sugar-free fro-yo tastes like existential ennui feels. Still! I’m out of the house!
Please tune in Thursday for an actual review of Showtime’s wonderful horror melodrama!
