Crispin Glover on Letterman

I stumbled across this on YouTube and I dedicate it to all of you Crispin Glover fans out there. He's a genius. Or something.

The Tree that Didn't Fall

It could have been bad. Really bad. But ultimately it looks as if all the "worst case scenarios" were simply helpful experience for the coming zombie apocalypse or whatever else is on the brink of happening.

What was it, you ask? Well, it was something that could have been bad.

I like trees. But sometimes trees lose their way. This happened in my world because the tree outside our house begin to show some very realistic signs of wanting to fall. Like this:


And Jane (who owns the house) came and did this:

Which, as silly looking and orange as it might be, evidently saved us all. Some guys came to cut the tree out this morning and told us it was being held by a single branch and that the silly looking orange strap allowed it to stay in place. So, crisis averted. The tree didn't fall into the street and knock out power lines or fall into our house and knock out Roy and Mandie's bird.

Good thing, too. Because yesterday Kevin and I had a conversation -- wait, "conversation" -- with the strange old lady next door who told us that she would sue everybody if that tree fell into her house. And, oh, if that happened (which would, of course, also had defied every law of physics, but whatever) it would be like "when Grant took Richmond." Really. She said that. Like two or three times in the conversation. "If that tree falls on my house it'll be like when Grant took Richmond."

Fortunately, it was fairly peaceful. So Grant didn't have to take Richmond at all. Whew.

One last look? Sure:

Kevinfest Day #5

Kevinfest wrapped up with a trip to the world of professional academia, as Day #5 took us to the New Play Project and a series of plays that featured a play by one of Kevin's former students (he was my student too, but this is about me. He was my student twice, really, but again, not about me). So we went to support a student and rub noses with professorial colleagues like....

Steve Feffer, Kevin's prof, friend, etc. etc. He's my friend too, but y'know, not about me.
Steve's wife was there too. And, well, this picture is about me (and Laura). So there.

Here Chapel and Kevin stand in the lobby at intermission. I got locked out of the theater sneaking out to make a phone call after the first of two plays before the intermission. Served me right, likely.

Michelle and Kevin -- attending all five nights of Kevinfest. She deserves a gold star. Somebody give her a gold star.

Chapel can have a gold star too.

So, Kevinfest is a wrap and it was a rousing, exhausting success. Thanks to everyone who made appearances and who issued well-wishes. Day #5 continued after I left but I haven't spoken to anybody about what happened after the New Play Project, but I can speculate that Kevinfest continued to rock until the bitter end. Now, some sleep.

Kevinfest Day #4

After an exhausting night of clubbing at the Wayside, Day #4 of Kevinfest was, mercifully, a bit more low key. This penultimate day of the 'fest brought us back to the present day, a world in which bbq'ing and hanging out at Michelle's place are fairly commonplace occurrences. While waiting for the gang to arrive, Michelle, Kevin, and I watched an episode of LOST and if there's a better way to enact the current grade school life, I'm not sure what it could be. And from there, we went outside.

Here's Kevin. He's even wearing a WMU shirt to signify the fact he attended WMU. Man, those actors. Always in character.


Cindy, a night removed from breaking hearts at the Wayside, gives the camera a stern look. For the record, the camera used for this photo shoot was Michelle's. Hence the datestamp in the lower corner.

Bob arrived. And he decided to dig a hole in the backyard.

Which looked like fun, so I helped.

See, Kevinfest is about friends working together to make things like...

a barely visible hole in the ground.


Meanwhile, darts were played. Eventually Michelle brought out new darts that would actually stick to the board. That helped with the enjoyment of the game.

Linda. Maybe she's thinking about darts. 'Cause she and Kevin won.

This picture might not seem very interesting, but when I was taking pictures of everyone, the camera wouldn't let me take pictures of Bob. Not sure why, it just wouldn't. Maybe Bob was in a spot of bad light, something, but the camera wouldn't acknowledge him. Finally I got this picture. Kevin's theory is that the camera has one of those "face recognition" deals and Bob was too horrific to photograph. That's silly, of course. Though of the pictures I've shared, not a one of Bob actually features his face. Hmmm.

Anyway, I was too tired to stick around for long, but the night evidently continued on much like this. So, there's grad school night in a nutshell. Tomorrow, Kevinfest concludes with a trip to the future. It's "professional" night. Or something.

Kevinfest Day #3

For night #3 of Kevinfest, we decided to pay tribute to the undergraduate college years by going to the Wayside. For those not in the know, the Wayside would not be a common destination for our group. It was described by a friend who declined the invitation to go as a "cesspool." But fortunately, we survived the cesspool. Here is a photo documentary of our night at the Wayside.

Man, pictures of people dancing in dark places is hard. Still, I gave it my best.

Kevin may or may not have been moving when I took this picture. But he was holding a drink. That's fairly undeniable.

There was some shaking going on.

I believe at this point, Beth was describing the significance and wonder of tequila. She was quite passionate about this point.

This is Cindy. She's a dude magnet.

Here's the crew after being asked to leave the dance floor area. We rocked too hard. And they were closing up.

Adeena was appalled.

Here's a picture of everyone. My spirit is here since I'm taking the picture and all. Immediately after this, we were asked to leave. Yes, we stayed at the Wayside until close and had to be kicked out. Man, that's not something that happens everyday. And then Adeena got in a fight with some guys in the parking lot and told them to call "1-800-Get-a-Soul." Really. Just a typical night out, really.

Kevinfest Day #2

If you saw yesterday's photoblog, dear reader, you know that for Day #1 of Kevinfest, we played minigolf and laser tag as a symbolic representation of the beginning of a person's journey through life. For Day #2, we took that symbolic journey though high school. By recreating a version of high school that likely none of us had ever experienced. The journey began by meeting the group over at....

The Harding's parking lot. That's where fun lives.
So we sat on our cars and stuff, trying to figure out what we should do.


Kevin got some guy to buy him beer.

For the sake of the high school theme, Roy and I pretend to be awkward. Yeah, pretend.

As the sun set (thus proving that we actually did hang out at that parking lot for a while) we met up with some of our other friends and decided we should go....


To Steak 'n Shake. Roy is excited. I should have gotten a better picture of the sign.

This is the inside of Steak 'n Shake. Michelle knew the girl that worked there so we got a good table.

So we ended up back at my place.

And Kevin made a circle of cards in a game that took a long time.


But everyone was happy!

Join us tomorrow for snapshots of whatever it is that happens tonight....when we attempt to recreate undergraduate college life. Yay?

Kevinfest Day #1

Kevinfest is a five day long event in commemoration of the successes of Dr. Kevin Drzakowski as he moves on to his new job in Wisconsin. Each day of Kevinfest has a unique theme that symbolizes a step in the journey of a person's life. For the first day, we went and played mini-golf and laser tag and bumper cars and all that. I don't have any pictures from the bumper cars and laser tag (since I was too busy bumping and shooting), but I have plenty of pictures from other stuff. Behold! Kevinfest, Day #1

Michele likes Quiznos! Maybe not, but she's in front of the sign anyway.

There are only so many way to photograph mini-golf. You should see all of the pictures I took that were golf legs and a golf ball. Actually, you shouldn't see them. They were boring. That's why I didn't post them.

But I did post this one. Which isn't particularly exciting either. Though you might wonder where the golf ball is, I guess.

We had loot bags with fun stuff in them.

And cupcakes.

Chapel and I shoot simultaneously to save time.

Linda and Michele at the Pizzazz-a-Rama.


Kevinfest Day #1 was dramatic indeed. For those wondering, Kevin won the mini-golf. Chapel dominated the Laser Tag. Kevin and Linda did well at the bowling. And I won the Bumper Cars. And no one can prove I didn't.

TV is fun!

Of course you all know this, but it's a significant enough cultural moment to warrant a mention from me. Those cavemen from the Geico commercials are getting their own ABC TV show in the fall. Honestly. As far as I know, it's a comedy, hopefully something like those "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" skits that Phil Hartman used to do on SNL and, since those commercials kinda were like the "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer" skits anyway, I think we can assume it will be. For the three or four weeks it airs. I'm being unfair, of course, I like the commercials. And I might even be willing to watch it once. Just to find out how they'd possibly attempt to pull this off. But the big thing is the precedent this might set:


Think about it -- Caveman commercial characters getting their own show. Is this the beginning of a potential trend? Because, man if it is, I'm stoked. Just think about the shows we could see in the not too distant future if TV commercials spawned themselves into full-length TV programs.

The obvious one for me is one I've been pushing for years. I mean, Kevin (not Bacon) and I essentially have the first season or two of this one already plotted out and, really, it's fantastic. It's a sitcom that features those two guys from Hanes ads....the hoops star and the well-connected actor? Yep, Kevin Bacon and Michael Jordan living together, throwing their underwear at other. It certainly would be great fun. Let's call it -- "Six Degrees of Michael Jordan" or something. Y'know, it's got that crazy rock 'n roller Kevin Bacon and that straight-laced businessman Michael Jordan living together in a modest apartment. Uh oh! Insert comic hijinx here!

Speaking of buddy-oriented TV shows...I think this would be worth watching: a sit-com revolving around the adventures of those guys from the Sonic ads, you know, the guys that just sit in their cars and talk to each other. We'd be able to have a large cast, too, since those ads occasionally feature different people, too. But only two people in the car at a time. It's very high concept. We might try to throw somebody peeking in from the backseat, but that's something best saved for a game-changing season finale or something. If we make it a sitcom and do away with some of the product placement so inherent within the commercials themselves, it might be tricky to explain why these people are always in their cars, but whatever. Why do we even need to explain? Just hand those guys a couple of burgers and watch 'em do funny stuff! That's a hit!

Or maybe a show that revolves around that guy who can't try his girlfriend's chicken sandwich at Wendy's even though he's sitting right across from her because he's really NOT sitting right across from her because he's really at the big game and managed to create a hologram of himself to make her THINK he was hanging out with her (thus consciously choosing some non-specified other activity over eating the product being advertised. Makes perfect sense). But, really, I want to see these two in their natural element. He's probably able to make some wacky-cool gadgets and, clearly, they have a healthy relationship built on truth and trust, so that would be fun.

Or what about that super annoying Filet-o-Fish ad that McDonald's has got going. I've only seen it once -- it's two F-o-F sandwiches having a conversation, sort of. One sandwich says "Filet-o-Fish" and the other pronounces it in a slightly different way thus prompting the first to repeat it in the original way and thus prompting the second Filet-o-Fish to repeat again the same way it did the first time. And this keeps going for, like, the entire half-minute of the ad or, more accurately, the rest of your life. So, yeah, I'd like to see a tv show built around the concept of two breaded fish sandwiches with oddly shaped pieces of cheese on them talking to each other. When I saw this ad, I thought, "wow that's an awful ad. Why would this make anyone want to eat that?" And then I remembered it was for a Filet-o-Fish and, really, who eats those anyway? Maybe McDonald's has done an amazing job of tapping into that particular segment of their customer base -- the 26 people who actually eat Filet-o-Fish sandwiches--and knows exactly what gets those people going. Man, I really miss when Burger King used to call their fish sandwich "The Whaler." Who thought that was a good idea. Maybe fast-food fish sandwiches are just forever doomed.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Any TV spots that are ready for a prime-time shot? Share with me, shall you? Goodness knows, I need some feedback to keep from being distracted by the outside world and not updating my blog!