Saturday, November 24, 2007

The report from the sticks

1.
Thursday as I am peeling potatoes for mashed potatoes, my mother broaches the subject of crazy things that New Yorkers do. She says, "Emo (that's Korean for mother's sister) told me that EH (my cousin) pays other people to do his laundry and she was shocked." I admit that I can't bring myself to pay another person to warsh mah drawrs. To my surprise, my mother sides with EH and suggests that in New York where time is in such short supply, having someone else warsh yer drawrs might not be such a bad thing. I think she's concerned that I am going to work in smelly socks (or drawrs). Which at other times in my life would be a valid concern.

2.
My mother has been obsessively watching this 20 episode Korean love story. Clearly, we are related as this is something I would do. It's pretty delightfully overwrought stuff. There's a piano player, a girl with serious glasses, and a handsome Korean American dude who doesn't speak much Korean. All of his dialogue is in English while everyone else speaks Korean to each other and to him. So his understanding of Korean is apparently perfect. The soundtrack is so painfully sentimental. It's killing me. The best part: I started mocking the goofy hairdo of the leading boy, insisting that he needed a haircut. And my mother defended him saying in all seriousness, "It's his style!" Such a role reversal between us. I love it.

3.
My father has become a huge Jorge Luis Borges fan. HUGE. I can't even explain to you just how huge. He has decided that Borges is a greater writer than Brecht, Kafka, and Joyce. I forgot to ask him whether Borges beats out Thomas Mann, Stendhal, and Flaubert.

4.
There are throngs of disappointed search engine users who wander over here seeking advice on finding things to do - things to do in the Winter Season or crazy things to do in the office after hours, etc. All I will say on the second matter is check to see if there are surveillance cameras or a late night cleaning crew and be sure to clean up after yourself (especially if it's not your office or desk). Right.

5.
It was snowing in Chicago while I was there changing planes. The snowflakes were fluffy, fat and drifty. At first they floated down and then they started to fall faster and faster. And then they vanished. It was so pretty I wanted to call someone. But it was frightful early to call anyone just to say, "Snow! Pretty!"

6.
On my way home from work on Wednesday I walked by a man carrying a guitar on the subway platform. I sat down and he circled back and offered to play me a beautiful song. "No financial obligation." He leaned in and played "Dream a Little Dream of Me," a song that I love. He did a lovely light version on the acoustic 12 string in a lovely light voice and I sang along with a little harmony. After which he offered me a second song. I asked him to play me a song he had written. It was this great slidely, slinky girl-I-gotta-get-with-you tune at which point my train arrived. I found a couple dollars which I put in the sound hole in his guitar as requested and went on my way. As the train doors closed he said that I have a beautiful vibe. To my mind it was his beautiful vibe not mine.

7.
I've been looking for a version of the song, "Dream a Little Dream of Me" to share with you on youtube only to discover the youtube fan montage.

Montage #1

Montage #2

A practice that I find strange and charming and in each of these cases quite impressive. I am surprised to say that I now find the gawky skinny Henry Thomas kind of dreamy.


8.
The other thing that I discovered (a while back) on youtube is that dancing to Thriller with Thriller choreography is something of a wedding reception mini-phenomenon.

The bridal party learns the dance and performs it for the rest of the reception. Search with the terms: thriller wedding.

Who on earth dances to a song the refers to "the thing with the 40 eyes" at their wedding? Who on earth dances like a zombie to such a song at their wedding? Although I'd have to say that the dancing in most of the videos could use more zombie-ness.

Where is the sense of decorum and appropriateness?
Do lyrics count for nothing nowadays?

That being said, I am now daydreaming about getting married in a theme wedding based on the Thriller video as a bloody zombie bride, groaning and limping my way down the aisle to the dead one that I love. My mother would kill me.

3 comments:

MomVee said...

Backwards:

8. Lyrics count for nothing nowadays. It fact it seems to have been that way for some time, judging from the fact that my wedding band had "I Hate Myself For Loving You" on their playlist until I crossed it out.

7. I don't know where I first read it, but someone said that the second time Cass Elliot sings "Stars fading but I linger on dear" is the pinnacle of pop music vocals. It certainly thrills me every time.

6. Your beautiful vibe.

5. You can call me to say that.

4. A lot of people come to me because they want tasteful First Communion dresses.

2. My mother is addicted to the 80-some-episode Korean dramas. I joined her on "The Fabulous Chill Sisters," and enjoyed it very much, but didn't pick up a new one. She's currently engaged with "High As the Sky, Wide As the Earth."

ergo said...

Momvee: Since you mentioned the Fabulous Chill Sisters I have been meaning to check them out.


I may indeed call you the next time I see snow fall.

I agree with you on Mama Cass' second "Stars fading." I must have listened to the song 10 times on youtube and felt a surge in my heart each time at that point.

Kat E said...

I just have to say that I thought of you a couple of weekends ago at my cousin's wedding, where they did indeed play Thriller and we all attempted to dance to it. I didn't realize it was becoming a phenomenon. None of us really knew the full choreography but we were helped along by my cousin's 8-year old daughter, who took the lead for several of the major steps. I'm proud to say that I stepped in at the end and made sure that all of us zombies converged appropriately on the pretending-to-shriek-and-cower bride.