Yo La Tengo
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Jedediah Purdy
For Common Things
Marianna made us rent Waiting for Guffman on Saturday night. I hadn't seen it since it was released in theatres and had forgotten how absolutely hysterical it was. Bob Balaban and Michael Hitchcock contribute such genuine performances. Perfect comedy.
Seeing Fred Willard in Guffman last night made me remember the television show "Real People" from the early 80s. For some reason this shines brightly in my mind, not because it was a good piece of television, in fact it was quite the contrary, but because it was a family type show that my parents and I used to watch together. But I have yet to find one other person that remembers it. Do these names jog your memory: Byron Allen, Peter Billingsley, Sarah Purcell, Mark Russel, and Skip Stephenson. Please tell me if they do.
I told Todd to write more about this, because da Vinci is one of the few obsessions that Todd gets fired up about... but he never has time for me anymore. So instead read it here:
"I'm obsessed with Leonardo da Vinci... of all the people ever to exist, he's the coolest I've heard of. He invented scissors, and the parachute... also devised detailed plans for a working helicopter, though nobody had the materials or technology to build it... he painted the Mona Lisa, and studied anatomy and discover what countless different organs did... and what the hell was he inventing parachutes for anyway?.... oh yeah... for his helicopter."
I'm beginning to think all those sappy love-at-first-site movies might be onto something.