Novembrage
Now Playing: Guided By Voices--"Tractor Rape Chain"
1. Twelfth Night: I decided to check out this U-M "Rude Mechanicals" Shakespeare production on a whim. I'd seen them do The Merchant of Venice, and as the Royal Shakespeare Company Patrick Stewart-Harriet Walter juggernaut was (a) expensive and (b) sold out, this was a more than acceptable alternative. I'd seen a British TV version of Twelfth Night from 1970 in high school, with Alec Guinness as Malvolio and Joan Plowright as Viola (and developed a crush on the latter that probably would have mystified most of my peers had they known of it) and remembered it being rather fun. This time it was more ambiguously funny than laugh-out-loud; it's not The Merry Wives of Windsor. Most people fall in love for the wrong reasons (or at least unexpected ones) and most people are out to swindle each other in some way. Actually, that is my kind of romantic comedy. The cast was terrific, especially Lara Vanderheiden as Maria, and the set created a believable Illyria with minimal fuss.

2. Election Day: Much better than the one two years past, at the end of which I staggered out of Leopold's three sheets to the wind and half-suicidal, as did much of the country (not out of Leopold's, but still...). Fortunately, sanity seems to have caught on more generally. It got to the point of personal superstition; I voted for John Kerry and, a year later, losing 2nd Ward Democratic primary challenger Eugene Kang while being first in my precinct to vote. That didn't happen this year. I stayed at home that evening and listened to the fracas on NPR while polishing off a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Granholm was reelected governor, which was a relief, as Dick DeVos was a joke (and, as certain of my friends can testify, is exquisitely creepy in person); "intelligent design" is the least of his problems.* On learning of the circus in other parts of the country, I was disappointed for the first time in years that I didn't have cable. Whether it was reading of the hilarious mass demoralization on Fox News or of Chris Matthews' consternation that his personal friends--"good guys!"--were actually losing, it would have been fun to watch.** It was a joy to learn that the ludicrous abortion ban in South Dakota was voted down. And good for Sherrod Brown, winning the Ohio Senate seat! He became the Democratic primary winner for Congress in my district, I believe, right after I left Akron four years ago (just in time to not be able to vote for Lynn Rivers in Ann Arbor, so there were two genuine progressives I never got to support). I voted early in the morning, worked all day, and decided to celebrate Election Day after work by going to see...

3. Borat (2006): It's wildly overpraised, which isn't a surprise, as respectable critics like Rolling Stone's Peter Travers and Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum have been stopping just short of crediting it with curing scrofula. That doesn't mean it isn't funny. A lot's been made of the nasty American archetypes Borat encounters along the way, but there are fairly benign episodes as well--leaving merriment in his wake at a Jackson, MS TV newscast, bemusing an unflappable etiquette tutor, and browsing a garage sale he mistakes for a gypsy camp. It's not so much generally satirical as gross-out funny, but that's fine with me. I kept giggling at Borat memories the next day at work, but then the same thing happened with the Father Ted episodes "Flight Into Terror" and "Chirpy Burpy Cheap Sheep,"*** so I can't say I was as blown away as many others seemed to be. I was glad I went, though.

4. "Work": The same day, I had the alternately troubling and delicious realization that my boss would be nowhere near as annoying if she, say, smoked crack. "Hey, can you get me... some 'stuff'?" is something we hear too rarely around there.

5. Thanksgiving: I went home to see my family, hung out with my relatives, and had a good time, although I may have eaten too much seafood. No. No, that's ridiculous. I was reminded of how much I love airports (not kidding), rolled in Louisiana culture by drinking Abita Amber while watching the excellent LSU-Arkansas football game (as well as the insane original 1967 Casino Royale on BBC America), and found that one can never quite escape Ann Arbor music--a Canada song came on my brother's satellite radio while he drove me to the airport Saturday morning. I also read Left Behind, which was surprisingly tolerable, but still not good enough to follow through. Next up on my list of stuff I never thought I'd find myself reading: Marx's Capital (that's the plan, anyway).

6. 32nd Birthday: I can't believe it either. Actually, I can, which is "worse." I flew back to Detroit, roaming around Memphis Airport on my layover, and then Detroit, doing the same with Ann Arbor in general once I returned. Though strangely invigorated, I took things fairly easy, and was tickled pink to find a whole gaggle of birthday wishes on the net from the BHF folks (thanks, guys!).

Decent month, all told.

*Now, I am willing to support the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes under certain reciprocal conditions: alchemy should be taught in chemistry classes and necromancy and divination offered as electives.

**To paraphrase one poster on Tapped, "gee, Chris, you don't think that maybe it's because of actual positions these candidates espouse, rather than that they're your friends?" This proves that it apparently pays to watch Chris Matthews. I also missed the eight-years-in-the-making moment last month when Bill Clinton gave the towheaded blowhard the works for being a right-wing noise machine shill. It was apparently splendid; in a lot of ways, Matthews is a likable goofball and he does seem to have a knack for making an entertaining show. They should get him to host Family Feud.

***ALAN: Should I call the police, Father?

TED: No. He's lost the trust of his sheep. And that's punishment enough... for a farmer who deals primarily... with sheep.