After our weekly trip to Wegman's - possibly the best grocery store in the known universe - we decided to stop at KFC for some chicken product to go. I must confess that I have a weakness for KFC Famous Bowls (reconstituted mashed potatoes topped with hybrid corn, unidentified popcorn chicken parts, condensed gravy, and grated cheese food - mmnnn), probably a throwback to playing with my food as a child, and Sean picked up an overpriced bucket of battery chicken with overpriced sides, some of which are headed for the microwave as I type (there'll be no healthy eating here tonight).

As I was washing down a chicken leg with a bit of mango nectar (courtesy of Wegman's) on our way out of State College, Sean asked what I'd thought of the Obama rally. "Oh, yeah - I'd forgotten about that." After all, we'd since been to a craft shop for some balsa wood, had contended with a particularly dense parking garage attendant, had stopped to pick up a picture frame and some glue, filled the car with gas - and done the groceries - and picked up a Famous Bowl (half of which I'd devoured in the KFC parking lot before hitting the road home) - and I had quite forgotten that the day started out attempting to pick up a hunk of inspiration at the Penn State Obama rally.

Sen. Obama's current concert campaign tour is called "The Path to Change" or "The Road to Hope" or "The Fast Lane to Glory" or something, with Sen. Bob Casey (the most recent public figure to jump on the dreamwagon) as the support band introductory speaker. We were welcomed on campus by a relentlessly cheerful Obamette, grinning like a Moonie, inviting us to "Come on inside" - "inside" being the expansive Old Main lawn - which is kind of outside. But this was an Obama rally - reality was not expected to be the order of the day.

We were hoping to maybe catch a bit of the Obama magic for ourselves. Who knew, right? Maybe he'd be charismatic enough to transport a couple of cynical old socialists like Sean and I. No such luck. It was the same old stump speech that we've heard dozens of times from dozens of politicians, with a bit more shameless jingo than usual. And the enthusiastic mob was indistinguishable from the college crowds that thronged Howard Dean and Bill Clinton and George McGovern and Eugene McCarthy - and Adlai Stevenson and Al Smith, I shouldn't wonder. (And, hey - didn't only one of those guys get elected?) Here they are:


In case you can't read the banners ("No signs or banners are permitted", according to the Obamasite), they say - in one of those flashes of originality for which college students are renowned - "YES WE CAN", "FIRED UP AND READY TO GO - State College for CHANGE", and "OBAMAVILLE".

Yes, "OBAMAVILLE". Is that anything like Jonestown?

Our view was initially blocked somewhat by a flag so large they must have stolen it from a Perkins restaurant, but shortly after the Anointed One began speaking, it was lowered - onto the ground. A few young patriots planted their asses on it to enjoy the show.

Anyway, as it turns out, Barack Obama isn't even a good speaker - and a clearer view didn't help. Maybe he's just tired. Or maybe this emperor has always been as naked as a jaybird. I kept flashing back to demonstrations that took place at Penn State during the Vietnam War, some of the largest and loudest in the country. Now those were students who were fired up - and we're still waiting for the Age of Aquarius to dawn. Today's rally, by contrast, was all about conformity - applaud on cue, chant on cue, follow the leader in his stage managed promotional tour - and listen politely as he mentions his church connections over and over and over again. Forty years ago, he'd have been jeered from the stage.

Plus, there was not one whiff of cannabis in the air (we even waited till we were back in the car). What kind of progressives are these? Barack Obama was having way more fun when he was their age than this shower of church camp rejects. Ah, revolution.

Not long after he cautioned the crowd that the "road to change" was not his responsibility, but everyone's (in short, "if I don't accomplish anything in office, it's your fault"), we decided that household errands would be more inspiring. So I don't know if this rally ended with the traditional burning in effigy of Hillary Clinton or not.

I did note that, sometime after his first three mentions of Abraham Lincoln, but a little before the crowd started in with the mindless chanting, he told the gathering that he'd found his community service work frustrating because it was often difficult to see progress being made. Presumably this was why he decided to pursue public office. Then, of course, he spent his first term in the Illinois Senate running (unsuccessfully) for the US House of Representatives, his final term as an Illinois Senator running for the US Senate and - again due to frustration over the "glacial pace" of getting things done in Congress - his first three years as a US Senator running for the presidency.

Aside from the fact that there's nothing on this guy's resume apart from ambition, what are to we expect should President Obama decide that the White House is similarly frustrating and glacial? Does he intend to spend his next four years in office running for the Supreme Court? Or Secretary General of the UN? Or President of the World Bank Group?

There were police and and other security types in abundance - not that there was any need. Apart from a few discouraged banners, the biggest threat to public safety was an excess of toddlers. Still, it was nice to see so many authority figures getting a bit of exercise - and getting along so famously with Mr. Change. Here's another shot that I think kinda sums up my experience. I call it "Police - Flag - Mob". Oh - and "Charismatic Leader" is in there somewhere too. He's a bit of a dot to the right of the soon-to-be-desecrated flag.


Good luck.

Tags: foodstuffs, photo/graphic, politburo
humour: disappointed

Dateline Nueva York:

We just got back in from seeing Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (with the wonderful Frances McDormand as the title character and Amy Adams as Amy Adams), which was as delightfully insubstantial as a successful soufflé - and thanks to jmhm for the recommendation.

This was followed by dinner at Primola, a very decent Italian restaurant on 2nd Ave. Sitting at the next table was Barbara Walters and what, at first, appeared to be a table full of corpses. On second glance, the cadavers turned out to include John Updike, Liz Smith, Sumner Redstone, and several others who looked familiar, but whom we couldn't place. The again, how many people would recognize Updike (or even, sadly, know who he is). Sean wanted desperately to trip Redstone on his way out, thereby becoming something of a folk hero, but unfortunately he was out smoking a cigarette as the party was preparing to leave.

Whatever, Primola does a decent Pasta Fagioli, an excellent Veal Scallopine al Limone e Capperi (if a little heavy on the capers) and The. Best. Crème. Brûlée. that I have ever tasted.

Anyway, we're headed to the Jasper Johns exhibit at the Met in the morning, lunch at Patsy's (more decent Italian), then back to Pennsylvania for the foreseeable future.  :(  Yeah, well - it's been a pleasant enough couple of weeks on the road. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to post a few pics when I'm settled back in to Mennonite Country.

Tags: foodstuffs, movie madness, travelogue
humour: content

Home again, briefly - recharging the cats, then off to New York.

I'm not sure what Sean is cooking, but he's using these in something:



WARNING: This bag of cashews may contain... cashews
Presumably the humble cashew was not required for his new delicacy, Oven-Roasted Hot Pad:


The thing was allegedly sitting on the oven door when it was closed or something. He noticed a bit of smoke and when he opened the oven door the thing made a sort of "whooomp" noise and burst into flames. It probably released enough toxic fumes to take out a small Cambodian village, especially when it was tossed, sizzling, into the dishwater.

Needless to say, I was more amused than he was - though it wasn't quite as spectacular as the time he cooked a tinned steak and kidney pie without removing the lid. When the can-opener punctured the rim, a geyser of steaming meat bits and gravy erupted, coating the ceiling, the walls, the cabinets, the counter, and every major appliance in the place with England's only contribution to international cuisine (fortunately, he leapt back about fourteen feet as the thing exploded and avoided the potentially lethal beefspray). I think I was still laughing when the clean-up was finished.

Tags: foodstuffs, social and personal
humour: amused

In honor of Bill O'Reilly, we've stocked up on some Sylvia's soul food - black-eyed peas, turnip greens, yams, as well as some spice mixes and so on - and I made a dee-licious low country meal this evening: barbecued pork loin with thyme roasted potatoes and spiced applesauce, turnip greens with lemon pepper, kicking hot black-eyed peas, super-buttery grits, yam and parsnip puree, and fresh homemade biscuits. Mmmmm-mmn. Sylvia's stuff is good.

I can almost feel my penis getting bigger.

Tags: foodstuffs
humour: sated