Haircut

I finally got a haircut. Now my hair has a purpose. Nancy's frind Gia, pictured here, cut it for me. She's great. She works in Florence, Alabama and I had my 'do done just before the Jim Malcolm concert. Pictures to follow.

President Barack Hussein Obama

I am so very proud to be an American right now.

Lenny Henry and Dawn French

I should be working on school stuff, but I am having trouble concentrating on sphinxes and Greek amazons. So I decided to see how my good friends Dawn French and Lenny Henry are doing. It turns out that they are still married (after Lenny's idiotic affairs) and have bought an old mansion that needs work and are still working. Dawn just published an autobiography called Dear Fatty that I think I might get myself for my birthday...er...that I will ask my good friend Dawn to autograph and send to me. Yeah. That's it.

The Firebird Ballet

Well, here goes my first attempt at a ballet review. Last night I went to see Ballet Memphis perform Stravinski's ballet abstracted from a Russian fairytale. That it was "Rites-of-Spring" Stravinski, the instigator of modernity in music, should have hipped me to the fundamental fact that this would not be classical ballet. I was expecting Orientalism, exotically beautiful, in all its rich layers of (colonizing) fiction. I was expecting silk and color and grace. Ha. Again, Stravinki should have clued me in.
The Ballet Memphis is a modern ballet group. This means that the movements are based on classical ballet, but this has been adulterated with modern ideas about choreography. The choreographer, Mark Godden, has won multiple awards, including an Emmy for Best Performing Arts Film. Alas, I am no fan of this style. To me, dance philistine that I am, the punchy arm movements and the staggering footwork looked more like Tae-Bo than ballet, and the costumes, aiming for an ultra-contemporary minimalism, were a foot shy of the elegance needed to pull this look off (see the top picture for an effective version of this kind of costuming).
All in all, I enjoyed going. I had a kick-ass seat, and it was fun to just go out (a little sad, though without Gilligan to come home to). However, for the Nutcracker, I'm getting a ticket for the Moscow Ballet performance and I think I'll give Ballet Memphis a miss from here on out.

Dia de los Muertos

I made an altar for Sunny and Gilligan for the Day of the Dead. Maybe I can tempt their spirits to come by and visit. I miss them both but this is a pretty happy project.

The best dog in the world named Gilligan

Gilligan was a very sweet dog. He was very possessive of his territory, and he only ever really bit two people - you know who you are. But he loved me and followed me around like a puppy. Here he is on his therapeutic bed eating breakfast in bed. And below, he is napping in one of his favorite spots on the couch.

Gilligan 1 April 2000- 29 October 2008

I had to have Gilligan put to sleep today because he had developed a cancerous and very large tumor on his bladder that made it extremely difficult for him to use the bathroom. His doctor said he was in pain and it would get much worse very quickly. I couldn't even be there with him. But I'm saying this is a happy day because I got to have over 8 years of good times with the sweetest dog in the world. I'll miss him a lot. He was a really great dog.