Sunday, October 07, 2007

Too late to see this.

Took the family to the Mississinewa 1812 reenactment today, but because I was both too late and without a memory card for my camera, I was unable to see, let alone document, the scene here. I borrowed this from their web site just because I thought it looked cool. No names of the photographers are credited on the site, so I can only direct you to the link.

The last of the guns were firing as we made the long walk from the grassy parking lots down to the river banks where, I'd wager, there were almost a thousand tents scattered. Totally different scene from the Johnny Appleseed Festival, which I am more familiar with. More hard core, or hard corps.

I thought it was fun. Very pretty part of the river. Lots of folk dressed as Miami, though I don't think I saw any true Miami. The reenactors actually paint themselves to darken their skin, and that sounds like it might be too much like the old days of people going in black face, but, to me at least, it came across as dignified rather than cartoonish. Actual Native Americans might disagree, though.

On our way in, I tell B "we're going to see some Indians!" and he says "I like Indian food! Rice!" So I say, "no, it's a different kind of Indians" and he goes "Oh--hey I see some different-Indian food!" I thought it was funny.

My favorite part might have been this old-timey entertainment couple called Clockwork and Clown Co., led by a self-deprecating guy who eats fire and a sidekick who plays a mime-ish clown who shows him up a bunch. She was totally cute. That's right, today I developed a crush on a clown, face-paint and all. Somehow, she disappears right in the middle of the act--not like it's a disappearing act; you just get distracted somehow. And then the next thing you know she's literally packed inside the tiny crate you see in the background here. I love stuff like that. The guy opens it up and she's stuffed inside and he winds her up so she can start juggling. She juggled four at once, something that's a lot more difficult than just three, which really isn't all that tough. I was impressed. Good times.

14 comments:

sarahjane said...

Crush on a clown, huh? Wow. Well, she juggles, so that's a plus, I guess. Thanks for the book . . . good so far.

LetsGoThrow said...

Hello there,
Just thought I'd let you know that the 2007 Best American Series hit the shelves today.

I picked up the non-required, essays, and poetry versions. There is a good poem called "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" that sold me on the poetry one. No, it's no by Frost; it's a response to the original.

Mr. Hill said...

Well, she was feisty and funny, like Catherine, so it makes a little sense.

Thanks for the heads up on those books, J, I have some refund money to spend at the bookstore.

Chouquette said...

Just ran across your blog; I enjoy your reading list--His Dark Materials is a great series. Care to help me on my quest for literature before I graduate?

Mr. Hill said...

See your blog, Choquette.

LetsGoThrow said...

you're a punk.

Mr. Hill said...

Oh, was I right about the chess thing? That was just a guess.

LetsGoThrow said...

I am insulted. I have the Chessmaster on my cell phone and he really isn't so good unless you want to sit around and wait an hour for him to make a move. I don't have that kind of time.

R. said...

Mr. Hill and Co., you guys should check out my new blog. I have a feeling you guys could contribute since y'all would probably appreciate album art alongside the music that is packaged inside...

Joshua Robbins said...

Found your poems in my mailbox today. Will comment and reply soon. Loved that contributor's notes poem....

Mr. Hill said...

Lovely! And thanks. Looking forward to hearing back.

Unknown said...

This is entirely unrelated:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/pitchfork_gives_music_6_8

You might have read that, I wasn't sure.
But either way, you'd like it.
I laughed out loud quite a few times.
Great stuff.

Unknown said...

If you can't see all that, just highlight all the way to the end of the screen and it works.

I don't know. Maybe it's just weird on my screen.

Mr. Hill said...

The link didn't all show up, but I came across "Pitchfork Gives Music a 6.8."

If that's it, it's hilarious:

"Coming in at an exhausting 7,000 years long, music is weighed down by a few too many mid- tempo tunes, most notably 'Liebesträume No. 3 in A flat' by Franz Liszt and 'Closing Time' by '90s alt-rock group Semisonic."