Ahh, yes, the haunting Torgo theme.

Since my son was old enough to walk he's enjoyed certain things in life. He has those normal boy interests of course: full contact sports, burning ants with a magnifying glass, practical jokes on his buddies, climbing things, making the lives of his sisters a living hell. You get the picture.

He's also had more esoteric tastes in literature and film that kind of set him apart in our podunk little town. A couple of things he's loved since he was very little are Godzilla films and Mystery Science Theater with both Joel and Mike as the hosts. At one point when he was probably six-years old he found out MST had riffed on a Godzilla movie. The resulting mix of matter/ anti-matter in his brain cause a minor emotional breakdown.

Even though he's twelve he still likes to throw a MST film in the DVD player when he has downtime. One of the unforeseen side effects of this is that he unconsciously mocks everything he watches. This drives Mrs. Wormer crazy when she's trying to watch "Mrs. Marple," Jane Austin or some BBC period piece.

We do family stuff but we also try and do fun stuff on an individual basis with our kids every once in a while. I've been trying to figure out something to do with my son since it's his turn but nothing really lept out at me as sufficiently cool until just recently. I found out Cinematic Titanic were coming to town.

Cinematic Titanic is Mystery Science Theater creator Joel Hodgson's current live movie riffing project. It includes the entire original cast of the show- Trace Beaulieu (Crow, Dr. Forrester), J. Elvis Weinstein (Tom Servo, Dr. Erhardt), Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), and Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester.)

So Mrs. Wormer and I jumped at the idea and we bought a couple of tickets. There was never any question that I was going to be the one who got to go with our son. Mrs. Wormer was too close to violently assaulting Joel if given the chance because of too many repeated viewings of "Eegah!" We decided it would be safer if I went.

Keep in mind this was the end of April when we purchased the tickets. We decided to keep the exact nature of the event we were taking the boy to a secret. All we told him is we were going to do "something really fun" at the end of May. We tortured him.

So Saturday night I drove a very clueless but excited son downtown on what turned out to be a weird, wonderful evening. The Rose Festival Starlight Parade was also taking place downtown and the place was a madhouse that just added to the anticipation.

Because of the nature of the venue we got all the way into the theater and into our front row seats with my son remaining ignorant as to what we were doing. He got a big frown on his face when he heard the usher mention "Titanic."

As we sat there one of the technicians started handing out little blue cards to write questions for the cast on. My son said "questions?" I asked him "If you could ask Joel Hodgson from Mystery Science Theater anything what would it be?"

His mouth dropped open, "Joel's going to be here!?"

"Not just Joel but the whole damned cast from the show and they're going to riff on a movie live," I answered. I got a tremendous hug from the little guy in response.

After a few minutes my son calmed down and we wrote down questions for Joel. My son's question was "Eegah!" centered of course - "When they put you in the Arch Hall Jr. machine how did you feel?" We turned in our cards and waited.

The opening of the show was hysterical. Each member of the cast comes out and does an opening bit culminating in Joel taking the stage and answering the questions submitted. He only answered a few but amazingly enough picked mine and Dean Jr.'s to read. When he answered my sons he singled him out in the front row and said his name aloud. It couldn't get any better than that.

Then the movie started. We watched some horrible film from the sixties called "Terror on Tiki Island." Sitting just a few feet from us on stage was Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu. Every time Dean Jr. would crack up Frank Conniff would lean over in his chair and start laughing as well. He was obviously getting a kick out of the little guy.

After the show we went through the autograph line with the cast and Mary Jo really loved that we'd surprised Dean Jr. by attending. They all remembered my son as the kid in the front row with the question. Joel was kind enough to let my son have his picture taken with him. Nice guys all the way around.

Dean Jr. couldn't stop thanking me for the evening. We both had a great time.


(Frank Conniff jokes with my son. Joel is to his right.)



(The Cast - Trace Beaulieu in foreground.)

It's a perfect moment. A soft light, a scent in the air, the quiet murmur of the city. A surge of love, an urge to help mankind overcomes her.

I haven't slept much this week.

Part of it's been work. We are absolutely nuts at work. It's been early mornings and late nights almost every day.

Another part of it is my son. He got hit in the knee in the last few minutes of the last football practice of the season. I've been worrying that it was a torn ACL and the inevitable surgery in that case. (Thankfully an MRI showed it was his ACL but it was strained, not torn.)

But what's really been keeping me up at night has been the weight of last night's election. I suspect that, like many of you, it's been a little overwhelming when you step back and consider what just happened in the context of this nation's history. The results may have been fate accompli for over a month now, but that doesn't make it any less stunning. Judging by all the tears I saw last night, including on the face of one Tom Brokaw, I think that's a fair assesment.

I had a number of family and friends call me after Obama was declared the winner to share this moment. My best buddy since grade school was one of those people. We're both Ducks who earned undergraduate degrees in history from that great university.

It's difficult to put how we were feeling into words but we both came to the conclusion that Obama's win felt a lot like the fall of the Berlin Wall. The sense that what we were watching unfold live was a historical event of such magnitude that whole chapters of history books will be dedicated to it in the future and the realization that history marches slowly, inescapably forward.

Just consider for a second that the Berlin Wall represented from it's formation in 1961 both literally and metaphorically; the immeasurable power of the totalitarian GDR and Soviet states. These states had absolute control over the lives of their citizens. They controlled what you saw on the news, what you did for a living, what you wore, where and who you could worship and even what you could wear. History ground those "invincible" states and their wall into dust.

History's progress is unstoppable.

I went on a little rant to that effect a couple of days ago at Fran's place. We tend to get caught up in fighting those who, through their actions, try and lean up against the monolithic march of history to try and stop its progress. We (because I most certainly include myself) seem to tend to get caught up in the indignity of those that insist that man doesn't contribute to global warming, or that a woman should never be President or that lesbian and gay Americans shouldn't enjoy the same rights as everybody else.

These are worthy fights but I do think it doesn't hurt us to step back and consider the bigger picture once in a while. Those people that voted on Proposition 8 in California yesterday are not going to win this battle, regardless of the results of that vote. They are fighting history, and just as assuredly as history eviscerated that ugly cement wall in Berlin and the governments it represented or elected an African-American man to the highest office in the land when a little over a hundred years ago he wouldn't even be considered a citizen of this country, history will roll over them as well. It's simply inevitable.

The writing is on the wall.

There was howling just a minute ago.

Happy Halloween y'all!

For me this Halloween is bittersweet and, truth be told, I'm feeling a little old. My youngest hurt his knee at football practice a couple of weeks ago so this will be the first Halloween in fifteen years that I won't be trick or treating with my kids. Jesus, life moves fast.

On the other hand this holiday in celebration of all things scary is actually a day of hope. Our long, eight year nightmare meets the beginning of the end next Tuesday. That warms my heart.

Just a reminder: remember to check any apples you get trick or treating for razor blades. I've heard that warning since I was a kid.

It's teaching its son all right. And, he's teaching its son just like people teaching its children, just like a papa.

Happy birthday to Dean Jr. who turns twelve today.

At our house we have a tradition when it's one of the kid's birthdays - the 6 a.m. bagpipe procession to their bedroom. I get out my pipes (I really need to practice more) and we march into the birthday boy/ girl's room with the rest of family in tow. Our Chihuahua/ Pekingese Spike always comes in last, howling at the noise.

Did you know that John Woo and Dick Cheney considered listing bagpipe music under acceptable torture methods but even they couldn't bring themselves to be that cruel?

Dean Jr. tried to hide under his pillows but there was just no way to stop the dulcet tones of the pipe drones and chanter. When we finally dragged him out of bed and sat him down to watch a video that his sisters put together for him.

Comprised of pictures of him growing up, shots of Godzilla (his favorite movie star) and laced with music like Chicago's "You're The Inspiration" I couldn't believe that this little movie was put together by the two girls who spend the rest of the year plotting Dean Jr.'s painful demise.

In honor of his big day here's a much better piper than me playing the theme to Star Wars--

I never touch spirits. Have you some milk?

A strange moment of zen this weekend.

I was driving the kids downstate for a young cousin's birthday. In the back seat my oldest daughter and son were screwing around with the laptop she got for graduation and for high school. They were watching the original batman show on DVD.

We were going through a small town that was having some sort of festival. From the back of the car we heard the theme from the start of the show ("Atomic batteries to speed. Turbines to power. Nanananananananaa...")

My middle daughter who is sitting next to me in the front seat goes "there's the batmobile."

I said "what the heck do you mean batmobile?" and turned to look at what she was pointing at.

We saw this...

There was a ton of traffic and by the time I got the car turned around to get back into town to see if we'd had a shared hallucination, the batmobile was gone.

Holy now you see it, now you don't!