Dial M for Murder (or Minneapolis)

I couldn't resist the mention of the Twin Cities in The Economist. Apparently, Twin Cities' writers produce more than their share of crime noir literature. Advertising and journalism are deemed as two breeding grounds. Notwithstanding:

"...there is the weather, which is splendidly atmospheric. The Twin Cities have hot summers and wildly erratic autumns and springs—a gift to mystery writers in search of colour. Winter is grim. As Brian Freeman, who has published a crime novel set in Duluth, in northern Minnesota, explains: “What is there to do during those long winter months beside sit inside and think dark thoughts of murder and mayhem?”'

Wow. and I thought Ohio winters were grim.

Hypothetical replay

August 10, 2006

6:57 am: Car is packed. Nothing else can fit.
7:12 am: Start driving east.
7:15 am: Turn around to get sunglasses which are reminiscent of Sophia Loren.
7:17 am: Start driving east again. Prepare to have heart attack due to gas prices.

7:24 am: Realize that self has forgotten to pack bag with jeans and shorts. Panic sets in.
7:25 am: Co-driver refuses to let driver turn around to get said bag.
7:26 am: Driver remembers that entirety of underwear collection is in said bag.
7:27 am: Panic does not subside.

11:34 am: Pass traditional road landmark: a gigantic grinning pumpkin sitting atop a silo.
11:35 am: Call sister to inform her about gigantic grinning pumpkin.
11:37 am: Inform sister about missing bag. Demands immediate shipment to prevent self from wearing only mini-skirts until Labor Day.

1:01 pm: Sister calls back. Bag not found at home.
1:34 pm: Sigh of relief. Underwear must be safe in car.

Quantum Quotation

A few friends and I went to the new Guthrie Theater in St. Paul last week to see one of our favorite books performed onstage, The Great Gatsby. I do love much of Fitzgerald's writing. In the play's program, there is a great quote by E.L. Doctorow, describing Fitzgerald:

[Fitzgerald] jumped right into the foolish heart of everything.... he was intellectually ambitious - but thought fashion was important, gossip, good looks, the company of celebrities. He wrote as a rebel, a sophisticate, an escapee from American provincialism- but was blown away by society, like a country bumpkin, and went everywhere he was invited. Ambivalently willed, he lived as both a particle and wave.

And that's the nerdy quotation for the day.

A true midwesterner

I will echo K's earlier post that roadtrips are the way to experience the countryside. However, please conveniantly forget that the midwest lacks the public transportation that other parts of the United States and other countries rely on for their daily transportation. It is enough to drive through cornfields and come across the unexpected.

"For a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate [with] his capacity for wonder." --F. Scott Fitzgerald--

The countryside is gorgeous. Northern Minneota has its own charm that is unique from southern Minnesota and especially North Dakota.

Like a stream that meets a boulder

One of the highlights these past two summers has been the Great American Roadtrips. Vanilla coke, Starbucks Frappuchinos, goldfish crackers, cheez-its, RENT, Wicked!, the Dixie Chicks, and many more old friends.

Our last road trip of the summer (and our last one together for a very long time) was a visit to Bemidji, MN. In many ways, it's like a time warp. Northern MN has the smell of towering white pines and cold, freshwater lakes. And the summer camps there? Look like you've stepped out of The Parent Trap (the old one, with Hayley Mills)

Must admit, the Mississippi headwaters are anticlimatic in the extreme. Before I left town, someone suggested that K and I wear life jackets when we crossed the river. In truth? It barely covered our ankles. The famed headwaters trickle out of Lake Itasca in a sandy pool.

For those who enjoy the Great Outdoors vicariously, I've included photos of the 18 foot high statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox. Pictured below are the Mississippi headwaters themselves.