The Velvet Ribbon

I had another great weekend. Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the lights, Christmas carols, the cool temperatures (well, 60-degree weather in Phx), and PRESENTS!!!!

But eeking in a close second is Halloween. I like being scared, sort of. And most of the cable stations air horror films. For the past two weeks I've been watching some really good and some really bad horror films.

In addition to horror films on 24/7, it was the International Horror & Sci-Fi Festival in Tempe this past weekend. Saturday night they showed the original Nightmare on Elm Street. AND they had a Q&A after with Heather Langenkamp (I don't know who she's with here) who played Nancy in the first, third and seventh films!

So I asked Joe if we could go there instead of going to a haunted house. He kindly said yes and got the tickets.

The film festival had a couple of tents and vans hawking stuff like comic books. And some of the people in line were dressed up in costume. But overall I would have to say there were only geeks in line. Which, of course, made Joe and I geeks too.

Some kid came up and stood behind us in line. He was probably in his late teens. He asked if we'd seen any of the other films and asked about the free comic book I had in my hand. I was nice to him and tried to converse with him. Joe was his normal smart-assed self which totally confounded the poor kid. I mean, he's probably not used to Joe's special brand of humor. So when he left the line to get a free comic book I told Joe he had to be nice (right after Joe called him a virgin--not to his face)....

It was the first time I'd ever seen the first one on the big screen. It's kind of dated, especially the clothes and some of the lines. But for the most part it stands up well. And it's fun to see Johnny Depp in his first film. Ronee Blakely, who plays the mother, did the worst acting job ever. It turns out she used to be a good actress and was celebrated for her role in Nashville. But here she just sounds ridiculous saying lines like, "Freddy can't hurt you because mommy killed him." Plus her hair often matched the color of her skin, she looked really freaky.

Heather L. sat just a few seats back from Joe and I. Honestly, if it had been Johnny Depp or Robert Englund I wouldn't have been so excited. But it was Heather! I thought she was really cool in the movies and it turns out she's really cool in real life.

She told some great stories and answered even the dumbest questions from the audience.

We went back again on Sunday (as did Tod, Dave and Gilbert) and saw an independent sci-fi flick called Firefly. I thought it was pretty good and I loved the ending.

Saturday's a rugby day!

The Phoenix Storm played the Cave Creek Critters on Saturday. I did not get to play because I was still a little banged up from Flagstaff. I begged Phill to let me play but he wouldn't - something about having my best interest in mind. I guess it's just as well, but it sucked not being able to play.

Especially since the Storm kicked MAJOR ASS. We had possession of the ball probably 60 - 70% of the time. The problem was their backs were better than ours. They were able to juke our guys and score. Open field tackling is REALLY difficult, so it's not something that we're going to be good at immediately. It'll take time.

But the intensity on the field was the best I've ever seen. Our guys hit harder, scrummed better and rucked like never before. It was so great to see. And when we finally scored a try (our first against a straight team), it was really exciting. I almost pulled a Phill and cried. I definitely choked up for a second.

I'm really proud of how well everyone is trying. And I think it's a testament to Phill and Aimee that they've gotten us to quickly forget the debacle of Thunderbird and move us forward.

SPOOKY TUNESDAY!

When I was a kid we had this record of scary poems and stories. Some of the poems were really cheesy and short, like this one. But there was one story that we used to listen to over and over again. It's called The Velvet Ribbon. I hope you like it (it's only 2 minutes so give it a listen). I told you you'd be SORRYYYYYYYYYY. ;-)