Oh No I Blogged All Over Myself!

Last weekend we took Isabella to Devils Lake. On Saturday we had a little party over at my sister's place where she got to later spend the night with her cousins. I must say I really appreciate getting to sleep in a little at my dad's place.
I hadn't intended to get into discussions of politics, but right when we got there he asked about the Republican convention and Dumb-shrill-Bitch--I mean, Palin, and right off I started bitching. Fortunately I have pretty good conversations with my dad and he's fairly politically open-minded.

I've been thinking about the whole tin-can banjo thing again lately, and decided I might be able to pull it off if I tune the canjo lower than a normal one. I'm not sure how the lower tension on the strings will affect its playability, but it can't be much worse than breaking all my strings because they grind against the wood.

Halloween season is just around the corner! Last year I was pissed that the Halloween stuff was out so early, but this year I'm just excited to look at it all. If we have time while in Fargo tomorrow, we're planning on stopping at the Halloween store and taking a gander (and a few gooses, yah).

I have a new page of Golden Brown out now, but due to a professor giving me a bit more workload for the coming week than I expected. I may be taking a week off from the comic. We'll see.

What am I watching?

It's "1931" week. Both of the movies I saw this week were made in 1931, and both were completely awesome.

M- A child murderer incurs the wrath of the German underworld for letting them take the blame for the lives he's taken. All descriptions of this movie call him a pedophile, but there's not really mention within the movie of sexual contact between him and the children. Insignificant detail, really, but I like my descriptions accurate. This was Fritz Lang's first talkie, though the dvd was oddly scratched so all my sound was mistimed unless I restarted the chapter. Strangely this is my first real intro to Peter Lorre, who I found out is an incredible actor. I finally get the reference in the Ren & Stimpy episode where they try to pass themselves off as babies in a family with a creepy grandpa that whistles "In the Hall of the Mountain King", like Lorre's character does. This seems like a pretty cutting edge movie for 1931. But then, it's Fritz Lang, a master of his time.

The Champ- A washed up boxer holes up in Tijuana with his kids and gambles/drinks. Despite his bad habits, he's a very loving father to "Dink". Things get complicated when Dink's mother accidentally comes into his life, and "Champ" gets in trouble with the law. Hard decisions are made, and even harder fight is fought, and in the end Jackie Cooper (played "Dink") gave a heartbreaking performance better than any 9-year-old I've EVER SEEN. That's right Dakota Fanning, you don't hold a candle to this kid. Throughout the whole movie he did his character like he'd done it all his short life, even the non-verbal gestures, which kids typically can't do. Seriously, he's the BEST child actor I've ever seen (okay maybe besides Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon).