9 Sep 2011

I saw the shoulder surgeon for my post-op checkup yesterday and he said I'm doing fine, but he claims I am "pushing the envelope" in terms of movement and the things I'm attempting to do with my healing shoulder. This is alarming because I do not think of myself as an envelope-pusher and am not at all pushing any envelopes, but such is my desperation for compliments that I feel pleased at this label. I am so pathetic!

Yesterday, to my great delight, I learned that we get Universal Sports on the bedroom television which is connected to the antenna in the attic; it's channel 4.3. Why delighted? Because they're going to be showing Rugby World Cup matches on that channel, beginning today. Schedule here. So I connected my old cathode ray tube TV downstairs in the basement to a digital box to enable me to watch on the larger set as well. Awesome! As I reported yesterday, this Sunday we watch USA get clobbered by the Irish, 1 PM, NBC.

Did it pour yesterday? Yes, it did. In Northern Virginia we had heavy and, at times, torrential rain, for what seemed like hours. (This was after the ground had become thoroughly saturated from rain all week.) Seeing that the water was pouring over my front gutter and noticing that it was causing ground water levels to rise in front of the house - and fearing basement water damage - I put on my swim trunks and grabbed the ladder to shimmy up and clear the clogged gutter drain. (I had cleared it before Hurricane Irene - I don't why it plugged up again so soon.) I also did a gutter in the back which was clogged.

Normally I'm not a fan of being atop an aluminum ladder in a pouring rain while I can hear thunder and see lightning, but I felt I had no choice. It took me less than about ten minutes, but I got thoroughly soaked. The only water incursion we had was that a rag I use to wipe the screen of the basement television got a bit wet from being on the floor of my little VHS and DVD closet; some water had gotten in there. No big deal, however - it didn't seem to cause any damage. I don't think I have ever seen this much water come down!

Roads were closed all over the county and trees fell, causing power outages. One of the Five Families moms took a photo of an intersection near her: it looked like a miniature version of the Muddy Mississippi flowing across the road.

Cari and I watched Backbeat (1994) last night; it's the story of the early Beatles, but specifically the story of John Lennon, Stu Sutcliffe and Astrid Kirchherr. Stu Sutcliffe was the young painter-turned-bassist and Kirchherr, a fey German lass, was the Beatles' first Muse. Anyone who has read a biography of the Beatles has encountered them in the Hamburg chapters; as it turns out, the story of the Beatles before they became world-famous is just as interesting as their story afterwards.

Stephen Dorff, who played Stuart Sutcliff, is a professional musician in real life, but he did a great job of pretending to not be able to play his bass well - as was the actual case with Sutcliffe. (Paul McCartney, a much more skilled musician, wanted him out of the band for that reason.) I make fun of two fret finger bassists - it looked like Sutcliffe (Dorff) was playing with one, hand constantly moving up and down the fretboard. Well done!

Sheryl Lee, the stunning blond who played Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer ("wrapped in plastic") portrayed Astrid Kirchherr. She seemed to be perfect for the role.

The black and white German images of Sutcliffe and Kirchherr have a dreamy quality about them; was this really a part of the Beatles story? I'm so used to the typical photojournalist images, "Over here, boys, smile!" "Jump for the camera!!" "John, look over here" - that kind of thing.

Anyway, Backbeat - good film, especially if you want to understand the Beatles' Hamburg career.

We're going to see the "Spirit of America" show the U.S. Army Band is putting on in D.C. tomorrow; it ought to be interesting. And, of course, yard sales. The rain is finally supposed to be letting up this weekend, hooray.

Have a great weekend!

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