University of Virginia

People like the Amtrak woman in Penn Station who wouldn't let me take my bike on the train, i was gonna say, aren't around in the south. everyone here is real gracious and whatnot. But I came to the library here in Charlottesville and they won't let me connect my camera to the computer to send all of you pictures. Here is what has been on my mind as I've been riding all day so far with noone to bother about these things and now I am resting.

By the way if you are going to comment, leave your name and a way to get back to you, otherwise it's very hard.

0. People here are country as hell. for example they'll say god bless you when they see you. There are confederate flags here and there also. I met a guy with a giant piece of chew in his mouth and I told him that people where I'm from chew tobacco also and he asked me where I was from and I said 'california'. i thought fuck i'm about to get killed so I said 'in the rural part'. he claimed that they were just tasting it. 'california they don't chew! only get a little taste i bet! haw haw haw!' I can't win by telling people here I'm from NY or from CA cause neither gets many points. I don't think it'll help if I say I voted for Nader either.

I also ate the best barbecue sauce of my life at almost heaven in mineral, va. jerrell johnson was right about the food down here. The scenery and trees and wildlife are incredible. I grabbed a goat by its horns and I stole an ear of corn (unfortunately it was dry and hard feed corn but I still ate it).

1. i was thinking about the movie and how essentially it takes the dominant theme in comedies form the era (slobs vs snobs) and puts it into an action movie context. I think that's what sets die hard apart from all of it's imitators (speed, sudden death, die hard 2, under siege 2:dark territory). It's amazing that they got the surface elements right but didn't ever make an attempt to copy the film's spirit. In speed they got the hostage situation, in sudden death the disgraced civil servant looking for redemption angle, in die hard 2 the action and the b. willis etc.

2. lynyrd skynyrd- everyone here loves them and will tell you so every chance they get. a radio station is playing a skynyrd weekend for the 2nd weekend in a row.

3. western- there should be a silent western where people are on bikes. i think it would be cool, like in that chase scene in top secret only for a whole movie. by the way top secret holds up better than you'd think it would.

4. best scenes to include in movies. I think every action movie should have a scene where the president is sitting at a table with his advisors and they're all yelling at each other and saying things like "with all due respect..." and "that information is on a need to know basis" etc. There are usually some old generals, and if the movie was made in the 90s, one of them should be black as a colin powell (when he was one of the joint chiefs of staff) analog. Also there should be a weasely young guy played by michael j. fox or a younger martin short and he's the george stephanapolous analog.

Anyways I like these scenes where one of the generals says "we're going to have to call Mcnolte" and then the other one says "mcnolte? who's that?" and then the NSA chief is like "mcnolte's dead!" and the young guy is like "who's mcnolte?" and then the general is like "what are they paying your salary for? when i was your age i was knee deep in VC blood!" and then the attorney general is like "mcnolte's a traitor" and then the general is like "mcnolte's the finest man this country's ever known. with all due respect, sir, if you had half his balls you'd be" etc etc.

5. I'm going to buy an mp3 player when I get to a bigger town. i want an iriver or one of the ones that runs on AA batteries. the problem is i have nothing to listen to, please send any mp3's you have that I would like to sorry.breakfast@gmail.com. I especially want johnny clarke, francoise hardy, the geto boys and paul wall but whatever you see fit to send.

6. When I was a kid my mom used to believe in moderation for everything. so whenever she would leave the house and it was hot i would turn the AC up all the way. when she came home she would say "why'd you turn the AC up to FULL BLAST?" I realize now that full blast is a real old fashioned term that comes from coal engines. I also think I want my nickname to be "full blast".

7. I should have brought some of the tobacco that is wacky.