Monthly Archives: June 2013

Lawrence by Instalight

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I enjoy romantic walks under the moonlight as much as anyone, but being distinctively single, I’ve been going for walks alone, perhaps hoping for a random encounter with a beautiful woman.  Here are some photos I’ve taken along the way, all made pretty via Instagram.

 

IMG_0889A view of 10th and Mass from the top of the parking garage downtown.  Later there will be a drunken mob wandering about, looking for love.  Perhaps they’ll find it under the tarps at The Replay (in the foreground).

IMG_0947Liberty Hall–temple of the film nerds.  Seriously, the Film Church series is super-cool.  It’s too bad I have to work on Sundays right now.

IMG_0950La Prima Taza.  Next door to Liberty Hall and Free State Brewing Company.  You can sit outside and enjoy the view of Starbucks across the street.

IMG_1029A bicyclist in front of The Bottleneck.  Maybe he’s on his way to meet his girlfriend for a game of pool.  I don’t go to The Bottleneck much anymore, but there were some great bands that came through in the ’90’s.

IMG_0805A silhouette of a trumpet player outside of The Jazzhaus.  Looks like he’s playing the blues because of a broken heart.  His woman probably did him wrong.  But you know how Jazz musicians are.  She had an excuse.

544123_10151617212109224_775861584_nHarbour Lights.  If I could get paid for sitting in a bar drinking beer, I’d be making a good living right now because of this place.

It’s a Disaster!

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I sat down to write about the present state of politics in Kansas and ended up watching some disaster movies from the 1970’s instead.

THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974)

Paul Newman plays an architect who has designed the tallest building on earth. Shortly after the dedication ceremony, he discovers that his electrician managed to save several millions of dollars by using cheap wiring. Cutting costs on necessary things just doesn’t pay, however. An electrical fire breaks out, sending the skyscraper up in flames, trapping the mayor of San Fransisco, a senator, and three hundred other bigwigs on the top floor. It’s a good thing Steve McQueen’s Fire Chief had a proper education or he might not have known what to do.

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972)

Several people on an ocean liner are in for the ride of their lives when the ship capsizes after being hit by a massive wave. Only six passengers survive, thanks to a renegade priest played by Gene Hackman who does everything he can to lead them to safety. The debacle could have been averted if the ship’s company representative had heeded the captain’s warning to take on additional ballast for stabilization instead of ordering a full speed ahead. But no corporate representative likes to be questioned, no matter what the consequences.

AIRPORT (1970)

AIRPORT is less a disaster movie than the progenitor of disaster movies, setting the stage for the genre which, in the ’70’s, saw its peak in the two previously mentioned films. In the midst of several embroiled love affairs, a detainment of a stowaway, struggles with bureaucratic management, disenfranchised spouses, a snowstorm, and a plane stuck in the snow blocking a runway, a maniac walks onto a plane with an attaché case containing a bomb. He then proceeds to blow a hole in the side of the plane, thereby threatening the lives of all the other passengers and creating a challenge for pilot Dean Martin, who must then steer the vessel to safety.  Airport security measures, aparently, were quite different in 1970 than they are now.

So I watched movies all day instead of writing about Kansas politics; what else would you expect from a film major? If you want to know more about Kansas politics, I’d suggest reading this article from ROLLING STONE.

14 ways the apocalypse could start in Lawrence, KS

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Thinking about the TV show SUPERNATURAL and its apocalyptic vision.  The two central characters are born in Lawrence, KS because of its proximity to Stull cemetery, rumored to be a gateway to Hell.  In the series, Lawrence bears little resemblance to the real Lawrence, KS, and Stull cemetery looks nothing like it does in real life.  But the basis of the show seems plausible enough.  So I’ve come up with a list of scenarios Lawrence could be the basis for.

 

Ways the apocalypse could start in Lawrence, KS:

1. An infected monkey with the mark of the devil has drinks at The Replay.

2. A brick falls from the top floor of the Eldridge, knocking out a bearded singer of a local band.  He is taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.  The brick jars loose psychic powers that threaten existence as we know it.

3. A horde of demons manifest at The Bourgeois Pig.  Fueled by nihilistic philosophy and Moscow Mules, all hell breaks loose.

4. An anthropology professor discovers that the Jawhawk is an ancient symbol of the Otherworld.  The Jayhawk, when combined with the consumption of alcohol, produces rambunctious behavior in the locals with one inevitable cataclysmic outcome.  Apocalypse!

5. A rabid rodent bites a homeless man camping out underneath the bridge.  The man runs amok downtown, inciting a real-life Zombie Walk.

6. An attractive KU student is hit by a car while crossing Mass. St.  The interesting bracelet she bought from the Antique Mall breaks open on the pavement and unleashes the dead upon the earth.

7. A dark spiritual cloud looms above Lawrence.  Something like the climax to GHOSTBUSTERS happens at The Oread.

8. Native legends are always great for apocalyptic visions.  The wetlands outside Haskell are paved over by developers.  Think POLTERGEIST, only worldwide.

9. The OZUFO people are really space aliens, diverting from the fact by stating an interest in UFOs.  Their plan is an apocalypse.

10. The witches at The Village Witch mess up a spell.  Result: apocalypse!

11. One of the poets at The Red Tail Readings held at The Gaslight makes the mistake of reading a poem by e.e.cummings backward.  This happens to unleash evil spirits all over the world.

12. In the basement of Liberty Hall is written a prophecy . . . of apocalypse.

13. Local burlesque act Foxy by Proxy puts on a show which causes the devil to leave Stull cemetery unattended so as to attend their show.  The hordes of hell decide the time is right for an apocalypse.

14. A tattoo of the state of Kansas turns out to be able to predict the future and that future is apocalypse.