Serenity and Sufjan Stevens

This past Friday, we finished up Firefly Disc 2 by watching the last episode. Then, at 9pm, we went to the video store, rented Disc 3, and watched all four episodes, back to back, until 1:00am. On Sunday, we decided skip the park (it was too hot) and watch Serenity instead. Being lazy for an entire weekend was exactly what we both needed - we've been running about like crazy for weeks now.

Serenity was completely entertaining. More action, less character development - but that's what 14 episodes of Firefly are for! Anyone who was complaining about the low (only 40 million) budget special effects should have been concentrating on the story. I noticed the effects only once near the start, but the almost uninterrupted action soon prevented me from thinking about anything else. I am now watching the box office results, desperately hoping that the movie makes enough money to justify more episodes!

Two weekends ago, we went to Athens to see Sufjan Stevens and the Illinoisemakers in concert, with Half Handed Cloud as the opening act. Athens was fun and exciting - every bit the college town. As we drove around looking for parking, waited in line, bought a couple of drinks, watched the opening act, our excitement mounted.

Unfortunately, as we waited over half an hour for the Illinoisemakers to come on, surrounded by what seemed to be some of the tallest people in Georgia, packed into the insufficiently air-conditioned 40watt club like sardines, getting hot and claustrophobic, our excitement started to plummet, soon hitting the "please let me out of here, now!" level. Part-way through the concert, we realized that the crush and heat were much less away from the middle, but it was too late. We escaped the club for a song or two, and made it back in for the last song.

Looking back, and ignoring how terrible we felt, it was an amazing show. The band was hilarious, interspersing fake football-game style cheers between songs. They also rocked out pretty seriously on a couple of the songs. And the crowd was absolutely psyched - hand claps from the entire crowd perfectly timed from the first bar, and people seemed to know all the words. That part was exciting.

So: We enjoyed Half Handed Cloud. Sufjan and company put on a fabulous show. I highly recommend seeing them anywhere except the 40watt club. People are just too tall nowadays for flat floors and low stages to work. I, at least, was tall enough to see most of the show; Bevin saw a lot of the back of one particular black t-shirt.

ps. Yes, I'm pretty sure all this complaining about heat and crowding makes us old, boring, and totally non-hard-core. Oh well.