My Kinda Town

An inglorious and infamous return to the world of Blog for Jonathan.

Except not here! Got to:

http://pittbritt.typepad.com/beanz_meanz_heinz/

...and I hang up the phone and can feel nothing but an overriding sense of solitude - of distance from my parents. It's a tough thing to tell your mum that you won't be seeing her next week after all, that you'll be home at Christmas, and that you're committing to live away from home for the next few years. Suddenly I realise just how little I'm going to see of the people I love the most in the world and it's hard to take. It's one of those defining moments I guess - I'm truly on the road towards what I reluctantly see as being an 'adult' now. Though I feel more as if I've been thrown onto that road rather than having chosen to walk down it.

I miss you mum.

big big apologies to those of you I was hoping to see in London this coming week. I'll hopefully be back for a flying visit soon(ish)...

drink a few pints on my behalf :)

so, for those of you out of the loop (the fault being wholly mine, for certain) - I have *just* accepted a position with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (www.pittsburghsymphony.org) starting...

well, starting next week... kinda.

I say kinda because:
1) I'm scared to high heaven
2) I'm scared beyond belief
3) I'm pretty petrified
4) I'm just a little nervous

Of course, that's right now... that's having just told them I'll fly out there in less than 6 days time.
In actual fact I couldn't be more excited, more full of nervous energy, and more ready to go prove myself than I am at this moment... I can't quite believe I've landed the job, and I can't quite yet believe (someone pinch me) that I'm moving to Pittsburgh next week and staying in America for conceivably another 3 years... *eeek*

All this said. I now formally invite you, dear reader, to come visit. It's where they make Heinz Ketchup don't you know

*tomatoey grin*

So, America is entering political season - or perhaps it'd be more accurate to say, 'has firmly placed all media outlets on high-political-alert'. You can't escape it here, and you can't escape, seemingly, the millions upon billions of pundits who have become more prolific than lawyers in recent months (I'm certain there's a fine lawyer-joke hidden somewhere in there, though am of course far too diplomatic to ever go down that route...)

To be honest with you, it's all rather dull after a while.

Until this morning, that is...

The New York Times, that historic paper, devoted an entire half-article to the quibbling between the Republicans and Democrats about - yup, you guessed it - hairpieces. Whilst the rest of us might care (you *do* care, don't you???) about slightly more pressing issues than (future vice-president hopeful) John Edwards' remarkable locks for a politician - it seems the politicians themselves care about this very much...

CNN here devoting a full article to the issue: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/08/thurs/

Slightly disturbing cartoons (dubious in their laughter-merit) abound: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blpic-edwardshair.htm

And my favourite one of all: http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=20539 Cleveland's local NBC channel felt it necessary to inform readers that the following John Kerry quotation about why the Democrats would win: "We've got better hair." was delivered... '(with tongue in cheek)'

Am glad that one's clear then - because for a minute there I really thought I'd be asked to base my opinions on the coiffeur of the candidates... (apologies to all Americans reading this, it's not a slight at you, just your media sources)

Beautiful :)

1. About America ...
- it's huge
- it's huger than huge
- there's more signs for churches on the road than we have speed cameras in England

2. About Americans ...
- they're huge (!) (just kidding... kinda)
- they're varied and a half - in fact, strictly speaking, Texas isn't really America, it's more a quasi-independent-self-run-autonomous-collective (to steal from Monty Python). And it's really not that dissimilar to certain scenes from Monty Python...
- they're so very very intrigued as to why an English guy might be wearing a cowboy hat...

3. About driving ...
- *phew* we did a lot of it to get there - 2,235 miles to be precise, or about the distance between London and, I don't know, Moscow...

4. About driving companions ...
- sometimes you just need to shut up and get on with it...

5. About myself ...
- I'm rather more like both of my parents than I care to admit (more on which later)

And the final thing I learned in Texas:

"Forbidden Fruits Make Many Jams"

Emotive, biased, graphic, revealing.

Whatever you might say about Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11, it is certainly memorable.

The mod in that cinema on the opening night was electric and volatile from the moment the previews ran to the cigarettes in the parking lot* afterwards.
And make no mistake, this film will have an impact over here - perhaps like no othe film before it. Despite all of its (all too obvious) glaring one-sidedness (a word???) and worrying ommissions, it possesses at its heart a strong pulse for justice and accountability.

Nowhere is this summed up better in the 2 hours of 'documentarial' footage than in the scene with an Iraq veteran recently returned. He stands outside the impressive US Capitol building in DC vowing that he would not, could not go back to fight in Iraq. The stark morality of this man, this soldier, was compelling. He was prepared to go as far as prison for dessertion rather than participate in what he saw as an unjustifiable war. He could not kill without a knowledge of something 'just' to be fought for.

This may not be new, per say, but it is striking. A man trained to do his job irrespective of moral issues is moved to act because of his morality. I'm not sure Mr. Moore fully convinced me that this war is absolutely wrong. But he has driven home the horror of any war. In a way which it would be impossible for anyone to avoid.

This movie is not one to be avoided... sit and cringe through the first half-an-hour and you'll be rewarded with a truly moving experience.

* note. A parking lot is, in fact, an entirely different entity from a car-park, mostly because, I think, cars over here are an entirely different entity. But, cars and the car-culture provide enough material for an entire post, nay blog, of their own...(!)

... I have a horrible habit...

I fall for terribly unatainable girls.

Anybody know of a cure???

I dreamt of what I’d imagined often. And it frightened me, confusing my ability to distinguish between phantoms and reality.

My dreaming feels far more real than my waking. And if I am unable to make the distinction, how then am I to know anything?

and what, you are asking, does this have to do with living with America? Ah, a chance to provide a spurious segue to America as the 'land of dreams'...

more dreams next time then! A happy end of May to you all.