Classic lit or classic rock?

The answer is not always so easy.

Twain's Huckleberry Finn

OR 

Rush's "Tom Sawyer"

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

OR 

"Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group

Melville's Moby Dick

OR

John Bonham's drum solo in the middle of "Moby Dick" by Led Zeppelin

Orwell's 1984

OR

Van Halen's 1984

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut 

OR

Breakfast in America by Supertramp

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

OR

"Jane" by Jefferson Starship

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

OR

"Uncle John's Band" by The Grateful Dead

Nathaniel West's The Day of the Locust

OR

"Hocus Pocus" by Focus

Henry James' Portrait of a Lady

OR

"Lady" by Styx

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

OR

"Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" by Jimi Hendrix

Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage

OR

"Tied to the Whipping Post" by The Allman Brothers

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

OR

"8 Miles High"  by The Byrds

There are no correct answers. Or rather, no incorrect answers. 

Only small actors.

Who never ask stupid questions.

Or something.

Addendum

...to this post.

(With props to Dakwallah. An old friend and smartypants with a boyish grin and an adorable family. Seriously, you should meet them.)

Now, unleash the fury, my stupids!

Cotton

Two years ago today, we got married. Still, the only thing I can pull from memory about that day is a series of colorful sketches - clothing, jewelry, flowers, the sky, green grass among faded brick. It's all still a warm, broad-stroked blur. I'm glad there are photographs to put sharp edges on some of those impressionist images.

I remember smiling so widely and for so long that I had to physically pull down on my facial muscles to ease the strain.
Trembling on the verge of tears as I read my vows and as Ida read hers to me. Embracing as a married couple for the first time as if our brief moment on the stage had been an eternity and we'd been miles apart, even though our apartment was right down the street.

The day was color and sun and music, out-of-town family and well-dressed friends all sunglasses and smiles, buoying up our already full and racing hearts. It was Dave J.'s getaway car with classic rock blaring out of the speakers literally carrying us off into the sunset, tired feet and wet cheeks and all.

I'm proud of what we did that day. I'm proud that we did something so regular and everyday and made it our own. I'm proud that we even made Mr. Rich cry and that we were still able to say our vows on the upswing of the minute-hand like we wanted, despite a late start.

I'm proud of our life together, G. Thanks for saying yes. I hope we'll both always keep saying it.
Happy marriage, long life.

Cheesed off

It doesn't take a genius to gather how much I love tacos and types of food associated with tacos. I'd say the main clue would be the fact that I have a functioning digestive system, because come on: Tacos!

What you may not know is that Ida and I are a bit choosy when it comes to Mexican food. Our honeymoon was guided, in large part, by our proximity to quality authentic posolé and homemade tortillas. However, we don't consider ourselves complete snobs about it, since as we all know, tacos should only be used to promote unity and love, never conflict. (I got your "immigration reform" right here...)

So it was with increasing frustration yesterday that we circled the grocery store three (3) times in search of queso fresco to use in Ida's delicious and easy-to-make enchilada pie:

First pass - Hm. We must have missed it.

Second pass - Let us ask someone. [ask] Okay, she said it's in the other cheese section. Of course!

Third pass - All right, you stay here, I'll go alone. We can't both freak out in front of the baby.

A store that carries every type of cheese from virtually all of the recognized cheese-making nations - France, Italy, Russia, Greece, England, Turkey, Spain (I know!), Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Germany - fails to carry (fails to carry!) the most basic staple of great authentic Mexican food besides corn, chilies and avocado. 

Unacceptable!

But gee, why not just use sharp cheddar or Colby jack like Red Robin does? Or grab one of those bags of pre-shredded "Mexican blend" cheeses? Might it be because those cheeses have NOTHING to do with actual Mexican food?  Per-effing-haps!

Hear this, grocers of America: The Mexicans are coming, despite your best efforts, and they are bringing their delicious delicious food with them. So try as you might to distract us with your uninformed, vaguely xenophobic and quasi-racist, "that kind of cheese is only available at specialty cheese shops" line (you mean like one of your other stores, Mr. Corporate Grocer?!), you'd best believe that the soft, crumbly, salty queso will be on your face when it comes time to pay the cheese piper.

And also, what in the DAMN HELL is THIS?!