— Cashel slept over my house on Saturday night. This is a first. I planned for it as though a Head of State was passing through.
— As we careened through the Lincoln Tunnel together (in the crazy little bus), on the way back to Jersey, he said, in a tone of humorous awe, “It’s weird that I’m going to be in a different state than my dad!” I told him about the line in the middle of the tunnel – where it says New York on one side and New Jersey on the other. So we kept our eyes open for it – so we could be aware of the moment when we were actually in two states at the same time! When we saw the line, I glanced down at Cash, and I could see this huge grin on his face – as he was briefly picturing himself being split down the middle between 2 states.
— Cashel was amazed at how tall the Empire State Building is. “It makes the Chrysler Building look so small!” he exclaimed in his enthusiastic mouse-voice.
— He kept commenting on the cultural differences between my neighborhood and New York. “This feels like Maine,” he said, as we tromped along the sidewalks to my house. “Really, buddy? Maine?” I asked, kind of doubtful, to tell you the truth. He said, thinking about it, “Yeah! It’s quiet. Well … it’s quieter than Times Square!” That is always a good point of comparison. Is it quieter or louder than Times Square?
— I think my favorite moment was when I brought him into my place (he’s never been here before), and he came into my main room – sat down in the most comfortable chair (well – er – it’s the ONLY comfortable chair – but he picked it!!) – took out his book and started reading. Immediately. SUCH an O’Malley moment. Yeah, whatevs, nice apartment, Auntie Sheila, I’m gonna read now. He didn’t care about the TV until I mentioned it later. He didn’t immediately sit down, pick up the remote, and turn on the TV. No. Out came the book. So I sat on my bed and read my book (which basically should be called The Black Death for Dummies – but oh well. I don’t know much about the Black Death, so I guess you could call me a dummy. It’s fun to read, believe it or not – even though the author talks to me like I’m retarded and don’t know what bacteria is.). We sat in companionable silence and read for about an hour. I kept glancing up at him, I admit, so I could watch him read. The serious face, the long eyelashes, the big book … I asked him questions about the book. He was forthcoming. “And this kid … is endowed.” Cashel said. Excuse me? “He is?” “Yeah. He is endowed with magical powers. And … some crazy things happen to him.” “Wow.” Endowed.
— Topics we discussed:
the Museum of Natural History, and the primates therein.
Illegal immigration. (Cashel brought it up.)
his best friends – who they are, and what their virtues are as friends
the Far Side (he’s very into the Far Side) Once he gets started on the Far Side, it is a runaway train. Pretty hard to stop it.
— I made him a sandwich. Mr. Picky Eater completely approved of the mustard, and asked me, as though he is a culinary connoisseur, “What kind of mustard is that?”
— I know all I write about him are little teeny moments like that, but I love him and he kind of is a reminder of how miraculous life is. Small moments like that. There he is – this small person in my apartment – and it’s kind of a miracle.
— Then came the coolest thing. After dinner – with the amazing mustard – we turned on the TV to see what was on the History channel. You know, see if we could catch up with the Sumerians or something. And lo and behold – there was a 2-hour special on the entire history of Superman. We both got so excited!! Cashel is a Superman afficianado – and lectured me briefly on the importance of DC Comics, mentioning the names of the creators, casually, as though he knew them personally. So we were really psyched. I got him some ice cream. He sat on my rug, and I sat on my bed, and we watched. Occasionally we discussed. It was fanTAStic. Did anyone else see it?
— Cashel had some comments: “I am REALLY interested to learn that the original Superman was evil!” This then led to Idea #1: He thinks it would be a great idea to have a movie where the original evil Superman battled the later good Superman. Almost like a Jekyll & Hyde thing.
— Another idea he had was to have a movie where the cartoon characters created by DC Comics would battle the cartoon characters created by Marvel. Sort of an apocalyptic inter-comic-company war. Marvel vs. DC! Opening summer 2008!
— We discussed the so-called Superman’s Curse. I felt a little bit weird talking about suicide with Cashel – and George Reeves committed suicide – but Cashel seemed okay with it. Even baffled. “Why would someone want to kill themselves, Auntie Sheila?” Oh boy. We were on a commercial break, so I said, simply, “I guess he was just sad that he wasn’t really Superman, Cash.” Cashel thought about this, and then went back to his ice cream. Not really satisfied with the answer, but not pursuing the subject further. Hmmmm.
— We laughed at the failed TV show “Super Pup” – which was put togehter in the wake of Reeves’ suicide. I guess the producers thought: We can’t have any more Supermans bite the bullet – so let’s do the same Superman story, with the same cast, only let’s have them all be dogs – only not real dogs – let’s put midgets in dog outfits!!!!
Yeah, cause that’s exactly the idea I would have in order to keep the franchise alive. I would hire midgets and make them wear dog costumes. Makes perfect sense!
— We saw a bit of the pilot of Super Pup – which was ludicrous. Lois Lane was a poodle. The dog-heads were hard – made of some kind of hard thick plastic – and you just knew that there was some sweating midget inside. It was bleak. The narrator (Kevin Spacey) said, “This rarely shown pilot blah blah blah …” The next day when Cashel was telling his dad about Super Pup, he rattled off, “We saw the rarely shown pilot!” Frankly, I can understand why it is “rarely shown”.
— Cashel has not seen the original Superman with Christopher Reeve! This is a must-see. We saw many clips from it. We saw Reeve’s screentest – which – are always amazing for me to watch. I love seeing actors auditioning for the parts that eventually would make them famous. First of all: he was so hyped up and probably nervous that he had huge sweat stains in his blue leotard. Second of all: the performance that I saw in the screen test (and I think he was actually acting with Leslie Anne Warren who was up for the part of Lois) – was exactly the performance he ended up giving in the film. His audition had that much certainty to it – that much fullness. He had researched it to death – he knew what Superman represented – he knew what he had to embody – and so he DID that. He WAS Superman, and that was just his screen test. It just goes to show you that as an actor you always need to “show up” 110%. It’s just a job interview … but what they are looking for is the final product – and that may seem unfair – but that’s the way it goes, and those actors who are sure enough of themselves to deliver that – will go far. It was great to see Reeve be so effortless in his screen test (only the sweat stains gave him away.)
— When they showed the clip of Superman flying with Lois Lane near the Statue of Liberty – Cashel exclaimed (and it’s a good point), “In Metropolis???”
Anyway – as you can see we had a great time with this special. We just ate the whole thing up ravenously – and were still talking about it the next day. Cashel is probably talking about it right now. Either that or the Far Side.
awwwww! What a neat kid!
You know, I saw ALL the Superman (with Chris Reeve) movies when they came out in the theater – my whole family would go, it was a big big deal – like the original Star Wars movies when they were first out.
I can’t watch those movies any more, after Reeve’s accident. I know, he was very brave, and he did a lot of great work and all on the part of people who are disabled, but it’s still too heartbreaking to me to watch the movies and think about what happened to the man. (He was also one of my first movie-actor crushes as a young girl, that probably plays a part in it).
There’s also a “superdog” cartoon – to round out the franchise. I watched it once when I was home with a headache and bored but couldn’t read. It’s execrable. I’m interested to think they tried something similar years and years ago, except with midgets in dog costumes (which would make me so sad – I’d totally imagine the person inside the costume, just dying under the hot lights).
I saw good hunks of a similar special about all comics, not just Supes. Very well done, and helped by being able to interview guys like Stan Lee and all that.
Cashel would probably be fascinated by the many DC/Marvel crossovers that have already occured. (They may be a little expensive to find, since most people aren’t as sensible as Cashel and want to preserve their copies forever unread.)
I’d been thinking about the ’78 movie a good deal, especially since the current film has so many little homages to it. (And since Routh does such a great Reeve that it’s eerie.) For me, the incredible scene comes right after the “educational montage,” when you see Reeve in the costume for the first time, in the Fortress of Solitude. And the fanfare starts off, the camera pulls back all the way – DA-duh-daaaaa….
And he just steps off the ground and flies past the camera.
I mean – gasp. That scene still holds up: absolutely convincing.
I know what you mean … it’s haunting to see Reeve in those clips now, strong and young. Man, oh man. And that his wife just died too – I think, occasionally, about their son. I think he’s 13 years old?? How hard it must be for him.
And yeah – totally – those poor midgets. And the heads were HARD – they didn’t look like Muppets, or even cute or cuddly. Like if the dog bumped his head on the wall, it would make a hard loud sound. They kind of wobbled around on the neck, too – so everything seemed kind of unhinged and amateurish. So weird!!
Oops – that first comment of mine was to ricki.
Nightfly – uhm, could you tell me more about DC vs. Marvel stuff? Any chance that it would have been released as a book for us morons out here who don’t want to spend 1000s of dollars? I’d love to get it for Cash.
Nightfly – I just got goosebumps about that scene you described. Yup. You’re so right.
And he was basically a guy attached to wires – and yet still – it looked so so real.
Three things:
1) I must have a mind in the gutter: when I here the two words “endowed” and “Superman” in close proximity to each other I can only think of an old dirty joke.
2) Show him Superman, but not Superman III (just the weak scene of a evil Superman fighting a good one will ruin any future ideas of a evil vs. good Superman movie)
3) Can you have Cashel explain Cow Tools to me?? I never got it…
JFH – the fact that you provided a link … I’m howling!!!
Also – JFH – check your email. :)
JFH:
I’m convinced that the “Cow Tools” comic is Larsen’s version of the Emperor’s New Clothes – in that, he gave people the opportunity to tell their friends, “Cow Tools? You…didn’t….get…..Cow Tools?” and then laugh at them for their ignorance. And then claim that they’ll never explain it to them, because “it’s just not funny any more if you have to explain it.”
In one of the big Far Side compendia (yes, I am a science geek, thank you for asking), Larsen says that there wasn’t really any deep meaning behind it; it was just a cow…with crummily made tools, like the kind of tools you would expect a cow to make if a cow could make tools. It was sort of a twisted National Geographic moment – except instead of a Navaho weaver holding up her finished carpet, or a South Pacific guy who carves obsidian holding up one of his finished statues, it’s a cow…with tools.
–Cashel is a rockstar. I love the O’Malleys. Reading this makes me wish I was a kid and visiting New York for the first time and that you were my Aunt and that Brendan was my dad. Seriously. Because you all rock hardcore.
–I have three brothers who are 8, 9, and 10 years younger than me, respectively, (we have the same dad, they have a different mom) and so after I went through my The Far Side phase, I would pass on my The Far Side books to them, and YESTERDAY I was at their house and we were trying to find something in the attic and we found this box with ALL OF MY old The Far Side Collection books. I remember when I was a kid my favorite The Far Side comic was the one with several dinosaurs hanging out and smoking and the caption reads “The real reason dinosaurs became extinct.” (Did Cashel bring up that one?) I think I loved that one so much because I was totally fascinated by dinosaurs at the time and of course I thought it was witty and it also proved something I already suspected (that smoking killed) and I think maybe one of the reasons I never started smoking was because of that The Far Side cartoon.
–DC rules.
–You must MAKE Cash watch the Reeve Superman movies! It’s a crime that he hasn’t seem them. (A crime, Brendan.)
Oh, and my other favorite The Far Side strip was the one with the cow on the witness stand and the lawyer saying: “Look. We know how you did it. How is no longer the question. What we now want to know is ‘Why?’. Why now, Brown Cow?”
hahahahahahahahahahaha
I’m loving the Cow Tools stuff! There’s just something about a cow, you know? You can drive past a field of anything else, and who gives?- nobody yells “baaaaa” at a field of sheep, or “neeeeeigh” at a field of horses. But drive by a field of cows and it’s all you can do not to roll down the window and cry “moooooooo!”
Mankind loves cows.
Sheila – just for starters. It’s not nearly as expensive as I thought – thank goodness for reprints!
Seriously, Nightfly – thank you so much!!
ricki – I love your analysis! I love, too, that Cow Tools brings about such discussion. I am in heaven right now.
How many people among us really know all that much about the Black Death, Sheila? A sort of general awareness, sure, but we can all use more details about plagues.
Favorite Far Side cartoon: Man standing in his front yard with a paintbrush and bucket in either hand, and he’s painted the words “house,” “door,” “lawn,” “shirt,” “pants,” and “dog” onto the respective things. “There,” he says, “that should clear up a few things.”
Steve – it actually really is very interesting! There’s TONS I didn’t know. But the typeface of the book is really big, and he takes a very condescending “So we’ve all heard of viruses, right??” tone – so it makes me feel kind of retarded.
But it’s okay!
Remedial Black Death, right this way!
“You’ve got me? Who’s got YOU?!?!?”
One of the best lines from a movie EVER. Cashel must see the first Superman.
Sheila, what’s it actually called? I can’t remember whether you mentioned it before.
I’m about halfway through and pretty impressed by the book “Catastrophe : An Investigation Into The Origins of the Modern World” by David Keys. It deals with the effects of a major plague epidemic in the fifth century and other results of some worldwide climatic, er, catastrophe that he holds off specifying until later in the book than I’ve gotten. Some fascinating history and very sobering description of the horrors of plague, calling to mind just how much more tenuous life was in earlier eras and making clear the lifestyle you and I enjoy in late-twentieth/early twenty-first century America is not the normal human condition.
Wow!! That sounds really good, Steve!
I tried to read a book about the 1918 influenza (epidemics interest me) and it was a crappy book – so I decided to try this one. I want to read about EPIDEMICS, thank you very much!
The book is called IN the Wake of the Plague – and I think the author’s last name is Cantor.
Seriously – there’s some interesting stuff in here – all about the monastery system at the time, and how that affected the spread of the plague (or the containment of it) – lots of stuff I didn’t know.
My favorite Far Side is the one where there’s a bunch of buzzards around a body and one of them is wearing a cowboy hat saying, “Look at me! I’m a cowboy! Howdy, howdy, howdy!” To this day, whenever I see someone wearing a cowboy hat, I go “Howdy, howdy, howdy!”
Also, whenever I feed the cats, I call it “cat fud.” They never laugh, though; no appreciation for the classics.
One of my favorites is the first one I ever read:
Two polar bears biting the tops off igloos… “I love these things: crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside.”
Sheila,
I have been away for a few days and I am just coming across this post. First off, i howled when Cashel said he thought he was in Maine. I love references to my home state especially when people consider it serene and not full of backward thinking hicks.
Nightfly is correct there have been numerous DC/Marvel crossovers. I would never have dreamed I would be saying this, it has been ages ago for myself, I will look through my collection if I should have any I am more than willing to part with them or any others that Cahel is needing or wanting. (Sans some of my cherished Batman stuff, I mean I am still a guy!!) They may not be in mint condition, but they definately are readable. I am not a fanatic and did not collect comics for investment, and since I no longer read them they are just collecting dust. From previous posts I have seen his art, just like I used to draw growing up, and can imagine how his eyes light up when he read a great comic. So, I would be more than happy to pass on whatever I can. You have my email, I think, just let me know if this is something you/he would want.
Chuck – hahahahaha I know, the Maine comment was so funny to me too! Cashel used to live in Maine – so it’s one of his main frames of reference for anywhere he goes. Is this LIKE Maine? Or is this NOT like Maine? He’d be in the middle of the Sahara desert, and try to figure out if it was or was not like Maine. hahahaha
The best question I ever had to answer about Maine was…You guys live in igloos, right? hahaha.
Cashel would have had a great apprection for where I was for the past three days…i was playing golf at Sunday River Golf/Ski resort…talk about quiet and beautiful!!
Let me know about the comics…i can send them anywhere relatively cheaply…if interested, just make at list and I’ll see what I have
hope all is well…got to go to work
the fact that he asked what kind of mustard you were using just proves he is your nephew.
mere – hahahahahahaha I didn’t even think of that!!
The moments you describe with Cashel are precious, and it is wonderful that you are, hating to sound clinical, documenting them. Years from now, there will probably be dozens and dozens of moments that your adult sensibility missed but that Cashel did not. And when he starts to share those with you… look out!
I am taking a bit of a summer hiatus and staying with my sister and her family out in the country. She has four boys, three of them under the age of 11. When school was in the mornings were the most striking. I would watch these three young ones, stroll down the quarter mile lane to the dusty county road to catch the school bus. With the ball caps on at awkward angles, back packs just a bit too large for their frames, especially the youngest, and kicking a soccer ball between them they would their daily journey. They’d stop at the side field to say hello to one of the horses. The middle one sometimes breaking into his lunch to offer an apple. The sun would be hitting the nearby fields of hay. And other than the sports logos embroidered on their caps, there was no real sign of anything early 21st century. The mornings left blisters on my mind ready to explode with the magic of those moments. I would think modern life will soon get a hold of these boys, who knows where they will take life and what it will offer them; but those moments I relished in the innocence.
Children can be a good reminder. (so says the childless 39 year-old)
oh my goodness, Cashel is so adorable.