The Conical Glass: Thanksgiving vampires

Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving vampires

Since I am a big fan of sleeping 'til a reasonable hour, it was pretty clear that I wasn't going to hit any Black Friday sales, and now comes proof that some people take the term "doorbuster" very literally: a Long Island man working as a temporary employee was trampled to death by thousands of crazed Wal-Mart shoppers earlier this morning. "Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life," according to the New York Daily News. A photo taken later in the morning shows a police officer standing in front of a handwritten sign that says "Blitz Line Starts Here." And before you conclude that it's just those aggressive New Yorkers doing these crazy things, there was a Black Friday stampede near Grand Rapids in 2005 (scroll down in this story to read about it), though luckily no one died there.

Yesterday was my birthday, the first time it fell on Thanksgiving since 2003 (next time: 2014). I always feel a little ripped off when the dates coincide, because I don't like Tofurkey, all of my favorite restaurants are closed, and I never feel like flying home to Michigan. This year, I decided to be very proactive and make lots and lots of plans. The night before, Joe, Neal and I went to the Punch Line comedy club to see a local comic I enjoy, W. Kamau Bell, who is also currently performing his excellent one-man show, "The W. Kamau Bell Curve," at the Climate Theater. (The slogan for the show is "Ending Racism In About An Hour," and there's a special 2-for-1 deal on tickets if you go with a friend of a different race; check it out!)

For Thanksgiving dinner, we went to Shanghai Restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown, which was open for business as usual. We ordered a ton of food (my favorites: the garlic eggplant and the green onion pancakes), so I'm all set for leftovers for the next couple days. The place is unprepossessing, to say the least, but everything was really tasty. Turkey -- who needs it!

Then we went to see "Let the Right One In," an arty Swedish vampire film that I must admit I would never have gone to see if it hadn't been Swedish -- I'm so squeamish about blood that I have to avert my gaze when my blood is drawn for a cholesterol check -- but I actually found it quite involving and even touching. Joe thought the pacing was a bit on the languorous side. Anyone who actually enjoys vampire or horror flicks will probably love it.

posted by 125records @ 2:49 PM

3 Comments:

At 3:43 PM, kts said…

HAPPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Love kts
At 8:24 AM, Janet Rudolph said…

Happy Birthday! Chinese food-the antidote to Turkey.
At 9:32 AM, neal said…

There were more leftovers then a standard Thanksgiving dinner too. A week of kung pao shrimp sandwiches?

Thanks for being such great hosts!