And So it Begins

Summer, that is.

Sr. Jr. had *three* 2 1/2 hour baseball practices this weekend. It's a pretty grueling schedule, but luckily the weather's been nice. In between practices there was pool time. Today is grunt work day (laundry, shopping, etc.), so the boys have been fighting over Wii, fighting over the rules of the board games they've played, fighting over who sits where and whose feet are touching whose... you get the picture.

I did manage to finish the sixth chart repeat of my Star of Evening shawl, but I haven't taken any pictures because they'd all look the same. I also started the second of my Thelonious socks. I know; I'm a fickle sock knitter. I wasn't quite willing to rip out what little I've done of the STR socks, hoping to get back to them later. The design looks nice, but it's not something I like knitting all that much. Perhaps if the yarn were more inspiring to me I'd stick with it, but with so little knitting time, I'm going to stick with things that make me happy. Thus, the Thelonious socks.

Tomorrow, Sr. Jr.'s practice is at a field at the other end of the county. It has a decent playground, so instead of driving all the way down there any back twice, I may bring along the Fleece Artist sock I started and let Jr. Jr. play through the practice. It will depend partly on the weather, of course.

A final word in memory of George Carlin, who died last night, soon after being named as this year's Mark Twain prize recipient. In many ways, Carlin represented some of the big changes of the 20th century. He went from performing in a suit with short hair to his long-haired "Seven Dirty Words" phase to his later, relatively more sedate, observational style. Along the way he smashed through a lot of taboos and paved the way for some great comedians, as well as a host of mediocre imitators who confused foul-mouthed with funny.

I've been wondering lately about the comedy circuit and the state of stand-up today. There don't seem to be as many good, stand-out comedians as there used to be. Why is that? Am I just not watching enough late night television to see them? Is it that many comedians migrate to television and movies these days? Is most of the stand-up talent being used on the "Daily Show"/Colbert juggernaut?

Really good comedians used to make waves. Some made legal precedent, like George Carlin and Lenny Bruce. Remember Steve Martin back in the day? Andy Kaufman singing "Mighty Mouse"? Roseanne Barr's Domestic Goddess?

I think we need a good breakout comic right about now.