December 12, 2023 - Chocolate, Night Out, Rainwalkers, Miles
Non-stop laughter as the radioactive spider and I share a hot chocolate in the rain.
Nuggets of Information: This Chocolate is Hot
For the last 9 years, our daughters’ Girl Scout troops have held a hot chocolate booth at the annual “Light Up Brookhaven” holiday event. We have participated since the very first year Brookhaven held the event, when a little 6-foot tree was the center of the lighting-up activities, we were boiling water on camp stoves, and Santa arrived in an SUV. This year, a massive artificial tree was illuminated, boiling water was obtained through a legit kitchen and Santa flew in on a helicopter. Samantha’s troop graduated last year and had handed off the H.C. duties to Alex’s troop. They did great – selling out by 7:30pm. As in previous years, they held a raffle for a gift basket containing gift certificates to local Brookhaven businesses.
We estimate our sales to be around 23 gallons of hot chocolate, with thousands of free mini marshmallows! According to Guinness, the world record for the largest single cup of hot chocolate was 880 gallons and was achieved by The Festival of Chocolate and The Museum of Science and Industry, in Tampa, FL on January 21, 2013. But we had mini marshmallows.
Enrichment: December Dinner & A Show
Last Friday the Boohers and Cutlers had a night out to celebrate Julie & Tom’s big birthdays, and also because we love hanging out together. We took Atlanta’s MARTA system from our neighborhood down to White Oak Kitchen. From Hand Pies to whole branzino to duck to short ribs, we ate well. White Oak Kitchen is wonderful – great food in a beautiful setting.
After dinner we made our way to State Farm Arena for Nate Bargatze’s stand-up show. We got to our section right as they started playing his George Washington skit from Saturday Night Live. We took our seats and the opening acts started right away. The first comedian Nic Novicki, who voiced “Lego Spider-Man” in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, was funny, with great timing and solid jokes. The second act – Nick Thune – was really strong. He has a Steven Wright or Demetri Martin type delivery – dry, often just one line, observational humor, and killer stuff. The whole audience was giggling and guffawing non-stop. Thune was followed by Stephen Bargatze – Nate's dad – an accomplished magician whose command of the stage and expert timing reflected his years of experience. He really worked the audience well, and at the end took a moment to thank the crowd for supporting his son (and their whole family). Apparently, this was the largest arena they had performed in to-date, and he was pretty emotional. We all were. Very nice.
Nate came out next, and he was wonderful. He did a solid hour, and it was fantastic. I’d seen a couple of the bits in his SNL monologue or during late-night talk show appearances, but most of it was new. Bargatze is one of my favorite comics - clean, funny, self-deprecating, but very smart and clever, with a unique, slow-paced delivery that keeps you drawn in. If he isn’t on your radar, check out his Netflix specials. His material is family-friendly, and his whole show, including the openers, was positive and suitable for all ages. It felt great to laugh non-stop for a couple hours.
December can be a little crazy – so much going on, so much to do. Taking a night off to eat well, laugh loudly and celebrate friendship was nourishing in several ways. Nights like this are what it’s all about. Tom & Julie are like family to us, and spending time together, enhanced by the overall family-positive nature of the show we attended, left me reset, recharged and feeling more connected.
Workshop: Singing In The Rain
I wrapped up the 2-week, post-Thanksgiving, diet & wellness restart this past Saturday with our Boo’s N.E.W.S./Heal To Toe Express joint mash-up fun walk! We had a great time! The weather was iffy all morning, and as I walked up to the Keswick Park Community Building, the rain had increased just enough to make me wonder if we could get it in. Paula and Chris Shiver (and their good dog Fiddle) pulled in just as I got there. I was not worried about the Shivers and the rain and the hike, as for fun they regularly navigate the world's most beautiful and treacherous rivers for weeks-at-a-time. Dan “The Man” Zanger showed up, and he seemed concerned that he may get a little damp. Back in the day, Coach Zanger made his tee-ball teams and pee-wee football players do burpees in a Cat-4 hurricane, and when reminded of his coaching past, he quietly withdrew his objections. We met up with Tom “Walkin’ Man” Cutler, and we were off!
The first stretch of our walk was the wettest – we walked in light rain from the Keswick Softball field down the Rail Trail, under Peachtree Boulevard, and were approaching the small park area under Clairmont Road bridge when the sky just opened up. Heavy rain. But we had the best possible shelter - a cool pocket park under a bridge - and we made the most of it – taking turns playing piano and the various instruments installed for all to use.
After 15 minutes, the rain stopped, and we set back out. The Rail Trail is a lovely path, with the newest section including an elevated bridge over a lush creek/hillside area, just south of Hopstix. Once we came off the trail, we walked through downtown Chamblee, grabbed coffees from Moonbird at Southbound, then made our way over to Chamblee High School. Tom peeled off to head back to his home, and our remaining group wandered down to the stadium/track. And wouldn’t you know it - Marc Silverman was there! Marc is one of my favorite people - always interesting, super friendly, great bowler, adventure-seeker. His writing inspired me to write and here we are. He and his wife Sally are empty-nesters, and he was spending his Saturday morning helping with a track workshop for elementary school-aged kids. He is at the top of my “50 Over 50” list.
After saying goodbye to Marc, we snaked through the woods past the middle school then back to Keswick Park. It was a great, easy, rewarding walk. Thanks to all who were part of it - you made it great! I plan on holding another one in a few weeks! Stay tuned!
Selected Content: Miles Above the Rest
I’m a big superhero movie fan – DC and Marvel and even independent. Over the last 21 years, there have been 10 Spider-Man movies, and the two Miles Morales Spider-Verse animated films are by far my favorite. I had seen the first Miles Morales film – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse when it came out in 2018, and this weekend saw the sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The animation is breathtaking, the story lines are compelling and surprising, and themes of family, expectations, adversity and the classic hero-struggle are all well thought-out and re-imagined. At times it is hard to catch everything going on. There is a lot of action, many different animation styles, and hundreds of Spider-Men. I kept having the feeling I was missing stuff, or under-appreciating the sheer creativity and artistry in the animation. Nothing related to the story - that all was laid out clearly. There’s just so much going on visually it is hard to keep up with everything.
The basic premise is that there is a multiverse, and each universe has a Spider-Man, and in each universe Spider-Man comes to heroism only after a personal sacrifice - the loss of their father/uncle/loved one. Miles is a good guy - caring, compassionate - but he is also a teenager, with doubt and angst, burdened with the expectations that come with being a superhero - a life that can only be understood by the other web-slingers he encounters. Even though he is one of the most unique beings in his world, he is constantly told to play by the rules. But his rebellious teen attitude leads him to challenge those expectations, most significantly when he is told he has to allow the sacrifice of someone he loves to protect the multiverse.
I mentioned in the Enrichment section about Nate Bargatze’s opening act, Nic Novicki, who voiced the Lego Spider-Man. That scene is notable for another reason – it was animated by 14-year-old Preston Mutanga, a self-taught animator who had sent the producers his own animated Lego version of the original trailer. They were so impressed, they asked him to create the whole Lego scene.
If you like superhero movies at all, or have ever been a Spider-Man fan, or enjoy high-quality animation, check out the two Spider-Verse movies.