Carpenters and Miners

Is it just me, or do I look deranged here?
Beth and I have been pretty busy as of late. On Wednesday, we saw Neko Case at the Beacon Theater.

The last time we saw her, there was some issue with the opener, and she was really irritated. This time, she seemed pretty enthusiastic. She introduced "Baby, I'm Not (a Werewolf)" as being about menopause, which she had a surprisingly positive attitude about. And "That Teenage Feeling" was inspired by the guitar player, Paul Rigby, whom she considers one of the most un-jaded people she knows. She did the drum solo during "Oh, Shadowless." I mentioned to Beth that her sets generally don't include anything from her first three albums, and she thought it was because she hadn't really developed her sound back then. The opener was a band called Des Demonas, and they were all right, but I had trouble understanding the lead vocals. EDIT: I forgot to mention that the pre-show music included "The Rhythm Thief" by Sparks, "Melt the Guns" by XTC, and "Green Green" by the Young Fresh Fellows. I wonder who chooses those. Neko did not perform her Sparks cover in the show, however.


The following day was Kevin Geeks Out at the Nitehawk in Prospect Park, and the subject was John Carpenter. We've seen several of his movies, and not surprisingly, there was a good amount about Halloween, including a guy playing Dr. Loomis undergoing an ethics board review. Another was a discussion of how Michael Myers seems to like clean laundry and hate messy sheets. One presentation was a supposed defense of Ghosts of Mars that turned out to be anything but, as it's a film that takes place in a matriarchal society, but isn't actually that progressive in its treatment of women. That's a movie we haven't seen, and I'm not sure we need to. At one point, Kevin Maher asked whether The Thing was a hangout movie, while admitting that he's not entirely sure what one of those is. I don't think I'd ever even heard the term before, and it's not clear whether it's the audience or the characters who are supposed to be hanging out. Maybe both? Somebody made the point that it might be more of a workplace movie, since it's not like the characters were at a research station in Antarctica just for fun. The Kindest Cut was of an episode of Star Trek: Voyager that was basically a take on Christine, but with a spaceship that had a psychic link to its pilot instead of a car. And Cece Dynamite did two burlesque performances, one as Michael Myers and the other as one of the ghosts from The Fog.

We drove to Pennsylvania on Friday night to visit Knoebels on Saturday. The park didn't open until 2 PM (except for some kids' activities), and we had to check out of the motel at 11 AM, which meant we had time to kill. Beth found a place in the area where you could ride a cart into a defunct coal mine, so we did that.

The mine cart thing was interesting, if rather bleak in its discussion of mine work. The guide talked about how dangerous it was and how the mining companies arranged things so the workers had no real take-home pay.

He also said his son worked in the mines (they're still in operation in the area, although that particular one isn't), and while I'm sure it pays better and has more safety precautions now, I still wouldn't want to do it. We saw a petrified tree, which was where the coal came from in the first place, and part of which had been donated to the Smithsonian.

And fortunately, we didn't have to jump from one cart to another because the tracks were broken.

No bananas, either.
They also had a steam train people could ride, but we didn't have the time. As it was, we didn't get to Knoebels until around 3:30.


This weekend was the last one for the Hallo-Fun event, and it was probably the most crowded it's been while we were there.

There are two rides that have total makeovers for the season, the train and the antique cars, and both have long waits. We missed the train ride both last year and this one. They stop the line when they think people will no longer be able to get on before closing, but if you're not there, there's no way to know that they're doing so. We did ride the cars, however, and several other things besides. The Whipper had some flashing lights for the occasion, and the Phoenix had some Halloween decorations as well. I appreciated that they had skeletons set up next to the pool, which was obviously not open.


We often go to Dorney Park after Knoebels, since it's basically on the way home. The route the GPS told us to take this time was mostly back roads that were quite dark and winding. It did give me the occasion to learn that my car has a setting that will turn off the brights automatically if it senses another car coming. What can't modern cars do? Set the clock ahead for Daylight Savings Time, apparently. I guess it will be correct again soon.

The park was open until 11, but we didn't stay anywhere near that long. I think we were both pretty tired after everything else.

There are a few things I would have wanted to ride if I'd had the energy, but I'd ridden them all before, so it was no big deal. One of them was Steel Force, which was temporarily closed when we got to it, and didn't reopen until we'd gone to a different area. We didn't do any of the mazes they had set up Halloween, as they cost extra. We watched a performance by the Spectral Sisters, and while I think it was the same as last year, we missed the beginning that time.

A bee joined us for part of that show.

And we got a picture of Beth with the puking pumpkin, which has become a bit of a tradition.

I posed in front of a witch's house and a pumpkin dwelling, which I don't think was Jack Pumpkinhead's.

I believe Dorney might have the only Ferris Wheel I've been on that had seatbelts. It really seems like the rules for safety restraints vary a lot. I noticed in the early 2000s that carousels started getting belts, although they don't always seem to be enforced.