As a North Carolinian and the husband of a serious Three's Company fanatic, I can tell you that our home is a bit sad today with the passing of Don Knotts. I can't recall many days growing up when I didn't watch The Andy Griffith Show. It's also safe to say that Janelle had more of a crush on Mr. Furley than Jack Tripper. The man played some truly endearing characters, and was, by all accounts, a very likable guy off set. He will be missed.

Last night I dreamt (yes, this is an incredibly ironic and unclever opening) about Morrissey. More specifically, that Morrissey wished me a happy birthday. Never mind that it is not my birthday, and that Morrissey doesn't know me. I also found it odd that he sent me his greetings by carving them into the cedar post of our mailbox rather than sending a witty card, but oh well.

I then dreamt that Janelle and I had our first child, and while searching for something Morrissey-related on Google, Janelle discovered a link to a Morrissey-penned website congratulating us on the birth of our daughter. He also left his phone number on the bottom on the web page. Oddly enough, the number was in the 540 area code. Janelle called, and whaddya know? Moz lives down the street from us. We both quit our jobs and toured the world on Morrissey's payroll.

Why do I mention this? Because it is seriously strange and has entertained me all day.

Netflix loves me. We get movies in the mail and they sit for at least two weeks before we get to them. We watch an average of three per month – that’s $6.67 per rental. Not so bright economically. I need to work on that.

Sometimes, though, we get around to watching one of the three options gathering dust on the coffee table. Last night it was Me and You and Everyone We Know.

Me and You and Everyone We Know is a strangely endearing story about some seriously fucked up people. Writer and Director Miranda July (who chose her working surname because “it is the month that most facilitates her creativity”) plays Christine, a performance artist who pays the bills by running Eldercab, a transportation service for old folks. She runs into shoe salesman Richard at the department store where he works. Richard has his own complicated life; he’s recently separated and has two young sons, Peter (14) and Robby (6), who each have the unfortunate habit of chatting online. Peter mostly chats for laughs; Robby watches his older brother and feeds lines to him to type up. One of these moments is the funniest in the movie. Renting Me and You was worth that scene alone.

The film, of course, is a lot deeper than cheap laughs. It’s disturbing on many levels and reminded me a lot of how I felt watching Todd Solondz’s Happiness, although I wasn’t quite as bothered with this film. Thankfully, July rescues the story twice from potential forays into pedophilia. Happiness doesn’t give us that favor.

One line from Me and You quite succinctly summarizes my own philosophy and hope in life:

I would love to believe in a universe where you wake up and don't have to go to work and you step outside and meet two beautiful 18-year-old sisters who are also girlfriends and are also very nice people.

Yes, indeed, my friend. Yes indeed.

I have these moments every once in a while, either at work, or driving around, when my iPod catches me completely off guard. It spews forth a song on shuffle that I either completely forgot about or never realize I had. Last week it was "My Curse" by The Afghan Whigs. I have had the Whigs' album Gentlemen on my iPod forever. I don't know if I had ignored this song in the past or if I just never come across it. Regardless, it hit me like a truck. Marcy Mays from Scrawl contributes an absolutely devastating vocal. Go find it on iTunes and take a listen.

Searching through the achives again, and found a graphic for a project I did in grad school. J.B. Weir and I collborated on Poems in the Key of E, a collection of poems about Elvis. You'd be surprised how many of them there are. Or maybe you wouldn't be. Anyway, in our publishing class we had to design a book jacket. This isn't it, but it was a teaser for it on an associated web site. Surprisingly, I still like it.