Open Bar: September 9, 2010

The Open Bar is a convivial place for all readers of Anomalous Material to discuss anything and everything they want all week starting every Thursday evening. Feel free to chime in or introduce new topics of discussion.

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A Few Potential Topics to Discuss

  • Saturday will mark another 9/11 commemoration. Where were you on September 11th, 2001? Share your stories
  • Any plans for the weekend?
  • The football season starts Thursday night! Go Vikes!!!!

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61 Comments

  1. Anna says:
    September 9, 2010 at 4:10 PM

    I go back to school tomorrow. (sob) This Saturday, like I mentioned last week, is my birthday. Yes, I was born on September 11th, I know.

    Reply
  2. Ripley says:
    September 9, 2010 at 6:49 PM

    I want to see Bran Nue Dae so bad, but it’s only playing in, like, three theatres.

    9/11…I was, like, six, and watching Pokemon, and my Parent came in and said “Hey, y’know those towers we went to once?” and I was all “Yeah.”, and she was so very nonchalent, just said “They fell down.”, and me and my sister were just like “Okay”, and went back to watching Pokemon, or was it Digimon? I don’t remember.

    So yes. My Parent didn’t care or she was trying to not freak us out. Either or, really.

    Reply
    • Heather says:
      September 10, 2010 at 7:04 AM

      I was 19 and at my boyfriends (now husband) house in Detroit. It was the early morning and he lived with like four guys. Me and his best friend were the only ones in the house. It was a rare day I could sleep in and the house was creepy so I freaked when suddenly Brian burst into the room and said, “Austin has been trying to call us all morning. Turn on the tv.”

      We ran downstairs and turned the TV on just in time to see the second plane hit on LIVE TV, and I remember thinking it couldn’t be real, and for the next five hours we sat in front of the TV crying, trying to call our loved ones, and talking. Wayne State University was closed. It was impossible to get out of the city, because of the scare of something happening there being literally one of the most traveled borders in the country. The bridge and tunnel to Canada was shut down, and everything in the city was. I had to work that night and I remember everyone in my store stopping when the Presidents speech came on.

      I’ve done a lot of drugs when I was younger and partied a lot. Having kids has killed an equal amount of braincells and I have trouble remembering things, but there are few memories in my life that I recall so vividly, with such clarity, and still cuts me so emotionally.

      Strangers hugged each other, we all banded together as Americans instead of bullshit parties, different races, sexes, or ages. We were one, and for the most tragic reason imaginable.

      It was one hell of a day.

      Reply
      • Castor says:
        September 10, 2010 at 12:20 PM

        Thanks for sharing Heather. It definitely will remain one of the defining event of our lifetime and it’s safe to say most of us will remember it like it was yesterday years from now. Even to this day, watching documentaries about it is difficult.

        Reply
  3. Danny King says:
    September 9, 2010 at 8:12 PM

    I’m working on two stories for my creative writing class this week. For the same class, I’m also beginning to read “Brave New World.” Anyone read it before?

    Reply
  4. amy says:
    September 9, 2010 at 8:21 PM

    Yeah! Go Jurassic Park! xD
    After the movie meme, I decided to watch JP again. xD

    –

    On 9/11 I was in school, when the teacher came in, turned on the tv, and we watched the news as they passed those dreadful airplane shots striking the towers. When I think about it, it reminds me of the times when there were car bombings here.

    Reply
  5. Dan says:
    September 10, 2010 at 6:45 AM

    I’m trying to add a little light to the day on Sep 11th as my Spielberg week starts but I remember the day quite clearly. I was glued to the TV, not really believing that it was actually going on.

    Reply
  6. Heather says:
    September 10, 2010 at 7:10 AM

    Now that I shared my 9/11 tale, I’m willing to focus on a little more light hearted topic of my plans for this weekend. Well it’s kind heavy with a light hearted ending. A good friend of mine has been waiting for his little brother to return from Iraq for quite awhile and after last month it was a damn fresh breath of air. We’re close friends and when my little brother served I remembered the enormous wreck I was, with my nose constantly in the news, and then the terror of unknowing because his missions weren’t known to the media, and hearing silence. So he’s in town this weekend and only 19 so we’re having a party for him at my house, and as some of you know, I’m good at a few things, and partying is one of them. :-)

    I would like to officially invite everyone to come join us celebrating life and family together! If you cannot make it in body (who doesn’t have a private jet to fly here PFFT) then hopefully in spirit and have a drink for the soldiers that risk so much everyday, and then have another for their families and friends that wait for them.

    Happy Friday guys! Much love to everybody from me today!

    Reply
  7. Laer says:
    September 10, 2010 at 9:40 AM

    Hi. I’m new here. Got the link by your comment on The Film Reel’s latest entry.

    I was on a train, coming back to Hungary from Vienna. My Hungarian was limited to about 3 words, but my girlfriend at the time who I was travelling with spoke it. A soldier/guard knocked on our compartment, spoke to us (there were two other Hungarians with us in there). Everyone suddenly looked very serious, and started talking/asking questions in a sort of panicked tone… and I was sitting there, not knowing what they were saying… thinking that we were in some sort of trouble. Throughout the frantic conversation, my girlfriend would turn to me and give me quick translations like ‘Pentagon is destroyed’, etc. We were told that when we arrived in Hungary, to expect it to be ‘very military’, and to expect delays and perhaps chaos.

    It was a rather scary ‘run’ back to her relative’s place, as I was completely unsure what was going on.

    Back at the relative’s place, I switched on the tv, and was completely shocked to see footage of the first plane hitting… not just because of the horror of it, but that I was suprised to actually see such clear footage of it existed (as opposed to just a report of it happening, and some ‘aftermath’ footage).

    As a result of the incident, airports stopped flights, and my girlfriend and I found ourselves indefinitely ‘trapped’ in Hungary… uncertain when we would actually be allowed to return to Canada.

    Oddly enough, things were quite relaxed and unhindered at the Toronto airport.

    It’s amazing how long ago that all was, too. Seems like only 2 years ago.

    Reply
  8. Laer says:
    September 10, 2010 at 11:33 AM

    Oh, as far as plans for the weekend… I’m building props and composing music for my friend’s haunt (Halloween yard display). Right now, I’m detailing skulls, and will be composing ‘ice cream’ music for my friend’s evil clown ice cream bike later today.

    Reply
  9. Joel Burman says:
    September 10, 2010 at 2:41 PM

    9/11

    I was 23 years and studying as an exchange student at Washburn Univ. in Topeka, Kansas. I remember slurping down some cereal and milk while watching the first plane hit. I thought and they reported it as a freak accident I recall. So I shocked went out on campus to my first class of the day and was told when I arrived that another plane had hit the second tower.

    I had only arrived in the us two or three weeks before that so it was quite a chocker.

    7 years ago one of Swedens most loved politics (and probably the next prime minister at that time) was stabbed to death by a maniac, so its a date that have a lot of heavy burden through the years if you also include the events in Chile.

    Reply
  10. Joel Burman says:
    September 10, 2010 at 2:50 PM

    BTW I love seeing Deny Everything on top of that featured blogs widget.

    Have been really busy this week with work stuff (promoting myself and my feature project MekB19) so I haven’t had the time to focus on my pitch or read the ones posted, but I’ll dig through it now and post it tomorrow. Can’t say I am gonna be so ambitiuos plot wise as a lot of you guys have been.

    Reply
  11. rtm says:
    September 10, 2010 at 4:43 PM

    I was in my car on the way to work when 9/11 hit, the guy on the radio was talking about the first plane and speculating it was a freak accident. Then suddenly the second plane hit and obviously by then everyone knew it was intentional! Once I got to work, NOBODY was at the desk. We had no TV in the office so we all went to this bar/restaurant downstairs and gawk at the TV screen, speechless! It was almost surreal… I don’t think I could ever forget that day.

    As for weekend plans, I’m joining the St Paul Classic Bike Tour thing on Sunday and looks like we’ll have great weather, yay! Are you much of a cyclist, Castor? There’s also a volunteer meeting for the first ever Twin Cities Film Festival coming up at the end of the month (I’ll blog more about it next week). I have a banner on my blog for the event, it’d be great if we meet there as volunteers! :)

    Reply
    • Castor says:
      September 13, 2010 at 12:33 AM

      Damn, I remember reading your comment in my email but forgot to get to you. In any case, I am not much of a biker except for the occasional ride now and then but I would be up for going to that St Paul Classic Tour. I will check out your post and link when it comes up!

      And thanks for sharing your 9/11 story. I think half the world was glued to the TV on that day :(

      Reply
  12. Anna says:
    September 10, 2010 at 5:23 PM

    Hey, Castor. I know we’ve a while before this happens, but should we start thinking of categories for our pseudo-awards ceremony? Some of the categories would be some from the Academy Awards (acting, writing, directing, etc.), but what about other categories? Like “Most Desired To Be Made” (I think I can name a few of the nominees for that one so far) or “Best Cast”?

    Just a thought, mind you.

    Reply
  13. Will says:
    September 10, 2010 at 6:59 PM

    On September 11th, I was still sleeping when the phone woke me up. It was one of my co-workers who was absolutely frantic, asking me what I thought about what was going on. When I told him I was still asleep, he yelled, “Turn on the TV! It’s happening right now!” He used to mess with me a lot, so I thought this was just another of his pranks, but when I saw the smoking first tower I knew it was for real. I stayed on the phone with him while the 2nd plane hit the tower and the whole time he just kept repeating, “This is it. It’s happening. This is it.” It is true when everyone says in those moments we were all united and truly one country. It’s a shame that only through shared tragedy we can get together like that.

    Reply
  14. Colleeng says:
    September 12, 2010 at 1:16 AM

    Hi All! Well what was weird about 9/11 for me was my husband’s alarm clock was set to radio instead of alarm. HE NEVER DOES THAT! So the radio came on talking about the first plane, I was half asleep and we never turn on the TV or Radio in the morning so I would not have know until I got in my car. But instead I flicked on the TV and we saw the second plane hit. Then I’ll never forget the buildings just imploding, I never expected that. I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area and I didn’t know what to do, but I took my kids to school and worked all day and just felt like I was in a haze.
    Oh, to brighter things! I went to San Francisco today and checked out a new art store Blick. I was totally inspired and picked up some supplies.
    I’ve been digging some musical scores lately. Although I didn’t like the movie as much as I hoped, I loved the musical score to “Let the Right In.” Also, “To Kill A Mockingbird” which I watched for the first time.
    I just started reading Rob Sheffield’s new book, “Talking to Girls About Duran Duran” and it is awesome!

    Reply
  15. Red says:
    September 12, 2010 at 9:29 PM

    I’ve been pretty busy with Army stuff the past couple days, and we are about to leave for the “field” for a few days. So yet again, that’s the reasoning behind the lack of posts from yours truly as of late. I should have some downtime throughout the days to whip up something on my phone and send it into Castor, but can’t make any promises. Hopefully I will be able to finally wrap up the Comedy Tournament this coming week.

    As for 9/11, much like the rest of you I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in junior high in a history class. The teacher came into the room and said that the first plane had hit. Of the 12 or so kids in class, only one or two realized right away what had happened. I had never heard of the World Trade Center towers before, and wasn’t even 100% positive what the Pentagon was. We all filed into the library and watched as the second one hit. We stayed there for most of the morning taking it all in, not knowing exactly what was going on. The next morning, one of our teachers brought in a copy of the newspaper for each person in the class, and said “Place it in a spot that it’ll last forever. You’ll want to have a copy of this the rest of your life, and something to show to your grandkids someday.”

    Reply
    • Fitz says:
      September 13, 2010 at 4:49 PM

      My history teacher was passed out with her head glued to her desk so to speak (she was later fired for abusing drugs on the job). We only found out because one of the other teachers was on break and coming into every class to tell us to turn on our tv’s.

      Reply
  16. Laer says:
    September 13, 2010 at 9:02 PM

    @Joel and Heather re: My avatar

    I left a response to your question about my avatar back up where you asked about it on a previous post of mine, but I wasn’t sure if you check back on previous posts. So, have a look for it up there again! Sorry, I just noticed your question today.

    Reply
  17. Ronan says:
    September 16, 2010 at 6:34 AM

    Hi Castor, I would like to suggest a topic for discussion for this week’s Open Bar. My suggested topic is: ‘Moral responsibility and the Movies’. This is keeping with my post theme for this week is ‘Censorship in the Cinema’. I’ve done a piece on this and I will be featuring an article I’ve written on Moral Responsibility on the blog, as soon as it’s up I’ll let you know and you can link to it if you like.

    Cheers Castor.

    Reply
    • Joel Burman says:
      September 16, 2010 at 7:01 AM

      Great suggestion. I’d love to hear what you guys think of Sam Peckinpah and his movies? I recently revisited Straw Dogs and Wild Bunch.

      Reply
      • Ronan says:
        September 16, 2010 at 2:37 PM

        How convenient, I have been preparing a post called ‘Banned! The films that didn’t pass the censor’ and Straw Dogs is on the list. Keep an eye on the blog over the next couple of days to see a Peckinpah related post :-)

        Reply
  18. Joel Burman says:
    September 17, 2010 at 2:34 PM

    No open bar this weekend??? I dont how I’ll cope without it.

    Reply

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