Amer-RI-ca!
I like the shores of America!
Comfort is yours in America!
Knobs on the doors in America…
Wall-to-wall floors in America!
I want to dance, and like, ruffle my skirts. If I happened to be wearing a skirt. I could ruffle my jeans, but it would probably just look like I was trying to smack a bee off my leg.
What was I saying? Oh, YES!
I thought it appropriate this morning — since about 60% of my daily readers (the three people who aren’t my mom and dad) are from the United States — for MegFowler.com to celebrate that sassy country to the South.
After all, it’s Your Special Day.
(Which makes it sound like you just went through a teenage rite of passage, but you know what I mean.)
So, in your honour, I present a list:
TWENTY THINGS I LIKE ABOUT/IN AMERICA
1. I like that you have lots of different and weird accents from state to state. We have that in Canada, too, but mostly it’s just people in Newfoundland that sound odd. You have at least ten odd regions, the oddest of which has to be West Virginia.
2. I like your football better. I know it’s more hyped and sold-out and overexposed, but that’s probably because the players are actually good. (Did I say that out loud?)
3. Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Truman Capote, John Steinbeck, James Thurber, David Sedaris, Jonathan Safran Foer, John Irving, Harper Lee, Dave Eggers, Kurt Vonnegut, Eudora Welty, Thomas Pynchon… and many more.
4. Your California coast is better than ours. Wait… we don’t have one. You are SO lucky.
5. Seattle. Nice.
6. The always sassy “Justice” shows on A & E… especially those narrated by the mighty Bill Kurtis. Rowr.
7. Cannon Beach, OR.
8. Robert Altman, Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen (twenty years ago and Match Point), John Cassavetes, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Soderbergh, Jim Henson, Orson Welles, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Judd Apatow… and many, many more.
9. Sephora. I know there are also Sephorii in Canada, but NOT IN FRICKIN’ VANCOUVER.
10. The New Yorker, Harpers, Architectural Digest, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, and ELLE Decor.
11. Coca Cola.
12. Levis.
13. Peet’s Coffee
14. Whole Foods (THANK YOU. I NOW SPEND ALL MY MONEY ON ORGANIC JUICES AND FLAX.)
15. All the places I hope to see one day (but not all in one day): New York, New Orleans, Savannah, Chicago, Memphis, Boston, and San Francisco.
16. My brother!
17. All my lovely US blogging friends… check my Sweet Reads to see who is from where. Up to this point, however, only Eric has allowed me to sleep on his couch.
18. Apple. I love Martin and Toby.
19. Google.
20. Wiki-freakin’-pedia.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
you are welcome to sleep on my couch anytime…and you should really add colorado to your list of places to visit. it is beeeautiful here.
July 4th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Now if we could just lay claim to a girl named Meg the list would be complete.
July 4th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Thanks! But what about MAD Magazine? And we’ll trade you John Irving for Garth Hudson.
RM
July 4th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Are you a shark or a jet?
And, uh, let’s not forget the football the rest of the world watches. That kicks the CFL and the NFL’s sorry asses.
Finally, speaking of movies and ‘in America’, have you seen ‘In America’? It’s a lovely film, with some exceptional performances from the entire cast. It also features my favourite actress in the world, Samantha Morton.
July 4th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Thanks to Mr. Barefoot for the “In America” reference. Here I was, contemplating renting “1776,” and he gave me the perfect alternative. It’s a wonderful movie.
July 4th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Darren, one of the first things I thought when I saw a picture of Julie is that she looked like Samantha Morton. ;-)
July 4th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Thanks Meg! We Americans like you too.
And you can sleep on my couch anytime. And shop with me at the Sephora they are building IN MY TOWN!!
July 5th, 2007 at 5:32 am
Hey, we have a whole guest bedroom! No need to sleep on a couch in DC.
July 5th, 2007 at 6:40 am
I used to have a Long Island accent.
After four years of college in Western New York and ten years in the DC Metro area/Maryland, it has fortunately been watered that WAY down!
July 5th, 2007 at 9:03 am
I would totally let you sleep on my couch, except, who the hell wants to visit Reno? Blechhhhhh
Things I like about Vacouver:
Soooooo pretty
Super clean streets
People actually say “abooot” instead of “about”
Legal drinking age 19! Which was great at the time
The great memories I created there
Now I just have to get back and visit that island thing so I can see where Anne of Green Gables was filmed :)
July 6th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Hmm…interesting, Julie looks like Samantha Morton. My initial reaction was no, but I went and looked at some photos, and there is a resemblance.
I’m assuming, of course, that you’re not thinking of Samantha Mathis? I developed a huge teenage crush on her when I saw “Pump up the Volume” (http://intermaweb.net/img/pump1.jpg). I always had a penchant for the brunettes with bobbed haircuts.
This prompted a conversation between Julie and I about who she resembles. I tried one of those facial recognition sites, and it came back with Elisha Cuthbert.
July 6th, 2007 at 9:49 am
No, I mean Sam Morton — I don’t see the Samantha Mathis thing at all. Or Elisha Cuthbert, for that matter!
I guess, in the end, she looks like Julie, and that’s a good thing.
July 6th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Yeah, part of the Samantha Mathis is that when I met Julie she was a bob-haircut-wearing, Doc Martins-sporting sort, existing on a kind of Natalie Merchant-Samantha Mathis-Claire Danes axis.
But, indeed, she most of all looks like herself, which is a good thing.
August 10th, 2007 at 6:23 am
You forgot Mother Jones out of San Fran! Just kidding, I know it is impossible to name them all, but the fact that you got Peet’s coffee in there is great. I love that stuff!!!
November 5th, 2007 at 10:28 am
“Mostly just the people from Newfoundland that sound odd”? Can you get any more insulting or are you just a writer with an amazing inability to describe a unique culture and its people with any more respect then that. Oh well, I guess if others don’t sound like you or think like you they are “odd” how narrow minded can you get.