Our buzz.mn video report on fireworks shopping will be available this afternoon, if all goes well. Meanwhile, here’s another video from StarTribune.com: meet the Firecracker Dude! His website has a link to the National Fireworks Association, wfounded in ’92 by a fellow whose name just screams fireworks: CAM STARR. With a name like Cam Starr you are either required to go into fireworks, or the rodeo.
The expo has a trade show, which I’d love to attend, if only to meet the trade-school dropouts who design the art for fireworks. Honestly, it’s terrible. The new stuff has garish labels with typefaces you see in those 9 BILLION FONTS Cds they sell at Wal-Mart for a buck, and the names are hearty and bluff and macho, as though I’m supposed to feel like a guy who drove over a deer in a pickup on his way to the ordnance depot. They have ominous, taunting names like THE LIVER-MELTER, or cheery family-friendly names like HOMETOWN HERO or HOORAY SALUTE. I prefer the old cheap Chinese graphics with mysterious names – “Pink Flower Flight Bee with Report,” or “Golden Dream Sprarkle Whistler.” You have no idea what that’s going to do, except amuse the kids for 17 seconds and fill the air with the wonderful summer perfume.
Anyway: the graphic above shows a few examples of the old-style graphics – Plane Flying At Night has that old-time charm, but Sunlight of Florida looks like those 70s-style T-shirt kids love to wear nowadays, because it makes them look like they have the same bad taste their fathers once had. More examples will be posted as the day wears on, so stop back often.
Light fuse and get away.
Wise words indeed. "Light fuse and get away."
And be safe: Do not put burning items in your children's hands. Do not drink and ignite.
I plan to find a professional display of fireworks, sit on a blanket in the grass and let the colors delight my eyes and the explosions fill my heart with thunder. And enjoy the children doing cartwheels in the grass and spilling the sodas.
And please remember what we celebrate: Freedom to thank God that we are free to speak our minds, worship our God, and pursue happiness!
Suzy
Credo quia absurdum.