When your hometown is called “Fancy Farm,” people tend to remember the name.
Admittedly, it’s unusual….although it does sound a bit like a now defunct amusement park near Middletown, Ohio called “Fantasy Farm.” (When I attended the University of Kentucky, I got that joke a lot.)
But on the first Saturday in August, there’s no confusing Fancy Farm, Kentucky. Ask any local, state or national media outlet, and if they aren’t already there, they can certainly direct you.
The annual Fancy Farm Picnic is big news, and has been for 130 years. Politics, pork barbecue and great people, all gathered at the party of the year. Heck, it even made the Guinness Book of Records in 1978 as the Largest One-Day Barbecue in the World.
I was there.
Of course, I’ve been to a lot of picnics since I was five years old. Playing games and eating barbecue when I was little. Working in the ice cream booth that was my family’s responsibility. We’ve had class reunions around picnic time, and lots of family from out-of-town — the ‘city folk’ — coming to Fancy Farm in August for this one-of-a-kind experience.
It’s small town America at its best. Neighbors coming together, all as volunteers, working to raise money for the community church, proud of the tradition that generations of families have built.
And for the barbecue. And the politics.
That’s the heart of it all.
Posted in Entertainment, Family, Food, Foods, Friends, Home, Humor, Life, News, Politics, Summer, Travel
Tagged 130th Fancy Farm Picnic, amusement park, barbecue, church fundraiser, class reunion, entertainment, family, Fancy Farm, Fancy Farm Kentucky, Fancy Farm Picnic, Fantasy FArm, first Saturday in August, food, Foods, friends, Guinness Book of Records, home, Humor, ice cream, life, local media, media, Middletown Ohio, national media, news, picnic, politics, pork barbecue, state media, summer, Travel, University of Kentucky
A+ I
The media has been talking so much lately about the movies that are really bad (Hot Pursuit, Paul Blart 2) that we haven’t heard nearly enough about the great ones.
Like Ex Machina.
But it’s so much more. And I challenge any of you who may have dismissed its AI premise to give it another look.
For one, the performances are stellar. Alicia Vikander as the robot Ava is stunning. You can completely understand why Caleb, played by the equally compelling Domhnall Gleeson, is so taken with her, because you are, too. (And does anyone remember that the two were also romantically paired in the wonderful Anna Karenina? #PointsMe)
Oscar Isaac is also the most wonderful kinda crazy as Ava’s inventor. “Isn’t it strange,” Ava asks him, “to create something that hates you?”
The cat and mouse game in this movie is wonderful. The film is filled with monsters, and it won’t be too long before you don’t know which is which. You’ll leave the theater talking about this film long afterwards.
For the right reasons.
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Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Humor, Movies, review, sci fi
Tagged #PointsMe, airplanes, Alicia Vikander, Anna Karenina movie, bad movies, cat and mouse game, celebrities, commentary, critics, Domhnall Gleeson, entertainment, Ex Machina, great movies, great performances, Hot Pursuit, Humor, inventor, media, Monsters, movie premise, Movies, Oscar Isaac, Paul Blart 2, robot Ava, sci-fi, theater