Big bang no theory for Fourth of July

It's almost the Fourth of July, and you know what that means. Yep, it's time to blow up stuff.

Folks love it when things blow up, especially when they blow up real good. The bigger, the brighter, the louder it is, the better it is. Whether it's a fireworks show or a movie, people like the explosions. How else do you explain the popularity of Transformer movies — lots of stuff blows up. (Surely you didn't think it was the intricate scripts and acting?)

Movies and TV even have an explosion cliche in which the good guys walk toward the camera in slow motion while this humongous blast goes off behind them. They don't flinch, they don't blink, they don't look back because they're cool, and the explosion is hot.

Look at YouTube or Facebook at how many popular videos show something being blown up. Or just being shot with guns that make loud booms. It's almost as much fun shooting things with big guns as blowing them up.

An old college friend and fraternity brother spent last week in a training session where they got to blow up stuff. He posted a video of him blowing up a tree, and pictures of a big-screen TV that was blown to smithereens. Toby's liked blowing up stuff from way back, and it's good to see he's still at it.

I remember a highlight of trip I'd made with Dad to one of his First Cavalry reunions was a live-fire demonstration with tanks and artillery. Even though many of those present had been on the receiving end of tanks and artillery before, they still enjoyed seeing what their modern counterparts could do.

For most of us, though, fireworks shows are the closest we get to seeing things blow up, unless you buy your own fireworks. I guess it must be the same in other parts of the country, but I know here down South fireworks are a big deal this time of year and people load up on them. Some folks will blow up a whole paycheck with fireworks.

Most sellers are in those big circus tents on roadsides, although there are some permanent locations. Anyone traveling through Missouri's boot heel and approaching the Illinois state line are familiar with Boomland, one of the biggest, and busiest, fireworks stores I've ever seen.

Despite being advised to let experts handle them and just watch the shows, people still blow up their own fireworks. It's almost become a redneck art form as folks do their own fireworks shows. Black Cats and sparklers are for the kids. Bottle rockets are a multigenerational favorite often thrown after being lit instead of being launched from bottles. Big rockets and big mortars are grown-up fun, setting them off from the driveway to see the explosive balls shatter the sky in brilliant colors, and hoping the force of the ground blast doesn't crack the well line.

I've done both, and while having a hands-on experience blowing up stuff is fun, I still like watching the pros shoot off the big stuff. After all, you don't have to go out the next morning and clean all the burnt mortars, rocket sticks, the charred remains of cones and fountains and all the other debris. Plus they have much, much bigger boomers than I can get.

One thing about watching fireworks is hearing other people's reactions. More proof folks like it when things blow up is how they "Ooh" and "Aah" when they see the big blasts in the sky followed by fiery rain. Or when one of the mortar rounds bursts in a brilliant white ball accompanied by a giant boom. At the Bull Shoals fireworks show you also get the benefit of hearing the blasts echo from the dam.

It's fun to see the youngsters with their faces turned skyward, eyes open wide in amazement and mouths open as they say "Wow!" in the illumination of the fireworks. You can't start too young liking to see things blow up.

There will be plenty of opportunities to go see fireworks and watch things blow up during the next week, starting with the Red White Blue Fireworks show tonight at Mountain Home. There'll be fireworks at Flippin and on Norfork Lake on Thursday, the Bull Shoals fireworks show on the 4th of July and elsewhere in the area as well.

So, if you're looking for something to do and like big bangs and booms and lots of sparkling fireworks in the sky, get out and have blast.