Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Little Boost
J came home for lunch today and surprised me with flowers. He put them on the washer and I didn't find them until I went to change the wash. The card said "because you deserve them." Can I get an "awww" from the studio audience? I know this is the part where most people give an eyeroll, groan, and have a sarcastic remark, but just bear with me. We've lived together about a dozen years and now we're several states apart nine months out of the year, all because of my grad school junkie tendencies. So, yes I'm just pedestrian enough to appreciate a surprise batch of flowers that will die in a week. I have to leave again in two weeks. I was pissed that he was coming home for lunch, interrupting my research hours. Glad I didn't choose today to be pissy because I would've felt like an ass once I discovered the flowers.
Movie Recommendations
I am so far behind in watching movies, I don't even have a list anymore. I used to be such a film nerd, but I think I'm in the remedial class now. When I looked at new releases I didn't see anything, or I'm so far out of the loop, I don't know which ones I'd like.
This is where I'm pleading for your help. I need recommendations. The only caveat is no action movies and no romantic comedies. I prefer character-driven movies but am up for pretty much anything.
Just assume I haven't seen it and assume my video store (within walking distance!) has it. It's nearly warehouse sized and they've been in business since beta's and have kept nearly everything they ever purchased.
This is where I'm pleading for your help. I need recommendations. The only caveat is no action movies and no romantic comedies. I prefer character-driven movies but am up for pretty much anything.
Just assume I haven't seen it and assume my video store (within walking distance!) has it. It's nearly warehouse sized and they've been in business since beta's and have kept nearly everything they ever purchased.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Blame Me
It's my fault; I killed Tom Snyder. For some reason he popped into my head, and I wondered if he was dead or alive. When I saw that he was still alive (I didn't see anything that said he had leukemia), for some reason I thought "it'll suck when he dies." That was Saturday. He died Sunday.
I refuse however, to take credit for Ingmar Bergman. That's someone else's fault.
I refuse however, to take credit for Ingmar Bergman. That's someone else's fault.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Other People's Problems
I warn you, this is one of the least articulate things I've written, but here goes anyway. I'm just not feeling like much of a wordsmith today, but I do have something that's been bugging me for awhile.
I am vastly curious about what goes on beneath everyone's facade. This is something I find myself wanting to inquire about much of the time. Yeah, in other words, I'd honestly love to hear your life story.
Something that's been on my mind lately is listening to other people's problems. Often I hear the phrase "I just don't want to hear about other people's problems." Really? I never hear someone say "I love listeing to other's people's problems." Except here and now.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and not wanting to listen other people's problems is a sentiment I hear other people declare overwhelmingly all the time. Obviously, it's highly situational as well. I realize this and am not talking about people who are merely "drama queens" or when we're talking about an inappropriate venue to discuss said problems. But, many times I've heard this phrase in response to a person, fictional or otherwise, that I didn't even realize was trying to overshare. I've even heard people say this about TV shows and movies. What are they there for if not to explore things a little more in-depth.
I realize this is a highly rhetorical post, but so what. I love hearing other people's problems, not because I take joy in other's misery, but because I am that curious. Sure, there is a time and place for everything and sometimes it's just not very appropriate to share your innermost feelings. But I'm really not interested in people that just skim the surface of life anyway. They're like boring one-dimensional fictional characters. "The unexamined life is not worth living"(Socrates) may have become something of a cliche, but I really truly believe this. I'm not saying everyone has to share with me, it's really more about why are people so opposed to hearing about other people's problems? It costs you nothing and you just might learn something by listening to someone else give their life story. I think everyone has an interesting story and I am curious beyond belief at what makes people who they are and to know where they've come from and where they're going.
I asked a woman in her last year of a PhD program in clinical pyschology why she wanted to be a therapist. She told me it was because she liked to hear about other people's problems and hearing about where there are coming from in life, what gives them direction, angst, passion, power, etc all of that. I guess she's in the right field to say the least. She said lots more, but to summarize she said she was fascinated at what goes on with other people underneath the surface. Same for me. I guess it's no mystery, that after having gotten to know me after several months, she said I'd make a great candidate for a doc program in clinical psych. Insert joke about my own sanity here.
Do people who don't want to hear about other people's problems honstely not care about what goes on with other people? I don't mean that they don't care about other people, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm trying to say is do they not wonder how different and how similar we all are. Do they not wonder what goes on beneath the other people's facades? And how do we ever know that unless we are willing to listen to other people. I love hearing others wax esoteric about their lives. Finding out what is beneath other people's facades is just about the most interesting thing there is to me, so I find it hard to understand why some people are so adamantly opposed to it. It's the opposition and lack of curiosity that gets me.
Oddly enough, I grew up in a very small town (pop: 1000, no stoplight, no McDonald's, no Wal-Mart for 20 miles) and you couldn't help but know everyone's business and yet I hated that. I hated that everyone knew everything about me and my family and that no one had a choice about what to divulge about their lives. I think it's downright creepy when people decide to live in places like that all their lives, because anonymity is simply divine.
Just curious, what's so bad about hearing other people talk about their problems? *Oh, and I'm not talking about someone that just mopes and complains and is wretchedly dramatic. I mean just in general, what's so bad about listening to other people's problems?
*I invoke the right to completely contradict myself in the future.
I am vastly curious about what goes on beneath everyone's facade. This is something I find myself wanting to inquire about much of the time. Yeah, in other words, I'd honestly love to hear your life story.
Something that's been on my mind lately is listening to other people's problems. Often I hear the phrase "I just don't want to hear about other people's problems." Really? I never hear someone say "I love listeing to other's people's problems." Except here and now.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and not wanting to listen other people's problems is a sentiment I hear other people declare overwhelmingly all the time. Obviously, it's highly situational as well. I realize this and am not talking about people who are merely "drama queens" or when we're talking about an inappropriate venue to discuss said problems. But, many times I've heard this phrase in response to a person, fictional or otherwise, that I didn't even realize was trying to overshare. I've even heard people say this about TV shows and movies. What are they there for if not to explore things a little more in-depth.
I realize this is a highly rhetorical post, but so what. I love hearing other people's problems, not because I take joy in other's misery, but because I am that curious. Sure, there is a time and place for everything and sometimes it's just not very appropriate to share your innermost feelings. But I'm really not interested in people that just skim the surface of life anyway. They're like boring one-dimensional fictional characters. "The unexamined life is not worth living"(Socrates) may have become something of a cliche, but I really truly believe this. I'm not saying everyone has to share with me, it's really more about why are people so opposed to hearing about other people's problems? It costs you nothing and you just might learn something by listening to someone else give their life story. I think everyone has an interesting story and I am curious beyond belief at what makes people who they are and to know where they've come from and where they're going.
I asked a woman in her last year of a PhD program in clinical pyschology why she wanted to be a therapist. She told me it was because she liked to hear about other people's problems and hearing about where there are coming from in life, what gives them direction, angst, passion, power, etc all of that. I guess she's in the right field to say the least. She said lots more, but to summarize she said she was fascinated at what goes on with other people underneath the surface. Same for me. I guess it's no mystery, that after having gotten to know me after several months, she said I'd make a great candidate for a doc program in clinical psych. Insert joke about my own sanity here.
Do people who don't want to hear about other people's problems honstely not care about what goes on with other people? I don't mean that they don't care about other people, that's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm trying to say is do they not wonder how different and how similar we all are. Do they not wonder what goes on beneath the other people's facades? And how do we ever know that unless we are willing to listen to other people. I love hearing others wax esoteric about their lives. Finding out what is beneath other people's facades is just about the most interesting thing there is to me, so I find it hard to understand why some people are so adamantly opposed to it. It's the opposition and lack of curiosity that gets me.
Oddly enough, I grew up in a very small town (pop: 1000, no stoplight, no McDonald's, no Wal-Mart for 20 miles) and you couldn't help but know everyone's business and yet I hated that. I hated that everyone knew everything about me and my family and that no one had a choice about what to divulge about their lives. I think it's downright creepy when people decide to live in places like that all their lives, because anonymity is simply divine.
Just curious, what's so bad about hearing other people talk about their problems? *Oh, and I'm not talking about someone that just mopes and complains and is wretchedly dramatic. I mean just in general, what's so bad about listening to other people's problems?
*I invoke the right to completely contradict myself in the future.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Is it absurd?
Is it absurd to think of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton on the Wonder Years? Because I think it is.
Yes, the Wonder Years, as in Kevin Arnold. As in Ken Topolsky. As in quality, substance, multi-dimensional. As in many more adjectives I won't waste, because it's not necessary.
Someone on a message board in a Wonder Years thread actually suggested and I quote:
In another thread I once entertained the idea of any of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan joining the cast as add-ons. I think if they had some experience on this show they would have ended up all right and be positive role models. Danica McKellar (or any of the girls on the show, for that matter) never released a controversial tape, shaved her head, boozed, or did anything to wind up in rehab.
Just some food for thought!
It's that last sentence that really takes the cake. I actually looked at their posting history because I was sure they had to be joking, but to my chagrin, no. Look, I've gotta get to bed here so I can't stay and renumerate the idiocy while simultaneously bitching, ripping to shreds, and finger pointing in the manner that this properly deserves. So I'm gonna type as fast as I can. Yes, yes we all know with the Internetz blah blahcakes. Believe me, I know what the Internet is, I get it. I take full responsibility for my own petty here. However, I'm granting myself the privilege to be slack-jawed, irked, and wide-eyed at this. But I seriously wonder about the mentality of people out there. Never mind IQ or personal taste. I'm talking mentality here. What kind of mentality does it take to suggest the above? It's actually quite humorous, I realize and I get that. But not in the way the poster intended. I usually don't get caught up in Internet BS, but I had to respond even though I know full well the site isn't really about the critical analysis, and I couldn't let other posters agree before I pointed out the absurdity, in a nice way. Even if others completely ignored my post and agreed with the idea of a triumvirate of vapid on the WY, I had to have my thoughts out there, just hanging about, swaying in the breeze. I just said, yes, they should've been given something constructive to do, but I don't think there's something intrinsic to the WY that made the difference between Danica McKellar and Hilton, Spears, Lohan, el al. It was longer than that, but I'll spare you.
Yes, I'm perfectly aware of the petty in me and why talk to a brick wall. No one on this site seems to get into fights, so I felt I could respond with a different opinion without it turning into a clusterfuck, so there is that at least. But, why engage with someone that would earnestly suggest such a thing? I know! I just couldn't let it hang out there on the Internetz without a response. I'd love to have been obnoxious about it, but I wasn't. Hell, I was even nice enough to say something involving the words "maybe" "Lohan" and "Prairie Home Companion." Sigh.
No, this wasn't TWOP.
On second thought, I'd love to see Dan Lauria tell Paris she couldn't go out and give Britney one of his classic looks when she says something incredibly uninformed.
Maybe it was genius after all!
Yes, the Wonder Years, as in Kevin Arnold. As in Ken Topolsky. As in quality, substance, multi-dimensional. As in many more adjectives I won't waste, because it's not necessary.
Someone on a message board in a Wonder Years thread actually suggested and I quote:
In another thread I once entertained the idea of any of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan joining the cast as add-ons. I think if they had some experience on this show they would have ended up all right and be positive role models. Danica McKellar (or any of the girls on the show, for that matter) never released a controversial tape, shaved her head, boozed, or did anything to wind up in rehab.
Just some food for thought!
It's that last sentence that really takes the cake. I actually looked at their posting history because I was sure they had to be joking, but to my chagrin, no. Look, I've gotta get to bed here so I can't stay and renumerate the idiocy while simultaneously bitching, ripping to shreds, and finger pointing in the manner that this properly deserves. So I'm gonna type as fast as I can. Yes, yes we all know with the Internetz blah blahcakes. Believe me, I know what the Internet is, I get it. I take full responsibility for my own petty here. However, I'm granting myself the privilege to be slack-jawed, irked, and wide-eyed at this. But I seriously wonder about the mentality of people out there. Never mind IQ or personal taste. I'm talking mentality here. What kind of mentality does it take to suggest the above? It's actually quite humorous, I realize and I get that. But not in the way the poster intended. I usually don't get caught up in Internet BS, but I had to respond even though I know full well the site isn't really about the critical analysis, and I couldn't let other posters agree before I pointed out the absurdity, in a nice way. Even if others completely ignored my post and agreed with the idea of a triumvirate of vapid on the WY, I had to have my thoughts out there, just hanging about, swaying in the breeze. I just said, yes, they should've been given something constructive to do, but I don't think there's something intrinsic to the WY that made the difference between Danica McKellar and Hilton, Spears, Lohan, el al. It was longer than that, but I'll spare you.
Yes, I'm perfectly aware of the petty in me and why talk to a brick wall. No one on this site seems to get into fights, so I felt I could respond with a different opinion without it turning into a clusterfuck, so there is that at least. But, why engage with someone that would earnestly suggest such a thing? I know! I just couldn't let it hang out there on the Internetz without a response. I'd love to have been obnoxious about it, but I wasn't. Hell, I was even nice enough to say something involving the words "maybe" "Lohan" and "Prairie Home Companion." Sigh.
No, this wasn't TWOP.
On second thought, I'd love to see Dan Lauria tell Paris she couldn't go out and give Britney one of his classic looks when she says something incredibly uninformed.
Maybe it was genius after all!
Monday, July 16, 2007
I'm still around...
I know I haven't been writing and commenting very much lately, but I am gearing up to make the move back to Carbondale. Nothing I have to say is fun. Right now, it's all about the minutae and the details. And the paper I'm writing. Yes, I still have a paper to write from the Fall semester. If I don't finish it in the next couple of weeks, I'll get an F instead of an incomplete and basically, wouldn't be in the program anymore. I really, really wish I'd just win the lottery already. Then there's the lesson plans to recreate since HP is holding my old laptop hostage. And I still have to catch up on a lot of reading that I really am not looking forward to (Nietzsche, Kant, etc) so that I can start the semester without being behind. Like that's going to happen. So, basically I haven't been writing because everything is so damn boring. Although, I did make a damn good proscuitto, asparagus, goat cheese pasta dish the other night that was awesome. I even used thyme from my garden!
Anyway, I'm trying to pretend it's "summer" in the regualar college student sense, and yet there's a valid reason for the existence of the term "professional student." All's I'm doing here is bitching that I can't have fun everyday and actually, like have responsibilities and stuff. Yeah, I know I'm 35 and stuff. Doesn't make responsibility any more enticing or tolerable, in my opinion.
Sooo....I did watch Bret Michaels and Scot Baio. I think I'll probably watch a few eps here and there of the Bret Michaels show but I'll watch every ep of the Scott Baio show. I'm not as into reality shows (not gonna bother with disclaimers and quotation marks around the word reality as I assume we all know they are contrived) with actual competitions and games determining the ending. But, I am glad to know the skankariffic is readily available, Sunday nights on VH1 anytime I need it, for the next several weeks. Both shows were every bit as awesome as I expected. I'll be reading the TWOP boards, but haven't found anything to really bitch about yet. Just garden variety twop stuff thus far. If anyone else is watching these shows and following the threads, let me know.
I'm still waiting for the Corey's show which will premiere on the 29th to round out the triumvirate. Not only do I know when it'll be on, I can't wait. That will bliss, pure bliss.
Lastly, if anyone has any movie recommendations, I'd love to hear some. I'm really tapped out of ideas at the moment.
Anyway, I'm trying to pretend it's "summer" in the regualar college student sense, and yet there's a valid reason for the existence of the term "professional student." All's I'm doing here is bitching that I can't have fun everyday and actually, like have responsibilities and stuff. Yeah, I know I'm 35 and stuff. Doesn't make responsibility any more enticing or tolerable, in my opinion.
Sooo....I did watch Bret Michaels and Scot Baio. I think I'll probably watch a few eps here and there of the Bret Michaels show but I'll watch every ep of the Scott Baio show. I'm not as into reality shows (not gonna bother with disclaimers and quotation marks around the word reality as I assume we all know they are contrived) with actual competitions and games determining the ending. But, I am glad to know the skankariffic is readily available, Sunday nights on VH1 anytime I need it, for the next several weeks. Both shows were every bit as awesome as I expected. I'll be reading the TWOP boards, but haven't found anything to really bitch about yet. Just garden variety twop stuff thus far. If anyone else is watching these shows and following the threads, let me know.
I'm still waiting for the Corey's show which will premiere on the 29th to round out the triumvirate. Not only do I know when it'll be on, I can't wait. That will bliss, pure bliss.
Lastly, if anyone has any movie recommendations, I'd love to hear some. I'm really tapped out of ideas at the moment.
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