Judas Goat

Endless Night

2006-06-16T10:10:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so I'm a bad sleeper. Wait a second . . . nope, I'm an excellent sleeper. If I recollect rightly, I was last clocked at 18 hours of uninterrupted pillow time. Once I'm down, I'm out -- nothing to see here, move it along, drool is not pretty people. My problem is actually falling asleep, that's where the timesuck lives, and all because of my stupid brain. I mean, don't get me wrong -- I like my brain and all. It's gotten me out of some tight spots (sometimes a little too well) and we work okay together as a team, but sometimes I wish it would just shut up so I could get back to killing it with beer. Figuratively.

It yaks a lot, my brain, and often there are things I don't wanna hash out, especially not at three in the morning thank you very much. I realize that most people refer to this particular condition as really bloody neurotic but I'm not sure if that's the technical term. Anyway, I've found that the best treatment for my nighttime trips to the set of Bring In da Head Noise, Bring In No Sleep is to distract myself until Hypnos smacks me upside the head with his big velvet hammer. Mostly I use books for this, escapism at its finest, a time-honored tradition in weetzieland. Sometimes TV works, unless I'm really tired -- then everything works. Car ride, boring lecture, hand in my pants . . . all equally effective.

I hear you out there in bloggerland, don't think I can't, and I know what you're saying. But weetzie, sez you, did you, like, have a fuckin point? Hmmm, lemme check my other pants. Oh yeah! So, it's hard for me to fall asleep, right? And last night I stayed up until 1:30 or so, cuz the old noggin was crankin away, and I was still on the couch when the good old BF wandered downstairs on his way to work. (Yes. At 1:30 am. I know! Freaks you out huh?) I knew it was past my bedtime so I smooched the boy and staggered upstairs, hit the lights, and commenced relaxation. I could do this. What about some deep breathing? It's gotta help.

I'm all sacked out at this point, breathing my head off. I know it's gonna happen! Oh Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream! Is that you Mr. Sandman? Wow, you sound awful angry. And you're not quite here yet, your voice is too far away. I think you're outside . . . hey, I think you're outside my bedroom window. I'm on the second floor so you must be talking pretty loud for me to be able to hear you. And you seem to be a woman. Well, hey, no big deal there, who cares? In fact, I like women. Are you hot? Just kidding. But why don't you come here so I can get some shuteye? On second thought, never mind, you're too angry. In fact, you sound like some drunk bitch ranting into her cell in my parking lot! Busted! SHUT THE FUCK UP! I can't believe you don't shuttup!

Round about that time last night I seriously considered hurling myself at the window and screaming the above one-sided cuckoopants conversation through the screen. I also thought about just shouting "could you keep it down please?" and taking it from there. But jeezus, this woman had enough problems. She was definitely, um, exuberant to say the least. She had the beverage-based energy that don't come from no can labeled Rock Star. And somebody sure pissed this chick off. I didn't get his name but I think it started with F and rhymed with Duckface. I didn't wanna be next on her list, and I was sure complaining would guarantee my spot. I was just too tired for any more bullshit. And after a little while she shut up and went away to sleep it off, which I hope worked out for her, because god knows I've been to Belligerent Drunkenland, in fact I think I had a short stint as the queen. It's all kind of hazy but there may have been a mock turtle. And I woke up this morning in plenty of time to get everything done, cuz I don't have work today and there's sunshine and life is just fine. Like it usually is.

I just my head could be dealt with as easily.

Beware Scout Niblet!

2006-03-22T13:24:00.000-06:00

I understand now why loud music can be used for torture in Guantanamo Bay for I was assaulted last night by the atonal postmodern noise that one Scout Niblet passes as her "art". I did this in the interest of the main act, Rainer Maria, whom my husband has a strong fancy for and I was attempting to make peace with. Cover at the Mews had been paid, and I was not going to throw in the towel just because some stoned, half-wit Brit, thinking she was the next Cat Power or PJ Harvey, couldn't figure out the line between artistic and assaultive feedback. I would like to rename her Cat Piss, due to her ability to take the worst qualities of both the previously mentioned artists and combine them into one nonmusical, gutrending sound. Oh, and when after her set I happened to meet her in the bathroom, I swear that's what she smelled like. I spent much of her set with my pointer fingers snuggly plugging my ears and wishing it would end. When the lyrics of one song related, "We're all going to die," I thought, "You before me, please," or alternatively, "If only that would be now." Rarely have I been so audially offended. There were moments I had to stifle the urge to throw my pint glass at her head, which at the time seemed the most immediately convenient physical manifestation of returning the favor.

Surviving the Niblet, I enjoyed Rainer Maria's show, though it was short. The new album sounds to be one of their most listenable creations to date. Previously I had been lacking enthusiasm due to the lead singer's disregard of musical key in her singing. But--happy day!--she's apparently invested in singing lessons and now manages to maintain her heavy, yell-like quality while still meeting expectations for pitch. Furthermore, they were incredibly fun to watch. She was a cross between Jennifer Grey and Veronica Mars, complete with pseudo-80's fashion sense. The lead guitarist jumped around and danced like he loved this thing he was doing, and the drummer, though stuck behind his set, was equally excited by the music they were making. The joy was contageous.

I hope that with this new album, my husband and I will no longer have verbal sparrings whenever he wants to listen to them in the car. Now if only I could get him on board with the Rufus Wainwright...

World of Warcrack

2006-01-05T14:47:00.000-06:00

The first time is free--10 days trial period, borrow the game discs from a friend, and you're on your way to addiction.

This is nothing new. Everquest invented the MMORG addiction; World of Warcraft just refined it, made it more accessible for the masses.

Two weeks before Christmas, our so-called friends convinced us to try it out. We were hooked after two sessions of play and got the official subscription the day before our trials ran out. For Christmas two of those "friends" gifted us 60-day subscription cards, so now we're set till May.

My main character is a 21st level rogue with skinning and leatherworking. She has a fishing skill of 75. She's named after Gillian Anderson and the protagonist of a fantasy novel called Daggerspell.

The game is fun. There's no doubt about that. I imagine heroin is fun too, but most people are better off without personal knowledge of that fact.

I'm getting less sleep. My other interests are falling by the wayside. But I'm not as bad as one of my friends. He's getting up an hour earlier to get some play in before work. The game devours our time and then cries for more.

The worst is the guilt of passing on the addiction and becoming that "so-called" friend. We've officially hooked in one and have passed the free trial on to two more. I have mixed feelings about it, knowing that I may have handed a friend the gun she will now shoot herself with.

But I'm trying not to focus on the negative...
WTB [Light Leather] x10

Jazz choir goes old school, Nintendo style!

2005-10-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting in my study, preparing discussion questions for Heart of Darkness and minding my own business, and then I hear it, the vocal sound that is distinctly jazz choirian. Why is my husband listening to this, I ask myself, knowing that he is generally adverse to jazz in all forms?

But then I realize the song, what seems to be a tinny, bouncy number, has changed to an ominous, deep beeping sound. A brain synapse goes off, and I see in the back of my mind an 8-bit plumber falling into a sewer system. The choir is rendering the music of Super Mario Bros. I jump up to join my husband in watching the choir procede to tackle "Chill" from Dr. Mario, Tetris, Mortal Kombat, and Legend of Zelda before its all over.

Now you can share the love: Nintendo Choir

Serenity offers what the Star Wars prequels failed to deliver

2005-10-02T14:52:00.000-05:00

I am blown away. I knew I would like Serenity if only the movie held mostly true to the show. But this reincarnation of Firefly truly deserves to become the next great sci-fi franchise.

It offers everything the Star Wars prequels lacked in abundance:

Characters to care about.
I know I was supposed to care about Anakin and Amidala and the rest, but ultimately I couldn't give a rat's hinney. I loved Leia, Han, Luke, Chewie, and the rest in the originals, and I wanted to love the new gang, but I was never given a reason to. Not so with Serenity. These are lovable characters with strengths and flaws and honest sympatheticness. Their choices have consequences that make them important. They are the regular folk, just trying to keep flying, not wanting to be heroes, not wanting to change the universe (anymore). But they're put in those 'verse-changing situations and are forced to make hard choices.

Real-life grit.
Remember in the original trilogy how the Millenium Falcon was dirty and half the time failed to jump to lightspeed? Lucas forgot the tactile grittiness when he made the prequels, but Joss Whedon didn't. Serenity, the ship, stays in the air with spit and love and the talent of a natural whiz mechanic. There is grease and grime and tangibility because of it. It feels real. And that goes for the rest of the 'verse. It is engrossingly realized. There's none of this one planet, one ecosystem simplicity of, say, Hoth or Dagobah. Joss' vision never lacks complexity. It feels homey and lived in.

Good writing.
There's nothing like Joss dialogue. It's witty and real and intelligent. It mixes the old with the new and the invented. It feels natural, unlike the heavy-handed dialogue of the prequels. Even the original Star Wars films were critiqued for their clunky writing. Serenity sparkles in its writing, and the characters shine because of it.

High excitement and tension.
Maybe it was just me, but I was falling asleep during the prequels. The opposite was true with Serenity. The second time I saw Serenity, the film seemed to fly by me. I tensely held my husband's hand both times, holding my breath during particularly gripping scenes. The fact that there are real consequences for our crew mean that the tension holds true. It builds to a point where I truly wondered whether my beloved heroes would make it out of this.

FUN.
The movie's just plain fun to watch. It's a helluva ride, there are a number of surprises, and no shortage of humor.

Go see it. It is worth every penny. It is the most engrossing pulp adventure since 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. I should know. That was the last time I fell in love like this.

I'm gonna see Serenity

2005-09-29T14:02:00.000-05:00

There's a songwriter out there named Dan Sehane who is now one of my many extended kin. He and I are of a like-mind if his newest song is any indication.

The fabulously resonant "I'm Gonna See Serenity"

Waiting for Serenity

2005-09-28T08:48:00.000-05:00

I can only blame my lack of posts on Joss Whedon. See, he made this television show three years ago called Firefly. I knew about it as a fan of Buffy and Angel, and decided to watch it. It wasn't long before I was saying, "Buffy who?" Firefly was the new boyfriend who made me ditch all my friends. And then Fox took my beau away. And I was broken-hearted. A few of the Firefly actors showed up on Buffy and Angel, and I tried to enjoy them in those capacities, but it didn't feel right.

I wasn't the only one who felt this way, and so when Fox released Firefly on DVD, sales were surprisingly strong. So strong, in fact, that Joss got a movie deal with Universal to continue the story. My boyfriend's back!

So I'm sorry if you feel I've been spending far too little time with you lately, but I missed Firefly so much that I've been, well, sort-of obsessive about him. I've been spending all my blogging time with him, pouring over message boards and reading reviews of pre-screenings, putting together shindig plans for opening night and creating my own merchandise, marketing in various grassroots ways, and rewatching the Firefly episodes. Take heart, though, because Serenity hits theaters in just two days, and then I'll be back...till there's a sequel.

Anyway, you should all go see what can make a girl like me so obsessive--you won't be disappointed!

Balancing tragedies

2005-08-31T19:23:00.000-05:00

I've been remiss in posting here, busy with the start of the school year and turned off by the political scene of late. I missed out commenting on Pat Robertson's hypocritical suggestion of assassination, Diddy's elimination of the P (yes, that was an intentional pun), and numerous movies that have hit the screens (40-Year Old Virgin is strongly suggested and suggestive).

But the past two days have brought a desire to blog again. First there is Hurricane Katrina's destruction. I've been harrowed by accounts of the struggles those in the wake have faced. Today I was especially struck by a report on NPR that noted law enforcers were not moving to stop the looting of grocery stores. "These people are hungry," they said. The commentator pointed out that if arrests were to be made, they'd also have to find some place to keep the looters. On an earlier report, one woman who had gone out to loot for food for her family cried as she attempted to come to terms with her desperation. She had reconsidered old prejudices. It was different now that it was her desperation, and she felt the guilt of her previous condemnation of looters she had seen on television in other situations.

Today the story that took second place to continuing coverage of Katrina was that of a stampede in Iraq that killed 950 Shiites. Rumor of a suicide bomber during a religious celebration spread panic on Baghdad Bridge. Hundreds were trampled to death, suffocated, or drowned after jumping into the Tigris. I am saddened that this cannot be the lead story today. I am even more distraught at the reminder of what fear and desperation can lead to, something already seen in looting after Katrina.

And the only shiny thing I can note is the new Serenity movie site, which is a thing of beauty. Universal finally overhauled the site to make it worth visiting. Lots to see and play with now. I spent a good hour with it and didn't fully explore all it had to offer. And right now is exactly when I need the escape from fear and desperation and tragedy. Bring me mindless games and flashy movie clips. I've had enough of reality for a little while.

This Modern World: Summer Blockbuster Special

2005-08-12T11:31:00.000-05:00

So I admit I'm a fan of Tom Tomorrow, in part cuz he rags a lot on hypocritical politicians. No big surprise there. But I'm also a big geek. What? That's not a surprise either?

Well, fine, Mr. Know-It-All, here's the This Modern World that combines both my Bruce Wayne and my Batman sides. Check it out.

This Modern World: Summer Blockbuster Special

Peter Jennings, 67, died of lung cancer yesterday

2005-08-08T09:13:00.000-05:00

I'm in a dull shock, because Peter Jennings, a young man in many ways and an icon of America during my 28 years, is now dead. For me the death was sudden and unexpected, though Jennings had been suffering from lung cancer for some time.

I cannot remember a time when Jennings was not one of the faces of national news. As a reporter and anchor, he was the image of professionalism.

The New York Times article

He died too soon, and his shoes in the media world will not easily be filled. He will be missed.

His death, I believe, marks a major shift in the dominant paradigms of the news media. When I was a child, the Big 3 broadcast networks brought us our news, and three men were the faces through which it reached us. Now we have numerous news networks, mostly on cable, a highly popular satirical news show, and a lack of confidence that any of it can provide something that might be considered the truth. It is time of splinterization, where certain news organizations, rather than attempting to be unbiased simply cater to one political group or another. And at the same time the media is consolidating under the ownership of a very few men.

Peter Jennings will be seen as a man of an earlier generation of news media. Was it a better generation? More simple? Or was it simply better at hiding its seems of bias?

While my ukulele gently weeps

2005-08-07T15:09:00.000-05:00

I've been out of town over the past few days, visiting my old college haunts and friends. I've decided that three days, two nights is exactly how long I need in Iowa City to hit all the places I missed and also remember why I was glad to leave.

But on to the entertaining bit of internet that has brought me to post in the first place. It's a little .mov file of a man and his ukulele, covering a Beatles fave. My response is a mixture of laughter at the absurdity and utter amazement at the talent.

While My Ukulele Gently Weeps

An up-and-coming rock star named Kelli Rae Powell

2005-08-02T13:04:00.000-05:00

It is only incidental that I happen to be old friends with Kelli Rae Powell, but it does give me an in to her movement towards folk/rock stardom. And I'm convinced she's going to be a familiar name to the music community very soon.

She recently enlisted a friend to put together a website for her, and not only is the site itself cute as hell, visitors can listen to five different songs and find out where she's next playing. I highly suggest checking it out, especially if you have an appreciation for acoustic songs of thoughtfulness, humor, and insight.

KelliRaePowell.com

Browncoats Site adds Crews

2005-07-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

So I've been frequenting the Serenity: The Official Movie Website
forums for the past, oh, year or so, and recently they've added something new to excite things up a bit. Crews. So now registered users can form crews of 30 people to compete in challenges with the hope of ever promoting our Big Damn Movie. The crew I've chosen to join is named Ellie's Independents. I think the name's okay, though I would have much preferred Special Hellions or Mal-formation, since both are punilicious and don't derive identity from solely our captain, DizzyEllie. But it was put to a vote, and that was the most popular.

If you happen to be on the boards and looking for a crew, join us. We're mighty fine folk.

How the Joneses' 23rd Goldfish Narrowly Escaped Death

2005-07-27T19:11:00.000-05:00

This animated short is simply ad-or-able!

How the Joneses' 23rd Goldfish Narrowly Escaped Death

Oh, how it makes me smile. You need to smile, too. You need to watch this now.

Back in the Midwest

2005-07-27T14:38:00.000-05:00

Seems I've been out of the world a spell. Some interesting things have happened: O'Connor announced retirement, London got attacked, my mom got in a freak "Christine"-like car accident, I discovered an old high school acquaintance "pens" a successful webcomic I've read on occasion, Harry Potter was a hit (I read it in the days after it hit shelves), and summer blockbusters have been popping up and reeling the viewers in.

I'm still getting used to being back home, which means I haven't got much to say right now, but I'll be back with more rants, raves, and reviews in the coming days and weeks and months.

In the meantime, I hope you're all tuning into Firefly's reairing on Sci-Fi. This Friday Sci-Fi plans on premiering a new trailer for Serenity during the last quarter hour of Firefly. You can bet I'll be tuned in.

Going to Colorado

2005-06-20T20:05:00.000-05:00

I will be going on a type of sabbatical in a few days, heading out to Cortez, Colorado to study anthropology of the Pueblo. If you'd like to follow my travels, I invite you to check in with my online journal called Traveling Light.

I will be using Traveling Light to record the experiences I have throughout the month I will be in the Southwest. Because of this, I will not be updating Judas Goat as frequently.

I Heart Fags

2005-06-18T05:28:00.000-05:00

A friend sent this to me after reading the previous post about Urban Dictionary's prevalence of "fag" terminology.

This rap song by MC Frontalot clearly skates a line between sentiment and satire, and for that reason, I thought it worth sharing. Be warned however, there is adult language involved.

I Heart Fags (mp3 download) or if you'd rather simply the lyrics.

As a further note, the man himself, MC Frontalot, seems a mighty interesting fellow. His main page offers humor, stage dates, and a testament to him by Noam Chompsky!

A golden era of comic book films

2005-06-17T10:20:00.000-05:00

Two nights ago I saw Batman Begins and became convinced that there has been no better time for comic book translations to cinema. As my husband would say, "Mr. Mom--who?" Sure, the Burton films were good, and the Superman films of the 80's were definitely fun; but only in the past few years have we gotten films that capture not only the excitement and action but also the psychology and nuance of comic book superheroes.

This is not to say there haven't been some duds in there: Daredevil, Elektra, Catwoman, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen all were sub-par; but they represent a natural side-effect to highly successful films like X-Men and Spider-Man. Movie studios see that one film is critically acclaimed and makes loads of dough at the box-office, so they green-light more of the same, except some of them aren't so good or don't have the pop that brings in the fans. Flop.

These aside, what Bryan Singer did for X-Men, what Sam Raimi did for Spider-Man, and now what Christopher Nolan has done for Batman Begins is a thing of beauty. These directors took their subject matter with seriousness, devotion, and understanding. They wiped away the cheese that is often associated with comic books and gave their heroes real humanity and life. The actors did the rest.

After seeing Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, I knew no one else would ever again be that character in my mind. Similarly Christian Bale has supplanted all previous Batmans. These two just fit perfectly, playing both hero and alter-ego with insight and style. Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart proved them irreplaceable as Wolverine, Magneto, and Professor X respectively. First let me note that while each of these actors are well-known, and so could have brought too much of themselves to their roles, but instead each became the character, stepping out of themselves and their actor personas. And because of it, their acting is superb.

Amazingly both directors and actors outdid themselves in the sequels of X-Men and Spider-Man, which proved that sequels don't have to be a rehash of the first, that they can build upon the original film's momentum and raise the stakes for the audience (ah-hem, The Empire Strikes Back). Batman Begins finishes with a tease for a sequel, and I am hoping beyond hope that Nolan and the cast will return for that sequel ASAP.

I've not yet talked about the linchpin of this golden era of comic book movies: Sin City. I suppose if you bring in the author of the comic to help direct, you'll have a film that captures the essence of the comic, but I was not prepared for how well it did it. Sin City was sublime: beautiful and horrible at the very same moment.

I hope that upcoming films will strengthen rather than weaken this pinnacle period of comic book movies. My husband has high hopes for Fantastic Four, and I await Joss Whedon's take on Wonder Woman. Bryan Singer is now trying his hand at Superman--I don't much like the looks of the actor chosen to play the Man of Steel, but I saw what Singer did with X-Men, so there is hope. What will happen with X-Men 3 though? Can it compare to the first two or will it drop in quality like Batman and Robin did after the Burton films?

Perhaps the future is uncertain, but here is my answer for now:
Get thee to a theater and enjoy the show!

Michael Jackson acquitted of all counts

2005-06-14T05:50:00.000-05:00

You know, I don't think I would have been surprised however the verdict turned out. I've accepted the fact that Michael Jackson has a weird idea of what is appropriate behavior with other people's children. Whether or not there was actual molestation going on seemed only a side-issue to me. I have no problem believing either that Michael Jackson would molest a young boy or that a young boy's family would take advantage of Michael Jackson's fame and wealth for their own gains.

So here's me shrugging my shoulders and saying, "Huh."

160 variations of "fag" produces equal number of horrors

2005-06-13T17:20:00.000-05:00

Recently I jaunted over to Urban Dictionary to be enlightened on the meaning of the term "fan wank", which I myself had been told I was participating in. While browsing the F's, I passed through a valley of darkness--the 160 variations of the slang word "fag".

I won't go into the details of how a person can riff on the term "fag" for what seems to be an endless supply of offensive idioms. But I will say that I was aghast.

Most people know nothing of the origins of the term; if anything they simply know it is a harsher version of "gay", used derogatorily for homosexuals. The etymology of "fag" is not certain, but the connotations are clearly horrifying.

Here's why this slang term is monsterous to me: "Fag" is British slang for cigarette in addition to the Americanized meaning. What do the two have in common? A faggot is a bundle of sticks. During medieval times, heretics began being burned at the stake. This included witches mainly but also homosexuals and other deviants. In 18th century Edinburgh, homosexuals were burned at the stake for their "abhorrant deviance", sometimes as a couple together. And so homosexuals are like faggots, indicating that their net worth was to be burned.

It's a hateful term. And more people need to be outraged by it. Just yesterday I was over at a family friend's house. Her 15 year-old son called his 9 year-old brother a fag, and neither of his parents spoke up to indicate it was an unacceptable term. I finally told him he was lucky I wasn't his mother, since using that word would have earned him a week's grounding. I didn't go into why. It didn't seem like my place, since I wasn't his mother, but I hope I made some small impact.

Urban Dictionary's vast array of "fag"-based terminology only illustrates how obsessed our culture is with gay-bashing. How many centuries will it take for us to let go of the blind-hatred that spawned the burning of thousands of innocent people, whether accused witches or homosexuals? Haven't we learned anything since then?

I am officially ashamed to be a Star Wars fan

2005-06-09T16:12:00.000-05:00

What is this?

Lucasfilm is actually selling this--a pet Slave Leia costume. And that's bad enough, but just think...people are also buying it! What kind of sick person wants hir shitzu reminding hir of hir first childhood sexual fantasy?

Lipstick & Dynamite

2005-06-07T06:10:00.000-05:00

I rarely get psyched up about documentaries (Michael Moore's work being the exception), but became intrigued when I was sent a link to a trailer for a film called Lipstick & Dynamite.

Lipstick & Dynamite documents the early days of women in professional wrestling. When was that, you ask? The 1940's and 50's. Donna Reed's era. And this begins to explain why the concept itself is so rewarding. Also seeing women drop kick pretty much rules.

As of yet, screenings are limited. The official Lipstick & Dynamite site has a rundown of those plus other fun offerings.

Downing St. Memo proves Bush "fixed" the intelligence "around the policy"

2005-06-01T13:40:00.000-05:00

Right before the May 5 British elections, the press got hold of a memo based on meeting minutes between Tony Blair and and his advisors, including the head of British intelligence who had recently met with Bush administration officials. This memo spoke of Bush's intent to invade Iraq and take Saddam out of power eight months before he spoke this intent to Congress. Richard Dearlove, the intelligence advisor who had met with Bush officials, also tells Blair that though the intelligence supporting invasion is "thin," the intelligence is "being fixed around the policy."

Read the Downing St. memo for yourself here.

Blair officials have not denied the memo's veracity, though the White House has.

Perhaps it is not a great surprise that proof has surfaced saying Bush intentionally planned a deception of Congress and American and world citizens to justify his agenda with Saddam, but why isn't this even registering on American media radar? Only a few top newspapers in the U.S. have covered the memo (including the Seattle Times), and none of the broadcast networks have touched it.

Is it because the media doesn't see the memo as newsworthy? That hardly seems likely.

Is it because the media is being influenced in large or small ways by what the Bush administration wants out there? This possibility is difficult to ignore.

Is it because the American public is apathetic towards the apparent lies put forth by the White House? This line of thought only leads to more questions.

Why isn't this a scandal the size of Watergate, or at least worthy of the coverage given to Clinton's tryst with Monica Lewinsky? In both of these cases presidents lied to Congress and the public. In both of these cases the honor of the office was at stake.

But isn't there even more at stake in this case? Billions of dollars, thousands of American lives (tens of thousands if we consider ALL of the casualties of this war), and the image of America to the rest of the world. Why aren't we outraged at our president?

I think it is because this situation has to do with war that we remain docile and silent. War is a mythical beast in many ways. It plays by its own rules and thrives on absurdity. Wars are almost always created on lies, the most simple of which is that we are different from our enemy, that there is an US and there is a THEM. We expect a degree of this and eat the dogma fed us.

But just because these are not the first lies told to justify war does not make it right, and we should be outraged, because soldiers are dying for a LIE. Civilians are dying for a LIE. And no afterthought of "freedom from oppression" for the Iraqi people can justify the lies.

The media should be covering this memo, and Bush and his administration should be investigated for misconduct.

Firefly is being aired on Sci-Fi--if you've not seen the show, now is the time!

2005-05-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

I cannot speak highly enough of this short-lived series called Firefly. Really. It's wonderful--dramatic, action-packed, comedic, character-driven, engaging, intense, real, creative, subtle, intelligent, and beautiful.

Imagine a future where Earth is gone, and humans have colonized a bit of our universe. The central planets are technologically advanced, but the outer rim, where moons have been terraformed and then populated with settlers, remains in a frontier stage of development. Sci-fi western, baby! And the mix of the two is absolutely perfect. A brawl breaks out in a bar, and a man gets thrown through the bar's front window, only the window isn't glass, it's a hologram/force field, so it merely blinks out as the man flies through the frame and comes back on as he rolls in the dust.

The show was given a rough go of it by Fox, who originally aired it, but the Firefly fans came out in droves to get more of their beloved characters and wacky post-modern world. DVD sales of the half series were way higher than one would expect, and word of mouth powered a blossoming audience. Because of the strong support, Universal green-lighted a movie continuation of the series called Serenity. Serenity hits theaters at the end of September, and while it isn't necessary to see the series before the movie, it is my opinion that those viewers are missing out.

If you like sci-fi, westerns, Star Wars, Buffy, Tombstone, or simply well-written television, Firefly is worth your time. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

Here's the details of the reairing:

Firefly joins SCI FI Friday line-up
MONDAY - MAY 23, 2005

The SCI FI Channel will add FOX's short-lived science fiction series Firefly to its popular Friday night line-up this summer, The Futon Critic is reporting. Reruns of the show's 15 episodes will begin on July 22.

Firefly appears to be taking over Andromeda's 7 p.m. Eastern/Pacific timeslot, just ahead of Stargate SG-1's all-new ninth season. (Two episodes are scheduled for July 29, at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.)

Firefly is a quirky space series with a Western flavor from Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, and stars Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds. The show was a hit with fans, whose post-cancellation support led to the production of the feature film Serenity, due in theaters this September.

Co-star Adam Baldwin ("Jayne Cobb") appeared on Stargate SG-1 as Colonel Dave Dixon in Season Seven's "Heroes." Jewel Staite ("Kaylee Frye") will appear as a Wraith in an upcoming episode of Stargate Atlantis, "Instinct."

Stiletto

2005-05-23T12:14:00.000-05:00

Some of my very creative, talented, and frankly divine friends have put together a new arts magazine online. The editor, my friend Syniva Whitney, is working out of San Francisco, but contributors hail as far as NYC.

Intelligent and off-beat, Stiletto is something worth checking out.

Stiletto Arts Magazine Online

Star Wars!

2005-05-18T09:40:00.000-05:00

A friend sent this to me from The Borowitz Report, and as a teacher, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I had to share.

May 17, 2005
U.S. STUDENTS LEAD WORLD IN STAR WARS KNOWLEDGE

Dept. of Education Hails New Test Scores

U.S. students, long assailed for lagging the students of other nations in math and science, lead the world in their knowledge and comprehension of "Star Wars" trivia, the Department of Education announced today.

The positive findings were the result of a standardized "Star Wars" trivia test administered to all U.S. high school students during the 2004-5 school year, in which students were quizzed on their knowledge of such crucial "Star Wars" concepts as the Clone Wars, the Jedi Council and the Sith.

"These results should leave little doubt that the president's 'No Child Left Behind' program is making a difference," said Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "When it comes to understanding 'Star Wars,' our children leave the rest of the world behind."

While recent test scores have shown that U.S. students have difficulty adding, subtracting, and finding the nation of Mexico on a world map, the "Star Wars" trivia test paints an entirely different picture -- one of academic excellence.

In addition to their stellar performance in the field of "Star Wars," Secretary Spellings said that a recent study shows that American students' mastery of the Sony PlayStation Portable outpaces that of students in Europe and the Far East.

"As the world economy becomes increasingly driven by 'Star Wars' movies and handheld computer games, American students are uniquely poised to lead the way," the Education Secretary said. "May the Force be with them!"

Elsewhere, Harvard President Lawrence Summers said he would spend $50 million to make Harvard's faculty more diverse and an additional $10 million to send flowers and candy to female faculty members.

See you at midnight!

Time Traveler Convention doesn't bring the futurians hoped for

2005-05-09T06:24:00.000-05:00

For the past couple of weeks, I've heard on NPR and from friends in the know about the MIT Time Traveler Convention that was held this past weekend. The originator fashioned the party after a Cat and Girl strip positing that there would only need to be one time traveller convention ever. I wish I could find the particular strip in the archives.

Anyway, sounds like the party was a hoot, even if no confirmed visitors from the future showed up.

The Wired article on the subject

Serenity screening

2005-05-04T17:52:00.000-05:00

The big 10-city screening of Serenity is tomorrow, and I was one of the thousands who tried to get tickets hours too late.

I'm heartbroken. But I will survive. September will come, and, should fate see fit, I will be waiting.

In the meantime, I'll be using my fancy Mac to view the Serenity trailer in HD. Heh. For once having a Mac gives me an edge.

Fandom has overtaken me.

Serenity trailer is up--and it's GORRAM SHINY!

2005-04-26T15:08:00.000-05:00

I am an unabashed fanatic about Joss Whedon's truncated show Firefly which aired a half season on Fox a few years back. The show was cancelled all too early, but the forces that be were looking out for the fans and rewarded them with a film called Serenity, which will hit theaters in September of this year.

The trailer, which rumor has will be attached to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, opening this weekend, has been posted on the Apple site.

Go see it! It's unbelievably exciting.

And if you haven't watched the series yet, you still have time before Serenity hits theaters. You will not be disappointed, I promise.

Serenity Trailer

Kung Fu Hustle is no Shaolin Soccer

2005-04-26T07:43:00.000-05:00

Saw Stephen Chow's newest film, Kung Fu Hustle, this past weekend. I had been quite excited for it, since I had been amazed and amused by Shaolin Soccer, which I saw on DVD half a year ago.

While the brand of comedy remains the same, Kung Fu Hustle ultimately lacked the heart of Shaolin Soccer. In the latter, Stephen Chow plays a character the audience actually cares about. It's a classic underdog story, and nothing's lost in translation.

Kung Fu Hustle, on the other hand, lacks, in no small amounts, both plot and sympathetic characters. Everything rides on the amuzement of the massive kung fu fighting scenes and the silly comedy Chow is known for. If you think you'll be happy with only that, then see it; otherwise, watch Shaolin Soccer again instead.

Seeing things differently

2005-04-14T18:24:00.000-05:00

The hubba-hubby and I recently rented What the Bleep Do We Know?, a documentary/film that explores ideas of Quantum Physics regarding human perception and the universe.

It blew my mind. Seriously.

A few of those mind-blowing ideas:

The lens of the eye takes in more than can be "seen" by the brain. Our brain can only comprehend what can be mapped onto existing memories and knowledge, so what is outside of the realm of our comprehension simply doesn't get processed. A story of early America states that the natives could not see Columbus' ships on the horizon as they approached. The natives had no concept of a ship, so all they could see was the waves the ship produced until the ships were close enough that they could recognize humans aboard them. Wild, huh?

Particles, and thus all matter, exists in no fixed location at any fixed moment. Our brain, however, must make a choice on where that particle exists to comprehend it; therefore, we decide the location of an object that in quantum reality exists in many locations simultaneously.

And the most perception-changing idea is that water molecules are affected by words and ideas. A scientist photographed water as it began to freeze. Knowing that water is one of the most receptive of molecules, he experimented with putting words on the water containers. The photographs show that water changes as the words change from "love" or "thank you" to "you make me sick". Since humans are 90% water, the words and thoughts we experience and produce about ourselves change who we are. Photos and more information on this experiment can be found on the What the Bleep Do We Know? site.

The message of the docufilm is that we can shape our world in huge ways, that we decide how we see the world, and that we can create that world for ourselves.

Everyone should see it. See it now.

Star Wars Fan Films

2005-04-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

I got curious today about what had been produced in this under-rated realm of art, since I myself hadn't seen much since before the release of Attack of the Clones (the title still hurts me).

I was rewarded for my curiousity by this: One Season More, an appeal to both my adolescent loves of Star Wars and musicals. It's quality work, folks. Truly.

The rest of the 2005 Star Wars Fan Film Award Winners can be found here.

It's hard to be Colin Firth

2005-03-25T00:39:00.000-06:00

I was browsing the net of recent and came across what has to be the funniest thing I've seen in a long damn time. I present to you a little piece of humor by Anne Moloney:

It's hard to be Colin Firth, a slightly animated tale

Science's true purpose: backing up gender stereotypes

2005-03-22T10:48:00.000-06:00

Some months ago there were "studies" that supported the idea that men's brains were built better than women's for math and science. Now apparently "studies" are showing that women have greater genetic expression than men through their infamous X-chromosome. Think women can't be understood? Think all men are the same? Well, here's the scientific proof to convince you that you're absolutely correct.

Maureen Dowd gives her take on it here: X-celling Over Men, which ends up being a smirk-infested "na-na-boo-boo" if ever I saw one.

Whether the studies are true or not makes little difference. When it comes to individual men and women, conclusions about who the better mathematician or the most diverse gender is only serve to damage individuals who don't fit. The greatest mathematician I know is my friend Tanya. A couple of male students at my high school come in tied for second. Tanya, because of her gender, has been the victim of sexism in upper-level university programs. It's not because she's bad at math; it's because, as a woman, she's not expected to be good at math.

On a daily basis we are forced to assume things about the people we come in contact with. There's not enough time in the day to get to really know each of those people, so we use short-hand to get us by. If we happen to spend more time with one of those passing strangers, we hope to overwrite the assumptions with observed truth.

The danger comes by getting used to making the assumptions. We get lazy about observing truth or are too focused on ourselves, and the assumptions, even as a person moves from stranger to acquaintance to friend or lover, remain to create problems.

I am sickened by Dowd's gloating. I would much rather people worked to truly understand each other through empathy and compassion than have the allure of the enigmatic.

Zinn and Chomsky unused commentary for Return of the King

2005-03-21T13:52:00.000-06:00

Some of you may have seen the earlier parody DVD commentary by Howard Zinn and Noam Chompsky for The Fellowship of the Ring. Even if you missed it, you need to check out the new commentary for The Return of the King.

The two authors have a strong sense of Zinn and Chomsky, and the ideas in the commentary strike chords both in humor and social commentary.

It's getting ugly.

2005-03-11T23:33:00.000-06:00

In my time on Earth, I have witnessed some truly despicable television - often while folding laundry. It may be events like this which encourage the affluent to wire their entire homes for stereo. South Park's ninth season opener, "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina," is the worst. Do not mistake this for ironic praise. South Park does not push boundaries; it reinforces them.

Retracing territory mapped out in season one, this episode unsympathetically preys upon non-christian religion, alternative sexuality, and racial tension. Add cosmetic surgery, all the rage on television last year, to the tired mix, and presto! Mr. Garrison opts for vaginal reconstruction. Kyle wants to be "tall and black." And his dad fancies being a dolphin.

It's easy to laugh at contested areas of culture, to vilify and corrupt them. The experience can be at best cathartic and at least distracting. But... The conceit that a mtf transsexual would expect a period serves only to reify hir stupidity and thereby implies judgment against individuals with complex realities. Garrison's final, "I'd rather be a woman who can't have periods than a f*g," supports hir self-hating continuity while engaging the viewer with one of the series' most obstinate voices.

I know, I don't have to watch. And in fact I have some speaker wire and a drill. I don't expect television, especially animation, to continually confront and fathom American existence. But it would be nice if contempt wasn't casually and continually shrouded in supposedly condescending savvy.

An interesting take on backlash against feminism

2005-03-06T08:28:00.000-06:00

A New York Times op-ed by Maureen Dowd caught my eye with the headline: Taming of the Shrews. Shakespeare? Feminism? I had to find out.

Most of the article is about Martha Stewart and Hillary Clinton, both seen as aggressively "wearing the pants", becoming more popular and likeable after they were taken down a notch in the public.

However, the most interesting part of this to me was an opening remark that Hilary Swank's Oscar success is tied into the same theory:

Every culture has its own way of tamping down female power, be it sexual, political or financial. Americans like to see women who wear the pants be beaten up and humiliated. Afterward, in a gratifying redemption ritual, people like to see the battered women be rewarded.

That's how Hilary Swank won two Oscars. That's how Hillary Clinton won a Senate seat and a presidential front-runner spot. And that's how Martha Stewart won her own reality TV show and became a half-billion dollars richer while she was in prison.

In both movies, Hilary portrayed females who knowingly and aggressively buck feminine stereotypes. Boys Don't Cry showed her as a trans-gendered character, and Million Dollar Baby gives her the role of a champion female boxer. Both end with her character being beaten to death. Both times she got an Oscar.

To claim that she didn't get those statuettes for anything but great acting is insulting; however, the pattern is striking. Would her performances as gender-bucking women have received such acclaim had she not been visually put back in her place by the end of the film? I rather doubt it. And that disappoints me.

Despite my disappointment, I'd rather have these images of strong, masculine women out there for public viewing, even if they must in turn be "put down" to become popular. Swank's characters are ultimately sympathetic, even before their untimely ends, and while I'd rather they were able to live happily ever after, I'll take what I can get for now.

Women's boxing: on screen and in the ring

2005-02-28T12:57:00.000-06:00

Last night's Oscars saw Million Dollar Baby, a film about a working-class woman who becomes a championship boxer, as the Academy's baby. A female Rocky. Million Dollar Baby mixes reality with fantasy, like most movies, when it comes to portraying the world of women's boxing.

Washington Monthly has an interesting article discussing the differences between the truth and the fiction of the film and its subject called "Battered Women".

What I find most disturbing in the contrast of the author's personal experience and the images from the film is the fact that in real life women's boxing is crude and sexualized. The author calls it "rough pornography". He further points out that even the best female boxers seem ill-trained at best, throwing double punches without thought to defensive strategies. The audience isn't interested in skill in the ring, endurance, or power; they are merely interested in the spectacle of two women beating the tar out of each other. In contrast, Hillary Swank's character in Million Dollar Baby is well-trained and hailed for her expertise in boxing. The portrait may not be rosey for Swank's character, but it does end up being far more positive than the reality.

Remembrances of Iowa City

2005-02-24T13:38:00.000-06:00

The Onion took me back to my good ol' college days this week. I've had experiences similar to the woman mentioned in the news blurb below.

IOWA CITY, IA--Freshly jolted awake from a peach-tea-induced nap, Sumatra Café patron Laurie Dubar said she had that same sex dream about bestselling author Dave Eggers. "I'm lying on the couch naked, and Dave is next to me, also naked, reading Salon on his laptop," said Dubar, a 34-year-old Iowa Writers' Workshop instructor. "Suddenly, he turns to me and says, 'Could you help me edit a collection of short fiction?' and I can't control myself any longer." Dubar said she always wakes up just as Sarah Vowell walks in wearing a kimono.

Hunter S. Thompson, "gonzo" journalist, commits suicide

2005-02-21T05:52:00.000-06:00

An icon has taken himself out of the world. Hunter S. Thompson, "gonzo" journalist and subculture hero, has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot would at the age of 65.

Hunter S. Thompson, 65, Author, Commits Suicide

Thompson redefined journalism, embracing the subjectivity of his own perspective to create a story that engaged his audience and pushed the genre.

Thompson on life as a journalist:

“I have spent half my life trying to get away from journalism, but I am still mired in it - a low trade and a habit worse than heroin, a strange seedy world full of misfits and drunkards and failures.”

And from the infamous Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:

“Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas ... with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether.”

White House "spin" makes me dizzy

2005-02-20T10:33:00.000-06:00

Apparently the Administration has a plant in their press converences, a man named "Jeff" who is not a journalist, merely a Republican supporter willing to ask the tough questions like: (in reference to Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton) "How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"

The full New York Times story is here: The White House Stages Its Daily Show

I am a big fan or irony, and it is not lost on me here; however, I believe our Administration is building itself a pretty little world to inhabit that is populated only by the pretty little Republicans. Throughout campaigning, and even now, when Bush goes out into the world to preach his ideals, his people screen the would be audience for those crazy liberals (and independents) that might disrupt the event. The effect is that most of the comments and questions posed the President are supportive.

I think if the President can't take the heat, he should't be standing over the cookpot.

Screening events is one thing, but planting supporters in a news conference is pure propagandizing. Together with the paying off of "journalists" to speak highly of Bush programs like No Child Left Behind, I'd say we've got a full-blown propaganda machine on our hands.

News is supposed to be an objective (as much as possible) voice of the people, not of the government. Don't forget that. It's the backbone of a healthy democracy.

P.S. Apparently this Jeff Gannon guy is also a part time prostitute and owner of internet porn sites. Sheesh.

Photo essays galore!

2005-02-18T18:52:00.000-06:00

I'm a bit of a photography buff, so I delight in sharing with you this website that recently came into my field of vision.

VII Photo Agency showcases a variety of compelling, thought-provoking photo essays ranging to topic from the war in Iraq and the tsunami disaster to lipstick lesbians in Hollywood and the youth of Milan.

Absolutely worth spending some time with.

Mean Girls nice on the funny bone

2005-02-16T18:08:00.000-06:00

Since I teach teens, I have a mildly insatiable interest in teen pop culture. Mean Girls was my most recent effort to assuage that interest.

Color me shocked when I found that the film is based on a bestselling nonfiction book called Queen Bees & Wannabees which seeks to paint a picture of the inner workings of adolescent girls' relationships for their parents. Rosalind Wiseman, the author of the book, discusses the social pressures in friend circles and how they damage young women. Hey, I remember junior high, this is old news to me.

Tina Fey was intrigued by the book and bought the rights. The SNL star then adapted the anecdotal insights of the author into an actual narrative, and Mean Girls was born.

Ultimately the film offers much in the way of humor but not so much of the insightful glimpse into teen life. It does portray the backstabbing intricasies of the inner life of cliques, but this isn't new: see Heathers or Jawbreaker.

The high point is the memorably unique characters, most notible in Karen (the ditzy Plastic with the fabulously vacant facial expressions), Janis (the "art freak" girl who first befriends Cady), and Damien (Janis' off-the-wall gay best friend).

Valentine's Monday

2005-02-14T17:06:00.000-06:00

February, month of despair, with a skewered heart in the centre. (Margaret Atwood, "February")

I could spend this time pointing out that Valentine's Day is a commercialized fiasco, but I bet you already know that.

Instead I will pass on some knowledge imparted to me this morning: today is the 76th anniversary of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago.

Galactica renews my faith in Sci-Fi TV

2005-02-08T13:11:00.000-06:00

My knowledge of the reincarnated show Battlestar Galactica began two summers ago with teaser previews that sent my husband into an excited tizzy. Little was given away in this teaser, and all I could make of it was that it was set in space and starred a comely blonde in very revealing dresses. I was not impressed.

The miniseries aired, and my husband watched it without my company and deemed it quite good. I remained aloof to BG and stayed that way until a few weeks ago when a co-worker suggested that I would like it, that the writing was good.

See, this is key. The writing. This is why I'm a Joss Whedon fan. If the show's writing is crappy or trite, I'm out.

Because of this second opinion, I decided to give the show a try this past week. My husband had saved the videotape the miniseries was recorded on, and the recently aired episodes were waiting patiently on the DVR queue.

I'm still perturbed by the scantily clad and overly sexual blonde Cylon, but her presence and the concurrent "money shots" are made bearable by the acting, writing, and cinematography.

Amazingly, Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell headline the cast despite the fact that this is sci-fi, a genre known for B-rated actors and overdramatized terror. Instead BG's cast plays it understated and subtle with one exception: Gaius (James Callis). And in that name I utter the only disappointment concerning actors. Callis plays Gaius so over-the-top it is impossible to believe that no other character would see that he's constantly lying.

The writing is believable and insightful. BG has creepy tension nailed. Never does it exploit gore for the produced horror, it is always left to dramatic irony. This show creeps me out, I tell you, and that's a mark of great sci-fi.

When I first saw the quick cut cinematography with the semi-shaky camera work, I was sure that BG had employed the cinematographer Firefly used. I checked IMDB and found this was false; however, the style is the same, so I must conclude that Firefly influenced BG. Very sweet.

It may be that I am warm to this show because I was cold to its predecessor. I don't care that Starbuck and Boomer are women; in fact, this makes me all the more interested in the show. I like the diversity of the cast. If the vast majority of the characters had remained men, I doubt I would have watched it.

I don't care that now the Cylons look human. This is where much of the dramatic irony comes from and thus produces the aforementioned creepy tension.

I like how the Cylons are monotheistic, but the humans are polytheistic. Frankly I think reasoning that God has divinely ordained genocide for His chosen people is bullshit, and I like that BG is commenting on a historical recurrence. I further appreciate how humans are equally indicted for being arrogant and short-sighted in their production of the Cylons and their forward march towards greater technology.

I enjoy how BG presents a universe full of grays, with no blacks and whites. Who the villains and heroes are gets blurred. Is Gaius good or bad? Is Boomer sympathetic or not? The morals and ethics of the characters in the show are multi-sided and diverse. The characters make mistakes and live with their choices.

BG doesn't quite fill the hole that Firefly left in my heart, but it helps. If only BG added a bit more humor, it might reach true greatness.

Best Fit for Consumption in 2004

2005-02-06T14:00:00.000-06:00

Oh so late but oh so sweet, wallowing in self-aggrandizing identity affirmation!

The best thing to happen to my computer:Mozilla
Firefox brings to mind the Papes of Philip K. Dick'sDo Androids Dream of Electric SheepOne click, for example, and everything I want to see Tuesday is open. What did I ever do without tabbed browsing?

The best cinema news:The Fantastic Four
The internets are alive with revulsion at the casting for this movie. Apparently the worst decision ever made
was placing Jessica Alba in the role of the Invisible Woman. I'm dumbfounded by the calls for a more Martha Stewart-esque
choice for a number of reasons.

Best in music:Brian Wilson presents Smile
One may come to Smile in various ways. My road began with Glimpses by Lewis Shiner and ended at this satisfying album that pretty much lived up to the hype. I hear folks who waited even longer liked it, too.

Best in books: Stephen King's Wolves of the Calla
Technically published in 2003, I did not acquire it until December 25th of that year and only looked inside in January. Was it nostalgia, escapism or FF references?

Best in games: Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II
Many games have replay potential. This one has replay value.

Enron=Evil

2005-02-05T10:22:00.000-06:00

If you needed any more reason to think that Enron is the devil incorporated, here it is. Apparently Enron wanted to "accidentally" shut down a power plant to increase costs of electricity on the west coast. The result? Remember those rolling black outs in California? Yup.

What concerns me is the possibility that this behavior could be more of the norm in corporations than the exception. In the search for a higher bottom line, a pay boost, or whatever, it seems more and more companies are manipulating their product to get more of the consumers' money.

Hal14 brought up the fact that food companies fill their products with unnessessary and addictive sugar. This is done to sell more product, not to make the food taste better. Eating sugar breeds craving sugar breeds eating more sugar, and when they disguise it as a healthy lunch or snack, how is a consumer to resist?

"You gotta fight for your right to market, to market..."

2005-02-01T20:48:00.000-06:00

Last week, the average citizen's distaste for advertising must have reached a critical point. General Mills - primarily a food company for twenty years now, after divesting its toy and clothing interests in the early eighties, Kellogg, and Kraft - a friendly member of the Philip Morris family, along with the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, and the American Advertising Federation formed a super lobby with the express purpose of protecting... wait for it... advertising to children!

I know, it's actually difficult to belive this is important. Either one wonders why such a lobby did not exist in the past or figures it's no big deal. It did not exist in the past because the first step in any PR boondoggle is to ignore the problem. Then, when public outcry reaches a head, to claim the problem is insignificant. In this case, childhood obesity was the sexy media darling that crystalized national attention. These folks own breakfast, a good chunk of lunch and dinner, and all snacktimes and the only way to increase profits is to hook younger kids and hook them good.

The new Alliance for American Advertising's first goal is to repudiate the link. They've begun by volunteering not to advertise to children under 12. You know they're good for it. Who ever heard of Philip Morris aggressively advertising a dangerous product to a target market under 12?

Reuters quoted AAF spokeswoman Mary Hilton: "Bans on advertising to children are impractical and illegal and ineffective. The restriction of advertising is not going to reduce the rate of obesity in the world."

Such bans are practical and effective: bans on any sort of advertising to children (oops) exist in nations throughout the world. Hence the super lobby.

Truth be told, the rate of worldwide obesity could not be affected if all 300 million Americans gained 200 pounds. Hilton's a clever one.

"It's all just a little bit of history repeating..."

2005-02-01T16:30:00.000-06:00

First off, if you're completely unfamiliar with where the title quote comes from, go out right now and find yourself some Propellerheads and get acquainted. This is non-negotiable.

Secondly, my previously stated hope and stuff has disintegrated once again into cynicism. This is a Times article from 1967 heralding the great turnout for a South Vietnam election. It's been making the rounds on the blogosphere, but it's legit and can be found on the Times' archive. Poop, say I. Can't we have a bit of good news instead of all this rubbish?

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote: Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror
by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times (9/4/1967: p. 2)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

Sideways feels like Swingers for the Zoloft crowd

2005-01-31T20:56:00.000-06:00

I went to see the movie Sideways with the hubby and parents this weekend. It won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical (it's not a musical), so I assumed it would make me laugh. However what I found was that this was a comedy in the Shakespearean sense, not the 21st Century American mainstream sense. No one died and there was a wedding at the end, thus a comedy.

Paul Giamatti plays Miles, a divorced, wannabe novelist, set to the task of taking his freshman year college roommate on one last shindig before the marriage plunge. Miles' idea of a wild romp is to hit the wineries of northern California, to literally drink in life. His roommate, Jack, played by Thomas Haden Church, has different ideas, instead wanting to "bag" as many babes as possible before week's end. Patheticness ensues.

Giamatti's Miles does not seem far enough removed from his portrayal of Harvey Pekar in American Splendor. He's rude but huggable, self-loathing and pathetic. Church's Jack is an aging surfer oblivious to the consequences of his actions. As an actor, his lies become truth as soon as he tells them. Even he does not know the difference.

Miles and Jack are the mostly unsympathetic characters of a modern comedy in the vein of Seinfeld. If you can laugh at their pitiousness, the film is a comedy; however, if you feel that personal failures tend to push a story towards tragedy, you may be disappointed with the return on this movie.

What's great about this film is the wine. It is a setting, a metaphor, and a character in its own right. What I came away with was an overwhelming urge to invest in and drink the finest vintages available to me. Like Miles, I too loath Merlot and love a great Pinot Noir; unfortunately no great wineries grace Iowa, only decent ones.

Iraqi elections a surprising sign of hope

2005-01-30T09:22:00.000-06:00

I have never been for the war in Iraq. Since three years ago when Bush made his address to the public and began speaking of Weapons of Mass Destruction, I have always thought the war to be personally or financially motivated: revenge and oil. That position has never changed, but more recently I've been listening to stories of Iraqis whose lives have changed because Saddam is no longer in power. These Iraqis still talk of problems of safety and resources, but they also talk of hope.

This morning I woke to see the Iraq elections leading the New York Times front page. The article states that Iraqis have turned out in large numbers across the country to vote, and despite some mortar attacks and suicide bombings which have so far killed 39 people, Iraqis are not shying away from the polls. The Times says there is a party atmosphere on the streets of Baghdad; since no cars may pass, children are playing soccer in the streets, and Iraqis are wearing their finest clothes and their positive attitudes.

I can't help but also be hopeful and caught up in the excitement that is a new democracy despite my previously ruling cynicism.

Of course, there is plenty of time for problems to arise. But for now, I'm simply going to enjoy the moment.

Happy birthday, Lewis Carroll!

2005-01-27T20:06:00.000-06:00

Many of you know that I am more than mildly obsessed with Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland, so I must take this time to celebrate the birth of its creator, Lewis Carroll.

This is from a letter Charles L. Dodgson (the real name of Lewis Carroll) wrote to friend Jesse Sinclair:

January 22, 1878--I may as well tell you of the things I like, so whenever you want to give me a birthday present (my birthday comes once every seven years, on the fifth Tuesday in April) you will know what to give me. Well, I like very much indeed, a little mustard with a bit of beef spread thinly under it; and I like brown sugar--only it should have some apple pudding mixed up with it to keep it from being too sweet; but perhaps what I like best of all is salt, with some soup poured over it. The use of the soup is to hinder the salt from being too dry; and it helps to melt it.

And from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

"I make you a present of everything I've said as yet."
'A cheap sort of present!' thought Alice. 'I'm glad they don't give birthday presents like that!'

This Modern World on torture

2005-01-26T20:19:00.000-06:00

I'm an unabashed fan of Tom Tomorrow's weekly comic This Modern World. This week he takes on the absurdity of defining torture to figure out if its okay or not.

How low can we go?

Defining torture as an activity of interrogation that threatens a person's life is assinine. That's not torture, that's attempted manslaughter. Torture is something of the opposite, wanting to keep the person alive and in pain as long as possible. A real threat of death is not a preferred part of torture; however, torturers may want their victims to think their lives are in danger.

But the whole defining torture to decide whether the US should be doing it or not is offensive. Simply offensive.

New blogs--catered especially for my students' needs!

2005-01-26T19:48:00.000-06:00

Because I'm on occasion somewhat manic, I've created blogs for each of the three classes I teach. I say this only for those readers out there who also happen to be students of mine and might be interested. These are your choices:

AP Literature & Composition

Journalism II

Intermediate Writing

Enjoy!

Back from the dead

2005-01-26T18:34:00.000-06:00

I've been swamped of late. Seems I'm saying that too much though, beginning to rely on it. I don't know what to make of it, quite.

Here's I do know: Shawn of the Dead is freaking hilarious. You should all rent it, but, beware, it is somewhat gory in the way that all zombie flicks are. However my opinion is that the British humor more than makes up for any grossness.

Absurdity and Reality: Two sides of the same cat

2005-01-20T18:25:00.000-06:00

A few days back during a class discussion of three plays: Susan Glaspell's Trifles (1916), David Ives' Sure Thing (1988), and an excerpt from the Seinfeld episode "The Pitch", I asked my students if they saw any connections or progressions between the three. One student put forth that the plays became less based in reality and more absurd, but many other students disagreed: Seinfeld may be more absurd than Trifles, but the former was about nothing, ie. real life moments and events, while the latter concerned a small-town murder, hardly a frequent event in most people's lives. I posited that our lives consist of a series of unrelated happenings, images, and sensations; it is we who organize these sensations into meaningful events, into stories, if you will. On a daily basis we determine what the plot of our lives is, what is important and what is meaningless white noise. Seinfeld, by perhaps manipulating less what is present daily, gives a truer view of reality, while Trifles molds characters and events for an extremely meaningful metaphor of opression.

What I've realized now, however, is that this progression didn't stop with Seinfeld. "Reality" television has pushed the nearness of reality to absurdity even closer. The past couple of nights I've been sucked into VH1's I Love the 90's: Part Deux. During this time slot, VH1 has be hocking their CelebReality series which includes Celebrity Fit Club, The Surreal Life, and Strange Love. Strange Love is the alien brood of last season's The Surreal Life on which Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielson lived together (with four other has-beens) and found love. The two seem entirely opposite. Flav is the former Public Enemy, and Brigitte is the former model, actress, and wife of Sylvester Stallone. Flav and Sly having loved the same woman? What's more absurd than that?

Now I'm not under the false impression that these so-called reality shows actually show reality. These are manipulated, even scripted, events. However I find it interesting that these reality shows are more absurd than any sitcom I've seen. Reality and absurdity in these shows blend into the same. And I'm left missing Seinfeld, though I never liked it to begin with, it beats watching Mini-Me eat sushi off a naked woman any day.

End of the Year Best of List Part II

2005-01-17T14:53:00.000-06:00

Here is the second and last installment of the best of list.

6. The Downtown Des Moines Farmer's Market
I cannot express the emptiness in my heart and my pantry left by the absence of the Des Moines farmer's market. Each Saturday while it was on, my mother and I would get up early and trek the three streets filled with vendors. The deals on locally grown produce were phenomenal, and I learned to love fruits and vegetables again because of it. I could shop local, buy organic, and eat well. I shall be absolutely joyous when May rolls around and the vendors return to downtown.

7. Garden State
This little film of Zach Braff's voiced a generation's angst at being medicated to the point of numbness. When I saw the film, I was taking Zoloft to ease anxiety and the subsequent depression; Braff's character resonated concerns I had about staying on the drug long-term and was one of the factors contributing to my decision to stop taking it. Besides that more personal connection, it was simply a wonderful little story with memorably real characters.

8. Modest Mouse-Good News for People Who Love Bad News
I've been a fan of Modest Mouse since I heard The Moon & Antartica a few years back. Good News won my heart immediately with its use of a big band horns section to begin the album. The songs are edgy but well-executed, rock-alternative. Modest Mouse is one of the few bands my husband and I can agree on these days.

9. Leslie Marmon Silko-Ceremony
On a whim last year I decided to teach this book to my AP Literature class. I had not read it before teaching it, which I should say is not excellent pedagogy; however, as soon as I read the first five pages, I knew this would be one of the best books I had ever encountered. The story of Tayo's search for healing after fighting in the Pacific during World War II is riveting, and Silko's writing is beyond words. Ceremony now rivals Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as my favorite book, and that is saying loads.

10. Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind
I'm not a big Jim Carrey fan, so I was at first reticent to watch this film. Many friends had to talk it up before I gave it a chance. But then this movie blew me away. The premise was odd to begin with, but the execution was spot on. It was engrossing, strange, romantic, comic, and sad all rolled together. It was all I wanted it to be.

11. Kill Bill vol. I & II
I had also been reticent to watch Kill Bill vol. I, thinking it would be way too violent and graphic for my tastes. When I finally saw it on DVD, I wanted to cheer at the innovation of filmmaking before me. Tarantino won a fan that night, a woman who had not previously been able to enter into his movies.

End of the Year Best of List Part I

2005-01-12T21:51:00.000-06:00

I've been reading many a periodical with end of the year best of lists, and I've oft thought that I wanted to create one of my own. So here it is. It is a hodge-podge list of all things mediated (and one not) in no particular order except when I thought of it. Now most lists require that the entry be released in 2004, but I'd like to take a cue from Stephen King's column on the final page of Entertainment Weekly. King states that one must only have discovered the entry in the year in question.

1. Franz Ferdinand-Franz Ferdinand
What can I say, this CD rocks with its euro-grunge-pop vibe. The groove that hooked me was "Take Me Out" but I fell to the others soon after.

2. Spiderman 2
Best sequel ever (excluding The Empire Strikes Back, but only because that is an undesputable given). I adore Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. He's so cute and deep and frustrated and heroic. I want to hug him, muss his hair, and give him a coupon for a free therapy session.

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Who didn't see coming that Lupin was a werewolf, but other than that, the new look and feel of the film added the depth that was missing from the shiny first two movies. Azkaban is my favorite of the books, and they did me proud with the film.

4. Rufus Wainwright-Want Two
Rufus is one of the most talented songwriters alive today. His songs combine classical, ragtime, pop, electronica, and jazz. He's an ingenue if ever there was one.

5. Knights of the Old Republic-Xbox
Here's where the King ruling comes into play--KOTOR came out on Xbox in 2003, if I'm not mistaken; however, I didn't get to play it until last summer. And I played and played and played. I was entirely sucked into the Star Wars universe, totally submerged in the storyline and action. Playing this game made up for the prequels--Jar Jar, whiny Anakin, Boba Fett being a clone, Han shooting first--it all faded away as I fought my way through KOTOR.

X-Men Rejects

2005-01-11T20:15:00.000-06:00

Just another bit o' fun from the McSweeney's website. They are officially my heroes.

Rejection Letters from Xavier's School of Exceptional Youth

Things Unsaid

2005-01-10T17:27:00.000-06:00

I've been remiss about blogging of late. I assure you this is a temporary thing. I've been consumed by things like the end of a semester, KOTOR 2, and what seemed like endless piles of snow. Until after this weekend, I will be continually knee-deep in essays and finals, but I promise to return.

In the meantime, I suggest you read Howard Zinn's The People's History of the United States, which I believe to be the one book every American should read. If you've got that tome under your belt already, check out his new book comprised of first hand accounts of the history called Voices of a People's History of the United States.

Also, I've heard that Jon Stewart's book America, the satirical history textbook, has been banned by Walmart and public libraries in two counties of Mississippi. At first I was sort of confused and horrified by this news, but since I've realized it is a form of flattery. The book has pushed ultra-conservative people's buttons, and as Martha S. would say, it's a good thing.

Return of the King Extended Special Edition

2005-01-04T21:37:00.000-06:00

The husband and I devoted the required four hours for this bad boy, which was bequethed to us the holiday season by his mother. Once again, despite the added length, the scenes put back in create greater depth of character motivation, make the story more understandable, and well deserve their places in the film.

I could go through the various added scenes, but as of this moment, I don't have the energy. Suffice it to say that if you liked the other films, especially the extended editions, you will not be disappointed by what Return of the King has to offer.

I will say that it didn't add any more endings--I think even Peter Jackson felt four conclusions were enough.

One of the things I truly appreciated about the films was the depth of emotion the heroes showed. The greatest hero, in my opinion, was Samwise, who showed his colors were true even after being rejected by his greatest friend. Sean Astin (whom I've loved since Goonies, cries, fights, supports, encourages, and plans the return home, out of mere duty and love for Frodo.

Furthermore, the women of the film are perhaps not as involved in the plot but are equal heroes, as fighters, protectors, healers, and guides.

Good stuff, that.

The apocalypse is upon us

2005-01-03T05:48:00.000-06:00

Here ye, all who seek wisdom--listen forthwith to my tale of impending DOOM (not the videogame)!

This morning at 5:40 a.m., my god-fearing school district cancelled school due to freezing drizzle. This is unprecidented. In all my year and a half, I have never seen such a thing as this happen.

Clearly the administrators have sensed coming calamity. They have sought guidance from the secret mystical handbook, and found that the signs are correct: You may not have food or drink in the library.

So to all of my students--gather ye rosebuds while ye may, or, alternatively, enjoy your extra day of break!

Another day, another set of deaths

2004-12-30T13:15:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I fear that I'm too focused on the negative. While discussing postmodern angst with my AP students, I bluntly stated: "Each day you live is one day closer to your death." I later thought that may have been too much to lay upon the shoulders of seventeen year olds.

But today's blog is like the blog from yesterday and the day before.

The total dead from the tsunami and earthquake: 114,000 people.

The newly gone famous person: Jerry Orbach, at 69 of prostate cancer, most recently known for his role on Law & Order.

One of these mornings I'd like to look at The New York Times front page and see that the biggest story is Bush saying something stupid. Those were good days. I miss them.

Susan Sontag

2004-12-29T13:12:00.000-06:00

Susan Sontag, critic, novelist, essayist, and radical muck-raker, has died of cancer. No doubt she will live on in the halls of academia.

Susan Sontag, Social Critic With Verve, Dies at 71

The horror continues

2004-12-29T09:20:00.000-06:00

The New York Times this morning ran an article which now estimates the death toll at 70,000. And of course now the greatest threat is disease.

Toll Exceeds 70,000 as Bodies Wash Ashore; Many Missing

Natural horror

2004-12-28T11:03:00.000-06:00

I admit to being out of the loop. Without my daily pilgrimage to the high school, I haven't been listening to much NPR, and when I have it's been during program rather than news times. It was only yesterday that I even heard of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, and only today did I read anything about the damages.

Devastation is the only word to describe it. Estimates are 25,000-33,000 dead. Entire towns have been swept away. More dead are washing up on beaches or being found in trees. I cannot even imagine the horror of being a survivor, attempting to find the missing, bury the dead in mass graves, and begin to rebuild. Many organizations are calling it the greatest natural disaster in recent history. It is difficult to even fathom. If you been just as clueless as I, here are two articles about it from The New York Times: "A Third of the Dead are Said to be Children" and "In Drowned Village, Grim Searches, Quick Burials".

If you have the means and inclination, many charities are taking donations to assist the devastated countries. A friend emailed me the MSNBC compiled list.

Star Wars Holiday Special highlights

2004-12-27T15:12:00.000-06:00

I can only apologize that I didn't get this up sooner, but I only found it today. Some kind (or masochistic) soul has posted highlights of the 1977 Star Wars Holiday Special, which Lucas himself has banned from ever being aired again. You can see why almost immediately, but it's worth checking out. It actually makes Jar Jar seem like a good idea in comparison. Like a witnessing a car wreck, you cannot turn away from the horror.

Post-1225

2004-12-27T09:21:00.000-06:00

I'm still recovering from the great red blur that was Christmas. The hubby and I cram in six Christmas celebrations between Christmas Eve late afternoon and late Christmas night. In there we manage about 4-5 hours of sleep. It is a marathon of eating, drinking, talking, and gift giving. I feel good about the experience if I'm not throwing up at the end of it (as I did a couple years back).

Last night we saw The Aviator. Extremely well done all around--tight and interesting storytelling, great acting (especially Cate Blanchett), and beautiful (and when it needed to be, harsh) cinematography. I'm still processing it, but that in itself is a sign of a quality film. I knew I was in for a treat when the first person I recognized on the screen was Rufus Wainwright as the club's bandleader, and it only got better.

Now I must grade essays. Sigh. Anyone got any ideas about how I can teach but not grade? Seriously. I've got KOTOR 2 calling to me, and probably 2-3 straight 8 hour days of grading.

Holiday butt-kicking

2004-12-23T15:33:00.000-06:00

I don't think anyone's foolish enough to think that a major holiday would actually inspire good will, but if you're personally trying to be the change you'd like to see in the world, help is on the way. McSweeney's, besides hosting a multitude of sestinas, also has a fabulously useful list entitled: Alternatives to "Opening a Can o' Whupass" for the Less Confrontationally Inclined.

Now you can deal with your holiday induced rage without the messy guilt. Don't say I never gave you anything.

Yuletide sestinas!

2004-12-22T21:58:00.000-06:00

First of all, let me send out a happy albeit late yule greeting to you all. I have good news: as of today, the days are getting longer once again.

And now the reason for this post--a whole mess of sestinas!

Keep in mind, I'm an English teacher, and I get excited about nerdy things. One of these nerdy things is the form of poetry known as the sestina: six stanzas of six lines using six words repeatedly. Sestinas even have a complex pattern to them, but I will not explain that here.

Instead I will turn you loose on McSweeney's sestina collection. If you are not familiar with McSweeney's (a literary publication of the highest sacraligious order) or the sestina, I suggest you become so immediately.

Dangerous driving conditions

2004-12-20T19:00:00.000-06:00

Winter is upon us here in the Heartland, no doubt about it. Snow is on the ground, and the chill is in the air. Tonight I got to experience the joy that is winter driving. It took 30 minutes to drive what I'm sure is five miles. My lower back hurts from the tension I was storing there as I navigated us through snow, cars, and traffic signals. I had forgotten how bad this sucks.

As for the rest of the day, I give it an A-. Four former students stopped by to say hello, whooshing in from their colleges fresh from finals. It was a pleasure to talk with them and find out how their freshman years are going. I offered advice and encouragement when possible and listened to their smug contentment in being at college rather than in high school. It was good.

Then there's the news in Iraq. 64 killed by insurgents today. Three were election officials, dragged from their car and executed. And still Bush stands behind Rumsfeld. I cannot fathom it. Elections are just over a month away.

Holiday shopping at the mall

2004-12-19T19:11:00.000-06:00

Participating fully as a consumer during the holiday season is exhausting. I trekked miles through stores looking for the right gifts: Would the person like or need it? Was it also semi unique? And was it at the right price level? Might a different store have a similar but slightly superior item?

I'm mildly disturbed by the way gifts for different people have to be in a price range somehow equal to the closeness of the relationship. A gift for my uncle, whom I drew for the gift exchange on my mother's side of the family, needed to be less than what I would spend on my father, but not so cheap as to be gauche. Somehow this equates to $25-35. My parents deserve a collection of items around $75 each, it seems. And proper gifts for my husband total more than $200 (and that's a conservative estimate).

These are the unspoken rules of the season.

And they exhaust me.

A little holiday miracle

2004-12-15T13:03:00.000-06:00

I'm sort of a Grinch when it comes to dealing with little children, or as Bartleby would say, "I would prefer not to." And that's how I felt going into a thing called the Phoenix Party here at the high school. During this event, children from the elementary schools get bussed over here for forty minutes of games and crafts. My advisory was in charge of a craft, and I was dreading it.

As we readied my room for the 20 kids and the pipecleaner sculpture craft we were leading, I became more and more nervous. I orchestrated my advisory students so that they would lead the activity, and I could cower in the corner. In fact, I even warned them that I might go hide in the faculty bathroom. They laughed at my disfunctionality and took on the mantle I had dropped upon the ground.

The kids arrived, chanting: "2-4-6-8! Who do we appreciate? Valley!" My heart began to soften. They filed into the desks and began their ornaments and sculptures, their little hands bending the pipecleaner and picking out beads. I couldn't help it, I began to think they were cute.

As for my part in it, I didn't cower or hide. I wandered the room commenting on the children's pieces of art, and I spied two girls with birthday stickers on and got one of my students to lead "Happy Birthday" in their honor. They grinned with pride and embarrassment.

I think my heart grew three sizes today.

Christmas greetings!

2004-12-14T13:16:00.000-06:00

Here's a Christmas greeting for all the Christians out there. If you celebrate the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or simply the secular X-mas, this is not for you.

E-card for my Christian Readers

Satire's role in the world of media

2004-12-13T17:21:00.000-06:00

Some weeks ago I found myself explaining the importance of satire to two different people: a reporter from the school newspaper doing a story on The Stoplight which I advise, and an associate principal who had written on my recent classroom evaluation feedback: "Be careful with the underground newspaper." It got me thinking more directly about the power and popularity of satire in today's America.

There's The Onion, The Daily Show, and Dave Barry. There are numerous blogs and websites like ScrappleFace and the now defunct SatireWire. Satire is only becoming more popular, and with good reason. Satire allows for critical comments in the non-threatening guise of humor.

Satire is not afraid of the heavy hitting issues. Think you might cry about it? That's where satire comes in. ScrappleFace had a recent article called "Sunni Clerics Ink P. Diddy for Vote-n-Die Campaign." Perhaps killing people to keep them from voting isn't funny. I agree; the truth is it breaks my heart. How do I defuse that tension, since there's little I can do about it short of enlisting and praying to all available gods to intervene? I laugh at it, and satire gives me that option.

Of course, that's the danger as well. Good satire's roots are in truth, and its power is in pushing the boundries of offensiveness. That's why my associate principal gave me the warning. Writing satire by definition means playing with fire.

In exaggerating the truth, satire comes closer to it. Satire is fearless in the face of absurdity. The more absurd it is in reality, the better satire is suited for it. When the mainstream media bucks their responsibility to show the truth, no matter how ugly, satire steps up to take the mantle.

I can't say enough about satire's importance in today's society. I think I may make it a permanent part of my classes' curriculum.

Alexander the Not Very Great

2004-12-12T11:55:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I agreed to see Oliver Stone's new movie, Alexander. I was unenthused; in fact, to the chagrin of my husband who was quite excited about it, I was whiny about having to go. He's long been interested in Alexander the Great, and the last experience I had with a cinematic version was the animated Reign (created by the man behind Aeon Flux), which I found to be a long, dull, confusing monstrosity. Stone's Alexander had only one thing going for it: it was a mere three hours long.

Even going into the theater I was biased. I don't have much love for Angelina Jolie or Colin Farrell, and Val Kilmer's become too old to be exciting. Plus Colin Farrell's hair looked stupid in the previews.

My experience was much less painful than I had anticipated. I thought, like Oedipus, I would want to gouge my eyes out, but in fact the storytelling was interesting enough to keep my eyes on screen. Overall I think Stone lacked focus in the film, and so bad editing choices made for poor pacing. There were a few interesting moments cinematography wise, but for the most part the framing and shooting of scenes seemed conventional.

What really kept my attention was the portrayal of "homosexual" relationships in the film. I use quotation marks here because during Alexander's time, there was no such concept as sexuality. People weren't defined by whether they were attracted to their own sex or the opposite. Many men had sexual relationships with boys and men along with their wives, and that was normal. Stone does a fabulous job showing this in the film.

The relationship between Alexander and Hephaistion is riveting. Jared Leto steals the movie with his fecund glances at Colin Farrell. Many critics have bemoaned the lack of a kiss between these two, and I agree that it is missed in the film. Instead we get an animalistic sex scene between Alexander and his new "Barbarian" wife Roxane, played by Rosario Dawson. Dawson plays the screen with smokey mystery, but Stone's choice to continually liken her to a panther angered me. I understood why: Alexander was the lion, so his wife needed to be equal to him to attract him. The problem I had was the continuation of stereotypes of black women being like panthers, tigers, and cheetahs, most obvious in advertisements using black women in sexualized ways.

So when the sex scene came, and Alexander literally growls at Roxane to assert power (but sexy power! ugh), I nearly left the theater.

What begins to really anger me is the the choice Stone made for including full nudity of Rosario Dawson and a sex scene that borders on rape, but cutting the kiss between Colin Farrell and Jared Leto. Apparently the studio had issues with it, and Stone feared a backlash. Here's my backlash: Quit showing sexualized black women as animals! Give me a passionate kiss between two men anyday over that.

At this point I won't even comment on the accents various actors had. Suffice it to say they were bad.

Posting comments

2004-12-10T10:47:00.000-06:00

For those of you who do not have Blogger accounts but would like to post, I have set Judas Goat to accept comments from anyone. The catch is that you have to post anonymously if you don't register with Blogger (the option is hidden under the log in form). Not a problem, just sign your comments at the bottom if you want your identity to be known.

Gay rights groups should stand fast in face of backlash

2004-12-09T13:59:00.000-06:00

I was extremely dismayed by the outcome of 11 states' vote on gay marriage this past November, but today I felt that familiar disappointment when I read the New York Times article "Groups Debate Slower Strategy on Gay Rights."

The article states that the Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest and most influential gay rights groups, has decided to back off of the political demand for marriage rights and instead focus on the personal plight of gay men and lesbians.

I'm inclined to say to the HRC: Wait, if you do that, they'll have won.

But I guess it's too late. In 11 states they already did win, and if Bush has his way, that win will multiply many times over.

Every single progressive movement has met with backlash after a victory. The towns like San Francisco and Portland that allowed, at least for a short time, the attainment of marriage licenses by homosexual couples gave the movement a boost; only the naive would have thought that type of media coverage and progressive thought would have come without a price. There is always a backlash.

But there's no need to leave the fight with a whimper. Couldn't the HRC and other advocacy groups promote BOTH the personal and the political? Why does it have to be one or the other? When it comes to who a person is allowed to commit to, doesn't the political automatically become the personal? Can we honestly separate the two?

The answer is to keep pushing. If we make gains and then get pushed back, there is a strong chance we'll end up farther along than we were initially. That's how it worked during the Civil Rights Movement, and that's how it worked with the Women's Rights Movement. And that's how it will work with the Gay Rights Movement as well.

Margot Tenebaum Day

2004-12-08T08:09:00.000-06:00

According to hip AP students in the know, today is Margot Tenebaum Day, laconic heroine of The Royal Tenebaums. I attempted to confirm the information or see if anyone else was celebrating it anywhere, but I came up with naught.

So let me merely further the revolution. Someone call Hallmark.

Watch television? Now read 'without pity'

2004-12-06T14:46:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure why I hadn't checked this out before, since one of my bestest friends is a Television Without Pity addict, but it was not until today that I finally set my URL to this snarkful site.

It only took one click. I looked at the Smallville recap and could not control my laughter. When students noticed my incoherence, I attempted to explain by reading them the passage, only to begin crying as I laughed my way through the reading of the first sentences.

Romancing abroad

2004-12-06T09:25:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, on my holiday shopping travails, I visited That Irish Shoppe in Valley Junction. TIS is precisely what you would expect: Guinness sweatshirts, leprechaun ties, and lots o' shamrocks; however, it has something more than the average Irish pride commercialized venture (and I saw plenty of those surrounding the city-center of Dublin). Immediately to the right of the door is a cupboard offering Irish foods, the type I found on the shelves of grocery stores while there. The brown bread mix caught my eye immediately, since I seem to be deficient when it comes to soda bread making skills. Then I noticed the Bewley's Irish Breakfast Tea tin and nearly swooned.

One of my absolutely favorite memories from my seven weeks studying writing at Trinity College in Dublin took place at the Bewley's on Grafton St. I had been developing a fast crush on a fellow student named David. During the first week in Dublin, he and I went to Bewley's to do some writing. I believe we were sitting in the James Joyce room next to the window, flirting lightly and sharing words and stories. Outside the rain lightly fell, hitting spotlights aimed to illuminate the cafe's name. As the rain connected with the glass plates protecting the spots, it immediately turned to steam, swirling up again in the light. The effect of both my crush on David and the image of rain falling and steam rising in the light was absolutely intoxicating.

This was one of about five moments in Dublin that revitalized my ability to see beauty. Admittedly Ireland is a beautiful place if you like green and the effects of rain in various lighting situations, but I found my time there to be the equivalent of a rebirth. Am I overstating it? Most definitely. I had times of boredom amidst the excitement, even times I wished to be home in Iowa. But I am ever able to romaticize the time I spent in Dublin due to one reason: I was in love. Of course, that too is an overstatement. David never requited my feelings, but even the refusal intensified the emotional effect of the setting. During the first two weeks I was in the throws of a crush, and during the following five I was in the bittersweet agony of rejection. It was one of the best times of my life.

Sadly Bewley's cafes have closed after being part of the Irish architecture for more than a century. It seems I'm going to have to go back to TIS and buy out their stock of tea, since when I finally make it back to the Isle, Bewley's will only remain in my memories.

Dodging labels to make with the funny

2004-12-05T11:17:00.000-06:00

This morning I came across a web comic entitled The Perry Bible Fellowship. At first I was unsure: was this a Christian comic strip? Soon I became unable to label it in any fashion except to say that it was quite odd and extremely brilliant. It's worth a skim of the archives to be sure; however, I will say that some of the comics are of a sexual nature, so be warned.

Inviting criticism, looking for direction

2004-12-01T08:38:00.000-06:00

I've been publishing this blog for almost two months now. Posts have been about a variety of ideas and in various forms. Some have been glorified links while others have been more like short essays.

I'm looking for direction for the blog, something I think is in serious lack right now. Please give me some feedback, if you would. I'd like to know which posts you most enjoy and which you thought were trash. If you can pinpoint why a particular one caught your fancy, or raised your ire, all the better.

I'd also like to simply know who's out there reading. Roll call, friends. Who is my audience? I'd like to turn up the house lights and take a look.

Tom Welling is my secret twin!

2004-11-30T21:18:00.000-06:00

We must have been separated at birth, perhaps like Luke and Leia, to protect our identities, but now the truth has been discovered through the infamous information archive known as the Internet Movie Database: Tom Welling and I are long lost twins. We have the same exact birthdate, and I think there's an obvious resemblance in our countenances. In fact, I'm shocked I didn't realize it earlier. There can be no doubt. I shall have to accost my parents later for hiding this from me. Until then...

Tom, if you're out there, get in touch. We have so much to discuss.

Distopian novel extra special creepifying

2004-11-29T14:14:00.000-06:00

From Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale:

"It was after the catastrophe, when they shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress and the army declared a state of emergency. They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time. [...] That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on."

I know I'm not the first to point this quote out, but I only recently discovered it and found that it was just as creepy now as three years ago when the Patriot Act came into being. Too many people are unconcerned about the Patriot Act simply because it doesn't affect them personally. We must do more to protect our rights as citizens, and that means protecting the rights of all citizens, no matter their ethnicity, color, or class. We can't allow our own government to laugh off Geneva Conventions if we expect them to treat us with dignity too. We may see the distopia presented in Atwood's novel as implausible for our own modern society, but the root of it is here. Right here, right now.

River patrols invoke Vietnam, Apocalypse Now

2004-11-29T06:37:00.000-06:00

Another great article from The New York Times by John F. Burns, discussing the thoughts and actions of American troops patroling the Euphrates River in Iraq, called "Shadow of Vietnam Falls Over River Raids"

One soldier likens their raids to a "Vietnam theme park". I am reminded that one of the ways people deal with terror and dread is through laughter (often brought on from a need to difuse tension). Keep laughing, soldiers; sometimes it will keep you from crying.

Thanksgiving and Bob Barker

2004-11-24T22:06:00.000-06:00

Today at the doctor's office (I was there for my weekly allergy shot), I had a chance to watch part of The Price is Right, a show that has been aired each weekday since 1972. I remember being a kid during the summer, drawn into the daytime TV schedules (I was a regular Days of Our Lives watcher). On occassion I watched The Price is Right, after all the show had its interesting games: Plinko and the one with the yoddeling mountain climber.

But here's what I want to know: how does the show stay so popular? Who are these people who must watch the show frequently if not daily? And who are the freaks who go to the taping of the show on their first wedding anniversary (as one contestant today did)?

Ultimately the show is a parade of consumerism. Who can prove the better consumer? Who knows which of these products is inaccurately priced? Who can more precisely estimate the cost of their package during the Showcase Showdown? Not only does it advertise the stuff up for winning, it rewards those who know the item's market worth.

It's just weird.

And even if a person does get on the show, prices the goods paraded before her correctly, and manages to beat her opponent during the Showdown, she's stuck paying the taxes. I had a teacher in seventh grade who did all this, she even managed to win BOTH showcases; but she had to give it all back.

Don't choke on your turkey

2004-11-23T14:02:00.000-06:00

Perhaps you're well familiar with The Onion. Perhaps you on occasion read an article but haven't seen this week's issue. Perhaps you believe onions make you cry.

No matter the case, read their recent article: Republicans Call for Privatization of Next Election.

And make sure you're done chewing before you do.

For the love of Christmas, stop the madness!

2004-11-22T14:01:00.000-06:00

I woke up this morning to my radio alarm clock playing Christmas music. Apparently this weekend marked the beginning of Clear Channel KMXD 100.3's marathon of holiday music. They will be playing Christmas tunes from now till December 26 ad nauseum.

Don't get me wrong; I'm no Scrooge, dreading the inevitable Christmas lights and forced holiday cheer. I like Christmas. Even after I grew older and distanced myself from Christianity, it kept a warm place in my heart. I'm all about the good tidings and decked halls.

But here's what I've been noticing since my childhood: Christmas comes earlier each year. Fifteen years ago, the malls would never put up holiday decorations before Thanksgiving. Then ten years ago the malls put things up just after Halloween. And now the Halloween decorations mix with the Christmas. The stores are doing this to get people into the buying mood. "Don't forget Christmas is coming," they seem to say, knowing that the earlier people start buying gifts, the more money they can spend.

KMXD's five weeks of holiday music is simply indicative of a larger trend. But I'm concerned with the consequences.

Christmas is getting diluted.

As years have passed since my childhood, I've noticed a coinciding trend. As Christmas stretches out, I have less of an emotional response to it. The warmth of the holiday becomes luke-warm, the music goes from soothing to grating, and the Christmas spirit gives way to road rage and anxiety disorder.

No joke. Last year I nearly had an anxiety attack in Younkers in response to the sheer number of people around me. Had my husband not led me out of the store when he did, I shudder to think what might have happened.

So, please, KMXD, the malls, and the DMX stations aired at Hy-Vee and Home Depot, I implore you. Let Christmas have it's month and leave it at that. I simply can't take any more of it.

A stark look at the fighting inside Fallujah

2004-11-21T10:56:00.000-06:00

This morning The New York Times ran an article called "In Falluja, Young Marines Saw the Savagery of an Urban War."

The title led me to believe it would be a distanced portrayal of the fighting, but I was surprised to read the stark portrayals of a few of the 51 deaths the battle brought to American soldiers. The embedded reporter, Dexter Filkins, was shocked himself to see the level of savagery in Falluja, and succeeds in bringing the reader into the scenes with dialogue, sounds, and thoughts of marines as they attempt to both be careful not to be killed while and get a fellow soldiers body out of harm's way.

Whether you support the war or not, you owe it to our soldiers to read this article and understand what they've recently been through. Falluja certainly won't be the last battle of its ilk.

Sci-fi becomes reality in tiny antennea

2004-11-15T10:50:00.000-06:00

I was floored today by the article in The New York Times called "Tiny Antennea to Keep Tabs on U.S. Drugs" which describes the new use of miniscule radio-frequency identification stickers on wholesale drugs.

Though the devices will not yet be used on a retail level, only on the drug bottles sent to pharmacies and large pallettes of goods, eventually the technology could be used to scan and total the expense of an entire shopping cart in one fell swoop. In addition, luggage could be scanned in airports to keep track of it over thousands of miles. Lost luggage could be a thing of the past.

Of course, greater efficiency and control over goods aside, many civil liberties and privacy-rights groups are alarmed. If the technology does make it to the retail level, the contents of a person's purse or what an individual carries in his pockets could be scanned anywhere. Employers could find out precisely what medications an employee takes.

The possibilities seem limitless, and only time will tell if these devices lead to some Orwellian distopia.

Heart Wrenching Violence in Last Letters Home

2004-11-14T21:27:00.000-06:00

Last Letters Home: Voices of American Troops from the Battlefields of Iraq is an HBO documentary of inordinate violence. In it families read letters from American soldiers who have died in Iraq. The families speak about how they received the news while pictures of their son, daughter, husband, or boyfriend flash on the screen. I could only watch the first half of the 75 minutes film. The violence was just too much.

Of course, nary a drop of blood was shown. This was not the violence of the flesh. There were no shots of blown off limbs or festering wounds. That I could have dealt with. I am trained for the sight of blood and gore. I watched those opening minutes of Saving Private Ryan and found the choreography brilliant and beautiful.

Last Letters Home had a different type of graphic violence--the violence of grief and loss, the ripping away of a person dearly held, or, as one mother put it, the loss of part of the soul. Ultimately it was incredibly more affecting. It was all I could do to not cry throughout the entire documentary. I could not stop empathizing. (It was terrible.)

There was no preaching in the documentary, no judgment on whether the war is good or bad, just raw emotions. Each mother said that when the two men in their dress greens and the military chaplain knocked on her door, she knew without any words being spoken. They are here; my child is gone. One father described the moment of finding out as "the end of the world," and while I loathe cliche, I had no doubt that this was the only way he could express the way that all time stopped, and the earth was ripped from under his feet.

And for the moment I saw his face contort in sobs, I was there with him, feeling my own heart being torn from my chest.

Am I still me if my identity is stolen?

2004-11-14T01:19:00.000-06:00

Wow, I feel shitty. When I took out cash for the movie tonight, I noticed that my balance was much lower than I had expected. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out in my head where that money might have gone. I have been known from time to time to go through a couple hundred dollars without realizing it. So after publishing the last blog entry, I pulled up my bank account statement online, opened Quicken, and began reconciling the two. What I realized almost immediately was that someone had charged $650 to my account paid to something called Fresh Headies. Bam. My identity had been stolen.

I looked up Fresh Headies in Google to find that it was a "bubble bag" used in the process of growing super fine marijuana (this according to the website). Suddenly the thought of having gone through a few hundred myself was far preferrable to having had someone else go through my money. I noticed that the person also decided s/he needed a MSN Premium Hotmail account. Jerk.

I suspect my bank will be gracious about the situation; however, since it is Saturday night, and the bank doesn't open till Monday morning, I am left to feel the anxiety for the next day and a half. It's too damn bad I threw away my extra Zoloft. I could have used it right about now.

I feel dirty and violated, and my body hasn't even been touched.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reasonable Butt Shots

2004-11-13T23:31:00.000-06:00

The hubby and I just saw the Bridget Jones sequel. He, of course, got dragged there by me, while I had read the book three years ago round about the time the first movie came out and had been waiting in anticipation ever since. I had been worried--the trailers showed lots of rehashed stuff from the first movie but never mentioned Bridget's adventure in Thailand, the highlight of the novel. I should not have lost faith.

I will say that the sequel did not have me under the same spell as the first, but that happens with most sequels (The Empire Strikes Back excluded). Nonetheless, I smiled through much of the movie, laughed aloud frequently, and even hit myself in the forehead once due to Bridget's pure neuroticism (the scene which induced the self-flagellation reminded my husband of "the phone scene" from Swingers). It was an enjoyable two hours.

Renee Zellweger is still beautifully off her rocker. Hugh Grant remains delightfully, naughtily adorable. And Colin Firth's smile expanded my heart (he's just sooooo cute). Bottom line: if you liked the first one, you'll most likely enjoy this one too.

And for the guys who got dragged to the film, for you the film offers: an inordinate number of butt and cleavage shots, a women's correctional facility, and a wee bit of lesbian action.

Episode III Trailer Now Available to ALL!

2004-11-12T10:11:00.000-06:00

Go quickly! Go now!
Star Wars Official Website

Embrace the child within with Roald Dahl

2004-11-12T10:03:00.000-06:00

Roald Dahl was a man who knew what children's literature needed to be: fantastical, inspiring, magical, and sometimes very dark. He fed children's imaginations with James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, and Matilda.

Dahl was on occasion censored, his books banned from libraries for their dark humor situations. Children weren't ready for this, objectors said, these were adult themes. However, only a naive parent would truly think that adult issues and themes don't bleed into the lives of our youth. Dahl provided a place for children to learn how to deal with problems when adults weren't available for consultation. And he did it with humor and whimsy.

Recapture that magic with the Roald Dahl website.

Yasser Arafat-- a remarkable man.

2004-11-12T08:26:00.000-06:00

I was amazed this morning as I listened to a live broadcast on NPR from Arafat's compound where his coffin had recently arrived. Thousands had made it through checkpoints, over the compound walls, and when Arafat's body came out of the plane, the people took his coffin and passed it through the crowd. The announcer used the phrase "sea of humanity" to describe it, a cliche for sure, and yet as I heard the report and saw the photos, I could not find any better words.

Reuters.com

Just let them fail--it's a great way to learn.

2004-11-09T08:44:00.000-06:00

Psychology Today had an article in their November/December 2004 issue called "A Nation of Wimps" which addressed the phenomenon of over-parenting and the resulting fragile children. The article posits that kids find little time to be off the short leash their parents hold, and so they never learn independence. They don't have a chance to play, and when they do, it is under parental supervision. No longer are pick-up games in the neighborhood a regular summer activity--now parents fill their children's summer time with swimming lessons, organized tee ball, day camps, and various types of summer schools. Because of this, children aren't learning important problem solving and communication techniques. They are only learning to rely on adults.

The point is that left to themselves, children will make mistakes. And, wait, this is not a bad thing. The greatest lessons learned are from failure, not from being walked through the learning, hand held.

I was in the gifted program during junior high and high school. One of the first years I was involved in the program, I was assigned a long-term research project. It was going to be a large part of my grade, but I loathed doing it. I had absolutely no interest. Near the end of the semester, my mother received a phone call from the instructor telling her that I would fail if I didn't complete the project. My instructor was willing to give me more time to finish it, but my mom asked, "Does Erin know the situation?" "Yes." "Then let her fail." And so I did. My mother was disappointed in my decision, to be sure, but she also knew that at twelve years of age, I was old enough to decide for myself.

An ancillary idea to this one is the faith that all parents have that their children are gifted. This is simply not true. While many people have their own talents on some level, the vast majority fall into some category of mediocrity. It remains true that every child can succeed in high school and college and make a decent life for herself if the needed amount of effort is put in, but only a few will rise to true greatness. Because of this, kids need to have a realistic view of their abilities. In the long run, they will be better served learning both what their talents and limitations are rather than being told they can accomplish anything.

Interestingly enough the new movie The Incredibles touched on this subject. The antagonist of the film wants to mass market super-gadgets so that everyone can be a Super. One of the protagonists remarks sarcastically, "So everyone can be special, just like everybody else."

Oh, and by the way, the Star Wars Episode III trailer is worth the price of admission.

The Onion for Teens

2004-11-06T13:00:00.000-06:00

As previously noted, I am a high school teacher. A few weeks ago I was approached by two of my students curious about free speech rights for underground publications. I advised them of Tinker and whatnot and told them their best route might be to make it an official school activity, and if they did this, I'd be happy to be their faculty sponsor. So that's what they chose to do.

Playing off the school's official newspaper, The Spotlight, the students decided to call their satirical newspaper The Stoplight. They had written a number of articles of high caliber already, so I suggested starting by posting the articles to a blog. We hope to begin publishing on paper to disperse to students of the school in the next couple of weeks, but all of us are still feeling out the process.

Until then, check out The Stoplight online. I promise you it's worth at least five laughs.

Feeling sick? There's free health care in Canada.

2004-11-03T10:53:00.000-06:00

Perhaps you are feeling a little like I'm feeling this morning: sickened by the way that Americans suck sometimes. Not only because of the (re)election of Bush, but also because of the 11 states that banned gay marriage and added restrictions to benefits for gay couples.

If you'd like to pursue that idea you had about moving to Canada till the Bush Administration is gone from Washington, start here:

Escape Artist: Canada