02 December 2010

Books that hook you: an example and an invitation

I've got quite a few of these, books I revisit every few years. The Age of Innocence is probably my favorite one, now and for the past decade or so. Every time I read it I find new ways of looking at it, new layers to the language. What follows is my doubtless hacky attempt to excavate another small facet.

still not dead.

Hey FnBers, and anyone else.

Just dropping a quick post:

This is the second week where I'm really having a hard time with life. I even had a great idea for a post the other day, but I just don't have any sort of energy - mental or physical - to spare for an actual GOOD blog post. (or at least GOOD in my eyes)

My depression has generally been taking it's usual form - which is that I think I am not particularly needed/missed/liked. I don't think people HATE me, simply that I am insignificant to them - that if I were gone they would say. "oh hmm. bummer." and not really be all that upset.

I know this is not true in my head, but in that deep feeling place that believes random things, I believe these things to be true.

of course, my physical manifestations are not eating enough, sleeping too little or too much, and having no enthusiasm for anything at all.

to top it off, I'm having a LOT of work stress right now, which I in turn into feeling bad for feeling stressed when I'm repeatedly told not to stress so much.

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I have a day off and a dinner engagement to attend to, and I need to get up and out and moving. Just wanted to say I'm sorry for not contributing much these past weeks, I don't know when I'll be back in the blogging saddle, and I would feel bad but I know you all understand - and my plate is already overloaded with feeling bad, so thank you, for being internet nice enough for me to not feel bad about missing post after post.

also, thanks for letting me vent. I appreciate it.

01 December 2010

Quick Link: Gender Dynamics

Sociological Images has a fantastic vid up this week by a young woman in Hong Kong, talking about gender dynamics and the negative stereotypes women encounter daily. She focuses on Hong Kong specifically, but I guarantee you'll recognize the things she talks about. Well worth your ten minutes.

29 November 2010

Some Harry Potter Thoughts

So I have two great posts outlined, but I spent ten and a half hours on Amtrak today and as such can barely spell my own name. So you get a smart post next week.

This week, you get a quick (and spoiler-filled) list of my impressions on the latest Harry Potter, which I saw over Thanksgiving with my cousins. If you haven't seen it yet, go read something else. I recommend something coherent.

1. So let's get this out of the way: it was a fairly decent movie. I feel like I've been watching the evolution of Steve Kloves's writing skills over the last ten (or however many) years, as he has gone from super-sucky to eh, nothing to write home about. A not inconsiderable improvement.

2. That said, there were still some clunker lines. The most obvious among them being, to my mind: Harry: We should get moving. Hermione: Ron's not strong enough to Apparate. Harry: Guess we'll go on foot. Next scene: Them in a completely different locale with none of the same geographic features. Me: Eyeroll. Exactly how many miles do three teenagers, one of them wounded, who are trying to keep out of sight, walk in a day?

3. That said, there were good lines. For example,  how awesome was it that Harry finally got the whole "dead parents" thing turned on him? That was epic. (I have an actor friend who, when he needed to build up frustrated teenage angst for a role, used to say he was channeling Harry Potter, circa movie number five. "My parents are dead!" he would yell, and then pop in and do an angsty scene, note-perfect, against all his natural inclinations.) Finally, finally, Ron, in the exact same tone of voice as Harry made so famous, yells "What do you know about it? Your parents are dead!" And despite the sadness that the line implies and the importance of it in terms of plot, I chortled.

4. SPEAKING of dead parents, where was the Harry Potter memorial? AHEM. I thought that a vital and beautiful part of the book, and was sad when the movie showed only a burned out house. The movie was two and a half hours already, Kloves. Another ninety seconds won't do much either way. Christ.

5. You can really see the camaraderie among the three leads now that they've been making movies together so long. It's nice; it mirrors the camaraderie the characters have in the books. The kids are clearly comfortable with each other, which I liked. (Not at all like the early movies.)

6. Still, though. I don't know if it's me or them, but those actors? LOOKED SO YOUNG. And TINY. I once saw Emma Watson in real life, and she is ridiculously small; but the whole movie I was going, I'm not sure you're old enough to be doing this! All the adult actors are still taller than you! Eat some spinach or something!

7. In other I-am-turning-into-someone's-grandma news, they should have been wearing way more winter clothing. They're on a camping trip in England in winter. I myself have lived in England and spent a couple of winters there. (I had the sense never to camp outdoors during that time.) I know that as a native Californian I expect to be rather warmer than England can generally provide. But still. Trust me when I say, a turtleneck and a sweater is going to do nothing for you. You need about four more layers, and at least two of them should be waterproof. It was distracting, how freezing I imagined all of them being. Don't even get me started on the whole stripping, diving into iced over water, coming out, putting on one shirt, and being fine scene. Because when you're magic you don't get hypothermia!

8. Something done really well: The opening scene, where Hermione removes her parents' memories of her. Beautifully done, and done in a cinematic, not literary, way. Unlike so many other scenes in this series.

9. Something done quite poorly: Assorted lines wherein someone yells, "But that's so dangerous!" Mates. I do not want to be the one to tell you this. But you are past that level. It was "so dangerous" back in movie two. Now it's just your life. Love it or leave it.

10. Proof that my gay and gay-friendly friends have totally rubbed off on me: In the dramatic moment, when Ron is destroying the Horcrux, it's taunting him with Harry and Hermione kissing, naked. (Tastefully fogged out for the younger viewers.) Ron, in love with Hermione himself, gets a determined look on his face and stabs it to stop the scene. Me (in my mind): You go Ron! Kill the heterosexuality! You know Harry really loves you! (My sister, when I told her that: God, you can't even pronounce "heterosexuality," can you? England was so bad for you.)

Hello again, goodbye

Just a quick Hello and a quick goodbye:

Hello: I am sorry I missed my Wednesday post.
When I woke up Wednesday I had no hot water, and my heat was still not on in my apartment, when I got home that night, my building had no power. I decided to high-tail it to a friend's place, seeing as I had to car-trip to Seattle with them the next morning anyway, (American Thanksgiving!) I don't do internet when I'm with company, so I did not update on Wednesday.

Since I've been back from American thanksgiving (which was very nice) I've been wallowing in the sand-pits of depression, and haven't been up for much think-y posts, as my thoughts don't go beyond "boy, I wonder when I will be out of these sand-pits" and "how in the world am I going to get enough energy to get up this morning?"

So that's where I am right now.

and now the goodbye:

Leslie Nielsen died today. I guess it was peacefully in his sleep after battling a pneumonia - something like that, I read the article but obviously retained no information. if you're really curious just google it, I'm sure you'll figure it out.

But it gave me a good excuse to post: here's a Leslie Nielsen clip, it's a really great line.



I'd like to write a nice line about how this humor should be a way to sustain me during my time of need, or something to link the video to my current state of mind - and in general I'm very much a fan of humor as a good medicine, and I enjoy funny in most forms.... but I'm really just tired. I wanted to let you all know how I was doing, and I felt like I couldn't post a "don't worry, i ain't dead" post without some sort of theme or package feel.

ok, enough with my verbose-ness, I hope everyone had a good weekend and/or lovely American Thanksgiving