The Exclamation! Point

Ten Songs On A Thought: Ten Songs Evoking Nostalgia

2011-10-16T21:39:00.005-06:00

It's easy to evoke nostalgia of a particular type...high school, childhood, fond memories, past loves, etc. But it's not easy to evoke a generalized nostalgia for something past. That's what this mix does! Each one of these songs will tailspin you into a non-specific nostalgia to match any reminiscing you might want. Ever.

Here is how this works (assuming I have any readers ever...It's been awhile. And generally always is between posts anymore): I choose a topic and write down the first ten songs that come to mind on that topic in no particular order. Then you do the same. Easy enough, right? I give you:

Ten Songs Evoking Nostalgia

1. Oh, Mandy - The Spinto Band listen
2. Modern Man - Arcade Fire listen
3. Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap listen
4. Swansea - Joanna Newsom listen
5. Ceremony - New Order listen
6. In This Home On Ice - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah listen
7. Tickle Me Pink - Johnny Flynn listen
8. I Was A Kaleidoscope - Death Cab For Cutie listen ---the version linked here is an acoustic version I think fits the theme pretty well, but if you've never heard the original, look it up, one of my favorite songs by this band...
9. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel listen
10. Playground Love - Air listen

Hot Guys Reading Books

2011-08-06T01:13:00.004-06:00

Okay, so...I know I haven't updated this blog in forever. I started a little something called "grad school" and then I was like man...it's been a long time since I updated this blog. I hemmed and hawed and assumed that in order to update said blog, I would need some kind of EPIC RETURN. I couldn't think of an epic return, so it just didn't happen. Over and over again it didn't happen. I spent 6 weeks in Russia and couldn't even be bothered to help you guys out with some posts then. I'm basically a jerk.

So to make up for it, I present you with my version of porn. It's hot guys reading books. It's what the name implies. Here are a few favorites I scrounged up from the site:

Since you need more...undoubtedly, try the site itself on for size.

Book Review: White Noise by Don DeLillo

2010-12-28T13:22:00.003-07:00

I really liked this novel. Quite a lot. In fact, I would have given it 5 of 5 stars if a. I wasn't trying to be more discerning with my rating system, reserving 5's for only those novels I consider all-time favorites b. if the third and final portion of the book hadn't dragged on a bit too long. That is my only real criticism of the book, that that third part of the book is a bit too long... because the rest is pure gold.

Some people seem dissuaded by this book because it is highly regarded as the ultimate postmodern novel. And it is, really. If you have any experience with postmodern theory then there are about 10-20 different paper topics one could make from this book alone. Believe me, I did one of them in a single frenzied Sunday afternoon sitting at an IHOP during finals. It was about Hitler as a simulacrum. And I got an A, because as I said, this is rich postmodern reading, and White Noise is great fodder for any professor who loves himself a good postmodern analysis. Just mention "the most photographed barn in America" and you'll get any postmodern theorist worked up into a frenzy.

But even if you could not give less of a crap about postmodernism (and I'm sure there are plenty of you out there), this is still a great novel. Because at the crux of this novel are two themes we can all identify with: the meaning of and dissipation of the nuclear family and the fear of death. And it's put together in this witty (if sometimes hard to access) package that is genuinely a pleasure to read.

This particular version that I read was the 25th anniversary edition with an introduction by Richard Powers. Normally, I regard most introductions as either boring rehashings of plot points I want to experience for myself or monotonous statements of the most obvious, but I actually liked this introduction. It was a nice precursor to some of the novels themes and even if some of the points he makes are a bit obvious, they're useful. It sets up the novel well.

This is my third DeLillo novel, and I can see why it is regarded as his very best, even if personally I liked Libra just a bit more. DeLillo is a writer whose sense of irony and well-placed word play makes his writing seem alive and vibrant, pulsating and electric, even where the plot seemingly lags. His characters are composites of people who are so distinctly absurd that you know they probably do exist somewhere, absurdity aside. I would readily recommend this book to anyone interested in contemporary literature, and especially to students of literary theory.

That's the mark of this book's quality: you can read it for theory or you can read it for pleasure, and either reading would be equally enriching.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Book Review: Minima Moralia: Reflections on a Damaged Life by Theodor Adorno

2010-12-28T13:16:00.004-07:00

I read this book for my class on Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. We slogged through it 10-15 aphorisms at a time for about 12 weeks, and in the end I have to say it was really rewarding. I think it would be a formidable text if we hadn't broken it down. For each section, pairs from the class presented on an aphorism or two and related it back to other sections from earlier in the book or to other Frankfurt School readings from the course. From an academic standpoint, it was a really rich text in that it encompassed so many of Adorno's ideas into clever little bits. One joke I liked to make is that Adorno speaks in a way that lends itself to the facebook status.

But I fell a few weeks behind and so had to read a big chunk of the book in a more traditional format and it was still rewarding that way as well. Adorno isn't concerned with offering solutions: only pointing out how the world is broken. "There is no right life in a wrong world." And so he is concerned with pointing out how the world is wrong, how life is damaged. It sounds depressing and this book can be pessimistic even at its best moments, but there is something hopeful in the care he takes in examining the world so closely. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone recommended in Frankfurt School theory or social theory in general.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Ten Songs On A Thought: Ten Songs To Combat Postmodern Malaise

2010-12-28T12:27:00.003-07:00

Okay, so postmodern malaise may be an exaggeration, but as someone who has been reading postmodern literature and theory for months at this point, recognizing the state that all people find themselves in whether they like it or not (a society controlled by the culture industry, surrounded by brands, the constant onslaught of technology, never lacking for inputs and signifiers, the constant fear of a world illuminated by news and maps and science and the internet, the web of a world now illuminated, etc). And it seems to me like an ever-growing number of songs reflect this frenzied discontent one feels with a world full of impulses and signs. So I decided to make one of my mixes about it.

For those who don't know, each week (theoretically. Really, it's whenever I get the impulse) I choose a topic and write down the first ten songs that come to mind on that topic in no particular order. Then you do the same. Easy enough, right? I give you:

TEN SONGS TO COMBAT POSTMODERN MALAISE

1. The Age of Adz - Sufjan Stevens listen
2. One Hit - The Knife listen
3. The Mall and Misery - Broken Bells listen
4. Ready To Start - Arcade Fire listen
5. Apres Moi - Regina Spektor listen
6. Sleepyhead - Passion Pit listen
7. Enjoy Your Worries, You May Never Have Them Again - The Books listen
8. No Ability - Dovekins listen
9. We've Got Everything - Modest Mouse listen
10. Symptom Finger - The Faint listen

RETURN

2010-12-28T12:17:00.002-07:00

Okay, so once or twice a year, I make a big to-do and say I'm going to return to regular blogging. Will this one stick? I don't know, 50/50 shot. But I am trying to concentrate on something BESIDES grad schooling. Do you have any idea how hard that is? Very.

I like to imagine grad school is like giving birth to a child. The pregnancy is that waiting period where you're spending all this money sending off applications, trying to convince people somehow, someway, that you are NOT an idiot and that they should not only accept you, but give you money to boot. And you wait, and wait, and the impatience baby in your tummy grows and grows and knots and knots until one day you get your first rejection, and then another (it's always the acceptances that come late) and then you finally get accepted and you think: okay, I'm going to begin this journey.

So you move to the school (you "have your baby") and it robs every piece of your life you once held dear...your relationships, your hobbies, your free time, your sleep, your temper, your patience, your sanity. It's all in service to this thing you are undertaking and you know you're going to be doing it for years and years to come. And you're happy, because it's what you've always wanted, but suddenly you're in this place where getting an A is all well and good, but probably not good enough, because you need to publish and go to conferences and be mentored by the right names and network and all that if you want to eventually have a job when all these old guys in these old departments start kicking the bucket about right when you graduate...and if you get a B, well, you may as well go home.

And yet, I'm so happy, because I feel forward momentum. It's masochistic, really, it's outright torture, the things that people are willing to go to get to a point where they think they'll be happy. And the real kicker is, while you're doing all this, at least in my field, you're reading all this Neo-Marxist theory that tells you "every desire you've ever had has been fabricated for you in advance" and you think, well, okay, there is a system, and I have to play into it or not. And it all becomes very very exhausting, Foucault telling you your government controls you through Biopower, Benjamin telling you you're manipulated by the phantasmagoria of the commodity fetish, Horkheimer and Adorno telling you you're a pawn within the Culture Industry, Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy saying there is only hope in a world where your singularity is subjugated to a plurality. It's exhausting and you frankly feel like you need a nap and yet, when you get a break, you can't help but read more and more into it.

So you can understand why I've fallen a bit behind on the blogs. But I'll change it soon, fingers crossed...

Book Review: Laugher In The Dark by Vladimir Nabokov

2010-08-10T21:09:00.002-06:00

I read this book very quickly over a couple days. I picked it up on impulse, having always wanted to read another book by Nabokov and having been intrigued by the synopsis.

Oddly enough, one of the most interesting parts of this book was the introduction by John Banville, which chronicled the novels place within Nabokov's career and it's possible relation to Nabokov's later works, including Lolita. More specifically, it highlights the way that the parasitic relationship in this novel may have been a precursor to the relationship investigated in Lolita, only in this novel, Margot is a cunning (if not very smart) and vile active participant in Albert Albinus' demise.

Unrelated sidenote: Albert Albinus? Humbert Humbert? Axel Rex? I'll gladly take any comments related to the meaning behind Nabokov's obsession with mirroring names.

I didn't like this novel as much as Lolita, but only because it DID read to me a bit like just that: a precursor to a greater idea. In this novel, Nabokov seems to be toying with the idea of female power and of male justification for reprehensible behavior, themes that will be investigated to much greater effect later and which might not have been so deeply developed were it not for novels like this one.

Albert Albinus is at least slightly sympathetic. One can see the wheels turning within him and warning him that the decisions he's making are destructive and loathsome. One can see his moment's hesitation in considering a proper route of action. His conscience is visible. The drama and tragedy comes in his continued failure to obey these impulses, particularly in the face of Margot's calculating seducation and continued moral decline. Her and Axel Rex make for some truly perilous villains, and it is obvious from the start that a man like Albinus will not be able to stand up to the terror they will impose upon him.

The strength in this book comes from the quality of Nabokov's prose, which anyone who has had the pleasure of reading a Nabokov novel is familiar with. I look forward to reading other Nabokov novels, as this one has really whetted my appetite for more. It might be a good place to start if one is interested in reading beyond Lolita.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

The Human Stain On Nature: BP's Gulf Oil Spill

2010-05-17T10:16:00.009-06:00

Anyone who has ever denied the need for better human stewardship of our world no longer has any room to talk. Few things have infuriated me more in recent years than the slow and inadequate response to BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. To not have the mechanisms in place to stop something like this immediately is a demonstration of the gross irresponsibility humans have displayed in taking care of the world we live in.

The Gulf of Mexico may take YEARS (if ever) to fully recover from this kind of damage. Don't believe me? Here's an article). Not to mention the devastating effects that something like this has on the already fragile wildlife in the area. Oh, and did I mention that the economies of the already weakened gulf cities are experiencing a negative effect as well? I don't need to, these are things that anybody who has turned on the news knows full well.

This is a disaster. Plain and simple.

So I guess my frustration comes here: WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG? BP has spent so much time trying to shirk responsibility for this disaster, regardless of their "acceptance" of the financial costs. Someone has to take the blame, BP. It's you! A quicker response to this problem (let alone a far more comprehensive contingency plan already set in place for such disasters) may have stopped this a lot sooner.

I do not claim to be an environmental expert, and my knowledge of economics and corporate law is encompassed entirely in a liberal arts degree. I'm not an expert, but I am a citizen of this United States who is frustrated by my inability to do ANYTHING whatsoever to stop this disaster from growing while the powers that be sit idly by.

We cannot continue to live in a world so obsessed with our right to resources that we continue to abuse the natural world we live in. And that's the truth.

Oh, and in case you haven't seen it, THIS is what an oil flow looks like:

Book Review: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

2010-05-17T09:59:00.002-06:00

It's been a few months now since I've finished this book, and I simply hadn't had the chance until now to sit down and give it a proper review. I suppose this is a benefit to the book because, upon reflecting on it, I now see more clearly what I enjoyed about it.

I think what I enjoyed most was Joe Kavalier. I had read Chabon before, and I was frustrated with his ability to create an interesting character and make me bored of hearing about them. I never got bored of Joe. If anything, I always felt like the narration was hiding something about Joe, some key to understanding his motivations that went well beyond the basics of missing his family and loving art. It's never revealed, but the depth of his emotions is implied, leaving the reader an opportunity to analyze his motivations through the prism of any combination of Joe's personal history, revealed throughout the arc of the narrative.

I'm glad I gave Chabon a second chance. Reading "The Yiddish Policeman's Union" first left a bitter taste in my mouth that Chabon doesn't deserve...I couldn't have been convinced before that he was capable of a book like this, and now I'm a convert, intent on reading another of his works soon. I really enjoyed how this book deigned to span the expanses of time, place, and historicity that make other favorite books of mine (Middlesex, Everything Is Illuminated) so engaging. Chabon has a gift for diction and syntax that makes his work beautiful to read.

My criticisms of the book are mainly the following two points. One: I'm still not convinced of Chabon's ability to write an effective female character. I didn't always believe in Rosa's motivations or emotions, she seemed limited by the male viewpoint. I realize that it might be hard for someone so adept at creating intriguing men to understand the differences necessary for female thought, but Chabon should be able to shoulder that burden with the same tact and attention to detail that he gives to creating a historical landscape for his works. Your women have to be real, not comic book caricatures of what you think a female ought to be like.

The second was the comic book referencing. Chabon's intention may have been to color the story with a deep well of knowledge that contributes to realism. He very likely did a tremendous amount of research for this book and this is commendable. But you know what? I don't want to see that research, at least not directly. His obsession with showing off his comic book knowledge and excessive use of comic book reference seems a lot like hammering in superfluous garbage for the sake of looking cool. You like comic books, you know a lot about them, we get it. We don't need you to tell us again because all that is doing is distracting from the charming and beautiful story you already have in front of you.

I can't think of many people who wouldn't enjoy this book, and I would be inclined to recommend it to anyone. My only advice is to stick it out after it slows down 100 pages in. It'll be worth it.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Book Review: The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

2010-04-20T21:33:00.003-06:00

This is one of the finest books I've read in many years. Not just for the genre, not just for a young adult novel, not just for the subject matter. This is one of the finest books I've read in many years, period.

I was immediately drawn in by the story and I found the narrative choices original without being trite. Approaching the book from such a perspective allowed the narrator to guide the story in a way that tapped a deep emotional well within me and shaded the poignancy of the accounted moments with an acute awareness of the historical reality of WWII.

Liesel is written with a delicate sensitivity for the emotions of little girls. She is thoughtful and fragile but simultaneously stubborn and hardened and her persona is an accurate reflection of the precociousness necessary for a little girl like her to survive in such a harsh world. She is an admirable heroine and a strong role model, notable for her courage despite having lived a life such as hers.

Further, each character within Liesel's story is assigned their own unique traits and demeanors, which should be the case in any story, but is often difficult for some authors to do. While some characters could have easily been stereotyped sidekicks or stereotyped strict parents or any one of the cliches often found in these sort of stories, they have been developed into rich explanations of human character and the delicate threads that hold relationships together. They are reflections of Liesel as much as Liesel is a reflection of each of them, and the story comes alive in the moments in which these relationships are investigated.

The book also manages to approach the story of the Holocaust without resorting to the same old stories, the same old sorry tales that have been written and rewritten time and time again. This is a different story, and it feels like a different story when you read it, but still manages to communicate the importance of remembering these atrocities in the scope of human history.

But most importantly, this book is engaging. Even at 500+ pages, I read it in mere days because I was so excited to find out what happened next. Liesel reminds us of the power of words, the power of books to transport us outside of our own world and into someone else's, and Liesel's is a world that everyone ought to visit.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Ten Songs On A Thought: Songs For Motivation To Finish Something You Started

2010-04-20T21:22:00.003-06:00

I really like blogging. Genuinely, I do. But when I forget to do it, when I forget to be frequent or thoughtful and I temporarily abandon my blog, it makes me feel guilty, like I'm letting my...three? readers down by not posting and I have to post extra to make up for it. But I get overwhelmed by the thought of extra, and I never do it. It generally takes a stranger commenting on the blog content (thanks Twitter user @slowdanse!) to get me back in gear. And since I was really digging these ten song sets, I thought what better theme than...

For those who don't know, each week I choose a topic and write down the first ten songs that come to mind on that topic in no particular order. Then you do the same. Easy enough, right? I give you:

TEN SONGS FOR MOTIVATION TO FINISH SOMETHING YOU START

1. The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
2. Pass This On - The Knife
3. Daniel - Bat For Lashes
4. Alpha Beta Gaga - AIR
5. Come On! Feel The Illinoise! - Sufjan Stevens
6. 2 + 2 = 5 - Radiohead
7. Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John
8. Straight Street - The Fiery Furnaces
9. John The Revelator - Depeche Mode
10. The Island - The Decemberists

Book Review: Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman

2010-01-02T13:57:00.002-07:00

I am a huge fan of Chuck Klosterman's non-fiction work, so I met the prospect of his fiction with a sort of hopeful apprehension. I wasn't necessarily expecting it to be as good as his other work simply because fiction was not his primary mode of writing up to this point. I am pleased to report that Klosterman met and then exceeded my expectations.

Downtown Owl is not the novel I expected it to be. I don't know what I expected it to be, but it wasn't what was delivered to me. I think I half expected a sort of pretentious love story wrought with allusions to some protagonist's vast musical knowledge and intense desire to get out of small town rural America. I love Chuck Klosterman, but any Chuck Klosterman fan would also know exactly why I might get this idea.

What I got instead was an illuminating investigation of small town life. Sure, there were allusions to pop culture artifacts of the time (it is set in 1983) and a few turns of phrase that sounded like the Klosterman I'm used to reading, but on the whole, the development of the three main characters' story archs not only helped to move the story along but helped to imbue the novel with an acute awareness of humanity and the human experience.

This is why, to me, the novel was so good. Any novel that can deftly handle the human experience will be good, but a novel that manages to handle three separate experiences in equally touching and sympathetic ways shows an advanced understanding of what makes people tick, what makes them get up in the morning and feel that they have some degree of purpose, even if to the outside eye, they may be floundering.

Some might argue that the story doesn't necessarily "go" anywhere for much of the novel, and this is true, to a degree. It isn't evident precisely what the novel is leading up to, what sort of climactic moment will emerge. And when this moment does emerge, it's with a deftly handled mix of clarity and confusion that is incredibly compelling. But the development of these characters, the slow realizations about their motives and their pasts (particularly in the case of the character Horace, I found) is reason enough to propel the story forward.

As a reader, I felt privileged to crawl inside the minds of these characters, and the outside elements of plot and location only helped to inform this experience. For that I must give Klosterman my highest accolades, and site this novel as one of the many reasons I have believed in his capabilities as an author since I first read him a few years ago. Highly recommended.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Book Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

2010-01-01T16:15:00.004-07:00

This book so could have garnered my highest praises had it stuck to the intentions of its core story. The plot at the center of this book is a moving story that illuminates the grief and sorrow of the American experience following the 9/11 attacks by telling the story of young Oskar Schell, an eccentric young boy whose attempts to remain close to his father (who died in one of the towers) take him on a mission to uncover his fathers secrets.

Oskar is incredibly endearing, if not always entirely believable as a character. It's not so much that Foer does not succeed in making Oskar seem true to age so much as the fact that very few kids, no matter how weird, would possess so great a multitude of eccentricities as Oskar does. I loved his eccentricities, and accepted them without regard for realism, but it's been my experience that most kids are not so overwrought by weirdness that they can barely function, and even the ones who are that weird stick to one or two types of weirdness and not all of them at once.

But as I said, this was of little issue to me because Oskar was so delighful, and the process of his story and journey to discover what he was searching for to fill the void left by the loss of his father is moving and revealing. Had the book focused almost entirely on this story, I likely would have given it my highest rating and recommended it to everyone I know.

But the book did not focus on just this story. Instead, Foer engages in the highest form of artistic self-service and pretentiousness in the form of meandering stream of consciousness style diary entries and letters focusing on Oskar's grandparents. The grandmother spends years typing nothing onto a typewriter, the grandfather never speaks but instead tattoos "yes" and "no" on his fingers. It's all a little ridiculous, and I even have a high tolerance for artistic pretentiousness.

Trust me, these are not spoilers, just the most basic explanations of a multitude of pompous characteristics Foer imbues these side characters with in an attempt to be artistic and abstract. And for many books, it might work, I might have liked it even. But I just didn't with this one. I found that when those chapters stepped in to interrupt Oskar's story, that I didn't want to read them, or that I wanted to get through them as quickly as possible so I could get back to Oskar. I don't think any author wants to write something where people feel the urge to skip half of your chapters.

These side stories aren't 100% faulty. I do enjoy the parallels made between the experience of the bombing of Dresden with the 9/11 attacks, and the few places where this side story overlaps with Oskar's own are interesting. I suppose, in summation, that I wanted to like this book more because it had so much potential to be great. I just wish that all of the pretentious additions had been toned down, edited only for the most vital information, and that Oskar Schell's story would have had the book it deserves.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Book Review: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

2009-12-22T19:20:00.004-07:00

I should really accept the fact that at this point in my life, I know what I like. But I don't accept that, and I always think that if I go out on a limb and try something in a new style, maybe this time will be different. Michael Chabon proved that, in his case...it was not.

I don't like mystery novels. Well, strike that. I don't like mystery novels where the entire plot hinges on the mystery and is not somehow related to the creation of sub-plots and character development. I think C...more I should really accept the fact that at this point in my life, I know what I like. But I don't accept that, and I always think that if I go out on a limb and try something in a new style, maybe this time will be different. Michael Chabon proved that, in his case...it was not.

I don't like mystery novels. Well, strike that. I don't like mystery novels where the entire plot hinges on the mystery and is not somehow related to the creation of sub-plots and character development. I think Chabon expected he was doing this, which might be true for people who are accustomed to reading mysteries. But for me, it just seemed so far steeped in this obsession with the mystery element of the plot that it entirely glazed over all the most interesting elements.

The interesting parts I'm referring to are the alternative history aspects. This part, I loved, and were it not for this part I would have likely abandoned the novel altogether and opted not to finish the 400+ pages. And the novel did eventually stop meandering around the mystery and get to some elements of this. Even the mystery got more interesting, and by the last quarter of the book I found myself genuinely compelled to find out the ending. But 300 pages is a long way to go to get to that point. Far too long.

Ultimately, I think Chabon is a great writer. I would even be interested in trying some of his more acclaimed books, as I'd like to think that acclaim is a good barometer for the quality of the plot, and I genuinely like his writing style. Some of the metaphors and turns of phrase he comes up with are uniquely impeccable to the situation in the story. But overall, I felt like I read a book that, majority of the time, I only sort of liked, and for that reason, I was only sort of satisfied. If you like a good mystery told in a unique and different way, then you would most likely disagree.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Truth

2009-11-19T18:32:00.003-07:00

marriedtothesea.com

The Fall of the Berlin Wall: November 9th, 1989

2009-11-10T01:03:00.009-07:00

Twenty Years Ago...

I realize I am a day late doing this post, one I've been planning to do for some time, but real life in the form of a packed schedule of errands got in the way today, and I wasn't able to write this all down until now.

However, as someone who lived, albeit a short while, in Berlin and who has been personally touched by the richness of the city, and as a passionate fan and student of German culture and history, the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is something I really wanted to mark. Especially because so many of the people I've talked to recently have little to no understanding of the full significance of this day in history.

As with most historical moments, I believe that pictures often say a lot more than words:

THE WALL GOES UP

At midnight on Saturday, August 12th, 1961, construction of the wall begins under the orders of Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev. The wall was constructed in response to the mass exodus of East Berliners to West Berlin in anticipation of the restrictions that would be placed on East Berlin under the Soviet Bloc. Border is closed by morning of Sunday, August 13th, 1961. Immigration from East to West is restricted and West Berlin is enclosed within the borders of East Germany, dividing those living in East Berlin from West Berlin indefinitely.

THE WALL STANDS

The city of Berlin, as well as East and West Germany, remains separated by the wall, consisting of an expanse of "no man's land" that makes illegal crossings virtually impossible. Soviet officers are ordered to shoot on command anyone who tries to escape. Tensions with East Germany continue to rise throughout the reign of Soviet control.

There are roughly 5,000 successful escapes from East to West, though escape attempts account for 136 deaths, with some claiming the actual number to be around 200. Those wounded in escape attempts are not permitted help for fear of setting off fire from east german guards. One notable preventable is of a man named Peter Fechter, who is shot and then forced to bleed out, all under the watchful eyes of the western media in August 1962. He becomes a symbol for the inhumanity of life in East Berlin and the inhumanity of the wall itself. Other stories of escape attempts, both successful and not, are compiled and presented by the Checkpoint Charlie museum, a must-stop for any visitor to Berlin today.

Tensions come to a boiling point in the late 80s. Gorbachev is elected leader of Soviet Union and things begin to change, slowly but surely. Further, massive peaceful protests break out in East Germany beginning in September 1989, the largest a huge demonstration in East Berlin's Alexanderplatz attended by half a million people. Refugees also began escaping through routes assisted by decreased immigration restrictions between East Germany and Czechoslovaki and Hungary.

THE WALL COMES DOWN

A press conference on November 9th, 1989, originally intended to announce eased immigration restrictions from East to West Berlin at a later date, results in an announcement that the borders are open immediately. Thousands flood the checkpoints, rendering any response by border guards useless. The guards are thus instructed to stand down and allow people to cross through the check points, causing celebration in the streets as East Germans get their first taste of freedom in West Berlin.

In the days and weeks that followed the opening of the borders, the wall came down. Many played a part in tearing down the wall themselves, sometimes with their bare hands, and all that remains of the wall is a few spare spots left for the purpose of memorial.

AFTER THE WALL

Reunification was by no means an easy process for East and West Germany and in many ways, the country is still not fully unified. But there is little doubt that majority of Germans are happier now in a unified Germany, as evidenced by the widespread celebration for the 20th Anniversary yesterday. Here is some great stuff from that celebration:

I loved one of the things that Barack Obama said in his video-taped speech. "Human destiny is what human beings make of it."

Dominoes erected to represent the wall were painted by school children around the world and then knocked down to mark the anniversary, to the minute, of when the borders were opened.

It is an understatement to the suggest that the wall was merely a product of the Cold War and that it's fall was merely a marker for the end of the Cold War. Rather, what is moving about the fall of the wall, about understanding the whole story, is the perspective its history gives on the capacity of humanity to endure and of the importance of freedom for all people.

If you'd like to study more, and I really suggest you do, here is some more information on the history of the wall:

Multimedia Chronicle of the Wall
Newseum - An interactive Museum on Berlin Wall History
Animated Video of the actual make-up of the Wall's defense system

Also, here are previews for three very good German movies that really make the history of the wall come alive:

DER TUNNEL (2001) - One of the most moving stories on The Wall I've seen

Ten Songs On A Thought: NaNoWriMo Edition

2009-11-06T00:54:00.004-07:00

For those of you who don't know why I've been neglecting my blog lately, it's partially because I am really trying to get some personal business in order (substitute teaching license, graduate school applications, etc.) but also largely because this year I am, for the first time, participating in NaNoWriMo.

Now, you may not know what NaNoWriMo is. Conveniently, I will now tell you. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is held each November. The goal is to write a novel (at least 50,000 words), start to finish, during the month of November. What I think is really a novel concept (no pun intended) is that the emphasis is not on producing quality work or rather, is not concerned with achieving immediate quality. The idea of the process is to get the words on page and really hammer it out so that at the end of the month you can say you're officially a novelist and then you have a wealth of raw material to work with.

I have never written a novel before. I have written a lot of moderately successful poetry (I've even been published a few times, which is nice) and I have also done some work with short stories, but it is really nice to have a specific reason to discipline myself and write this novel. As of right now, I am exactly 7,864 words in and I'm hoping to surpass 10,000 by the end of tomorrow. I don't know why I decided to take this on during such a busy month, but in a way, it is helping me focus and juice up my creativity so I can be more successful at other pursuits.

In any event, I think it's a really exciting organization. It's definitely worthwhile to encourage artistic creation for the sake of creativity and enrichment of human experience. If you would like to donate to this organization and help not only fuel this cause but also support their Young Writers Program, please go here.

In honor of my NaNoWriMo pursuits, this week's "Ten Songs On A Thought" features "Songs for Writing a Novel in Thirty Days" and I have encouraged other such folks to leave their thoughts. I encourage you to leave yours as well...any suggestion just might help power me through a couple hundred more words. For those who don't already know, the goal is to come up with the first ten songs that come to your head on the topic without an eye for editing or placement...kind of like a NaNoWriMo novel, no?

TEN SONGS FOR WRITING A NOVEL IN THIRTY DAYS

Pass This On - The Knife listen
Cast A Hook - Laura Veirs listen
Heartless - Kanye West listen
I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie listen
How Low - Jose Gonzalez listen
The Wrote & The Writ - Johnny Flynn listen
Horse & I - Bat For Lashes listen
There There - Radiohead listen
Just Like Honey - The Jesus & Mary Chain listen
Swansea - Joanna Newsom listen

Note: I can't contextually explain the Kanye either, but according to iTunes, I've listened to it four times since beginning this process. And iTunes never lies.

Ten Songs On A Thought: Songs For When You're Snowed In

2009-10-29T02:28:00.004-06:00

Something about being snowed in: it makes me introspective. I lay down on the couch with a blanket in front of the fire and the music I want to listen to is quiet and soft and pretty and maybe, sometimes a little sad. I was thinking of that today, because Colorado is enveloped in inches and inches of snow and while I realize this is similar to another topic (sweater weather, if you remember), I think music for being snowed in has its own vibe...the kind of music you listen to alone with headphones on when you feel like you have a chance to lay and think for awhile.

For those who don't know, each week I choose a topic and write down the first ten songs that come to mind on that topic in no particular order. Then you do the same. Easy enough, right? I give you:

TEN SONGS FOR WHEN YOU'RE SNOWED IN

Ambulance - TV On The Radio listen
Cinder and Smoke - Iron & Wine listen
The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service listen
Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap listen
New Slang - The Shins listen
Wet Ground - Sondre Lerche
For The Widows In Paradise, For The Fatherless In Ypsilanti - Sufjan Stevens listen
Joga - Bjork listen
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - The Arcade Fire listen
White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes listen

CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE!

2009-10-28T00:39:00.002-06:00

I know I advocate a lot of ideas on this blog, as I believe it is my duty as a citizen of this country to stir discussion on a variety of topics. However, one thing I haven't advocated is that everyone should

CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES

to tell them what you want on ANY hot topic but especially on healthcare. Clearly, I am an advocate for healthcare, but I am also an advocate for building provisions that reduce the actual cost of healthcare rather than just creating coverage for all. I can't do anything about this without contacting the individuals in charge, so:

ASK FOR MORE HEALTHCARE!
ASK FOR MORE WORKER'S RIGHTS!
ASK FOR MORE EDUCATION REFORM!
ASK FOR ANY PROVISION YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT!

We are lucky enough to live in a democratic society and our system for communicating our ideas is seriously underutilized. I am flabbergasted whenever I look at reputable opinions polls and compare them to the actual ideas being presented in Congress so sound off and encourage your friends to do so as well. Democracy starts with you!

AcademicEarth.org : College Lectures for Anyone

2009-10-23T02:19:00.003-06:00

I gotta say, I don't think I've ever been as enthralled or as excited about something I discovered on the internet as I am about Academic Earth and other sites like it. I had heard about it from a few different places: Time Magazine has spotlighted it once or twice and I've stumbled across the name in newspapers before, most notably this article from the Washington Post.

However, I hadn't gotten around to trying it out myself until today, and I was blown away by how much I liked it. Since I am brushing up for my grad school applications, I decided to try out a literature course and began the series of lectures on "American Literature since 1945" from Yale University's Professor Amy Hungerford. I immediately felt engaged by the content and even compelled to take notes on what she was saying, just as I would in a regular classroom.

I have always believed that the internet is an underutilized resource for the dissemination of academic information to those who are willing but otherwise unable to acquire this information readily. What better way to do this than to see lectures from some of the finest educational institutions in the world? It's an idea whose time has definitely arrived, and I look forward to seeing what other content becomes available.

Academic Earth is not the first or only place to offer this kind of info, and I have provided some links below with further information. I have simply found that Academic Earth is one of the easiest platforms for this kind of information, but there is a wealth of information available if you sift through the offerings, particularly if you would be happy with audio files alone rather than video.

I really do encourage everyone I know to spend his or her free time engaging in something that he or she would like to learn. Lectures like this prove that you don't have to be immersed in the depths of academia or a high level critic to appreciate the benefits of growing your knowledge, and I can't wait until I have time to listen to my next lecture.

Links to academic lectures online:

Academic Earth
Open Culture
OpenCourseware Consortium
YouTubeEDU
You can also find some info online by searching iTunes U in the iTunes store

Pogo is Neat

2009-10-20T22:40:00.002-06:00

So there is this guy named Pogo and he is an electronic artist from Australia and he has gotten a lot of attention on the youtube and such for making these really intricate pieces composed entirely from one movie or scene from a movie, mostly kids movies from what I can tell. His best known piece is Alice (linked below) but he has some other really interesting pieces as well. I'm really digging it, so check it out!

Oh, and did I mention you can get all of his music for free here?

To see other videos, check out his youtube page.

Ten Songs On A Thought: Songs For A Sweaty Dance Party (Indie Rock Edition)

2009-10-16T04:43:00.005-06:00

After watching the movie Fame (hold your laughter, it was free and entertaining for the cheesy movie it is), I remembered how much fun I used to have dancing when I lived in Germany and at clubs and parties during my college years. I guess I've liked dancing for a long time...I do remember trying to recreate music videos in the eighties when I was 4 at most. I, however, am not much on the skill front dancing wise. But I can't resist a good dance party.

My theme this week is "Songs For A Sweaty Dance Party (Indie Rock Edition)" because as soon as I tried to mentally compile my list, I knew it would be impossible to do so without somehow limiting genre. This also gives me an excuse to do other editions, which is ultimately very important to the success of this blog. Naturally. Also, I really want to underscore the word sweaty. Sweat is an essential part of any successful dance party, at least in my book.

Anyway, you know the drill. I mention the first ten songs that came to mind on the thought, without regard for order. Then you do the same. Simple, right?

Ten Songs For A Sweaty Dance Party (Indie Rock Edition)

Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt - We Are Scientists listen
Hummer - Foals listen
Electric Feel - MGMT listen
Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John listen
Banquet - Bloc Party listen
Worked Up So Sexual - The Faint listen
Heartbeats - The Knife listen
Oslo In The Summertime - Of Montreal listen
Cowbell - Tapes n' Tapes listen
Apply Some Pressure - Maximo Park listen

What about you? What are your picks? You can restrict genre if you like or you can be free-form. I won't restrict you with my rules, man.

Balloon Boy: For Real?

2009-10-16T04:37:00.003-06:00

I can't resist the urge to say a little something about this since it happened in my own part of the world...but do we think the balloon boys parents are for real? I mean, it seems insane to me that the kid could say "You said that we did this for the show" and that the family doesn't want to let reporters follow up on a comment like that.

I mean, it made for a rather entertaining 2 hours of television, if not a little terrifying, but the fact that the kid was in the attic (and the Larimer County Sheriff didn't think to check there before sending in the National Guard? Where are my tax dollars going in this county?) the entire time, and the family has not only been on reality tv but is mentioned in an acting book somewhere. I don't know. Seems a little odd.

I'm officially polling. Do you think this family is being legit?

Read this article, dudes

Book Review (Kinda): All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

2009-10-13T03:14:00.003-06:00

I almost never abandon books. Ever. If it's really bad, I'll put it down a week and come back. I kept telling myself I should read this book. Oh, it's won awards! It's an important text! But I was fooling myself.

It was bad, and I didn't enjoy it, and after devoting my time to 100 pages, nearly half the book, I realized that I did not and had never had any desire to finish it. Oh, and the plot alluded to? Definitely not hit by 100 pages in. 100 pages and the plot summary STILL did not match what I was reading. I have a stack of books as tall as I am that says tick-freaking-tock. This was not worth the time I had already invested.

I realize this is the least in depth review I've ever given on this site. I'm okay with that. I kind of feel like I maybe invested the amount of time in this review that McCarthy invested in planning out a plot for this book.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

"Is Your Baby Racist?" - Newsweek, September 14th, 2009

2009-10-08T01:09:00.004-06:00

I was reading some older magazines at the gym and came across the Newsweek from September 14th, 2009 with the cover story "Is Your Baby Racist?". I found this story totally fascinating! It's culled from a chapter in a new book called Nurtureshock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. Lucky for me, I have a friend who has already purchased this book, so I will get to read it whenever he is finished, but this article definitely helped pique my interest in the book.

You should take the time to read the entire article (linked above) if you get the chance, but I'll summarize some of the most interesting points for discussion:

Even among families that volunteered to participate in a study that investigated children's perceptions of race, researchers found that parents were reluctant to discuss race at all with their children because they felt that not discussing race allowed their children to be "colorblind." In fact, the study found that children are able to distinguish differences in race as early as 6 months old
Researchers found that parents who did discuss race used vague terms like "Everyone is equal" or "We're all friends" which did not actually help children process their own questions about race. This leads not necessarily to discrimination but rather to preferences for one's own group. To quote the article:

Kids are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism; they're going to form these preferences on their own. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible....children extend their shared appearances much further—believing that those who look similar to them enjoy the same things they do. Anything a child doesn't like thus belongs to those who look the least similar to him. The spontaneous tendency to assume your group shares characteristics—such as niceness, or smarts—is called essentialism.
Research suggests that by age 8 or so, when most parents finally figure it is necessary to talk about race, children's opinions about race have mostly formed, whereas discussing it earlier tends to allow children to openly question their curiosities about race. The idea is that they are not necessarily prompted to discriminate immediately, nor do they see any specific reason to, but rather that their self identification with their own race can lead to classifying others precisely as that -- "others."
Sadly, school integration may not be the key. Research found that "the more diverse the school, the more the kids self-segregate by race and ethnicity within the school, and thus the likelihood that any two kids of different races have a friendship goes down." This is perhaps because students recognize more social constructs around them that center around race (one example might be a lunch table that a student assumedly cannot sit at because it is populated by another race) and thus is less likely to pursue opportunities to interact with students of other races.
Interestingly enough, informing kids about the sordid history of racial discRimination at an earlier age may be the key to preventing such group discrimination. Another interesting excerpt:
Bigler ran a study in which children read brief biographies of famous African-Americans. For instance, in a biography of Jackie Robinson, they read that he was the first African-American in the major leagues. But only half read about how he'd previously been relegated to the Negro Leagues, and how he suffered taunts from white fans. Those facts—in five brief sentences were omitted in the version given to the other children.

After the two-week history class, the children were surveyed on their racial attitudes. White children who got the full story about historical discrimination had significantly better attitudes toward blacks than those who got the neutered version. Explicitness works. "It also made them feel some guilt," Bigler adds. "It knocked down their glorified view of white people." They couldn't justify in-group superiority.

Anyhow, that's just a tiny snippet of some of the interesting stuff contained in the article, and it really makes me wonder how racial discrimination has shifted, especially with the election of a mixed-race president, which seems like it would be an opportune point for discussion between parents and their children.

It seems especially poignant that as older generations who grew up with more prevalent racism age, the newer generations are faced with their own unique obstacles to discussing race, such as the assumption that children are "naturally colorblind," which seems a bit idealized when you think about it. That said, I don't think children have a natural tendency to discriminate, and it seems to me to be more of an issue of not addressing a natural curiosity that arises about something in the child's world.

I know I have a couple parents who read the blog, how have you tackled the question of race with your children? How did your parents tackle it with you?

Fall Television Weigh-In

2009-10-06T15:02:00.006-06:00

Now, as much as I love television, I don't watch every show that premieres. I don't have the time, or patience, or in most cases as of late, the slightest interest. Not to mention my addiction to Bravo style reality shows leaves me pretty busy, even with the benefit of a DVR. I just have to do what I can do when I can do it.

But still, there are some shows I am loving this fall. Naturally, I am excited about the return of certain old standby favorites...the current seasons of both Project Runway and Top Chef: Las Vegas have been excellent so far, and I'm really pumped for The Amazing Race (I want the kid with Asperger's to win!). But I thought I'd give some thoughts on the three new shows that I am really digging and see what you all think of them as well.

COMMUNITY on NBC

Community is one of those shows that so far is so good and so funny and so original that I'm worried it's going to get cancelled after the first season. After sampling some of the "best" sitcoms on television and being annoyed by the sheer amount of cheese, I was excited to see something premiere that for me is on par with the likes of 30 Rock or Arrested Development for the quality of humor and the originality of concept.

It was definitely a smart move to cast Chevy Chase in this show, because his experience brings a lot to the table, but it's Joel McHale (of The Soup fame) who really carries the show as its leading man. McHale plays Jeff, a successful lawyer who must go to community college in order to please the bar after his original college degree is proved to be fraudulent. I was happy to see that the kind of deadpan delivery and wit that McHale brings to The Soup translated to scripted comedy flawlessly, and I'm glad to see someone so genuinely talented getting a chance at his own show.

One of the breakout stars of the show is Danny Pudi who plays Abed, a very blunt and straightforward character with Asperger's whose timing and delivery is unmatched. This show is, frankly, one of the best I've seen in years and you would be seriously disappointed if you didn't do yourself the favor of catching up with the season on Hulu. Lucky for you, I provided you with a link. You could watch right now! Or you could watch on NBC Thursdays at 8/7c.

MODERN FAMILY on ABC

I'll admit, the first time I saw previews for this show, I didn't think it was going to be that good. I thought it was going to be another show that relied on a bunch of stupid cliches for cheap laughs. And while there are some cliches (I sometimes feel that, while hilarious, the gay couple on the show is a series of "gay man" caricatures), I think the show is original in its handling of the cliches. In fact, the strength of the show is its ability to take those stereotypes and make them funny again by forcing them all together into one family dynamic. What emerges from this mix is some pretty witty satire on the modern family (thus the title, I assume) and it's just a funny show to watch.

For me, Eric Stonestreet's over the top portrayal of a proud gay man in a couple that just adopted a baby is fantastic. I thought at first that he would be the main tool of cliche dispensation, but what I like about his choices is that they seem very natural. Sure, he's flamboyant but he also seems like a real guy. There is a moment in the second episode in which he reacts to one woman's criticism of Meryl Streep that just slays me each time I see it. I was also really impressed by one of the kids on the show, an actor named Rico Rodriquez, who plays Manny, an over the top romantic little ten year old who professes his love to a sixteen year old girl who works at the instant photo booth at the mall with a poem and a frilly white shirt. This kid is excellent. He practically makes the show himself.

The show is on ABC on Wednesdays at 9/8c.

FLASH FORWARD on ABC

ABC is well aware that when Lost finally ends in early 2010, they'll have a gap to fill. They want to keep their audience engaged and so they're clearly looking for something to fill that gap. I believe Flash Forward was one of the ways they were hoping to do that, so I was skeptical that it would be all that successful. So far, though, I'm really interested in what they have going on on this show, and I hope it can keep the momentum that its had since the first episode.

Now, I'll be the first to admit it-- this show is kind of cheesy. Maybe really cheesy. But I also know that I have a lower tolerance for cheese than the average viewer, especially in a seemingly "sci-fi" sort of plotline, and I still think this show has an interesting premise, so that says a lot. The basic plot of the show is that the entire world blacks out one morning for 2 minutes and 17 seconds, only to determine that each of them had a "flash forward" in which they experienced their lives roughly 6 months from that date. Obviously lends itself to a lot of drama and interesting twists, but could also easily fizzle out if the show doesnt handle the issue of passing time delicately. I've heard that the show was originally conceived as a mini-series, which seems smart, but I wonder if ABC will take the success and try to stretch it out for multiple seasons, which could definitely lead to some crappy gaps in the drama.

I will say that Joseph Fiennes has the making of any great leading man, and not just because he's so delightful to look at. He has a solid sense of delivery, which is rare for an action-packed show, I've found. I'll be interested to see how long this show can keep it's momentum. It's on every Thursday on ABC at 8/7c.

Time Magazine on Glenn Beck

2009-10-05T00:34:00.005-06:00

I don't like Glenn Beck. I'm not gonna sugarcoat that one. And I just plain don't think that the stuff he says is necessarily good for America. Not that I think he shouldn't have the right to say it, and I thank God that I live in a country where he has that right, but anyone who thinks that he's somehow speaking the "truth" to the country is seriously dilusional about the world we live in, let alone what decade we live in.

To be fair, I haven't listened to much of his show at length, mostly because the one time I tried, I was infuriated about 30 seconds in. But I do know that most of the quotes I hear from him that infuriate me most are those that stoke the fires of racial tension in the US (some particularly horrifying quotes of his, including a forced "blackface" voice here). It is comical to me that anyone argues that his hatred of Obama does not stem partially from the President's race.

Yes, I realize that conservative talking heads would attack a Democratic president regardless but I think the election of a black man to the office has opened up a pandora's box of ugly rhetoric and viscious thinking that I had really wished I wouldn't see again in this country, and in my opinion, Glenn Beck is one of the spearheads of this movement. I believe his tactics are based less on news or fact than they are on intentional fear-mongering and biased pandering to a specific demographic.

Video of Glenn Beck's statement that Obama is racist

I believe he knows he taps into people's fear and is using it to make money, not even necessarily espouse something he truly believes. And if he truly does believe it, then I don't like him for being a racist, pompous hypocritical fascist. The only thing that brings me solace is that these racially charged comments are the primary reason that so many advertisers pulled their advertisements from Beck's program. It helps me to believe that I'm not in the minority of Americans who won't tolerate those kind of statements as the norm.

Now I will be the first to admit that there are radicals on any side of a debate. And when a liberal commentator says something that I disagree with vehemently, I'm just as happy to denounce it. However, I think Glenn Beck is not only in poor taste but it actually disheartens me a little to think that people listen to and give merit to what Glenn Beck has to say. It really upsets me, truly, and I am reluctant to even discuss him with my conservative friends because I can openly say that if I found out a friend of mine was a Glenn Beck fan and thought what he said was real "truth," I don't know if I'd be able to maintain the friendship because I don't know if I would want to associate myself with people who would support someone who stirs that kind of hate and fear. Honest to goodness. Luckily, I'd like to think that most of my friends are the type of people who would be able to think rationally and see past that kind of scaremongering. Unfortunately, his seeming popularity leaves me unsure about that assertion.

That said, Time Magazine ran an article on Glenn Beck two weeks ago that I thought was interesting. I didn't like it, because in some ways it seemed to glorify Beck but I also respect that Time does try to, at least some of the time, give merit to both sides of any debate. But what I liked best is this week's issue, when the Letters section featured the first letter I've ever read that sounds like it could have been written by me myself:

"Deanna Frankowski, the Beck fan mentioned in your article, is "sick and tired of being ignored"? Give me a break! I had to wait through eight years of an Administration that brought this country to the brink. Frankowski should sit down quietly while the rest of us get to the task of cleaning up Bush's mess. Besides, this health-care debate isn't about those over 30; it's about the millions of uninsured, recently graduated young people saddled with loans we can't imagine paying off, who are sick and tired of living in an abyss created by our elders' stupidity. Obama would be smart to focus on college towns. Step aside, Grandma. We want health care, and we want it now." -Agnieszka Marczak, Lincoln, RI

Thank you, Agnieszka. I couldn't agree more, even if I'm partial to subtler wording. And worry not...Beck would probably not like you either, on account of your foreign sounding name.

Ten Songs On A Thought: Songs To Celebrate A New Start

2009-10-01T17:30:00.003-06:00

This weeks theme for Ten Songs On A Thought? Songs To Celebrate A New Beginning. For me, this was about celebrating the fact that after 16 months of absolutely hating (loathing, abhorring, coming home from and crying about) my job at a local restaurant, I finally got the guts to quit, regardless of the financial outcome.

The idea behind this feature is, I'll write down the first ten songs that come to mind without any real editing, and I encourage you, the reader, to do the same. It's fun!

Ten Songs To Celebrate A New Beginning

Brand New Colony - The Postal Service
Independence Day - Elliott Smith
The Box - Johnny Flynn
Pink Light - Laura Veirs
Sleep The Clock Around - Belle and Sebastian
Caring Is Creepy - The Shins
Prescilla - Bat For Lashes
Oh, Mandy - The Spinto Band
Let's Get Out Of This Country - Camera Obscura
In This Home On Ice - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

What are your ten?

Book Review: In The Bedroom by Andre Dubus

2009-10-01T01:47:00.002-06:00

This collection is a series of short stories by Andre Dubus culled from his other works and is ostensibly patterned around stories that handle characters at pivotal moments in their lives. I found this theme to be what was ultimately so moving about this collection of work, particularly reading the stories all together.

The first story, "Killings" was the basis for the movie In The Bedroom, as the preface by Todd Field illuminates, and incidentally, I found "Killings" to be one of the least compelling stories in the book, perhaps because it really would make a better movie (and thus, why I am now dying to see the movie In The Bedroom).

What I found most interesting about the stories was the idea of loss as indicated by a change in one's state of mind or quality of living. Each story dealt with the idea that something big has happened and then investigated whether things could or could not go back to the way they were before. Whether this end was sought through some sort of atonement, or reminiscence, or a physical action, this return to when times were better or different was a string throughout. It felt a bit like a thought that guided you by the hand through each story, making each one richer than the one before it.

All of these stories have a heartbreaking resonance with the human spirit that is a testament to Dubus' skills as a writer. He is king of the short story, for each of his stories is exactly as long as it needs to be, and he provides the exact amount of detail necessary to satiate the reader without limiting the capacity for reader response. As a writer of short stories, it was really a treat to see someone so adept at the genre make such skill seem so effortless.

I would recommend this book to just about anyone, but particular to those who are fans of the short story format, for it is on excellent display here. My favorite stories in the book are "Rose," "The Winter Father," and "The Fat Girl," but all of them are excellent, excellent stories and I can't wait to read more Dubus.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Two More Stop-Animations

2009-09-29T21:15:00.002-06:00

Guys, I made two more animations! I gotta admit, I love them both as much as my owl, but my heart is really beginning to love the caterpillar one the best. Of course, that would be like picking a favorite child, which people never do, of course.

These animations were an activity for The Greenhouse, which is a creativity collective I'm in with some of my friends where we are attempting to get together once a week and work on creative projects in a variety of medias to spawn further creative thought for both our group and individual endeavors. I think it stems partially from our mutual appreciation of Ira Glass' discussion on taste and the creative process but so far has just been a really good and uplifting way to get together with like-minded people and make use of our time in a thought-provoking manner. Let me know what you think of these!

Banned Book Week: September 26−October 3, 2009

2009-09-28T20:49:00.003-06:00

I have always been vehement in my opinion on book banning: I'm 100% against it. Nothing seems more fundamentally in opposition with the ideas of freedom of speech and freedom of choice than the idea of limiting content in the written word from the public eye. The sordid history of book-banning has long been a tool for oppressing the frank and open discussion of race, sexuality, violence and other cultural issues in an intellectual venue. Literature has a way of tackling these issues that few creative mediums can, and the continued treatment of such issues is necessary in provoking informed discussion about our ever-changing culture.

Now, I understand that with the issue of their own children, some parents may exercise the right to keep their children from reading certain books, just as some parents may choose not to allow certain television, movies, or music into the home. But when arbitrary panels of lawmakers, parent groups, or educators take the matter into their own hands, they are refusing students the ability to make their own decisions about what is suitable reading material, effectively limiting their ability to discover the world around them through an intellectual medium that provides open and thoughtful discussion on a topic.

The act of reading itself is always a choice: no one can force you to read the words on the page, even if they put the book in front of your eyes. Why shouldn't that choice be left to the person doing the reading? And where do the limits on suitable material stop? It is already easy to notice the trends in some of the most commonly banned books of all time (the list of the top 100 can be found here) and they seem to revolve around books that deal with race, sexuality, gender confusion or violence. It is logical to suggest that the censorship is used entirely as a way of attempting to suppress discussion or advancement on such issues and in turn suppress such people. The only thing offensive about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is that a black man is allowed to be a character, and the frank discussion about the validity of slavery and the treatment of black people that it suggests.

In any event, I encourage you all to read banned books and exercise your right to make choices for yourselves. Because ultimately, that is a freedom we all have and that extends to your choice in books.

For useful information on banned books, check out these websites:

ALA Banned Books Week
AS IF! Authors Support Intellectual Freedom
Huffington Post - Banned Books Week: Still Needed In The US
Banned Books Week Website
The Map Of Book Censorship - this one really gets me

Ira Glass on Taste

2009-09-25T00:49:00.003-06:00

I am a self-professed Ira Glass fan girl. I'm a huge fan of This American Life (both the radio and tv versions) and I just think he is a genuinely insightful, creative man with a lot to offer artists and thinking types of all sorts.

However, this clip on taste is one of the best pieces of advice I've ever received from anyone on the topic of creativity. It's part of a four video series on Storytelling that is in and of itself quite informative, but this part is the most worthwhile, I think, and I believe sums up the struggle that anyone pursuing a creative endeavor, regardless of type, must go through:

How fantastic is that advice? For those of you who aren't huge fans of Ira Glass by now, check out the website for This American Life.

A Feature I'm Considering? Ten Songs On A Thought

2009-09-24T01:21:00.003-06:00

So you know how cool blogs with lots of comment happy fans usually find some resourceful way to create common features? I tried the haiku polls, not sure I'll keep up with them since no one was cool enough to submit answers (if they're wanted, I demand that readers express demand!), but I thought I'd try this idea here. It's sort of like a mixtape. Sort of, I guess.

Basically, I'll present a thought or theme for the ten songs, and suggest the first ten songs that come to mind for that theme. There doesn't have to be any rhyme or reason to why the songs come to mind, they just do. I want to toy with the idea that music can provide a sort of sense memory or thematic element that isnt always present in the music itself. I then encourage you, the blog reader, to present your own ten. It's fun!

Ten Songs On A Thought
Songs That Feel Like Sweater Weather

White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes
Blacking Out The Friction - Death Cab For Cutie
The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us! - Sufjan Stevens
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths
Us - Regina Spektor
No Surprises - Radiohead
The Dream Of Evan and Chan - Dntel
Crutch - Pinback
Blood Bank - Bon Iver
Oh, Comely - Neutral Milk Hotel

So what are your ten?

"Forcefeeding in Mauritania" from Marie Claire, Oct 09

2009-09-23T01:24:00.004-06:00

Today while at the gym, after both my Time and Nylon Magazines had run out with me (I'm too hardcore to be contained on the elliptical as far as reading material is concerned), I turned to Marie Claire and stumbled upon an interesting, albeit very sad article about the practice of forcefeeding young girls in Mauritania for cosmetic purposes. That article can be found here.

A summary of the article, essentially, is that because of cultural norms associated with female obesity representing a husband's prosperity, obesity and stretch marks have become the height of cosmetic allure in Mauritania. Further, a woman's soft, rolling flesh has been considered to make a girl seem older and thus ready for marriage, allowing her family to marry her off earlier. Consequently, girls are being sent to "force-feeding" camps for weeks at a time where they are forced to consume as much as 16,000 calories a day and lie around without exercise to insure that the food becomes fat, rather than muscle.

The story is shocking and truly sad in many ways, not least because many of these girls have no desire to change their bodies. Many of them have at least been exposed to Western culture and are not of the mindset that fat is beautiful. Further, it is clear that forcing so many calories on a young girl, let alone contributing to morbid obesity so directly, is tantamount to child abuse. Ethnocentristic views on the relative merits of fat beauty aside, its not healthy and ought to be viewed as an issue worthy of intervention.

However, what I find a little shocking is the brazen manner in which the article handles such an issue with shock and horror but makes little mention of the reverse behavior being essentially condoned by western society. Our obsessive views on the merits of thinness lead to fat camps, parent inflicted dieting, and widespread eating disorders, and our media only perpetuates these impossible norms, markedly influencing the behavior of young women. It is a near guarantee that in many cases, these views are reinforced by overbearing parents who continually remind their daughters of the importance of remaining thin.

This is not to say that combatting obesity is a bad idea. Of course it is a good idea, because promoting healthy behavior, especially in youth, is always a good idea. I am simply stating that the opposite behavior of perpetuating overly thin ideals is just as unhealthy as perpetuating obesity.

I don't mean this to downplay the sadness of the article itself, but given that the pages of Marie Claire are littered with ridiculously thin models (particularly because this seasons shows, more than many I've seen previously, seemed overwraught with skeletal gauntness), Marie Claire could pay heed to the fact that our culture perpetuates the opposite views at times to similar extremes. I think its just a bit sad in general that all over the world, women are held to impossible standards of beauty (relative to their culture) that for most women are impossible or unhealthy to achieve.

Photo credit of Marie Claire/Joost De Raeymaeker

The Best Part Of Waking Up

2009-09-21T02:43:00.001-06:00

You guys, I made this myself! My friends are starting a sort of creativity collective where each Sunday we devote time to doing something creative, and this was my first project! Let me know what you think...better yet, go straight to YouTube and leave ratings and comments there, too!

Really though, proud of me for doing something new.

From NPR: Almost 3/4 of Doctors Support Public Option

2009-09-15T15:24:00.005-06:00

Just found an interesting story on doctor's opinions and healthcare reform. I originally heard it on NPR "All Things Considered" yesterday afternoon and found the print version. Some highlights from the article:

63% of doctors favor a plan that would include a public option as well as the freedom to purchase private insurance. This is the plan supported by Barack Obama and many others, including this particular blogger
Another 10% of those doctors polled say they support a public option only
The survey found that the support was widespread and did not differ much between specialists and generalists or those salaried or in private practice.
Many of the doctors who wanted a public option were AMA members, despite the fact the AMA is opposed to a public option

I stole this graph from the NPR article, linked above

What this means is that compared with polls conducted on the general public (ostensibly, patients), doctors are more in favor of a public option and that much of the political dissonance surrounding healthcare which uses doctors as an example of who might be victimized by such reform is inaccurate, at least with regard to an overwhelming majority of doctor's opinions. Certainly something to chew on.

Remembering September 11th, 2001

2009-09-11T09:30:00.002-06:00

I've never been one for grandiose sentimental or patriotic statements about things like this, but whenever September 11th rolls around, I like to look at some of the pictures and reflect. These pictures of people throwing themselves from the buildings always seem to hit me hardest.

Plus-Size For Me Is Plus-Hot (+ Crystal Renn)

2009-09-11T00:03:00.005-06:00

As some of you may know, I am a big fan of fashion. But I am not such a fan of the fashion industries single-minded, outdated obsession with being dangerously thin and unhealthy. Some may argue that this trend is slowly dying out, but that just isn't so. Small steps do not equal actual progress until models on the runway start looking more like healthy women who take care of themselves, rather than emaciated skeletal beings.

That's why I was so pleased to hear about Crystal Renn's new book, Hungry, which talks about her experiences growing up in the modeling business and going from her normal weight as a young model to an emaciated weight, and back to a size 12 again to work as a plus-size model.

I've seen Renn in a lot of different ads for a long time, and I've always thought she was unbelievably gorgeous. I'm glad to see that she stuck with it and went back to her normal size, because I think she is a lot more beautiful and natural that way.

Now, I'm not saying that there aren't women who are naturally small. My younger sister, through some genetic repositioning that I clearly did not personally come in contact with, is a natural size 0. Great for her. But battling the construct of models being 5'10" and a size 2 is certainly more a matter of representing clothing and fashion in a realistic manner that makes allowances for all shapes and sizes.

Does Crystal Renn make this Jean Paul Gaultier couture gown look any less fabulous and chic by mere merit of being full-figured? Not in the slightest. If anything, I think it makes the fashion more beautiful. Renn is zaftig and comely, with curves in all the right places. This is what women want to look like in a dress, at least most women I know, and as a male friend pointed out, this is what attracts men to women. Sure, there are some guys who go for stick-figures, but there are an awful lot more men who are attracted to a voluptuous figure.

In any event, I found some of the interviews shes been doing about the book pretty enlightening. What do you think?

Crystal Renn: New Book 'Hungry' - ABC News

Obama on Healthcare: 09/09/09

2009-09-09T21:51:00.003-06:00

So what did you all think of the Obama speech to the joint session of Congress tonight? I haven't had a chance to watch the entire speech yet, but I've been watching all of the highlighted clips on CNN and I have to say, I was impressed.

It was really time for him to take at least some strong stances rather than sort of letting the chips fall where they may in Congress. I think he did this, particularly in his willingness to address tort reform, a typically republican issue, for the merits it does present, which is that doctors forced to cover themselves are wasting money on unneccessary procedures. It's certainly hard to find the right balance between reform and allowing victims of malpractice a venue for justice, but I do agree that some reforms need to be made in order to drive these costs down. (Side note: in general, I think Americans can be a bit lawsuit crazy on all fronts, but that is a topic for another discussion).

How about South Carolina's Rep. Joe Wilson heckling the President in the middle of his speech? As I said on my twitter page, the only thing classier in such a forum would be if Rep. Wilson had called Obama a poopie-head to boot. I'm glad to see both sides condemned it but come on, Wilson, have some decorum.

I think the best moment in the speech was this:

I think many critics of healthcare reform lose sight of the fact that we are supposed to be one of the most advanced democracies in the world and yet our system fails a huge portion of our citizens, myself included. Regardless of how it gets done, some form of coverage needs to be readily available to those people. Period.

I am also glad to hear that he openly states that he wants to eliminate the ability of insurance companies to exclude based on previous condition, faulty paperwork, etc. I think both sides can agree on that one and if nothing else comes from the reform, I think that will.

I'd like to sum up with this quote from the speech, which I wholeheartedly agree with, especially because the context of the speech is that he was addressing members of Congress. This is a quote regarding the kind of program he'd like to extend to those without insurance:

"As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage. This is how large companies and government employees get insurance. It's how everyone in this Congress gets affordable insurance and it's time to give every American the same opportunity that we give ourselves."

I think I'm just excited to have a President who cares about the fact that I can't afford the medicine that I'm gonna run out of next month.

Movie Review: Synecdoche, New York

2009-08-31T23:59:00.006-06:00

As a huge Charlie Kaufman fan, I've been waiting to see this movie for awhile. I didn't get around to seeing it in theatres, mostly because most people I know didn't seem interested, but I finally got around to renting it. I expected good things because Philip Seymour Hoffman is amazing and the rest of the cast is fantastic as well. But I have to say: this movie was weird.

Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've watched and enjoyed a lot of very weird movies in my day, a lot of them Kaufman films. And this movie showed elements utilized in previous Kaufman films, particularly the likes of Being John Malkovich or Adaptation. It's instantly recognizable as something with Kaufman written all over it, and in many ways seems like a culmination of the ideas he'd been accumulating and refining with his other films. Jon Brion also does the music for this one, which is always a great touch. Kaufman and Brion go so well together.

I couldn't recommend this film to many people. In fact, I wouldn't recommend it to most people because I think most people would find it tedious, eccentric and pedantic. There is something so difficult about watching Philip Seymour Hoffman's character Caden Cottard languish and toil his entire life on something that to him is both nothing and everything at once. The role gender and age plays in the development of the plot could be jarring for most audiences and I think a lot of people would be just plain bored.

But there is one venue in which I think this movie will find a happy home, and that is from the academic perspective. From a film studies side, I don't think any movie has ever been made like this one ever. It's almost like a play within a play within a film within a film. For those well versed in postmodern slang, it's essentially a "metametafilm on metametatheatre" and that is saying a lot.

The other element, which may only appeal to me and other Comparative Literature/Theatre/German nerds (so, well, me and my friend Katie), is that I've never seen a movie that reminded me so much of Bertolt Brecht's "epic theatre" or "episches theater". Epic theatre, as opposed to dramatic theatre, is defined loosely as theatre in which all natural and realistic elements are removed such that the audience is unable to identify with the characters or the story. To explain it succinctly, as this website from Oregon State explains:

The dramatic theater's spectator says: Yes, I have felt like that too-- Just like me--It's only natural-- It'll never change--The sufferings of this man appall me, because they are inescapable--That's great art; it all seems the most obvious thing in the world--I weep when they weep, I laugh when they laugh.

The epic theater's spectator says: I'd never have thought it -- That's not the way -- That's extraordinary, hardly believable -- It's got to stop -- The sufferings of this man appall me, because they are unnecessary -- That's great art; nothing obvious in it -- I laugh when they weep, I weep when they laugh.

The characters within the movie create a play much like epic theatre not just in its size and scope (a scale model of an entire town) but also in that their characters can be boiled down to singular actions or mindsets, much like Brecht's gestus. Everything seems terribly fragmented and disconnected from its proper place in space or time throughout the film, and this effect makes you constantly aware that you are just watching a constructed story rather than a singular plot. This detachment from the story, awareness of construct was central to Epic Theatre (or "Dialectical Theatre," as Brecht preferred) because it allows for a creative dissonance between the space of the story and the audience.

So anyway, this is not a film I would recommend on the whole. But if you're fascinated to see something different, to see something like what Brecht might do if he were a postmodern filmmaker, then definitely check out Synecdoche, New York.

Christina Hendricks? Totally Bangin'

2009-08-27T18:00:00.004-06:00

I just wanted to applaud Christina Hendricks, the actress known for the lead role of Joan Holloway on Mad Men, for having one of the hottest and simultaneously most realistic bodies on television. I know it seems like a stretch to have to point out when an incredibly sexy and attractive curvy woman gets to play a sexy woman in charge of her femininity in our culture, but its true. And frankly, I would be so lucky to have such dangerous curves. Not to mention, I read an interview she did and she's the most down-to-earth, sweet lady. I love her! Here is a great quote of hers from Page Six magazine:

"Sure, I'd be happier with 10 pounds off-- wouldn't every woman? But when I looked at pictures of myself at the Emmys, I thought I looked beautiful. I didn't tear myself apart."

On a completely separate but still related note, heard that Hung was having a difficult time casting actresses for the show. They wanted normal looking, average sized women over 35 and many of the talent agencies they approached told them that they didn't even have such women at their agency. Sort of a disgrace, if you ask me. There are plenty of talented actresses ready for a shot if their body doesn't, well, get in the way.

Book Review: Killing Yourself To Live by Chuck Klosterman

2009-08-25T21:09:00.002-06:00

If my enjoyment of a book can be measured in reading speed, this is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time. I simply couldn't put it down.

Now, I may be biased. I think Chuck Klosterman is totally likeable because I think, more than most people I read, he thinks like I think. And I think a lot of people have this private thought when they're reading him. Here is this nerdy guy who throws around pop culture references like sprinkles on the cupcake of his own self-deprecating over-analyzing sadness. And frankly, I think we all feel that way sometimes.

But I can also see how other people might not like Klosterman. And the book isn't perfect. It moves around a lot, inserts references that aren't always clear, but thats part of its charm. Its like Klosterman wrote a particularly funny diary for us about this road trip he went on and reading it made everyone feel a little better about the times they can be a little self-absorbed or monomaniacal or just plain bad at communication.

Klosterman is a reflection of all of us at our most earnest and sometimes most awkward.

Now, this book is ostensibly about rock star death but I really think its about the death of one's self throughout life. How certain chapters have to be closed in order for new one's to be started. On this theme, Klosterman is poignant and heartfelt, in his own way, and it really is what makes the book so worthwhile.

This book, as well as Klosterman in general, comes highly recommended. And when you read it, and fall in love with it, be sure to feel super envious of my autographed copy.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reading and reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Book Review: Americana by Don DeLillo

2009-08-21T20:51:00.002-06:00

I really wanted to like this book. I remember when I read DeLillo's book "Libra" that I had been completely enamored with his prose. It was a really good book, and he had a penchant for detail that was completely unmatched. And the prose in Americana is good, but I just didn't like it as much. It's not DeLillo's best.

There are a lot of good things I can say about the book. I did love his repetition of icons and ideas that really are associated with Americana: the cheap hotel room, the idea of female sexuality as glorified by commercials, the romantic ideals of cross-country travel. The strongest sections are those in which the protagonist, David Bell, reflects on his own past, particularly his memories of his family and his mother.

There is also a clear transformation in David's character from the beginning of the book to the end, and that ultimately comprises the majority of the story arch. And DeLillo's prose is still very lush and exciting at points. I definitely love the way he phrases things because it is very vivid and alive.

What is important to note about Americana is that it was DeLillo's first novel. He can't be expected to have the poise and delicacy in his early writing that he would later in his career with works such as "Libra" and "Underworld."

Further, some of the frustration I had with the novel may be more a matter of timing. The novel was written in 1971 and was very much a novel of its own time. The Vietnam War is at the front of consciousness throughout the book, as are elements of changing cultural mores. It seems an early example of the kind of work that would inspire the likes of Bret Easton Ellis, with his literature of the grotesque, and it is clear that the novel investigates many postmodern elements.

All said, while Americana wasn't all that good itself, I would recommend it to any DeLillo fan in order to gain a wider understanding of his work. For anyone else, I would recommend DeLillo and I would start with his excellent novel, "Libra."

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Late Summer/Fall Movie Preview

2009-08-21T00:09:00.004-06:00

Okay, so a lot of people talk about summer blockbusters, but it has never been my experience that summer is all that great for movies. At least, it seems, the movies I tend to like seem to always come out in the fall and into the winter, pushing themselves to the front of people's minds for awards season. All I know is there is a lot of stuff that either recently came out and/or is coming out soon that I'm really excited for. I figure it's my blogly duty to put it on your radar, no?

Coming Out: October 16th, 2009

This is a sort of follow-up to very lovely Paris Je T'aime and it looks good. It doesn't look as good as Paris Je T'aime necessarily, and I would definitely recommend that one see that movie before ever seeing this one, but I'm still excited. I loved the concept of a series of short stories creating one film, written and directed by people who might not necessarily write or direct (or who might, really). I can even set aside my distaste for Natalie Portman in support of the cause.

Moon

Out Now

I've heard nothing but good reviews about this movie and I'm really eager to see it. By the way, Keving Spacey is a robot! I'm not normally interested in sci-fi but this really does pique my interest.

Food Inc

Out Now, but generally in select theatres, you have to seek it out

I like documentaries a lot, and I've had this one on my radar for quite some time. I'm definitely excited to see it, even though I'm pretty sure I won't be able to eat anything but organic, local vegetables for at least a week after. Maybe I'll lose some weight?

Paper Heart

Out Now

I'm pretty pumped for this movie only because it has elements of mockumentary mixed with elements of fiction mixed with Charlyne and Michael were dating at the time for real (they've since broken up) and so it might imitate life a bit, too. It's bound to be an interesting mix of filmmaking. And the line about Applebee's? Classic.

The Cove

Out Now

Every review I have seen about this documentary says that it is heartbreaking, haunting, and very good. And suspenseful, to boot! I love the human layer that Ric O'Barry, the guy behind the film, was once upon a time the trainer for the dolphins that played Flipper. He actually witnessed a dolphin commit suicide by refusing to breathe. He feels this tremendous guilt about dolphins being kept in captivity for shows because he feels by making Flipper successful, he contributed to their popularity. What these Japanese fisherman do is technically legal, and majority of the dolphins used in captivity are caught in this cove, and the filmmakers want to expose the atrocities committed. It's almost like O'Barry's mea culpa, and I really like that element of it.

Adam

Out Now, select theatres

I haven't heard anything directly about this movie, but I have seen the trailer a couple different times now, and it just seems so sweet. It might have to do with my soft spot for people with Asperger's.

The Hurt Locker

Out Now

I'm not normally drawn to movies, but I've read some really good reviews about this movie that say it adds a really human element to the story and that the acting is impeccable. It was also directed by a woman, which doesn't sound like much of an anomaly but a woman directing a mostly male cast in a mostly male genre IS interesting. What I've read is that seeing a typical male topic as viewed by a woman reveals something new and different, and for that reason alone, I think it will be worth seeing.

Cold Souls

Out Now

Paul Giamatti plays himself in this movie, and it seems quirky and interesting. It almost reminds me of Being John Malkovich (a movie I love) and it seems like a great sort of dark comedy. I'm excited, at least.

Awesome Picture.

2009-08-18T01:32:00.009-06:00

So I sort of have this online friend named Chris I talk to occasionally. Tonight, he showed me this picture:

I must post this simply because it clearly takes the cake for best accidental photo with nerdy celebrities. It's far superior to any other accidental nerd celebrity photo I've seen, my hoodie shot with Mike Birbiglia included. Chris, if you haven't figured out, is the beardly fellow watching Ira Glass and David Cross play poker for a charity event which was held at 826NYC on July 26, 2009. Chris reports that Ira lost early on. Suck it, Glass.

He also once memorized many facts about Ulysses S Grant in order to have a historically accurate Halloween costume. And his senior photo showed him posed as Elvis Costello circa the This Year's Model album cover. Right now, he is well in the running to take the crown for "Coolest Nerd (In My Opinion)" of 2009. I dare any of you to contend with that. Yeah, I've officially just made it an annual contest. I expect some competition.

Full disclosure, you'd also have to contend with this visor. Great job!

News: Man Totes Semi-Automatic Weapon Near President

2009-08-17T20:50:00.002-06:00

I just read this article from the Huffington Post, which includes a video, of a man carrying a semi-automatic assault rifle (AR-15) at a rally where Obama was speaking, in plain view of the President. Now, this is legal in the state of Arizona but I think it's a little horrifying. Regardless of one's feelings on gun control (personally, I'm staunchly against it), I cannot understand a single justification for bringing an assault rifle a. near the President and b. in such a crowded area. Furthermore, this one man was not the only person in the crowd with a gun. Really horrifying. I can't imagine being in that crowd and seeing that, the discomfort I would feel. I think there is a big difference between exercising your right to own a gun, regardless of how I feel about it, and displaying an intimidating weapon in a way that is meant to cause fear.

This also happened earlier this week, on the 11th, at another rally in New Hampshire. If you're interested, check out this article. Now, this guy was carrying a sign that says "It's time to water the tree of liberty" which is a reference to the Thomas Jefferson quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Now, this opinion may seem a little liberal but I don't care: if this were a middle eastern looking man near George W. Bush, wouldn't he have been rotting in some prison by now, without a court date? I respect that they're willing to protect, essentially, this guy's free speech but when tactics of fear-mongering and intimidation are involves, shouldn't we be a little more concerned with the President's safety? I don't support violence against any public figure, no matter what your opinion is no the matter. What do you all think?

This Week (In My Opinion): Week of August 16th

2009-08-17T10:14:00.011-06:00

PROJECT RUNWAY

I have to lead with this because I am almost positive that I am not the only person, even among my (so-far) limited pool of blog readers who is absolutely, 100%, hardly containably excited for the premiere of season six of Project Runway. Guaranteed. As the show was moving from Bravo to Lifetime, it got caught up in a cyclone of legal bureaucratic nonsense that almost kept this season off the air...it was filmed almost a year ago at this point, and fans have been biting their nails in anticipation. It's hard to put one's finger on the pulse of exactly why this show is so good, but it simply is. I think it has a lot to do with seeing some industry insiders whose expertise pack a true punch foster and reward new talent in such a way that it seems to actually have an impact in the designers' continued success. That, and it's just so full of personality. It's been far too long since Tim Gunn inspired me to make it work. It premieres on Thursday, August 20th on Lifetime at 10pm ET/PT.

HEALTHCARE

I plan to say a lot more on this subject at a later date, especially given my strong personal opinions on the matter, but as for a blanket statement related to the topic's timeliness, am I the only one who feels a bit jerked around by the ongoing legislation? Everyone seems to have some wildly bold opinions on what they want to do with healthcare and yet just about everyone can agree that our current system isn't working for everyone. If we can agree the current system isn't working, then why are people so resistant to ANY change? And on a separate note, I am a staunch Obama supporter, but if its true that he plans to "back off a plan," as some pundits have stated, I think it's a bad time for that. If he wants to make this a pet issue, he needs to really drive it, not have a jelly spine on the matter. I would be disappointed if, rather than focusing the issue on what we can accomplish, he gives up on the fight. Stay strong, Barack! I mean, at the very least can we agree that it should be illegal to dump people from insurance plans for getting cancer (it happens, in a roundabout way) or exclude people from coverage for pre-existing conditions? I think we can all agree on that...

COLIN MELOY

Colin Meloy, the lead singer of the Decemberists, has a lot less to do with topicality and a lot more to do with things on my mind lately. He's just so ridiculously good looking and I appreciate that in a genre overrun by really unattractive, very tight jeans and ridiculous outfits that make hipsters and their ilk fodder for ridicule, Colin Meloy can still rock a suit and occasionally, a beard with the rest of them. I love it. He's so good looking, not to mention his talents. I think I like him and the Decemberists because in an industry overwraught with excessively simple lyrics, they dare to be as grandiose and verbose and other ten-dollar-words as they like. Good for them. And with John Cusack, my previous predominant celebrity crush falling from grace due to some grammatically appalling and boring/ridiculous twitter updates, Colin seems fit to fill his shoes. In my dreams.

TRUE BLOOD

I'm sorry to offend any die-hard fans out there, but with members of my family and a couple friends being interested in the show, I've attempted to give it a couple different shots and can only conclude that it SUCKS. Yeah, I had to bold that. I've yet to get through a full episode and most sections I see inevitably include either overly dramatic exchanges or gratuitous vampire sex. Seriously, this goes far beyond my distaste for vampire stories in general and well into the realm of cliche and a little sad. Observe the picture I found, I feel it's absurdity sums up a lot of why I think this show is bad. There are so many good shows on television that investigate so many different subjects that I just find it a little silly that the shape-shifter orgy show is getting so much buzz. Does that make me prudish? No. Do I think people are less intelligent for liking a show that to me seems stupid? Who am I to judge, I love The Bachelor. But I know that for all the recommendations this show seems to get, it deserves a bad review. I'm giving that to you.

NEKO CASE

I haven't heard the entirety of Neko Case's new album "Middle Cyclone" yet because poverty keeps me from behaving as I please. But I do know that I've heard a lot of the songs already and I'm dying to get it. I also downloaded the All Songs Considered Live Concert Podcast of her show at the Newport Folk Festival and it's so, so good. She's so funny and personable in between songs, much like she is when she plays with The New Pornographers and her voice is just as clear and twice as emotional when you hear her live. I've nothing but good things and recommendations to say when it comes to Neko Case and I think she deserves all the accolades I can muster. To listen to that podcast, simply look up the All Songs Considered Live Concert Podcasts on the iTunes store. They're free and Neko's show is there a long with a lot of other great shows. Or you can go here: Neko Case on NPR Music

LISA FRANK

I just thought I'd remind everybody about Lisa Frank, because I was at Target the other day during school supply shopping for the kiddies and I definitely saw a Lisa Frank puppy poking out of a cart. I don't think she's as prevalent as she once was, but I'm glad to see she still rocks the school supply circuit. Does anyone remember these? I'm pretty sure I had this one pictured here when I was in third grade. I'm pretty sure.

Review: Young@Heart

2009-08-14T02:46:00.006-06:00

So, Young@Heart came out awhile ago...2007 to be exact. But it seems that so few people I talk to have ever even heard of it, and after watching it for a second time tonight, I simply MUST recommend it. I'm definitely a fan of documentaries, not only because I find a certain satisfaction out of hearing a true story once in awhile, but also because I think it's a difficult genre to do well. This is one of my favorite documentaries, because it really captures the humanity of the story. The chorus is made up of older folks (not a single one younger than 70!) who love singing Rock and Roll songs by the likes of The Clash, David Bowie and Sonic Youth. Definitely a trip.

I haven't recommended this film to a single person who didn't then report back that they loved it. Every single person interviewed from the chorus is so full of life and they're all hilarious. They really seem to take life by the horns and refuse to go out with a fizzle. I think that's why the group has had such success worldwide, playing to audiences as diverse as local community theatre and the royalty of Norway. It's impossible not to love them, and to admire the work of their director, Bob Cilman, who helps these individuals take these modern popular rock songs and transform them into pieces that speak to the emotions of the lyrics and music.

There are truly some touching scenes in this movie, including one scene in which the group travels to a local prison and sing their songs for a bunch of hardened criminals. I seriously cannot recommend this movie more, because its impossible to watch it and not feel better inside. That may sound like an exaggeration, but its true. It makes you feel a little more vitality and joy about the parts of life us younger people take for granted. Everyone should see this movie. In fact, I demand it.

To see the trailer, check this stuff out!

Review: 500 Days of Summer

2009-08-13T00:52:00.005-06:00

I was excited to see 500 Days of Summer. I think most people I knew were excited about this movie. This is punctuated by the fact that I mostly hang out with the type of people who pretend not to judge you by their taste in movies and music and then totally judge you on your taste in movies and music. And I think that 500 Days of Summer was made with a very specific target audience in mind. And the thing was, it was a pretty okay movie. There were parts that were moving, and parts that were cheesy, and in all it balanced out to pretty okay. I'd even recommend it on a general basis.

I suppose it just isn't what I was expecting. It certainly wasn't a comedy in the way it seemed to be projected by the previews, which is true of a vast majority of movies I've seen this year (Sunshine Cleaning, anyone?) but I was kind of okay with that. I will give many accolades to Joseph Gordon-Levitt. With a different actor in the role, Tom could have either seemed hokey or flat, and luckily Gordon-Levitt handles the role deftly. He has the exact combo of self-deprecation and cheekiness needed to envelope a role in a movie of this type. Not everyone can pull off a dance scene with monochromatic dancers in a park and animated birds. The dance scene, by the way, was excellent. I won't give too much a way, but I will say this: Hall & Oates. I can't fault anyone for that scene, it was pure gold.

As for Zooey Deschanel, she did alright. She's a perfectly good actress and while I don't feel compelled to nominate her for an Oscar anytime soon, it does seem that if the role weren't written specifically for her, she did a good job of making it seem that way. One thing I will note is that I didn't find her character likeable, really. I'm not sure if she was even supposed to be necessarily, but I think I was just surprised at that reaction. Any more on the matter might serve as a spoiler, so I'll drop it. Her outfits were off the charts adorable, though, and she's ridiculously cute 100% of the time. Her delivery just makes you want to hug at every turn.

All in all, I think its important to go into this movie expecting exactly as much as I did: a cute movie that will remind you at every turn just how cute it seeks to be. And if you're the kind of person who is fine with that, then you'll definitely like this movie. Especially if you're the kind of person who is fine with that AND secretly believes in the soul-binding power of The Smiths.

Mix Tape From A Friend: Quarterlife Recession!

2009-08-12T02:13:00.003-06:00

My friend Neil recently made a mix tape, via video linking, concerning the phantom feeling of the "Quarterlife Crisis." Here's what Neil had to say on the matter:

The mix deals with issues of being in your twenties during the current economic slump - feeling lost/indecisive, finding a home, making sense of relationships, and a whole bunch of other good junk that no one can really put into words. It was partially inspired by this excellent article about quarterlife crisis: http://www.eyeweekly.com/article/55882. Go on, read it. Now!

The mix can be found in video blog format here: http://tinyurl.com/mll3vr
(note: videos 4 and 13 start on their own, because dailymotion is a newb to video hosting. You should probably pause them immediately)

I've checked out the mix and it is very cool. Props go to Neil because the mix includes two of my very favorite songs on the matter of feeling displaced/indecisive about your life...
-"Let's Get Out Of This Country" by Camera Obscura
-"This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" by Talking Heads.

By the way, for a sweet Arcade Fire cover of that particular Talking Heads song, check this out:

Book Review: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

2009-08-06T01:26:00.003-06:00

At first, I wasn't sure I would like this book because the description of setting and plot is so sparse, which is contrary to my usual taste. But I found that the more I thought about my experience reading the book, the more I realized how much I truly enjoyed it.

I think what made it so powerful was how well it encapsulated the experience of re-education in a communist world. It didn't necessarily seek to answer all sorts of historical question, but it did seek to give an accurate account. The characters are made very tangible in the context of this world, and that is refreshing. It's easy to slip yourself into their experience, and traverse their journey with them.

Further, I feel like the idea of reading literature for the sake of knowledge comes alive in the context of the story, and makes the book itself seem more alive. It's definitely easy to recommend this book to just about any sort of reader, because I believe the story at the core would appeal to anyone who is a lover of literature. And at only 192 sparse pages, its a quick little read, and thus well worth the effort.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

All Songs Considered Poll: Best Songs of the Year So Far (2009)

2009-08-03T23:45:00.003-06:00

All Songs Considered on NPR did a listeners poll about their favorite songs of the year 2009 so far. If you want to read the actual All Songs Considered Blog, go here: ALL SONGS CONSIDERED BLOG!

In any event, the list turned out to be pretty in line with my opinion. As the woman on All Things Considered pointed out, the list may be a little skewed by the tendency of young white hip people to be the main demographic that follows All Songs Considered, despite the diverse music featured on the show. But that said, most of the songs are really good. In fact, two of them I've featured on this blog before (those are italicized) I've reposted the list here and bolded and/or featured some of my favorites. To also read their list of the top albums of 2009 so far, go to their blog.

1. My Girls - Animal Collective
2. Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear video
3. Blood Bank - Bon Iver video
4. The Rake's Song - The Decemberists video
5. Lisztomania - Phoenix

6. Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
7. This Tornado Loves You - Neko Case video
8. Sleepyhead - Passion Pit

9. Laughing With - Regina Spektor

10. The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid - The Decemberists
11. Train Song - Feist and Ben Gibbard
12. Knotty Pine - David Byrne & Dirty Projectors
13. Daniel - Bat For Lashes

14. Summertime Clothes - Animal Collective
15. One Wing - Wilco
16. The Fear - Lily Allen
17. Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs video
18. Wilco (The Song) - Wilco
19. Stillness Is The Move - Dirty Projectors
20. Help, I'm Alive - Metric video
21. Anonanimal - Andrew Bird video
22. On No - Andrew Bird
23. No You Girls - Franz Ferdinand video
24. I And Love And You - The Avett Brothers
25. French Navy - Camera Obscura

26. Magpie to the Morning - Neko Case
27. Woods - Bon Iver
28. Black Hearted Love - PJ Harvey and John Parish
29. While You Wait For The Others - Grizzly Bear
30. Panic Switch - Silversun Pickups

I think my only surprise is that my favorite on Neko Case's new album, "People Got A Lotta Nerve" didn't quite make the cut. That's one I would have definitely put on there.

This Week (In My Opinion): Week of July 19th

2009-07-26T10:48:00.008-06:00

JON AND KATE PLUS BORED SENSELESS

Maybe it's just me, but if I have to hear one more thing about this couple, my brain is going to explode. I don't care. I don't care that they're divorcing, I don't care that Jon is dating young girls, I don't care that Kate is distraught. The one thing vaguely important in my opinion is the kids' wellbeing, and it seems like having their parents stop giving exclusive interviews to People Magazine is in their best interests. I'm a fan of reality tv generally, but this whole freakshow has played itself out.

BON IVER

It took me awhile to get the memo on Bon Iver. I'd heard them a few times...maybe it was just too high-pitched at times for me, and then that vocoder song turned me off, and maybe I was just too absorbed in Fleet Foxes the first time I heard them to get behind any other indie/folk/soft type stuff, but a persistent friend shared this one with me, and I finally got the picture. That line "I'm in love with your arm/I'm in love with your cheek" just kills me.

SIMS 3

I have, as any Sim fan who has now acquired and or befriended someone who has acquired the Sims 3, been playing a possibly unhealthy amount lately. But it really is better than the past Sims games. A LOT has been improved upon, and you can tinker with just about every aspect of a Sims life. My personal favorite features are the improvements upon aging (as in, you actually age now) and childbirth (as in, your child does, too). In all I was pretty impressed, and if I had a nice running computer of my own, it would be well worth the fifty bucks. Luckily, the boyfriend doesn't seem to mind my playing it without fail each time I'm over.

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT

Now, I have not yet seen 500 Days (of Summer), though I am looking forward to it. But every review I've read (and they've mostly been fairly positive) sites Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the reason the movie works. And I can believe that. It's hard to forget how endearing he was in something like 10 Things I Hate About You and his dramatic turns have been equally as successful. In general, I think he's way overlooked as an actor. Maybe he's not quite charming or handsome enough in the eye of most Hollywood execs, but I'll take a little less charming for a lot more acting chops any day of the week. I'm just glad to see a good actor getting some attention, and I hope that movie is good after all so I don't have to subsequently redact all these statements.

Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds: Behind the Scenes of The Proposal from Betty White

BETTY WHITE

First she was on that killer scene of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List where she hob-knobbed with Kathy and her mother. Then there was that reporter who claimed Michael Jackson was going to be buried in the same cemetary as her, and he then had to be informed that Betty was not, in fact, dead. Then I saw this video...and it slayed me. Betty White is easily the funniest old lady I can think of, and this video almost convinced my manly boyfriend to see a chick flick: no small feat.

CATS THAT LOOK LIKE HITLER

This cat is Panda. She's MY cat. And she looks like Hitler. Which makes her a Kitler. I thought for years that she would suffer this tragic (but um...still adorable) fate alone, until I discovered there were other Kitler owners out there, on Cats That Look Like Hitler. There are some top rated Kitlers that do, in fact, look more like the fascist leader than my Panda, but for me she is unmatched in cuteness. For a good laugh, read the I Love Kitlers and I Hate Kitlers links on the site to see some of their hate mail and love mail they've received over the years. Some excellent selections. New Kitlers added frequently!

A little highbrow, but I love it

2009-07-26T10:45:00.003-06:00

marriedtothesea.com

Book Review: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera

2009-07-26T10:40:00.002-06:00

It's an understatement to suggest this book is a novel, since it blends realism with fantasy as seamlessly as it incorporates history, autobiography, eroticism and poetry into the disconnected (but never disjointed) stories it tells.

Reading this book, it may begin to feel that the stories aren't necessarily blended together, that their themes or only partially congruent. But as each element is brought together, it forms something far beyond a story, almost like an experience. It implies the author's intention was not to tell a story so much as use the act of storytelling to bring the reader along a path of stones to a certain mental destination.

If that all sounds a bit heady, it's because it is. Kundera never waters down the story to make it easy to read, or even necessarily universally interesting. I can guarantee that there are many people in the world who would not be able to stand this book, simply because it isn't necessarily and orderly, neat read.

But for those who are already a fan of Kundera, or who are interested in literature as a means of informing thought or mood, rather than simply telling a story, it's an excellent read.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Book Review: His Illegal Self by Peter Carey

2009-07-22T18:09:00.002-06:00

I had the exact opposite problem with this book that I did with the last book I read. The problem with this book is that the story is good. It's interesting, if a bit cliche, but it takes some turns that intrigued. The problem is the writer is not a terribly good writer.

I know it's in vogue not to use quotation marks, but if you're virtually incapable of distinguishing between your characters' voices, it's probably necessary. It's not that the character's were unbelievable, but they ...more I had the exact opposite problem with this book that I did with the last book I read. The problem with this book is that the story is good. It's interesting, if a bit cliche, but it takes some turns that intrigued. The problem is the writer is not a terribly good writer.

I know it's in vogue not to use quotation marks, but if you're virtually incapable of distinguishing between your characters' voices, it's probably necessary. It's not that the character's were unbelievable, but they seemed to all think in the exact same way, and use the exact same words and logical processes, regardless of age, gender, life experience, etc. And the problem is, ages and genders and experiences presented HUGE differences in the context of the story. This should have been made a bit more clear.

The story itself is interesting, and might have benefited from a bit more historical context, but in all shows promise that this particular writer can create an interesting world for his characters to inhabit. I just wish that the quality of writing were more enjoyable, that I actually wanted to spend time with the book, rather than feeling I had to suffer some mediocre prose to find out the ending to a story that genuinely had me hooked. Not to mention the bitter aftertaste of a truly unsatisfying ending.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

Book Review: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

2009-07-21T15:48:00.003-06:00

I cannot figure out whether to fault Murakami for what I did not like about this book, or the translator. In any event, I think this book's biggest faults comes from might be lost in translation. At least, I'm giving Murakami the benefit of the doubt on that one.

It's not that I totally disliked the book. I liked much of it, and I think it had a well suited ending, despite the fact that majority of the story arc seemed a little stagnant getting there. Murakami obviously does a beautiful job of describing things, particularly setting.

In fact, it's the fact that he is so good at description that messes up the book a bit. While the descriptions of places and weather and people around are so vibrant, the characterization of those moving within these settings falls completely flat. I can think of few protagonists more utterly boring, lifeless and uninteresting than Watanabe. And given that many proport this book to be a loose autobiography, I'd like to imagine Murakami would pay himself more respect than creating such a bland protagonist.

Other characters seem more like caricatures than actual people. Midori, for instance, doesn't seem like a real female. Her actions seem driven from a listless place where men seem to THINK women's motives come from, and not from any real place. The one exception is Reiko, whose characterization is clear and fascinating.

If only Murakami had taken the time to make the rest of the characters as interesting as Reiko, and to bring life to the plot with as much ease as he did with Reiko's story arc, this could have been one of my favorite books. Instead, I found myself sort of non-plussed.

This is not to say I wouldn't ever recommend the book. For many people, beautiful prose and solid setting are enough to look over some flaws in character and plot, and those elements really were of the highest quality. I found myself dying to step onto the page and into the mountains of Kyoto. But for me, it just wasn't enough to make a full story, and I suppose thats why I was a bit disappointed.

Expansion: Re-reading this review a few months after finishing the book, I will say that some of the beautiful imagery did stay with me a very long time, and that this book was less forgettable than most of the books I read. Perhaps I was a bit harsh in judging it, though I'd like to believe that my initial reactions were pretty sensible. It does make me curious to see if some of Murakami's more acclaimed books are well known simply because in those cases, he was able to rectify the problems I had with this particular book. It does make me wonder what else he might have in store.

This review was reposted and expanded from my review at Good Reads. Oh, you love reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

What Else Is There? by Röyksopp

2009-07-21T15:26:00.005-06:00

I recently discovered this music video via a friend, and I believe it's really haunting but beautiful. The song is "What Else Is There?" by the Norwegian duo Röyksopp from their second album The Understanding released in 2005. I love that for this song Röyksopp uses Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife, another band I'm quite fond of, because the combination of her voice with their sound really takes both bands to a different musical level for this song.

What Else Is There? by Röyksopp
Directed by Martin De Thurah
Featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson from The Knife

For more information on Röyksopp, go to their website.

Haiku Poll #2: How does reality tv make you feel...?

2009-07-21T15:12:00.003-06:00

Here are the results for Haiku Poll #2:

How does Reality TV make you feel, in haiku format?

WINNER:

Too cool for TV
A modern-day Kerouac
I don't wash myself

I'm glad to hear you're all so literary, but I was hoping to hear your opinions on Rock of Love Charm School with Ricki Lake, myself.

Please vote on our next poll!

HAIKU POLL #3:

How does global warming make you feel, in haiku format?

- This is why I'm hot/This is why, this is why, this/is why I'm hot, dog.
- I think it's a farce/The planet can just suck it/Also, AIDS is fake
- What a travesty/Europe has us beat, we suck/SUVs aren't cool
- Always recycle/And use a trendy tote bag/Doing my part, right?

Vote now!

A Public Apology

2009-07-21T15:10:00.002-06:00

I have done my attempt at becoming a famous blogger a terrible injustice by virtually abandoning my blog in a fit of busy-ness. This is no way to start an empire, or at least no way to capitalize on a forum I'd like to use to discuss various aspects of our changing culture.

That said, here in writing:

This is my solemn vow to begin normal, routine updates once more.

Environmental Amazingness

2009-06-08T14:46:00.001-06:00

www.marriedtothesea.com

Etsy.com = Amazing.

2009-05-27T00:28:00.010-06:00

I've heard the name Etsy tossed around once or twice. I couldn't remember where or why, but when I stumbled across it in a google search for the perfect teapot, I gave a look. Turns out that Etsy is Amazing! I know I can't be the only one who has this opinion, but the word is not efficiently out, it would seem.

This design is by user ElysiumDesign and retails for 65 USD on Etsy.com
For those not in the know, Etsy is a website which allows people to buy and sell items that are handmade, typically things like art, housewares, clothing and jewelry. Essentially, it is the Ebay or artistic and creative endeavors, and the sellers can showcase their own goods through their own online store on the site. Which really, I think is a brilliant idea that truly showcases how the internet can benefit innovative markets.

This design is by user AmandaKenney and retails for 16 USD on Etsy.com
There are some downsides, I suppose. As I said, I was drawn to the site in search of a unique teapot. I found many amazing handpainted teapots, but my search for "teapot" also insured that I looked through about a HUNDRED tea cosies. Many of them were awesome, incidentally, but not what I was looking for. However, with a bit or prowess, one could narrow just about any search.

This design is by user CarolinaCottage and retails for 15 USD on Etsy.com

What really surprised me was the prices. They're incredibly reasonable. I've felt that whenever I stumble into craft fairs or boutique shops selling things by local artist, they're sort of horrendously overpriced. I get into this dilemma of "well, I'd really like to support local art, but I don't want to pay 35 dollars for a decoupaged coaster." And while that is possible on this site, I haven't found that it's the norm. Sellers seem very realistic about price point and that makes me, in turn, excited to support them.

I will definitely be making many purchases on Etsy.com in the very near future, and I urge you to do so as well. Because, I have to say, supporting a (possibly) starving artist is always a noble cause.

Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

2009-05-22T01:41:00.006-06:00

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

My initial reaction to this book was positive. I liked it. Perhaps it wasn't what I normally go for, but I generally liked it. The characters were likeable enough and the format was handled deftly, even if it left a bit to be desired syntactically.

However, after chewing on it for the past week post-read, I have to say that it didn't leave me with much. Once again, I enjoyed it. But what had drawn me to the book was the subject matter: german occupation of a remote island during WWII, and the subsequent discussion of the communal experience of occupation and war. That was there, but the author failed to capitalize on it.

Essentially, it ended up being a silly sort of predictable love story/search for one's love. I'm not even sure that side plot had a place in the book. In fact, the story arc of the main character's relation to a little girl in her care is much more fascinating, but at times seemed merely glossed over.

I wanted to like this book, because I could tell that it was enjoyable, and I can see why it is so loved by the many who recommended it. But it just wasn't for me. I suppose it just seemed all a bit too neatly tied up in a little bow. Perhaps I'm alone in this opinion, but I don't want my discussion of the Post WWII world neatly tied up. I like it to be as messy as possible, myself.

This review was reposted from my account at Good Reads. Oh, you love reviewing books, too? Join! We can be friends!

This Week (In My Opinion): Week of May 17th

2009-05-20T01:03:00.009-06:00

Here are just a few of my opinions on things I've seen this week. Comments?

JOE THE PLUMBER

Sir, I cannot emphasize this enough: Your fifteen minutes are over. Just stop. Stop giving your opinion in Time articles, stop acting like your brief bit of vague infamy is cause for continuing commentary. You are not actually an authority, even in the post-iceberg Titanic of the current Republican Party. Move on with your life, sir.

KNOWING

I won't lie. This is maybe one of the worst movies I've seen this year. I went in expecting mild entertainment, and got INSANELY entertained...by how bad this was. No, seriously. Conspiracy theory, overtly religious undertones, aliens, cliche imagery and factual misrepresentation (I'm not buying that the physics instructor conveniantly owns a pick-up instead of something like a Prius) and some truly bad dialogue. Oh, did I mention that it also features THE END OF THE WORLD?!!! I apologize if I gave that one away. No, I don't. It won't change your enjoyment of this movie, miniscule as it may be. However, if you like outright mocking terrible movies, this is a gem.

"Help, I'm Alive" by Metric

I've liked Metric for quite some time, and this song really takes the cake for me. I can't stop singing it. I wager you will also have a difficult time not singing it to yourself.

STAR TREK

I'll keep my words brief on this one, because I only need one sentence to sum up:

I can't stand Sci-Fi, and Star Trek was STILL really good.

Go see it!

BABY BOOMERS

Now, this is something I'm turning around in my head some, possibly as a topic for a more expansive essay...but as a Gen Y-er that has been dragged around in the mud by the Baby Boomer heavy press, I'm getting a little tired of how the economic crisis seems to lie heavily on their post-war birth shoulders. They continue to demand benefits from taxes paid by everybody, but also continue to soak up all the available jobs for post-grad young Americans. Meanwhile, all the debts they've burdened us with still can't seem to save us. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much of the belief that we need to spend some money to make some money. But it seems like THESE guys got us into this mess and MY GENERATION is going to be saddled with the burnout for years to come. Maybe this is a biased opinion, but I stick by it.

Finally,
SAND DUNE CATS

I'm sorry, but these animals are hilarious/awesome. I saw my first Sand Dune Cat at the Berlin Zoo and was reminded of their excellence by some late night nature show. Just look at them. Adorable.

Haiku Poll #1: How does the economic situation make you feel...

2009-05-13T01:33:00.006-06:00

For those of you who don't know, here are the results of our first Haiku Poll!

The question: HOW DOES THE ECONOMIC SITUATION MAKE YOU FEEL, IN HAIKU FORMAT?

Winner:

Thank you, Obama!
You stimulate my package
With your pretty face

In case you didn't know, Barack would cross an ocean for you...

AND NOW, PLEASE VOTE IN HAIKU POLL #2: How do you feel watching reality tv?
(In case it's not clear by now, all poll answers are done in haiku format)

Your options:

-Always a blonde whore/A mean one who loves to booze/Thank you, Bret Michaels
-Who are all these hacks?/I can race amazingly/At least get a rose
-Reality is crap/Just give me back my dateline/We'll catch predators
-Too cool for TV/A modern day Kerouac/I don't wash myself

VOTE NOW! (To your left, as always...)

Review: Frost/Nixon

2009-05-12T02:40:00.005-06:00

Just finished watching Frost/Nixon. I'd been looking forward to this movie for some time, even though I am not as familiar with the Watergate hearings as I am other aspects of the eras politics, given that my schooling dealt primarily with foreign relations. In any event, I'd heard that the movie was well done. I'd of course wanted to see the play as well, and I was hoping that the movie would capture the intensity that the play is said to have.

I have to say that I liked the movie quite a bit. It might move a bit slow for those not interested in politics, but even so, I felt it did a good job of keeping pace, whereas most movies with similar subject matter tend to drone on. The writing was impeccable, and even more importantly, the acting was top notch. Michael Sheen (as David Frost) pulled off his role with a fine attention to detail and a vaguely smarmy smile that punctuated each line delivered with a certain level of poignancy. I also felt that Sam Rockwell's portrayal of James Weston, Jr. and Kevin Bacon's portrayal of Jack Brennan were both finely executed and added to the overall quality of the film.

However, my hat is off to Frank Langella and his portrayal of Richard Nixon. Though I say nothing that hasn't already been underscored and bold-face exclaimed in every review of the movie I've seen (not to mention lauded via Oscar nomination for Best Actor), Frank Langella breathes life into Nixon from the background of a story that slaughtered Nixon's reputation. It's hard to believe that one could feel bad for Nixon, even slightly, let alone empathize, in a heartfelt way, with the position he was put in by doing the Frost/Nixon interviews. Langella manages to showcase Nixon's strength and stoicness without eliminating his vulnerability, loneliness, and regret. It's really quite a captivating performance, and worth the watch alone.

Overall: A-

2009-05-06T01:53:00.004-06:00

This is Sahra. She has an adorable face. But it's not that adorable face I'm promoting, or even her keen sense of tastemaking in music that was the initial bond for our friendship.

I'm mentioning this because she runs a most excellent blog on fashion, style, and culture called Seams and Stitches. It's chock full of information on the latest in fashion news, tips on sales that can help you score high-end merchandise, and Sahra's unique perspective on how fashion can enrich our lives and our culture.

Not to mention, Sahra is a supporter of the "curvy girls can have fashion, too" brigade, which is all the more reason to support her cause.

So check her out, and become a follower of Seams and Stitches!

Photographer Spotlight: Todd Hido

2009-05-05T01:52:00.006-06:00

While I'm the first to admit that I'm not up to snuff on the latest and greatest names in the art world, there is one name I always turn to when seeking inspiration. Todd Hido's photography summons an eerie sense of the beautiful and the lived-in meeting as one, suggesting that beauty comes in the broken down, the broken in, and the scuffed up.

It's Americana put through a filter. His photographs, usually of abandoned home interiors and nighttime scenes of home exteriors, are so ethereal that they are hardly recognizable as suburbia. In his nature landscapes, he turns the overcast into something far beyond blurred rain and greyscale.

This ten minute movie (source not mentioned, but linked to this polish blog) captures the full details of his artistic approach, and shows a bit about Hido's process:

What is so arresting about these landscapes, made over long exposures, is that they are thoroughly charged with emotion. They emit a sadness that isn't ever over-indulgent, and slips a sense of loneliness into situations that with any other light might seem comforting.

He brings this same sense to his portraiture, using his subjects more as conduits for the emotion than necessarily capturing their face in a way that seems typical of a portrait. They become part of the landscape, or act as landscapes themselves, in a way. It's hard not to look at over and over again, and every glance at a Hido piece illuminates something new.

If I had it my way, I'd reach a level of success where I could own a Hido of my own. Until then, I can't help but haunt his website, staring at the pictures over and over, and constantly reformulating my reactions.

Photographs copyright of Todd Hido
http://www.toddhido.com/

Square Butts and CONTROVERSY

2009-05-05T00:56:00.003-06:00

So, here's the thing: I find that Spongebob Square Butts commercial for Burger King hilarious. And once more, completely harmless. But of course, it comes as no surprise to me that it sparked some form of controversy. In my opinion, it's a prime example of how over-protective parents are chomping at the bit to freak out about the slightest thing.

However, I'm not a parent myself. Who am I to say what I would want my child to see? That said, I find it hard to believe that the Burger King ad is the worst thing a child could see. Even on prime time TV, there is violence, sexuality and foul language, as well as plenty of thematic elements that shouldn't necessarily be shown to kids. And while I'm sure that many of the kind of parents who are freaking out about the ad do their best to limit a child's exposure to regular television, I'm willing to bet money that most of them do not. There is an overwhelming number of 9 year old boys who have probably seen multiple episodes of 24.

The unfortunate truth that most parents seem to deny is that, unless you home school your kid and hide them from the TV eternally, they're influenced by what's around them. Most kids have heard Sir Mix-a-lot's song and they usually find it funny. And they don't find it funny because of the sexual undertones, at least not if they're still fairly young...

they find it funny because it is about butts. And butts are ALWAYS funny.

So what do you think? Is this commercial too lewd for the child demographic it targets? Or is it simply an example of parents blowing something way out of proportion? In any event, it makes me chuckle.

The Exclamation! Point Gets Hot

2009-05-01T22:39:00.002-06:00

To commemorate these humble beginnings, The Exclamation! Point received a makeover. Considering my web skillz should probably lose the "z" that implies street cred and awesomeness, I don't think I did too bad. Tim Gunn would be proud, because I'm always making it work.

Feel free to comment on the new look of the blog. Also, ideas for cultural topics worth investigating? It's a space in progress. I love it.

Review: A Larum -- Johnny Flynn & the Sussex Wit

2009-05-01T01:52:00.001-06:00

Johnny Flynn made me stop in my tracks. And it wasn't because he was particularly different or interesting, although he was, or even that in that difference, his music had a sort of familiarity that one doesn't often find in a song they hear for the first time, which it did. I think it was something in the words, something that shook me awake with its simple sentiment.

It was the first song I'd ever heard of his, and I heard it in the car while listening to my local college station, 90.5 KCSU, which is based out of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. The song was called "The Box" and the words I heard went like this:

Sweep my mess away
Leave my body, leave my bones
Leave me whole and leave my soul
Leave me nothing I don't need at all
Nothing I don't need at all

To hear Johnny Flynn belt out words like this in a rich, honey-coated warble is an experience worth pursuing. Ever since that defining moment, I've listened to as much Johnny Flynn as I can, and pressed my fellow music fans to give a listen as well. They are usually right pleased with him, and I think it's because they hear what I hear in the music. That is, that Flynn seems genuine in his delivery. There isn't a lot of posturing, no over-production to mask the words so that they drown in the instrumentation.

He's a storyteller, as anyone planted in the roots of folk tends to be, but there is a raw energy to his stories such that you sense the empathy he feels toward the subjects of his words. And for someone only 25 years old, he lends a maturity to his music that is usually reserved for weathered old men in rocking chairs. It can be arresting at times, especially because you get the sense that there is much more to come, and that what's on offer is simply a humble beginning. Given the first release from the band he fronts, Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit, it seems that it's high time he starts to get the recognition he deserves.

Their first album, A Larum, came out in 2008 and is definitely worth picking up. My favorite tracks on the album include "The Box," "Tickle Me Pink," "Leftovers," and "The Wrote & The Writ." But the album as a whole has a fluidity that makes it perfect for a long drive or a day thick with clouds. Flynn has mentioned in a few interviews, such as this one with NPR, that his music is inspired by Shakespeare and events that occur in the news. It seems that these literary influences have helped him shape the poetic quality of his lyrics, and may explain why his words are so steeped in a charm that seems cut and pasted from another time.

In any event, this album comes highly recommended for anyone who can appreciate a bit of folk driven rock with a pop sensibility that seems equally culled from the likes of Bob Dylan, folk music of southern gothic americana, and English tradition, all without sounding like knock-off. You can obtain it on iTunes or at Amazon.com, and for more information on the band, please check out their website or their MySpace page.

Instant Gratification and the Society of I-Want-It-Now

2009-05-01T01:01:00.000-06:00

***Author's Note: This is my first attempt at an essay, and is subject to what I might call the gap in taste and execution. Ira Glass discussed this gap in detail, but that's a post for another day. In the meanwhile, constructive comments and general feedback on your thoughts on this matter would be much appreciated.

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Instant Gratification and the Society of I-Want-It-Now
by Lacey Smith
Friday, May 01, 2009

The preeminent expression of current American ideals does not occur on election day. Nor does it occur in the House, the Senate, or any of the branches of government we hold so dear. It is not republican or democrat, nor did it waste it's vote on Ralph Nader in 2000. American ideals are just as likely to shop at Wal-mart as at Whole Foods Market, and they don't discern when it comes to preferred VH1 Celebreality shows. It would seem that the beast that is American Ideals does not show itself overtly, though it is ever-present, kind of like those Billy Mays infomercials for cleaning products with exclamation points in the name. But this element of our current culture as Americans is not elusive, or even subtle for that matter. We want everything, and we want it now.

I once asked a russian-born, now proudly American friend what her predominant stereotype of America had been before moving here at age 13. Her response was that everything comes pre-packaged, so that you can have your own individual anything at any time, a statement not far from the truth. One can get everything from 100-calorie portions of Ritz Bitz to tuna fish lunches in convenient packs that save time, but create waste. And while the green craze has taken both the nation and Al Gore by storm, it's hard to believe that many Americans would willingly accept a disappearance of all individually wrapped Little Debbie snacks. In the war between ethics, morality and convenience, convenience will win nine times out of ten.

This change is not merely food-related. Ancient people as old as 22 or 23 years old can now remember a day before Wikipedia, when doing research meant walking to a library and finding an encylopedia. In this instant culture, makings plans does not require more forethought than a text message and real-time conversations occur less often face to face than mac to PC. Back in the day, maps existed. So did newspapers. The United States, with our internet and our iPods and our newsfeeds, is addicted to convenience in all areas of life, pampered far beyond the wildest dreams of generations before us, and often lacking in the characteristics that can only be forged in some form of genuine struggle, like fighting for women's suffrage or civil rights. We've likely obliterated patience as a virtue, but at least now we have Facebook.

It might not seem possible to suggest that a culture raised on the readily available convenience of things like Easy Mac and DVR could be inherently linked to an increasingly irreverant view of the merits of hard work, sarcrifice and paying ones dues to society. With convenience comes an overwhelming sense that all is within immediate grasp, and with that, a sense of entitlement that pervades the public psyche in a way few things can. We've become pushier, ruder, and generally more exacting of impossible standards not just with beauty or technology, but with academics, medicine, and the assumption that all of the worlds problems ought to have been handled by now. In the view of a society based on instant gratification, Swine Flu should have been cured about two days ago.

In an economic climate such as this, satisfaction may be a bit more delayed. And that could be a great thing for anyone who has grown a bit weary of a world where nail polish is supposed to dry in sixty seconds and food comes as quickly as it's ordered. Maybe the financial pause will have a spillover effect, and allow us the chance to breathe, take a second, and perhaps indulge in those things, like big weddings, trips to the doctor, and college educations, that we once took for granted but are now hard-earned and a long-time coming.

Beginnings are always awkward...

2009-05-01T00:15:00.000-06:00

In conceptualizing this blog, I thought it best to conceive some sort of earth-shatteringly excellent essay so that I might astound and inspire in ways as yet unheard of.

I then realized that I was likely not capable of this, and settled on something straight from the heart. You know, like a bloggy poem on a rainy day. Only in paragraph form.

My intention with this blog is to comment on culture: on music and movies I deem interesting, on the news I read and the political debates such news stirs up, on fashion and fads, and on the culture as it develops and changes in increasingly globalized, increasingly self-aware societies.

It'd be foolish not to mention that my inspiration comes from the likes of Joel Stein, Jeffrey Eugenides, Ira Glass and a hodge podge of particularly astute stand-up comics, as much as I'd like to think I could ever achieve the taste level or impact of such voices. But I'd like to think of this little space as a contribution. My contribution, at least, entirely of my own whims and wits.

And thus, I give you The Exclamation! Point. Welcome.