I'm Not Surprised

Richard Grieco being fug earlier this week.

I mean, minus the obvious coke wreckage, is this really a shock? Does he really look like a different guy? No, you (like me) just used to be thirteen and had no taste.

Richard Grieco when you were thirteen.

Dick Flicks

I’m totally hating on Superbad – a movie I haven’t seen.

Hate thesis: WTF, aren’t girls funny?

Everyone, I mean EVERYONE who’s article I’ve read or who’s moviegoing experience I’ve heard—men and women, boys and girls—said that Superbad was super good.

Fuck off. I don’t care.

Seriously, I’m not the audience. You know what else was good? Some “chick flick” that no one ever saw because people called it a chick flick.

Does anyone notice that a movie can have an all-male leading cast and still be considered topical for general audiences? While any film with a predominately-female cast gets the female-audience marketing and press treatment, gender is almost never even mentioned when it comes to man-centric stories. Why is it that women can relate and grasp and laugh and empathize with the stories of men while men get to say “chick flick” and dismiss our stories?

Some stories are genuinely gender-inclusive. But the vast majority of major Hollywood films are about the lives of cool men to which women contribute smaller parts—usually their private parts. Even when the guys are geeks they’re cool enough to be the lead that you'll end up falling in love with. You tend not to fall in love with a girl geek in a movie unless and until she gets a makeover.

I love movies. I fucking love movies. So I definitely love men—directors, writers, and actors—and their stories. But here’s a few fact-ish items:

1) I’m a woman.
2) I’m not lame.
3) I’m pretty sure I’m not the only woman who’s not lame.
4) I don’t actually make movies myself, so I’m no expert, yet somehow I can conceive of the possibility that a general audience could find a story about women entertaining—possibly even humorous and engaging. I know, I know, if I actually worked in the movie business I would understand why that’s simply impossible. I’d have the facts. The lay-people always wanna tell the experts how it’s done.

I’m not saying that boy movies shouldn’t exist, I’m just saying, “dick flick” is just as much of a specialization as “chick flick” and we should all--the critics and the fans--take notice. The culture seems to say “who doesn’t want to spend a couple of hours with a bunch of guys? Isn’t that the spice of everyone's life?” Let’s pull our heads out of our asses. This isn’t 100 years ago or something.

So You Think You Can Fool Me?!

Apparently no one else noticed that Lauren and Neil failed to dance when their time came on "So You Think You Can Dance" this past Wednesday night. Please point out the dancing to me if you can see it, because I can't. Does Wade Robson have some sinister deal with the producers of this show? I suspect serious foul play. This is supposed to be a professional dance competition, not the ham olympics.

Neil and Lauren Week 4

There were a lot of hand gestures, arm flailing, 2-stepping, and overacting, but little to no dancing. PLEASE, tell me if you see even ONE move in this whole piece that Napoleon Dynamite couldn't have executed himself.

I was seriously cringing watching that performance and thinking to myself, "WHAT are the judges going to say about this? There's no dancing!" And then they all just put on their lying faces and pretended not to notice. You KNOW they noticed. Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy seemed to have an especially hard time with their lies.

Lauren and Neil (Lauren especially) seemed genuinely shocked at their positive critiques. Lauren definitely seemed nervous about how the routine would be received. Probably because, as a dancer, she noticed that she wasn't dancing, despite being a contestant in a dance competition.

I call Fraud, Sham, Hoax, Foul Play. Can the S.E.C. look into this? Who's jurisdiction is this? We've been bamboozled and I am not going to take it.

I mean, you have this:

Pasha and Sara Week 4

and then you have that piece of crap above.

Hey, SYTYCD, your fraud is showing. Please tuck it back in.

Von Von Von

Do you have a dream? Well then go for it, kid. Go all the way.

Stick ‘em Up!

Seriously, $600? I’ll wait a year. At least.

Although, someone commented to me the other day that Apple doesn’t really lower its prices over time. But that's not entirely true. At $349 the newest, giant iPod (80GB) beats the puny, orginal iPod (5GB) by $50. That's progress, right? Sort of.

Now the original wonder of 1,000 songs comes in 4GB instead of 5, for half the price. It's called a Nano ($149). What I don't understand is why anyone would pay the same price for the double Nano (8GB) as for the smaller iPod (30GB). Seriously. They both cost $249. And you can't watch "Ugly Betty" on a Nano.

Aside: I also wonder why we still call them "Macs." Nostalgia? That's a good enough reason for me. Though I am fond of the term, when was the last time you heard the company referred to as Apple Macintosh?

In any case, I definitely don't have $600, or AT&T for that matter. And I'm not getting either one anytime soon. But somehow I think I'll make do. Computers. They really are/have been/will become the future. A computer that fits into your hand/purse/pocket/brain. That's what iPhone hysteria is about: the pursuit of oneness for the iGeneration. Connectivity technology. The tippy top of the first world. Who needs it, really? Your life in your hands. As if any of us can really control our lives.

But for real, I'm into the tech. Better, faster, smarter. It's all good. What frustrates me is how far behind we are from the actual forefront of personal computing innovation. Like this, for instance:


Is it real or photoshop? If it's real, how come we don't know shit about it? Do you know something about it? Please put me on.

Writing Philosophy: (ongoing)

A whole bunch of words isn’t gonna prove I’m smart.

They’re definitely not gonna help anyone understand me better. And isn’t that the point of writing? To communicate an intended meaning. It’s hard for me to write more than I have to say. It seems like writing is like that for, like, everything.

To wit, I think the word "like" as I have just used it, gets a bad rap. Yes, the sense is colloquial, but it is also literal and means “as in;” as in the way similes work. Someone who fancies himself a word doctor would tell you, "no, doesn't work like that." But actually it does, like, in actual life. So why not write that way? It would be easier to say what one means if one weren't so concerned with how to say things. That's my point.

Anyway, I find a lot of writing to be unnecessarily confusing because it more intends to adhere to some tacit standard of writing rather than to mean something--to let the meaning tell itself as itself alone. It, the meaning, is often covered in word-muck.

Comment Often

Seriously. I can only write by the stimulation derived from interaction with other people’s thoughts and ideas. Your thoughts and ideas. So comment, please. Rather, please think to comment. If you have a thought to share—on the pictures or the words or anything interesting—please do share it, via comment or email (top left).

Not everything stimulates me, but If you do I will make use of your comment and credit you.<--Disclaimer.

. I start with a period.

They start and end thoughts. Clearly. A period is unambiguous. You know that it means you are beginning again. Even when I write notes or outline, the first thing I write is a period, and then I end with a period. I think people could use more periods. Few meanings are as widely understood as the period. Just look at commas.

This is my blog. Ongoing. I don’t know what or how or who or when I will “write” yet. But when I “write” it will be here. In the form that is “my writing”: Sex, America, Race, Me. Essentially. And also lots of pics. A mixture, melange, pot pourri. You’ll see. As will I. Enjoy and please comment often. Hopefully, together, we can figure me out. My email is to the left.

Yesterday

I wanted to go out. To a party. I got dressed in my party finery and I was fine. In a fit of inspiration, brought on by the model search on style.com, I wore a cut up t-shirt that I haven't worn in four years. I decided I would go out and be my best Friday night self. But I was not to be. Instead of meeting me at the party my friends came over to my house, and we got to talking, and hanging, and...

No party. Apparently I needed more than the cut-up T to make up for four years of aging. A new lesson learned: stay out after work on Friday. Or else you won't go out on Friday.