Friday, April 30, 2010

Book Club

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury


This is my much loved copy.  It's worn, the cover is faded, and the pages are falling out.

Two of my favorite passages come at the end of the story:

"There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix back before Christ, every few hundred years he built a pyre and burnt himself up.  He must have been first cousin to Man.  But every time he burnt himself up he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over again.  And it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over, but we've got one damn thing the phoenix never had.  We know the damn silly thing we just did.  We know all the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it, someday we'll stop making the goddamn funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them.  We pick up a few more people that remember every generation."

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said.  A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made.  Or a garden planted.  Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there.  It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away."

And perhaps the best one-liner:  "Stuff your eyes with wonder."

Fahrenheit 451 is a bleak story of the future, but Bradbury gives you such hope in the midst of it all.  Hope that mankind is really better than war, death, and crime.  Hope that even when things seem impossible to change, we can change them.

FNS: One of my favorite songs ever from one of the worst movies ever

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Reality

"Rather than congratulating women for being lovely human beings and rewarding men for being hard-charging winners, or making an effort to send the opposite messages to each, it might do everyone a bit of good to be taught healthy self-confidence alongside responsibility, cooperation and civility -- impulses that should not be gender-coded, and that might serve us all well, in life and at work."


A nice girl's guide to getting ahead


(via Salon)

Friday, April 23, 2010

Aspiration

The New Decornographers: Bloggers with Perfect, Beautiful, Craftsy Lives

YES.  THIS.

Book Club

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov



Ok.  So I read this book forever ago, and recently re-read it.  And oh.  My.  God.

Apparently I either completely forgot the entire thing, or was at such a different point in my life that I didn't think twice about how offensive and painful Lolita truly is.  Who allowed this to become so ingrained into our society?  How did this novel get to be so literarily predominate?  Who thinks this is important in any way?

I've come across arguments in favor of this work, saying it's a love story.  Umm.  No it's not.  Anything based on furtive sex with a minor who cries during and afterward is not love.  Especially when the narrator doesn't care.  Selfish indulgence.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Sketches

A couple unfinished sketches from my sketchbook:






Tuesday, April 13, 2010

WANT

I would love to be able to do my eye makeup exactly like Julianna Margulies' character in "The Good Wife."

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Unfriended

Kelly:  I think I might have upset some people on Facebook.

Mom:  What?  Why?

Kelly:  Well, I just couldn't take it anymore.  I said some things ... I got tired of tip-toeing around.  Of not saying what I thought.  I played nice for so long.  It got ridiculous.  I'm finally saying what I think, how I feel.  I just got tired of worrying about what other people thought of me.
::laughs::  Maybe I'm getting too old to worry about what other people think.

Mom:  You shouldn't feel that way until you're 50!

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Book Club

Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore


Up until about a year ago, if it's even been that long, I was not a fan of Michael Moore.  I didn't have any particular reason.  I was a Republican, thought things should be a certain way, and considered Moore a 'Hollywood liberal' with a big mouth but nothing to say.  I should mention that I had never read any of his books or watched any of his movies.  The only time I ever really saw him was at the Oscars in 2003, where he spoke out against President Bush and the Iraq war.  And then was subsequently booed off stage.  
But one day Joe came home from work, where he was able to see bits and pieces of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and told me we had to watch it.

And we did.


And everything changed.

Of course it was a little heavy handed, but it was true.  It was brutally honest.  It was eye opening.  

Moore has written a couple books, this one is the first I've picked up to read.  I can't express how much I want everyone I know to read his work.  No matter what you think about Moore, or what political party you belong to, or even if you don't care about politics at all, I promise you will see things differently after reading Dude, Where's My Country?

In my photo, the little torn paper bookmark is stuck in a page that I couldn't forget, and want to share with you now:
          
          "The Bush administration did not like the protections contained in the House bill [Patriot Act] and, with the speaker of the house, worked through the night to strip it of all the civil rights protections the House Committees had voted for.  It was finally submitted at 3:45 a.m.  When Congress showed up a few hours later to vote on it, they thought they were voting on the language agreed to the previous day.  Instead, they voted on the bill whose few protections were gutted by Attorney General John Ashcroft the night before.  According to the American Civil Liberties Union, few members of Congress actually read the final version of the act.  It was perhaps the most reckless and irresponsible action our Congress has ever taken."

Unbelievable, right?  

There's so much more.  And it's all documented.  There's sources - actual newspaper articles, books, credible information.  It makes me curious to know where was all of this at the time?  Why wasn't America told?  Why did the majority of news outlets simply keep repeating governmental lies?  Lies that were proven to be lies!

Insane.

But there's hope.  There's always hope.  As Moore says:
          
          "...We love our country and we care about the world in which our country exists.  There is no reason to sink into some self-centered despair or cynicism.  There is every reason to put this book down right now, pick up the phone, walk out the door, and make a difference."

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Mind Goggling

I pulled up Goggle to find out more about Sarah Palin's latest effort. Apparently Fox News gave her an interview-format show.  But for the premier episode, old interviews were used, and Palin was simply dubbed in.

How's that integrity thing workin' out for ya?

Anyway.  I Googled "fox news" to get to the network site.  This is what came up:


Notice anything that stands out?  Like maybe Stars Without Makeup?  Really.  Honestly.  

It's a link that takes you to a slideshow in their entertainment section.  A slideshow with 99 photos.  99!  And I scrolled through them all.  Because I was so pissed off.  Out of all those pictures, there was only one man.  (Tom Cruise, if you wanna know.)  

But that's not my point.

My point is that when you search for Fox News, one of their own links - given the same importance as their biggest stars' own shows - is literally tabloid level fodder.  I'm not sure if this particular link changes daily, but why not simply keep up a generic "entertainment" link to the entertainment section?

Other top news networks do:

 




Why pander to the lowest level like that?  Why would a news source go that route?

I've always maintained that 24 hour news networks aren't the best idea.  Actually, they could be great ... if they were run in a way that provided NEWS and not COMMENTARY.  All these cable news channels do is allow for certain news snippets to be endlessly chewed over by talking heads.  All these networks want are events that only make "good tv" so they can get their advertising money.

When is journalistic integrity gonna make a comeback?  When are American people gonna stand up and demand to know facts - not what some blowhard's opinion is?  When are Hollywood celebrities gonna realize that they can never leave their house without lipstick on?

Also, Fox News still uses the tag line "Fair & Balanced."

HA!

Good one.