My roommate and I have been frequenting Odd Obsession lately. The place is a cinephile's wet dream - every obscure foreign, cult, documentary, or seemingly impossible to find movie you wish you knew about. (wow, why haven't I checked for those Degrassi High videos yet?) It's a great place to wander aimlessly. Why wait three days for Netflix to deliver yet another Kinski/Herzog movie (hey, I'm not addicted to them. I can quit any time I want) when you can run right in to a store where an implausibly adorable man will recommend something you'd otherwise have never heard of?
We were feeling festive, so we cased the Bollywood shelf and ended up with the '70s mob thriller Don. We knew from the opening credits that it would indeed be thrilling, since someone was credited with the title "Thrills" right there. Forget what I said about becoming a piratologist. I have a new dream job to pursue.
The movie was pretty fabulous, though it was never completely clear what line of organized crime Don ran. He tossed a lot of exploding briefcases at folks. Most everybody got shot at. Someone punched through a brick wall. And yes, Don danced. In a tiger mask. That must have been how the gang got so wealthy. I know I'd give all kinds of rupees to see an act like that.
I won't even get started about the scene in which a crippled tightrope walker has to get back on the rope to carry his two kids to safety.
"I'm very happy about the decision given my position on abortion. Partial birth is one of the most odious aspects of abortion," Arizona Sen. John McCain said while campaigning in South Carolina.
In a separate statement issued by his campaign, McCain said, "It is critically important that our party continues to stand on the side of life."
LAREDO, Texas -- Sen. John McCain said Monday the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech does not change his view that the Constitution guarantees everyone the right to carry a weapon.
Wait, what? I thought he said he valued "life."
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In case you haven't yet heard what the Supreme Court has been up to today, here's a link to the anti-choice ruling they made, which opens the gate for a great many future restrictions on women's rights.
I couldn't help myself. Here's an open letter to the Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of this decision.
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Sirs,
Thank you for making this tough moral decision for us women so we don't have to break any nails or risk fits of hysteria as we worry about managing our own bodies. Kudos to you for going against the well-being of those thoughtless mothers who would terminate their pregnancies. You care only about the welfare of those innocent children. You must love them very much.
Naturally, I'm assuming you intend to raise all those whose births you fight so hard to ensure. Let's face it, that fourteen-year-old rape victim who wants to abort the child her father conceived on her isn't going to shell out for diapers and tuition. She doesn't have, say, a judge's salary to work with. But you do! And you LOVE babies!
Please put me on your Christmas list. I'd love to see a photo of your big, colorful adoptive family as it grows. Do also let me know if you prefer UPS or DHL, as I intend to mail you my (sorry, sorry, your) uterus. I'm not doing anything with it right now, so you might as well put it to use for yourself.
Regards,
Leah
Said Eve Gartner of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America: "This ruling flies in the face of 30 years of Supreme Court precedent and the best interest of women's health and safety. ... This ruling tells women that politicians, not doctors, will make their health care decisions for them." -Mark Sherman, AP
Thanks to my compulsively exclusive reading habits that demand books that are considered "classic" by some standard (sometimes canon, often not), I read most of my contemporary fiction in short form, in Harper's and The New Yorker, instead of buying new novels. After a few years of this habit, I've come to recognize certain short-fiction trends: there's the standard "I'm so very wealthy, but adult life has turned out to be disappointing" (requires a narrator sipping wine in a million-dollar Upper East-or-West Side Manhattan apartment). And who could overlook, "dear GOD look how exotic I am!" (war, expats, misogny)
I think those of us benighted individuals in the small minority of humanity who do not live within a couple of blocks of Central Park or have not emerged from darkest Peru might better associate with my favorite writing professor's theme of choice, "It was an okay job. It paid the rent." This theme naturally begins with said statement, only to show the beleaguered protagonist paid minimum wage for the most horrifying line of work the writer can come up with. I can't think of any examples at the moment - I didn't start subscribing until shortly afterward, when "I have two homelands and can't come to terms with my own duality" came into fashion.
But let me tell you about Daniel.
Daniel has an okay job. It pays the rent. Or rather, no, no, that's not right at ALL. Daniel is living that New Yorker story so hard it's crossed the line into "This American Life" territory. Enjoy, if you will, the story of one man's descent into learning the hard way why the rest of us just give up and work soul-crushing temp jobs.
For the very first "Where I Was From" blog crossover, I give you the music, and MAGIC, of the Wizard of Oz.
So, it's Friday at last. It's been a chore of a week for me and I'm about ready to go home, host that Heroes vs. Villains shindig, sleep in...and learn about science! Woo! Friday niiight!
In honor of tonight's party theme, here are a couple of interesting articles that touch on a couple of old rivalries: men vs women and science vs religion. This isn't to say that either side in said conflict is necessarily a hero or villain in my opinion.
Well.
Okay.
*cough*
On to the educational content...
An article in The Independent says us girls might soon be able to conceive babies with each other:
Women might soon be able to produce sperm in a development that could allow lesbian couples to have their own biological daughters, according to a pioneering study published today.
Scientists are seeking ethical permission to produce synthetic sperm cells from a woman's bone marrow tissue after showing that it possible to produce rudimentary sperm cells from male bone-marrow tissue.
The researchers said they had already produced early sperm cells from bone-marrow tissue taken from men. They believe the findings show that it may be possible to restore fertility to men who cannot naturally produce their own sperm.
And on a more theoretical note, here's an interesting one about the problem of attempting to reconcile science and religion.
Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion:
I once asked a distinguished astronomer, a fellow of my college, to explain the big bang theory to me. He did so to the best of his (and my) ability, and I then asked what it was about the fundamental laws of physics that made the spontaneous origin of space and time possible. "Ah," he smiled, "now we move beyond the realm of science. This is where I have to hand you over to our good friend, the chaplain." But why the chaplain? Why not the gardener or the chef? Of course chaplains, unlike chefs and gardeners, claim to have some insight into ultimate questions. But what reason have we ever been given for taking their claims seriously?
You know you've vastly misjudged the function of the Boys' and Girls' Club when you pass by on your way home and see a small crowd of people outside holding up signs that read "STOP KILLING PEOPLE."
Am I talking crazy here, or does every mainstream movie that's out right now consist of two solid hours of torture and/or slaughter? There's the one about Biblical plagues, Luke Wilson getting stalked in a motel, 300, and whatever b.s. Tarantino's releasing. I know I sound like your religious grandmother when I start in about movie violence (and increasingly less so if allowed to continue that train of thought to protest that we should replace all the violence with sex), but I am so bewildered when I see movie previews on TV. What has to be wrong with a person's brain to make them find Quentin Tarantino films watchable?
People are out there getting tortured by our government in places like Guantanamo - real live people - and everybody's still sitting around enjoying "24". When does the violence cease to be real and become entertaining? For me, that point occurs when the orcs show up or the little girl's ghost crawls out of the well. In the current crop of blockbusters and on "24," it seems to happen right when the previews end or you switch on the TV. "Art" imitating life a little too closely.
I start to wonder if people who like these movies would stand by and be amused if they saw me getting stabbed on the street.
Not that a girl with an AK-47 for a leg is at all realistic. I'm just saying.
I can't help but think that things are starting to turn around, what with Nancy Pelosi going against Bush's "I'm-not-talking-to-him" policy and meeting with the president of Syria. And then there are the Iraq withdrawal bills. Even if Bush vetoes them, he's bound to be forced to negotiate sooner or later, right? They're even phasing out the creepy buzzwords.
I like listening to the President whine about Congress ganging up on him. It sounds like they're throwing water balloons at him from a treehouse.
