"like a bold champion, i assume the lists" pericles, prince of tyre: i, i II

Do you snore?
I've been told once or twice that I was snoring, but not regularly, no. Apparently I do talk in my sleep. Nothing incriminating, I hope.
Are you a lover or a fighter?
A fighter. I wish I wasn't but I am.
What's your worst fear?
death by fire's a good one. I have so many fears, it's tough to pick my all time fave.
As a kid, were you a Lego Maniac?
Nah. I had Loc-Blocs at one point but never graduated to Legos. I was a big fan of the ol' scotch tape and paper bag type of crafts, not the building stuff.
What do you think of reality tv?
I hate it, and in fact hate almost all tv, which is why I gave it up.
Do you chew on your straws?
Sometimes.
Were you a cute baby?
My parents kept me, so I guess I was cute enough.
Is the single life for you?
No.
What color is your keyboard?
I dunno, it's like colorless. Grey? Generic? That reminds me when Ned Flanders asks his boys what kind of ice cream they want and one of them replies "flavorless!"
Do you sing in the shower?
Sometimes, when the Spirit is upon me.
Have you ever bungee jumped?
Nope. Can't see that happening.
Any secret talents?
Not any I'm willing to reveal here.
What's your ideal vacation spot?
The World.
Can you swim?
Yah.
Have you seen the movie Donnie Darko?
Yeah. It was good, but not like, life altering or anything.
Do you give a damn about the ozone?
Yeah I do. The earth will be fine either way, but I think we humans may be fucked.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
A-one, a-two, a-thrrrreee!
Can you sing the alphabet backwards?
Why on earth would I know the answer to that? Why would I try? It's in order for a reason! (uh, and that reason is, uh, .... very important, I'm sure!)
Do you prefer electric or manual pencil sharpener?
I like the little ones that you just twist around the end of the pencil. Actually, I try to use mechanical pencils whenever I can.
What's your stand on hunting?
Wouldn't do it, don't mind if others do do it, if it's with respect and care for the animal and its environment.
Is marriage in your future?
Was this meme written by a 16 year old?
Do you like your handwriting?
No, my handwriting is an embarrassment.
What are you allergic to?
Nothing that I am aware of.
When was the last time you said, I love you?
About twenty minutes ago when I said good night to my dad.
Do you cry at weddings?
If I really know and like the participants, yes, but not just as a general rule.
How do you like your eggs?
I'll eat an omelet under great duress.
Are blondes dumb?
Some are. Some aren't. It's not a guy's fault if he's born with blonde hair, I won't hold it against him.
Where does the other sock end up?
Heh.
What time is it?
"A-four-thirty! It's not late - nah, nah! It's just early, early, early!" (the spin doctors.)
Do you have a nickname?
Not that anyone calls me in polite company. Oh, I used to be called Angry Nicky. I've chilled out some, though. I actually told someone I work with that I used to be called that and he flat-out called me a liar, he didn't believe me. So I punched him.
Is McDonalds disgusting?
Yeah. The fries are tempting but I try to avoid them; I never eat them and then think "yeah, I'm glad I ate that."
When was the last time you were in a car?
Like twenty minutes ago.
Do you prefer baths or showers?
Whatever, as long as the water is nice and hot, I get can get comfortable either way.
Is Santa Claus real?
Yes, Virginia.
Do you like to have your neck kissed?
Do I!
Are you afraid of the dark?
I must confess that I really still am.
What are you addicted to?
Caffeine.
Crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
Creamy. What, do you think I'm a communist??
Can you crack your neck?
No. That's gross.
Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
No, thank goodness.
Is drug free the way to be?
For me it is. For you? Do whatever, I don't give a shit. (Unless you're my downstairs neighbor. Dude. Get help.)
Are you a heavy sleeper?
Yeah. More than anything, I'm a fast sleeper, in the sense that when I lay down, I rarely have to wait long before I am in a deep and dreamless sleep. That is one of the nice things about doing physical labor all day.
What color are your eyes?
brown-ish whatever.
Do you like your life?
Most of the time. Could use improvements in places, but all in all I have it pretty darn good.
Are you psychic?
Sometimes I think I might be a little. I sometimes can totally guess what the next song that comes up on my iPod will be!
Have you read Catcher in the Rye?
Yeah. That's funny I was actually just talking about CITR with my dad tonight.
Do you play any instruments?
I play men's souls like Billy Joel plays the piano.
Have you ever stolen money?
Probably the odd dollar here or there from around the house when I was a kid.
Can you snowboard?
I tried once. I did well for a while but when I got tired I turned into a cranky-pants.
Do you like camping?
Yeah I was practically born in a tent.
Do you snort when you laugh?
No, but I have that annoying kind of hiccup-y sounding laugh. I hate my laugh.
Do you believe in magic?
uh, sure.
Are dogs a man's best friend?
I am not really a dog person but I am sure there are some men for whom their dogs are their best friends.
Do you believe in divorce?
Only if it's with the right person.
Can you do the Moonwalk?
Boy, I wish I could! I WOULD USE THAT!!!!!!!
Do you make a lot of mistakes?
I think I think I make more than I actually make. But, yes. "Everyone makes mistakes," as that wise sage Big Bird once said.
Is it cold outside today?
Chilly. Kind of smells like snow, though I know it's too warm for it.
What was the last thing you ate?
A Magic Bar (hey, yeah, I DO believe in magic!!)
Do you wear nail polish?
Not allowed by health code.
How many people do you like right now?
You mean LIKE-like or just like? Or like, LIKE-like-like?
What's the most annoying tv commercial?
I am blissfully unaware of any tv commercials.
Do you shop at American Eagle?
Dude the sizes there are fucking ridiculous. I think I once saw a size 000 there.
Favorite song at the moment?
I've been really into Guillemots lately. "Made Up Love Song" is excellent.
Who are you tagging?
I'm not. This was a long-ass meme! I don't know anyone who has the same kind of free-time I do! But if you have free time and you want to self-tag, feel free!

"thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown" king lear: i, iv

Separated at birth?


You probably recognize the gent on the right as Yul Brenner. On the left, however, you may be scratching your head.

Let me help you out.



Ok ok ok! It's an inexplicably head-shaved Joey Lawrence.


He's appearing on Dancing With The Stars, apparently. I know this only because I was trying to figure out why on earth I kept seeing that Daddy Warbucks-like picture of him everywhere. Now I know. But I don't know why he would choose this look, and it troubles me.

No answers on Wikipedia's entry on him; although, according to them, apparently I am supposed to call him "Joseph" now. I'm not sure he gets it -- if you're a child actor who's grown up, you will be your child actor persona for the rest of your life. Sorry. Even I use the names "Little Opie" and "The Beave" to refer to the actors who played those two characters, despite the fact that I wasn't even born yet when their shows were on tv.

I think my favorite thing on the Wikipedia entry for Joey Lawrence is this line: ..."he played the character Joey Russo, a dim-witted young man who frequently uttered the phrase 'Whoa.'" I don't think this gives the full impact of how utterly dumb that catchphrase, if one can even call it that, was. I worry that future generations won't get it.

"i will resist such entertainment" the tempest: i, ii

I try not to be too high and mighty about this, but I've given up television. We don't have one at our house, and I rarely watch it anywhere else. Yes, I will watch it if it's on at someone else's house or if I'm housesitting or something. But my life no longer revolves around shows. At first it was a little strange, but I've gotten to the point now where I rarely miss it. Once in a while I'm bummed if I'm missing a Pats game, but I have class all day Sundays anyway now, so at this point I really don't miss it. All in all, getting rid of tv has freed me up not just in the sense that I'm not sitting in front of the tube, tied to a schedule there, but also in the sense that I have a lot more brainpower to devote to other things now (such, in my case, as they are).

I found this article disconcerting: TV for the Time-Pressed. Basically it's "if you only watch one show per night, these are the ones to hit." Again, I don't want to come off like I'm on a high horse, even though I know it probably will, but it just seems sad to me, the idea that even if you're time-pressed, one might feel as though at least a show must be watched. I mean, if you're short on time, wouldn't watching tv be a good thing to discard from the schedule? You could instead take a little "me-time," to think, or read, or just be, without stuff being fed into your brain. Maybe my attitude about this is similar to a phenomenon some former smokers have mentioned to me, where, after they quit smoking and were out of the first couple weeks, they got to a point where watching anyone else smoking made them mad. Anyway, I'm not trying to convert anyone, not really ... but I will say that I feel my mind working much more clearly now than it did when I was at my peak of tv-watching hours.

On another note, here's a little interchange I witnessed yesterday. I was boarding a bus from my school's campus that was heading downtown. There was a large group of undergrads all around me, waiting for their buses as well. As I was boarding, a young woman leaned up the stairs behind me and addressed the crotchety old angry bus driver:

Woman: (somewhat confrontationally) Does this go down to the Hospitality Campus?
Driver: (short-temperedly) What does the sign up there say? Huh?
Woman: (scornfully) Pssh! I don't know, I guess I can't read.
Driver: (with equal contempt) You're real smart, guess that's why you got to college.
Woman: (back turned, leaving) Pssshh!

and ... scene

"marvellous sweet music!" the tempest: iii, iii

I'm not going to be shy about admitting that I am a child of the 80s. I was born in the late 70s and my predominant childhood memories are all in the 80s. Since I wasn't a teenager in the 80s, my perception of being a teenager in the 80s was shaped by the movies and music and television that was all around me. My babysitters all watched MTV - yes, we were able to be transfixed even though "all they did" was play music videos. By the time the 90s had rolled around, I was already well into the world-weary preteen years, already looking back at what I thought was my wasted childhood and my inability to return to those halcyon days. The 80s were a simpler time, a time when technology still seemed to hold the keys to the future, when we could still say "cool!" when we saw a computer in someone's house, but it was the turning point, too, a time when somehow there was a balance between naive wonder at the world before us as well as a new understanding of the problems of our world, and how we as a generation would have to face them, and use the new tools at our disposal to try and make the world a better place. Even though every generation says this, it was a unique time that shaped my view of the world today.

(Oh, a side note before I continue. To the very sweet, very friendly, very young people that I seem to encounter a lot lately as the new school year gets in full swing: You are adorable. You are fresh-faced and naive, and your determination and upbeat attitude is refreshing to me. My only advice to you in dealing with folks of "my generation" -- who, let's face it, are really only about 8 to 12 years older than you -- is this. If you're going to ask my age, that's fine, I will answer gladly; I'm not one of those women who won't reveal her age. But when I reply gamely "Twenty-nine," try to avoid widening your eyes and saying "Wow!" It tends to be off-putting. And the half-hearted follow up of "you don't look twenty-nine" barely covers things. Just letting you know.)

Well, back to my original point. I'm a child of the 80s, and my perception of life has been shaped by that fact. So, it is with a little trepidation and a fair amount of embarrassment that I admit the following fact about myself: I often think in music montages. That's right, you know those scenes popularized in the teen flicks of the 80s where, to get the point across of some kind of dynamic action taking place over the course of time, the only sound is a catchy song with lyrics that barely tie into the plot and the scenes show the progression of action happening quickly so we can get to the happy denoument. Well. Sometimes - ok, a lot of times, and it happens even more now that I have an iPod - I'll be doing a very normal, everyday thing, such as laundry, and I'll imagine it all going down as a musical montage. As I pull up to the laundromat, the opening riff of Adam Ant's "Goody Two Shoes" will play in my head, and every mundane action as I do my wash will appear in my head as a cut shot in a montage set to that song. It's .... well, let's face it, it's a little pathetic.

The culprit for this disorder is one of two movies:

The Breakfast Club, "We Are Not Alone" (Karla DeVito). This one was key because it was about teens and high school, and I was very influenced by anything I thought older kids were doing. At first glance, this scene doesn't seem quite so much a montage as it is just a crappy dance scene, but it skyrockets into montage range when they do the cuts of different characters dancing on the railing. Highlights include Judd Nelson dry humping the sculpture, Molly Ringwald showing off her super-cool princess outfit as she dances on the landing, and Emilio Estevez playing air guitar in all his stonewashed-jean glory. These kids didn't have much in common, but crappy pseudo-rock brought them to new levels of understanding.

The Karate Kid, "You're the Best" (Joe Esposito). Possibly the gold standard by which all movie music montages must be judged. It has a lot going for it, from the clenched fist of approval from the Cobra Kai Sensai, to the twitchy-classic-jock-neck-cracking performed by the bleach blond Cobra Kai lackey before he enters the ring with Daniel-san, to Mr. Miyagi's passive onlooking, joined by a chipper Elizabeth Shue. What makes this montage so spectacular is that they show the match officials moving Daniel-san's name placard up and up on the tournament standings chart, to indicate him moving effortlessly through to the championships. Most important, they chose a song that really kicks it into the next level through the use of switching between major and minor keys, really building up the tension and getting you ready for the all-time classic Sweep-the-Leg Moment ("Put him in a body bag, yeah!") that follows shortly after. You can't beat this top-notch montage.

In any case, this problem is one I'm going to have to live with. So, fresh-faced youngsters, if you catch me bopping my head and singing to myself as I carry out an everyday task, just chalk it up to the fact that in my head, I'm living it up in the old days. Just try not to say "Wow."