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May 9th, 2008
 | 11:08 pm - OMGWTFSMQ
One of the many perks of having A Job is that they totally pay to fly you out to Boston to learn about MedDRA safety analysis and SMQs and don't mind that you spend your free time meeting people from the Internet.
( smrou and bookie85 and ducks! )
( cindywrites and Mr. Writes and fish! )
( By our powers combined, we are...Teapot Xtreme! )
( brouhaha and alcohol! )
( Buffistas and hot pots! )
( The quest for Boston cream pie! )
( Harold and Kumar Are Seen by Polter-Cow! )
Boston was a pretty nice place. There were buildings and stuff.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/tired.png) tired
Current Music: Puddle of Mudd - Out of My Head
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May 3rd, 2008
 | 11:39 pm - The Cut of My Jib, the Height of My Brow
This morning, I saw Iron Man, which was awesome and badass and funny and entertaining. And the scene after the end of the credits is unbelievably flailtastic. The script was clever, the performances were great, and the special effects were sweet. Even ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) arbitrarium, who knew nothing about the comic, loved the movie and will be convincing people who were skeptical to see it.
Since there was pizza in the movie (er, spoiler warning?), we had lunch at Pizza My Heart. Then we checked out GameStop, I to see whether they had a demo of GTA IV to play (they did not, sadly) and she to buy Mario Kart Wii.
After returning home, I walked to a nearby comic book store for Free Comic Book Day. I picked up an X-Men by Mike Carey and a Superman by Grant Morrison. I also read the latest issue of Ex Machina without buying it. Just like old times!
When I came back, I still had to wait a few minutes for Doctor Who to be ready. Donna continues to be awesome.
Then I watched last night's Battlestar Galactica, in which very little happened.
The order in which I watched these two shows is indicative of my comparative level of excitement for each.
I finished the third trade of Astonishing X-Men, which is entertaining enough but maddeningly incomprehensible to someone who wasn't reading Grant Morrison's New X-Men previously. Thank God for Wikipedia, even though I did get WikiSpoiled.
It had been almost forty-eight hours since I had watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother, so I had to watch one. I'm almost done with the first season, and I love it, and I'm addicted. I hope I can get caught up before the season finale.
And then I attended the Berkeley Opera. Wearing this shirt. Emily (tigeremme) was assistant conductor/musical assistant/coach/accompanist/violinist. The program comprised two one-acts. The first was Bluebeard's Castle, by Bartók. They had "supertitles," so called because the English translation was above the stage. It was like watching anime! Live! And in Hungarian! The music was good, and about halfway through, I picked up on the symbolism and appreciated the story (what little there was) a bit more. During the intermission, I entertained Grace by reading aloud the synopsis of the second opera, L'enfant et les Sortilèges by Ravel, because if there's one thing I like, it's dramatic reading. The Ravel was very different, since it had puppets and dancers in addition to the action on the projection screen. I'd never seen a ten-year-old boy be attacked by his math book before. Opera is weird.
This is all just to say that my day looked like this:
- Iron Man
- GameStop
- Free Comic Book Day
- Ex Machina
- Doctor Who
- Battlestar Galactica
- Astonishing X-Men
- How I Met Your Mother
- THE OPERA
I think that sort of sums me up as a person, actually.
Current Mood: always tired
Current Music: Snow Patrol - Ways and Means
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 | 12:48 am - Wanna Go for a Ride?
A few weeks ago, I went to hecubot's book reading in the Haight. Fellow Buffista Sylvie was there, and she had brought a friend of hers from work. Or her ex-work, I think it was, actually. Anyway, before the reading, the three of us were talking, and her friend mentioned she lived in the East Bay, so I offered her a ride across the bay; I could drop her off at a BART station on the other side on my way home. She thanked me for the offer, and we joked around a bit about the state of my car. We talked a little more after the reading, too.
I also offered to drop Sylvie off at her place, of course, as I had done so on previous occasions. By the time we were off, however, her friend had unexpectedly changed her mind, as she was asking how late the BART trains ran and when the last bus might leave. I told her it was really no trouble for me to take her, but I came to realize that wasn't actually the issue. I tried not to take it personally even though I was a little hurt that Sylvie's trust in me wasn't enough for her. And besides, I had taken a ride with a woman I'd just met a couple weeks before. But I knew that was just the way the world was. Plus, she could have had some bad experiences of this nature.
Muni had shut down early, so she had no choice but to ride with me a little while longer after I dropped Sylvie off. I took her to the nearest BART station on my way to the highway.
I considered writing a post about the experience, but it's just as well as I didn't because it may work better in this context.
Tonight, I went to a Rice Alumni Happy Hour, the most well attended I'd ever been to. After the drinking, those of us who remained went out for our traditional burritos.
Emily (tigeremme) had BARTed in, and she asked me for a ride across the bridge before I had a chance to offer it to her. Outside, the group were determining which direction they were heading, BARTward or anti-BARTward. Ryan was talking to a girl I had seen back at the Skylark and throughout the night; I didn't recognize her and had not gotten a chance to introduce myself, but I assumed she was a Rice alum who knew someone, possibly Dave, whom she'd sat next to at dinner. I had noticed her iPhone a few minutes earlier, and that was the extent of our interaction. Ryan noted that I was heading toward the East Bay, so she would have company on BART. But then he realized I wasn't taking BART. I said I could still take her across, however, and asked where she needed to go. Her car was in Berkeley, Shattuck and something-or-other. I could do that, sure. Sometime during this conversation, we introduced ourselves.
So she, Emily, and I walked to my car. On the way, I discovered that she wasn't a Rice alum at all; she was a friend of Ryan's from work. So she didn't actually know any of us, but she said we seemed like good people, and I agreed. She and Emily talked music during the drive, and I learned that she had taught herself how to play the accordion, which I thought was awesome. I dropped Emily off at Rockridge and then attempted to find Shattuck and something-or-other. Ryan's friend thanked me for the ride, and I said that people had given me rides for years and years, so now I took every opportunity to give people rides as a form of repayment. What else did I have a car for?
I followed some random streets and found my way without her having to bust out Google Maps. I dropped her off at her car, and she thanked me once again.
Now, she hadn't even met me when she accepted a ride from me, and she didn't know I was also taking Emily (I don't remember the exact timeline of when I brought that up, but I honestly don't think it made a difference, based on her reactions and behavior, especially in comparison to the earlier woman). But I assume she thought I was safe enough based on Ryan's trust, or perhaps she was just incredibly naive.
Which is the more common reaction, then? Do you routinely accept rides from people you hardly know based on their association with people you trust? Are you automatically suspicious of anyone (especially a man) who offers you a ride? Do I look like a serial killer rapist?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/contemplative.png) contemplative
Current Music: The Ting Tings - Great DJ
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May 1st, 2008
 | 01:16 pm - Is Your Ex Machina Mess?
Brian K. Vaughan, of Y: The Last Man fame, has another award-winning comic as well: Ex Machina.
Ex Machina is the story of Mitchell Hundred. Given the power to talk to machines in a freak accident, he became a superhero called the Great Machine. That was years ago, however: now, he's the mayor of New York. But his past doesn't just leave him behind...
I only read the first seven issues back when they first came out, so I was excited to catch up on the series and see what it had become. Unfortunately, it didn't exactly live up to my expectations of what I thought it would be. This is not to say it's bad; it's just very different from Y.
Some of Vaughan's trademarks are evident. First of all, the judicious use of non-linear storytelling. Every single issue weaves multiple stories together. There's the current story, which is very politically oriented, and then there's a story about Mitchell's past, which could take place in one of three times: before he became the Great Machine, during his stint as the Great Machine, and the interim between his retirement from superherodom and his rise to the office of mayor. Then there's Hundred himself, who, like Yorick, is fairly idealistic and prone to making obscure references. Instead of pop culture, he busts out with obscure political and legal trivia, and it seems unrealistic at times (because, seriously, WHY would anyone know that sort of thing off the top of their head?), but what's great is he often gets called on it and even corrected when he has something wrong.
The storytelling overall, though, is somewhat maddening. It's not the high adventure of Y, and the stories seem to be more focused on Mitchell-as-mayor than Mitchell-as-dude-who-can-talk-to-machines. I have no doubt that that this might actually appeal to some people, and I think it's an interesting thing for Vaughan to do, but I like more superhero in my superhero comics. This is like 80% West Wing, 20% Alias (the Bendis comic, no relation...of course, Jessica Jones didn't go around using her powers either, but the mysteries were more engaging than political crises). Vaughan tackles all kinds off issues like racism, censorship, 9/11, anti-war protests, terrorism, marijuana regulation, the Blackout, and religion, among other things. He wisely makes Hundred an Independent so that he's allowed to play both sides, not beholden to a particular party's views. The political business is interesting rather than annoying and mouthpiece-y, but it's not really what I read comics for, you know? I want a little more action and excitement. The cliffhangers usually lack the oomph that Y's did, and they have a tendency to be sort of off-kilter, ending on a downbeat.
The actual Great Machine stuff, however, is pretty, er, great. Because, hilariously, he kind of sucks as a superhero. He has trouble using his jetpack, and he's not very strong or in shape, and people aren't superdupergrateful for what he's doing. It's a neat perspective on how a superhero like that might be received in the real world. And the different ways he uses his powers are way cool, of course. There is still the continuing question of where those powers came from, but it's hanging around in the background most of the time (when I wish it were more at the forefront). Also, Mitch even has an archnemesis. Or had, anyway. There are all sorts of intriguing bits of information dropped in everywhere, and they don't entirely connect just yet, but I trust that Vaughan knows what he's doing and where it's all going.
A word on Tony Harris's art: it's rather strange and unlike anything I've seen. Because it's simultaneously unreal, surreal, and too real. I think what strikes me most is that characters have facial expressions. Like, honest-to-God facial expressions. He uses actors for photoreferences, which explains why the characters look like real people. And yet, the art is still stylized. It's an odd mix, but, hey, people love it and give him awards.
I don't think I'll be able to fully evaluate my feelings on Ex Machina until it's over. The first couple trades were really cool, and then the next few didn't capture my interest as greatly. But the last ten issues or so have stepped it up a bit, which is good, since he's passed the halfway point (issue #36 came out yesterday, and it's slated to be fifty issues). One of the trades touts the fact that it was named one of the "best comic books for adults," and I think that's a pretty good description. It's definitely for an older audience, given the political content, and it's also good for an older audience that might not give a superhero comic the time of day. A rowdy teenager would probably get bored of the story of a man who's trying his damnedest to run New York City.
Read the first issue, which has, to paraphrase my friend Angelo, a way more powerful last page than any first issue deserves to have. That final page really informs the rest of the series in many ways. If you're interested, six trades are out, with the next coming in November.
Goddamn you, Brian K. Vaughan, you talented bastard.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/jealous.png) jealous
Current Music: Muse - New Born
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April 29th, 2008
 | 06:52 pm - Today, the Dirt Poor Robins Website. Tomorrow, the World!
Some of you may remember my post about Dirt Poor Robins a month ago. I had discovered an awesome band with an awesome CD and wanted to share the awesomeness, especially since they seemed to be fairly unknown. A few people did become fans because of this post.
robi2106 just informed me that my post WAS LINKED ON THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE.
Go to the News, and there I am. April 11, 2008, the only news post in the last three months:
Click here to read SpectralBovine.com's review of "The Cage": "Dirt Poor Robins Thank Ludwig Van Beethoven, Albert Einstein, and Jesus Christ" What the hell, right?? As it turns out, that post is the twelfth hit when you Google dirt poor robins. But that's nuts! Why aren't more people writing about these guys?
(I did send them a message through the website to correct the link and my name. SpectralBovine.com, hee. As if I were big and important!)
So if you missed it the first time around, I urge you to check it out now and listen to some great music! It looks like the vast majority of people only downloaded "Masquerade," but "Light in My Darkness" and "Great Vacation" are also pretty fantastic songs, so give them a listen. And then buy the CD. Come on, the album is so good it's sold out on Amazon.com. But you can still get it from the official store.
This totally beats the time my name was on the Tegan and Sara website since I bought a shirt to fund the "Living Room" video.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/surprised.png) surprised
Current Music: Seanan McGuire - Sycamore Tree (Live at OVFF 2005)
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April 27th, 2008
 | 11:41 pm - Deadwood? More Like Dead-fucking-wood, Cocksucker!
Now, I'm not one for fucking Westerns, but enough fucking cocksuckers were raving about fucking Deadwood that I thought I'd give it a fucking try.
For the first half of the pilot, the show seemed like a fucking parody of what I thought the show was like. Lots of people in silly hair cursing up a storm. I had to get used to the look and style of everything before I could like it. And the look of the show is one of its major fucking strengths: you really feel like you've been transported back to the late 19th century. It's a very immersive experience; the production value is pretty amazing.
Deadwood is about Deadwood, South Dakota, a real place with real people. Surprisingly, the majority of the characters are actually fucking based on these real people. I knew the more famous ones like Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane, but even Al fucking Swearengen was a real guy back in the day. Of course, I don't know the extent of the liberties taken with the real lives and personalities of these people, but it changes your outlook on the text when you realize it's even more historical fiction than you think. What I eventually realized, though, is that the series is actually about Deadwood. Deadwood the community, the camp, the emerging town. It tracks the way Deadwood evolves and how the citizens of Deadwood have to adapt to going from a lawless camp to a real fucking town that's part of the United States of fucking America.
And who are these citizens? The character everyone talks about is Al Swearengen, who runs the Gem Saloon and, essentially, the whole town, in a way. For the first several episodes, I couldn't get into him because I saw him as a bad, bad man. But then they introduced Cy Tolliver, who was like Al Swearengen but less likable, and I started to really like Al. Because I found it fascinating that every decision he makes is based on his own self-interest. It was a marvel to see what he would (and would not) do and how he justified his actions (or lack thereof). The other thing about Al is that he—shockingly—wasn't as bad as I thought. He's definitely a disagreeable fuck, and he'll orchestrate murders like he's playing fucking Snakes and Ladders, but he also scrubs the blood out of the floor himself, and I find that very telling. I also loved his right-hand man, Dan Dority, who's like a big murderous teddy bear. Doc Cochran is the only doctor in town, which can be very harrowing, especially because he has to put his personal feelings aside to do his job; his concern for his patients, whoever they are, is admirable. Seth Bullock is the former sheriff from Montana come to Deadwood to start a hardware store with Sol Star; I clung to them early on since they were two of the few decent, moral characters. And then there's E.B. Farnum, who runs a hotel. I love E.B. a lot because he is the living embodiment of the word obsequious. Nearly everything he says or has said to him is completely fucking hilarious, either unintentionally (if he's speaking) or intentionally (if someone is giving him a smackdown). He's such a fucking weasel. I also enjoyed A.W. Merrick, newspaperman, and Ellsworth, the amiable prospector. Of course, let's not forget Mr. Wu, whose English is limited to about three words: "Swergin," "cocksucker," and, later, "San Francisco." Any scene with Wu and Swergin is gold.
It's a very manly show, Deadwood. My favorite female characters are two whores and a gimp. Trixie, one of Al's whores, is hard to figure out, but she's fierce and independent. Joanie, one of Cy's whores, is just so damn decent, very different from Trixie, and I always rooted for her to go on to bigger and better things, getting out from under the thumb of that cocksucker Cy Tolliver. And Jewel is seriously the most adorable and hilarious gimp ever; she cracks wise to Al fucking Swearengen, of all people. I didn't care much for Alma Garret, the main female character, because, weirdly enough, she struck me as too proper for the show. In addition, she didn't seem to have much agency at all, but that changed in later seasons, which made me like her a little more. And I couldn't stand Jane most of the time because of the way she spoke, constantly slurring her words (since she was a drunk) and feigning toughness, never really selling her profanity. Also, her character didn't seem to be important at all, ever. Again, like with Alma, I tended to like her more in the third season, especially because the fact that she didn't give a fuck what anyone thought of her was kind of cool. Interestingly enough, however, I noticed that there seemed to be a great many female writers on the writing staff.
The town of Deadwood feels real and alive, populated with a great deal of major and minor characters. One thing I love about the show is the complicated relationships between all the characters. Characters' motivations—when they aren't simply gold, sex, or booze—are often unclear, and their words sometimes contradict their actions. Characters don't like other characters for unexplained reasons. But then, people who didn't necessarily get along with have to make tactical decisions for the good of the community. And that was the awesome part of the show, watching this little microcosm of society form its own little microcosm, a group of men who got together and figured out what the fuck needed to be done, always over canned peaches. I got a kick out of the canned peaches.
The major selling point of the show is the dialogue. Every fucking review you read, it's "Deadwood makes profanity sound like Shakespeare." What the fuck does that even fucking mean? I'd also heard that it was a show you could just listen to and enjoy, the language was that beautiful. And in this respect, the show lived up to the hype. Jesus, the fucking language on this show! It really does have the sort of natural ebb and flow of blank verse, and it's quite fucking appropriate for this show because no one ever fucking gets to the fucking point! They're all a bunch of circuitous cocksuckers who talk around what they really mean so as to avoid approaching the subject directly. But, see, it gets even more Shakespearean: this show has fucking SOLILOQUYS. Sometimes they're disguised as monologues in which characters talk to inanimate objects or animals or the girl giving him a blow job, but they're fucking soliloquies. And it never sounds unnatural is the thing. Some actors handle it better than others, and some actors' voices seem perfectly suited for the language (Ian McShane (Al) and William Sanderson (E.B.), specifically, sound like they were born to spout this shit), but it all generally works. Then, of course, there's all the swearing: the word "fuck" and its derivations are reportedly used 2,980 times during the series, yielding 1.56 FPM. As someone who thinks profanity naturally fits into the empty fucking spaces between words, I had no issues!
I really liked the first season, which impressed me with the way that plot and character were inextricably intertwined so that one had a clear effect on the other. I loved that there were so many plots going on at once. The second season sort of got away from me; I found it tedious and confusing at times. The language is so dense that I wasn't sure what was going on and why half the time. The third season regained focus, and I liked it more than the second season, although it still suffered from having a significant amount of scenes/characters/subplots I didn't care a fucking whit about. The show tends to introduce new characters without any explanation and then expect you to care about them independent of their interactions with the characters you actually fucking know. And, after the engaging first season, something really exciting only happens once every three or four episodes. But the third season really gained some momentum toward the end and ended on a high note, even though the story clearly wasn't finished and apparently never will be.
Deadwood is the fucking story of Deadwood, in a nutshell. It's the story of making your own rules, of maintaining internal identity in the face of external forces, of the relationship between man and community, of power struggles and making the hard choices. All told in language that would make your mom wash your mouth out with soap that may have a prize inside.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/hot.png) hot
Current Music: Drip - In Between (Remix)
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April 26th, 2008
 | 11:13 am - LiveJournal Moore, Special Advisor on Blog Affairs
Over four months later, it was time for another LiveJournal party! Oh, SUP, always throwing parties. This time, however, it wasn't so much about meeting people but getting to see the people I'd met before.
For instance, I was walking down Folsom with my nose in Ex Machina when I heard someone call my name. It was marta! Who was locked out of the building. Oops. chasethestars let us in along with someone else who was as absurdly punctual as I was.
LJ owned the whole building, but they were only using the first and third floors. The first floor, where the little shindig would be, was not very exciting, as it was a floor with some tables on it. The third floor, where the "offices" were, was also not very exciting, as it was a floor with many more tables on it. But on these tables were computers with very large monitors and people working on them and whatnot. It was not very glamorous, but chasethestars said they would be renovating the place. Still, it was very strange to see that LiveJournal was basically run out of the equivalent of some dude's basement.
Some of the other LJ folk I'd met were having some sort of meeting, so we didn't bother them. On the other side of the floor, I saw a man who looked familiar, and he seemed to recognize me before I recognized him. "I think I met you last time," I said, and he smiled and agreed with me, and he was British, and I remembered who he was. Ben, the British SUP guy! He talked with the other guy who had come early about a freelance gig.
We went back down to the first floor, where there were a few more people. We indulged in chips and guacamole (the guacamole was so good).
allsunday showed up, and, thankfully, she had gone ahead and brought me Last Exile to borrow as I'd hoped she would, even though I won't get to it for a while. Steampunk anime FTW!
arie was glad I was able to make it. I like when people are happy to see me!
By the chips and guacamole, I talked to a girl who asked me, "How long have you been a user?" Which sounded like a strange question. She also asked me what I blogged about mostly. I was confused because she looked very young, like, not-even-out-of-college young, so I'd assumed she was a user, but it sounded like she worked for LJ. Which she did. She was HR.
janinedog put a chip in a squeaky lobster's claw. I know this sentence makes no sense out of context, but I think it's important anyway. Because, come on, squeaky lobster. With a chip in its claw! That's all you need to know.
According to marta, she had brought me up during a meeting about having this Open House. Ben had asked if any users were going to be there, and she mentioned me, having told me about this thing earlier in the week. And he remembered me, and not only that, he apparently rattled off what I did for a living (which he had asked me about in December).
Of course, right after she told this story, Ben stopped by, and she pointed me out to him. He said we'd met upstairs, and I said that I was surprised he remembered me. He said that I did writing for medical research. "Clinical trials," I corrected, but still. "Good memory."
He remarked that I had come to the thing in December. And I had posted about it. And I had said he was "British, but perfectly reasonable."
*headTARDIS*
(It looks like my actual words were "decent enough," but holy God, I was mortified. You never think about the FRIGGIN' OWNER OF LIVEJOURNAL reading your posts. I hoped he hadn't been offended, but he seemed to be cool with it, as he did like to think he was perfectly reasonable.)
After that bit of embarrassment/awesomeness, I talked to Stephanie from Finance, who thought I looked familiar for some reason (I just have one of those faces?) and also asked me, "How long have you been a user?" She recognized how strange it sounded, so she tried, "How long have you been using?" which we all agreed was even worse. She wanted to come up with a new word, but "customer" wouldn't fly with us and "member" wouldn't fly with immature teenage boys. She wanted to wage some sort of guerrilla advertising campaign. It struck me how much she and Corinna (the girl from HR) were unfamiliar with LiveJournal, but since they were only working on the business side (and pretty new to the company), I guessed it didn't matter.
With that, I'll segue into the LiveJournal gossip, which is why you're really here. Everything I said in my first post still holds true; from what I can tell, the SUP atmosphere and managing style is worlds apart from 6A (in a good way). They listen to feedback and actually consider things like features' being opt-in or opt-out. The staff seem very at ease with them. That being said, they know the fiasco with Basic Accounts was poorly handled, and they're still ironing out the communication kinks. In the future, they might actually consult the Advisory Board before making decisions like that! (I say that sarcastically, but I mean it seriously. Heh.) I do think they really want to make this Advisory Board thing work, but it's still in the early stages, clearly. One thing marta noted was that although LiveJournal has been around for years, Livejournal, Inc. is new, so they're essentially a start-up company again; thus, it's a really weird transition to make because you have two conflicting schools of thought and ways of running business. The staff had been in all-day meetings for the past two or three days, so it's clear they're committed to making things work and learning from their mistakes. I hope that one day that good behind-the-scenes atmosphere manifests itself in some crackin' good policy decisions that make people happy.
There were multiple conversations going on all over the floor; there weren't nearly as many people as there had been in December, so everyone had someone to talk to. I accompanied some people on a secret trip to the basement, where we raided for shirts. I looked for one I might like. Although the pink baby doll shirt looked good on coffeechica, I didn't think it would work for me. I was hoping for a black one, but they were all XXXL. We found a white one in the box upstairs.
This is also where I encountered the illustrious jameth, whom I had never heard of before this business. But apparently he's Famous on the Internet. Or at least LiveJournal, where he's a legendary troll. But a good-natured troll who does it for the lulz. He was there schmoozing it up in hopes of getting on the Advisory Board. coffeechica remarked that he was very sparkly and that he was "farting glitter." I thought I spied some actual glitter on his eyelashes, which were as long as mine, but she said his eyelids were just shiny.
marta dazzled us all with the power of LJ Mobile, which allowed her to instantly show the world a shirtless jameth and, earlier, allsunday with a lobster on her head.
I saw a guy who looked vaguely familiar, and he was talking to people, and someone asked if I knew who he he was. He was Abe, which did not ping me at first. Then he clarified: burr86. Oh! And he knew I was spectralbovine because apparently people know me. I must say, I was both amused and comforted by the fact that everyone was decidedly non-geeky about calling people by their LJ names. To these people, they were just as good and relevant as the name on your birth certificate. These are the names we chose for ourselves, after all.
Strange bit of trivia: burr86 actually works for 6A, not LJ. But 6A is still responsible for LJ's servers, or something like that.
Everyone was hungry, so we eventually wrangled people together for a dinner group. Sadly, marta stayed behind to perform hostess duties even though she wasn't offically a hostess. I gave her a hug goodbye, and she thanked me for being nice.
We walked down to Osha since the LJ folk had tried to go there for lunch earlier but had been called back for a meeting, and ferrell really wanted some pumpkin curry. Seating order for the oldbies (how many of you are there, even?), clockwise as usual: allsunday across from me by the wall, arie, ferrell, coffeechica, chasethestars on the end, burr86, hachi, janinedog, spectralbovine. You might notice that we two non-staff people ended up at one end of the table, segregated from everyone else. Oh snap!
The food was universally great, and I satisfied my craving for chicken pad Thai. At the end of the meal, coffeechica gave a lovely, succinct toast: "To surviving the past, embracing the present, and hoping for the future."
It was really nice to see everyone again, and I think they're planning on doing this sort of thing regularly, so it'll be fun to see them yet again! They're fun people. We talked and laughed and enjoyed ourselves.
Also, I ate an orchid.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/hungry.png) hungry
Current Music: Appleton - Don't Worry
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April 22nd, 2008
 | 01:18 pm - Storybook War and Post-Apocalyptic Love
It turns out that two of my favorite comics both started in 2002: Fables and Y: The Last Man. The former is ongoing, but the latter recently ended its run, and I am now completely caught up on both of them, which compels me to recommend the hell out of them to you all.
The premise of Fables, by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham, is simple: all the storybook/folk tale/fairy tale/public domain characters you know and love—Snow White, Cinderella, Old King Cole, the Big Bad Wolf, Beauty, Beast, Pinocchio, and so on—are real.
And they're living in Manhattan.
They were forced out of the Homelands by the conquering forces of the unnamed Adversary, and they've set up Fabletown inside a Manhattan block. King Cole is mayor, Snow White is deputy mayor, and Bigby Wolf is sheriff. It's a hoot.
Sometimes, I think Bill Willingham is really not that awesome, and he's just coasting on his awesome premise, but I do give him a lot of credit for executing it very well, recognizing when it would be best to adhere to a particular character's characterization and when it's better to subvert it while still staying true to the story. I don't think he would deny that he's lucky to be able to elicit a reaction just by using a known character at all, but he doesn't use that as a crutch. He's created a very diverse, very sprawling world.
What's so great about Fables, then? It's constantly creative and inventive, and after the first couple dozen issues, the story really opens up and starts to expand beyond Fabletown, allowing many more possibilities for stories. It's a hoot, as I said: you can't beat the visceral cool of seeing such well-known characters acting like regular people. There are several strong, badass female characters, including Snow White and perhaps the most badass of them all, Frau Totenkinder (the witch from "Hansel and Gretel" and any other story that had a wicked witch in it). It has a very strong "storybook" sensibility, which obviously appeals to me; chapters often begin with cute little "In which..." epigraphs. The page frame art is something I'm not used to seeing in comics. It's full of surprises and emotionally affecting (the backstories revealed in 1001 Nights of Snowfall especially). Fabletown politics are kind of hilarious. Also, I found it interesting that the series eventually took a pro-Israeli stance, which is not something I expected a series about fairytale characters to deal with.
What's not so great? On rereading, I started to suspect that dialogue was not Willingham's strong suit; it's often a little unnatural and hokey. Because there are so many characters, most characters get painted very lightly, so they're not all as layered as they could be. Also, I've become more sensitive to the treatment of women in fiction since I first started reading the series, so this time around, some things pinged me. It seemed that despite his obvious desire to have strong female characters, Willingham would sometimes fall back on standard tropes (like a woman needing to be saved), which irked me. In addition, I sometimes felt like he relished having misogynist characters say misogynist things a little too much; it's obvious the reader is not supposed to espouse their viewpoints, but I felt like if he was going to be that blatant with the one side, there should be an equivalent and blatant asskicking to go along with it to hammer home the fact that what the character said is a load of crap. It's the little things.
Overall, it's a really great title, although the constant comparisons to Sandman bug me. Sandman is on an entirely different plane altogether. Sandman was consciously epic and layered; Fables is simply a ripping good yarn. Granted, it's become rather epic in scope, plotwise, so bully for Willingham.
If I've convinced you to give it a try, it's collected in nine trades plus 1001 Nights of Snowfall (I suggest reading it after Volume 7), with a tenth on the way in June. But, hey, I know you people want instant gratification: read the first issue for yourself.
The premise of Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, is also simple: all the male creatures on Earth inexplicably die except for Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand. You may have heard of this one before, as it's one of the most acclaimed series in recent years; it would be hard to find someone who doesn't drool over it. One of those droolers is Joss Whedon, for what it's worth. And it's really no surprise that Whedon and Vaughan admire each other's work, since they have a lot of similarities.
The first issue is one of the best first issues I've ever read. It's fast-paced and exciting and tense and bloody and awesome. It introduces all the major characters. Yorick is an unlikely hero, a dorky escape artist who likes magic tricks and making pop-culture references that no one else gets: he's basically John Crichton in his twenties! With a dash of GOB for good measure. He proposes to his girlfriend, Beth, right before all the men die; she's trekking in Australia and therefore has no clue he's alive after the plague hits. Yorick's sister, Hero, is an EMT, and his mother is a Congresswoman. Agent 355 is a badass black secret agent eventually assigned to protect Yorick. Dr. Allison Mann is a Chinese-Japanese scientist who has been studying cloning and thus may be the key to saving the human race. Alter Tse'elon is an Israeli soldier who ends up being one of the many, many people after Yorick and Co. (Dude, he really is like Crichton.) Later, there's also a Russian chick. One of the title's many strengths is its globally diverse cast.
Y is essentially a big road trip. The core trio (quartet, if you count Ampersand) is constantly traveling westward toward their goal, and they have all kinds of wacky adventures on the way where people die a lot. Vaughan really examines what might happen if all the men died and women had to run everything. Some would be distraught at the sons and fathers and husbands they lost. Some would see it as the fiercest form of female empowerment. He explores all sorts of reactions and muses on how the world would keep itself running: that's what science fiction allows you to do, after all.
A quick note: you may think that having one man left in a world of women would lead to fifty-nine issues of porn, but...not so much. This isn't that kind of book. Yorick is determined to reunite with Beth, and he doesn't feel the urge to fuck everyone he meets just because they have no one else to fuck.
What's wonderful about Y is that it's, well, full of strong female characters. All the women in the book feel like real, developed characters, even the very minor ones. I think it's also notable that the artist and co-creator, Pia Guerra, is a woman (a rarity in comics, I imagine), and she draws the women like real people. The art is very accessible and easily draws you in. I also want to give props to letterer Clem Robins, who does a great job of creating emotional moments by reducing the size of the words in a large bubble.
This book has got everything, you guys. Monkeys! Guns! Pirates! Ninjas! Spies! Robots! Lesbians!
Brian K. Vaughan is a masterful plotter, but more importantly, he cares very much about characterization. Each issue drives the narrative forward in some way; characters from previous storylines will often return, and things the trio does in one town can have consequences later on. It's very much One Long Story, and you can go back and see how everything fits together. Several one-shots focus on giving backstories to characters and fleshing them out through flashbacks (a technique he employs throughout, all hail non-linear narrative). Characters are complicated, and their motives aren't always completely clear. And Vaughan is one bad motherfucker when it comes to cliffhangers. There was one issue where I was saying out loud, "Oh fuck, fuck, FUCK!" before I turned the page, and you all know how I love when fiction makes me do that. (Incidentally, the moment I describe turned out to be "just" a reveal with the end of the issue still a few pages away. My mind was blown into a billion pieces by the end.)
As I neared the end of the series, I got the same feeling I had watching the end of Six Feet Under, the realization that I was really going to be saying goodbye to these wonderful characters. Because they all felt like real people I knew and wanted to hang out with. It was lovely to watch Yorick and 355 and Dr. Mann, three very different people from very different backgrounds, bond as a group like Mugen and Jin and Fuu. In the end, when you stripped away the crazy cliffhangers and the sci-fi mumbo-jumbo and the examination of gender politics, it was really just a story about people. And that, I think, is why the series is ultimately so popular and amazing.
Have I convinced you to check out what many people call one of the greatest comic books ever? The series is collected in ten trades, the last to come out in June. That's right, it's over. Vaughan says, "I think finales are what give stories their meaning." (Is it a coincidence that soon after he joined the Lost writing staff, they negotiated themselves an end date?) There is a movie (well, a trilogy, as all things must be trilogies...and you'd be stupid to attempt to condense sixty issues of hardcore story into a two-hour movie anyway) on the horizon, and Shia LaBeouf is rumored to be playing Yorick.
Read the first issue right now! Tell me you're not hooked.
If you've been hesitant to check out comics, these two titles are great to start with, and they will make you instantly cool, as both have won multiple Eisner Awards (the comics equivalent of the Oscars). If there's more interest in comics, I can recommend more titles as I continue to catch up on my favorites. There's a whole wonderful world of storytelling out there, just waiting to be experienced.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/blank.png) blank
Current Music: Cibo Matto - Speechless
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April 20th, 2008
 | 02:40 pm - The Bloodletting of Sarah Marshall
I'm sticking this at the beginning for all you Princess Tutu aficionados: I finished the series for the second time last night, and I love it even more. The first time, I loved it mostly for the plot. But this time, I fell in love with the characters. And I still loved the music and the message and the themes and everything else that is awesome about it. And the confirmation that Pike is pretty consistently Not as Sucktastic as Lilie. tigeremme loved it too, I think.
Also, Toph and Fakir have the same hair.
In non-anime news, I saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall yesterday, and it was pretty great. With the exception of one or two scenes that are just sweet, every single scene in the movie is funny. I started keeping track after a while because I thought that might be unusual, that every scene had at least one thing that made me laugh. Not necessarily LOL, but laugh, though there were plenty of LOLs as well.
What's interesting is noting the differing comedic styles among the Apatow crew. If you look at Knocked Up (Judd Apatow), Superbad (Seth Rogen), and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Jason Segel), they're all very funny movies, but the humor seems to be quite different. For my money, Superbad is the worst of the lot, and I'm having a hard time comparing Knocked Up and Forgetting Sarah Marshall because I have a feeling that Knocked Up was somehow funnier, but I might like Forgetting Sarah Marshall better overall. One thing that struck me was that, contrary to my expectations, the funniest parts of FSM weren't necessarily the dirty, raunchy bits (which was true of Knocked Up). Jason Segel has sort of a randomness to his humor that obviously appeals to me, so you get a lot of jokes that are delivered offhand and out of left field. And the humor is all rooted in character, which is always true of the Apatow crew.
And what a crew! A lot of credit goes to the actors for making the movie as good as it is, of course. Jason Segel is, well, Jason Segel, and he's easy to root for. And he's not afraid to put himself out there, naked and vulnerable. Literally. Kristen Bell, as many have said, does a good job making her character sympathetic, and her performance never made me think of Veronica except for the time I realized that her performance wasn't making me think of Veronica. It was easier to buy her as Sarah Marshall than I expected, especially since her character isn't quippy like Veronica, though still funny at times in a straight-man kind of way. Russell Brand is, of course, hilarious, and I have a feeling he improvved some of his lines because they reminded me of his usual style. Mila Kunis is so pretty, oh my goodness. I didn't find her all that attractive on That '70s Show (opting for Laura Prepon instead), but damn. I think it helped that her character was sweet without being a ditz. Bill Hader and Paul Rudd are good...um, I hesitate to use the word "comic relief" in a comedy, but that is essentially their purpose. Funnily enough, Bill Hader's most hilarious scene is one when you can only hear him through the phone. Paul Rudd's character is just sort of there, but his subplot does eventually pay off in a good scene that does not involve Paul Rudd (at first). Jack McBrayer's character ends up being completely superfluous to the movie, but he's still funny, even if it's weird to hear Kenneth say such things! And Jonah Hill does have some amusing moments (even though the hilarious bit I heard on a radio ad wasn't even in the movie [much like the "Do you want to choose the outfit you break up with me in?" line!]), but I still do not know why he exists.
Besides being consistently funny, it's also a good movie in that it really does want to examine heartbreak and getting over someone. I loved seeing flashbacks of the relationship from each party's perspective because the picture it painted was that it was good and bad for both of them. There was no simple answer or solution. It also captured that whole "vacation" atmosphere where you get to know other guests as well as the locals, and you run into them occasionally, and they end up enhancing your time there.
I think that even though my face didn't exactly hurt from laughing afterward, I admired the movie more than Knocked Up. I could certainly be biased since I like more people in this movie, but that's my feeling. (P.S. Speaking of people I like in this movie, don't leave immediately when the credits roll. There's one last treat in store.)
I'm sticking this at the end for all you Girl Story of the Day aficionados: when I went to buy my ticket, the cute girl at the ticket booth said she really liked my shirt and smiled at me. This time, I smiled back at her, especially since this was my shirt's debut in the outside world, and she was the first person to ever comment on it.
After lunch, when the rest of the gang (arbitrarium, gymble and her husband, and ellric) bought tickets, there was someone else at the ticket booth, so I was glad I had gone earlier. It turned out my shirt-liking girl had moved inside to take our tickets, and I smiled at her, and she smiled at me, and it was all very smiley, like she was Smiley Cyrus. So, Gillian Block, if you happen to vanity-Google your way to this post, thank you for brightening my day.
Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Drain STH - Crack the Liar's Smile
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April 17th, 2008
 | 10:54 am - The Essence of Ticketmaster
spectralbovine: So, we're going to BFD, music girl.
arbitrarium: I am totally there, music guru. You+music? Of course!
spectralbovine: I will get us tickets. Rock on!
spectralbovine: Aw, man, there are no big headliners this year. That kind of sucks. But, hey, you can't argue with the value for your money.
arbitrarium: A good headliner would have been exciting. Like Interpol! But maybe we'll hear someone new and completely awesome. And for about the same cost of a movie and popcorn at the theater? Good deal. Let me know how the tickets work out!
spectralbovine: Well, it'll be $10.53 plus the LiveNation service charge, so let's say movie, popcorn, and a drink.
spectralbovine: Criminy, Ticketmaster is INSANE. Convenience charges and order fees up the ASS. The tickets ended up being more like $19.555 each.
Yes, you read that right: charges and fees were 85% of the fucking ticket price. I don't know how those people sleep at night.
arbitrarium: So it's more like a movie, popcorn, drink, parking, and someone stealing five bucks.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/annoyed.png) annoyed
Current Music: Papa Roach - Last Resort
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April 14th, 2008
 | 10:10 pm - Ay, There's the Dub!
Now, we all know it's very silly to watch something that was originally in another language dubbed in English. But it's even sillier to watch something dubbed in English with all new lines! And this time the silliness is intentional!
Avatar fans are surely familiar with "The Angst, starring Prince Zuko." In which Zuko is a whiny emo boy and Iroh is a Jewish grampa. This spawned the absolutely hilarious Avatar: The Abridged Series.
GanXingba also had a thing called "Avatar TV," which was like Robot Chicken, full of little mini-spoofs. What I did not realize until recently is that this is actually a pretty common thing to do in anime fandom! They overdub scenes from the animes with songs and dialogue from other movies and TV shows.
For instance, someone on TWoP linked to "Evangelion Hell," a collection of all the Neon Genesis Evangelion bits from a couple rounds of AMV Hell, which presumably includes selections from all sorts of anime. And it's fucking hilarious. You never know what to expect with these things, and some spoofs are funnier than others, but none of them lasts all that long, so the duds don't linger and the hits stay with you. "EVA Hell" is also pretty funny. There are a bunch! So many! Hours of hilarity!
Then! A TWoPer linked to her "HARUHI HELL"! Yes! One of those for The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya! And oh man, it was really good. Incredibly funny and clever. And the final bit is just scary brilliant in how well the dialogue matches up to the scene. This is a must-see for any Haruhi fan.
I then noticed that...oh my God, this person also had "PRINCESS TUTU HELL"! My beloved Princess Tutu! Hilaritized! There was another one that was even funnier.
Clearly, the Internet was created solely to distribute this hilarity worldwide. I know most of you aren't anime fans, so I'm sorry you can't enjoy this sort of thing as much as I do.
But! Last night, latropita linked me to this.
Which is an entirely cracked-out dub of the Doctor Who episode "Smith and Jones." The voices are very strange, but the dubs are good, and it's quite amusing.
Except there's another one. For "The Sound of Drums." Focusing almost entirely on The Phone Call. And it's face-hurtingly funny, oh my God. It's just ridiculous and random and hilarious.
And then, at the end! The credits! Consist of two cute British girls lip-synching to "I Can't Decide." It's so cute! I want two cute British girls of my very own. Smiling and laughing and lip-synching and making hilarious videos.
There is also one for "The Girl in the Fireplace." My favorite thing about it is the talking horse.
Finally, I discovered what appears to be quite the inspiration in the dubbing community: Aladdin and the Cave of Cheeseburgers. Yes, my friends, someone has dubbed ALADDIN and turned it into...something about cheeseburgers, presumably. I haven't watched it all, but I have a feeling it's hilarious. It looks like it's in six parts, so it's been edited to about forty minutes.
So, if you had never heard of this humorous art form, I hope I have enlightened you! If you were already a fan, I'm always game for more! Spread the hilarity!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/mellow.png) mellow
Current Music: Deftones - Mascara
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April 8th, 2008
 | 10:51 pm - So When the Smoke Clears, Here I Am
My family seems pretty determined to have my wedding in December.
Never mind that we haven't found me a wife yet.
They seem pretty hopeful about this latest candidate, though, who just happens to be in Oakland. I've seen some pictures, and she looks all right. My mom seemed to think it was some sort of plus that she kind of looks like my little sister, but I think it's weird! I don't want to be reminded of my little sister when I'm...doing...things.
She's an accountant, since apparently all Indian women become accountants. And that's basically all I know about her besides the fact that she has a good family and she has a brother, which is important for some reason no one will explain to me. We actually passed on the previous candidate because she didn't have a brother. And because of her alien nose and vampire teeth. And possibly something with her family.
So, at some point, I assume I'll be given her e-mail address and/or phone number, and I'll have to talk to her and see if I want to marry her. I'm not looking forward to it.
The first girl they gave me was an accountant. I waited four months to e-mail her because I was too freaked out at the prospect of the process actually starting. I had no idea what to say. When I finally did send her an e-mail that was basically an account of my day in an attempt to let her know what I was like, she replied with specific comments about parts of my story, which was promising. So I replied to her, and then I never heard from her ever again. Luckily, my mom later became uninterested in her anyway.
Around that time, my mom's brother's wife's brother's wife got me in touch with a girl she thought I might like; she didn't let my family know about it in order to avoid all the hullabaloo. This girl had the same name as the first girl, and she was also an accountant. Hilarious. But she was in the area, so we had dinner one night, and she was cuter in person than in her pictures, and we had good, non-stop conversation throughout dinner even though I felt like I was completely uninteresting and boring, and I kind of liked her in spite of her inability to spell her favorite TV shows correctly and usage of heavy textspeak in text messages. After that night, I tried to arrange other meetings, but she was always busy or had to cancel, so after a while, I just stopped trying, hoping that one day she'd actually try to arrange a meeting with me, and now we're still Facebook friends, and she could care less about me if she cared more.
The one time I ever asked a girl out, it turned out she hated coffee or e-mail or Simpsons references or me.
And let's not forget my two epic bouts of unrequited love.
Do I make that little impression on women? It's all well and good to be told how awesome I am, how any girl would be lucky to have me, et cetera, but every time I make any sort of meaningful attempt to have some semblance of a relationship, it leads to nothing. I don't so much as get my foot in the fucking door. And this is why I don't bother ringing the doorbell.
This whole stupid process appeared to be about finding the woman I want to marry, but it turns out it's really about finding a woman who actually wants to marry me.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/sad.png) sad
Current Music: Emm Gryner - Stereochrome
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April 7th, 2008
 | 02:10 am - From Shit to Skit in 48 Hours
Back in October at the AMWA conference, I discovered that at the regional conference, they always had a little skit based on a musical. Having learned of its existence, naturally, I wanted to be a part of it. What follows is the nail-biting adventure that followed.
( Pre-Show: Writing the script and pre-directing the show )
( Sunday: The casting couch )
( Monday: The first rehearsal, the prop/costume run, the second rehearsal, and more )
( Tuesday: The third rehearsal, the fourth/dress rehearsal, and THE SHOW )
( Wednesday: The kudos )
******
Now, I present to you The Wrikado in all its glory. Did you read the script? Did you read this post? Do you want to hear me sing? The video is fifteen minutes long, so make some popcorn and pull up a chair. Wait for the stream to download so you can watch it one go; it won't take too long.
THE WRIKADO.
If you would like to keep a copy of this gem for yourself, download it here (and, er, ignore the weird Sex TV link). If you want to share it with other G&S fans, please feel free to pass the streaming link around.
As much as I complained about the things that didn't turn out right, I think it's an impressive feat that it even turned out that good in so little time with so little preparation. We medical writers can do anything when we set our minds to it!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/pleased.png) pleased
Current Music: Emm Gryner - Divine Like You
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April 2nd, 2008
 | 05:55 pm - Behold the Lord High Medical Writer!
I just got back from an American Medical Writers Association conference, a regional one this time. It was a big deal for me because I volunteered to write and direct the annual skit/spoof/farce/musical comedy. Below, I present to you my original script:
( The Wrikado, or The Town of Titipu-nctuation )
Would you like to hear about my travails in writing such a mess? Or perhaps the even greater travails in mounting a performance of said mess in 48 hours in between all sorts of other conference activities? Would you like to see it for yourself? Then tune in next time, when all will be revealed!
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/creative.png) creative
Current Music: Limp Bizkit - My Way
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March 27th, 2008
 | 09:58 pm - Show Validation Errors
A few days ago, I made a short post about a pretty woman who made me happy by rubbing my arm. It spawned at least four other posts that were tangentially related to my original idea, which I don't think entirely came across. So I wanted to clarify why I wrote what I did.
The arm rub made an impression on me, and it made an impression on me because it made an impression on me. Because I thought I had my self-esteem in order, you see. I thought I was generally happy with who I was, or at least happier. But yet, attention from a pretty woman still validated me, still made me feel better.
And I wondered why. Why it mattered that she rubbed my arm, why it mattered that she was pretty. What did it say about me that I needed external validation from someone I found attractive? Intellectually, I knew it didn't mean she found me attractive; it was just a friendly gesture. But maybe emotionally, I didn't care. She was nice and friendly and liked libraries; it's not like her appearance was the only positive thing about her. So why was I so focused on it? Especially when, seriously, any woman I just met who hugged me and rubbed my arm would set off my inner "Aw, shucks."
In discussions following the original post, I came to the realization that I have been told I'm SMART my whole life. By this point, I hardly believe it, it's been so instilled in me. I don't want people to tell me I'm smart anymore. I want them to tell me I'm HOT because that's what I'm not used to hearing. So then it would make sense that I would consider people I think are hot to be the keenest arbiters of whether or not I am hot. It might make sense. We all know there's definitely, definitely, definitely no logic to human behaviour.
I also realized that my original post was basically a callback to this post from three years ago, ironically titled "Not a Pretty Boy." In case you were wondering whether men had the same beauty issues as women.
And it turns out I'm still that same guy from three years ago. Am I dysfunctional? Is it okay to be pleased by the beauty of people? Why should a particularly pretty woman have any more power over me than another? I'm still the same person regardless. Of course, we seek validation from all kinds of sources: funny people, popular people, famous people, rich people, etc. We want people who have what we want to tell us that we are just as good as they are.
It's a silly, sad system, but I don't know how any of us can get around it. Is it just human nature?
The discussions inspired by my post caused me to question myself and my motives and how I felt, drudging up issues I thought I had long since resolved. In an attempt to reaffirm my identity, I end with words I wrote five years ago almost to the day:
I'm feeling strangely content with who I am, faults and all. I'm a romantic and an asshole, an idealist and a cynic, a hero and a loser, smart and stupid, sweet and spiteful, thoughtful and lazy. Word to your mother.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/cold.png) cold
Current Music: Muse - Map of the Problematique
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March 26th, 2008
| 12:32 pm - Random Things My Mom Calls Me About
- answers to riddles with answers like "a fish" and "a ring" and "meat" so she can call in to win radio contests
- whether I've heard of a particular movie because she has passes to a free screening
- what movie to go see and what the kids might like
- free movie screenings in my area
- coupons on the Internet for free stuff
- answers to movie trivia so she can call in to win radio contests
- writing clues for scavenger hunts because I am apparently the only clever person she knows
- reminding me to call relatives for their birthdays/anniversaries so I look good
- editing/rewriting articles for the newsletter because I am apparently the only person in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who can write
- telling me how impressed everyone was with an article I wrote because I am apparently the only person in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who can write
- thanking me for the latest season of Veronica Mars that has arrived at her door
- writing a short speech for her because I am apparently the only person in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who can write
- just to hear my voice
As much as I bitch about her, as much as she annoys me and pisses me off and makes me cry, as much as I never want to answer the phone when she calls because she's basically the only person who ever calls me, as much as I sometimes feel like she's deliberately trying to make me unhappy, I really do love my mom, and I'm glad I have her around.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/okay.png) okay
Current Music: Mudvayne - Not Falling
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March 25th, 2008
 | 12:47 am - She Sings, She Dances...into Your Heart!
Editor Arif Sheikh gets into direction with Let's Dance.
Let's Dance is a tale of a dancer and choreographer played by newcomer Gayatri Patel, struggling to get her one big break. When she finally taste success, it feels too good to be true. And it is - until she gets a new dream fuelled by the exuberant energy of a group of street kids who bring her back to the sheer joy of letting it all out on the dance floor. The movie consists of six songs in different moods composed by music director Bipin Mishra, with majority of songs being complete dance numbers. Since dance is a vital element in the movie, dances are by choreographed Saroj Khan, Pappu- Malu and Rajiv Goswami. That story doesn't mean much to most people, but it means a lot to me.
Because "newcomer Gayatri Patel" is a longtime friend of mine!!! I've known her since I was in elementary school. I think we're related in some convoluted manner that may cross bloodlines at some point (such that she ends up being...my aunt, somehow?), but our families have been good friends for years. We would visit them in Opelika, Alabama, frequently, and they visited us in Texas as well. We had so much fun growing up, playing all sorts of games. She was about my age, her sister was about my brother's age, and her brother was about my sister's age. So we had a lot of good times together. I wish I had written them down at the time so the memories would have been preserved.
Throughout her life, she said her goal was to become a Bollywood film star. Her parents supported her dream, and I saw her perform many dances at her house, at wedding receptions, at functions, wherever. I think she took acting classes. She went to India for a year or so to become fluent in Hindi. The last I had heard, she was trying to snag or had snagged some gigs as a background dancer.
But now she's the star of a Bollywood film! After all these years, her dream is becoming a reality! I'm pretty certain her dad is producing the film (I told you they supported her), but everyone needs an in somehow. However the movie gets made, it's getting made, and the fact that she's being referred to as "newcomer" makes it sound like she's poised for stardom, on the verge of breaking out, ready to take home the MTV India Best Newcomer Award.
The last time I saw her was New Year's Eve 2002, the first time I spent NYE away from my family (she took me to a New Year's Eve party held by friends of hers at Emory). At that time, we hadn't seen each other in a while since we'd gone off to college (I was a senior; she was a sophomore). Now, it's been five whole years; it's sad how we lose track of people so easily. But I just found her on Facebook, which is kind of scary awesome for finding people from your past, and I sent her a congratulatory message.
In all those years, I never doubted this moment would come. She was so determined, and she had the talent to back it up. How many kids say they want to be a movie star when they grow up? Gayatri went out and made it happen.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/ecstatic.png) proud
Current Music: Ghost Mice - Oh Me, Oh Me
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March 23rd, 2008
 | 08:49 pm - Show You Just How Good Being Touched Could Be
A pretty woman you've only known for about an hour gives you a hug and follows it up by giving you a friendly rub on the arm, and you somehow feel more validated as a person, like the time you discovered that a complimentary comment on a post came from a very pretty girl, like the time a pretty girl went from "It was nice meeting you" to "It was really nice meeting you" in the course of spending a few hours with you, like all the times you've managed to get a pretty girl who doesn't even know you to smile or laugh. It's not necessarily connected to the potential for romance (because, really, there never is), and the effect sometimes fades once you get to know the person (and they become more than just a pretty face), but the pretty women of the world, they do have a mysterious power over you, the ability to make you feel that you are better than you are, for a small moment.
In this year of many changes, it's nice to know that in some respects, you haven't changed at all.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/sore.png) headache-y
Current Music: Fiona Apple - Across the Universe
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March 21st, 2008
 | 11:56 am - Insert Obligatory Brokeback Mountain Reference Here
Last night, while washing dishes, I came to the following conclusion:
Come this fall, I really have to quit Prison Break and Smallville.
The reasons for this are numerous:- They are the two worst shows I continue to watch. Why am I wasting hours of my life watching shows that aren't even that good? What am I really getting out of them? I've watched the first four episodes of Deadwood, and they're probably better than all of Smallville. Right?
- No one else is watching them anyway! I have embraced television as a social medium, but Prison Break and Smallville don't bring me closer to anyone since no one talks about them. Not specifically and not generally: they're not a big enough part of the cultural zeitgeist to matter.
- I don't really CARE what happens to these people anymore! I mean, I kind of do, but that's what recaplets are for. Smallville as filtered through Omar is better anyway.
- Prison Break is a problem because my Mondays are getting more and more crowded, and, after seeing an ad in Entertainment Weekly that showed me that Cobie Smulders is stupid hot, I have the urge to finally get into How I Met Your Mother.
- Smallville is a problem because my Thursdays are also crowded, even moreso with the Lost move.
- There are already a handful of new shows from writers I like (Cupid, Dollhouse, Fringe, Mythological X, The Middleman) that I'm going to want to try out, and new is fun! Everyone likes new shows!
But I'm not good at this, you guys! I've been watching these shows for years, and I'm such an anal completist that it will niggle at me that I'm missing the rest of the story. That it's out there and I'm not getting it. I mean, it's for that reason that I at least have to watch Smallville until the end of the season just to give it a nice close-out point (except they'll probably have some awesome cliffhanger that will reel me back in). I managed to skip most of the last season of The X-Files back in the day, but I've become far more obsessive about my television-viewing habits since then. I don't know how to let go of TV shows! They're long stories! You can't just put a book down in the middle and never come back to it! How do you people do it? I need a support group.
I was able to quit Jericho and Studio 60, but those were new shows I didn't really have an investment in. Normally, I stick with shows to a fault. It's who I am.
But yesterday, I ordered a Threadless T-shirt L instead of XL! And I'm eating fish and seafood! I don't know what I'm changing into! (A MACHIIIIIIINE?!)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o305/Polter-Cow/Avatar%20Mood%20Theme/distressed.png) distressed
Current Music: The Bravery - Split Me Wide Open
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March 20th, 2008
 | 12:11 am - Dirt Poor Robins Thank Ludwig Van Beethoven, Albert Einstein, and Jesus Christ
I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret, and the name of that secret is Dirt Poor Robins' The Cage, a great CD I just bought for full price. I'm a fucking cheapskate, people, but that's how much I wanted this CD.
I discovered Dirt Poor Robins when my Pandora station gave me "Masquerade," which intrigued me upon the first listen and got a thumbs up. As it came up again, I loved it more and more. So I ventured over to their MySpace, hoping I would find "Masquerade" on tap, but no go. Instead, however, I discovered a fantastic cover of "Eleanor Rigby." It's...just too awesome for words. It's got a whole different energy to it, making the loneliness almost triumphant. Go to the MySpace and listen to the live version, as the album version, which you can hear on the official site, doesn't include the intro (because it's in the previous track).
Unable to illegally download either of these tracks, I was forced, forced I tell you to purchase the CD. There was another incentive to buy the CD, however: it's a concept album about a carnival sideshow, and the liner notes are in the form of a script for the show with various characters singing the lyrics. And when I listened to the CD straight through while following along in the booklet, wow. It made the album ten times cooler. Because there are all these little things like a character picking up the chorus melody herself for specific lines and big things like a love story betwen two characters you wouldn't even know existed if you just listened to the songs. And I love the Grind Pitcher, who often steps into other people's songs and inserts his own comments. (And he's the one who sings "Eleanor Rigby," whose inclusion I understood halfway through the album: these characters, these are the lonely people.) The songs all function on their own as songs, of course, but reading the liner notes enhances them.
And what does it all sound like? They describe their sound as "cinematic rock," but I thought that label was more for E.S. Posthumus and the like. Their label describes it as "music that pulls from rock, folk, and classical arrangement," and that's more accurate. vonnie_k, I can almost guarantee you will love these guys. Kate Robins has a very powerful and versatile voice, and it can get kind of operatic all up in these songs, so she's well equipped. You can listen to four songs on the MySpace and official site, but here are three more to give you a taste:
"Masquerade": The song that hooked me pretty much solely on the basis of Kate Robins's voice and the infectious chorus. It's a good example of the rock/folk/classical mishmash they've got going on. Oh, and the Grind Pitcher pops in for the bridge, and I love the image of him just peeking in from behind the curtain (although the stage directions have him coming up through Trap Door B on Lighting Cue 9...and do you see why this album is worth buying?). And this song was the best thing I had ever recommended to |
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