One small step
Jul. 13th, 2008 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fredericksWhen Friday came around I made getting out of the house for the weekend my main goal. I've spent most of my life avoiding going out in public and/or entering social situations during my free time whenever possible (it's much easier for me to socialize when it's my job to do so, mainly because the focus is never on me but on the population with which I'm working), so I figured it would be hard or very taxing. It turned out to be neither.
Saturday I'd initially planned to hit a new salon to get a radical new 'do, but![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
captainschlumpy was kind enough to invite me to go out and about with her and a couple of her friends from out-of-town, so we spent much of the afternoon doing touristy things in Manhattan. I'd pushed the salon visit back to the evening, but my menstrual cramps decided to ramp up and I threw in the towel early.
Today I went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art with my mother and a friend of the family to check out the Murakami exhibit before it closed up shop. It was the first time I'd been to the Brooklyn museum and I was a little disappointed by the small scale (we went through the entire building, lingering here and there at various areas, within three hours), but otherwise found many interesting bits to gawk at (the Woodaabe Charm Dance, where the men of the tribe put on facial adornments and make-up, then prance and sing in front of a crowd of rather stoic-faced women who then choose among the men lovers and/or husbands? *completely* fascinating). I found the Murakami exhibit to be a little underwhelming and, at times, bewildering (is flying spunk really necessary?), but intriguing. Afterwards we headed out to Whole Foods, where I spent entirely too much money (as usual).
On the agenda for next weekend: either the Guggenheim or the Museum of Sex.
*
I'm feeling more energized lately. I think it's because I'm finally keeping normal hours and I'm no longer dreading going to work. My job's also allowing me to indulge in more activity during the day, and keeping active always has a good impact on one's mental health. If our crappy scale's any indication I've lost around five pounds since starting out in the field, with most of that loss occurring more recently as I actually have enough energy to consciously make healthier diet choices. I'm watching less television and have even managed to finish a couple of books (Puppy Chow Is Better Than Prozac, which was awesome until the last fifty pages or so, and Swordspoint, which has me on the fence opinion-wise but was a fast fun read) and have made it my mission to finish another one by week's end (either The Snow Garden which I've started and ...meh, or Altered Carbon).
Since I'm on the topic, the Flewelling's new release.captainschlumpy read it and told me about it in ear-bleeding detail. So, basically, it's slavefic. And not even *good* slavefic (I swear that's not an oxymoron; see also Auburn's fabulous "In The City Of Seven Walls") but THIS KIND OF SLAVEFIC (link courtesy of captainschlumpy, who just completely rocks socks). Whygodwhy question. mark. Srsly. I shall say no more on the topic. Unless prompted, of course.
*
I've seen Wall-E, and I'm "meh" about it. I found it visually stunning, but the message(s)? Somewhat too heavy-handed to work for me. And it was too hard to separate the messenger from the message (the mouse ears threw a massive shadow over all and sundry). A couple of articles that I found interesting reading: this one from Slate (which I don't totally agree with, mainly because the movie did an effective job of *not* making the humans mindless fat blobs, but I think the author brings up relevant points) and this one from the Onion's AV Club, that just summaries some of the issues different groups had with the film (I had no idea various large folk groups were up in arms about the movie; really?).
And, guilty admission: I really want to see Tropic Thunder. My brothers and I have been throwing around the line "what do you mean, 'you people'??" for the last two weeks and cracking each other up.
'k, that's it. Me sleep now.
Saturday I'd initially planned to hit a new salon to get a radical new 'do, but
captainschlumpy was kind enough to invite me to go out and about with her and a couple of her friends from out-of-town, so we spent much of the afternoon doing touristy things in Manhattan. I'd pushed the salon visit back to the evening, but my menstrual cramps decided to ramp up and I threw in the towel early. Today I went to the Brooklyn Museum of Art with my mother and a friend of the family to check out the Murakami exhibit before it closed up shop. It was the first time I'd been to the Brooklyn museum and I was a little disappointed by the small scale (we went through the entire building, lingering here and there at various areas, within three hours), but otherwise found many interesting bits to gawk at (the Woodaabe Charm Dance, where the men of the tribe put on facial adornments and make-up, then prance and sing in front of a crowd of rather stoic-faced women who then choose among the men lovers and/or husbands? *completely* fascinating). I found the Murakami exhibit to be a little underwhelming and, at times, bewildering (is flying spunk really necessary?), but intriguing. Afterwards we headed out to Whole Foods, where I spent entirely too much money (as usual).
On the agenda for next weekend: either the Guggenheim or the Museum of Sex.
*
I'm feeling more energized lately. I think it's because I'm finally keeping normal hours and I'm no longer dreading going to work. My job's also allowing me to indulge in more activity during the day, and keeping active always has a good impact on one's mental health. If our crappy scale's any indication I've lost around five pounds since starting out in the field, with most of that loss occurring more recently as I actually have enough energy to consciously make healthier diet choices. I'm watching less television and have even managed to finish a couple of books (Puppy Chow Is Better Than Prozac, which was awesome until the last fifty pages or so, and Swordspoint, which has me on the fence opinion-wise but was a fast fun read) and have made it my mission to finish another one by week's end (either The Snow Garden which I've started and ...meh, or Altered Carbon).
Since I'm on the topic, the Flewelling's new release.
captainschlumpy read it and told me about it in ear-bleeding detail. So, basically, it's slavefic. And not even *good* slavefic (I swear that's not an oxymoron; see also Auburn's fabulous "In The City Of Seven Walls") but THIS KIND OF SLAVEFIC (link courtesy of captainschlumpy, who just completely rocks socks). Whygodwhy question. mark. Srsly. I shall say no more on the topic. Unless prompted, of course. *
I've seen Wall-E, and I'm "meh" about it. I found it visually stunning, but the message(s)? Somewhat too heavy-handed to work for me. And it was too hard to separate the messenger from the message (the mouse ears threw a massive shadow over all and sundry). A couple of articles that I found interesting reading: this one from Slate (which I don't totally agree with, mainly because the movie did an effective job of *not* making the humans mindless fat blobs, but I think the author brings up relevant points) and this one from the Onion's AV Club, that just summaries some of the issues different groups had with the film (I had no idea various large folk groups were up in arms about the movie; really?).
And, guilty admission: I really want to see Tropic Thunder. My brothers and I have been throwing around the line "what do you mean, 'you people'??" for the last two weeks and cracking each other up.
'k, that's it. Me sleep now.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 02:31 am (UTC)You do know that this consideration means you are made of win, right?
no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 11:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 10:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 07:21 pm (UTC)I had never heard of this before, so when I read this, I looked for videos. That *is* interesting. Talk about role reversals.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 11:16 pm (UTC)the jury was out on it for me. it was better than cars or finding nemo, and the robot romance was cute, and it was great how they made everything look as though it was shot with a camera and the first forty minutes was silent and so on. all of this was good, but.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-14 11:56 pm (UTC)I agree...although the next leap would be to say that by regressing the people they were implying that overweight folk are helpless and/or childlike. *shrug* The size of the people wasn't so much the focus of the movie, but their overall inability to do much of anything because of atrophy. I thought the scene where the man fell out of his hoverchair and was unable to get up and the individuals around him were unable (but definitely not unwilling) to lend him a hand illustrated that, but I think if you're already feeling slighted it's easy to interpret that whole sequence as a "fat joke".
I thought the romance was cute as well, but felt like the "message" aspect should have at least made a blip on the trailer radar. I mean, I sat through nearly 15 minutes of footage at Comic-Con, and nowhere did I get any hint about the message hammers that bludgeoned me during the last twenty minutes or so of movie. It wasn't an A plot/B plot movie, but I left there feeling like it sorta was, and it had me a little put out. The whole "Wall-E" as mourned hero thing was hella annoying too. I'd forgotten about that.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-15 01:10 am (UTC)Yeah, I had fun on Sat. Thanks for hanging out with us, it was awesome!
Dude, flying spunk is alway necessary. If only to scare little old ladies and make art snobs shoot wine out of their noses! My favorite was the giant panel of killer mushrooms based on a buddhist scroll. trippy and educational!
no subject
Date: 2008-07-15 01:48 am (UTC)It was so funny. All these parents brought their kids to the exhibit, and most of the rooms were teeming with little rugrats...except THAT room. I walked a bit behind my mom so I completely missed her reaction, but she fairly zoomed out of that room. I never got the gumption to ask her what she thought of that one. I myself walked in and saw the dude sort of chillin' in the buff with his wang out and this stuff and I started saying to myself "what is that ohhhhhhhhhh, Jebus! mein eyes!" It was surreal.
But even with that room under consideration, my favorite bit had to be the translation of the caption on the large panel of the creature being sick. Something along the lines of "as the bile spews from my mouth and shit and piss flow forth..." for, like, a full paragraph. I wanted to write it down but I figured that was taking things too far.
"how many syllables, mario?"
Date: 2008-07-17 10:12 pm (UTC)if you're looking forward to tropic thunder, please allow me to recommend -- with some caveats -- putney swope. robert downey jr's dad directed it in the 1960s, and it's a comedy about a black advertising exec who takes over a conservative ad agency. i bring it up because the character RDJ plays seems like a character out of putney, down to the voice (which his dad had to dub for the lead actor).
(forest worked as the reference librarian at the harlem branch of the NYPL. a lot of this was funny because it was true.)