18 November 2006

Saturday

The parent visit went well, surprisingly. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents. But we were planning to try and move our satellite dish to a more productive spot, and when my dad gets into his projects he sometimes gets into a project mood. I know all about it, because a)I grew up with the man and b)I inherited it from him. But today went very smoothly, and now our beloved satellite is working again. The first thing I did was turn on Comedy Central. And lo and behold, The Royal Tenenbaums was on. Nothing else would do.

Right now Jared and I are sitting here mindlessly watching Zoolander. And while I enjoy this movie, I really don't think this is what we should be doing on a Saturday night. So now I'll try to find something to do in a city full of things to do. Wish me luck.

17 November 2006

Network TV

I've started writing two different posts, but can't seem to find a subject I want to expound on. I'm currently waiting for Jared to arrive, and hopefully I soon I will be in a restaurant somewhere waiting for food to arrive.

Since our satellite dish was blown down by strong winds the other day, there's not much to distract me in the way of television. We have the rabbit ears, and that's it. It gets us the necessary network tv, but geez, have you watched network tv lately? This has got to be some of the worst entertainment I've seen. The Biggest Loser? Deal or No Deal? I do admit to certain tv shows. Namely Gilmore Girls and House. And I was happy that I got to catch 30 Rock and some of The Office last night. I would have never watched those if our satellite dish had been working. But my god. Howie Mandel is creeping me out.

I've got to go take my curlers out.

Whaaa??

Just read that the Pentagon used to list homosexuality along with mental retardation and personality disorders. And people wonder why this country is going to hell.

Here are links (for previous entry), as promised:

Toy Joy
Theremin
The Octopus Project
Trigger Happy TV

16 November 2006

Quick! Post!

I'll be getting this in just under the wire. I got a wild hair up my butt tonight and decided to clean. Maybe it's because Jared (formally known only as "the boyfriend") is coming up, and I haven't seen him in two weeks. Maybe (and this is a little more likely) it's because my parents are coming over this weekend. They rarely show up in Austin, so this is an occasion to clean.

We might be getting an addition to our little family soon. It will be fluffy, with four legs and a tail. Keep your fingers crossed.

My clock says 11:53 PM. Gotta hurry.

We passed Toy Joy tonight (I'll provide the link later, must write!) and outside of their new vegan cafe was a sight to be seen. A band of three members wearing masks (one was a dog mask!) was playing in the parking lot. The dog masked guy was playing a theremin (I promise another link later), which made me the happiest girl in the land. I've grown a little obsessive with the theremin after seeing The Octopus Project live (seriously, it's coming). And I have a weakness for humans dressed up as animals. This is the main reason I LOVED the series Trigger Happy TV. Anyway, this sight is something I wouldn't have seen living in the previous cities I've inhabited, so it was basically just another reason to say that I truly love Austin.

11:58!! Publish!

15 November 2006

Cough

That's all I've been doing. Coughing. And yawning. So I think this will be a very short entry tonight. Here's a picture of the boyfriend and I. His name is Jared. I'm on the right.


14 November 2006

I knew it!

My health has been getting progressively worse with each passing day. Today was the worst by far, with the sneezing and the coughing, the runny nose and the imploding head. I finally took control (as well as you can take control of your health) and checked the weather for central Texas. A COLD FRONT!! As in, a real cold front. Temperatures will be getting down to the upper thirties tomorrow night. I know, I'm excited too! Mainly because this means my allergies have just been warning me that some major shit is coming, and they'll go back to being only mildly annoying in a day or two.

This also means I can pull out my winter music. I have a lot of cds, but really only listen to about half with any consistency. Of those, some seem to show up more during certain seasons. For example, The Arcade Fire is a winter band for me. Mainly because I finally bought their cd just as the weather turned cold last year. I wrapped presents to it. Good times.

I also have music that seems to be my "the seasons are changing" music. I've been listening to Whiskeytown and Wilco a lot lately. Almost exclusively. I (rather embarrasingly) didn't know much about either before I met the boyfriend. After a month of dating, I moved to Austin. A few weeks later, he went to Mexico for a month. He ended up leaving me some of his books and cds that he thought I'd like. Some of those were Whiskeytown and Wilco cds. I think I fell completely in love with him when I listened to them. While I listen to both pretty regularly, these two bands sure can accompany a change in the weather. If you've never listened to either, I suggest you grab them now while the weather's changing (assuming you're in Texas too).

I'll help get you started. Pneumonia will change your life. (Maybe. Or you'll just really enjoy a cd. Either way, it's good.)

13 November 2006

Borat

*Disclaimer: This post contains generalizations for the purpose of making an argument. I don't think all persons living in the US (particularly the midwest) have the same opinions. After all, I am a liberal Texan.*

Just went to a blog that I semi-regularly read, Mighty Girl, and read a post she had about Borat. She basically disliked it, and I assumed a lot of people would. I don't necessarily object to her opinion, because there are some parts in the movie where he, Borat, could be seen as being mean to others. But I don't think it's what defines the movie. There were also some comments from readers who thought that by watching and laughing at this movie, we were all part of the joke. Again, I don't think that's the point of the movie.

Here is my grand overview of the opinion I formed after watching this movie. I know you are all waiting with bated breath.

I don't think Sacha Baron Cohen went into the making of this movie with any malice intended. I think he used (admittedly) easy targets for his jokes, but the reason these people are easy targets is because they have made themselves just that. The frat boys, the Secession Drive dwellers, the people at the rodeo who actually clapped when their President was called a warlord premiere, they are they type of people who, in my opinion, need to be laughed at. Mainly because their ideas are so archaic by today's standards that they are out of step with the rest of the forward-thinking world. They don't want to accept homosexuals, liberals, or those of a different race. I'm all for marching to your own drum and being true to yourself, but when your beliefs end up killing others, you might want to take a step back and wonder why everyone's looking at you funny.

By laughing at this movie, I acknowledged sadly that these people represent the voting majority in our country. (Actually, we did just replace a lot of Republicans with Democrats...maybe the country saw this movie and finally realized how appalling we all look to others...) I don't think that by laughing at this movie I've managed to include myself on the losing end of the joke. I feel that those who believe that's the case are just trying to make those of us who enjoyed the movie feel bad or stupid for doing so. It won't work. Mr. Cohen wasn't making fun of me for thinking slavery should still be around, or believing that the Iraq war is what's best for this country or this world. He wasn't making fun of me because I don't believe those things.

I'm tempted to say that this movie is getting too much attention for what it's worth, but I know that'd be wrong. This movie needs to drum up all of this talking and love and hatred. By making this movie, Mr. Cohen has forced everyone to look at themselves and others with a more careful eye. And I think that's exactly what this country needs, me included.

So in the end, I'll always like this movie. It's not a masterpiece, but it is more important than some would like to admit. It's easy to write it off as rude, stupid humor, but you're not giving it a fair shot if you do that.

And anyway, I'd be interested to see how many Borat haters watch reality TV every week. You can't tell me that some of those programs don't subject some people to ridicule.

If people have differing opinions and want to let me know about them, I'm all for 'em. After all, I'd be a hypocrite not to listen to them after this post.

12 November 2006

I am woman

Well, I watched movies and cried again today. But this time, it was Rudy. I'd seen it a long time ago, probably while I was lying with my bean bag in my parent's living room. So today when I started watching it, it was like I was seeing it for the first time. All I remembered was that it was a tear jerker or heart warmer or anything else you say about inspirational true story sports movies. And it sure was all of those things. It jerked several tears from my very willing eyes. Ahh, football.

My friend Marci is going to be a football player. And I mean a real football player. She's not playing touch football, but serious "I'm going to take your head off" football. I'm buying season tickets.

This weekend wasn't extremely productive, but I did get the front and back yards weed whacked. I would say that I mowed them, but our mower is not a great one, our front yard is really too small to mow, and the back yard has a lot of potentially lethal rocks tucked away. So the weed whacker got a good workout today. As did my arms. I really don't have a lot of arm strength, and for hours afterwards, I couldn't lift them without a lot of motivation and momentum. And the only reason I'm typing right now is because I had a beer and three Ibuprofen. The pain is numbed for now. And the yards look great, which makes my Sunday complete.