This n’ That
Oh, Lets Just Get This Out of The Way…
US President George W. Bush has said the September 11 revolt of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the first blow of "World War III".
Now, the question is:
Is he an imbecile who is desperately trying to win America back on his side by using a completely inappropriate analogy for his monstrous screw ups in foreign policy and homeland security?
OR
Is he a frightening evangelical zealot who honestly feels he is fulfilling his role in bringing about the End of Days?
You decide.
For the record, there simply is NO COMPARISON between the previous World Wars (whether you consider the Napoleonic Wars to be included in that or not, and believe me that is a lively debate amongst the laymen) and what is happening today. The World Wars were fought between the strongest nations, repeat NATIONS, of the world. Iraq and Afghanistan do not even qualify as first world nations, nor are we fighting the nations themselves. We are an occupying Army fighting a rebellion within their borders. Al Queda is also not a nation, but a group of murderous thugs attached to no territory. Hence the reason why invading a country to attempt to “stop terrorism” is an idiotic idea.
I’m sure the people of London and Madrid agree.
If this becomes a World War it will be because other First World nations get sick and tired of America arbitrarily invading countries in order to secure oil reserves/following some completely hypocritical and twisted anti-Muslim agenda.
So if the Capitol catches on fire, be afraid, be very afraid.
Remember Lo So Many Moons Ago…
When I complained about “reverse sexism”: The trend of girls making sexual objects out of themselves?
Looks like I’m not the only one that noticed:
Stupid Girls by Pink
Stupid girl, stupid girls, stupid girls
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
Porno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Go to Fred Segal, you'll find them there
Laughing loud so all the little people stare
Looking for a daddy to pay for the champagne
(Drop a name)
What happened to the dreams of a girl president
She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent
They travel in packs of two or three
With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees
Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?
Oh where, oh where could they be?
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
Porno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
(Break it down now)
Disease's growing, it's epidemic
I'm scared that there ain't a cure
The world believes it and I'm going crazy
I cannot take any more
I'm so glad that I'll never fit in
That will never be me
Outcasts and girls with ambition
That's what I wanna see
Disasters all around
World despaired
Their only concern
Will they fuck up my hair
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
Porno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
[Interlude]
Oh my god you guys, I totally had more than 300 calories
That was so not sexy, no
Good one, can I borrow that?
[Vomits]
I WILL BE SKINNY
(Do ya think, do ya think, do ya think)
(I like this, like this, like this)
Pretty will you fuck me girl, silly as a lucky girl
Pull my head and suck it girl, stupid girl!
Pretty would you fuck me girl, silly as a lucky girl
Pull my head and suck it girl, stupid girl!
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back
Push up my bra like that, stupid girl!
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
Porno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Sing It Sister!
The video is a riot as well.
Last year, Reese Witherspoon also commented on this trend of starlets marketing themselves as morons and how insulting it was to all the women who had come before them, working their butts off the break barriers not only in employment, but in the female stereotype.
"Our mothers and our grandmothers and the women that came before us fought so hard to overcome the stereotype of women being not smart enough to vote, not smart enough to [receive] higher education, to have great jobs. And to single-handedly go out in a very public way and say, 'You know what, I don't really care about what they achieved. I'm just going be stupid and that's cute.' I don't think it's a good message for young women."
And you know what, she just might be right.
On to Lighter Fare
Any country where you can give up being a dentist to become Doc Holiday can’t be all bad.
Click on the Smith’s main page to choose from a selection of articles for “Destination America” and learn about some of the special out of the way nooks that makes this country so great.
Now I want to watch Silverado again.
I bet you thought I was going to say “Tombstone”, didn’t you?
Have that one memorized.
Kip’s Call
This last week Fark pulled up an article from The Guardian that provoked a long discussion about Science Fiction and just what are the top ten Science Fiction films of all time.
The Guardians List was comprised of:
10. Close Encounters
9. The Matrix
8. War of the Worlds (1953)
7. The Day The Earth Stood Still
6. The Terminator
5. Solaris
4. Alien
3. Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back
2. 2001
1. (Much to my brother’s approval, I’m sure) Bladerunner
Now, some of these are absolutely worthy, but some of them are simply there because of popular rather than critical acclaim (Solaris). In short, this seem to be a list of the traditionally held ”Best SciFi” by people who don’t watch all that much SciFi.
For example, leaving Metropolis off any Best SciFi list is a crime. Not only is it the film that started it all, it’s story has been retold in various genres down throughout the 20th century and it’s visual imagery is iconic.
As much as they seem to be hated within the community, I would include Contact and Minority Report since they are both excellent “What If”s. Contact is especially worthy of praise for holding true to Carl Sagan’s vision, despite overwhelming pressure from the Studios to make it more melodramatic and “personal” ie. “More Hollywood, less thinking.”
For those the enjoy the dark alternative realities of the Matrix, I would also recommend engaging in a real mindscrew to watch a predecessor: Dark City.
There are also the dystopian Clockwork Orange, Gattaca, Fahrenheit 451 (I do so love watching literati trying to claim that is not science fiction), Equilibrium and Dr. Strangelove to consider as well. (Though Dr. Strangelove does straddle that fine line between political commentary and immediate-future SciFi.)
And you must tip your hat to Terry Gilliam for Twelve Monkey's and Brazil.
Other films that perhaps are not good enough for the list, but should receive honorable mentions (IMO): the woefully underappreciated Enemy Mine, The Iron Giant (vin Diesel has SciFi street Cred forever for that role), the cheesy but immensely fun The Last Starfighter, and Serenity, as well as Star Trek’s 6 and 8.
A fierce debate broke out over whether Star Wars could be considered SciFi vs. Science Fantasy. It doesn’t matter, the impact of the original trilogy was seismic, not only within the genre. It was a world wide cultural phenomenon. Lucas’s brilliant creation is definitely deserving of a place on the list.
I am aware that this list is woefully incomplete and would happily add any anyone cared to recommend. This is just what comes off the top of my head.
Two Races
One I watched (Talladega) and one I listened to (Richmond).
Dega was an exercise in frustration for all my guys as Mark Martin got taken out early on by Youngsters Being Stupid, Dale Jr.'s engine blowing and despite having the dominant car all day, Elliott being hung out to dry in the final laps.
*Kip shakes fist at entire garage* Unconscionable Curs!! All a yas! Curs!
Wait, I’ve owned a couple curs.
Jerks! All a yas! Jerks!
And then Richmond last night, in which Dale Jr. finally drove his way into Victory Lane. From the sounds of things there was some first rate work behind the wheel as well as in the pits. Good job all. :) Elliott hung out in the teens most of the day, making a couple lunges into the top ten but finishing 13th. He doesn’t have his race report up yet, so I’m not sure what the issue was. From what I hear it was tight then loose then tight again. It’s disappointing for him on his home track, but he has plenty of shots at it left in his career and he is still well within shooting range for the Chase, so no worries. Sadler started out last year strong and then spent the second half of the season struggling. With the new CC, this year it’s just reversed.
Mark Martin is also up one to 4th place in the standings. Consistency is key.
On The Homefront
Well, the rain that has been threatening all day finally came down with the sun. Post-finals has been spent rather quietly. I am fairly, as in 99% sure, of my grades but until I see the official report (which will be complied Monday night) I don’t want to jinx it. I’ve been reading The Thin Man by Dashell Hammett. My father introduced me to Mickey Spillane a while back and I have slowly been making my way through the noir mysteries in fits and starts. Hammett is...well it’s easy to see why he switched to writing scripts. “Spare” doesn’t really cover it. The plot it good, the characters are great and dialogue is good...there isn’t anything else. I mean it, descriptions, character histories, interior monologues, nothing. Zip. This bare bones writing…and it works.
If you ever needed proof that Blue Jay’s were the cheeky bastards of the forest:
He was bouncing around out there for 30 minutes or so...*chuckle*
The uber-attentive feline is Hope, BTW.
Hold on a Sec:
Just hosting a pic.
US President George W. Bush has said the September 11 revolt of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the first blow of "World War III".
Now, the question is:
Is he an imbecile who is desperately trying to win America back on his side by using a completely inappropriate analogy for his monstrous screw ups in foreign policy and homeland security?
OR
Is he a frightening evangelical zealot who honestly feels he is fulfilling his role in bringing about the End of Days?
You decide.
For the record, there simply is NO COMPARISON between the previous World Wars (whether you consider the Napoleonic Wars to be included in that or not, and believe me that is a lively debate amongst the laymen) and what is happening today. The World Wars were fought between the strongest nations, repeat NATIONS, of the world. Iraq and Afghanistan do not even qualify as first world nations, nor are we fighting the nations themselves. We are an occupying Army fighting a rebellion within their borders. Al Queda is also not a nation, but a group of murderous thugs attached to no territory. Hence the reason why invading a country to attempt to “stop terrorism” is an idiotic idea.
I’m sure the people of London and Madrid agree.
If this becomes a World War it will be because other First World nations get sick and tired of America arbitrarily invading countries in order to secure oil reserves/following some completely hypocritical and twisted anti-Muslim agenda.
So if the Capitol catches on fire, be afraid, be very afraid.
Remember Lo So Many Moons Ago…
When I complained about “reverse sexism”: The trend of girls making sexual objects out of themselves?
Looks like I’m not the only one that noticed:
Stupid Girls by Pink
Stupid girl, stupid girls, stupid girls
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
Porno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Go to Fred Segal, you'll find them there
Laughing loud so all the little people stare
Looking for a daddy to pay for the champagne
(Drop a name)
What happened to the dreams of a girl president
She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent
They travel in packs of two or three
With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees
Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?
Oh where, oh where could they be?
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
Porno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
(Break it down now)
Disease's growing, it's epidemic
I'm scared that there ain't a cure
The world believes it and I'm going crazy
I cannot take any more
I'm so glad that I'll never fit in
That will never be me
Outcasts and girls with ambition
That's what I wanna see
Disasters all around
World despaired
Their only concern
Will they fuck up my hair
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
Porno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
[Interlude]
Oh my god you guys, I totally had more than 300 calories
That was so not sexy, no
Good one, can I borrow that?
[Vomits]
I WILL BE SKINNY
(Do ya think, do ya think, do ya think)
(I like this, like this, like this)
Pretty will you fuck me girl, silly as a lucky girl
Pull my head and suck it girl, stupid girl!
Pretty would you fuck me girl, silly as a lucky girl
Pull my head and suck it girl, stupid girl!
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back
Push up my bra like that, stupid girl!
Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back
Porno Paparazzi girl, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back
Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl
Sing It Sister!
The video is a riot as well.
Last year, Reese Witherspoon also commented on this trend of starlets marketing themselves as morons and how insulting it was to all the women who had come before them, working their butts off the break barriers not only in employment, but in the female stereotype.
"Our mothers and our grandmothers and the women that came before us fought so hard to overcome the stereotype of women being not smart enough to vote, not smart enough to [receive] higher education, to have great jobs. And to single-handedly go out in a very public way and say, 'You know what, I don't really care about what they achieved. I'm just going be stupid and that's cute.' I don't think it's a good message for young women."
And you know what, she just might be right.
On to Lighter Fare
Any country where you can give up being a dentist to become Doc Holiday can’t be all bad.
Click on the Smith’s main page to choose from a selection of articles for “Destination America” and learn about some of the special out of the way nooks that makes this country so great.
Now I want to watch Silverado again.
I bet you thought I was going to say “Tombstone”, didn’t you?
Have that one memorized.
Kip’s Call
This last week Fark pulled up an article from The Guardian that provoked a long discussion about Science Fiction and just what are the top ten Science Fiction films of all time.
The Guardians List was comprised of:10. Close Encounters
9. The Matrix
8. War of the Worlds (1953)
7. The Day The Earth Stood Still
6. The Terminator
5. Solaris
4. Alien
3. Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back
2. 2001
1. (Much to my brother’s approval, I’m sure) Bladerunner
Now, some of these are absolutely worthy, but some of them are simply there because of popular rather than critical acclaim (Solaris). In short, this seem to be a list of the traditionally held ”Best SciFi” by people who don’t watch all that much SciFi.
For example, leaving Metropolis off any Best SciFi list is a crime. Not only is it the film that started it all, it’s story has been retold in various genres down throughout the 20th century and it’s visual imagery is iconic.
As much as they seem to be hated within the community, I would include Contact and Minority Report since they are both excellent “What If”s. Contact is especially worthy of praise for holding true to Carl Sagan’s vision, despite overwhelming pressure from the Studios to make it more melodramatic and “personal” ie. “More Hollywood, less thinking.”
For those the enjoy the dark alternative realities of the Matrix, I would also recommend engaging in a real mindscrew to watch a predecessor: Dark City.
There are also the dystopian Clockwork Orange, Gattaca, Fahrenheit 451 (I do so love watching literati trying to claim that is not science fiction), Equilibrium and Dr. Strangelove to consider as well. (Though Dr. Strangelove does straddle that fine line between political commentary and immediate-future SciFi.)
And you must tip your hat to Terry Gilliam for Twelve Monkey's and Brazil.
Other films that perhaps are not good enough for the list, but should receive honorable mentions (IMO): the woefully underappreciated Enemy Mine, The Iron Giant (vin Diesel has SciFi street Cred forever for that role), the cheesy but immensely fun The Last Starfighter, and Serenity, as well as Star Trek’s 6 and 8.
A fierce debate broke out over whether Star Wars could be considered SciFi vs. Science Fantasy. It doesn’t matter, the impact of the original trilogy was seismic, not only within the genre. It was a world wide cultural phenomenon. Lucas’s brilliant creation is definitely deserving of a place on the list.
I am aware that this list is woefully incomplete and would happily add any anyone cared to recommend. This is just what comes off the top of my head.
Two Races
One I watched (Talladega) and one I listened to (Richmond).
Dega was an exercise in frustration for all my guys as Mark Martin got taken out early on by Youngsters Being Stupid, Dale Jr.'s engine blowing and despite having the dominant car all day, Elliott being hung out to dry in the final laps.
*Kip shakes fist at entire garage* Unconscionable Curs!! All a yas! Curs!
Wait, I’ve owned a couple curs.
Jerks! All a yas! Jerks!
And then Richmond last night, in which Dale Jr. finally drove his way into Victory Lane. From the sounds of things there was some first rate work behind the wheel as well as in the pits. Good job all. :) Elliott hung out in the teens most of the day, making a couple lunges into the top ten but finishing 13th. He doesn’t have his race report up yet, so I’m not sure what the issue was. From what I hear it was tight then loose then tight again. It’s disappointing for him on his home track, but he has plenty of shots at it left in his career and he is still well within shooting range for the Chase, so no worries. Sadler started out last year strong and then spent the second half of the season struggling. With the new CC, this year it’s just reversed.
Mark Martin is also up one to 4th place in the standings. Consistency is key.
On The Homefront
Well, the rain that has been threatening all day finally came down with the sun. Post-finals has been spent rather quietly. I am fairly, as in 99% sure, of my grades but until I see the official report (which will be complied Monday night) I don’t want to jinx it. I’ve been reading The Thin Man by Dashell Hammett. My father introduced me to Mickey Spillane a while back and I have slowly been making my way through the noir mysteries in fits and starts. Hammett is...well it’s easy to see why he switched to writing scripts. “Spare” doesn’t really cover it. The plot it good, the characters are great and dialogue is good...there isn’t anything else. I mean it, descriptions, character histories, interior monologues, nothing. Zip. This bare bones writing…and it works.
If you ever needed proof that Blue Jay’s were the cheeky bastards of the forest:
He was bouncing around out there for 30 minutes or so...*chuckle*
The uber-attentive feline is Hope, BTW.
Hold on a Sec:
Just hosting a pic.
posted by KiplingKat | 8:22 PM
20 Comments:
So Kip, here's a few thoughts:
1 Since you've now added mtropolis, Dark City, and Contact...I'm beginning to wonder if I haven't been a sci-fi geek all along. How would you classify things like Henson's "Storyteller" or "Dark Crystal"? What about anything having to do with vampires? I've been sort of accidentally obsessed with the more "romantic" vampire legends ever since that bald guy showed up on Buck Rogers.
Oh god, I am a geek.
2. PINK!!!! So much love! I saw that video for the first time one morning at around 5 am at work...and actually felt happy. She's the greatest.
3. Obviously, I'm getting blogs switched, but I'm too tired to start over now.
4. Where are you finding skiSad's race reports? I haven't seen anything new...is he writing his own again? Cause that would be cool.
5. (Completely unrelated) Am I crazy or did it seem like Jade was totally smacking my lame little joke down...and hard, too. I'm not going to be up nights wondering...I just wanted to know if I overreacted to it. Sometimes subtext is lost in the written word...sometimes.
Also, the less I know about the drivers and who/what they're dating, the easier it is for me to like them. I guess that puts me in a minority.
6. I take it somebody got her grades and is partying like mad. I've been out every night for weeks for no damn good reason at all...but i'm rapidly getting sick of it. (See? OLD)
Peace out.
In no particular order:
Pink Rules, and she has that Tank Girl thing going on. I don’t have TV, so I didn’t find this until now. I heard the song on the radio and had to go look her up.
Dark Crystal like Lord of the Rings is considered Fantasy, which Henson was a master at (remember Labyrinth?), which definitely falls under the greater genre of “Geek Interests”. There just have been so few really good fantasy films recognized by the greater media they just don’t get discussed as much. Hopefully LOTR broke a barrier so that we will see more good fantasy.
Vampire films tend to be classified under “Horror”, which has many geek aficionados, but so many non-geek aficionados that it isn’t viewed as a “Geek thing”. There are so many vampire films of various quality that I think it qualifies for it’s own sub genre.
I read Interview with a Vampire many moons ago, and loved it though I wish Rice hadn’t fallen quite so hard for Lestat in subsequent books. I enjoyed the Vampire Lestat for all the cool characters/vampires (Gabrielle was awesome), but after that I couldn’t get into it. Which book/films do you favor?
Re: Jade. Maybe, but I think by now he knows you, knows when you are joking and when you are being serious, and it would be rather odd for him to take that *so* seriously. Perhaps Adam Vogel, the kid with Aspergers, has him toeing a more careful line than usual? Either way I wouldn’t let it get to you. I certainly would keep posting and being you.
ESad’s race reports go up sporadically on his & Hermie’s Fan Club website. They did post for Richmond: http://www.sadlerfanclub.com/artman/publish/article_1450.shtml The car/tires wouldn’t come into until the middle of a green flag run and how many of those did they have? But they kept digging. ESad is getting this quarterback thing down.
He isn’t doing the USA Today column anymore. :( Though I understand he is trying out his own MySpace website. However the announcement posted about it on the fansite was kinda filled with mixed messages on whether it was for fans or personal friends, so I’m erring on the side of caution and just staying away.
Re: Drivers and dating. Well, I’m with you. If you stay out of the unofficial fanboards, you don’t hear it and that’s all good.
Certainly a certain, if not large amount, of that is young men sowing their wild oats with disposable women which can be disappointing to hear about. But A. Having had older brothers, one of whom was in the Corp, and having heard some of my fathers and his buddies adventures when he was in the military (“It was one of those leaves where you either walked out a boyscout or you walked out a bastard and either way you felt like crap.”)…I think for 80% of men in the world if they could get away with it they would do it too. It doesn’t make it right, but it does make it male. B. I don’t know these girls. They could be very nice, very smart girls who are “working the system” if you will. Maybe they are just trying to parlay modeling/cheerleading into a career in the media somehow. I got nuthin’ but respect for Tyra, she’s really parlayed modeling into her own little media empire and props to her so I will be open to the fact that there are more Trya’s out there. C. For guys as career focused as athletes at this level of competition is, personal romantic maturity is something that just hasn’t been paid as much attention to as it would with other men with less occupying their time and attention, so I’m not surprised when it comes out they’re a bit behind the curve in that regard. But: D. You don’t get to that level of completion without a brain in you head. I think most of these guys will eventually realize that while the fake boobs, make-up and shoe obsession is fun to dally with, they will want to settle down with someone they actually enjoy hanging out with. I get the impression that the majority of NASCAR wives are not to be underestimated nor to be judged by the pit-lizards that may have preceded them in their husband’s lives.
Re: Partying. Wish I’ve been out partying like mad. My celebration was a flurry of phone calls back to CA and ME and a couple glasses of wine (it’s no fun drinking alone, even if you are at a bar, maybe when I have settled into this town more I’ll be out partying more.) I’ve been out pounding the bricks looking for a summer job.
Maybe I’m just a boring person but I don’t miss it that much. My best friend in High School was dating an older guy in a band, so at 17 I was hanging out that the Whiskey and the Roxy and dragging her hammered butt home every Friday and Saturday night (He was 34, he had a day job, he would entrust her to me), not that I didn’t have a few nights like that myself, but by the time I was 21, I was done. Been there, done that: T-shirt, belt buckle, baseball cap. Getting drunk just to get drunk kinda lost it's allure, especially around a bunch of strangers. I mean, I will go out and have some laughs with my friends, Dave and Busters is a favored spot geeks that we are, but that’s it. :) Not a raise-the-roof kinda gal...unless it involves an FPS. :D
Like I said, maybe I’m just a boring person.
P.S. Remembering Buck Rogers is definately tick on the "Geek Qualification Box".
My brother's first love was Linda Grey.
Nascar Wimmen: No, the only wives ya hear of are hard as nails. Which I like. But that's an older generation (except Harvick, who is like an anachronistic, contrary/cool bastard in his own weird way) This generation is sinking into my nightmares of spoiled, useless mama'sboys with a breast fetish and a need to win at everything...even if it's "who has the more ridiculous sex life". Those boys wouldn't last a round with Patty, Theresa, or even Delana (sp?) but then I think they know that, and are "overcompensating" at some level. Ahem.
But I hope that I'm wrong. I have 4 brothers, and even though there were some scary "I love her, and she's so much more than an exotic dancer!" moments, for the most part, they straightened up. (Jury's still out on the youngest, a trust-fund fratboy in Tennesee who hasn't bothered to contact his po' relations in a number of years, but he WAS a sweet kid) When I think of how girls in my high school would pretend to be my friend to get close to my brothers...and I'm talking the poor ones...I do have some idea of how crazy it might get if you really have anything to offer. Women are getting crazy aggressive and opportunistic. I'm just troubled that the men don't seem to see thru it. Abandon all hope?
Anne Rice: Love the Mayfair witches series. Enjoyed all the vamp books that *didn't* focus on Lestat (he bored me a little). Loved Buffy. Used to read this lame series in Jr. High that was like the precurser to Buffy (high school students become vampires, blond "good girl" falls for "nice" vamp hundreds of years her senior, must fight evil together but nothing else, angst-cakes) No games or gothiness, just good ole fashioned escapism.
When I think back, the first crush was probably "AirWolf". Then Billy Idol (I wanted to be Cyndi Lauper). Bo Duke snuck in somewhere, maybe he was 1st, i dunno. Then around 9ish it was...David Bowie in Labyrinth (!) Which, upon reviewing it in college for the first time in years, i was SHOCKED at his, um, appearance...and a little worried about myself, too. I distinctly remember wishing the Goblin King WOULD catch Jennifer (who reminded me of a brunette me) and feeling vaguely guilty about that...and very, very curious.
It was the first of many bad guys I would root for secretly, both fictional and (unfortunately) real. Should I blame Henson for my relationship woes? Or the makers of spandex?
LOTR is my favorite movie (any of the 3, honestly) I have difficulty not drooling whenever Karl Urban as mad, noble Viking is onscreen: proving that i do, in fact, want a white knight after all. how trite. O, Riders of Rohan. i was just getting good at the bad boy lifestyle, too.
Unlike women who are "working the system" I really shy away from physicality on the job. HAving seen where that could lead, I'd rather not waste my time going down that rabbit hole. (Again, not hiding in polyester and fried foods...just jeans and a ponytail) A lot of women in tv are hacking away the system from opposite ends; "virginal" good-girls who play dumb throughout their day of dealing with CONSTANT sexual harassment from our co-workers, and trash-talking ballbusters who try to out-crude the boys. (handy guide: Virgins on camera, ballbusters off) I'm not taking either route, I'm older than a lot of thses girls, and I never want to get "stuck" with either role. Certain coworkers will blow smoke about me being the only 1 they respect, but they never do it in public earshot, so who knows? What we all can agree on is the girls who blatantly slept, blew, or who-knows-what their way to the middle...such as the girl who replaced me as director. Now everyone complains to me how much they hate her, but it's too late for me to care. I'm not going back. No job, even if the money wasn't laughable, is worth that horseshit. She hates the manager she... whatevers (I don't want to know) but does everything he wants like a good little pet. Repulsive.
One of the assholes came up to me privately, after i'd finagled my department change, and said "You're the smartest person here. You're a fucking genius"
The next day, he was right back to "What? I can't hear you. Can you leeeeaaan into this mic?"
Not one person said a damn thing to me on my brithday. Apparently telling the sports anchor to get his fucking hands off my breasts before I remove whatever genitals I can find on him with my fingernails makes ME a "bitch". A few of them have tried to make some pathetic move, i guess courtesy of me not being "one of those" angry girls who wants to control the pretty people they hate from behind the camera. I started out a dancer, and was sometimes cast as nothing more than a walking clotheshanger in certain plays, so i try not to make people feel cheap when they work with me. Like I said, I belong in film.
I'm ending this rant, and apologizing. Sorry for the spew.
Wow, o.k. First of all, I’m sorry it took this long to respond. You gave me a lot to think about. Second: Don’t ever apologize for getting on a rant, especially here. Be pretty darn hypocritical of me to accept an apology for ranting. It’s all good. :)
Third: Hey, Jade just yelled at me too. Good company at the principal’s office. ^5!
Now then: Are you serious? He actually pawed your breasts? Jeez-ZUS! No wonder you’ve been drinking, I would too. Ugh! Man I am so sorry you had to go through that on your B-Day. That seriously blows. Then there’s the “bitch” thing, yeah he has no genitals. Same as guys who call a girl that just turned them down “Dyke” as soon as they move out of earshot.
Man that sucks, I’m sorry that had to happen to you on your B-Day and that you work in such a petty little clique of people. Any chance of finding somewhere else to work?
Re: NASCAR and women. Like you I came to the sport from the outside and I also find the women and the attitude towards women prevalent in the sport to be pretty darn appalling sometimes, but A. They’re all adults. As much as fans may feel we have a sort of family role, we have to remind ourselves that we don’t. They’re big boys and can take care of themselves. As you observed with your brothers and I have observed with mine, they’ll probably get the picture eventually anyway. B. NASCAR is sort of a special case. Not to excuse it in anyway, but like most sports, it seems to be a very concentrated subculture where a certain type of guy runs into a certain type of girl all too often (I would love to see an ethnography done on racing families, I think that would be very illuminating). Do drivers realize these manipulative wenches are manipulative and opportunistic? I imagine by the time they hit their mid to late 20’s they are probably all too aware of it. My worry is that they run into so few women who are not they might assume that all women are like that, as the driver I believe you are ranting about seems to. ;)
The question I have is: Is the sexism we see in NASCAR simply a hyper-accentuated representation of the sexism in American culture as a whole? I don’t know. There definitely are issues in American culture in regards to gender identity and roles right now. The pendulum of equal respect between the sexes has been swinging back and forth pretty wildly since the ERA era and right now it’s swung wide back to the male dominating side. (Socially, not legally. ERA and Susan Faludi have at least done that.) The problem arises in that the pendulum has swung so wide so much in the course of a single generation that what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman have become very shallow definitions. Men flex their muscles, act as dumb as they wanna be and sleep around and women buy shoes, act as dumb as they wanna be and fret about their make-up. Neither of which is a real definition of being a man or a woman, hence the reason there is so much discontent and mean spiritedness between the sexes right now: There’s a lot of people playing roles that are not really them, which just causes resentment. “I can’t make my own life the way I want it, that’s “unfeminine”. I have to make a man do it for me.” As manipulative as these kinds of women are, they are actually slaves, not merely to what the media tells them to be, but because they are relying on a guy to make their life complete, they have given up their own personal power and get pissed off at men and starting being manipulative and mean. I imagine men can develop similar resentment. They certainly do get pissed off at women for being manipulative and opportunistic, not realizing if maybe they picked a different type of woman, someone who didn’t take a role as arm candy/male ego bolster quite so seriously, they wouldn’t have to deal with all the BS.
The article I posted about the 13 year old girl (and a 12 year old boy I might add) who willingly participated in a gang bang? I found that on Fark, and in the course of the discussion there, this popped out: “If you're going to be intellectually dishonest, at least pick something that isn't so easily refutable. You know damn well that, at 14 years of age, you were batting your eyelashes and flashing cleavage in order to manipulate older men. Teachers. Principals. Perhaps even your own father.”
And get this: It was a woman that said it.
Now, most of the sane people where like “Whoa…you have some serious issues going there.”, but seriously. How fucked up is it when a woman not only believes that being a whore (and that is exactly what whoring is: using sex for personal gain) is not only right for her, but she believes that *all* woman are whores?
I mean it’s bad enough that men buy into it that stereotype, but that it had become so pervasive that women seem to be buying into it, that’s just fucking nuts.
But like I pointed out, the tolerance for women like that is swiftly coming to a close.
It’s just very hard for women still socially because in the end, we still tend to get pigeon holed into two stereotypes: the Virgin or the Whore, as you obviously are dealing with. As shallow as the stereotype for “masculine” is, the stereotype for “feminine” is even more shallow” “make up, shoe obsessed, fashion oriented.” It’s like society has no clue what being a woman means other than shoes, make-up, fashion except being a wife and motherhood. But if you don’t fit into any of those stereotypes there’s one more: Bitch. So either we are women only in relation to someone else or we are women only in relation to the mall. What about just being women, by ourselves? You know if there is no guy around do we stop being women? No. Because it means something beyond that all that stuff. And I think for truly strong women, like yourself, they know what being a woman means without relating it to a guy or the fashion industry. Unfortunately, some men find that idea of an independent woman very scary, but then get pissed off because they have a women glued to their hip who calls their cell10 times a day.
*Oi!*
I’m not the only chick who worked her butt off to create the life I want for myself, you did, other gals on Jade’s blog do. More and more you find chicks that are online for more than just A/S/L/ reasons. They are IT techs and scientists and academics and business women. And the more you learn about NASCAR, the more you see that there are women that aren’t clamoring to be in front of the camera that work in the sport, have made their lives the way they want it. I think as people get older, grow up, figure out who they are apart from what the media tells them they should be, the less and less you see of that kind of B.S.
That started out coherent and sort of devolved into rambling. I’m not sure if a really have a decent conclusion now. How about: “Yeah, there are problems: but I have hope for the future?”
Men do tend to relax a lot in their 30 and 40’s. They get comfortable in their skins at last. Whenever you go to a wedding, you can see it. The Groom and the groomsmen all look like waiters. The guys who are really workin’ the tux are the Fathers. Hell, just at the NASCAR awards banquet a couple years ago, DJ came in a tux. Day-um! Suave as sweet hell.
Karl Urban is the fo shizzle, but I like him more in his natural brunette. Personally, I think LOTR is probably the greatest film achievement for our generation. There simply is nothing that can touch it. I mean, not only is the story one of the greatest books of the 20th century portrayed with the most innovating and exhaustive cinema photography ever, just the talent Jackson assembled under one roof!
Ah, yes. Airwolf. I remember that one well. Didn’t it just come out on DVD? I have to admit to having a Jan Michael Vincent crush for a while, then I found out he was an alcoholic bastard who beat his wife. (Borgnine couldn’t stand him.) Well, that was very sobering moment as far has having teen crushes go.
Still want the ‘chopper tho’.
Bo Duke crept in there, but I don’t think there is a Gen X girl alive that didn’t crush on Bo for at least a little while. Sometimes, you just need someone upbeat.
My first crush? It’s a toss up between Hawkeye Pierce and Han Solo. I don’t remember who came first. Probably Hawkeye, though I was too young to want more than just to be with him. Han was more of a *sigh*, “He’s so handsome!” kind of thing. Then Remington Steele.
Re: The Goblin King, I can totally see that. It’s that whole Phantom-of-the-Opera-dark-and-dangerous allure thing. I don’t know why women like that sort of thing. The pop psychology says “Women like power and control” but if that were the case you have Donald Rumsfeld doing Playgirl spreads (I apologize for that image in advance). It’s the darkness itself I think. There is something almost overtly sexual about masculine darkness, there’s a dangerous but an incredibly gentle aspect to it, and when you are a young girl, that mystery and dichotomy can be very compelling.
Rice: I burned out on Memnoch the Devil, so I didn’t get to the Mayfair Witches, sounded vaguely Twin Peak-ish. Yea or nay? I never got into Buffy, tough I did enjoy the couple episodes I have seen. My sister is a huge fan, has all the DVD sets. I absolutely loved Firefly tho’.
I feel I should clarify, lest the gods of accuracy damn me forever...
The incident with the sports guy did *not* happen on my birthday; rather, I have forever been labeled "bitch" because over a year ago, he snuck up behind me while i was taking a transmitter reading, and under pretense of "tickling" me, went for the reach around. (a fat, sweaty, full-palmed reach around, so there was no freaking mistake) after my elbow narrowly missed his fat head, i threatened him with irreparable harm. he has been whining about "his sensitivity" ever since, especially after i corrected him that "sensitivity" SHOULD mean "to others" not "for yourself".
there i go with the " " again.
anyway, no one said boo to me on my b-day because i have officially been labeled untouchable (in the social sense) as a result of my "uppity, self-righteous, snotty bitch who thinks she's too good for everyone" ways ("" are theirs, not mine)
imagine.
they used the word "uppity" in the 21st century. will wonders never cease?
why did Jade yell at you? (i just got back from the bar with christina and amy...got dragged onstage to sing 2 songs = Free Drinks! Woohoo! but it's raining elk and rhino outfreakinside right now, so after a brief stop at the beach to enjoy the show, home i came)
what driver did you think i was referring to? i was feeling guilty for allowing myself to sink into bitterness and begin hating them ALL. as for a fave, i haven't got one real fave to be honest (skiSad is republican, hunter, good ole boy who drives a freaking ford, fer chrissakes; jr is a republican, sometimes bashes Jade in interviews {and the irony of that!} and is, well, a little too short. sorry. he's more fun to watch driving, tho skiSad is more fun to watch crashing {sorry, but its true! he can't just crash, he has to roll, hop, bounce, flip, and then land in a perfect dismount! i'd be lying if i didn't say so.)
so unless you've discovered my secret, endless passion for bobby hamilton jr, i just can't think WHAT you mean.
dj is a cute little number, though. he's harmless like your fave uncle, but cute as a button.
my brother told me when i was in the throes of jan michael vincent love that he was an asshole, and i was crushed. it seems my taste in men has always been absofuckinglutely awful! well, i got it honestly: i inherited it.
Mayfair: didn't get the Twin Peaks vibe *love Lynch* but more of a soap opera on steroids. everyone sleeps with everyone else, it's all about creating the strongest bloodlines with the most power and all orchestrated by the spirit of an ancient (vaguely celtic) species who (oh by the way) is both obsessed and repulsed by the catholic church. amazing history, crazy plot twists, easy escapist joy!
o.m.t.: virgin vs. whore. ah, this again. but i get my tiny victories. a coworker i actually like came in and pulled my hair. he's a ginormous black guy, ex-pro basketball player in europe. very talented, very motivated. i turned around to see Who Dared and he laughed and said "who else would pull your fiery locks, miss thang?" I said "you mean the rest wouldn't?" and he said "oh no, big little you has them alllll scared" and I was like "They should be". He laughed, pulled my hair again, and went on his way...and I noticed since he moved to a new dep't all his peeps treat me very nicely...which was NOT always the case. It's subtle, but cool. so I know at least a few scattered people aren't buying the rumors, and have my back if i need them.
and a few months ago, I needed them! but it's getting better now. i just need to not kill anyone, and stay cool.
I can honestly say I have never kereoke’d. I did get up onstage to sing a Ledbelly tune for a talent contest for the office X-Mas party (stone cold sober I might add), and was utterly shamed by some of the other girls who sang in their church choirs every week. Still cringe at the memory today.
I think he yelled at me for being a know it all who in this instance, didn’t know what I was talking about. It happens. I can be a snott sometimes. :D
Re: The sports guy. Eeeeeew! WTF was he thinking? Thank the Gods I spent most of my time in non-profits. I haven’t had to deal with anything that blatant/crude/obscene since my kitchen days. “Food People” are probably one of the most oversexed occupations on the planet and since there are so few women in professional kitchens, we do get a lot of crap. The comments took some getting used to (I was a young and naïve’ 18), but I got so I could give as well as receive. But they did have to learn that if they were going to try to grab my ass, they should wait until I wasn’t using my chef’s knife for anything. Oven cleaner is also a handy deterrent.
Man that just blows you have to deal with that. What does management say?
Re: Uppity. That word came up in my History class when dealing with the 1920’s and the flappers vs. the conservative Christian movements of the time. They used that word a lot to describe flapper girls. I don’t have the definition of flapper with me the professor read from a college newspaper of the time, but I copied it word for word. It made me feel proud to have been labeled “Uppity”. I’ll look it up when I get home. You’ll like it.
Re: You nice coworker. Tres’ cool. Guy need to realize that strong women are not a challenge and are not out to destroy male-kind, they just are and if men would just accept that, accept who they are, things would be much cooler.
Though it doesn’t surprise me that he is ginormous, motivated and accomplished. Sounds like he has nothing to prove to anyone. That always helps.
Re: SkiSad and crashing. At least they’ve stopped showing that footage Every Single Time they race at ‘Dega. He was under threat of becoming the “Agony of Defeat” guy for Fox sports. The second time he flipped and crossed the finishline sideways, he did get out of the car and went for the gymnast dismount pose (sorta), that was one of the moments I fell for him as a fan. I understand how pissed off driver can be after a wreck, but too few drivers have enough sense of humor to laugh at themselves, certainly not in a moment like that. That shows character to me.
Plus he loves his furkids…and he can imitate a wookie. That’s not just talent, you have to practice that which is one of those little things that shows there’s more to him than just the good ol’ country boy (not that there is anything wrong with country so long as it isn’t “redneck” vis-avis my latest manifesto). Besides, what guy has the cajones to do that in front of several million people on national television? That’s self confidence and a great sense of humor.
Re: Dale Jr. and Jade. That is ironic. I’ve seen some general anti-publicity comments, but nothing aimed at Jade specifically. It’s kinda not surprising tho’. One of the thing that I’ve noiticed about Dale Jr. is that on the one had he loves the celebrity lifestyle, hanging with whatever stars he wants, the chicks and so on, on the other he seems to resent the constant exposure and obligations that go with it. Just being a Libra I guess but it’s also not like the two of them have much I talk about I guess. Probably why Mike is now the one doing most interfacing (ooo, corporate speak) with Dale. Plus I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some jealousy there since Jade has actually lived the whole rock n’ roll/punk band lifestyle plus his work with racing overseas. I mean, you look at the stuff Jade has done outside of promoting his Juniorness and think “Damn! That’s pretty cool.”
I dunno, maybe Jade is upset because more publicity professional haven’t shown up on his blog comments? That has become yet another home for a bunch of “Jr. fanboys/girls?”
Re: Specific drivers, well I consider myself corrected. But I understand the frustration, completely.
Now if Dale Jr. is too short, what the heck is Bobby Hamilton Jr.? ;)
DJ, yeah in his firesuit he looks that way and I thought the same thing. But my understanding is (from them that have been around the sport awhile) that he was quite the Lady Killer in his wilder days, which having seen him rockin’ a tux I can attest is still well within his capabilities. (Barring being married of course.)
Plus I like the fact that he has no problem smacking down young punk drivers on and off the track.
If this thing with Toyota is happening, I hope it works out for him. He’s still winning races and deserves a good shot.
ESad and dale Jr. are “my drivers”, with Mark Martin a sentimental favorite. It would be so kick-ass if he won the Championship this year. I don’t think there would be a single fan anywhere of anyone that wouldn’t be cheering. Plus I like his style: quiet, smooth as glass. Nobody thinks of Mark and *bam*, there he is in the top five all the time. Plus listening to he and Pat Tryson during races is a lesson in positive feedback. I don’t think there is a more supportive driver/CC relationship on the track right now. They really believe in one another.
Dale Jr. was my principal driver. I think it starts that way for a lot of folks because, due to Jade, he is the most media accessible of all of them. He’s like a gateway drug. Dale Jr. is pot, which makes ESad E, Mark Martin would be like heroin.…and when you find yourself vehemently debating Sterling Marlin’s late model record, you know it’ time for rehab.
Dale Jr. is great to watch racing he is quite the wheel man, but how DEI handled Pete Rondeau last year left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess it works for them. I guess it’s the last of the true family run racing organizations, but I just don’t like the corporate environment there. Or at least what comes across to us on this side of the screen. Too much like “Survivor: DEI” Sorry Pete, but you’ve been voted off the island. So his stock dropped, if you will.
I like Elliott because there are moments where you can see everything this guy can be behind the wheel. He’s right *there* and I think, in my complete layman opinion, that with a little more assurance (I was at Fontana last year. Nuff’ said.) and experience he is really going to be dominant, though like Mark Martin he might be one of those guys that keeps under the radar.
Escapist joy is always fun. I tend toward the Count of Monte Cristo type of escapist joy myself. Soap opera with swords, soap opera with fangs, it's all good.
I’m glad there is some good things happening at your job, it sounded pretty heinous there
Re: faves. I think it goes in a very natural order, in it's own weird way. I have no access to Nascar in my family, no relatives as fans, no hangouts that air the races, nothing. I started working the weekend shifts and *had* to air the races. I was so bored. Occasionally, someone would say something that made me laugh. (Kenny Wallace, in all likelihood, or Kyle Petty) I started paying more attention to "43 rednecks making a continuous left hand turn for 3 hours".
i had never heard of Dale EArnhardt, Sr. (not kidding) I vaguely remember my brother saying something about not wanting to go out because the "rednecks are in mourning, and it makes it no fun" but i was living in New York, working 14 hour days, heard nothing, knew nothing.
It was probably one of the restrictor plate races when i started to think to myself "these assholes are crazy". but i was also amused by it. they're like little kids in bumper cars with man-sized egos and temper tantrums, but it's fun. so i started to pay attention, and began rooting for jr because i saw him get away with some sneaky little moves, and then try to sweet-talk his way out of it after the fact in the most asinine, 7-year-old-got-busted kind of way. it was endearing.
then i heard there was a driver from jersey, so i just decided if he wasn't a total dick he'd be my new favorite. but guess who he worked for? so it was okay to root for both. then truex won the first busch champ, and i was kindof enraged our lame-ass sports dep't didn't cover it. so midway thru the season, when those wins started coming, i kept bugging them to report it. i ended up doing all the work for them, because his house was seriously on the same road as our studio, 3 of our production dep't went to high school with him, and why the hell not? so i started doing all this research, found Jade's blog, he drops these crazy blogs (like the Nurbergring {sp?}) about history and schtuff...by now i was actually looking forward to races. i was more than a little worried.
we aired skiSad's crashes, and his post-crash interviews were hilarious (i think "just once i want to finish on all 4 tires" is close to what was said, and i thought he was awesome) at the time i hated tony stewart, but dj was growing on me because he seemed so laid back and nice, and then he'd tell somebody off with authority, and then be so nice again. jeff gordon i liked, actually (no hate! no whammies!) but my all-emcompassing hatred for DuPont (company & family...you'd have to be related to a whole lot of mainliner quakers to understand) forces me to boo him continuously (my heart's not in it, though)
so whatever, i hated the busches on sight just like everyone else, thought Edwards was creepy but give him mad props for working his *ass* off (fuh rahhl) and saw Tony scare the hell out of a fatass dickhead sportscaster not unlike the fatass dickhead sporstcaster i know, and it was Love. (not THAT kind, tho, miss kip) so now i have plenty o' peeps to root for and it makes it interesting.
during my time in production, when we would be pre-empted by races all the time, i got really good at predicting cautions. the *new* sportsguy would come to me about an hour before we were supposed to air, ask what time i thought we'd start (if at all) and then ask for my blow-by-blow of WHY. i was completely accurate for 7 out of 8 races, right down to the lap the caution would occur on.
he was both impressed...and repulsed (he hates nascar, as does his fatass dickhead boss) but it got him out of needless work, so he was polite. that's pretty much how it's been ever since.
and that's like the complete list of people i'm actually interested in, if they were mentioned in my lame little story, i like to know that they are doing well.
except the busches. i can't fucking stand those drunken idiots. Also, I like Harvick more now (my friend Scott loved Harvick, so I immediately had to trash talk even tho i din't know anything at the time...hmmm) especially since he's been popping up in hot tubs (in firesuit, with cheesy expression) and getting peanut butter on tony kanaan's chocolate (or was it th other way around?) and a lot of the commercials are funnier than they have to be, when ya think about it. (not enterprise)
on a side note, i think if i stayed in tv (and it IS, you know, STEADY work) i'd like to get a job doing ANYTHINg better than the god-awful nascar images production team. it would be hard to NOt do better, but when i think of how i could edit some race footage from years of races or mile sof film from one race into one cohesive package, the way you would a great stunt in a feature or a crime scene from security video (sounds sick, best way to learn, unfortunately)...it's like a sick challenge to someone who loves editing as much as i do (we're a weird sub-strata, editing-lovers, even other film peeps don't quite get us...it's like ADD and anal-retentive, type-a, and pack-rat crazy all living in the same head)
but i digress, and i have to be up at 3:30 a.m., so let me just say alarge part of my love for the sport comes from my appreciation for the visuals of it, and my bitter hatred of the hack jobs the powers that be are still doing with all that sexy available stock footage. (and sure as hell not showing on the live broadcast - although i've seen the available camera angles, and have to blame tech direction) oooh, 1 week of access to the archives is all i'd need to change their lives.
and it would be fun.
pipe dreams usually are, thouhg.
g'night;)
Sounds sorta similar too me in that I also came in from "the outside" My family isn't even a sport family. At all. Nada. We'd watch the Indy 500 every year when I was young, but that was it and when that split up they lost my Dad's interest so whatever minimal contact I had with sports of any kind vanished (except kick ball torture. I liked playing, I hated everyone getting all worked up and yelling at me, so I developed an aversion to team sports). A couple years ago I started poking around looking at various colleges that had programs in Maritime Archaeology. There are only 4. (Lots of school have classes, but only 4 have entire programs) and the one here in NC had the best one (at least for my money, the other three were more technically oriented: You study anthropology and then go into archaeology whereas this one teaches more history with the archeology). So anyway, I'm chatting with my coworkers over lunch about the possibility of moving to NC.
*Laughs* Oh man, Jenny in the SOUTH? *more laughs*
"You do know you are moving to the epicenter of NASCAR right?"
Hrm...what is this NASCAR? I must learn more. Oh, I had heard all the "Non Athletic Sport Centered Around Redneck" jokes, but I had never seen a race. Had no clue what it was about. So I twisted my sister and brother in law’s arms into watching the All-Star (had no TV at the time).
I thought it was pretty cool and then Robby Gordon (I think it was RG) wrecked and came back out all taped up with a concave hood. All he had to do was get within 3 feet someone's bumper and up the track they’d slide.
I thought that was the bitchin'est damn thing I ever saw, hence the reason I love RP races now because they're all areo.
So Hrm, how do I get more into this? "Hey, that guy that was on the cover of SI sitting on the car, let's see about him." So I became a Dale Jr. fan. But oddly enough the first race I attended, guess who won?
So ESad came into my awareness, but he didn't close the deal (no double entandre intended...damn it) until the last flip at 'Dega and the wookie imitation. I like him 'cuz he's both country boy and weird. That's just cool.
And yes, his post crash interviews were hilarious. "Well, I looked up and saw the ground and thought "That can't be right."
So what was it like Elliott? "Well, I saw ground-sky-ground-sky-ground-sky."
And to tell the truth, Dale...Not that he isn't a good driver, he is and not that I don't think he's a good guy at heart, he is. And I'm sure he will work everything out eventually, it's just for me as a fan, he's just...there are issues there, some of which he has no control over and some of which...sometimes you love the guy and sometimes you just want to smack him upside the head.
Truex seems pretty cool tho'
Anyway, about the only guy I actively can't stand in JJ, not only because he kept wrecking my guys at Talladega, but when Dale Jr. was injured at Sonoma, he made a statement on NASCAR.com about how *he* gave up motocross as a hobby (he came out of motocross racing) because an injury might interfere with his contract. *insert goody-two-shoes halo here* What a little toady. Beyond that, there just nothing to him. No personality. And even though people were saying the same thing about Jeff Gordon and Robbie Loomis, I really have to wonder how much of Jimmie Johnson’s success is him and how much of it is Chad Knuass.
I actually gave Kurt Busch a chance, I actually tried to be understanding and not fall into the insta-hate, but his little incident with the Phoenix police squirreled that deal. Kyle I knew was trouble coming in because he got banned from a local Vegas bull ring for wrecking someone and getting into a fight.
Edwards I just got sick of. He's a nice guy, he is obviously a really good driver, but I just got sick of the Carl Lovefest the sportscasters were having with him all last year.
Smoke...he just crazy. He's one of those guys like the Biff and Robby G. that, damn they can wheel anything. Their car control is amazing. I'm not an active fan, but I have a lot of respect for what they can do behind a wheel.
Jeff I actually have no feeling about either way. I call him and JJ "the Borg" because they have the same eyebrows, same receding hairline, same tendency to whine. DJ I liked for the same reasons you did. I liked MM because he is so humble, and so good behind the wheel. Plus you have the recovering alcoholic thing. He's the ultimate underdog. Harvick...he grew on me. Happy got props in my book just for marrying Delena and the commercials definitely do help. Hot tubs *chuckle* Bobby LaBonte I also like, way underrated as a driver As hard as it was to be a Dale Jr. fan last year, B-laB just had a season that was just painful to watch. That guy must have smashed 15 mirrors before the 2005 season started.
I’m glad he and Loomis are with Petty now, I’m really hoping they can bring that organization back to the top tier.
Kasey got mad props this year for the Allstate Kasey Fanatsy commercial. I saw those for the first time a couple weeks ago when I went to a sports bar to watch Talladega. Everyone was staring at me when I practically fell off my stool laughing. (And thank God we don't have to see Jr. taking a girl to the prom anymore.)
Anyway, it was just me into racing and my family and friends were looking at me really strangely and then I met Teri at the dog park. Teri has a pair of rescued racing greyhounds and I was there with Rutger and Gerry wearing a Dale Jr. hat and she came up and said "Jr. huh?" The beginning of a beautiful if dichotomous, friendship and a real education in autoracing. She inherited her love of NASCAR from her dad. She was Kulwicki fan, then a Dale Sr. fan and now she’s a Robby Gordon and Smoke fan. (See a trend there?) Going not only to the cup races, but out to Irwindale with her was a real educational experience and how to watch and listen to a race: what lines they chose, when they are shifting, how they set themselves up coming out of a turn. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination (Hell, I can’t predict cautions. I’m impressed and not repulsed), I’m still getting the hang of all that, but I learned more about racing from her in a single night than I did in a year of listening to DW jabber. Hell. Whenever, by accident, they actually allow a driver to talk about driving, you learn more from them in a 15 second sound bite than you do from the guys in the booth all day.
If you have a local track nearby, I do suggest heading out there for an evening to check out the racing there. It’s a blast. Usually they have 5 or 6 events of different types of cars like Late Models, Mini Stocks, Super Stocks, Legends, Super Trucks…oh love me some truck racing, and so on of 50 to 70 laps each. What is also cool is that before the racing gets started aaaall the cars and trucks are parked out on the front stretch with the drivers parked right next to them and the fans can just walk around, check out the cars, talk to the drivers. It’s so much fun and you can really learn a lot.
Though I will say that the density of rednecks at local tracks is much higher than it is at a Cup race. Teri had her tries slashed one night while we were there. The only thing we could figure is that it was because of the “20” and “Robby Gordon” stickers she had on the back of her truck. But at the race itself, no problem, so just make sure your car is unmarked.
And I have to agree about the editing. Especially the end of the year season wrap up DVD's which I collect as sort of a scrapbook. The first couple years were pretty darn good, but ever since the Chase kicked in they suck.
Hope you have a nice night!
Yeah, SkiSad! Qualified 6th!
P.S. The Quaker-Dupont thing, please illuminate!
P.P.S. And I have to ask withno smart-aleckness intended, how does one find editing as a calling? It's sounds kinda like a pretty cool challenge actually.
I wish you could get into NASCAR images, they could definately use some help.
Re: JJ and BLaB, one of the co-workers (the 6'2" blond female redneck one, who strangely gets NO trouble from sports guy) loves labonte, and after talking to her, i liked him more too. but, to be fair, she also likes Edwards because she met him at a motocross event (she races, natch) and said he was one of the nicest guys she'd ever met.
props to him just for likin' em big, strong, and ornery.
jj doesn't bother me *off* the track at all, he settled down with a femBot, whines a lot about how nothing is his fault...but it just doesn't carry the sour grapes feel that say, kurt busch's whining does. i see chad knaus as the political wife who's the actual brains of the operation, i like him and while i hate the cheating, i respect the brain that figures out how. half the jealousy on that track probably isn't for the points: it's for the crew chief who's just so goddamned much smarter than everyone else.
speaking of which: i liked it better when jade would mouth off a little about the eury's, i think they're kind of assholes. no love affair with dei, despite my liking a few of the more public faces. i think their fucked up priorities are amply reflected in the amount of championships they win. maybe it's not so much a team sport when one of the tony's aren't getting their way.
it's really gotta chafe those fat asses when chance 2 can seemingly pick up a championship at will. i know busch is no cup...but what other excuses do they have, again?
re: "caution psychic". at any track where tires are going to be a factor (ummmm...) it only takes two cautions to figure out the day. after that, it's just a matter of human nature. you know how they say if you're sitting at the poker table, and you can't spot the mark, you're it? well, there's always going to be that guy (or 3 or 12) who think position is worth the gamble, skip tires, and then hope someone else will crash first. (i believe that's called "racing") and then usually, it's one of those guys who loses it not long after they get up to speed and the tires warm up...which is why everyone else wanted new ones in the first place. it's all about temp, because that can make a tight car loose or good tires bad or metal go boom...just a question of when. and who (dirty harry voice) feels luckeeeee...
i tried explaining that to fucking professional sportscaster and got a blank stare. they only know roid monkeys slapping each others asses and how to play with their balls (heehee!)
editing: well, i found editing as a love fest when i learned it could be sort of the great equalizer. i was the only girl i my film class, i was maybe the 3rd girl in a few years, so i was just a bit outnumbered. i had 35 year old crewmen trying to take over my set, undermine my authority, ask questions of me like i was a retard, or try to ignore me and set up the shot however they wnted, not how I wanted. you can fight and fight, but at some point the clock is running and you have to save what's left of the shoot. i had classmates who started out one-for-all but quickly got divisive: the ones who were doing well, getting praise, and really responding to the challenges with enthusiasm were great to work with; the ones who got into film as a way to bang hot women and not actually work were, um, not. we all had to work together, however, and crew each other's shoots. my final film, i had 5 "planned" crewman and no "actual" crew (yup, 0)
the instructors, by the way, were LIVID, and read the guys the riot act for 2 straight hours once, but in the end, me and my buddy the virginian (both of us new to ny) had to suck it up and head home for volunteers.
i had always heard "we'll fix it in post" as the lazy person's rally cry, and i never wanted to be like that. but i was desperate to make something of the mess my one short had turned into; and luckily attracted the notice of a (hot, sweet, totally delish) editing instructor. he was chock full o' ideas on how we could fix this. because i kept it dark , ditched everything that didn't work, picked music i loved and then shaped the story around the mood, i ended up getting highest praise for my "noir" piece which had started out a character study of 2 brothers playing 9 ball. i was adamant about the shots following the story (kind of like chapters in a book) but the short went from 12 minutes to 4. (!) but everyone LOVED those 4 minutes, which was quite a surprise.
and pissed the HELL out of a few of my classmates, as my buddy the virginian did endless impressions of.
moral i guess is keep it short as it can be and still make some sense, keeping a sense of humor abotu the failings of others is easier when you have faith in your own abilities, and sometimes just shut up and be grateful when being "girly girl" gets you help, not harassment.
crazy way to learn in a hurry.
my insanely longwinded story about editing should have ended with : that's how that started, because eventually i just learned to love editing for all the varied things you can do with it besides just hiding the obvious mistakes. when i see great editing, i get all excited (geek) and want to watch exactly how they did it over and over and try to figure out where that fine line is of how much you *need* to show before the viewer's brain takes over and fills the blanks...gives an emotional Kick to the piece when it feels like it's moving too fast to really keep a close eye on, but not so fast it loses you. you still have to understand a 2 dimensional image of something moving thru 3 dimensions or it's just "noise" to you, with no interest or impact. personally, i think it's where the artistry comes in: when you talk about peter jackson you're looking at a man with visual confidence: he knows what he *has* to show, and then takes his time showing it to best effect. it can be breathtaking in it's own way, but it comes after years of editing his own work, i'd bet (thus the low-budget geeks will inherit the earth, woohoo!) robert rodriguez is my hero for this too.
clint is good at that in his own way, alot of actors and performers become good a similar way to my initial interest. when your best work is cut, you want to know why...and maybe vow to spare other people's time and effort for naught. (some directors are called an "actor's director" for that reason) fosse was a great visual stroyteller after years of dance taught him exactly what was most effective, most extraneous or distracting, and best of all, what was best implied...not shown. he was my hero when i was a youngster; in those days i thought i'd always prefer being the one *onstage* as opposed to *off* but after breaking my knee, i stage managed the recital for the troupe i'd helped form (i was 16) and realized the two could work together well if somebody could just freaking translate for them! i stopped *only* making costumes and props and performing, and started looking into how sets were built and moved (timing of transitions is key, needs to be addressed every step of the way, shouldn't compete, blabity blah) how lighting is designed (spotlight in dancer's eyes when she's running for a lift? bad idea.) and other stuff. got into film almost by accident, realized i could keep everybody working whether we had space or $ or not, process could continue, and then could *show* to people. wasn't until kevin smith that it occured to me i might want to *say* something.
and now, obviously, i can't shut up.
okay, as requested: Quakers vs DuPont
It goes back to the first DuPont in America. The first company was a gunpowder company in Delaware, but pretty close to the area Quakers had pretty much dominated for the previous 100 years or so. A weapons manufacturer was not exactly their fave, but it was soon after the revolution, and some had relaxed (privately) on the fighting thing. The first guy had pretty much been run out of France by their revolution, so it seemed ironic he'd want lots of guns around, but anyway.
check out wikipedia's def of the DuPont legacy, it's a doozy.
Anyway, it was just the beginning of DuPont's bad-neighbor policy. From teh start, they pretty much wanted to build a new aristocracy...at a time when a few Quakers had decided democracy was worht fighting for, it rankled. DuPont succeeded in turning the Brandywine into their personal fifedom, but it didn't stop there. By the Civil War, they had become the worst kind of profiteers, still selling weapons, dabbling in chemical warfare, and using the profits to buy more and more of their competitors...and their neighbors farms. Everytime people struggled, the DuPonts came in bought the family farm, then rented it back to the family (or widow, or kids...whatever) creating a tenant class. Adding to the personal anger in my family, this particular branch being topmost in Philadelphia high society (pacifism wasn't the ONLY Quaker ideal they'd slipped up on) the DuPont family bought, pushed, and manuevered their way into the same social circles. My family ran the bank, the DuPonts loved money...it seemed a natural fit. The only trouble is, the DuPonts have had a crazy streak a mile wide, and my fam couldn't stand them. As bankers, they had no choice but to keep quiet, but the anger was boiling, I guess. Some members of the fam apparently couldn't take all that was implied in the deal, and decided to go back to the Way. Eventually, my great-great grandfather became one of them, basically ditching a multi-million dollar fortune as scion of a banking dynasty (around the time of the civil war) and bought his own little universe of swampland which he turned into farms and orchards and stuff, and gave up banking for barrels (he became a cooper). the DuPonts basically took over from there, giving away their ill-gotten wealth like some lady-bountiful to loyal subjects, and steadily getting crazier.
more in a minute, work calls...
back again. I feel like I'm writing a book. (no need to post these, if it's too distracting. after the cynthia vs. jyd discussion of "sticking to topic" i take nothing for granted)
okay, where were we? my crazy ancestors ditched it all and headed for Eden...in the form of the ironically named Pleasantville, NJ. (more in Absecon, but the original holdings were massive) they lived as plain as they could, when the only son came to adulthood, they insisted he learn how to battle the world on it's terms. hence, he became an engineer in the late 1800's. He was named Franklin, after his mother's famous family (ever since, all men in my family are named benjamin or franklin...very confusing to call) apparently the old man kept some of his previous expensive tastes, by the way, inventing his own little machines, buying one of the first cameras, obsessively taking pictures of his grandchildren hanging laundry, or playing cowboy, including that photgenic scamp, my grandmother. they were strict to the point of meanness, in opposition to the kinder gentler Quakerism of their daughter-in-law. nana's mother had been orphaned in England by an epidemic, thrown on a boat for anywhere and rescued by cousins in the states. she crossed the atlantic, alone, at the age of 3.
in direct opposition, former "deyah, deyah aquaintances" the DuPonts had started soaking up patents on that growing new field, chemical weapons. rather than let the family name (now officially rich and invited everywhere) be further sullied by how that money arrived, they started forming little companies like hercules and too many others to remember (atlas, all the gods i guess) to do the dirty work without dragging the name thru the papers. trust busting laws pushed them out of gm, which was probably the best thing that ever happened to gm, but whatever. they just regrouped, renamed, and even paid themselves for the process. they were officially unstoppable.
stories circulated that some of the children were so badly deranged, the hospitals they built "for the community" were really for their own, personal research. i believe that may have been jealousy, since so many of the old guard had been pushed aside in the years after the civil war, but we weren't there, were we? at any rate, the DuPont reputation was growing. some said it was the chemicals, others believed it was the "bloodmoney" working it's way thru the gene pool, but slowly people were turning on them.
and still working for them, as they are today.
everybody lost money in the Crash...except the DuPonts, and us. the old man hiding out in the woods with his barrels and jokes and tinkertoys had been ignoring his investments for decades, so they had simply stagnated in slow growth stocks. they lost a lot, but not nearly all. he doled out land to his children, sold what he was too tired to plow, and lived to 99 (he died under mysterious circumstances, nver solved, but some (ahem, NANA) thought it was the way our connection to the "blood" showed itself. some must have agreed, because over the yers, they manegd to give a lot of it away, quietly, and some of the more "afflicted" members of the fam managed to lose it, loudly)
dammit, gotta go.
Sorry about the delay, was catching up on things. :)
Of course I’m going to post them. Discussions are best when they have a life of their own. Thanks for taking the time to type that all out. It was cool!
Re: Jade and the Eury’s. Well, we probably know who put a stop to that. If you haven’t picked it up already, one thing Dale Jr. values more than anything is loyalty...to the point of screwing over nice people who haven’t made it into his inner circle. The Eury’s are there, they will be for life. They know it. I dunno, I haven’t; had a chance to listen this year, so maybe things are better. Maybe Tony Jr. has finally realized that as CC, the mechanical buck stops with him. I hope so.
Re: Cautions….I’ll have to try that sometime. That’s pretty slick!
Re: Editing. That’s sounds so cool! Much belated congrats on rubbing your classmate face in it, sounds like a nifty piece. Kinda of like a short story: Painting a masterpiece on a tiny bit of canvas requires few, but extremely elegant strokes. When they’re teaching creative writing they start students off with short stories, but I think it take much more skill to make one really work….but then perhaps that is the point.
I understand in the abstract layman way how much editing can define a film, but I never really thought about seriously until now. I always though of Clint churning out great work as a director only came from knowing how to get great performances out of his actors, but you’re right, knowing work will work and screen and what won’t in a visual sense is very important.
Clint be the Man. I love the way he lets a story breathe, lets it unfold naturally. And Jackson you are probably right. Have you watched the extras on the Extended Edition LOTR DVDs? I think he has an entire piece in the editing process.
I’m sorry you broke you knee, that must have a been a very hard transition, but you seem to have found a much longer-term joy from it.
RE: Kevin Smith, Clerks? Are you thinking of making your own film?
Re: DuPont. Thank for the skinny. I had heard the children were certifiable (didn’t one of the son shoot someone a while back?) but hand a clue about the history. Yeah, you got reason to hate the 24, but what a family history! So you family got rid of the land to disconnect itself further from the DuPonts?
Re: DuPonts...picking up where I left off to work 2 15-hour days (uggh)
I wouldn't say we got rid of land to "disconnect" from teh DuPonts, I think that was amply achieved when the old man ditched his millions of $ and family business to go play farmer. Any use they had for "us" was over, since as their banker he would have had access to personl info like where the money was coming from. I think a lot of people steeped in the Quaker belief thought that basically, you get what you ask for, and as the family's fortunes grew so did the need for deceit and other bad things. So when he ditched it all, he tried to live without the $...and i think in time there grew this sorta superstitious belief that the money was "tainted". It not only split my fam off from other Quakers (even now, they toy with being Episcopal...I was in fact confirmed Episcopal before kindof returning back to the way my grandmother and her sisters had tried to raise me, since my mother and her husband decided that there was more "connections" in Episcopalean, and now Methodist, congregations) It has in every generation split the family from each other. (Sometime, if you're REALLy bored, remind me to get into my family's personal beliefs about the Jersey Devil, who was "invented" by our ancestor Ben Franklin, but now means something else: a feminine something else, for that matter,not at all that 13th son crap)
But anyway, yeah, the DuPonts really made the 20th century count. They've dabbled in everything from cancer-causing teflon that they forced thru to market without proper testing (another earmark: you're our beloved consumer AND our guinea pigs!) chemical disposal (myself and a few of the like-minded are currently waging an actual War of Words against the VX disposal, which would pay DuPont billions to dump a toxic nerve agent thousands of times more deadly than cyanide or that stuff saddam used to kill the kurds (i'm really tired, can't rember name, began with A) right into the delaware bay) and I won't even get into their dominance of low-grade, unpretty, chemical weapons and agents, and just plain ole guns thru various 'sister' comapnies.
Teh DuPont kids, by the way, are fucking nuts, and the last of the male heirs is currently serving time for murder. It was not his first "problem" it was just so damn brutal they couldn't hide it anymore. He'd tried to be a wrestler or soemthing, he'd dabbled in steroids, mysticism (not usually 2 great tastes that go great together) various stuff. NUTS. Philly news tried to fan the flames of scandal, but no one bit. Everyone knew he was crazy; they either depended on his $ and didn't care, or avoided him and weren't surprised. i think the moral is in there somewhere, actually.
as for the infamous banker-farmer and his missing millions, it has done it's own damage to us. if the curse thing is real (i don't know where i stand on this, nor do i think i ever will) you could say it has already cost me my parents. everyone else has pretty much cut ties with the old ways, the last of the male line doesn't know it (long story) and works down the street from here hauling sand at the quarry. there's still some out there, but it has to be hidden, and i sometimes think my grandmother hangs on thru the heartattacks and cancer and strokes not just because we're awesomely tough stock physically but because she's afraid of how we'll destroy ourselves mentally if we inherit. and i have to agree with her there, giving more $ to some in this family now is like pouring gasoline on a flame. she's been telling me a lot more in the last few years, just a piece at a time, but a lot of it is things she claimed not to know for years. i think she wants me to see how it can destroy before i get any ideas of what it can create, so she spends a lot of time focusing on how evil greed can be and also how insidious. it is truly frightening how it changes people and they're always the last to know it. (and don't get her started on the bush family, either...she hates every inch of their nouveau riche, dumb-ass, thieving, psychotically greedy ways, and mentions it often)
i don't do a lot of bible-thumping, but there's something in Mark i think about how if you can trust someone with a small amount, you can trust them with a large. i think that has more to do with what they now call "resource allocation" than actual thievery, but maybe they boil down to the same thing (especially in politics) basically, just like there's one in every generation that tries to grab as much as they can and ends up destrying everything, so far we've been lucky that there's always been another one to balance it out. there's a lot of nice people in my family, don't get me wrong on that, but it took about 9 decades to figure out who "it" was in my grandmother's generation, so I'm a little worried for mine.
the DuPonts will probably just be an old, lifeless name soon, and that's just as well, maybe; but the legacy is getting worse a lot faster now. i'm surprised how many quakers i meet now who have no family history with the Friends, so they don't really know. they still hate what the DuPont company is doing, so it's weird that even though the family is almost gone, they're still being a pain in our collective asses.
i wish kurt busch would drive for them, i wanto like jeff gordon, cause he really is solid on track even if he's whiny off of it. oh well. it's the least o my worries any day of the week, so who cares.
Must Sleep!
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