Christa’s Neighbors

Scariest phrase ever

nobody@vox.com(Kelly) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:55:28 -0700

You know how they say that the scariest phrase ever is "We're from the government and we're here to help you"? It's not true.

It actually is "I started watching/reading/listening to (whatever) because you liked it so much."

Most of me is really flattered when I hear that (as I did recently when Ginger_sister said she was watching Gossip Girl on my recommendation). And the rest of me? Flat out panicked.

What if they hate it? What if they hate it so much that they think I'm stupid for liking it? What if they hate it and it's something I really love and I start to think they're stupid for hating it?

Oh, the wheels on that train of thought go round and round.

Fortunately she likes it, so all is well.

And I'm generally careful about what I recommend and to whom. Weeds, for example. It's an incredibly smart and funny show, and I don't think I can say enough good things about it. But I can understand why some people would be like, "Whoa. No."

It's about a mom who sells drugs. And while yes, she sells them so that her family will be taken care of, she's still breaking the law. And she gets more and more into it as the seasons progress.

And there's swearing. A lot of it. And the humor isn't the nicest. It's sarcastic and yes, mean.

I love it.

Snakes on a Plane on Weeds

And who hasn't wanted to say this? Maybe not to your parents (we're all a little old for that) but to

various other authority figures?

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Yeah, so...

nobody@vox.com(Kelly) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:16:35 -0700

I tried watching The Secret Life of the American Teenager and couldn't get through it. I'm sure it's a lovely show and all, but not for me.

But you know what I do love? Swingtown. It's the perfect example of why you shouldn't judge a show based on the commercials for it. I saw the first teaser ads and I was like, "Oh, this show is going to SUCK."

Then I read a huge endorsement of it from Entertainment Weekly and I decided to give it a try and I am so glad I did.

It centers around three couples--Tom and Trina (swingers), Bruce and Susan (new neighbors who are slowly getting into the whole swinging scene--and Susan is also becoming more forceful and making her own decisions and not just listening to her husband and doing whatever he wants) and Bruce and Susan's old friends, Janet and Roger (Janet, God bless her, is possibly the most uptight person ever, although she's loosening up--very slowly).

Anyway, last week's episode centered around a party that Tom and Trina were throwing for Harry Reems. Reems was an actor in Deep Throat and faced five years in prison for it. (Party was to raise money for his defense fund.)

And I was totally taken aback because how do you face a prison sentence for acting, even if it's in a porn movie?

So then I saw that the Sundance Channel was showing a documentary on it (Inside Deep Throat) and I watched it today.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll state now that I don't like porn. It bugs me from a feminist viewpoint (do we really need something that, from its very nature, objectifies women? And while yes, men are objectified too, it's not like they aren't its target audience anyway) but it's also best summarized this way. When I'm dating someone, I'd rather be having sex than watching it. And when I'm not dating someone, the absolute last thing I want is to be reminded what I'm missing. (And lesbian porn is so clearly created for straight men anyway.)

Anyway. That being said...

I resent very much the idea that the government needs to protect me and my delicate sensibilities from something they deem threatening.

And not surprisingly, all the fuss that was made over this movie turned it into the most profitable movie ever. (At least that's what the documentary said.)

They were talking to random people who saw the movie and one of them was this little old lady and she said that she wanted to see a dirty picture and that's what she saw. She said that she didn't need anyone telling her what she should and shouldn't see. And I was like, "YEAH!"

I haven't seen Deep Throat, and I can't imagine I ever will (it sounds pretty ridiculous, if you want to know the truth), but the fastest way to get me (or, judging from the profits this movie made, anyone) to see something is to tell me I shouldn't.

While there are a ton of people I wish didn't have careers (Ann Coulter is right up there), I absolutely support their right to spew hate and vitriol to whomever they can get to listen. Censorship is horrible, and it doesn't matter whether they censor Michael Moore or Rush Limbaugh--it's wrong either way.

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QotD: The Best Reward of All...

nobody@vox.com(Kelly) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 15:49:28 -0700

How and when do you reward yourself?
Submitted by Rainbird.

It's insane. I'm a huge believer in rewarding myself and do so often. Basically for every month I don't take a sick day, I buy myself something from Amazon. (I have a work ethic and all but I find that buying crap I don't need really helps keep that work ethic going.)

I need to start going to the gym again because I also had something going where, for every month I went to the gym five days a week, I got a sushi dinner. And I made it for one month.

I'm hoping to start up again after I get back from Salisbury.

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#73, a movie discussion and why I heart Sara Paretsky

nobody@vox.com(Kelly) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:47:15 -0700

Finished The Ghost Orchid by Carol Goodman. Really, really good. I think it might be one of my favorites of hers, although it's a little implausible. (Group of writers at a retreat experience strange goings-on connected to a couple of seances held there decades before.)

One of the other things I did over the weekend (my weekend, anyway, which is now over) was watch Thirteen. If you haven't seen it, it's about Tracy, a really good girl who falls in with the wrong crowd (primarily Evie) and almost overnight starts shoplifting, drinking, doing drugs and having sex. (And getting piercings.) It's really good and it's the reason why I think Evan Rachel Wood is one of the best actresses around, certainly of the young-twenties crowd.

In the making of featurette, she said that she hopes parents will show it to their children as sort of a cautionary tale. "It doesn't look like they're having fun," she said (and I'm paraphrasing). "You can see this girl hit rock bottom." I'm not sure I'd show young teens the movie but she's right--it's not like you're watching and thinking, "Wow, that looks like a really good time."

If you're planning on seeing Twilight, this may be of particular interest to you, as Catherine Hardwicke directed it and Nikki Reed (Evie) is playing Rosalie in the movie.

I will close now by pasting a column by Sara Paretsky. (I don't normally paste columns here because it's lazy blogging and letting other people do my talking/thinking for me, but she's brilliant and--as always--dead on and more articulate than I am, so we'll make an exception.)

July 4. An emotional holiday for most Americans, stirring lots of different emotions. In my family, it was the one holiday where my parents didn’t fight. My father would recount for us the history of the Revolutionary War, my mother would make the custard for ice cream; we’d all take part in freezing it in the hand-turned ice cream maker, and we’d have a picnic supper with family and friends. We’d listen to my folks’ old 78’s of Paul Robeson singing “” and then set off fireworks.

These days, it’s harder to feel celebratory. The Supremes have decided that the only part of the Bill of Rights worth keeping and expanding is the 2nd Amendment. Yes! We can all carry handguns! We can create the armed state so many Americans have dreamed of for so long. Our rights to free speech, freedom of assembly, freedom from unwarranted search, our rights to privacy and equal protection under the laws are sorely diminished, but I guess we can all now shoot our way out of trouble.

And speaking of shooting our way out of trouble, with oil markets in turmoil, with the economy tanking, with 60,000 Iraqi soldiers dead or wounded and 30,000 U.S. soldiers in the same sad state, with the military unable to meet recruitment targets except by admitting gang members and the functionally illiterate, the U.S. is once more on the brink of war with Iran.

A year ago, Dick Cheney wanted desperately to start bombing Iran, but the Joint Chiefs told him the U.S. didn’t have the resources to carry on the war that would ensue. Now, he’s rattling the cage again. When Congress gets back from its July 4 recess, members will vote on Joint Resolution 362, urging Bush to use all means to stop Iran from doing whatever it’s doing. Iran may be a worrying Middle East threat, but do we really want to blow up the whole Middle East and our own people and economy in the process? Give it some thought. If you want to phone or fax your representative, this handy website gives their names and numbers.

Have a happy 4th. Eat ice cream. Enjoy your gun. Don’t say anything on the phone you don’t want Cheney to hear.

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Just Sittin'...Thinkin'...

nobody@vox.com(R.G. Ryan) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:34:26 -0700

6:24 AM.

89 degrees on its way to 110.

There's a 13 mph breeze blowing out of the Southwest.

Independence Day and St. Arbuck's is surprisingly busy yet missing the typical morning demographic of overly stressed and harried individuals on their way to someplace more important than here.

Today the clientele is mainly comprised of families getting an early and leisurely start on a day at the lake, the park or a day trip out of town in search of more moderate climes.

I, on the other hand, am content to just sit, sip and ponder.

I have been thinking about this whole "independence" thing.

Our local paper, the Review-Journal, printed the entire text of the Declaration Of Independence on its Op-Ed page today.

So I read it.

All of it.

I can't remember the last time I had done so.

It triggered a thread of thought, and when presented with such a distraction I will, in typical fashion, commence tugging for the simple curiosity of needing to know what will unravel...what is at the other end.

I gave that thread a little tug.

Dependence is when you can't live without the support of someone or something else.

Doesn't sound that great...I pulled some more.

Co-Dependence describes a relationship where one party is physically or psychologically addicted, and the other is psychologically dependent on the first.

Scary.

A few additional strands of thread unravelled.

Independence is when you are free from the control, influence, support or aid of another.

For some reason, that's not sounding all that great to me either, so I yanked a bit more.

Now, "Interdependence" (according to RG's paraphrase) is a reciprocal relationship between two or more individuals (or groups) wherein it is mutually agreed that life is better together.

I'm not sure how this plays out in your world, but as for me...I have tumbled down the days to arrive at the stark realization that I need people.

Plain and simple.

And...there are people who need me.

Wouldn't it be something if all of us, regardless of race, religion, political ideology or social status, somehow became interdependent.

The conclusion of the matter is this: if you want to celebrate something today, celebrate Interdependence for it is the very means by which our country came into being, by which our "independence" is is possible.

Enjoy the day, neighbors.

RG...out!

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This is why I hate people.

nobody@vox.com(Kelly) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:30:11 -0700

http://wjz.com/national/vermont.girl.disappearance.2.762235.html

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#72

nobody@vox.com(Kelly) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:59:09 -0700

We need to get my computer fixed, because I am out of control with this reading thing. I finished The Crazy School by Cornelia Read, which was really, really good.

It's the second book she's written and I haven't read the first, which I'm guessing would've helped. (You can read this without having read the first, but they allude to something that happened in her past, which I'm guessing was covered in A Field of Darkness.)

Anyway, Madeline is teaching at a school for troubled teens and the guy running it is very strict. (No caffeine or cigarettes--for students OR teachers--for example.) And then it starts getting very creepy there and you don't know who you can trust. I recommend it.

I'm currently reading The Ghost Orchid (by Carol Goodman--this is the last book of hers I haven't read, until her new one comes out next month).

It's my Friday and here are my weekend goals:

1) Watch and delete what's in my DVR. (That would be three episodes of 90210, last week's Swingtown and the premiere of Secret Life of an American Teenager, which I ended up missing.)

2) Watch The Bad Seed, which Netflix kindly sent me.

3) Watch at least three more movies for the DVD Project.

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Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others

nobody@vox.com(Mello) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:40:25 -0700

Stolen from The Onion, which never fails to crack me up. Apropo for my new (some days) commuter lifestyle.

WASHINGTON, DC–A study released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association reveals that 98 percent of Americans support the use of mass transit by others.

"With traffic congestion, pollution, and oil shortages all getting worse, now is the time to shift to affordable, efficient public transportation," APTA director Howard Collier said. "Fortunately, as this report shows, Americans have finally recognized the need for everyone else to do exactly that."

Of the study's 5,200 participants, 44 percent cited faster commutes as the primary reason to expand public transportation, followed closely by shorter lines at the gas station. Environmental and energy concerns ranked a distant third and fourth, respectively.

Anaheim, CA, resident Lance Holland, who drives 80 miles a day to his job in downtown Los Angeles, was among the proponents of public transit.

"Expanding mass transit isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity," Holland said. "My drive to work is unbelievable. I spend more than two hours stuck in 12 lanes of traffic. It's about time somebody did something to get some of these other cars off the road."

Public support for mass transit will naturally lead to its expansion and improvement, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said.

"With everyone behind it, we'll be able to expand bus routes, create park-and-ride programs, and build entire new Metrolink commuter-rail lines," LACMTA president Howard Sager said. "It's almost a shame I don't know anyone who will be using these new services."

Sager said he expects wide-scale expansion of safe, efficient, and economical mass-transit systems to reduce traffic congestion in all major metropolitan areas in the coming decades.

"Improving public transportation will do a great deal of good, creating jobs, revitalizing downtown areas, and reducing pollution," Sager said. "It also means a lot to me personally, as it should cut 20 to 25 minutes off my morning drive."

The APTA study also noted that of the 98 percent of Americans who drive to work, 94 percent are the sole occupant of their automobile.

"When public transportation is not practical, commuters should at least be carpooling," Collier said. "Most people, unlike me, probably work near someone they know and don't need to be driving alone."

Collier said he hopes the study serves as a wake-up call to Americans. In conjunction with its release, the APTA is kicking off a campaign to promote mass transit with the slogan, "Take The Bus... I'll Be Glad You Did."

The campaign is intended to de-emphasize the inconvenience and social stigma associated with using public transportation, focusing instead on the positives. Among these positives: the health benefits of getting fresh air while waiting at the bus stop, the chance to meet interesting people from a diverse array of low-paying service-sector jobs, and the opportunity to learn new languages by reading subway ads written in Spanish.

"People need to realize that public transportation isn't just for some poor sucker to take to work," Collier said. "He should also be taking it to the shopping mall, the supermarket, and the laundromat."

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Conversations With Eddie

nobody@vox.com(R.G. Ryan) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:37:00 -0700

"Been thinking about getting a real job."

This from Eddie, my disgustingly good-looking African-American best friend as we sat on the patio of our favorite beachside St. Arbuck's enjoying a pleasant, if overcast, afternoon.

"A real job as opposed to what, the unreal one you have at present?" I said while watching a young couple streak by on inline skates, hair flying in the breeze, their skin glistening from a light sheen of perspiration.

He said, "Nah, man, the job's real, but right now it's real slow."

A reality affecting nearly everyone I know in the music industry.

"So what's slower, studio sessions or live gigs?"

"It's all slow, Jack!" he said firmly. "Been slow for most of this year, but nothing like it is right now."

"What about that thing at the Bellagio?"

He screwed up his face in puzzlement and said, "What thing?"

"You know, that thing where you were going to do five nights a week with your quartet."

"Man," he said, waving his hand dismissively, "that was all a bunch of hot air. Dude never intended to follow through on that for one minute. Just blowing smoke is all."

I said, "As I recall, the music biz has more than its fair share of that."

"You sure got that right. The whole industry runs on--"

"The stuff that sticks to your boots when you walk through a cattle yard?" I said.

"Exactly!"

Three teenaged girls entered the patio from the sidewalk still dressed in their beach attire--which wasn't much--walking in a tight cluster and all talking excitedly and simultaneously about a boy they had just seen surfing.

Once the twittering trio had made their way inside Eddie said, "That thing about getting a real job. I've actually been thinking lately about just getting out of the music business altogether."

"Because..."

"Well, because it's hard. I mean, you know that."

Immediately a line from "A League Of Their Own" sprang to mind in which Tom Hanks' character says to Gina Davis' character, "If it wasn't hard it wouldn't be baseball."

But since I valued our friendship, I let it go.

"I understand what you're saying," and I truly did, "but it'd be a shame." After a pause of a few seconds I said, "What does Sylvie think?"

He laughed humorlessly and said, "She said she just wants to see me smile again."

"And it's such a nice smile. At least I remember it being so, although it has been a while," I said and took a sip of my iced tea-lemonade. "Any idea what you'd do to replace the income?"

"Income?" he said mockingly. "What's that!"

"You must have thought of something."

He was slow in answering, and when he finally spoke his voice was coated in sorrow.

"That's just the thing, RG...apart from music, I basically have no skills. At least none that are marketable."

We sat there for a few minutes in morose silence.

Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted a guy walking purposefully toward our table.

Ignoring me completely he walked right up to Eddie and said, "You're Eddie Washington, aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged," Eddie said, making a brave attempt at humor.

"I knew it! I told my wife--that's her over there--that it was you."

The guy introduced himself and motioned for his wife to come over, a cute thirty-something blonde woman with a smile that could light up a room.

He said, "We saw you and your quartet last September at that jazz festival down at the beach."

"Really," Eddie said. "Were we any good?"

The guy's wife said excitedly, "Are you kidding? You guys stole the show."

"And the way you play drums," her husband added quickly with a sense of wonder in his voice. "I've never heard anyone do what you do. It actually made me feel things I've never felt before when I was listening to music. Anyway, I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation, but I just had to come over and say thank-you." They started to walk away but the man turned back and said, "And don't ever stop. We need you."

With that the two went back to their table leaving Eddie staring after them with a look of, well, I'm not sure what it was. Perhaps the best way to describe it would be to compare it to the expression on the face of a man dying of thirst who has just had a taste of cool water.

"So," I said, drawing the vowel out longer than necessary. "You got a date in mind when you're going to hang up the ol drumsticks?"

Eddie's gaze snapped back to me and he said, "Not quittin'! Not now...not ever."

And with that, the subject was closed.

I chuckled softly prompting Eddie to ask, "What's so funny?"

I said, "Oh, nothing. I just had a mental picture of you greeting people at Walmart is all."

He threw his napkin at me.

RG...out!

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YES!! Moon is back!

nobody@vox.com(Mello) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:24:51 -0700

I knew all my badgering would pay off eventually. He's even getting his wife into it this time.

Check it out and add him to your 'hood!

(btw, if you don't know, Moon is my brother, known to most people as Matt. He had a blog a while ago but discontinued it.)

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