oscars, founding brothers, sideways
I am so lame! I totally didn't care that Beyonce sang three times tonight. I was impressed by her voice but I did think that silver dress she wore at the end made her look kind of hippy, and coming from a gal who has more hip than she can handle, I kind of feel a kinship to her now. I just need a rap mogul boyfriend and two friends willing to color-coordinate with me at all public functions and I will be SET.
Okay! So I'm trying to figure out how to organize this entry without spoiling people, as I want to talk about Sideways some more - and it would segue in nicely here, since I was just talking about the Oscars, but I guess it would be better to wait until the end and put the cut tag there - whatever! I'm moving on to another subject.
I'm reading this book right now, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, and it's really freaking me out because in addition to my usual worries about things like car accidents, scary murderers, and freak kitchen accidents, I now find myself with whole new worlds of things to obsess over. Like - what if a black hole swallows us up? What if the universe decides to stop expanding right now? And just collapses in on itself with no warning? Like, RIGHT NOW? It COULD HAPPEN. And there's all this lead in the atmosphere! And the ozone is gone! And particle physics just really weirds me out!
Anyway. It's a pretty good book! The next section is entitled Dangerous Planet, with a subheading of, "The history of any one part of the Earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror." TERROR.
What if there's another ice age? Soon? WHAT IF?
Another book I read recently and really enjoyed was Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis (who's also written books about Thomas Jefferson and, more recently, George Washington). Fantastic book. Worthy of caps lock. FANTASTIC BOOK. I just tried to write something about it but - do you ever have those cases where you love something so much your brain freezes up and you just can't communicate it in actual sentences? I'm trying to think of an equivalent - as with all things, I will turn to the pantheon of WB primetime television. For example, any moment between Pacey and Joey in season three of Dawson's Creek? Or any moment of Bright being adorable on Everwood (read: any moment Bright is on screen)?
To use a non-WB example: Any moment JC Chasez or Matt Damon is in sight?
You know that feeling? That is how I feel about this book, but since it's a history book, I feel like I have to find an intelligent way of talking about it, when really I just want to say:
OMG! It is SO AWESOME!!! Like, there is all this stuff in there about slavery and how they could have gotten rid of it but they totally DIDN'T because they were stupid and cowardly and believed that it would solve itself - AS IF! And also, James Madison, who used to be my favorite founding father by really ISN'T anymore, totally disappointed me with his abandonment of Federalist principles - did you know he was totally Jefferson's go-to guy? They, like, exchanged ideas ALL THE TIME. Jefferson would write Madison these letters, like, 'You know, Jim, I was thinking - we should have all laws expire every twenty years because we don't want to be holden to the TYRANNY OF THE PAST" and Madison would write back all, "Yeah, Tom, that's kind of pretty much anarchy? And I don't think that would be good?" and Jefferson would write back, "Heh, you're right. My bad."
Maybe someday I will find a better way of talking about it - the above barely captures the amount of stuff the book covers and how awesomely it covers it - and if that day comes, I will write about it again. But seriously, if you have any interest in the era at all - or even if you don't - I really recommend picking it up. It's a great read, very informative and fun and fascinating. Did you know that George Washington was sensitive and would get really really upset when people wrote mean things about him in the papers? Did you know that Thomas Jefferson was a massive tool?
Read the book and find out for yourself!
Okay, I'm tired but I wanted to say something about Sideways - I think I figured out one of the reasons I disliked it so much.
In a lot of ways, the characters and their behavior in the movie reminded me of Seinfeld - and I loved Seinfeld. The thing is, the movie seemed like one long Very Special Episode of Seinfeld, and could there be anything more disturbing to me? Probably not. The whole point of Seinfeld was that there could never be such a thing, because the characters on the show weren't real people. They were manifestations of our worst selves, a running commentary on contemporary culture. There was no depth. The second you add in that depth - the second you act like these are real people doing these things, and start inserting lingering shots on George Costanza's sad expression without any kind of humor - you lose me! George Costanza is not a sympathetic character, and neither is Miles in Sideways. The difference is, the Seinfeld writers knew that. Sideways seemed to want me to empathize with Miles and crew, to feel some kind of emotional investment in his plight - but the problem is, once I invest that emotion, I can't stop at him. I feel bad for him, sure, but I feel worse for his family and his first wife and even, at times, his even-more-morally-bankrupt best friend. Almost everything stops being funny once these are actual people instead of isolated comments on human behavior. If George Costanza stole $1000 from his parents' sock drawer, I would find it funny. Miles doing that in this movie? Turned my stomach and pretty much destroyed the movie for me.
Does that make sense? It's 3:21 in the morning and I feel like it probably doesn't but I wanted to get this out before I went to bed. Maybe I'll edit/refine when I wake up tomorrow. Or something. I don't know, the whole thing merits more thought because can you judge a movie on the fact that you find it morally repugnant? I'd argue that you could if said moral repugnancy makes the characters unrelatable.
Anyway, there was also corny dialogue that had nothing to do with me being judgmental!
Okay, bedtime!