It was a doc kind of day.
I swear, all I ever talk about on this lj are the movies I've watched and the shit I'm buying.
Yesterday I burned through some documentaries I'd had sitting on our Netflix queue for forever.
All of these are available on Netflix Instant if you're interested!
I also started up 8: The Mormon Proposition, but only got five minutes in before realizing that I didn't feel the need to get worked up over something that was only going to be preaching to the choir I'm already standing in.
I mentioned this briefly in my last entry, but yesterday Kuma had surgery to remove a mast cell tumor on her side. They cut out about 7-8 inches of skin or so (the tumor itself, plus a good deal of healthy tissue around just to make sure they get everything). She's got an ugly stitch on her side right now, and she's been pretty weak - had trouble getting up to go to her food and water dishes last night; the Sheepman filled up a little rice bowl with water and brought it to her and we put some kibble under her nose and she drank and ate lying down on the floor. She's a little more alert today, but still obviously sore, and her back legs are all shaky and weak. She wobbles a little whenever she gets up, and she gets up veeeeery slowly. She's an old dog, but seeing her hobble around all bleary just really drives that fact home.
She's had a bad few days. First a bath on Wednesday from her mom, then a trip to the vet the next day. She figured it out in the car halfway there, which was kind of horribly adorable. After we brought her home she kept giving us these looks that ranged anywhere from "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME???" to "I fucking hate you both so much." We are sorry, Kuma :C
I swear, this entry is just a hodgepodge of random shit. For the past few weeks I've been attempting to read Atonement (link contains spoilers). I'd stuck it on my reading list a few years ago - I think it was right before or around the time they announced a movie was coming out. I went into it having a vague knowledge of the premise, and... yeeeeeeaaaah, yesterday I finally had to put it down. I'd only gotten through maybe half the book in almost 2-3 weeks. I just can't take being dragged through a long hallway to a door labeled "DOOM" while frantically digging in my heels. The BFFEAEAE told me before I started reading that after hearing the premise of it she already decided she wasn't going to read it because it would just piss her off. The Sheepman noticed that the writer, Ian McEwan, had won the Booker Prize for a previous book (and Atonement was shortlisted for one as well) and remarked sarcastically, "Oh, that's going to be a happy story." (My well-read man is so deliciously cynical.) I'm severely generalizing here, but think of a Booker Prize book as... well, the filmic equivalent would be prime Oscar bait, if that tells you anything.
Despite their admonitions (The Sheepman especially asked me several times why I didn't just put it down, since I whinged about it to him every opportunity I got) I was determined to stick it out, which is why the damn thing took me so long to read, and I finally (belatedly) realized yesterday that I couldn't do it. I'd rather be reading something enjoyable, rather than something that I can already sense is going to utterly destroy me not only at the end, but in the process of getting there. I can take destruction at the end. I won't necessarily be happy about it, especially if nobody involved (myself included) deserves it, but I can take it. I can't take it every step of the way, with little knife-twists on every page and in every paragraph, no matter how beautifully the prose is written (and McEwan's prose is exquisite). I can't forgive something terrible being enacted on the only likable character, through no fault of his or her own. I just can't. CAN'T DO IT.
After spoiling myself for the ending on Wiki and TVTropes, I'm pretty convinced I made the right decision, even if it took me too damn long to get there. The concept of Atonement is, like the film Thirst, something that works fantastically on paper for me (yes I know books are printed on paper, you know what I mean) but whose execution leaves me cold. Although Thirst just left me ambivalent and unimpressed, while Atonement genuinely made me suffer. I suppose in that sense it could be considered a success - better to feel something, even anger and suffering, than nothing at all, but given the choice, well. I don't need to subject myself to it. All I had to do was put the damn thing down.
I think I have trouble setting books down because I unconsciously view it as some sort of weakness of character on my part and I often buy into this idea of martyrdom: that suffering makes you a better person. Obviously it's taken some time for me to realize that recognizing what you like and what you don't like is hardly a weakness, and choosing to suffer through something in a misguided effort to "strengthen yourself" isn't exactly strength so much as it is just plain stubbornness. Especially when it comes to something as simple as reading a book.
So I picked up a copy of Stephen King's On Writing instead today (finally getting around to reading this) and am looking to read Jacques Pépin's memoir, The Apprentice, next. As far as fiction goes, The Sheepman's got his lengthy list of recommendations for me, I have some John Irving on the shelf I need to get around to reading, and that copy of The Beach is still languishing, like most of the fiction I buy on the cheap. Plus there's all the other stuff on my own reading list. And my little sis just recommended The Perks of Being A Wallflower. She's very excited about the film adaptation that's just been announced.
Hey, Valentine's Day is coming up! maz_z can appreciate these: Portal-themed Valentine's Day cards. I'm sure all interested parties will put them to good use.
Now it is time for me to go off in search of Powerpuff Silly Bandz and a duck sandwich. Godspeed, Indiana Self.
ETA: For any of you who were interested in reading it, be warned that vague spoilers for Atonement abound in the comments.
Yesterday I burned through some documentaries I'd had sitting on our Netflix queue for forever.
- Maxed Out, which, as The Sheepman predicted, got me understandably angry at the way banks and the credit/lending industry prey on and take advantage of people who don't know any better. They need to require everybody to take a finance management class in high school or something. Obviously it wouldn't solve the problem entirely, but over the past few years my faith in for-profit businesses and corporations doing the right thing has been utterly destroyed, and while I don't think much of people in general these days either it seems like trying to educate them is a marginally less futile effort.
- The Lottery, which I really enjoyed and was very good at persuading me to favor charter schools, but upon further reflection and discussion with The Sheepman (who reads up on matters like this much more than I do) I'm left feeling really divided. Ultimately I'm just really frustrated with the hit education always seems to take in this country despite everyone claiming to support it. After watching a documentary on the sorry state of public education in this country I always have this urge to go back and become a teacher. I'd have to seriously work on my temperament, though. The Sheepman would be much better suited to be a teacher (having, you know... taught and all), but unless it's a university gig, being an older male already puts him at a disadvantage. I'm a small Asian woman, so I'm "cute and non-threatening" (¬_¬...). He's an older Caucasian who got together with a former student of his. Parents do not go for that sort of thing.
- They Came to Play, which, along with Nodame Cantabile, made me want to start playing piano again. It was super-compelling, and The Sheepman joined me for the last 2/3 of it. Also reminded me that we need to start going to symphony concerts again. The film focuses on the International Competition for Outstanding Amateurs over a certain age, and wow. You always think of people who are musically gifted going into music as a career, but of course that isn't the case. There's so many talented people in this whose careers have absolutely nothing to do with music. I'd pay to see them play in a heartbeat.
All of these are available on Netflix Instant if you're interested!
I also started up 8: The Mormon Proposition, but only got five minutes in before realizing that I didn't feel the need to get worked up over something that was only going to be preaching to the choir I'm already standing in.
I mentioned this briefly in my last entry, but yesterday Kuma had surgery to remove a mast cell tumor on her side. They cut out about 7-8 inches of skin or so (the tumor itself, plus a good deal of healthy tissue around just to make sure they get everything). She's got an ugly stitch on her side right now, and she's been pretty weak - had trouble getting up to go to her food and water dishes last night; the Sheepman filled up a little rice bowl with water and brought it to her and we put some kibble under her nose and she drank and ate lying down on the floor. She's a little more alert today, but still obviously sore, and her back legs are all shaky and weak. She wobbles a little whenever she gets up, and she gets up veeeeery slowly. She's an old dog, but seeing her hobble around all bleary just really drives that fact home.
She's had a bad few days. First a bath on Wednesday from her mom, then a trip to the vet the next day. She figured it out in the car halfway there, which was kind of horribly adorable. After we brought her home she kept giving us these looks that ranged anywhere from "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME???" to "I fucking hate you both so much." We are sorry, Kuma :C
I swear, this entry is just a hodgepodge of random shit. For the past few weeks I've been attempting to read Atonement (link contains spoilers). I'd stuck it on my reading list a few years ago - I think it was right before or around the time they announced a movie was coming out. I went into it having a vague knowledge of the premise, and... yeeeeeeaaaah, yesterday I finally had to put it down. I'd only gotten through maybe half the book in almost 2-3 weeks. I just can't take being dragged through a long hallway to a door labeled "DOOM" while frantically digging in my heels. The BFFEAEAE told me before I started reading that after hearing the premise of it she already decided she wasn't going to read it because it would just piss her off. The Sheepman noticed that the writer, Ian McEwan, had won the Booker Prize for a previous book (and Atonement was shortlisted for one as well) and remarked sarcastically, "Oh, that's going to be a happy story." (My well-read man is so deliciously cynical.) I'm severely generalizing here, but think of a Booker Prize book as... well, the filmic equivalent would be prime Oscar bait, if that tells you anything.
Despite their admonitions (The Sheepman especially asked me several times why I didn't just put it down, since I whinged about it to him every opportunity I got) I was determined to stick it out, which is why the damn thing took me so long to read, and I finally (belatedly) realized yesterday that I couldn't do it. I'd rather be reading something enjoyable, rather than something that I can already sense is going to utterly destroy me not only at the end, but in the process of getting there. I can take destruction at the end. I won't necessarily be happy about it, especially if nobody involved (myself included) deserves it, but I can take it. I can't take it every step of the way, with little knife-twists on every page and in every paragraph, no matter how beautifully the prose is written (and McEwan's prose is exquisite). I can't forgive something terrible being enacted on the only likable character, through no fault of his or her own. I just can't. CAN'T DO IT.
After spoiling myself for the ending on Wiki and TVTropes, I'm pretty convinced I made the right decision, even if it took me too damn long to get there. The concept of Atonement is, like the film Thirst, something that works fantastically on paper for me (yes I know books are printed on paper, you know what I mean) but whose execution leaves me cold. Although Thirst just left me ambivalent and unimpressed, while Atonement genuinely made me suffer. I suppose in that sense it could be considered a success - better to feel something, even anger and suffering, than nothing at all, but given the choice, well. I don't need to subject myself to it. All I had to do was put the damn thing down.
I think I have trouble setting books down because I unconsciously view it as some sort of weakness of character on my part and I often buy into this idea of martyrdom: that suffering makes you a better person. Obviously it's taken some time for me to realize that recognizing what you like and what you don't like is hardly a weakness, and choosing to suffer through something in a misguided effort to "strengthen yourself" isn't exactly strength so much as it is just plain stubbornness. Especially when it comes to something as simple as reading a book.
So I picked up a copy of Stephen King's On Writing instead today (finally getting around to reading this) and am looking to read Jacques Pépin's memoir, The Apprentice, next. As far as fiction goes, The Sheepman's got his lengthy list of recommendations for me, I have some John Irving on the shelf I need to get around to reading, and that copy of The Beach is still languishing, like most of the fiction I buy on the cheap. Plus there's all the other stuff on my own reading list. And my little sis just recommended The Perks of Being A Wallflower. She's very excited about the film adaptation that's just been announced.
Hey, Valentine's Day is coming up! maz_z can appreciate these: Portal-themed Valentine's Day cards. I'm sure all interested parties will put them to good use.
Now it is time for me to go off in search of Powerpuff Silly Bandz and a duck sandwich. Godspeed, Indiana Self.
ETA: For any of you who were interested in reading it, be warned that vague spoilers for Atonement abound in the comments.