Thursday, December 31, 2009

Happy New Year

2009 has been a hell of a year. Maybe this is true of every year.

May 2010 be a year in which you fulfill your goals, become a better person, and grow more at peace with yourself and your world. Go forth and do good things, however you define those. Happy New Year.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Weight of the Years

This is the day I'm supposed to make sweet holiday wishes. You know, I have placed my birthday second for 30-some years, so screw that. I'm going to talk about my birthday.

Another year has passed, leaving me nothing to show but scars. The annoyingly optimistic are certain to pipe up some happy nonsense about lessons, but, really? In my experience, people rarely have the sense to learn from their experiences.

Some of us seem driven to search for a reason for everything. In the past, I have seen propagation of our most dearly held beliefs as the ultimate logical conclusion to the natural evolutionary drive to procreate: as humans, we can make some conscious decisions about what is worth preserving for future generations. This is the top of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the pointy tip of the pyramid. Ultimately, though, I can only conclude that mankind's vaunted self-awareness is mere delusion. Humanity's ability to think about his condition seems to have gained him little except being able to understand he is miserable.

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." This man, supposedly one of the greatest of philosophers, also used his last toast to wish some nonsense about a happy afterlife after he poisoned himself for being such an annoyance to his city. I think any utterance from such a source must be suspect.

Life. It passes. Here's to ignorance.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Movie Review Drive-by

Inglourious Basterds. Little historical content, utter fantasy, not even believable just in common-sense details. Bloody gory escapist fun. 3/5 stars.

Planet 51. Surprisingly juvenile gay humor, but cleverly lampoons many other movies. Good for anyone over 7. 3.5/5 stars.

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra. I should have known better than to watch any movie staring a Wayans brother other than Damon. Horrible. Not even worth watching for nostalgia. Or Sienna Miller. 1/5 stars.

In The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, Denzel Washington stretches his acting repertoire by playing an angry and possibly crooked public servant. John Travolta likewise tries something new by playing a maniacal crook. This formula has been followed many times before, but it's a solid performance. 3/5 stars.

The Ugly Truth is a comedic drama about the differences between men and women. It is very, very funny at times, but in general is more drama than comedy- but not a downer in any case, so worth watching. 3/5 stars.

Bruno follows Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat formula of insane scenarios with oblivious people. Some of you will find this worth watching. Most of you will not. Claire cringed many times, and I did a few times, as well. We are both certain that he would literally not have lived if there had not been a camera crew present at all times. Clever at times, but most successful in that a man my age managed to somewhat believably present himself as a 19 year old gay German. I'm going to give an extra half star for acting ability, but this movie is horrible in almost every other regard. You have been warned. 1.5/5 stars.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Death to the Double

Some weeks ago, a friend was relating to me a humorous story that had happened at the ER she was working. A woman with the most incredible body and large, perfect breasts had been brought in, unconscious. Because the nature of the accident, her clothes had to be cut off. While she was unconscious, every male member of the hospital trouped in to gaze in wonder at her beautiful nude, perfectly waxed figure.

I was appalled. Revolted. My friend hadn't even considered the victimization that was happening, the violation of the patient's privacy. It was horrible. I'm sure everyone reading this is appalled, as well.




Well, okay. That's not actually what happened. What really happened, was that a male with an incredibly large sex member (described as "the size of a baby's arm") was brought in, unconscious. While he was unconscious, every female on duty in the hospital trouped in to look at his penis.

Now, imagine- if you haven't already- how horrified everyone would be that men would get to ogle a nude unconscious female. It's hard for me to see a hospital in the U.S. today where such behavior would be tolerated. When it happens to a male, though, no-one even seemed to notice, except Look! Big penis! Funny.

It's revolting and horrible. The double standard doesn't just extend to males being allowed to get away with behaviors that most of society would not accept from females. Equal rights. Equal treatment. Every time. Anything else goes against the very spirit of our country.

HallowE09