Coraline 3D: two thumbs up

This was an amazing movie. It was visually awesome, the 3D was pretty much seamless, and the story was completely engaging through the entire film. It was definitely interesting enough for adults, and was done in such a flawless way that I completely forgot to think about how this world was accomplished and instead was wrapped up into it, only experiencing and drinking it in.

The story had a very good lesson, for kids and adults alike, about appreciating what one has even if it is not perfect. It was a little scary, probably too scary for kids under 6 or so. But every kid has a different sensitivity level and some younger kids could probably handle it. I watched some pretty violent, scary movies when I was younger and look at me now. Peachy-keen.

Anyway, Coraline was a stunning and entrancing film, and should definitely win awards for the quality of production and original screenplay. Voice acting was also notable, I couldn't recognize Dakota Fanning as herself and this film won me over as if I were a child seeing it, convincing me of the characters' existence and viability and bringing me into their world in so many ways. It was excellent, and everyone should see it. And definitely worth it to see in 3D.

On our incredible ability to underestimate

Apparently, elephants can play music. This is fairly unsurprising to me as there has been evidence that they understand and mentally process death and also paint. Elephants are incredibly complex, intelligent animals, but because humans have a limitless supply of self-importance, we are quick to decide that they are less important, developed, and capable than we are.

I think that we start out life with much more willingness to believe in the possibility in the world. As we grow older and are continually told that things are not possible, that certain things can't be true, we lose that supply of inspired belief in the world and what it could hold. Maybe this is a good thing, maybe if adults continued to believe that stuffed animals have feelings, closets house monsters, and empty cups actually hold tea, we may not survive. We wouldn't be able to get through school, maintain serious jobs, deal with such stringent guidelines when it comes to money and spending, etc. But what if all of these things were instead molded around the child-like belief in all things imaginable.

I'm not sure if that would work out, and I keep hearing that older voice in my head saying "we must fit into our reality" but what the hell is reality anyway? I'm just glad that every once in a while we learn that elephants play music, that some of them love it, that it is beautiful and possible and real. And I'm glad that I get to sit down with children who still believe anything is possible and remember that maybe it is. I get to watch them become amazed at something that seems so mundane to me. Sponges expand in water, dinosaurs can still exist in the form of small foam cutouts, and tea parties with stuffed animals are sometimes tea parties of the best quality.

Equal Pay for Fighting Crime

This video was posted on the Feministe blog and was brought to my attention by my wonderful sister, Jess. A good cause combined with awesome superheroes to convey a powerful message. I'm digging it.

Merry Christmas

One of the best Christmas stories ever. Definitely worth reading.

Happy Holidays. What I hope for everyone is that they will see and realize what is important to them.

Love,
Laura

Rush Hour

If I have to sit in traffic one more day home from work, I will set my car on fire.

Simple Things

On my way to work Monday, I saw a half rainbow. It was so gorgeous.

I absolutely love the rainy season. Everything is moving, alive, fresh, and crisp. I love being outside in the cold rainy weather and love driving to work with cloudy, dark skies and my windshield wipers on. I especially love when the beauty of this weather becomes visible to everyone in a perfect rainbow and other people are then grateful for the rain.

On Sunday I went on a hike through the woods in pouring rain. My hair was wet, water soaked my sleeves and creeped up to my elbows, and my shoes got muddy and socks completely drenched, but I was blissfully happy. I was out in nature in real weather and playing. It recharged me and reminded me what I love best in this world; simple truths that make the world what it is.

Brevity, one of my favorite comics

Kind of Cool

Among all of the crazy news every day, finding a 39-year-old message in a bottle is pretty awesome.

Ok Dude, you sort of deserved that

Wounded Deer Attacks Hunter

How crazy!!! An animal defended itself when it was about to be killed!!! Let's shoot it because it's dangerous. Oh, wait, already checked off the to-do list.

Dull

I feel like working is making me dull. And I do not mean dull in the sense of stupidity or being uninteresting, but in the sense that I am not as bright as I used to be. Maybe a better word is tarnished, as though I have lost my shine and spark. Maybe this feeling is a part of that experience of working daily for a while after graduation, maybe it's due to that "grind" that I keep hearing about. Or maybe it's really happening and I've lost a little of what makes me feel alive and bright and me. Maybe this is a part of growing up and living tarnishes you.

Realism tells me that this is a job I should do, that I am safer, more secure and thus happier if I do this job every day for several years, maybe even the rest of my life. I am lucky to have a job in this economy, even more lucky to have one that pays well and gives me benefits. Is it impossible to have a job that you love? Is it impossible for me to love this one? I think so and I'm worried about becoming more dull as time wears on and I do this day after day. It could be melodrama, but if it isn't, that's all the more terrifying.

The History Boys: so many things that made me feel like shit

I'm sure there is some merit to this movie, but I had a very hard time noticing it underneath all of the awkward light-heartedness that made the entire story feel strange, forced, and pointless.

(Spoiler alert, by the way)

The main thrust of the story, they tell you on the netflix slip description, is to convey the differences between the purpose of education and knowledge for truth and the purpose of education and knowledge for advancement. This point is talked about some, but for me greatly overshadowed by the incidents of molestation the beloved teacher subjects his pupils to. When first introduced, one is unsure if it is a joke because the boys talk about it as if it is. Their instructor asks at the end of class if anyone would like a ride home on his motorcycle and the boys hastily busy themselves with packing their schoolbags. After one student leaves, saying something to the effect that he is taking one for the team, the other boys explain that the teacher is a homosexual and pathetic and touches their crotches when they ride the bike home with him. Ha. Ha.

When this fact is brought to the attention of the headmaster by a crossing guard who sees it happen to one of the boys, the main emphasis is on how sad it is that this teacher has been asked to retire early and not on the fact that he has repeatedly touched his students in inappropriate ways. The incident (and those preceding it) are explained away as unimportant in a couple of ways: 1) the boys are of age, so it's not really that bad, 2) the boys don't seem to mind that much, so it's okay, and 3) the teacher himself says that his fondling of their packages is more of a "benediction than molestation" that he is merely admiring their junk and not really doing much of anything.

1) The position of power that this man has over his students makes it wholly inappropriate. That is part of the reason that sexual harrassment exists. People in the workplace may be "of age" but if a boss touches an employee without consent, the power dynamic and possible coercion make that act illegal. 2) This is part of where the movie really loses me...at first, the boys seem very distressed and uncomfortable, desperate to find an excuse to not ride with the teacher because of the inevitable crotch pat they will receive. Then, when they find out he's leaving, two of the boys seem to rejoice in the fact that they will not have to go through that experience again, joking about it with one another. One of those same two boys then goes to the headmaster and bribes him with his own act of sexual harrassment of a female student in order to help his teacher keep his job so that he can continue to touch future students. He uses his apparent girlfriend's experiences of being fondled by the headmaster against him and rather than getting her out of that situation or punishing him for his behavior, he promises not to tell if they re-hire the other molester. Sweet. 3) Unwanted touching is unwanted touching, no matter whether it's to admire a part of someone's body or to get off. If someone pulled that sort of crap excuse on me ("I was just admiring how awesome your boobs are") I would punch them in the nuts and tell them I was only admiring how intensly they are able to feel pain.

This movie is overall sad, and not really in the story, though sad things happen. The sad thing is that it tries very hard to deal with important things in a real way and just flounders in the shallows of a few subjects rather than getting deeply into any of them. There is an obvious theme of homosexuality and what it means to different people as there is one student who is gay and in love with another boy, a new teacher who is also in love with the same boy, the main teacher, Hector, who has secretly been gay but is married, and the boy who everybody loves is attracted to the new, hot teacher. There is almost a hookup between the new teacher and this boy after they have graduated, but it doesn't end up happening even though the audience ends up wanting it to as it seems more appropriate than the relations that have been happening as the power dynamic is no longer an issue after graduation, it's consensual, and both guys are smoking hot. But they don't really deal with homosexuality, just touch on it lightly and move on without taking anything too seriously.

This film is continuously missing the mark. They have what seems like should be a very strong female character (one of two in the whole film not counting the crossing guard) who at one point launches into a rant about how the whole of human history is men fucking up while women "follow behind with a bucket" cleaning up after them. First of all, she's missed the point. History is about everyone and no matter who is in charge, men or women, they are going to fuck up. She ends up sounding like she's whining about how bad all men are, which is exactly the rhetoric that drives men away from feminist ideals, while she should be talking about the actual presence of women that is not talked about. On top of this fallacy about something that is very important and is supposed to carry passion, the boys and men in the room are sniggering the entire time while another teacher goes on about women and history. We see shots of the men rolling their eyes at each other and not giving the woman who has taught them so much the respect of honestly listening.

The main point seems to be that history is an accident and this message only comes through in the one good scene (not even a great scene, just good) of the film at Hector's funeral when the movie becomes surreal and time stops and the woman teacher turns and wonders if any of the boys will come to her funeral and talks to each of the boys about what they end up being in their lives. Here is where we get a glimpse of what this story was trying to acheive the entire time and failed miserably at doing. This film is obviously trying very hard to have substance, but ends up as watered down soup.

This reviewer thinks that the translation into movie from theater is the issue with the film and I would be curious to see if I liked the play better, but I'm not sure I could watch it with an open mind after seeing this.

Pink Answers the Question: "If you had a clone, would you do yourself?"

Bye Bye!

Swim

This morning while swimming, there was an older gentlemen swimming in the other lane in my direction and both of us were doing breast stroke and wearing goggles. I so wish that we had high-fived.

Racism

While it is true and important that we have made the historic decision as a nation to elect a minority of our country for President, there has been a backlash of racist activity directed at our President-elect. To some people, this is shocking, to others, it's normal, and other people don't care. The fact is, if someone believes that racism is dead in our country they really haven't been paying attention.

Reading the comments section of the article posted above (which was actually pretty intelligent for internet commentary), I found several mentions to the completely erroneous "reverse racism" targeted at white people who criticize Obama or would vote for McCain. I'm getting into controversial territory here, but I would say that there is racism against many different groups of people from other groups of people, but that what is most detrimental is racism with power behind it. An individual that hurts another individual based on their race is wrong, but an entire group of people being classified as less human and denied equal opportunities and rights for centuries is an atrocity. These things are not able to occur unless there is massive power behind the racist ideals and the effects of this oppression are long-lasting. White men control most of our nation's wealth and are a majority of the representation in our government and while it is much more likely for a black man to go to prison than college and affirmative action is unacceptable "reverse racism", ivy league institutions use legacy admissions to continue their tradition of upper class white students.

The point is that there cannot be "reverse racism" if there is no power coming in the reverse direction. Everyone holds some sort of power over others, but the massive weight of white privilege in our country changes the dynamic. The other interesting relationship between the comments about "reverse racism" and the list of racist incidents relating to the election is that they are all absent of concrete consequences. I know that the emotional distress of seeing a burning cross on your lawn and the history that evokes can be incredibly powerful and overwhelming, but it is very different than the systemic racism that exists and persists in our country. In my view, these are the things that should be viewed as atrocious and vile, that we do not give a portion of our population the same opportunities due to where they live, how impoverished they already are, and the color of their skin and what it means to our country historically.

There has been a new attitude of "Now there is no excuse for young black men; it has become apparent that they can now become president." There are plenty of reasons that young black men and women still do not have the opportunity or belief that they could one day become president. When you spend every day living in the midst of extreme poverty and violence, it appears that there is no way out, and in many ways this is true. The more symbolic, threatening, and personal incidents from this article are more representational of a mood that still exists, a personal belief that one person is inherently better than another, a persistent hatred. But the systemic problems are the ones that make my skin crawl, because we are legally allowing oppression and not viewing it as so. We go on ignoring the real problems facing our nation and black communities and we will forget that we are trying to reach true equality.