3/12/2004
Lyric of the Day
Because "whence" (the awkward and outcast cousin of the golden child "whom") really needs to make a comeback. And I resolve to lead the charge.
"I'm being punished for all my offenses,
I wanna touch you but I'm afraid of the consequences,
I wanna banish you from whence you came,
But you're part of me now and I've only got myself to blame."
The Darkness, "Growing on Me", from Permission to Land.
"I'm being punished for all my offenses,
I wanna touch you but I'm afraid of the consequences,
I wanna banish you from whence you came,
But you're part of me now and I've only got myself to blame."
The Darkness, "Growing on Me", from Permission to Land.
3/11/2004
Lyric of the Day
In honor of O.A.R. (who rocked the Warfield last night) and the beautiful weather we're enjoying the Bay Area.
"Wouldn't it be the best damn day if we all took time to breathe?
Just one stolen paragraph in the book's written history.
Don't you sometimes wonder why people are afraid to smile?
Don't look down we're gonna come around and it always come to back, crack time eventually."
- O.A.R., "Risen", from In Between Now and Then.
"Wouldn't it be the best damn day if we all took time to breathe?
Just one stolen paragraph in the book's written history.
Don't you sometimes wonder why people are afraid to smile?
Don't look down we're gonna come around and it always come to back, crack time eventually."
- O.A.R., "Risen", from In Between Now and Then.
What was old has become new again...
I'm going through an 80's phase. Why? Well you can blame VH1's "I Love the 80's" series for one. I mean, if Mo Rocca, Michael Ian Black, Donal Logue, and the poor man's Tina Fey, Rachel Harris are validating all the stuff I used to love but am now ashamed to admit (NKOTB anyone? No? Just me? Ok.), then I feel like I have carte blanche license to proclaim my love once and for all.
Reason #2, when it comes to music, 80's music now sounds so fresh and new. The Cure, Depeche Mode, INXS, you just don't get genius like that nowadays. Every time I turn on the radio, I feel like I hear the same noise. Hip-hop beats, distorted guitar, and everyone singing about nothing. There's no passion or angst like that felt by the 80's bands. You listened to the Smiths and you really felt Morrissey's depression and wanted to kill yourself. New Order made you happy. Erasure made you even happier (you know what I'm saying). Music today just doesn't move me to feel anything. It doesn't make me think. It has no substance. That's not to say it isn't catchy (you know you love Toxic), but it has no staying power and when the song is over, I don't remember it.
Reason #2, when it comes to music, 80's music now sounds so fresh and new. The Cure, Depeche Mode, INXS, you just don't get genius like that nowadays. Every time I turn on the radio, I feel like I hear the same noise. Hip-hop beats, distorted guitar, and everyone singing about nothing. There's no passion or angst like that felt by the 80's bands. You listened to the Smiths and you really felt Morrissey's depression and wanted to kill yourself. New Order made you happy. Erasure made you even happier (you know what I'm saying). Music today just doesn't move me to feel anything. It doesn't make me think. It has no substance. That's not to say it isn't catchy (you know you love Toxic), but it has no staying power and when the song is over, I don't remember it.
3/09/2004
The Wisdom of Ainsley Hayes
During the second season of The West Wing, a character was introduced by the name of Ainsley Hayes, played by Emily Proctor (now on CSI: Miami). Loosley based on the blond leggy Republican pundits like Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, Ainsley was an extremely intelligent, witty, and quick "blond republican sex kitten" from North Carolina, who, after kicking Sam Seaborn's ass on a "Meet the Press" type show, was offered a position in the Office of White House Counsel. Feeling a patriotic duty to her country, she accepted the position (and let's face it, any similarities between Ainsley and Coulter ended here).
By the middle of the third season, Ainsley was gone, and with her went my general interest in The West Wing. To me, she brought a bit of balance to the show and was a fair voice to conservatives who are Republicans not for religious or morality reasons, but simply because they believe in small government. I found her to be a unique character that made people think critically about their liberal ideals. She wasn't a perfect character, but she was different and I liked her.
I give you now, her greatest hits:
"This White House that feels that government is better for children than parents are. That looks at 40 years of degrading and humiliating free lunches handed out in a spectacularly failed effort to level the playing field and says lets try 40 more. This White House that says of anyone that points that out to them that they are cold and mean and racists and then accuses the Republicans of using the politics of fear. This White House that loves the Bill of Rights, all of them, except the second one."
"You don't like people who do like guns. You don't like the people. Think about that the next time you make a joke about the South."
"Yeah, and Democrats believe in free speech - as long as it isn't a prayer while you're standing in school. You believe in the Freedom of Information Act - except if you want to find out if your 14-year old daughter had an abortion."
"The people I have met have been extraordinarily qualified. Their intent is good. Their commitment is true. They are righteous, and they are patriots. And I'm their lawyer." (Regarding the Democratic White House)
Sam : If the Amendment's redundant, what's your problem if it's passed or not?
Ainsley : Because I'm a Republican! Have we met? I believe that every time the federal government hands down a new law, it leaves for the rest of us a little less freedom. So I say, let's just stick to the ones we absolutely need to have water come out of the faucet and our cars not stolen. That is my problem with passing a redundant law.
Ainsley : "I like it when the guys tease me. It's an inadvertent show of respect that I'm on the team and I don't mind it when it gets sexual. And you know why? I like sex...
I don't think that whatever sexuality I may have diminishes my power. I think it enhances it."
Celia : "And what kind of feminism do you call that?"
Ainsley : "My kind."
"I am a citizen of this country, I am not a special subset in need of your protection. I do not have to have my rights handed down to me by a bunch of old, white men. The same Article 14 that protects you protects me, and I went to law school just to make sure. And with that, I am going back down to the mess, because I thought I may have seen there, a peach."
CJ : "I want you to get with one of your friends in the press room from a conservative paper."
Ainsley : "You really think we have a secret handshake, don't you?"
CJ : "Do you?"
Ainsley : "Yes."
By the middle of the third season, Ainsley was gone, and with her went my general interest in The West Wing. To me, she brought a bit of balance to the show and was a fair voice to conservatives who are Republicans not for religious or morality reasons, but simply because they believe in small government. I found her to be a unique character that made people think critically about their liberal ideals. She wasn't a perfect character, but she was different and I liked her.
I give you now, her greatest hits:
"This White House that feels that government is better for children than parents are. That looks at 40 years of degrading and humiliating free lunches handed out in a spectacularly failed effort to level the playing field and says lets try 40 more. This White House that says of anyone that points that out to them that they are cold and mean and racists and then accuses the Republicans of using the politics of fear. This White House that loves the Bill of Rights, all of them, except the second one."
"You don't like people who do like guns. You don't like the people. Think about that the next time you make a joke about the South."
"Yeah, and Democrats believe in free speech - as long as it isn't a prayer while you're standing in school. You believe in the Freedom of Information Act - except if you want to find out if your 14-year old daughter had an abortion."
"The people I have met have been extraordinarily qualified. Their intent is good. Their commitment is true. They are righteous, and they are patriots. And I'm their lawyer." (Regarding the Democratic White House)
Sam : If the Amendment's redundant, what's your problem if it's passed or not?
Ainsley : Because I'm a Republican! Have we met? I believe that every time the federal government hands down a new law, it leaves for the rest of us a little less freedom. So I say, let's just stick to the ones we absolutely need to have water come out of the faucet and our cars not stolen. That is my problem with passing a redundant law.
Ainsley : "I like it when the guys tease me. It's an inadvertent show of respect that I'm on the team and I don't mind it when it gets sexual. And you know why? I like sex...
I don't think that whatever sexuality I may have diminishes my power. I think it enhances it."
Celia : "And what kind of feminism do you call that?"
Ainsley : "My kind."
"I am a citizen of this country, I am not a special subset in need of your protection. I do not have to have my rights handed down to me by a bunch of old, white men. The same Article 14 that protects you protects me, and I went to law school just to make sure. And with that, I am going back down to the mess, because I thought I may have seen there, a peach."
CJ : "I want you to get with one of your friends in the press room from a conservative paper."
Ainsley : "You really think we have a secret handshake, don't you?"
CJ : "Do you?"
Ainsley : "Yes."
3/08/2004
Are you for serious?
From MSNBC's Gossip Page:
Item #1:
"Kirsten Dunst says she could have played suicidal poet Sylvia Plath better than Gwyneth Paltrow did. "Even though I think Gwyneth Paltrow is an amazing actress," Dunst told Nylon magazine. "I think that Sylvia was a girl who wanted to hurt. She wanted to feel terrible. I felt like, in the movie, it was more like, "I'm the victim! It should have been more that she liked to create all this s**t in her head. She was crazier."
Shut up, Kirsten. Just because you hang out with the Gyllenhaals doesn't mean you're a good actor. Your best work was in Bring It On for pete's sake. And even there you were outacted by Gabrielle Union, Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford, and the 3LW chicks.
Item #2:
J.C. Chasez's new CD has hit a sour note with some schizophrenics. The debut solo effort by the former 'N Syncer is titled Schizophrenic and the cover image shows him in a straitjacket. Now, some are charging that Chasez is unfairly stereotyping and misrepresenting people suffering from schizophrenia.
"I was shocked when I saw it, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I got," schizophrenia sufferer Bill MacPhee told The Scoop. MacPhee says he plans to address the topic in a forthcoming issue of his magazine, Schizophrenia Digest. "It's a serious illness, but people who have it can lead productive lives. . . . This sort of thing can lead to further stigmatization and stereotyping of schizophrenia sufferers."
Are people really that sensitive? His album wasn't called "Schizo's Suck". There was no judgment. Jeez, if this is standard then I object to the cover of Margaret Cho's book "I'm The One That I Want" because it incorrectly portrays Asian-Americans as always wearing black. There are many Asian-Americans who try to live normal lives wearing all colors of the rainbow and occasionally shopping at Urban Outfitters. Ms. Cho's cover merely perpetuates the unfair stereotype and it will lead to further stigmatization and stereotyping of Asian-Americans.
Whatfuckingever.
And there's nothing wrong with wearing black. Its very slimming.
Item #1:
"Kirsten Dunst says she could have played suicidal poet Sylvia Plath better than Gwyneth Paltrow did. "Even though I think Gwyneth Paltrow is an amazing actress," Dunst told Nylon magazine. "I think that Sylvia was a girl who wanted to hurt. She wanted to feel terrible. I felt like, in the movie, it was more like, "I'm the victim! It should have been more that she liked to create all this s**t in her head. She was crazier."
Shut up, Kirsten. Just because you hang out with the Gyllenhaals doesn't mean you're a good actor. Your best work was in Bring It On for pete's sake. And even there you were outacted by Gabrielle Union, Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford, and the 3LW chicks.
Item #2:
J.C. Chasez's new CD has hit a sour note with some schizophrenics. The debut solo effort by the former 'N Syncer is titled Schizophrenic and the cover image shows him in a straitjacket. Now, some are charging that Chasez is unfairly stereotyping and misrepresenting people suffering from schizophrenia.
"I was shocked when I saw it, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I got," schizophrenia sufferer Bill MacPhee told The Scoop. MacPhee says he plans to address the topic in a forthcoming issue of his magazine, Schizophrenia Digest. "It's a serious illness, but people who have it can lead productive lives. . . . This sort of thing can lead to further stigmatization and stereotyping of schizophrenia sufferers."
Are people really that sensitive? His album wasn't called "Schizo's Suck". There was no judgment. Jeez, if this is standard then I object to the cover of Margaret Cho's book "I'm The One That I Want" because it incorrectly portrays Asian-Americans as always wearing black. There are many Asian-Americans who try to live normal lives wearing all colors of the rainbow and occasionally shopping at Urban Outfitters. Ms. Cho's cover merely perpetuates the unfair stereotype and it will lead to further stigmatization and stereotyping of Asian-Americans.
Whatfuckingever.
And there's nothing wrong with wearing black. Its very slimming.
Alias: Blowback
Don't get me wrong. It was a marked improvement from the craptastic previous episode. But when did Alias become the Lauren Reed show? I swear, they think they can make her interesting by making her evil, throwing a recycled "Sydney" wig on her, and have her make out with anything that moves. This is just lazy writing and I forgive it only because its midseason and the payoff (Vaughn finding out, Syd kicking the crap out of Lauren, and Vaughn and Syd reunited) should be riveting. But until then, "Attention Alias writers. The show doesn't write itself. And putting Jennifer Garner in a super short skirt won't distract any of us (well, maybe some of us) from the fact that your writing sucks. So get your heads out of your asses and start earning your paycheck."
All that being said, props to Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan on their watch scene (those two just sizzle when they're onscreen together).
Sydney: Is something wrong?
Vaughn: No. I'm just getting old, I guess.
Sydney: You expect me to believe that?
Vaughn: I've just had a lot on my mind lately, that's all. It'll pass.
Sydney: Yesterday was the day, wasn't it? The anniversary of your father's death?
Vaughn: How could you remember that?
Sydney: I remember what missing him does to you.
Sigh. Pardon me as I temporarily shed my rough and tumble exterior to melt.
Ahem. Ok, I'm done.
Also liked the Jennifer Garner/Victor Garber dinner scene at the end, cued up to Norah Jones. Awww. Snif. I love my SpyDaddy!
All that being said, props to Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan on their watch scene (those two just sizzle when they're onscreen together).
Sydney: Is something wrong?
Vaughn: No. I'm just getting old, I guess.
Sydney: You expect me to believe that?
Vaughn: I've just had a lot on my mind lately, that's all. It'll pass.
Sydney: Yesterday was the day, wasn't it? The anniversary of your father's death?
Vaughn: How could you remember that?
Sydney: I remember what missing him does to you.
Sigh. Pardon me as I temporarily shed my rough and tumble exterior to melt.
Ahem. Ok, I'm done.
Also liked the Jennifer Garner/Victor Garber dinner scene at the end, cued up to Norah Jones. Awww. Snif. I love my SpyDaddy!
