Monthly Archives: August 2010

The girl with the open mind

Posted by admin on August 30, 2010 No comments

When I first heard about the millennium trilogy, the series that begins with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I wasn’t the least bit interested in reading them. First of all, I don’t base my reading choices solely on what makes the New York Times best seller’s list, ahemTwilightahem. Secondly, crime novels never really interested me, not that this reason was a real deterrent, which brings me to my third reason. Every time I saw or read anything to do with the books, I couldn’t understand what the plot was supposed to be about, not that I ever paid much attention to begin with.

Then one day The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was on Netflix streaming, so I figured why not. I ended up really liking the movie. It was dark and gritty, the plot was interesting, and the acting solid. So naturally, I wanted to find out what happened next, so I got the next book in the series, and am currently making my way through the third.

The one thing I do find disappointing in the series it that the author, Steig Larsson, died of a heart attack shortly before the book were published. A major theme and occasional plot device revolves around extreme Misogyny. In the books, women are often viewed with disgust and commonly referred to as slut or whore. Given the author’s background as a journalist and anti-racism/anti-right wing extremism activist, I have to wonder how close some events are to reality. Certainly, if the author were still alive it would be interesting to hear his comments on the matter.

If you haven’t seen the movie yet and like crime dramas, then I recommend you watch it. I should mention though, the movie is subtitled as it’s filmed and casted in Sweden, where the books take place. If subtitles aren’t your thing, you can always wait for the Americanized version to come out. Why there is an American version, I have no clue; only guesses.

Anyway, the moral of the story is; always keep an open mind. Unless it’s about an Apple product.

Singles, or how I long for the past.

Posted by admin on August 15, 2010 No comments

This afternoon, while browsing through Netflix for an interesting movie to watch, I came across the film Singles. I immediately added it to my streaming queue and watched it. Singles was a movie that came 1992. Directed by Cameron Crowe,  Singles is an ensemble film about the dating lives of young twenty-somethings in Seattle.

The plot of the movie is fairly standard and nothing extraordinary or awful. It’s the movie’s setting that resonates with me.

In 1992, I was just entering high school. Grunge was huge, the the world that was captured in celluloid is burned into my memory was one of the better times in my life. Here’s why:

Kyra Sedgewick played Linda. Notice anything? Need a hint? Even though her hair is styled, it’s a completely natural color. No artificial coloring to be found. Her eyebrows aren’t immaculately plucked. Her makeup is extremely minimal. She is a complete 180 from extremely manicured and made up look today, and yet she looks just fine. I would even say she looks pretty.

The clothes. The women in the film almost always wear pants. Why? Because they are more comfortable than skirts. The clothes are loose fitting and comfy looking;  not the short, tight, bullshit “aspirational” crap that gets shoved down your throat today. Even the shoes are comfy, and I will still take a pair of boots over heels any day. Again, I would say Bridget Fonda looks perfectly find and cute in these clothes. In such a movie today, only the women deemed unattractive could get away with pants and flannel.

The world before mass-market chain coffee establishments. Don’t you wish you could go back in time and slap the person that thought it would be a good idea to rename small, medium, and large?

The music. Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden versus Justin Beiber and Jonas Bros? NO CONTEST.

For the Birds

Posted by admin on August 9, 2010 No comments

It occurred to me while writing my last post, that I’ve neglected to mention THE BIRDS. Yes, birds. Plural. I’ve been wanting a pet for a while. My apartment doesn’t allow cats and dogs, which limited my options to the caged variety. Originally I had considered a lizard or turtle,  but eventually decided on a bird. I had never had a bird before, and feathers are closer to fur than scales.

Bird #1 was a common parakeet, or budgie,  whom I named Beryl because of his bright green coloring. Once he got adjusted, Beryl became pretty friendly, eating out of our hands and sitting on fingers. Shortly after getting Beryl, Scott got a job, so to keep Beryl from being lonely we got him a companion.

Bird #2, also a parakeet, was named Little Bird. Little Bird got her name due to the simple fact that she is even smaller than Beryl, and I really couldn’t come up with a better name. Typical of her species sex, she is less social than Beryl. For a long time she seemed to be afraid of us and still somewhat wary of humans.

A rare photogenic moment

I was happy with two birds. They keep each other company and get along, as well as providing song and entertainment for us. Scott on the other hand, really really wanted a bird that he could interact with more. Something, as he put it, that would sit on his shoulder and hang out. This of course meant a larger bird.

Bird #3. After some debating and some searching for breeders, we eventually added Paddy to the house. As the name might suggest, Paddy the Turquoise Green-Cheek Conure was born on St. Patrick’s Day.  Typical of larger parrots, he is more friendly, playful, and willing to be handled.

After that, I said NO MORE PETS. Don’t get me wrong, I love animals and would be happy to have more, but in a small apartment, space is at a premium and I’m already feeling claustrophobic as it is. I have to admit, I was tempted by the parakeet sale at the pet store the other day, but I had to force myself to keep walking.

Overall, having birds as pets is pleasant. They don’t need to be constantly entertained. They are easy to feed and maintain, their messes are confined to a small space, and they’re fairly predictable. As in, they will almost always go to sleep when it gets dark.

There are some downsides of course. Birds are very delicate, and must be handled gently at all times. The do have personalities, and will sometimes express themselves by squawking or being overly loud when you would prefer them to be quiet. Paddy likes to be outside of his cage when people are around, and will follow you wherever you go, even if that’s to the bathroom.

Yes, I know the photo isn’t displaying correctly. No, I don’t know why that is.

Holy crap it’s August

Posted by admin on August 4, 2010 No comments

Time flies. I wanted to avoid large gaps in posting but life generally has other plans and then before you know it the leaves are falling then the snow, and then it’s New Year’s Eve and you’re saying to yourself “Wow, here already? Where did the year go?”

Ah plans, the best laid plans of mice and men. I’ve learned long ago to avoid long term plans because as soon as I had laid the groundwork, life comes in and throws the switch to send me flying in another direction. So anyway, LIFE. Between two jobs, three birds, and a side project has been keeping me busy. What is this project you ask? Can’t tell you yet. Add in the sweltering heat of summer and a mostly not air-conditioned apartment, leaves my free time trying to generate as little heat as possible. This involves sitting in the dark, in front of a fan, mostly watching movies.

But, do not think that I am some person without goals, who casually goes wherever the wind takes me. I still have my goals, they just exist in a short-sighted format. The below list, in no particular order, are my goals for the next 12-15 months.

  1. Save up for a house (air-conditioning IS.A.MUST.)
  2. Take some semblance of a vacation that involves travel beyond a 3-hour radius of home.
  3. Pay off school loans
  4. That’s it.

Small and extremely vague. But hey, you can’t deny they are easy to accomplish, and any accomplishment is a win! Now, back to watching movies in the dark and not thinking about how in a few weeks I’ll be saying “Holy crap, I’m 32! How did that happen?”