Reading tea leaves
Cultural commentators who warn against the most inocuous messages of “deviant” behavior in pop culture need to remember that parents themselves are not idiots and have the wealth of their experience to guide them. Reading too deeply into things can bring about the wildest of conclusions; the warning against which can be more harmful than the blissful ignorance of them.
Case in point, my sister described the turtles in Finding Nemo as part of the carefree, thrillseeking surfer culture. Then there are those who call them “stoners.” Would you tell your pre-teens that such vocal affectations were indicative of drug use? Or would you just tell them that some turtles—or people—just act differently? Would you, as a social commentator, raise the roof with all sorts of alarms for parents to warn their kids of behavior they should be at this point, blissfully ignorant of?
When a shark wants to dress up as a dolphin in a fish movie and the shark’s father expresses acceptance for his son, why focus on the apparent allegory to “deviant” behavior when the focus could be on the father’s ability to surmount such superficial worries? Too much ballyhoo, too much reading into tea leaves.
November 26 2004, 21:09 | Filed under: Irritants,TV and Film | 2 Comments |
When aesthetes attack
This Washington Post article about a top secret Navy facility in the middle of a park in Washinton, D.C. is quite a good example of how the press, in its insatiable thirst for their deification, engages in irresponsible reporting of facts that are not covered by secrecy.
That they, unable to get what they wanted on the details of the facility’s actions itself, published the names of people who know of the projects in the facilty is irresponsible. That they, in a quest for “transparency” in matters of national security, would worry more about the aesthetics of the capitol at a time like this, is irresponsible. That they, under the guise of “accountability,” would incite the organizations that oversee normal park construction to dip their fingers in matters that they are not privy to, is irresponsible.
If certain government organizations are not privy to Secret to Top Secret information from other government bodies, what makes the press think they have all the right to this info? The people whose security the reporters at The Post have compromised are to be lauded for their steadfastness.
HT: Kathy Kinsley UPDATE: Regarding the title, I forgot to note that the writers were whining a lot about how the facility makes the capitol ugly. Talk about priorities. UPDATE2: I actually did. It was buried in the second coumpound sentence in the second graf. Haha.
Maternal strength
A photo of my mother, in a not so flattering situation. Taken on an afternoon spent clearing the yard of excess wood from deck work.
Licensing for use in Communist propaganda is not being offered.
November 26 2004, 17:17 | Filed under: Photography | 1 Comment |
Making peace with myself
When a story usually starts with “if you only knew,” usually there are just so many details that couldn’t be divulged in the public sphere that the story itself lacks substance.
So, if you all only knew, I used to hate the Christmas season. Well, that was after I liked it.
Earlier tonight, I joined my mother for a ride to her workplace. She brought with her some of the pancit that some of her co-workers have grown to like a lot. The food was for one of her teammates, a kindly black woman who brought with her delectable selections from her own Thanksgiving table. While waiting for the other half of this rendezvous, Celine Dion’s version of O Holy Night was playing at the lite rock station that my mom never dials out of. (For the entire holiday season they play Christmas tunes non-stop.)
For the first time in years I didn’t find myself tuning out, or even being irritated at the sound of a Christmas song. I even found myself singing along. And I realized that a big part of my history that I resented has basically fallen off my shoulders.
For three of my college years in the Philippines I spent Christmas eve alone. My cousin, who was my roomy, would go to his aunt’s on his dad’s side of the family, and celebrate it with familiar faces. I had a turbulent relationship with my brother, with who the holidays were unbearable, as I found out during my first year away from home. I had close friends who invited me to their places but I knew that, surrounded by their entire families, I would only feel bad about myself.
Christmas was a time for self-pity. I pride myself in being a good cook; I would cook three or four of my favorite dishes in small portions and have a small smorgasbord of them. I’d get some sparkling dry white wine to wash it down, and I would be asleep before midnight crept in. Christmas was the time when I felt the most alone. My mother and sister were here in the States, and after the usual phone call I would get about my way.
But I was so physically alone. And I hated it, and the season that reminded me of it so much. I didn’t “celebrate” Christmas, it was a storm I weathered.
I brought those scars with me to the USA, and the aloof attitude that I have fostered. But tonight, listening to Celine Dion (of ALL elevator-music acts, imagine that) with my mum in my car, I just realized something. She’s here. I’m here. My family is here.
It’s really late tonight, and I’m listening to Jewel’s Joy: A Holiday Collection. Outside the temps are set to freeze for the first time in two weeks. The brief late fall warmup is basically over; it looks like it may be a mild winter ahead. But no matter how the winter will be like, I know my shoulders feel light. It’s going to be Christmas for me for the first time in a while, and I’m feeling it all right.
November 26 2004, 2:58 | Filed under: Living fine | 3 Comments |
Hands: Sisyphus
Sisyphus is a college student who also works. His tasks never end, thus the monicker.
November 26 2004, 1:17 | Filed under: Photography | Comments Off |
Accolades 2004
Much has happened in the year since I issued my first Thanksgiving Accolades post. There are people on that list with who I have lost contact with; I am still thankful for them. This year, a few newcomers on my “thank you” list.
A thank you to the ones whose blogs I have designed in part or in full. You have let me sharpen my aesthetic skills, which can never be honed by simple mastery of CSS code: Jeff. Boi From Troy, whose blog is the only [eee!]-powered blog that I have designed in full. The continued rave reviews from his visitors make my heart swell, and I was might flattered that his was the first nominee in the comments section for Best Blog Design of the 2004 Weblog Awards. Val Prieto. Chief Wiggles. Rhe.
To new friends I have met online and in real life. Jason Nunnely. Billy Boi. Dave Tepper who I finally met in the flesh. Jeff Quinton. Doc Joyner (for all the professional and career advice). Boi From Troy also, who I met in person. The entire crew of the Mixed Wingnuts IRC channel, even the ones I do not talk to or say hi to when I enter the room. To anyone I have missed who I have not thanked last year, my bad. Thank you too.
Some thanks also in detail, to two people. First, Dodd Harris. Stats-wise my blog was a runt around June 2003 when he linked back to me after I blogrolled him as a big-gun “sky father” back when my blogroll was themed according to Frank Herbert’s Dune universe. That link brought 38 clicks on the first day and totalled about 80 before the post rolled off the page. I was absolutely elated when such a big gun linked to me.
Secondly, Vinny. When I included him last year in my list of people to thank he didn’t know what I was thanking him for. Well I was appreciative that, because of his strong opinions and tough stance on what he believed in, I found some other blogger who I did not disdain. I have a thing for people I learn to respect, and I appreciate their presence all the time.
Anyway, to those I have missed, especially those who I missed both years, I apologize, but thank you, too. May you all enjoy this day.
November 25 2004, 16:02 | Filed under: Blog news | Comments Off |
Food snobs and the turkeys that they are
From Andy, a CNN article about “heritage turkeys” and how “consumers with discerning palates” think they taste better than “modern, mass-produced turkeys found in supermarkets.”
Articles like this simultaneously amuse and annoy me. I’ve been watching cooking TV since I could remember and many of these top chefs and food celebrities can be quite snobby about food untouched by the evils of commercialism. I sometimes wonder if the hypocrisy ever come to them.
Many, and I do mean many “discerning palates” wouldn’t know the difference between a free range chicken and one from Tyson farms, unless you told them. There is a powerful placebo effect in the world of gourmandism, where mastery of the spoken word is just as important as mastery of the kitchen.
And speaking of mastery of the kitchen, a heritage turkey isn’t foolproof either. A cook can just as likely ruin a heritage turkey as he would a regular turkey, and no amount of verbal BS would redeem it. I’d rather learn how to make these “modern, mass-produced turkeys” come out divine than rely on mediocre skill applied unto a product whose superiority is quite dubious.
November 24 2004, 18:19 | Filed under: Food and drink | 1 Comment |
Open wide
My visit to the dentist today was the first in a series where all four of my wisdom teeth, and another molar that could not be saved, are to be extracted. I’ve come to realize that wanting to rather have one’s teeth pulled, these days at least, isn’t as bad as it used to be. I’m giving that idiom another generation or two before it fades into irrelevance.
Doctor’s orders: no heavy chewing tonight, no smokes for two days. There will be plenty of gnashing of teeth… Wait, that’s not allowed too. I’ll be clenching my fists much tonight.
November 19 2004, 19:16 | Filed under: Living fine | 6 Comments |
Grrr!
I don’t like snobs. Whether it’s in the arts or in general pop culture, snooty types remind me of the time when I was one of them, and I was no fan of myself when I was in a prep cult. Waiter Rant has a wonderful account of what happens in Any Restaurant, in AnyTown, USA, and delivers a well-deserved choking towards some really awful snoots he encountered:
Yuppies raised on a steady diet of Food Network bullshit want an opera singing food personality to reinforce their Williams Sonoma Catalog ideal of how the world should be. When it runs smack dab against the harsh world of restaurant economics and immigration it creates what my old sociology professor called “dissonance.”
Me? I wish I could shatter bifocals from afar by sheer force of desire.
(HT: Rhesa, via IM.)
November 19 2004, 2:22 | Filed under: Irritants | Comments Off |
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