Daily Archive for November 24th, 2006

Winter Plans

Published on November 24, 2006 in For the Record. 5 Comments

Winter Plans
Friday, November 24, 2006-11:42AM EST

I, like many others, react to the lack of sun during the winter months. They call this wonderful time seasonal depression, I call it a frikin season to cry, moan and long for the sun to come back. Sun come back please show your face! Well, this year I have a plan. I’ve been stocking up on books and cheap DVD’s so that when the coldest days hit I won’t sit here at home with nothing at all to do. I don’t go on book marathons and read a book a day. I take my time because I’m not trying to set some kind of record so I can jump on the net and say, Oh I devoured 6 books last night but I can’t tell you nare a word of them. Anyway, this winter has one major difference from past winters. I’ll have full use of the fireplace with an abundant supply of fire wood and and overflow of books and DVD’s. Goodwill has DVD’s on sale for about $3.00 each so I’ve been picking them up during the half price tag days. Gotta love a good sale, especially when it involves the wonder Latin lover Antonio Banderas with his beautiful brownness or chocolate hunka hunka burnin’ love Mr. Denzel Washington. Then of course we have to toss in a bit more Latin love with the Latin American born Joaquin Phoenix or Sir Scottish Sensation Shaun Connery. Cheap movies bringing sexy guys, you can’t do better than that. So, I’ve stocked up. Heck, I even got a few movies with the Gladiator himself in it for $1.50. Goodwill, always doing right by the common man woman. The man who made bald sexy, Jon Luc Picard, even finds himself among the movies I picked up.

So here is a short list of only some my cheap thrills:

Master and Commander -New Zealand born Australian raised, Russell Crowe gets wet
Bone Collectors -Milk does a body good, milk did you right Denzel
Once Upon A Time In Mexico -Latin Lover Antonio and Johnny Depp. Oh Johnny!
Panic Room -Love me some Jody Foster
Godsend-Rebecca Romijn-Stamos stars with Greg Kinnear and Robert De Niro clone a child
Darkness Falls corny thriller about a murderous tooth fairy
Enough -Jay Lo kickin’ butt is always nice to see

Here is a short list of some of the recently purchased books for only 69 cents at the wonderful second hand store:

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden -paper back, original version of 1997 before it hit the big screen
The Color Purple - A must have for any half way decent collection of books
Great Expectations hard bound -I bought this because it’s a classic and it has both endings included
Cold by John Smolens – New to me, I’ve never read it.
The Night Spider by John Lutz- New to me, I’ve never read it
High Crimes (also a movie) by Joseph Finder- “”
If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon – “”
The Program by Gregg Hurwitz- “”
The Kill Clause by Gregg Hurwitz – “”

Even though I’ve already read the book The Alienist by Caleb Carr I went ahead and picked it up again. The book and I have a little bit of history. I read it sitting in a steam bath apartment in Bowling Green, Kentucky where I had no TV, no phone and no car. That book kept me sane for about 2 days when Kentucky outdid hell fires heat factor. It was also directly after leaving my ex-husband so ya know, it was kind of a crazy sick sentimental type purchase. My goodness it was hot that year. I’d just moved in and had nothing to do. I can’t even remember how I got the book but I read it between cold showers and liked it. The author has serious issues so I haven’t read anything else of his. Well, that’s not true. He has another book called The Angel of Darkness but I only read about three chapters of it before high tailing it back to Barns and Noble to return it with the explanation that Caleb seems to be infatuated with the idea of killing “boy whores.” The cashier agreed that Mr. Carr is whacked and gladly returned my $8 and change. The man is a sick something-something but since The Alienist and I have history I went ahead and added it to my library. So between a heck of a lot of books and DVD’s listed and unlisted plus a fire place, a good recliner and some Natural Light bulbs I plan to make it through this winter without the blues snuffing out my joy, however small that joy is winter can’t have it. No snow is gonna freeze my joy I mean to tell ya, not with my boys Antonio and Brown Sugar Denzel to keep me warm. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

December 2nd Goodwill will have another half off day store-wide so I don’t have to pick and choose from the color of the week discount on books or DVD’s. Books that normally cost 69 cents will be half off. I’ll be savin’ my pennies for December 2nd the Bookworm’s Holiday.

Austin

The Human Experience

Published on November 24, 2006 in Soapbox. 3 Comments

The Human Experience
Friday, November 24, 2006- 5:00 AM EST

 

Vodka Musings - a YouTube video clip. (The creator of this clip has chosen to remove it from YouTube so this link no longer works)

I like what this woman has to say. Her video is about 12 minutes long and talks about this whole Kramer situation being the number one topic during a very hostile time in the country. She discusses her background and experiences with poverty, homelessness, a mother with Paranoid Schizophrenia and about the misguided direction the world goes in when it comes to race and gender standards. This is a good video. I’d love to talk to this lady.

Some of what she says I’ve thought but not said or written. There are times when I watch TV and think, man had they said that about another group of people that comment would have gotten them in a lot of trouble. The TV we watch, especially comedy shows like Jay Leno, David Letterman and other late night TV shows really set the tone for common views on race, gender standards, views on crime and issues that should be taken seriously. I believe that only here would it be okay for someone to write a book about a crime they committed, got acquitted for then goes to write a book about if they did it this is how they would have done it. Only here in this country would they get any air time at all to slap victims in the face then have those same faces slapped by late night comedians who joke about such horrible acts. It was not bad judgment on the part of the FOX network, it was a true reflection of their values, money before morality.

What we watch on TV, the jokes we listen to and laugh at can slowly change our once solid standards and clear social views. A gradually dulled sense of right and wrong can lead us to out right violent (verbal or physical) acts. It always starts out gradually. With each joke that goes by about OJ, with each joke that goes by about female teachers assaulting male students or even jokes about global warming we tenderize our conscience and when there is a true assault we don’t feel the blow the way we would have had our true fiber and strength of conscience not been softened up (tenderized) by inappropriate commentary. Subtle intrusions can make the biggest impact on our behavior and then we shock ourselves when we fly off the handle and say this or that about this person or that person. We say or think stuff we never thought we could and ask, “Where did that come from?” It comes from the everyday subtleties that tell us who we are and who the next person is. Where did that come from? It comes from those jokes in the coffee room with a racial tone or with a sexist tone. Where did that come from? It comes from news programs that insist upon showing one sided viewpoints on emotionally charged situations then end offering no solutions just doubt and fear with a second helping the next news segment around. Sometimes the things we see on TV or hear on the radio are subtle but other times they’re right out in the open mixing words some of us would never dream of putting together.

In this day an age it is okay to exercise free speech even when it’s just filth and pointless. It is your right to be stupid and the constitution will never change that basic moronic right. In addition to more “free speech” are freer speech topics. There was a time not to so long ago that talking about abuse at all was unheard of. Now, we joke about it. Where is the balance and will we as human beings ever be able to know when to talk seriously and when to simply “not go there?”

One form of speech lets the world know that women, children, men, the elderly, the handicapped and all other groups of people will not stand for ill treatment. We have entire organizations for such advocacies. The hard work they do is sometimes muted by those who would actually have the nerve to joke about something 1 out of ever 3 girls and 1 out of every 6 boys has experienced before the age of 18. For some reason we forget their faces and we forget their tears and the impact their healing or not healing has on our society. To laugh simply allows you one more tenderizing blow and one more reason for children not to tell. When your children see you laugh about these things you send a message that it’s something to be mocked. Who wants to be mocked? If they are ever part of the ever changing statistics what are the chances they’ll tell and take the chance of being the butt of a joke? Kids may not be aware that there is help out there. They might go as far as to believe that somehow Jay Leno will find out and plaster his face all over TV and everyone will know. God forbid anyone would grant this sort of “keep my child silent” approval knowingly. But that is what is done when you laugh at domestic abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and other forms of destructive behaviors.

The next time you laugh make sure it’s something funny not something having to do with the millions of abused children each year. The next time you decide its okay to use a racial slur of any kind think about the lasting effects it has on people and the hurt it brings to every single solitary race in the world. Keep your hands to yourself. Keep your hate to yourself.

Austin

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