Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving

No one likes a crab, except for a really tasty one, so instead of listing things I hate (which seems to be an affliction lately), I am going to list things I love…more to the point, things for which I am Thankful…


My New Nintendo DS. Ain’t she a beaut? She’s got no miles on her, being charged for the first time as I write this. And she’s girly pink, to boot. She’s mine all mine.

Word Twist on Facebook. Despite the fact that I’ve played many of the letter variations some 100 times and still can’t manage to remember every word. Why do I refuse to learn? Do I need Sylvan Learning Center?

This Cat. He’s the one creature on this earth that I don’t mind watching while he eats. In fact, his weird face makes it a hilarious delight, as evidenced here:



Battlestar Galactica, Lost, The Amazing Race.

Is it sinful to be thankful for television? Baah! The first two are married to a narrative. Things happen; shocking, riveting, breathless surges of story…and there are moments of weakness, where one wonders why, why waste time on this boring ass aside, but each show has managed to right itself and keep on chugging. Battlestar’s season 3 finale was nothing short of galvanizing (imagine me yelling “Oh My God” repeatedly at the t.v.) and Lost continues to grow in an ever weirder and wilder direction. I have hope that both shows will draw to a satisfying close.

My Favorite Restaurant, Shaw’s Crab House and Oyster Bar, in downtown Chicago. King crab legs, lots of drinks, and a nice slice of key lime pie to top it off. The environment is classy but laid back, and they seem to not mind the sight of a lady elbow deep in butter, lemon juice, and crab carnage, smacking and chomping and growling when hands get too close to her kill. Or so I hear.

My Mommy, Mummy, Mum, Mumsy (and long ago also known as Mee Maw)


She will be here on the 20th!

My Shi-Shi, a.k.a. my sister (and to me, always, Lieslette)

Ain’t she purty?


No, really, she is. See?


The Girls (everyone together now: Awwwwwwwwwwwwww)


The Japanese Obsession with Owls. There are an amazing number of owl torture videos on YouTube. It’s in the same arena as holding up a mirror to a beta fish to see it freak out and flash its little gills, except the owls are way cooler. You’ve got your general owl harassment tutorial, the live cajoling of owls, and finally there’s the just plain weird.

I can count on one hand the number of times that something I saw on television or in a movie made me gut laugh for a long duration. One such case is the Steve Carell part of Bruce Almighty, for instance, but I have long searched for one of my favorites: The owl bit on "Late Night with David Letterman." Its super short, I can’t remember the context, but it was some kind of joke during which they played a video of a row of owls wolfing down whole mice to the earnest, screechy singing of “Tomorrow” from Annie. This is my favorite owl bit, even in light of all of the fabulous owl-related videos out there. Unfortunately, hunting down a clip from a 1992 (or so) airing of the Late Night show has proven to be most fruitless. If you find it, bring it to me.

Netflix. I could browse for hours, I suppose, because in a world where there’s such a thing as Horror Sci-Fi and Deadly Disasters…well, I guess I am all over that. What a lovely queue I have, with the likes of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, The Running Man, Starman, Near Dark, Two Can Play That Game, Junebug and about 70 more all co-exist in one, disorganized-schizophrenic list.

Fake Monsters.



Because they make us forget about the real monsters. Of course everyone is thinking about Mumbai and what’s happening over there. And the labeling of any terrorist will surely be met with a scolding based on idealized rationalization—after all, just about every race and society has partaken of the evildoers pie if you look at history as one set of people repressing and killing another—but of course it is easy enough to have an open mind when it isn’t happening to you. Fear is a tricky thing. I have had the unfortunate opportunity to experience very personal fear, where the threat of bodily harm was a real and possible thing, and I can tell you that sympathizing for the person threatening you is not on the list. Why then do we seek out and delight in movies where bad things happen to good (or, at least, regular) people? And why do we sometimes quietly cheer for the bad guys? It’s pure monkeyscience, I tell you, and nothing more. It’s why I’m putting 2001: A Space Odyssey in my queue.

Finally, of course. I am thankful for my friends. Thanks for keeping me up when I am down, reminding me of my self-worth when I am in doubt, and making me laugh my ass off on a regular basis. This song is for yooouuuuu.

Also, this song.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey! I left a comment a long time ago. Stupid blogger!

I can't remember what I said but I know it was good.

Muah

-Lieslette the Ingruel (fab new word)

10:18 PM  

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