Saturday, November 27, 2010

Greatest Best Man Speech of All Time

I know my marriage would survive the test of time if our best man gave this speech at the reception.



Why has no one thought of this before? People should be giving this speech at graduations, baptisms, grand openings, birthday parties, and seances.



Speaking of forever, can I just say that the love of Ellie and Carl in Up pretty much annihilates me every time I watch the movie. We should all be so lucky. If you haven't seen Up...well, what the hell is wrong with you? It's possibly the sweetest movie ever made. I've never experienced a movie that has me bawling like a mental patient after the first ten minutes. Think about that! What other movie have you seen that can take you to a place that completely raw and defenseless in ten minutes? And not just whimpering, or misty eyed, not a single tear NO. BAWLING. Near hysteria. Annihilated.

Of course the only movie that ever came close...or made me cry so many times throughout...was The Color Purple. And I only realized that The Color Purple got to me for very specific reasons. I saw it at a time when my best friend, who I loved so dearly and completely, had been ripped away from me for over a year at that point. So when Mister drives Nettie away from Celie, of course I lost my mind. And when they reunited? Jesus jumped a flaming car. Sheer mania, total breakdown.

So it makes sense that Up gets to me. Carl isn't much like my grandpa, but he's a grampa to me, still. And grampas who lose their livelong loves? I've seen it firsthand. After all, I was there when they turned off the machines. It's a terrible, terrible thing. But you want that grampa to go on. And I remember my own grampa driving me back to college after all of the sadness of this loss. At one point during the trip we put on the Andrews Sisters. When "Rum and Coca Cola" came on, I caught my grampa doing the cutest little shoulder shake along with the music. And it made me SO HAPPY, for once in that black time, because it gave me hope that he would be okay. My grampa didn't go on the wild adventures that Carl experienced, but he did move on, live his life, get remarried, and had more good times and laughs after.

So when Carl moves on? Joy! And more sobbing. Because it's life affirming...and, well, I'm unstable.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

I am Thankful for...

Cute Overload, for bringing posts like this.



Ug. Look. At. The. Tiny. Elbow.

How happy can one person be??

Saturday, November 20, 2010

I Apologize



Some years ago I got into a bit of a fray with a friend and coworker over pit bulls. I was on the side of banning and killing them due to their obvious evil and threat. She was on the side of "You are fucking crazy, calm down." This was not long after that story about the schoolteacher killed by dogs in California was going down, and I was completely and totally terrified by it. And, like all cases of fear, I was completely irrational and survivalist in thinking.

Years later, I saw the video below and thought, hm.



So I started looking at other videos on YouTube. Around this same time, Michael Vick was arrested for cruelty to animals (among other things) and, as you should expect, I finally saw the light. Pit bulls are DOGS. That seems obvious, doesn't it? And any dog can and will be a good dog...it just needs the right owner. How stupid and rigid I was. I am very ashamed of myself.

Here's the dog that flipped the Hateswitch in my head.





Could you not just DIE of squees??

So, to be clear, I am sorry. More than sorry. I hope that people come to their senses and realize it is NOT the dog, it is the HUMAN. These dogs should not be punished for the evil we create. That includes ignorance. The breed is blameless. In fact, the word "breed" should say it all. Given a chance in a good home, these dogs are the kindest and sweetest of them all.