Media Musings

Well, do to a couple of things; this is going to be a media post today. Because TV sucks during Christmas and because I can’t bear to add more books to my roll over there (with my new template I have to force each book all the way down the list, plus, the list is almost over),I thought I’d just tell you all what I thought about a some media:

We watched "Talledega Nights". BOO. So boo. It was awful. I really dislike “funny” movies, but have enjoyed some of Will Farrell’s. I think he’s a really funny guy and I loved loved, loved "Old School". So I thought I might like this. But no, I didn’t. I didn’t like SBCohen, I didn’t like Farrell, I didn’t like the writing, and I thought it was unfunny and stupid. There was no point at all, no goals, no plot. The only thing good was Jack Macbrayer, and that’s just cause he’s awesome no matter what. And he gave me my best nickname ever “Peg O’ My Heart”. I love him.

Next: We watched “American Haunting”. Man, was that dumb too. Not even a little scary, although Donald Sutherland was excellent. He was really weird. No wonder we watch TV, there are no good movies anymore.

I read The Dogs of Bedlam Farm, another schmaltzy non-fiction dog book. Like Marley and Me, although I liked this better. Jon Katz (ironic, no?) has three border collies and talks a lot about “Dog love”. One of his really interesting musings is about the pain behind dog love. Not pain in loving the dog, but where that love stems from. Lemme ‘splain:

“People who’ve been hurt, who know suffering and helplessness, who’ve felt powerless in their own lives, are drawn to these dependent animals, who they believe love them unconditionally. They are helpless, so they touch our innate and visceral need to nurture – which can arise because we were nurtured and know how to do it, or because we weren’t and are drawn to the chance to rewrite our pasts. We think we can make the world a perfect place for at least one creature”

That last line really resonates with me. I think that’s a lot of what’s behind my dog love, also of course acceptance and non-judgment, but this is my chance to protect something and make him happy. I dunno, but the idea of some measure of pain behind “dog love” is a really interesting thought I think I’ve had but couldn’t express.

Now I’m reading Michael Crichton’s Next. I started it yesterday and I’m almost done. It’s great, total candy, total, but man, its fun candy. All about genetics and bio-engineering, with Crichton’s excellent half-fact, half-fiction thing I love. I have a couple hours after work before I meet some lady friends for dinner, I’m going to sit in a Starbuck’s with a green tea and finish this shit up.

Now all I’m waiting for is my VCR tape of “The Stepfather” that I actually bought online. They don’t make a DVD of it, so I couldn’t get it from Netflix. But I want John to see it so badly, I had to order it. Terry O’Quinn being a truly creepy stepdaddy is worth all of the 8$ that I paid for it.

Merry Christmas. This is a church near my house, just the door and the steeple have lights: