A Mish Mash of Thoughts

Today’s my first day back at work after a week’s vacation. Every year my family takes a trip to Orange Beach, Alabama. Coming back to work after a week off always ruins my day.

ON FILM

I actually arrived home (in Chicago) on Saturday, so I had a day to recuperate from vacation. I stayed in, ordered some deep-dish pepperoni pizza from Gino’s East and watched a few movies. One of them was Prime with Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. I don’t like it when movies are marketed as comedies and then end up being dramas. It totally irks me. It seems like a sick trend that’s occurring pretty frequently these days. Here are two other fake comedies:

The Family Stone – watched this at Christmas with my Mother. Thought it’d be funny/heart-warming … instead my Mom made fun of me for crying throughout the entire movie as if I were suddenly suffering from a chemical imbalance. In case you don’t know the plot line, this movie is essentially about a Mother, who has terminal breast cancer and knows that it’ll be her last Christmas. Throughout the movie, she’s trying to ensure that her children are on the right paths towards happiness, mostly by yelling at them and then suddenly breaking it to them that she won’t be around the next year. Luke Wilson was hot in this movie and I didn’t have any problems with the quality of the script/acting, but come on! What sicko chose to market this movie as a happy-go-lucky Christmas Comedy?

The Break Up – I love Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn, but, again, really, really depressing.

If Nacho Libre turns out to be a dramatic film that exposes the horrific corruption within Mexican orphanages or some other unanticipated serious topic, I’m going to have to call into question the integrity of the Hollywood film industry.

ON FAMILY VACATIONS

Family is great. I love my family. I live in Chicago and they live in Alabama and Utah. I like telling people that my family lives in these two states, because it makes them look at you differently. As if you might be the product of an ancient bloodline of hybrid, country-music loving, racist, mormon, hillbilly kayakers.

I have three siblings and my older brother and sister have both started having children.** So now there are multiple toddlers involved on these annual vacations – typically 2 or 3 of them. They’re all very cute, but, man, are they exhausting! Toddlers can’t just hang out and watch TV or lay out on the beach. They can’t get their own juice and cookies. They never share their juice and cookies. They need constant attention. And, now that they’ve figured out how to talk, they do it nonstop. Mostly in the form of shouting and/or whining. My guess is that I didn’t get to see them at their best, comfortable in their home environments, with reliable nap times and not all hopped up on sugar, but my ambivalent attitude makes me wonder if I’m the sort of person that should have children.

** Thankfully, not with each other since doing so would only fortify the misperceptions people have about individuals residing in Alabama and Utah. Plus that would be really gross.

ON READING

I recently started reading War and Peace (a.k.a. War: What is it Good For?). I think it’s funny how as soon as someone sees you reading it, this exact conversation follows:

Them: Are you reading War and Peace?
Me: Yes
Them: Did you know that Tolstoy almost didn’t call it War and Peace?
Me: (playing along) No.
Them: Yeah … he initially wanted to call it War: What is it Good For?
Me: Isn’t Seinfeld great?
Them: Yeah … best show ever.
fin

I’m reading it because a friend of mine that rides the train during my morning commute was reading it and told me it was his favorite book. He loaned it to me and now I’m about 250 pages in. It started getting really good at around page 200 and I’m beginning to obsess over it (the sign of any good book). I think I might start trying to give the other classics a try like maybe The Brothers Karamazov or something. Then I could impress everyone with my half-assed knowledge of Russian Lit.

ON NAMES

How does somebody get a name like Studs Terkel? I’ve never read anything he’s written even though he’s a Chicago local. What up bitches! Every time I hear his name on TV, though, I perk up and listen. Studs.

Smell you later ...

- Enchanted Elastic Knickers