oscars, founding brothers, sideways

[fearlesstemp]

I am so lame! I totally didn't care that Beyonce sang three times tonight. I was impressed by her voice but I did think that silver dress she wore at the end made her look kind of hippy, and coming from a gal who has more hip than she can handle, I kind of feel a kinship to her now. I just need a rap mogul boyfriend and two friends willing to color-coordinate with me at all public functions and I will be SET.



Okay! So I'm trying to figure out how to organize this entry without spoiling people, as I want to talk about Sideways some more - and it would segue in nicely here, since I was just talking about the Oscars, but I guess it would be better to wait until the end and put the cut tag there - whatever! I'm moving on to another subject.

I'm reading this book right now, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, and it's really freaking me out because in addition to my usual worries about things like car accidents, scary murderers, and freak kitchen accidents, I now find myself with whole new worlds of things to obsess over. Like - what if a black hole swallows us up? What if the universe decides to stop expanding right now? And just collapses in on itself with no warning? Like, RIGHT NOW? It COULD HAPPEN. And there's all this lead in the atmosphere! And the ozone is gone! And particle physics just really weirds me out!

Anyway. It's a pretty good book! The next section is entitled Dangerous Planet, with a subheading of, "The history of any one part of the Earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror." TERROR.


What if there's another ice age? Soon? WHAT IF?

Another book I read recently and really enjoyed was Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis (who's also written books about Thomas Jefferson and, more recently, George Washington). Fantastic book. Worthy of caps lock. FANTASTIC BOOK. I just tried to write something about it but - do you ever have those cases where you love something so much your brain freezes up and you just can't communicate it in actual sentences? I'm trying to think of an equivalent - as with all things, I will turn to the pantheon of WB primetime television. For example, any moment between Pacey and Joey in season three of Dawson's Creek? Or any moment of Bright being adorable on Everwood (read: any moment Bright is on screen)?

To use a non-WB example: Any moment JC Chasez or Matt Damon is in sight?

You know that feeling? That is how I feel about this book, but since it's a history book, I feel like I have to find an intelligent way of talking about it, when really I just want to say:

OMG! It is SO AWESOME!!! Like, there is all this stuff in there about slavery and how they could have gotten rid of it but they totally DIDN'T because they were stupid and cowardly and believed that it would solve itself - AS IF! And also, James Madison, who used to be my favorite founding father by really ISN'T anymore, totally disappointed me with his abandonment of Federalist principles - did you know he was totally Jefferson's go-to guy? They, like, exchanged ideas ALL THE TIME. Jefferson would write Madison these letters, like, 'You know, Jim, I was thinking - we should have all laws expire every twenty years because we don't want to be holden to the TYRANNY OF THE PAST" and Madison would write back all, "Yeah, Tom, that's kind of pretty much anarchy? And I don't think that would be good?" and Jefferson would write back, "Heh, you're right. My bad."

Maybe someday I will find a better way of talking about it - the above barely captures the amount of stuff the book covers and how awesomely it covers it - and if that day comes, I will write about it again. But seriously, if you have any interest in the era at all - or even if you don't - I really recommend picking it up. It's a great read, very informative and fun and fascinating. Did you know that George Washington was sensitive and would get really really upset when people wrote mean things about him in the papers? Did you know that Thomas Jefferson was a massive tool?

Read the book and find out for yourself!

Okay, I'm tired but I wanted to say something about Sideways - I think I figured out one of the reasons I disliked it so much.



In a lot of ways, the characters and their behavior in the movie reminded me of Seinfeld - and I loved Seinfeld. The thing is, the movie seemed like one long Very Special Episode of Seinfeld, and could there be anything more disturbing to me? Probably not. The whole point of Seinfeld was that there could never be such a thing, because the characters on the show weren't real people. They were manifestations of our worst selves, a running commentary on contemporary culture. There was no depth. The second you add in that depth - the second you act like these are real people doing these things, and start inserting lingering shots on George Costanza's sad expression without any kind of humor - you lose me! George Costanza is not a sympathetic character, and neither is Miles in Sideways. The difference is, the Seinfeld writers knew that. Sideways seemed to want me to empathize with Miles and crew, to feel some kind of emotional investment in his plight - but the problem is, once I invest that emotion, I can't stop at him. I feel bad for him, sure, but I feel worse for his family and his first wife and even, at times, his even-more-morally-bankrupt best friend. Almost everything stops being funny once these are actual people instead of isolated comments on human behavior. If George Costanza stole $1000 from his parents' sock drawer, I would find it funny. Miles doing that in this movie? Turned my stomach and pretty much destroyed the movie for me.

Does that make sense? It's 3:21 in the morning and I feel like it probably doesn't but I wanted to get this out before I went to bed. Maybe I'll edit/refine when I wake up tomorrow. Or something. I don't know, the whole thing merits more thought because can you judge a movie on the fact that you find it morally repugnant? I'd argue that you could if said moral repugnancy makes the characters unrelatable.

Anyway, there was also corny dialogue that had nothing to do with me being judgmental!



Okay, bedtime!

Comments

[ladulcinea.livejournal.com]

Did you know that George Washington was sensitive and would get really really upset when people wrote mean things about him in the papers? Did you know that Thomas Jefferson was a massive tool?

At this point I totally had this brief image of you saying "But you don't have to take my word for it" and then the Reading Rainbow segue music.

[fearlesstemp.livejournal.com]

Oh my God I LOVED that show! Also: This comment made me laugh all the way down the driveway when I went to get the recycling bin.

Levar! I loved him. Or is it LeVar? I think it's Levar.

[ladulcinea.livejournal.com]

Also: did or did not Beyonce look like a drag queen in her Phantom of the Opera bit? I mean it was a beautiful dress but her bling and eye makeup were OUT OF CONTROL.

And then the guy dressed as the Phantom helping her down the stairs - BAHAHA.

[fearlesstemp.livejournal.com]

Dude, the bling was ridiculous. RIDICULOUS. I turned away to comment on the bling to my friends and then turned back and OH MY GOD SCARY GHOST MASK GUY! I think I shrieked aloud because! So random! And also hilarious, once I recovered.

[stargems.livejournal.com]

Your analogy makes PERFECT sense. Truthfully, I could give or take Seinfeld after the fifth year slump, but my love for Curb Your Enthusiasm is great. I think it's because Larry David has this uncanny ability to come off human with none of the emotional investment. I can't explain, lol.

I am using my Pacey/Jeoy in solidarity because you crack me up.

[fearlesstemp.livejournal.com]

Aw, Pacey and Joey! I love that icon. Pacey + Joey 4EVA!

I've only seen a couple of episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm becuase I am tragically HBO-less, but what I saw was pretty funny and I think I know what you mean by saying he comes off human without the emotional investment. It's like - I don't know, he doesn't seem to be asking for pity in the same way Sideways was for Miles, maybe?

Now I want to watch more Curb Your Enthusiasm! Must call younger brother and see if he can hook me up with tapes of the show.

[foxyfrau.livejournal.com]

Please make a nice long list of book recomendations, ones that I should read when I get back, ones that you can loan me, etc. Both of these books sound cool. And have no worries about black holes or collapsing universes...

[fearlesstemp.livejournal.com]

But did you know that Yosemite is basically ONE HUGE VOLCANO?!?! And it's DUE TO ERUPT?!?! Seriously! I'm not kidding! SO SCARY!

I had to put the book down because it was scaring me so much. Speaking of! You know I'm going to torture you with book recommendations when you're back here! It's one of the many prices one pays for being my friend. :)

[ladulcinea.livejournal.com]

P.S. You should join our_bookclub

[fearlesstemp.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, you guys are reading Kavalier and Clay! I LOVE THAT BOOK! I'm totally joining.

[tsamm.livejournal.com]

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson was a massive tool?

But I have such love for him, or did when I was younger! Monticello, and all his inventions, and red hair, and Univ. of VA and Wm. and Mary! But WHAT DID HE DO??? I mean, okay, yes, the Sally H. thing is awful -- but what beyond that makes him a tool? Must read the book and crush my soul.

[fearlesstemp.livejournal.com]

BETH! I was so disturbed reading this book because there were several points where Thomas Jefferson reminded me of our current president. I KNOW. It was so upsetting! I liked him! I chalked up the Sally Hemmings thing to a character flaw! Everybody makes mistakes! George Washington almost lost his troops at the beginning of the war, John Adams had those Alien and Sedition Acts, James Madison completely abandoned the principles underpinning the strong federal government he'd fought for. It happens!

I mean, I'm no Jefferson scholar (but I really want to read more about him now), but he comes across as one of those people who are so convinced of their righteousness that the practical morality of their deicions and beliefs just don't matter. You can kind of see it in the way he was able to write something like the Declaration of Independence and later still own slaves - and not just own slaves, but author papers justifying the racial inferiority of blacks. What's fascinating is how he completely and totally did not see anything troubling or hypocritical about that. And okay, I guess you could argue that a lot of the founders were exhibiting signs of such irrational craziness, but it's really marked in Jefferson because he was such a serious, crazed BELIEVER in things like freedom! equality! democracy! to the point that he defended the violence of the French Revolution (and accused other people who were a little less enthused about the head-chopping of being as bad as the British), but saw no problem in keeping a big chunk of the population in bondage.

And another big reason Jefferson upset me so? He was SO MEAN to John Adams! Like, SO MEAN! It was like a soap opera - the two of them were close friends for years, but when the Federalist/Anti-Federalist split happened, the ended up on opposite sides. When Adams was elected President and Jefferson Vice President, Adams tried to reach over and ask Jefferson to help him lead a bi-partisan White House and at first Jefferson went along with it but then later backed out and started actively plotting against him. Actively! And then there were all sorts of personal attacks launched by Jefferson's people against Adams that were totally dirty and wrong and all the while Jefferson was all, "Who? Me?" acting as if he were above such behavior when he had to know what was going on.

It so upset John Adams that it upset me to the point that I had to take short breaks from the book. (Not to spoil things, but they do kind of make up at the end.)

BTW, did you ever read The President's Lady? I am STILL recovering from the shock of realizing that the same romantic Andrew Jackson of that historical novel was the President who drove all of those American Indians on the Trail of Tears. So upsetting!