This morning I was perusing through my Facebook news feed, and I came across a status from a girl who I knew in high school. She's married and has an almost two-year-old son. She said:
"My son is watching Curious George and the narrator just said, 'Sometimes girls and monkeys think alike.' I think I need to find a new show for him."
I thought that was pretty funny, albeit a little weird. But that's not as strange as this...
About a month ago my friend and I went to her mom's house on a Saturday to work on a sewing project, and her younger sister was watching Arthur in the living room. On the show, a little kid was disturbed by his classmate who was sitting in the corner with his knees pulled up to his chest, rocking back and forth and moaning. When he asked his teacher what was wrong, she explained that the boy in the corner had Asperger's Syndrome. The entire episode was about this kid with Asperger's and how he kept acting really strangely.
I mean, I'm all for open awareness, but is it just me or are kid's shows getting weirder these days? This astronaut alien analogy from that Arthur episode will show you what I'm talking about:
Have any of you ever seen Julie and Julia? A couple of years ago I started the movie, but never finished it. I remember enjoying it though; I like Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, and I like food. So I don't really need any more reason to like the movie beyond the three of them mixed together. Anyway, I watched up to the rather climactic point when Julie finds out that Julia hates her blog, and that's where I stopped. So all this time, I've always wondered what happened.
I was browsing through the cook book section of the Provo library a few weeks ago, and stumbled across the book version of Julie and Julia. I'd never known that the movie was based off of a book. Nor that the story is based on actual events. I borrowed the book, and though it took a few weeks and a very bored Sunday afternoon for me to actually crack the cover, I'm glad I did!
Disclaimer: Julie Powell is a potty mouth. And she can be pretty crude. So in those regards, I don't know that I would be willing to recommend the book far and wide. (I don't remember about the language or crudeness in the movie, but I bet it's pretty similar.) But in spite of all that, the humor is witty, the story is relatable, and I totally appreciate how Julie Powell wove the life and experiences of Julia Child in and out of her story to create this grand metaphor about the monotonous beauty of life. And it also makes me want to melt some serious butter in a frying pan.
The movie:
The real Julie Powell, and her book:
The real Julia Child (isn't she charming?):
And here's a cute quote:
"I think careful cooking is love, don't you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who's close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give."
This morning I was working on my Spotify playlists, and decided to add We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift to the collection. It took quite a long process for me to get to the point of liking the song enough to deem it an appropriate addition to my little compilation, but there I was dragging it shamelessly into my "Upbeat" playlist. And ever since, it has been so stuck in my head. I mean like the completely constant repetition of "We are never ever ever getting back together...weeeeeee are never ever ever getting back together" over and over, without a single moments break. All. Day. Long. My roommate texted me this afternoon: "Haha that song is in my head now." It's contagion.
This is nothing unique for me though. If it's not one song, it's another. I don't think there is ever a moment that goes by during which I don't have some song playing the soundtrack of my life in the back of my mind. (And sometimes it's not so inconspicuously tucked away in my brain...like when I'm in the shower, or walking across campus, or while I cook dinner, or study...)
So my question is, what is it about music that makes things stick so strongly in your mind? Why is it that I can spend 15 minutes a night for an entire week trying to memorize a two-line scripture to no avail, and yet I know every line to every song on my iPod, a feat accomplished without exerting a single ounce of effort? Maybe I should put my notes from my classes to music. It would probably make acing my tests a lot easier.
Here's the song. Give it a listen or two, and don't be surprised if the next 24 hours involve mindless lyrics swimming through the oblivion of your mind:
As much as I hate to admit it, I'm one of those people who's pretty glued to their cell phone. I'm big on texting...I like the idea of being able to share a little thought or ask a quick question wherever I am, whenever the fancy strikes me. But the longer I have used texting, and the older I get, I'm really beginning to dislike it. Not because I like texting any less; I still love its small conveniences. But there are two reasons why I've become disenchanted with it lately:
1. Serious conversations are not meant to be had over text.
2. Real relationships cannot be formed over text.
And a frustrating number of people don't seem to realize that those two issues are true!
According to Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
Lately it feels like people substitute texting for real communication, form a relationship founded upon it, and figure it's "good enough." Well it's not for me...where is the fulfillment in that? I really don't think it exists.
Also, here's a video about some girls who are "textaholics." Kind of creepy that there's an actual term for it these days.
I know this isn't news, but advertising isn't always (ever?) what it seems!
According to an article in Forbes magazine in 2000, the increasingly disinterested customer base of Levi Strauss & Company jeans put them in a desperate state of trying to reinvent their "cool factor," as sales plummeted and their more "hip" competitors thrived. Said the chief executive of the company, "Levi's still means stiff, blue denim." So what did they do? They began a new advertising campaign in an attempt to recapture their once flourishing customer base, of course.
Thus began their collection of ads called "Go Forth" in 2009. The ads that have been released since the debut are fraught with images of the young and the free, running through fields with flags of rebellion and standing boldly on the brink of new horizons at the seashore. And all set to the raw and inspiring poetry of Charles Bukowski's The Laughing Heart and Walt Whitman's Pioneers! O Pioneers!
Pretty inspiring, right? It certainly makes wearing Levi jeans look much more glamorous and romanticized than the stiff, blue denim the chief executive of the company was talking about. Well that's all fine and dandy (although I don't know about you, but I have never felt the urge to march through city streets in rebellion from putting on a pair of jeans. But then again, I haven't had a pair of Levi jeans since maybe the 6th grade.)
This is where things get really interesting though. In 2010 they launched an addition to their "Go Forth" campaign, which involves the small and deteriorating town of Braddock, Pennsylvania. According to an article in the New York Times in 2009:
"The state has classified it a 'distressed municipality' — bankrupt, more or less — since the Reagan administration. The tax base is gone. So are most of the residents. The population, about 18,000 after World War II, has declined to less than 3,000. Many of those who remain are unemployed. Real estate prices fell 50 percent in the last year."
So who steps in, just a year after this article was written? None other than our trusty friends at Levi Strauss & Co. And now they're singing a little different of a tune. Here's one of their commercials about Braddock:
Makes you feel good, right? Seems like there's hope for this little town. Seems like there's hope for all of us actually, as we view this commercial from the perspective of a financially strained country. After all, what's more American than rebirth and hard work (and Levi's jeans?) It certainly hits home anyway.
But Levi Strauss's campaign to help Braddock "get to work" has spurred some intriguing debate about the motives behind their interest in this small town. For all their grassroots American sentiments, Levi doesn't have a single factory in the United States besides the headquarters in San Francisco. Sure they're donating money to the community center and local library, but what the good people of Braddock, PA really need are jobs, not a new pair of jeans to wear while they browse through books on a nice new shelf.
According to an article in a Pittsburg, PA newspaper in 2010:
"You could say that Levi's is using the struggling neighborhood to form their image and get extra karmic points. You could say that they are exploiting the misfortunes of the area for their own advantage. The ad campaign itself makes little sense."
So anyway, what is Levi Strauss & Co. telling us? That there are new horizons for us to explore. That there is freedom to be captured. And that we can rebuild our country from whatever shambles it may be in with a little hard work. But only if we buy their jeans! And don't worry, that money we spend on their products won't even go back into our economy or provide a job for any American worker. There's more to it than meets the eye, I'd say! Interesting, isn't it?
I'm taking a Lit & Film class this semester to finish up my English minor, and we are focusing on Hitchcock films. After two boring weeks of readings and memorizing film terms like "zoom" and "cut" and "superimposition," we finally started our first film today: North by Northwest. I am like...the BIGGEST wimp when it comes to scary movies. My friends in high school practically had to tie me down to the couch to get me to watch The Village, my first scary movie, when I was 17-years-old. I saw The Ring four years ago, and I still wake up in the night fearing for my life sometimes. I'm a lock-all-the-doors-and-turn-on-all-the-lights kinda girl. That being said, I would highly recommend North by Northwest!
The thing I love about Hitchcock is that he's totally mastered the suspense thing, and in a way that's so fun and doesn't keep you up at night. Why don't they make movies like these still? Probably because Cary Grant isn't around anymore to make us girls swoon.
And here are a few Hitchcock quotes for your reading pleasure:
"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible."
"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."
"What is drama, but life with the dull parts cut out?"
"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."
Yesterday I was cooking dinner with my Portuguese roommate Mari, who I love, when she told me to look up the song Décimas (which is the Spanish word for "Tenths"). This is a song by artist Pedro Aznar, a famous Argentine folk singer. I'd never heard the song before, but was instantly captivated by its haunting tune and melodic nuances. And all in Spanish. (I love the Spanish language...they don't call it romantic for nothing.) As I was lulled through each verse and chorus, I began to realize again what I have realized time and time before: music knows no bounds. It doesn't matter what language it's in, or who's singing or what instrument is used...if it's put to a tune or rhythm, it has a way of touching the mind and heart that's completely unique to its genre. Said English writer Aldous Huxley, "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." I couldn't agree more. Here's a clip of the song:
And if you're curious, here's the English translation of the lyrics. Mari says it's not the best translation, but you get the gist:
Again I lost the route, I sail in deserts dead sea road, mourn the whole night. The sun slipped into his cave, wet sink seas, I'm a bundle of nerves, a cry long and deep. Do not know why I get confused tired with your love. At night the moon shows lighting his face and sad, the sky finally undressing, death rocked his cradle. At last the misfortune go to sleep for a while, remove suit and shoes, forget my existence, I against his sentence declare my contempt. Life's journey fruitful if there are bridges to the other. You flew, he had in us, you went out into the world. The resounding fell cold. Your teeth showed oblivion. Not sure how you feel dumb fear this fear. After the dream for the future I can not live this. At night the moon shows lighting his face and sad, the sky finally undressing, death rocked his cradle. At last the misfortune go to sleep for a while, remove suit and shoes, forget my existence, I against his sentence declare my contempt.
Today I was listening to Justin Bieber Radio on Pandora while I got ready for the day (guilty as charged), and this weird song came on that I had never heard before, called Maria. It started out with snippets from "interviews" with Justin, in which he says "None of this is true...never met the woman." And then the song begins.
I listened to the song through, and it isn't by any means top-of-the-charts material. But I was intrigued by its reminiscence of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean (which is a much better song...but then, how could Justin ever compete with the King of Pop?) Compare and contrast the lyrics:
Justin Bieber:
"Maria, why you wanna do me like that? That ain't my baby, that ain't my girl."
"Now she's in the magazines, on TV, making a scene...and she's all over the news, saying everything but the truth."
Michael Jackson:
"Billy Jean is not my lover. She's just a girl who says that I am the one. But the kid is not my son."
"She told me her name was Billy Jean as she caused a scene, and every head turned with eyes that dreamed of being the one."
And they both fade out at the end...
"Billy Jean is not my lover...Billy Jean is not my lover..."
"She ain't my baby, she ain't my girl...she ain't my baby, she ain't my girl..."
Maybe Justin should be looking out for himself, with videos like this one going viral:
And my whole point to this post is...people are crazy. And this kind of stuff becomes wildly entertaining when it's put to a catchy beat.
