15
Aug
Took the boy to see Glee in 3D yesterday. The filming was amazing. The clarity was unreal. When people obstructed the screen in the movie, it really looked like they were there in the theater so much that it actually annoyed me a few time.
However, this movie review is here instead of Moonagewebdream for a reason that has nothing to do with how well the movie was filmed. It has a very important message.
Everyone is special.
No matter what your “problem” is, you’re special.
But then it took a quizzical turn:
The “special” kid hopped up and danced. That really bugged me on a whole bunch of levels. Although the character sold himself that he was “special” because he wore glasses, there’s really nothing special about being a “four eyes”. I’ve been one most all of my life. No one’s ever taunted me about wearing glasses. I’ve also been about half deaf most of my life. That HAS been a source of ridicule and bad attitudes. However, unlike faking being in a wheelchair or choosing to wear glasses instead of contacts, deafness isn’t something you can choose to turn on or off. If you want to look cool, you don’t hear anything. You want to hear stuff, you wear hearing aids. It’s not an option. Thinking for one second kids are running about faking deafness just for attention would really, really, piss me off. Everyone in a wheelchair dreams of just jumping up and dancing, but they can’t. That scene has to hurt.
Secondly, it sends out the message that in order to be “special”, there HAS to be something wrong with you. Nothing is more wrong than that. ”Special” to me has nothing to do with your body, it has everything with attitude. In this movie people were special because they were short, handicapped, or gay. I say that because even the “normal” girl had problems:
She was so sure her boobs were so fabulous that 3D couldn’t really handle them. And of course, there’s the Barbra Streisand wannabe. There was some performers that were probably fubar as well but seemed normal, but they didn’t expand on them very much. For the sake of this post’s argument, we’d assume they were fubar in some way because they are in this movie. Arrogance seems to be “special” in this movie too, so we can assume that’s it.
I think the message was supposed to be that “special” people are “normal” too, but that’s not the way they package it. They dwelt on two kids that were gay, one who was short, and one who I suppose had mental issues. But, the way comes across is that they think in order to be “special” there has to be something unique about them. That’s not a good message. Kids have a hard enough time finding their role in society without needing more pressure to be “special”. They need to be encouraged to just be themselves. Not everyone will be a gay rock star. Not everyone should feel they need to be a gay rock star in order to be “special”.
I would have worried a lot more the impact this movie was having on my kid, who is hearing-impaired not by choice and wears hearing aids that any other kid can see, if it weren’t for one very obvious issue with the movie:
The movie is very, very, boring. 30 minutes into the movie he crashed. Hard. Whatever message might have been intended for the G rated movie on this kid was lost.
I’m glad about that too.
The intent of Glee is admirable. It’s just piss-poorly thought out. Although I have no experience watching the tv show, the movie, without having any reference, is very boring. No thumbs. I know Moonlet will not be asking to see it again.
I’m sure if you’re a Glee fan the movie is much more enjoyable.
Now, the big question:
Too often in politics an idea springs up, gets a wave of support amongst the masses, political correctness yields to political pandering, and legislation passes because of that idea.
Then, after the fact, people understand why the idea was never enforced in the first place. Nebraska has done just that. Trying to deal with the abortion and abandoned babies issues, Nebraska passed a Safe Haven law that allowed parents to drop off kids up to eighteen years old.
So they did. People drove thousands of miles to ditch their kids. Gary Staton really took advantage of the law and ditched nine kids. Now, originally his story had some meaning to it. His wife died. He couldn’t handle it, wouldn’t ask for help, so he just decided to let the state take care of them. As it turns out, most are with some sort of family anyway and he hangs out with them all the time. He just doesnt have to be a father, raise them or bother with the expenses of providing for them. Otherwise all is good for Gary thanks to the Safe Haven law. Well, politicos, seeing how well it worked for Staton, decided they needed to change it. So, they dropped the age from eighteen years to thirty days.
Doesn’t matter much to Gary I imagine, his new girlfriend is expecting twins.
I’m OK with Safe Haven laws for babies. I do think some obligation should be expected of the parents that do abandon their kids and expect you and me to take care of their obligations.
On the spot castration should do it. The drop off spots are hospitals and they won’t compound their mistakes later on that way.
But, that’s not the way it’ll be I’m sure.
Personal responsibility doesn’t seem to be an issue any more. Should put a dent on the abortion issue as well.
Here’s my early morning list of the jerks of the day:
- Tom Bates, Mayor
- Calvin Fong
- Linda Maio
- Darryl Moore
- Maxwell Anderson
- Dona Spring
- Laurie Capitelli
- Betty Olds
- Kriss Worthington
- Gordon Wozniak
They all get it for abusing their position as a representative FOR Berkeley in order to embarass the rest of the country, which they do not represent.
If Berkeley feels so compelled to speak on behalf of someone in Kentucky, be assured that person in Kentucky is more than ready to speak on behalf of the Berkeley City Council and say they are completely bonkers and I object to their motions and resolutions via a Point of Order that the resolution is not germaine to the entity considering the resolution and therefore should be reconsindered and removed from the table.
Of course, from what I can tell, points of order are completely irrelevent in Berkeley.
Needless to say, I won’t be visiting Berkeley again any time soon. Someone let me know when they elect a City Council with some God given sense.
Here’s part of the agenda of a recent governmental entity:
5. Discussion on a proposal to express Solidarity with Firestone Natural Rubber Company Workers in Liberia, and formulation of a recommendation to City Council.
6. Discussion on the Subcommittee on United Nations Reports and a recommendation to extend the Subcommittee through December 2008
7. Discussion on a request for the Peace & Justice Commission to co-sponsor the January 26, 2008 United Nations Association Symposium on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and formulation of a recommendation to the City Council.
And:
Withdrawal of
California National Guard Troops from Iraq Changing the United States Drug Policy
Chevron Corporation
Marine Recruiting Office in the City of Berkeley
Believe it or not, that’s a city council meeting. I don’t see anywhere in there where they actually discuss their own city’s maintenance.However, they did find time to:
- Asking the city attorney to investigate what the city can do with respect to the military recruiting office, given a conflict between the military’s prohibition against recruiting homosexuals and the city’s laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
- Asking the city manager to write letters to various U.S. Marine officials, telling them “that the marine recruiting office is not welcome in our city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders.”
- Encouraging those groups that “volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the city of Berkeley.”
Folks, this stuff is straight out of their minutes. And, fearing not the military, apparently they do fear colognes, as they also demand:
Please refrain from wearing scented products to public meetings.
I kid you not. Straight out of THEIR agenda.
Berkeley, I’m here to tell ya. Most all of the rest of the country used to think your town is nuts. Now we know for sure they are. It’s bad enough to constantly trash people who’d lay down their lives for you all, but why the hell spend taxpayer money worrying about workers in Libya, the United Nations, and bunch of other crap that has nothing to do with the taxpayer money that put them there? I can guarantee you all 100% that if my councilor went to meetings and discussed nothing but garbage that did not affect my tax money, they’d be out ASAP. And, they know it. My city council’s pretty screwed up right now. But, I am quite certain, there is not a worse city council in the United States than Berkeley has right now. That agenda for the 2/2/04 meeting is a 100% waste of Berkeley taxpayer money. 100%. They are worried about everything BUT the welfare of Berkeley. I know a few people in Berkeley. They’re nowhere near as detached from reality as these council members are. I sure wish they’d run for council.
My idiot of the day, obviously, is most of the Berkeley City Council. Their arrogance and ignorance of why they are there amazes me.
First, she lost this one:
Now, a lot’s being said about that one, but I think it’s over-rated as far as the average voter goes. He’s popular in Boston, but that’s about it. The only thing it does show is a crack in the Clinton “establishment”. Bill & Ted
However, the endorsement Hillary seems to be losing that DOES matter comes in the form of this pic from Collegehumor.com.
Namely, she got trounced in South Carolina leading right into Super Tuesday. Now, without going into a ton of research into exit polls and the like, my basic assumption that makes South Carolina different than, say, Nevada, is the minority population. Namely, the minority population that identifies with the guy that beat her. Some people were implying Obama wasn’t “black enough” to appeal en masse with the African-American voter, but I think Hillary’s a little too white to offset the implied whiteness of Barack. Where this gets touchy for Hillary is next Tuesday. Namely, 1,059 delegates are at stake in states that have more than 10% African-American voters. I use this as the criteria because otherwise, most serious candidates will garner somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% of the vote regardless of anything else. A 10% block of votes will swing that election. In South Carolina, that block came in at about 30%. Obama won with about 47% of the delegates. Needless to say, the math sure looks obvious. Using that same math for 2/5, it looks tough for Hillary. It’s not enough votes to seal up the primary, since Hillary’s leading at the moment, but it sure swings the momentum to Barack in a major way going into the last few remaining big delegate states the following couple of weeks. A few of those have very large African-American blocks as well. So, that pic of Hillary and the little girl just sort of struck me as being totally iconic to the situation Hillary’s in. The bigger problem for Hillary that I can see is I don’t have a clue what she can do to overcome the unfair advantage that familiarity with a candidate based on purely non-political issues presents. Maybe I’m wrong, and I hope I am, but I really don’t expect this race to become anything more than a one issue race that Hillary and Edwards will not be allowed to debate.
A lot is being made over this:
I can see why. SOME folks in Arlington are saying they don’t think this represents their community. The question I have is, why not? Mayor Carmen is obviously very fit and healthy. That folks, is a good thing. The image I’m getting is folks in Arlington, OR, must be living right to look like that post-teen years. That’s certainly not what my mayor looks like. Now, if they had some morbidly obese mayor, I could understand the outcry a lot more. I wouldn’t want people to think that represented my town. And trust me, there are a lot more of those than the Carmens in office. I think the folks of Arlington need to chill out a LOT. They elected her, she most likely looked pretty much the same when she was running as she does now. And now that they all can check her out ready for a hot night on a fire engine, they should consider themselves lucky.
18
Dec
This is pretty amazing to me:
Thinking this story was blown out of proportion or something, I read on:
“She did not use it inappropriately. She did not threaten anyone with it. She didn’t pull it out and brandish it. Nothing of that nature,” explained Marion County School Spokesman Kevin Christian, who added that it made no difference what the knife was being used for, they had no choice but to call police.
“Anytime there’s a weapon on campus, yes, we have to report it and we aggressively report it because we don’t want to take any chances, regardless,” Christian said.
How do they suppose kids eat meat? I did some research and came up empty. However, I guess we can assume they feed them a staple of non-meat products such as pizza and cereal? I have no clue. There’s no answers at the Marion County Schoool District site.
I understand the caution. What I don’t understand is the intolerance.
13
Dec
This is dumb. Walmart was selling these clever little panties:
On the back it says “When you have Santa”.
Someone objected so Walmart is yanking them off the shelves.
Grow
up
people.
They’re cute. So what if it infers something a little risque? If I find them at my local Walmart before they hide them, I’m buying some for the step-girl. And, if they come in Mrs. Moon’s size, I’ll get her some as well. ( Point of clarification, according to the story, they only come in junior sizes. That’s a marketing mistake if you ask me. )
My buds at Independent Sources so nailed this issue I just suggest going there and reading it. A synopsis:
…….but reading this story about Brazil’s recent discovery of a deep water oil field of 5,000,000,000 to 8,000,000,000 barrels of oil made me think of it…….
……but when the US has a known field of 25 to 50% greater size which is easier to extract it’s exploitation will do nothing to lower prices or decrease foreign oil dependence.
Ditto. Methinks there’s a lot more to ANWR than simple economics.
Almost lost in the midst Hillary being labeled a “bitch” and whether or not Barack properly poses during the National Anthem was this major headline on Fox:
High School Cheerleaders Suspended for Flashing Crowd During Britney Spears Routine
I immediately had flashbacks to my high school days. Now, our cheerleaders fit the stereotypes to a T. Not terribly bright, and the least temptation and their clothes fell off. So, needless to say, I had pre-conceptions of what had happened here. I mean, what does EVERYONE think when they are “flashed”? So, needless to say, I clicked. What I found there was just a scintillating:
Click here to watch a video of the cheerleader’s risque routine in the Modesto Bee.
So, I did.
I wasn’t flashed.
This is so incredibly lame I had to blog about it.
Six girls were suspended from school for bearing the bottoms of their uniforms. Not THEIR bottoms, but the bottoms of their uniforms. Not lacy panties. Their uniforms. There is nothing risque here folks. There certainly isn’t any flashing.
I was incredibly disappointed.
But, beyond that, I have to wonder what the Ripon High School BoE is thinking by suspending these girls for showing a part of their uniform that is visible every single time they do a cartwheel or flip?
How many lawyers are there in Ripon? I can imagine six are chomping at the bit right now.
But, it just strikes me that Leo Zuber of the Ripon BoE is setting yet another horrific example for his kids. It’s no wonder so many kids come out of high school completely clueless to what’s important and what’s not.
What’s the drop-out rate at Ripon? What’s the college graduate rate for Ripon High students? How many former Ripon students are in jails? Worry about that stuff Zuber. Teach them what’s important. Picking on students that are socially active and meeting the responsibilities it takes to be on the cheerleader squad is sending the wrong message. Especially to those kids that won’t graduate, won’t go to college, and will wind up in jail. It tells them that you can try hard and be punished, or not try at all and not be.
Think about that Leo.
And someone PLEASE give the definition of “flashing” to Fox.
