reading:
John Bowe (ed): Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs
Gail Simone: Birds of Prey
Sarah Vowell: Take the Cannoli
Howard Zinn: People's History of the U.S.
So 2006 was good. I persist in my opinion that every year, my life gets increasingly better -- maybe not quantifiably, but I go new places, meet new people, try new things. New replaces old, goals crumble with achievement or neglect, but no matter what they're replaced by new dreams and ideas. It was yet another year, 365 different chances to make an idiot of myself and, along the way, stumble backwards into some semblance of happiness. I took more chances this year than the last, and the same the year before. Maybe that's the way in which life improves.
New Year's is my favorite holiday. It's shiny and sweet and full of a whole year's promise of good and bad. It's also the only holiday that is traditionally celebrated with slutty clothes and booze. My tube top this year is red. May it be a sign of things to come.
Be safe, y'alls, and have a delightful night. A delightful new year. We all fall down.
Look, if you were going to climb Everest, one of the scariest and most dangerous things in the world, and the night before your ascent you found a small shop at base camp that was selling copies of the latest Us Weekly, you would BUY THAT SHIT at any price. And you would read it cover to cover. And you would be damn happy.
Anyone want to invest the Everest Base Camp Newsstand? Great return on your dollar, I'm sure.
Christmas is a fine holiday, especially a low-key one. Managed to slice open my thumb last night with a great big knife, so my typing is a little problematic. But I did some writing this morning anyways, because I am a BIG WINNER. Yes. What with all the running I've been doing and grilled cheese I've been eating. Mmmm. Grilled cheese. Lunch soon, I think.
A few things to mention:
Happy holidays! I hope your Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus was magical.
You know what romantic pairing totally escapes the Brangelina/TomKat name treatment? Jim/Pam. Give it a shot. Fail utterly.
I know blogging here has been crappy. But please know that I have exactly one New Year's resolution this year. It is this.
I really like the sweater my grandma sent me this year for Christmas. But man, it is slightly unexpectedly slutty.
My bright green Converse have arrived! Oh, glory be! 'Tis Christmas indeed!
It is now time for running, grilled cheese, and long-awaited television with much-dreaded giant spiders in it. Ah, life. You are the cruelest and kindest.
If you'd told me back in September that my favorite new series of the fall season would be a silly little show about superheroes, I probably wouldn't have believed you. But that was when Heroes was only one or two episodes in, roughly plotted, its future uncertain. That was when I hadn't believed that the plan would really go somewhere. Oh, those more cynical days of mine. How long ago they seem.
I've officially stopped ironically liking Heroes and started unironically liking Heroes, which is a big step for me to take, especially regarding a show that features TWO EPISODES of a character staring at a computer prompt asking him "Are You Sure You Wish To Quit?" TWO EPISODES of that, friends. But I find it easy to forgive the ones I love. (Though it helps that every single misstep this show takes is directly related to the character of Mohinder, and can be dismissed accordingly. Oh, Mohinder. You are pretty, but not pretty enough to save your scenes.)
Everyone talks about how much they love Hiro (it is, I've noticed, how all new conversations about Heroes begin; the husky-voiced declaration of adoration), but what I'm impressed by is how much I like everyone involved, from Daddy Shadowcat to Brother Flyingpants. A show with likable characters! Even the morally ambiguous ones are somewhat likable! I've especially gotten more fond of Peter Petrelli than I thought I would. I think it's the fact that he's so committed to this cause. It's nice to watch a show about people who believe in what they're doing. Even when they're not quite sure what that is.
And the show seems committed to giving characters arcs, too. Take Pixie Tellyouwhat, a minor supporting character who starts off totally morally bankrupt because of her power and ends up becoming, though her work tracking down heroes and learning more about them, a real stand-up gal. I didn't QUITE realize why she did what she did during the end of last night's episode, until after reading the TWOP recap. But then, wow. THAT is cool. That's a character arc! May they all be so lucky. (Okay, maybe not LUCKY... But you know what I mean.)
I seem to talk about this show in exclamation points and capital letters. But I suppose that was inevitable, as it's managed to get me excited about superheroes again -- something I didn't think was possible. I've missed superheroes, though. I like superheroes. Especially the infinite possibilities of powers. Upcoming, so go the rumors, is invisibility. Invisibility, to me, has never been particularly interesting, but Heroes has yet to let me down in a huge way (just little ways, most of which I choose to blame on Jeph Loeb). So all we have to do is wait for the next new episode, in just another...
Oh, damn.
Thus, I leave you with this extremely Christmas-y thought:
So I've got a new job, the kind of job you take for the love of it. And so I get to watch online shorts all day and write snarky commentary. There are worse things.
As is parkour, in case you haven't read Global Frequency, seen Casino Royale, or heard about it elsewhere.
Remember The Librarian: Quest for the Spear? I know you do. I know you want to watch Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines on Sunday. It'll change your life. It ascends new heights of quality.
As does Shark Attack 3: Megladon. In case you had any doubt.