State of the Hefner: Monday Edition.
Oct. 18th, 2010 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerIn the latest installment of our ongoing series, What The Hell's Wrong With Heffie's Tummy?, I spent this morning eating radioactive scrambled eggs, followed by lying still for 90 minutes while I watched the lump slowly digest via a monitor, as if I were watching my radioactive egg baby on ultrasound.
Actually, thanks to the about-fucking-time awesomeness of Netflix Instant on my iPhone, I mainly passed the time watching Kurosawa's Kagemusha, which made me want to reach into my computer and smack the crap out of anybody who thinks Kurosawa's color films are worthless.
I watched the rest of the film at home, loaded up with sushi and four different kinds of tea: black w/ yerba mate, green tea komboucha, Irish breakfast iced tea, and a double-dose of oh-fuck-yes-they-make-this-now kava. After the film, I felt moved but conflicted, not certain if that level of tragedy was warranted.
Afterward, then went to the gym for the first time in weeks, to try and look less cuddly. I know I'm doomed to "Shackroyd out," as Henchgirl puts it, but not bloody yet. Stupid tummy where all my delicious food and beer goes.
At the gym, I made the damn fool mistake of listening to a This American Life podcast about superpowers and superheroes in general. Ugh, one thing I've always loathed was hearing non-geek-people talk about geek things, because they're always mixed with a combination of befuddlement, condescension, and the recurring implication that people need to get a life and stop living in fantasy land.
These people are also, not coincidentally, cynics. Ira Glass, whom I usually enjoy, revealed a lot about how he sees the world when he talked about NPR's reoccurring series, "This I Believe," essentially saying that he found ideals to be uninteresting, and cared far more about the loss of belief. This kicked off that week's show, entitled, "This I Used to Believe."
Cynicism is at the core of people like this, and it's permeated into the novels, films, plays, and indie comics celebrated by the literary elite. I have little use for such stories, nor the minds that bring them to life.
I can and do love the comics of Chris Ware (who was introduced to talk about his childhood love of superheroes and power fantasies, and until he "realized" just how "silly" and "ridiculous" superheroes are, and focused instead on doing on more "mature, realistic" works), but I just wish I could sit these people down and tell them that Superman is more than muscles and a cape, that ideals are not some fantasy that people need to grow out of.
But I've fallen into that trap too many times, with too many people. When Ira Glass talks about superheroes, he sounds like my mother, brother, sister-in-law, and high school teachers who didn't get it, and didn't really care either way. Is it any wonder I have less and less interest to meet and interact with non-geek people? I just count my lucky stars that I've met a girl whose outlook is rooted in classic Star Trek and the Adam West Batman show.
I must now prepare to get an early night's sleep, as I have to wake up bright and early to get knocked out and have a tube shoved into my mouth, for my health. On next week's installment, we'll explore ways to try to make a comedy routine about HMOs sound fresh and new, followed by finding out whether or not I've been granted egg-based superpowers.
Actually, thanks to the about-fucking-time awesomeness of Netflix Instant on my iPhone, I mainly passed the time watching Kurosawa's Kagemusha, which made me want to reach into my computer and smack the crap out of anybody who thinks Kurosawa's color films are worthless.
I watched the rest of the film at home, loaded up with sushi and four different kinds of tea: black w/ yerba mate, green tea komboucha, Irish breakfast iced tea, and a double-dose of oh-fuck-yes-they-make-this-now kava. After the film, I felt moved but conflicted, not certain if that level of tragedy was warranted.
Afterward, then went to the gym for the first time in weeks, to try and look less cuddly. I know I'm doomed to "Shackroyd out," as Henchgirl puts it, but not bloody yet. Stupid tummy where all my delicious food and beer goes.
At the gym, I made the damn fool mistake of listening to a This American Life podcast about superpowers and superheroes in general. Ugh, one thing I've always loathed was hearing non-geek-people talk about geek things, because they're always mixed with a combination of befuddlement, condescension, and the recurring implication that people need to get a life and stop living in fantasy land.
These people are also, not coincidentally, cynics. Ira Glass, whom I usually enjoy, revealed a lot about how he sees the world when he talked about NPR's reoccurring series, "This I Believe," essentially saying that he found ideals to be uninteresting, and cared far more about the loss of belief. This kicked off that week's show, entitled, "This I Used to Believe."
Cynicism is at the core of people like this, and it's permeated into the novels, films, plays, and indie comics celebrated by the literary elite. I have little use for such stories, nor the minds that bring them to life.
I can and do love the comics of Chris Ware (who was introduced to talk about his childhood love of superheroes and power fantasies, and until he "realized" just how "silly" and "ridiculous" superheroes are, and focused instead on doing on more "mature, realistic" works), but I just wish I could sit these people down and tell them that Superman is more than muscles and a cape, that ideals are not some fantasy that people need to grow out of.
But I've fallen into that trap too many times, with too many people. When Ira Glass talks about superheroes, he sounds like my mother, brother, sister-in-law, and high school teachers who didn't get it, and didn't really care either way. Is it any wonder I have less and less interest to meet and interact with non-geek people? I just count my lucky stars that I've met a girl whose outlook is rooted in classic Star Trek and the Adam West Batman show.
I must now prepare to get an early night's sleep, as I have to wake up bright and early to get knocked out and have a tube shoved into my mouth, for my health. On next week's installment, we'll explore ways to try to make a comedy routine about HMOs sound fresh and new, followed by finding out whether or not I've been granted egg-based superpowers.
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HUGGINS TIEM!
Date: 2010-10-18 11:41 pm (UTC)This is why you're the only geek I really talk to anymore.
Re: HUGGINS TIEM!
Date: 2010-10-19 05:05 am (UTC)For some reason, it leads me to believe we must be friends.
Re: HUGGINS TIEM!
Date: 2010-10-19 05:17 am (UTC)Re: HUGGINS TIEM!
Date: 2010-10-19 05:23 am (UTC)Lottie's my outer..erm...well, most things, actually.
Re: HUGGINS TIEM!
Date: 2010-10-19 05:43 am (UTC)I am Team Hades.
Pop quiz, hotshot!
Date: 2010-10-18 11:59 pm (UTC)A: The porn film is the one in which the actors are at least allowed to pretend like the characters are having fun, and for the most part, everyone has a happy ending (both figuratively and literally). By contrast, the art house film is the one in which sex is always portrayed as a depressing and dehumanizing affair, that inevitably ruins the lives of everyone who indulges in it.
It's amazing to me that the supposedly daring and rebellious and convention-flouting filmmakers who churn out this sea of gray seem to harbor an even more puritanical view of sex than the social conservatives that they spend so much time castigating through their stories.
For decades now, there's been an entire movement in all media of art that says that pain is somehow inherently more intelligent and profound than joy. I wouldn't mind so much if more art RAGED against the wrongness of the world, but instead, so much of it is this Todd Solondz you-must-resign-yourself-to-your-inevitably-wretched-fate bullshit, where you actually get the sense that the storytellers are not just nihilistic, but actually morally offended any time anything positive ever happens.
Re: Pop quiz, hotshot!
Date: 2010-10-19 05:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 12:23 am (UTC)Crap, when I had this 2 years ago, I had to listen to the technician gossip in Russian on her cell phone.
which made me want to reach into my computer and smack the crap out of anybody who thinks Kurosawa's color films are worthless.
Word!
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 05:44 am (UTC)That sounds really awesome, actually; but I'm a linguist at heart, so listening to other languages is my idea of fun tiems. ^-^;;
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 12:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 12:45 am (UTC)Think about it; to fall back on comics as a descriptor, that's pretty much the definition of Batman. He's cynical because he believes in a greater good that he doesn't see in the world around him, no matter how he tries. Whereas Supes, also an idealist, tries to keep his hopes up for the world; be a guiding star and all that, but even he has to retreat to his me-space sometimes.
Personally I think Supes is the perfect paladin; raised to believe in black and white, trying to bring out the good in everyone. Bats has a more realistic view.. but even as a cynic I still like Supes best. Even more than Bats, which is saying something for me.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 11:30 am (UTC)*pet pet*
We're hoping you develop the power to be Vincent Price.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 05:33 pm (UTC)We're still deciding on a name
Date: 2010-10-20 08:55 pm (UTC)"radioactive egg baby on ultrasound"?
What better origin story could you ask for?
Re: We're still deciding on a name
Date: 2010-10-21 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-10-23 07:25 am (UTC)I think we've talked about this, but you know my take on it is cynicism in writing is often the mediocre writer's way to try to score extra-credit points for noticing the world often disappoints one. See seasons 5-7 of West Wing. Or, better yet, don't.
OTOH, I loved that bit on TAL. My only complaint is it lead me to believe "This I Believe" would be filled with teenagers talking about how they deserved wealth and an easy life. LIES! I spent ages looking for those essays, mouth drooling in anticipation of the hilarity.
And now for something completely different, here's Stephen Fry kicking major ass, if you haven't seen it.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-25 07:26 pm (UTC)Not only does Stephen Fry kick ass, but so does the animator of that video for visualizing the spoken word in a perfect way.