How will David Boren know me?

I really do have a life outside of my Expository Writing course, but anytime I spend a lot of time related to it, I feel the urge to write.

So, we remember the situation from, "The Thought to Begin All Other Thoughts." Well, I won Sooner Stakes (and get $75 for my time... Rock on!) and that is going to be sent on to David Boren. One of the professors of the EXPO department is making a video about the program and he interviewed me for it. That will also be sent on to David Boren. During last semester when I was actually in the class, I wrote a letter to the EXPO head, to let him know how much I loved the program, and that was sent on to David Boren. I was talking with the professor after the interview and laughed, "Wow, David Boren is just going to know me as 'Little Miss Expos.'" But, hey, better 'Little Miss Expos' than 'Who?'

A Farewell to the word "Like."

Like has many uses in the English language. It used to express pleasurable association without the committment of using the word "love." "'What do you think of my brother?' Erin asked. Jesi replied, 'I like him.'" But, the real power of this word lies in it's ability to introduce a new topic by implying similarity to the one dsicussed before. "Bob Jones was a good man. He did blah, blah, blah. (New Paragraph.) Like his father, Fred Jones was a good man and he did blah blah blah." By connecting to two thoughts with 'like,' it's communicating that the similarities are what's significant. There are other ways of communicating it, but there is nothing so pure as an efficient word.

But, alas, efficiency usualy ends up in slang. "She said, 'Well, obviously there is only one choice.' And I was like, "Well, if there is only one choice, why'd you pretend there were two?'" It allows you to communicate the spirit of the conversation without having to quote word for word. However, it is used in an extremely informal environment. The problem is that this use, though it's informal nature has it's own qualities, marres the good name of the word 'like.' I was devasted when I discussed one of my essays with a writing assistant and he said I should never use the word 'like' because it sounded to colloquial. The sentence: "People began saying new controversial ideas were like “On the Revolutions” or, more easily stated, “Revolutionary.”" Perfectly good use of the word. (The sentence needed some reworking, but that is another blog.) But, I am supposed to throw this word out of my writing because it gives the impression of informality? What did like do wrong? And if we don't stand up for like, what other words will succumb to this injustice?

Deprivations in Childhood

As a child, my mother was extraordinarily strict with the movies and TV shows I was allowed to watch. She was restrictive since I can remember, but I never noted it until she disallowed my brother and me to watch "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." It was devasting. But, the results were very obvious. Despite being good children, we would play "Ninja Turtles" and end up beating each other and screaming at each other. Violence between my brother and myself subsided considerably when we were watching "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago" instead. I did grow to appreciate my mother's active parenting role, but many have claimed that my "sheltered" growing up has left me disconnected with a huge portion of American culture: mindless children's media.

Well, I delved into this culture last night. I went to Kelly's, a friend's, house and they were talking about movies that were central to their childhood, and she and her sister pulled out a movie called, "Labyrinth." The movie sounded vaguely familiar and my first thought was that my mother did not allow me to watch it. After finishing watching the movie, I was pretty sure she would not have allowed my brother and I to watch it because it probably would've given us nightmares. But, did I feel deprived? Good God, no.

This movie is about a young girl (Jennifer Connelly... Big Plus) who loves to get lost in stories and playing with her toys, but who hates caring after her baby half-brother. She wishes that goblins would come and take him away, and they do. She is taken to another land and given the opportunity to save her brother if she completes the labyrinth that leads to the goblin King's castle (David Bowie... Big negative). I do try to keep in mind that this movie was made in 1986, but I don't think even that can excuse how bad it is. David Bowie dancing around with goblins in skin tight costumes, singin about... I don't even know and I don't wish to know. It compounds weird on top of really weird with a lot of bad acting thrown into the middle. Granted, it does have some good morals (love your siblings, be tenacious, be friendly, and so on and so forth), but I don't think that can excuse the rest of the film (farting swamps, creatures that remove their appendages to toss them around, David Bowie's character attempting to seduce Jennifer Connelly's character, who is 20 years his junior and so on and so forth). Who would ever expose their children to this? Somehow I feel grateful that my life has been so empty and medialess.

What is "Revolutionary?"

Copernicus wrote a book called "De Revolutionbus Orbitum" (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.) Contrary to the Aristotelean viewpoint of the time, Copernicus argued that the Earth and planets revolved around the Sun. It continued that if someone where to make such a bold suggestion or idea, that it was like "On the Revolutions." Or, more easily stated, it was "Revolutionary."

Composition of a Windex User

It is 10:50 at night and my brother and his friend are composing a song about my cleaning the bathroom with Windex.

Liberals are creative. I saw a bumper sticker that said, "Republicans for Voldemort." By the way, I watched the State of the Union from my Republican President. We win.

The other night I was sitting on the couch and two girls just walked into my apartment. No knocking. No asking, "do you mind if we come in?" They just opened the door and told me to be quiet so they could surprise my brother. I didn't know how to address them. Do I offer them a drink? How can one be hospitable if your guests just take the hospitality they desire?

I saw "Vanity Fair" tonight. It is at the bottom of this list because it was not as significant as the things I listed above. You would do well to avoid it.

The Natalie Portman Film You May Not Have Seen.

“The Professional” - A professional killer, Leon (Jean Reno), takes in a 12 year old girl, Mathilda (Natalie Portman), after her family is killed. She becomes enamored of him and asks him to teach her how to kill in order to get revenge for her family’s death.

5 Cool Stars
5 Bizarre Relationship Stars
4 Intense Violence Stars
4 Great Cast Stars

How badly do I think you should see it? Well, if you dig crude violence (“Boondock Saints,” “Desperado,” and “Pulp Fiction” style films) then you should like this. Warning: the child girl character is hitting on this 40 or 50 something man. Nothing actually happens, but don’t want you to see it if you don’t want to watch even the suggestion of that. I really liked it.

I was absolutely stunned at the performance of Natalie Portman in “Closer.” I was stunned at her capacity to move from what I thought was the rather shallow/sweet character from “Where the Heart Is” to the dubious, emotional, stripper, “Alice.” But, last night I saw the movie, “The Professional” and found that Natalie Portman’s base comes from a darker perspective of life. It was shocking, but, wow, it was cool.

Besides having a great cast (also including Michael Gambon), the story is provocative and entertaining. Has some weakness in the flow of the story, but overall the performances of the cast make this film a fantastic watch.