Living a Life I Don't Know How to Live

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BOOKS

Still reading WHAT WE LEFT BEHIND by Robin Talley and just started TOUCHED by Michelle Sagara, which is the sequel to SILENCE, which I loved. (Review here.)

MOVIES

Had a mini-reunion with some of my law school bffs over the Fourth, and we went to see Magic Mike XXL. I haven't watched the first one, but XXL is ridiculous amounts of fun. Watching it brought more joy than any other movie I've watched this year, despite my love of the Marvel cinematic universe and Jurassic Park series. Surprised the hell out of me that it was one of the most body positive movies I've seen lately, too.

TELEVISION

Pretty Little Liars: I'm racing through season five. Each time I sit down, I plan to watch one episode during lunch, and then I end up watching two or three in a row. I don't even care where this story is going (well, more or less), I love the ride. The second half of the season has me filled with chosen family feelings. I love how those girls love each other and the people important to them. (Except for Ezra. Ezra can disappear any time.)

MUSIC

The road trip home from Chicago was basically All Covers All the Time because I found out J had never heard any of the "Radioactive" covers, so I played them, and then of course my second favorite song to be covered, "Bad Moon Rising." (My favorite is "Carol of the Bells" but I didn't have any on my device.)

Radioactive: Imagine Dragons, Pentatonix and Lindsey Stirling cover, and the Dirty Tees mix.

Bad Moon Rising: Mourning Ritual and Thea Gilmore.

GAMES

No time to play because of Chicago road trip + reunion, but we finally got the band back together for some Rock Band, so that was pretty epic.

(Originally posted at www.carlamlee.com.)

Another thing I have done lately is watch movies and tv shows. (I am actually at this very moment rewatching Sons of Anarchy season two and enjoying it even more this time around.) The Kansas City area has two drive-in theaters, which I love (though it's been too hot lately -- and I've been too busy -- to go). Drive-ins are a cheap, fun experience I highly recommend.

+ Fast Five

Despite the big plot point that I hated in Fast & Furious, I knew I'd go see Fast Five simply because it featured Dominic and Mia Toretto again, plus added Dwayne Johnson's character. (Hell, the only reason I watched Tokyo Drift is because there's a tiny scene of Dominic Toretto at the very end.) I am so glad I watched Fast Five. Of course, watching Vin Diesel's and Dwayne Johnson's characters go at each other was hot as hell, but mostly, it was a fun, delightful heist movie full of characters of color. So much love for that. (Saw this at the drive-in coupled with Battle: Los Angeles.)

+ Battle: Los Angeles

I was so glad this was paired with Fast Five at the drive-in, because at least I'd get my Michelle Rodriguez fix. I almost skipped out during the first half hour, because it was such a slow movie, and I hate that the main character is the white guy as usual, but in the end, I enjoyed it well enough.

+ Super 8

I knew I'd see this if only to prove to the brothers M that it wasn't about a goddamn giant spider, okay? (Jake and I had this argument back and forth from the first time we heard about the movie.) I really liked it, though I thought the ending fell pretty flat. It was a fun summer movie about teens having adventures, and I love that. (I would love it even more if the story was about a group of girls with the token guy, but obviously I'm not going to get that.)

+ Green Lantern

Saw this when the brothers M were in town, and it was ridiculous. RIDICULOUS. I don't mind ridiculous comic book movies all that much, though, so it wasn't completely horrible. Typical issues with characters of color and women, though.

+ Priest

Nor horrible, and once or twice I was nicely surprised by where the story didn't go, but not great, either. The best part was I watched this at the drive-in by the Royals stadium, and had a perfect view of the fireworks. I have no idea how often they shoot off fireworks at Royals games, but I need to figure it out, because the price of the drive-in was worth THAT.

+ Scream 4

I saw this with Priest, and I hoped nostalgia would carry me through it, but oh, it drags on way too long. I liked it for awhile, but dude, trim that shit.

+ Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Not all that thrilled with this. I was surprised by how much I missed Elizabeth and Will.

+ X-Men: First Class

Watched this with the brothers M (Joe loves comic book movies, though Jake hates them. I think Joe likes having someone else on his side), and was filled with delightful nostalgia and glee every time something or someone came on screen, but dear god, how very if you're not a white guy (or formerly a white guy), you're the enemy. Do not want.

+ Roswell

Seasons two and three were frequently ridiculous and overdone, but damn, I loved the characters and got sucked into a number of marathons until I finished it. I sort of wish I'd watched this when it first aired, because I was getting bored by Buffy at that point and this might have been a fun addition, but I had just started undergrad and was too busy to pick it up.

+ Friday Night Lights

I'm in the middle of this now; I never fully watched any season after the first season, and I'm really enjoying catching up now. Lots of heartbreak, of course.

+ Sons of Anarchy

Despite the racism, sexism, homophobia, and, oh yeah, all the killing, I love this show. It's not quite the same watching it alone as it is with the brothers M, but I like it more each time I rewatch it.

For not having cable, I manage to have lots of older shows. At some point, I want to finish Battlestar Galactica, and revena has been trying to hook me on Stargate Atlantis, so that will happen, eventually.

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So Clive Owen and David Schwimmer were filming Trust at the law quad today. I'm not really sure where our beautiful quad fits into the movie, but let me tell you, it's beautiful, especially this time of year.

I'm just sad that Red Dawn has been filming in Michigan and yet neither Jeffrey Dean Morgan (rumored) nor Adrianne Palicki have shown up at the law quad. I want the hot ones, please!(2)

From the way Facebook has exploded, it's like Elvis was on campus or something.(3)

In other news, I wish I didn't feel like crap. I had this constant vertigo and feeling like I'm going to puke.



(1) Professor Entertainment Law actually said this in class one day last semester when we talked about the initiatives Michigan now has for people to film movies here. It amused me then and it amuses me now.

(2) To be fair, parts of Whip It were filmed here, and it was full of hot.

(3) Or maybe only I would react like that for Elvis. Who knows?

Apparently Ann Arbor is one of the cities getting Paranormal Activity this weekend. I'm trying to determine if it is shot using only first-person camera angles, because if it is, I can't watch it. (Just like I can't play first-person shooters, because the angles set off my vertigo.) From the New York Times article, and my research, I'm guessing yes, but I don't know for sure.

(For locals, it's playing Friday at State Theater, apparently.)

I'd kind of like to see it, but even the first-person angles in Gamer were almost too much for my poor vertigo, and that wasn't the whole movie. (Also, Gamer wasn't worth the money I paid to see it, in case you were wondering. Even for someone who loves stupid, cheesy action and sci fi and horror movies, it was bad and pretty insulting.)

Ah, well. Maybe next time.

Kansas City has a drive-in theater! I am absolutely filled with glee!

I-70 Drive-In

They have awesome double features for super cheap. I think tomorrow I will go watch either the Terminator/Star Trek double feature or the Drag Me to Hell/Angels and Demons double feature. (I might skip A&D, but even for one movie, that's still cheaper than the other theaters.) I love drive-ins! There's one near where I grew up and I find them absolutely enchanting, even slightly creepy, dirty ones like the one near where I grew up.

Drive-in theater! I found a Sonic Drive-In near my house here, so my drive-in experience is very nearly perfect.

Now what to do tonight? Bookstore, maybe? I'd like to get away from people for awhile and I need to get dinner soon. My roommates are having a party tonight and I am just not feeling up to being around strangers, though I'm welcome.

I've spent too much time around strangers this week.

I was looking for some story notes I made awhile ago and stumbled on a conversation I had with Sarah back in 2007 (probably May of 2007) about horror movies. I'd like to think about this more, so I'm noting the thoughts I had here, which were part of a much larger conversation about horror and horror ratings and why people claim that movies + violence = good and video games + violence = bad:

There's a theory that trends in horror movies relate to how safe people feel in the world. Horror movies mostly focus on monsters (of whatever type) when people feel safer with other humans. When reality, when what people are doing to each other, starts to be more frightening than the unknown, horror movies go back into the torture/survival horror, and to the extreme horror films.

It's a reflection of the fears of the potential audience.

I don't think the torture/survival horror movies are *supposed* to be scary. There's a comment to that post which says that Hollywood is off-base because we (as a society) see so much damage inflicted on humans in real life that we don't find it frightening in the movies. I don't think it's supposed to be frightening, though; the appeal of such things is the reflection of life, the way that the horrors of reality are contained in a controllable media. We can't stop the war, for example, but in the movies, it's a contained source and we can choose to see or not to see. It also gives us a way to approach these ideas without having to deal with the idea that *real people* are getting hurt.

I'm not saying that Hollywood is setting out to show that these parts of humanity are wrong. Hollywood is trying to make money. That's it. It's a business.

However, we can analyze the way people react to what's being made.

---

That same conversation has a number of insights into the Along the Road Home universe and characters and reminded me of what I love about that story. Someday I will return to it, when I have the proper distance and skill to write it.

There are some interesting discussions going on online. (That kind of seems like a duh statement, because aren't there always? But here are some I've read recently which interest me, and so I share them with you.)

"Meeting the Beast: Ginger Snaps and Feminist Werewolves by naamah_darling addresses the idea that Ginger Snaps is a feminist and breaks that down to show it isn't. There is also some discussion in the comments about other texts which are more feminist.

"Flattering" at fatshionista has a discussion of whether using the term "flattering" when discussing clothes is really an unexamined compliment saying that the clothes make you look skinny. In the comments there is also a discussion of being femme politically and whether embracing make-up, etc. is buying into patriarchal views of female beauty.

In a kind of hive mind moment, Fatshionist has "Slut Shaming and the Politics of Tight Clothes".

I've already been thinking about body size and beauty standards in non-traditional communities, and this is making me think about it even more. I'll have to talk about that soon.

And finally, a link I found interesting: "Tribe of Ukrainian Fighting Women"

Oh god. When everyone bows to the hobbits at the end, I cry. That whole bowing to some non-royalty person gets to me, always. It does it in Mulan, too. MULAN. That's just a clincher scene for me, whatever is it in.

Also, I'm overwhelmed with my Eowyn love. More coherent thoughts tomorrow, I'm sure.

I've watched The Two Towers and Return of the King today, written just over three thousand words, baked a chocolate cake that looks delicious (I haven't yet eaten any), did most of the laundry, visited with M---, and turned the filing over to Jake. Not as much as I would have liked to do (yeah, haven't come close to that 10,000 word goal at all over vacation, which is halfway through tomorrow, damn it), but good progress, and I have more plans for tomorrow.

I did write the end scenes today, so the basic structure is complete, I'm just filling in holes as I go. I almost have all the logistics on the last big battle finished, as well, and I'm pleased with most of what I've written.

Bilbo's line, "I think I'm quite ready for another adventure", that needs to be a part of my journal, somewhere. Oh. No matter how often I read and/or see these stories, I only become more enchanted. Someday I will write something that touches people as this does. Someday.

M--- and I were talking tonight, while watching the movies, and she said that her ideal of (physical) female perfection is embodied in Liv Tyler as Arwen, which made me laugh, because mine is Miranda Otto as Eowyn. I've always thought, if I could be just one fictional character, I would be Eowyn, and in the movies, she's portrayed very well, enough that I love her more than ever. Though I shouldn't say this, because it's not precisely true; I have many examples of female perfection, first of all, in my mind at least, and second, I like Eowyn in large part because of her flaws.

It's strange, because personally, I prefer women short with either long dark or short techni-color hair (though, of course, there are exceptions), but I see beauty in tall blondes, preferably who are strong and obsessive and driven.

Also strange is that I prefer tall men (though also with dark hair, though shaved is starting to appeal).

And yeah, I totally did not intend for this to become a conversation about the types to which I'm attracted. I meant to talk about why I write and what I'm trying to do and how I fear I'm failing, but I guess I'll have to save that for another day, too. I think I should go sleep, and dream of the ones who came before.

Can't sleep, so I'm watching movie trailers. This happens once a month or so, but I don't usually talk about it. Chronicles of Narnia looks interesting, and I am starting to have the hope that they will do it justice. Miss Congeniality 2 looks dumb, of course, but one part did make me laugh, so I'll watch it when it comes on television, I'm sure. They made a sequel to xXx and it doesn't have Vin Diesel in it; instead, they have some new triple x and in the tradition of sequels that cut out his character (The Fast and the Furious comes to mind) I will not be watching it, which is vaguely disappointing, as I could use a good, mindless action movie. However, as Keya knows, The Pacifier may make up for that lack. Kids or not, he's still damn hot in the trailer and it made me laugh. Would be much better to watch it with her, though, because we'd crack each other up in the theater and embarrass Dad #2. Much like we did when we saw Resident Evil and watched a Vin Diesel trailer (I want to say for xXx) and we both made the same noise when he first came on the screen, and I think Dad #2 was truly disturbed by us. But it was fun and funny.

And, um, now that I've watched a Vin Diesel trailer, I'm ready to go to bed. Hmmm.

One more day until vacation and then I can write and watch movies and enjoy myself. Woo.