Culture-less

For some reason, I don't quite feel connected to America. I'm sure it's a great place to live in retrospect to some other desolate, oppressed countries - however I'm not quite sure that I feel connected to our "culture" or what I would deem "lack of culture." America is known for being a melting pot of civilization and many people want to come here because everyone is supposedly accepted. However, I find myself watching movies from the 1920's to 1960's and I find that America seemed to be much more...pleasant then (okay, well forget about the Depression and women's lack of rights). A movie that makes it onto my favorites list is It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert from 1934, winner of five Oscars! I love this movie.

And why do I love this movie? It reminds me of a more simplistic time long gone...a time where America had more of a collective culture - people were generally swayed by the same thing. I mean, there were only so many radio stations..everyone danced to the same songs, listened to the same radio shows - you could make friends easily based on a shared common interest. Men seemed classy, wearing suits and smoking sweet-smelling tobacco pipes with ease. Women dressed elegantly, wearing large hats and dresses - it was a time when showing some knee was scandalous. My, how the times have changed.

I mean, I like that everyone is different here and it is definitely more of a challenge to find people interested in the same things as I, but I tend to feel as if America is dissipating into entirely too many subdivisions ...and now we do not feel like a united country. Also, what direction is American culture heading? Where one of the most popular singers is Ke$ha (dollar bill sign, really?) who sings about brushing her teeth with alcohol and "waking up in the morning looking like P. Diddy." Wow. Truly, Ke$ha is the Socrates of our age. Simply breathtaking are her words. AND, the sad thing is that young girls are quoting Ke$ha lyrics and, I am sure, wanting to live a lifestyle just like her. My, how good of a life our children are going to have here if this culture continues to progress into goodness knows what next. Now listen, I'm not blaming Ke$ha for the lack of a centralized, upstanding culture in America. It's been a long, slow downward slope to this point. However, things are only getting worse. Which is why I hope to get out of America after I graduate college in around four years.

A Mighty Wind

This is not the kind of snow that silently blankets an entire community in the depths of the night. This is the kind of snow which I fear. Furious winds blow with all of their vehemence, causing the lightly falling snow to morph to a frightening blizzard. This is not the kind of snow in which one goes out and plays and has ultimate snowball fights in. This is the kind of snow, where, if one were to even step outside ...one would simply blow away like Dorothy in her tornado - wicked witches of the west and munchkins may or may not be included...

This is an....interesting...take on snowboarding! I'm sure a sandstorm there is probably comparable to these winds today.

An Ode to Alec

Feast your eyes on my favorite actor! He will be co-hosting the Academy Awards with Steve Martin on March 7th!

Not only is Alec Baldwin my favorite actor, but he is also, in my opinion, one of the most appealing men...for many, many reasons. Alec has been receiving a lot of criticism in the news lately, as he was recently hospitalized for a "misunderstanding" when his daughter misleadingly called 911, believing that Alec was going to take sleeping pills after an argument that the two had. Alec also recently made headlines for hassling and grabbing a photographer, as a group of them had flocked around the entrance of his home and were bothering him. Certainly not good press! If I were him, and got no privacy due to these photographers, I would be on my last nerve as well. I consider myself to be an extremely laid-back, carefree person..but that might very possibly change if I were consistently being followed, heckled, and photographed...ladies and gentlemen value their privacy! I know that I cherish my alone time.

Everyone's got a "little" crush on some celebrity..

So, here I am...defending my man Alec Baldwin, and stating some of the reasons why he will always be my celebrity crush - even though I knew something about this crush was odd when I told my grandma that I liked him and she replied: "Ohhh boy....I like him too," with a wink. haha! I'm guessing that my grandma and I shouldn't think the same guy is a cutie pie!

I like Alec because...

• he is a classic "man." He has always played roles as the big, powerful male character with a strong, overbearing personality. I like someone who has the strong verbal skills to sweet talk their way through something - and he does.
• witty - the sharp, biting remarks and insults thrown at Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) on 30 Rock get me laughing every time. The man can crack a joke and embarrass you before you even realize what has happened...and that it was about you.
• baby blue intense squinty eyes, tall, dark hair need I say more? His physical appearance fulfills my little girlhood crush by meeting every favorite trait of mine!
• I really, really..like the fact that he almost always plays a role in which he wears a suit. He usually plays the powerful corporate guy. Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock is quite possibly my favorite character portrayed by Alec. Although he is a man with a powerful job, he still maintains his biting sense of humor and humorous lack of sympathy for anyone showing weaknesses. I like that he isn't too mushy - he's very direct and forward, doesn't overtly show much emotion. Alec can be both serious and softly or sharply humorous several times within a conversation. Versatility as an actor is very important and very endearing.

• Of course young Alec Baldwin was better looking, but Popeater did an article on whether Alec was more appealing as a young, handsome thin man..or now, as an older-slightly graying, fatter, wittier man? I vote for the second one, honestly http://www.popeater.com/2009/12/14/alec-baldwin-sexiness/. I think he's aged quite gracefully. Whenever we pick boyfriends at young ages, don't we always wonder what that person would look like as an older person? I know we can't all look 18 for the rest of our lives...but if my husband were to age like Alec Baldwin? I'd be a happy wife!
• There are many reasons why I overly like Alec Baldwin ....but this is one of the main factors that drew my little self in! His voice. His eloquence of speech as the corporate character. The mysteriousness that lay below the deep, soothing gruff of his voice. It's a man's voice, and an intriguing one at that.

Here's a little video to end my embarrassing rant on some reasons why I will always have a huge crush on Alec Baldwin. It pretty much symbolizes all of the reasons gathered into one as to why I think he is a great, great man - who I will always support, even after he gets into fights with photographers or his daughter! Now, relax and listen to his softly authoritative voice! Anyone would be hard-pressed to find a similar quality in another actor, or person.

Man, I sound crazy, maybe I should have tried to stop liking Alec whenever I found out Grandma likes him too.....

Engrish

So last night I almost had a horrible..horrible car accident. Snow drifting is a frightening thing. I guess it's a little, uneasy reminder how close death always is.

But, to lighten that mood, here are some pictures from one of my favorite websites, Engrish. The website focuses on actual signs and shirts and texts on public objects in Japan where English is widely used since it's considered "cool" there...but just very, very incorrectly - often humorously, as captured here.

oh really? I WANT YOU...to fry chicken in KFC's vats of grease.

(this one is text below a man's doorbell) whoa man, whoa....settle down, no need to get hostile.

"We mean it. No jumping. We can sense it. You don't want it to get to step two..so don't do it."

Kool-aid man?

If you do we'll....not pay for the funeral costs?

Yeah, this grass is sensitive!

The website itself has hundreds more excellent English skill pictures... so check out the website at http://www.engrish.com !

Life in Trees

Oh, how I have always wanted a treehouse. My father, each year that I questioned him about it, told me that he was going to build me one. However, as time flew by...I was left without my little bungalow. I used to try to build rickety hideaways by myself, but it never quite worked out. I am not a builder.

But, to me, there is something very comforting about trees...I can only imagine how being high up in one, peering down upon the world feels. I've never flown in a plane..well, I've hardly ever been anywhere in my life, but I may presume that it is a similar feeling of being high above the ground's happenings. A feeling of disconnectedness from the world - or rather, a supreme being in the sky looking down upon the earth created.

Some trees have grown from the earth for hundreds of years. Think of all of the things they've seen from their solitary positions. Highest branches yearning for the sky, they can see for miles around. The eyes and ears of the world. But, oh, how depressing it must be to be a tree. Unable to walk the earth and embrace the vastness of it all.

Such is the sadness in the fairy-tale, The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen. The small fir-tree is personified into a living entity. It longs to be as tall and as beautiful as the other trees around. These trees keep getting cut down and sailed away to far away lands, while the tree remains small and pathetic, wondering just what the sea looks like - for he is too short to see. Eventually, the fir tree is cut down and taken to a home as a Christmas tree...and the journey there was not at all what he had expected. The only time the beauty of nature was comparable was while the little fir tree was being adorned with Christmas decorations. However, once Christmas came to a sad end, the fir tree was thrown into a dark attic...and months later dragged out into the sunlight to be discarded. His life ends as he views the flitting life of spring colorfully blossoming around him.

We all long to travel the world, see exotic things and have new experiences. It is human nature. However, we must not get too anxious as the young fir tree did and miss the wonderful journey along the way. Do not long for something that dilutes life in the meantime. Nothing is worth that much of one's time. Nothing is worth the wonderfulness of the everyday intricacies in your surroundings. Talks with friends, days at work, even begrudgingly avoiding my homework is all of importance to me. Although I long for college, as the fir tree longed for the sea, I will not miss out on life's experiences until that point in life comes.......which is June 27th :)

A World Inside the Pages

How often do we wish that, beyond the hardcover, the words upon the pages we delve into were real? Vivid they may be, but one cannot help feel sad at the inability to escape into a perfect world.

Yesterday was a snow day for my school, and today as well due to this monstrosity of a blizzard! Yesterday I managed to finish four children's chapter books - including the Pippi Longstocking series. I remember reading the books as a young elementary school gal (in between getting in trouble and writing my wrongs on a paper over and over at "detention" during recess) and attending the play, however the world of Pippi Longstocking and her beloved home Villa Villekulla never quite sank in. After reading it now, as a senior in high school, Pippi's world is one I long quite strongly for. Pippi is the embodiment of what every child and teenager wishes to be - one free. A ridiculous life is led by Pippi, who lives in a large home all by her lonesome self with a monkey, a horse, and a big chest of gold coins pillaged from her sea travels. Devoid of manners, Pippi is unconcerned about what she says or who she offends. Pippi is Pippi - no one can change her, talk down to her - lest they be crushed by her incredible strength (tossing grown men into the air as punishment with one hand!)

As a child I often tried to have my own adventures. I attempted to live a life parallel to that of Pippi Longstocking. Alone time in my backyard was enjoyed most of all...I explored, befriended fireflies, found a pet rock whom I named Ralph. He became the best secret keeper that I knew. My favorite place in the whole world was in my backyard. There is a hollow bush and tree connected which I would crawl through to my secret underworld. Here, no one could find me. Here, the world was skewed towards my active imagination. I set up a chair and constructed a fake telescope. Aimed creepily towards my neighbors yard, I would pretend I was a spy in a submarine, as the bushes left me completely enclosed. Just as Pippi sailed the seas, I was discovering underwater worlds and creatures. My dogs became horses, and I was their jubilant circus leader riding and parading them around the yard (German Shepherds were certainly capable of carrying me around the yard.) My backyard became my beacon of peace. My paradise. My forever morphing stage.

My whole life I have longed for the lives of others - within books, on television shows, even others whom had less parental control than I. Now, looking back, I would want no other life than that of one where I was contained in my backyard..well, of course I was allowed in the house sometimes, too ;) Not only children need imagination to bud into creative, successful people. Imagination is vital to enjoying life. For all of us need an escape. When that escape is not monetary feasible...simply escape into the mind. A whole world awaits.