Category: commentary

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The Learning Curve

Somebody once said that he learns something new every day. Then someone else said that there’s nothing new under the sun. So, which is it? I honestly think it’s both. We are constantly learning, even us old dogs, and even those new tricks. But what we’re learning are things that have been known by others … Continue reading The Learning Curve

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I Never Played I Never

I love it when I see movies and TV shows where the characters either are young or they get all nostalgic about their youth and they mention games they played at parties. These games consisted of ways to get, uh, close and personal, with the opposite sex. I often wonder who was fooling whom, or who thought the games were little innocent games, but I have to think at least the guys knew what was happening. But I would have to take everyone’s word for it because I never played any of those games.

The Games

Twister – This one looks hilarious on the box, with someone’s leg over someone else’s arm, a twisted torso here, an elbow swinging out wide there. What the game does is gets people close enough to kiss if they were so inclined, the physical proximity possibly dizzying for the kid who never got in too much close contact with the opposite sex. Continue reading “I Never Played I Never”

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Water Cooler Musings: Pretty/Hot

Hilary Swank. Pretty/hot?

Yesterday we had a rousing discussion around the water cooler about being pretty and being hot, and how they’re distinctly not the same thing. It reminded me of this episode of The Office where the employees were split on whether or not Hilary Swank is hot. Great actress sure. But is she HOT? And what makes someone hot vs. pretty and vice versa?

This one guy, we’ll call him Phil, said that girls are pretty when they are naturally attractive, and girls are hot when they wear something “skanky.” Which of course got all the girls who were also around the water cooler up in arms. They questioned whether or not skanks can truly be called hot, and more importantly, do ALL guys think that way? Then he clarified, that it wasn’t really skanky he was referencing, but something that showed off a girl’s body. Pretty girls, he said, didn’t need to show off their bodies, because they have this essence, this girl-next-doorness that attracts people to them in the “good” way. I think that did enough to call off the lynch mob, but just barely. Continue reading “Water Cooler Musings: Pretty/Hot”

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In Media Res

in media res: into the middle of affairs; often used when discussing novels that begin partway through the story. For example, The Iliad starts partway through the Trojan War, not at its beginning.

So many movies and television show episodes don’t start with the traditional storytelling arc anymore. We don’t get so much back story at the beginning, and the pattern doesn’t follow a linear progression throughout. It’s the same with books as well. Famously, The Chronicles of Narnia begins when the Pevensie siblings end up in the magical land of Narnia for the first time, but it is really only the beginning of their journey and not the beginning of Narnia itself. That is finally explained in the sixth book in the series. The Butterfly Effect bends time so the beginning isn’t really the beginning. And the television series Revolution shows a world without electricity, then backtracks in flashbacks to show how it came to be, and what role each person we’ve already been introduced to has played in it.

But why is it so popular now? Continue reading “In Media Res”

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On A Rainy Afternoon

On rainy afternoons I play golf. I stand tall and swing like my life depends on it, watching the ball carefully as it flies through the air and generally lands where I want it to land. Then I look out the window and I realize the neighborhood kids are watching me through the window. Oh, the glory of playing Tiger Woods 2010 on the Wii system with the shades pulled back. I guess it’s okay, though. I mean, I did have good form. Continue reading “On A Rainy Afternoon”