Romantic Comedies

There's so few of them that are actually good I needed to document this endangered species

1. When Harry Met Sally
2. Sleepless in Seattle
3. You've got Mail
4. Bridget Jones Diary
5. Love, Actually
6. 10 Things I Hate About You



Honorable Mention:
1. Just like Heaven
2. Kate and Leopold
3. Notting Hill
4. The Proposal
5. The Notebook


Not really typical romantic comedy (other morals take precedence), but has romantic comedy in it:
1. As Good as it Gets
2. Juno
3. About a Boy
4. The Wedding Banquet
5. Eat Drink Man Woman
6. Silver Linings Playbook
7. Friends with Kids
8. Amelie
9. My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Not super happy, but still romantic:
1. Before Sunrise
2. Before Sunset
3. You are the Apple of My Eye
4. (500) Days of Summer

Period Romance:
1. Breakfast at Tiffany's
2. Roman Holiday
3. Pretty in Pink
4. Pride & Prejudice
5. The Princess Bride
6. The Shop Around the Corner

Period Romance that is not really typical romantic comedy (other morals take precedence), but has romantic comedy in it
1. The Breakfast Club
2. Sixteen Candles
3. It's a Wonderful Life
4. Singin' in the Rain
5. My Fair Lady
6. Sound of Music

Not super fond of, but other people like them:
1. My Best Friend's Wedding
2. Pretty Woman
3. One Fine Day
4. The Wedding Singer
5. Green Card
6. Groundhog's Day
7. Clueless

On Paula Deen (and her N word fiasco)

Paula Deen has found herself in a (deep-fried) pickle again.  Unlike the diabetes, Novo Nordisk controversy, her missteps this time have found her facing far more observable public disapproval and financial (read: business partnerships) consequences.  Long story short: a former manager (Lisa Jackson) accuses Deen of creating a hostile environment, including racial slurs and viewing of pornography by her brother during work hours while employed at Deen and brother's restaurant some 20 or 30 years ago. During questioning, when asked if she had ever used the N word, she responded, "of course."  She details a story of being robbed at gunpoint by a black person and referring to him as the "n****r" when recounting the story to a family member. When asked whether race jokes are appropriate, she dodged the shot transparently-- "I can't, myself, determine, what offends another person."

Let's get the real world reasons for the hoopla out of the way first. It's money, it's all about money.  It is important to remember that Paula Deen isn't being shunned by business partners because she may or may not be racist.  First of all, the lawsuit has been brought about with accusations of a hostile work environment  that happen to include elements of racism and sexism (if it matters, the plantiff is white). Second of all, large companies like Walmart, Target, Smithfield Farms, etc. couldn't give a rat's ass whether or not Deen is actually racist--even if there was such a thing as a Racist-O-Meter and the arrow confidently swung to NOT RACIST, it would be far too late.  The accusation is in the air.  Her brand persona has now been tainted and is no longer monetarily viable.  Just the allegations are enough to bring a personality brand down.

Commenters of the fall from grace fall into these categories

Pro Paula: The media is bored: overblowing a minor PAST error in ways to fill minutes of air time and pages of blogs. She said it once! It was a different time! They're trying to paint this darling of an old woman as an ignorant hick and burn her at stake.  They're blowing it up because she's a woman (which I do wonder about myself).  A few black people have declared their race (because it's hard to see on the internet) and proclaimed, I've seen racist, and she's no racist, she didn't mean no harm.  She's like your grandmother who is out of touch with current social propriety, but she makes pies to die for so let's all turn the other way.


Anti-Paula: She said an awful awful thing, she is an awful awful person.  She's racist, sniveling, calculative, greedy. Never liked her, here's just the final reason why.  I TOLD YOU.


Paula may be a good person, but she's got three strikes and needs to be out:  Paula Deen isn't evil, but she's a little dishonest.  She's sorry because she's like a 5 year old fibbing about stealing a cookie from the cookie jar and tearful because she got caught in her lie.  She was able to hop around the diabetes landmine, dusting her hands off on her apron just as it exploded behind her.  But her clumsiness finally caught up to her.  She may be a business woman but she's just not very smart in some ways.  She's racist. And she might never know that she is, and the people that support her might never know she is, regardless of race.  From what I've seen, to your face, it doesn't matter if you're white black yellow red purple, she'll be polite.  She'll probably be gracious.  She might lend you a cup of sugar.  But that says nothing about what she thinks about you when you turn your back. She might think you were adorable, but people think dogs are adorable. She might help you, but in the way you help a child, (they're so helpless a few minutes of my time will mean the world to them, and cost me almost nothing).  And as the robber story shows, she'll turn on you and blame it on your race (not because you're a bad person) the minute you aren't grateful for "all that has been given to you."

I hope people can see.  IT'S NOT ABOUT THE N WORD.  It's about her nonchalance about it.  She didn't blame her character for her transgressions, she blamed it on the time period.  She simply said she hasn't said it in a long time, as if she  hasn't said it because she knows it's not proper now, rather than because she knows it's a horrible thing to say.  Paula Deen just doesn't get it.

During the racism interrogation, Deen explains the accusation that she suggested a plantation wedding for her brother:

... I remember telling them about a restaurant that my husband and I had recently visited. And I'm wanting to think it was in Tennessee or North Carolina or somewhere, and it was impressive. The whole entire wait staff was middle-aged black men, and they had on beautiful white jackets with a black bow tie. I mean it was, it was really impressive.And I remember saying I would love to have servers like that, I said, but I would be afraid that somebody would misinterpret.Q. If you would have had servers like that, why would that have made it a really Southern plantation wedding?A. Well, it — to me, of course, I'm old but I ain't that old, I didn't live back in those days but I've seen pictures, and the pictures that I've seen, that restaurant represented a certain era in America ... after the Civil War, during the Civil War, before the Civil War.Q. Back in an era where there were middle-aged black men waiting on white people.A. Well, it was not only black men it was black women. ... I would say that they are slaves. But I did not mean anything derogatory by saying I loved their look and their professionalism.

Paula Deen is completely clueless.  Openly chatting with the attorney about how "impressive" it was to have an entire waitstaff of "middle-aged black men" that wore "beautiful white jackets with a black bow tie." She doesn't even blink, she doesn't even know she is romanticizing and fetishizing an era that was so painful, so dehumanizing for a good portion of her fellow humans. She wanted a plantation wedding like that, but was afraid it would be "misinterpreted."  Misinterpreted as what? for what it actually is--an unsavory reminder of errors past?  When the attorney dryly notes that Deen's definition of a "true plantation wedding" harked back to a past where black men waited on white people, Deen completely misses his pointedness as she clarifies, "well it was not only black men it was black women...I would say that they are slaves." Ay, there's the rub. She knows exactly what these black men waiting are reminiscent of, and she sees nothing wrong with this tidbit.  As she reassures, "she did not mean anything derogatory," she simply loved "their look and their professionalism," as if praising a well-behaved dog.

I hope Paula knows she isn't being persecuted for saying the N word. She's being sacrificed because she's the public figural representation of a whole bevy of white Southerners that just. don't. get. that it's wrong. In the game of survival of the fittest people like her have got to  evolve or face extinction.  Hit me with your protestations that The South is unfairly portrayed as backwards, that they've moved on since then.  Well, I've met too many people that haven't. too many that are my age.  Too many that still whisper "black people" in conversations. Too many people that unabashedly proclaim, my parents are racist, but don't worry, they like Asians because they're hardworking.

I hope Paula Deen changes.  I hope she doesn't feel like a martyr.  I hope she doesn't kill herself.  Here's your chance to stop trying to talk the talk and actually walk the walk.

Thoughts/Random Facts

From Freshman Year...

In the cafeteria This girl who is my ex-room mate's frenemy looked at me and looked away.  This is after I saw that she wrote on my room mate's facebook wall,

your presence is missed :( saw your roommate when I was swiping into Hayden... she still looks clueless as ever ahahha

I hate that it bothers me, that it feels more like high school than college (we're all supposed to be adults!)  I feel like I'm making such a big deal out of I don't know I'll regret if people read this and if it will make me feel vulnerable and small but oh well I think everyone has been stabbed in the back before by people they know they shouldn't give a shit about. 

I saw this girl who I think I saw on youtube.  I stared at her for a moment and she looked back at me until I was conscious of the recognition that was obvious in my face so I quickly looked at the other people in the room as if I was eavesdropping on everything.  Man I really need to work on not being an obvious might-as-well-be-wearing-a-bright-red-bodysuit dork

1.  I feel bad for feeling bad when I see someone eating alone because having eaten alone (and I still do), I know he/she is not lonely and in actuality it's rather peaceful.

2.  My hair is so icky lately...like for the last 3 months.  Usually it's all soft and light after I wash it, but lately it's been so dry and the shampoo (I've been using Pantene pretty much since the age I wasn't bald anymore) hasn't been jiving with my hair--it leaves the roots in a matted tangled mess, forcing me to condition right next to the scalp in order to get it out.  I'm almost hoping it's the winter weather/heating that's drying it up and not something annoying like having to eat healthy in order to remedy it.

3.  I keep hearing this buzzing noise.  Sounds like my cellphone but it seems like it's coming from another direction.  Maybe I have supersonic hearing and it's from next door.

***

nope it's my cellphone.  I need to get my ears checked.

4. Watching Mary Tyler Moore.  Man she is skinny.  I'm almost scared for her until I realize this show is 40 years old.  And why do they keep saying Rhoda's fat?  Are they all Twiggy wannabes?  Love the clothes, but the premise is too caught between trying to be edgy and homey.  Honey Mooners is better.

5. I love Anthropologie's aesthetic but the general quality of their clothes and jewelry seem really poor for their prices (free people and urban outfitters are the same).  Honestly I don't know why they make the lack of quality so obvious, sometimes it's like Forever 21 clothing and jewelry for J Crew prices.  I'm really surprised that they're so successful when most of the reviews for their items are negative.  I guess they really suck you in (myself included) with the irresistible styles.

6. I hate when super supercilious people go like, " I have a PHD in psychology went to Yale and have an IQ of 170 and I think Family Guy is hilarious" as if their academic intelligence asserts that there's some hidden, underlying genius to these butt-head shows. Um, no, all it means is that you're secretly a 12 year old boy, and have the same humor as the middle aged college dropouts that our living in their parents' basement.  Get over it.

7. I can't help but think that it's impossible to be super made up and intelligent at the same time.  Naturally beautiful, that's a different story.  I dunno, it  just seems like if you can devote hours to tanning and layering eyeliner on, it's hard to imagine that you truly have a passion for learning.  'Cause if you did, wouldn't you rather spend your time reading/writing theorems/saving the world than on your appearance? 

best movies in the history of the universe

1. shawshank redemption
2. pan's labyrinth
3. guess who's coming to dinner
4. 12 angry men
5. Battle of Algiers

Tweets that will probably never make it Part 2

before twitter these were just thoughts. Now my brain automatically molds them into 140 character (give or take) boxes.

1. I had a dream I was typing my passcode on a telephone keypad I kept getting distracted all I needed to type was BOOK and I kept messing up at the first O. Was so frustrating I woke up.

2. If you sleep sitting up I'm going to call you a vampire

3. I wish I had established a more sardonic and biting persona so that when I unleash bitter and self-indulgent truths people would think it was comically grumpy.

4. Stop being so self-pitying u remind me of myself

5. I went back and reread my old tweets.  What a bore.  The first ones were promotional for my etsy shop, fine.  But the other ones, whiny and humble-braggy and confessional in the most uninteresting ways.

6.  I went back and reread old blog posts too.  I hate that I'm one of those people with an out of date blog, nearly whole years between some posts.  So different, so young and then not.

Other people's jewelry: BVLGARI SERPENTI Bracelet

So while waiting for someone, I tried this on.  It was love. Bold jewelry like this usually isn't my thing, but it was smaller (still bold) than I expected. The geometric snake abstraction and buttery 18K gold with diamonds and onyx did me in.   It instinctively hugged my wrist like a high class version of those vinyl slap bracelets. Obviously the craftsmanship was flawless.  You get what you pay for--so shell out $52,000, please. I will probably, never, ever, own this in my life.  The price of a year of tuition at a prestigious college! A luxury car! I can't even imagine buying this unless I made millions of millions of dollars.  Imagine losing it! Gold digging makes much more sense to me now.  Seriously, I need to dig me up some gold.

A Cartier LOVE bracelet just seems downright puny now.