Moot Point

Did anyone see Caitlin Flanagan on Colbert tonight? I’m paraphrasing but: “‘Date night’ is a very modern concept. The idea that a husband has to take his wife to dinner at the Olive Garden and sit through a Meg Ryan movie just to get a little nookie … [In my parents' day] women understand that nookie was part of the job.”

Yeah. Because for women, sex is a just a duty. Women certainly don’t get any pleasure from having sex.

So essentialist. So full of awful, condescending stereotypes.

…I just hate her so much.

(I am shaking my fist so hard right now.)

TVGuide.com: What songs on your iPod would have their grooves worn down if they were vinyl singles?
Dohring: Hmm… what I’m listening to now? “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt, “All These Things that I’ve Done” by The Killers, Sugarland’s “Baby Girl.”… Oh, and I love Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down.”

Jason Dohring has kind of shitty taste in music. Logan Echolls would never listen to James Blunt.

In other vaguely Veronica Mars-related news, I finally got Alex to sit down and watch the Reefer Madness musical Kristen Bell has a (pretty major) part in. I was kind of worried it wouldn’t be as good as I wanted to be, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The Jesus-as-lounge-singer musical number was comedy gold. Robert Torti, the actor who did it, had the persona down pat. It was kind of like the last number in All That Jazz only it took place in heaven and starred Jesus. So that was a plus.

We also made it out to see the aforementioned Brick. After seeing it, I can say that I really really liked it, and that it really wasn’t that similar to Veronica Mars except for doing the noir thing in a high school milieu. Joseh Gordon-Levitt — who I always kind of liked on Third Rock — was perfect doing the young noir hero, who knows he’s going to make a lot of trouble, but doesn’t really care, because he’s got a job to do. It’s gotten mixed reactions for the dialogue — it’s this weird patois of old movie slang, teenspeak, and totally made up stuff — and the whole thing could have played as really full of itself if the performances hadn’t been so natural and committed to the movie’s not-in-any-way-realistic diegesis. It’s maybe not for everyone, because it’s a film that’s very much in its own world, but it’s a modern version of a Maltese Falcon, Marlowe-ish world that I’ve spent a lot (I mean a lot) of time and love quite a lot.

I did some other stuff this weekend, like sleep in a lot, make pancakes, avoid doing my laundry, and watch a some of Trekkies, which led Alex and I to argue on the subway about the date of DeForest Kelley’s passing (1999) and when Voyager started airing (1995). Because contrary to popular belief, we are not hipsters, but dorks, down to our very cores.

Today was a pretty sweet Sunday. Alex I slept in after last night’s celebrations. (Dinner at Pomegranate? Amazing. I had this lamb stew thing with walnuts and pomegranate syrup that was literally the richest thing I’ve ever eaten. Then two different birthday parties — neither of them mine. Sara did take this surprisingly non-hideous picture of Alex and me, which is a win. It was a good day, I promise.)

We decided to get lunch before Alex went off to write his Heidegger paper. After some discussion — “Let’s get fish sandwiches!” “Yes — wait, is the Fish Store open on Sundays?” “I don’t think so” — we decided on Belly’s, which is, of course, also not open on Sundays, but we wound up hitting a weird weird Pizzaville. The pizza was decent though. Then I walked down Yonge, picked up some coffee and spent my week’s discretionary income on CDs.

I bought:

• The Donnas – Spend the Night (with Bonus DVD! Involving Andy Dick. I’m scared too.)
• Morrissey – Ringleader of the Tormentors
• Bobby Womack – The Ultimate Collection (2 discs!)

After that I went home, got caught up on my Veronica Mars and loafed for a while.

Oh, Saturday in our travels (we walked from my house (on the west end) to like, Leslieville via St. Lawrence Market), we saw the Most Ironically Named Street Ever:

 

It was basically a glorified alley. I’m gonna miss Toronto.

I don’t really have enough to say on any one subject, to make up a whole post. So, the lazy blogger’s standby it is. Lists!

1. Clinton Kelly is my fashion twin. Today he was wearing a short-sleeved gingham cowboy shirt. WHICH I HAVE TWO VERSIONS OF. Not to mention that velvet jacket from the intro. It’s just, like, two shades purpler than my favourite jacket of all time. And for gay men.
2. I ate two cupcakes today. This is after a week of vegetable renaissance! and making fresh food! and bringing lunch to work! I seriously bought broccoli, people. Just cause. (I made this killer pasta with broccoli and carrots and “peanut-lime sauce” (aka peanut butter, lime juice, canola oil, honey, ginger, garlic and whatever else seemed like it might taste good) and green onions.) But seriously, baby carrots have become a total staple in my house, up there with prewashed mixed greens. I’ve eaten so much carrot this week I’m liable to turn orange.
3. I think I might be getting tired of Bust. Most of it’s good, in its girl power, hipster, craft-obsessed way and I’ll probably still buy it. I loved the (too short) article on bawdy female comedians through the ages, and the cover story (about Gretchen Mol and doing the Bettie Page movie, which looks kind of good, but then I always want to see biopics and wind up being disappointed, unless they are Capote). But the two-page article on women’s poo habits in public restrooms? Read like a parody of a ’90s standup act. It didn’t really say anything new, and I wasn’t sure why Bust would bother publishing it at all. Why not give Moms Mabley more space?
4. I really just don’t photograph well. (Seriously, CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK. It is cute in its way, but this way is the ugly way, like most of the tiny dogs on Cute Overload.)
5. Forehead smack moment: “One reason it works so well is that high school and noir’s universe are more alike than not, sharing the same affinity for power struggles, secretive conspiracies and passions that run dangerously high. The actors play it without tongues in cheeks, allowing the humour to emerge more naturally from the material.” This is from a review of Brick — which I’m not knocking, I think it looks good — but seriously? What original idea! No one’s ever thought of that before. Oh, wait. Those sentences could be from an article about Veronica Mars.
6. Oh yeah, it’s technically my birthday. I think it doesn’t count until I go to bed and then wake up, but I guess I can still note it. 23. This has been such a weird year. I’m kind of in a holding pattern of waiting for things to happen. But really, life’s been pretty good to me. Cute apartment, cute boyfriend, not starving, grad school, all my original body parts (except my two front teeth and my hair colour) blah blah blah. I guess I kind of have a lot to be grateful for, and I mostly am. Grateful. We all get caught up in things that don’t matter and get tired of everything and stuff though. I should maybe try to do that less.

Jade: “The other girls see me as a threat.”

Me: “No, they see you as a bitch.”

Somehow in the last week I’ve turned into one of those people who yells at the TV even though they’re alone. And the TV can’t hear you.

Soon I will start collecting cats.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. My mom came to town for a long weekend, as our mother-daughter tradition. We never have like, big events, just sort of hang out and drink a lot of coffee and go shopping.

This year the highlights were the new Bloor St or “fancy” Winners, where I got three new shirts and she got one, and the One of a Kind show. I’d never gone before, but we both had a great time. Mom got a gorgeous Karen Wilson handbag, and she bought me a tote bag for my (impending) birthday. (Mine has a bird on it.)

I’m not really doing much for the big 2-3, because it’s such a non-event, milestone-wise, and I really can’t be bothered to plan anything. Also, I’m not the most sociable at the best of times, and not being in school or having more than 4 coworkers is not exactly the best times. I’m not complaining, I have my boyfriend, I do get out some, but the conditions are not rife for party planning.

Plus I’m poor and I have to move across the country in a few months. And I have no idea how I will do this. I should probably start economizing. I’m starting to get stressed about it already. This is not good.