December 21, 2007

To watch or not to watch

Somebody please explain to me the enduring appeal of the tragedy. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, for example. I read it as required for my freshman English class, and have never felt the need to revisit the tragic tale of two doomed young lovers. Old Bill also penned some fine comedies, brilliant one-liners (”Would that my horse were as fast as your tongue”) and lovely sonnets but most people if asked to name something he wrote would probably name a tragedy. Hamlet. Macbeth.

Wednesday night we had passes to a sneak peek of Sweeney Todd, the new Johnny Depp-Tim Burton collaboration. I had planned to go again tonight, for my birthday, but I don’t think I can handle another viewing. Don’t get me wrong — this film is fantastic and has already garnered several well-deserved award nominations, including Golden Globes for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, and Director. The performances are excellent, and by casting actors who can sing (yes, Johnny sings, and quite well, imho) rather than singers who act it doesn’t come off hokey like some musical films I’ve seen. There’s plenty of intelligent dark humor, and Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Borat) is especially funny. Alan Rickman continues to be one of my favorite villains, and he and Johnny sing an intriguing duet.

But the story… Oi vey. It’s based on a Broadway musical (which won a Tony for Best Musical) which was based on a book, which in turn was based on a bunch of other stories. The tale of a barber who seeks revenge for wrongfully being sent to prison, and his accomplice, the pie-maker who helps him get rid of the bodies of evidence in a most grisly manner, has been around for over 150 years. Was Sweeney Todd a real person? Maybe, maybe not – the jury’s still out.

With a sub-title of “Demon Barber of Fleet Street” I didn’t expect a cheery ending – a man bent on revenge, lots of sharp razors, and lyrics in the trailer like “We all deserve to die. The lives of the wicked should be made brief and for the rest of us death would be a relief” – but I didn’t expect to spend the last half hour of the film in stomach-clenching dread. Oh no, he isn’t going to… Oh, he didn’t just… He is, and he did.

It didn’t happen the way I expected (which is good – I like it when a film zigs when I expect it to zag) but the last 10 or 15 minutes of the film when everything comes together, realizations are made… I’m still cringing. Not because it’s bad (well yes it is a horrible ending but it’s very well done) but because I need a happy ending. This ending is satisfying, or at least appropriate (though couldn’t they have given Anthony and Johanna just a tiny happy moment of denoument?), and really the only way things could end, given the people and what they’ve done, but still… There’s a reason I write romance and not another genre: the happy ending.

The Brits love gory tales – just look at the body of films about Jack the Ripper (including From Hell, another great Depp performance) but for that one I understand why it’s remained popular for so long. The murders really were committed, were never officially solved, and we want closure. Answers.

What do we want from a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet or Sweeney Todd? To look at them and think, my lot in life isn’t so bad?

Why do you like them, read them, watch them? Or are you like me, figuring life is tough enough and I want the happy ending at least in my escapist entertainment?

December 20, 2007

My Favorite Holiday

Is Christmas Eve a holiday? Probably not, but that’s my favorite day of the year.

There’s something anti-climactic about Christmas—all the build up and then it’s over and the clean up begins. With all the cooking and cleaning, Thanksgiving is just way too much work.

Valentine’s Day is sort of a Hallmark holiday, and I can remember many years of being sad on Valentine’s Day when I didn’t have a boyfriend. The Fourth of July is great, but in July Houston is so hot, I don’t celebrate the 4th much.

New Year’s Eve should be fun, but doesn’t it always seem like everyone tries to have more fun than they actually do? I don’t think I’ve ever had a New Year’s Eve that lived up to its expectations.

Halloween? I think being a teacher and dealing with kids jacked up on candy and sugar ruined Halloween for me. I like Christmas, but lately it seems like Christmas is getting to be too much work. I mean, cards, and shopping, and presents, and parties. How does anyone have time for it all without collapsing from exhaustion?

That’s the nice thing about Christmas Eve. My shopping is done. My wrapping is done. The family is together and not sick of each other yet. It’s sort of a warm, cozy time that I always wish would stretch on for far longer than it does.

Plus my Christmas Eve always involves birthday cake. I’m a Christmas baby, but my family celebrates my birthday on Christmas Eve. I don’t think it can get much better than a holiday with birthday cake.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

December 19, 2007

Christmas traditions

You never notice more your own family’s holiday traditions until you get married and you try to merge said traditions. But this year we’re going to my family for Christmas and I simply can’t wait. Christmas at my parents is the absolute best. But it makes me nostalgic for this season from when I was a child. Christmas has always been my favorite time of year, I love everything about it, the decorations, the lights (oh man, do I love the lights), the presents - both giving and receiving (what can I say, at least I’m honest), the meaning, the food, the family time, the games and movies and staying up late talking. It was always the best. So here’s how it would play out. When I was really little we actually would go to grandparents’ houses in Louisiana, but three of them had passed away by the time I was 7 and the remaining one came to live with us in Texas so we began our new tradition of the holiday at my parents’ house.

My mother has always been a bit on the out-of-control-side when it comes to her gift-giving at Christmas. If you’ve ever read the book about the 5 Love Languages, then my mother’s primary love language is gift-giving and she’s a master at it, always picking out really personal and original presents and lots of them. Our tree would be surrounded by a mountain of gifts, it was embarrassing some years, but most gifts weren’t a huge expense, just lots of wrapping. It took us hours to open presents more because of how we opened them rather the number we had. We’ve always sat in a big circle in our living room and opened one present at a time, going from youngest to oldest (which made me first for years) so that we could all watch and see what everyone got. Yeah, it took patience, but the older I got, the easier it was. This all happened on Christmas Eve night, by the way. The counter in the kitchen area would be covered with tins full of all the goodies my mom had had made - pecan pralines (we call them prawlenes, not praylenes), peanut-brittle, peanut patties, fudge and orange pecans - as I’ve mentioned before my mom always made candy rather than cookies. In any case, we’d all munch on this while opening presents. The following morning is when we’d get our Santa presents and open our stockings. Santa presents were never wrapped, they instead sat in piles under the tree, one for me and one for each of my siblings and then our stockings would be overflowing with more presents, none of the fruit and hairbrushes that my friends got, but rather cassette tapes (hey, we didn’t have CDs yet), jewelry, books and other cool stuff. Then we’d spend the rest of the day hanging out while my mother slaved in the kitchen making the traditional dinner of turkey, dressing, and the works.

And then Santa stopped coming to the house because we all got too old so our tradition changed. We moved everything to Christmas morning. And then we started adding people. My brother-in-law, then my sister-in-law, then my nephew and suddenly I wasn’t the youngest anymore. Our family continued to grow and while we lost my grandmother 2 years ago, we’re still 12 strong and we still open our presents one at a time and it still takes forever. And we still munch on goodies. But we’ve moved the traditional dinner to the day after Christmas and now my sister, sister-in-law and I all help so that my mom’s not doing it all her own. Instead we do a Mexican dinner on Christmas eve with tamales and queso and great spicy treats. We go to the Christmas Eve service at church, which is often a candlelight service full of wonderful music. And we all go to movies. We used to rent videos before Christmas Eve because the video stores would close and you’d get to keep the videos for extra days with no charge, but now we just all go to the theatre. Sometimes more than once and sometimes we split up and see different movies, but we try to see one all together. This year we’ve got 2 great choices for the whole family - National Treasure 2 and The Water Horse. I can’t wait. We also always play games. One of our favorites is solitaire war - we all sit in a big circle and we eave have our own deck of cards and we play solitaire in the circle and anyone can play on anyone’s Ace piles - it’s fast and furious and crazy. I don’t think any of our spouses play. We also love Bouray, which is like Cajun poker and very fun.

A lot has changed since I was a kid. Christmas is about bigger things to me now than the mountain of presents awaiting me (but man were those fun times!) I love buying presents for my family and hope that I’ve learned from my mother in how to find thoughtful gifts. My nephew and nieces are especially fun to shop for. But I have a whole new appreciation for spending the holiday with my family now that I’m married and live far away and don’t get to see everybody all the time. And frankly we could get rid of all the gifts this year and that’s be great with me. I just want to sit in that crazy, loud house and laugh and argue and play games and absorb every moment with all of them. I’m sure when the time comes I’ll be ready to come back home, but right now I can’t wait until we all get there.

I’m sure that was more than you ever wanted to know about me and my holiday traditions, but it was nice for me to reminisce. So how about you? What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

December 18, 2007

Is it Normal to Have a Crush on an Animated Character?

I’ve just finished playing the video game Final Fantasy 7:Dirge of Cerberus, and I am here to make a confession. I now have a full-fledged fan-girl crush on Vincent Valentine. Sigh. What’s not to crush on? He’s just the kind of guy who has a tendency to make me melt. The tall, dark, and brooding anti-hero who has loved and lost in the past. A man who is in need of the love of a good woman to ease his pain. And oh yeah, something else I may have forgotten to mention. He’s a CGI animated character. (For a glimpse of Vincent, you can check out this fan-made video tribute at You Tube. Perfect song for him, BTW)

Of course, this isn’t the first time this has happened, and it’s quite possible I might need professional help, LOL. As someone who plays a lot of video games, reads comics, and watches her share of anime, I have to be honest and say that I’ve had crushes on animated characters before. Yes, it’s a sad state of affairs, but I just can’t seem to help it. I’m a nerd.

My number one animated crush for several years has been Cloud Strife, also of Final Fantasy 7 fame. (He’s in the first FF 7 video game and the movie Advent Children) Once again, he is a strong, silent, and brooding loner who has loved and lost in the past. (Noticing a pattern here?) But hey, at least he’s a blonde anti-hero for once. Here’s another fanmade You Tube video tribute which showcases some of his more memorable moments. (Another awesome song there too!)

Next up would have to be Gambit of the X-Men comics. There’s just something about that cocky grin and that laid-back Cajun charm that gets me every time. Come on! Who wouldn’t love a man who can turn ordinary, everyday playing cards into lethal weapons? Plus, I can’t help but love the way he loves Rogue. I’m just sick, sick, sick that they have once again broken them up in the comics–and turned Gambit evil!–but I’m holding out hope that there’s more to the story than meets the eye and that they’ll get back together before too long.

And there have been others. Axel from Kingdom Hearts 2, Shrek. Okay, maybe not that last one. I just wanted to see if you were still paying attention. So, have you ever had any animated crushes? Or am I totally nuts? Please feel free to advise me to make an appointment with a good therapist.

December 17, 2007

The Jaunties Hit the Road

Jaunty P. Quills here. And I’m the only one (pout!!). See, the rest of the Jaunties have abandoned ship today to go play over at Jennifer’s Random Musings. They said something about an interview and that this is a fun place for readers!

And yet, I wasn’t invited! The nerve. Well, they can forget about their pine bark Christmas cookies, that’s all I have to say. I’m going to go dig a hole…

If you want to join the Jaunties, come on over to Jennifer’s Random Musings!

December 16, 2007

Enchanted

We saw Enchanted last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. Here’s a clip from the film - bear in mind that, in the story, the girl is a cartoon character who is taken from the cartoon world and thrown into real life in NYC. But she’s still clearly a cartoon character at heart. Many of the scenes were hilarious!

December 15, 2007

Christmas Past

Okay, so it’s not Christmas yet, but then I’m not talking about Christmas Present….I’m looking back. When I look back on Christmas when I was a child one present is vivid in my mind, a pair of silk pink pajamas when I was nine. It’s crazy that that’s the gift I remember. All the toys and games and I remember a pair of pajamas???? Why? I have no idea. I also have no memories of Christmas traditions. My parents were wonderful people but we didn’t really have any Christmas traditions.

What about you? What is your favorite gift from childhood? And did your growing up years include some traditions that you’ve carried over into your adult life??

December 14, 2007

Lolcat Friday

Some lolcats for your Friday quickfix.

moar funny pictures

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moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures

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moar funny pictures

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Have a great weekend!!!

December 13, 2007

Winners!

Maureen and Crystal B are the winners from yesterday’s question. Email me: margo@margomaguire.com and I’ll get your addresses! Congrats!

Now scroll down and check out Shirley’s post on our weird language :).

Bizarro English

As a writer, I’m fascinated by words — their meaning, origin, nuances, idioms, the whole works. As a student of the German language in high school, I began to appreciate how bizarre the English language is, and continue to be amazed and impressed by the vast numbers of people in the world who can become fluent in it as a second language.

As you wait in traffic and stores and at the post office during this holiday shopping and shipping season, below are some words to ponder.

If it’s one goose and two geese, shouldn’t it be one caboose, two cabeese? And why is it that writers write and computers compute but grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? The person who hunts is a hunter, so why isn’t the one who fishes called a fisher?

Why do we recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck but send cargo by ship? Park on driveways and drive on parkways?

Sweetmeats are candies but sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. (Don’t even get me started on what kind of meat.) There is egg in eggnog but not in eggplant, and no apple or pine in pineapple.

How can a slim chance and a fat chance mean the same, but a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposite, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? Why do flammable and imflammable mean the same, but mobile and immobile mean the opposite?

Does it make you nervous to realize that an airport is called terminal, and that doctors call what they do “practice”?

Once a building is complete, shouldn’t it be called a “built”? Why are they called “apartments” when they’re all together?

Why do they call it a bust, when the statue ends just above the bust?

Why is big such a little word? In contrast, little is twice the size of big. Why is the word abbreviation so long? Is there another word for synonym, or another word for thesaurus?

And when you get dressed tomorrow, think about why you put on “a” bra and a “pair” of underwear…