Take a stand

I didn't watch the Grammy awards last night. I had better things to watch and don't really know much of the current music.

Last night and this morning, I've been reading the Twitter/Facebook reactions to an abuser getting applauded for winning an award and the frightening comments young girls were making regarding him.

There have been several good articles written about this. I'd like to point to a few:

• From Kveller, Why Are We Applauding Chris Brown
• Shared by Cineboobs, readitordont Really, look at this one if you need a reminder of what he is capable of. The picture of Rihanna's face is sobering.
• From HelloGiggles, I'm Not Okay with Chris Brown Performing at the Grammys and I'm Not Sure Why You Are - And this is the best-written piece I have seen about what exactly was wrong with the whole situation. Really, if you only read one, read this one. 

Want to know something I've noticed? It isn't just this incident. It isn't just this trend of sweeping domestic abuse under the rug, blaming the woman for "earning" the beating and forgiving the abuser. 

Pop culture is actually lauding abusive relationships, showcasing them as romantic.

Yeah, I went overboard on drawing your attention to that statement, but that's because it's all too sadly true. It's scary, too, because too many young people are learning that this is acceptable behavior. 

I mean, it's nothing new. In the 60s we had The Graduate, in which Dustin Hoffman's character is a stalker, but it isn't painted that way. The movie won several Oscars. In the 80s we had Every Breath You Take, a song which even Sting recognizes as a dark, stalker-y song. And it gets played at weddings with regularity. Yeah, and that song won a couple of Grammys too. 

Those are just examples off the top of my head.

Nowadays we have Twilight, perhaps one of the worst examples of glorifying sick, twisted, stalker and abusive behavior. I know there are other examples, but this one is the juggernaut, with not just teens but grown women lusting after the characters.

Disclaimer: I enjoyed the books - well, the 1st three, anyway. I recognized the problems in them, and the terrible writing, but was able to enjoy the story. I'm also an adult in a healthy relationship who can separate fantasy from reality. 

I've seen the way teens talk about these books, wishing for relationships like the ones portrayed there. And it frightens me that a whole generation is going to think sick relationships are normal. 

Then I see the tweets during last night's Grammys, where girls actually claim to want to be beaten. 

And I immediately think about Twilight. And this article from the Science of Relationships, or this analysis of Bella and Edward's abusive relationship from io9, or this commentary from Feministing on how Abusive is the New Sexy, or this post about how the Twilight vampires resemble sexual predators. 

There are many, many more examples I could point to, but think about this trend. And then think about your reaction to the books and/or movies. And what message you want young men and women to take from them. 

And then think about real life situations and whether you applauded Chris Brown last night or were disgusted. Do you know anyone who has been in an abusive relationship? Would you stand up for them? Or would you stand back, claiming to be impartial, but intimating that "she must have earned it"? 

Goals not resolutions

I don't like New Year's resolutions. They never work. But I do have a few goals for this year that I hope to accomplish.

1. Finish my novel. I didn't finish revisions last year, but I am very close and am determined to do it this year. I am a slow writer, but I need to make more time to sit and write. I get distracted by all the other things I want to do much too easily. My writing group has helped a lot by having deadlines to finish a chapter or two. 
2. Finish our screenplay. I have a draft, but it needs polishing. It's a little spare right now, about 10 minutes. I want to expand it to 15 or 20 minutes. I have joined the Bloomington Screenwriting Community to help motivate me. 
3. I am taking the Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge. My goal is to read 40 books this year. I read 36 last year (according to their statistics) and have already completed 1 for this year. I guess I'm off to a good start.
4. Chris and I are going to try to see at least 1 movie each month at the world class IU Cinema. We're already planning to see Being Elmo this weekend and Oscar Nominated Shorts - Live Action and Oscar Nominated Shorts - Animated in February.
5. Visit a state park once per month. I ordered our state park pass online yesterday and it was shipped today. It may be difficult during the winter months, but we'll try as many months as possible, weather permitting, to visit a state park. Within a very short distance we have several, including Brown County State Park, Lake Monroe, McCormick's Creek, Lake Lemon, Spring Mill State Park.... We need to explore them all!

What are your goals for the year?

All fiction is fantasy

I know I'm not the first to realize this, but the idea that all fiction is fantasy is something I was thinking about in the shower the other day.

See, I even wrote it on the shower wall with tub crayons.

So, all fiction is fantasy. Some types are just closer to reality than others. But they all spring from the author's imagination: mystery, suspense, romance, historical, sci-fi, and even... fantasy.

I like the freedom of writing fantasy. I get to invent a world in which anything could happen. I get to decide on the rules. I can even write about dragons that aren't dragons.

But all fiction is fantasy. And it is all made from nothing. Sometimes we borrow places or people we know. Sometimes we disguise them so we can make them just a little different to fit the story, or to protect them, or just because. Sometimes we make things up.

If fiction were not fantasy, it would be pretty boring. And it wouldn't be fiction. It would be history, or biography, or journalism. There are some interesting and exciting tales in reality. But there are no fairies or magic.

Pirates aren't swashbuckling in real life. Aliens aren't from outer space. Detectives have to worry about evidence tampering and usually aren't Miss Marple or Sherlock Holmes.

All fiction is fantasy. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

What theaters could learn from the IU Cinema

On this week's IU Cinema podcast (episode 53), the hosts, Andy and Jason, talked about the separate horrible experiences they had watching a movie at two different theaters.

Hollywood studios are lamenting the lackluster attendance at movies. They wonder why no one goes to the cinema anymore.

Here's a thought: Jason and Andy hit the nail on the head.

Why would I pay exorbitant prices to see a movie when the experience is bad? Yes, a good cinema can produce a fantastic experience, enhancing my enjoyment of a show. But a lousy experience is just painful and will make me hate a movie. As a studio, would I really want people to see my product (movie) in such a bad light, with poor sound or jumping picture?

Instead of worrying so much about dvd sales and Netflix, maybe the studios should worry more about the EXPERIENCE of the cinema. That's really what the moviegoer is paying for when they buy their ticket. They aren't paying to see the movie (there are a lot cheaper ways to do that now). The shared experience, the larger than life picture, those are why we pay to see a show.

If you really want to encourage people to get off their couches, give them a reason. If you want to steer them away from other options, make the cinema experience worth their effort. Make it truly an experience.

That's where the IU Cinema excels. AMC and other bog box theaters could learn something there. Yes, most shows at the Cinema are free or low cost. But that's not why we go. We go because the experience is fantastic. We go because the seats are comfortable, the sound is always good, the picture is better than anything you will see elsewhere. We go because the people there truly love movies and make the experience worth it. We go because the other patrons love movies and make for a great shared experience. Filmmakers have commented that they have never seen their movies look and sound better - who am I to argue?

We don't go to the movies very often. Babysitters are too expensive to make it easy on our budget. But we've gone much more often since January. What changed in January? Yep, that's when the IU Cinema opened. We used to see one or two movies a year. In the last 9 months, we've seen many films- Metropolis with live salon orchestra, Hoosiers, Certified Copy, Summertime, and The Last Picture Show to name a few.

Give me truly state of the art and I will pay to go. Give me a crappy experience and I won't. It's as simple as that. (Ok, so a good movie helps. But that's a different lesson altogether.)

Fun times in Nashville

Nashville, IN, that is. This past Saturday we went on a double date with my parents to see Robert Shaw and the Lonely Street Band in both "Heartbreak Hotel", his tribute to a young Elvis, and "Man in Black", his tribute to Johnny Cash.

Wow. Both shows were fantastic. Seriously, if you have time to go to Nashville before the end of October, take the time to see these shows at the Palace Theatre.

The only thing that marred our evening was dinner. Actually, that would be the lack of dinner.

The first show started at 5 and ended at about 6:45. The second show began at 8. There is a restaurant right next door, Holy Cow, a steak house. Considering the proximity we figured they would be used to serving the crowd between shows. We even stopped in just before the first show to make sure we could be seated and served, with time to eat, before the 2nd show. They claimed it was possible and took a reservation. Or so we thought.

Come 6:45, we walked next door only to be told that they had our name down but that it wasn't really a reservation. They would do their best to seat us. Which they did, at exactly 7. It was 7:15 before our waitress came to the table. We ordered 4 burgers. 7:30 passed. And 7:40. At 7:45, we decided that even if our food came out, a half hour after ordering it, we wouldn't have time to eat it. At 7:50, with still no food, we asked for the bill. (They didn't charge us for our drinks when we told the waitress that we had been told we would be able to fit in dinner before the 8 p.m. show and we just didn't have any more time.)

Yep, we sat through the second show on basically empty stomachs (2 sodas and a tiny roll didn't do much but give me heartburn). The only good thing about our non-dinner is the cinnamon butter for the roll. That was fabulous. And I'm sure the food is good - if you have a lot of time to sit and wait. Really, over 45 minutes waiting is not acceptable in my book. Over 30 minutes to cook burgers? WTH?

So, bottom line: go see the shows (we didn't see the Sunday afternoon "How Great Thou Art", gospel music of Elvis show, but I assume it's good) but find somewhere else to eat.

GenCon 2011 in review

GenCon is over for this year, so it's time to review our mini-vacation.

Games: We played Munchkin Zombies Friday night (It's Munchkin! With zombies!) and yes, we bought it to add to our Munchkin collection. (I won our game.) We also tried a mini-figure game system thingy called Battles of Westeros, a BattleLore game. It's a strategy game, sort of like the minutia of a round of Risk. We were both new to the type of game. It just wasn't our cup of tea, but that's the point of GenCon - to try new games and see if there's something out there you have been missing.

Seminars: We went to lots of seminars, mostly on writing. Last year was the year for film seminars for Chris so this year we went to writing seminars for me (and Chris since things like world building and storytelling are also important for filmmaking.) I don't think I heard anything completely new, but a lot was confirmed. There were a few small things I needed to be reminded of, and it certainly wasn't wasted time. Hearing from a bunch of published authors who all had different takes on the writing process was informative.

Films: We had one film seminar on independent filmmaking. We also saw the sci-fi shorts block, which included one fantasy piece. It was an interesting mix. We capped off our time at GenCon with a viewing of "Beverly Lane", a fun zombie flick. May I just say, if you like zombie comedies, this was a delightful one.

Puzzle Quest: We tried our hand at the puzzle quest this year. There were 18 puzzles based on characters from "Alice in Wonderland. After solving those 18, there were 6 Alice puzzles. The goal was to solve them and find Alice. We only solved 8, but had a good time trying on the rest.

Bingo: Of course, one of the best parts of GenCon is all the costume watching. I decided to make a game out of it this year by creating a bingo card (after all, this was a gaming convention). Out of 25 squares, I found 21. Not bad. For an even bigger challenge, I took pictures as I found things on my card.

So here is GenCon in photos.

Wearing my Wil Wheaton shirt, in front of a war jack.

Anime characters

Zombies on the exhibit hall floor.

Just a bunch of fun costumes.

Transformer and Cobra Commander.

There were a lot of Jedi.

And Vader with Obi-Wan and a Rebel.

Super-Ma'am

Fun steampunk

Kilts were well-represented.

Slave Leia and Stormtrooper.

Not sure, but neat costume. 

Chris dozed off in one of the writing seminars.

A couple of Captain Jacks.

Jareth, Pikachu.

Tusken Raider on the escalator.

My elf costume.

Spiderma'am and Wolverine.

Steampunk family.

Steampunk wheelchair.

Chris having an anachronistic moment with his iPhone.

Red shirt with sword in his back.

Our band of steampunks.

Robin

My steampunk costume. We'll add 'stuff' for next year.

And speaking of next year, we plan to go, but it's mid-August, so we'll have to see since Wil will be in Kindergarten and school starts around that time.

GenCon BINGO

GenCon 2011 starts tomorrow. Yep, we're going to get our geek on this weekend. Costumes will even be worn. There will be loads of fun people watching, which brings me to GenCon BINGO!

I saw a card posted for ComicCon and thought it was a great idea. I don't know how well my card will do or how many spaces I will fill (I plan to keep playing even if I get a traditional BINGO), but it should add to the fun.

Jo Lupo rocks

I am obsessed with "Eureka". I was late to the party, but diligently watched three and a half seasons of episodes to catch up. There are so many rich, fun characters in the show- to me, that's what makes a great show. But the one character I am increasingly enjoying is Jo Lupo. She is a great role model, something increasingly seen in sci-fi's female characters. (WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOST RECENT EPISODES.)

Jo is such a complex character. She's a 'real' woman, not a stereotype. While she may have started as a single-note - gun-crazy, hard-ass, special forces - she's really developed over the four seasons. I am sure a lot of the credit for that goes to Erica Cerra.

What do I love about this character?

First, she is strong, both emotionally and physically. She was an Army Ranger and can kick serious butt. We've seen her take on several opponents and win (or at least hold her own). We've also seen her deal with pain, loss, and heartbreak without turning to a weepy pile of goo. There are so many female characters on tv and in movies that turn into the stereotype of the helpless woman when a man is involved.

And that brings me to her relationships. She has them (both romantic and platonic). She's had several boyfriends throughout the series, but isn't defined by her relationship to them. Her relationship with Taggert brought out a new side, with her sunbathing in the buff, something unexpected for a character seen as tight-laced up until then. I think that's when I really started noticing that she had more dimensions.

She and Carter are friends. Period. They lived together briefly after her house was destroyed and nothing happened. How cool is that? Because a lot of shows would use a set-up like that to force sexual tension. Having her be just friends with men is what real life is like. (Really, being alone with a man doesn't mean anything happens.) The ease of their friendship, their trust, their occasional arguments, those are what make it 'real'.

And then there's Zane. I admit, this is my current favorite story arc. We've seen Jo flirty, vulnerable, angry, pissed off, deliriously happy, devastated, and a whole range of other emotions with Zane. She hasn't changed herself for him (big feminist point in her favor there) and even gave him up when the paradigm shifted (I'm so glad he is trying to find out what they were). He's a good match for her since she's such a strong character. He challenges her and she brings out the best in him. He knows she can beat him to a pulp and finds it sexy rather than intimidating. She was briefly insecure about his intelligence until she realized she has a different kind of smarts.

And those smarts, let's talk about that. She is a very able investigator, especially in a town like Eureka. She may not know all the science, but she knows how to ask questions and put the pieces together. She's creative (note the season 4 episode "Liftoff" for an example; she gets around pretty well when the town loses all power). She wouldn't be a good deputy or head of GD security if she was just brawn; she has the brains to back up her position.

So, we have a woman who loves guns, knows how to fight, has relationships, can think for herself. And let's not forget beautiful, because sometimes the price to pay for a woman on tv having brains is to be mousy. Pretty well-rounded, in my book. I increasingly look at characters from a feminist stand-point; I think a lot of that has to do with feminist ideals in characters matching more with well-rounded characters. I think Jo Lupo wins on both counts. She's someone young girls can look up to and someone who would make a great friend. She can fall in love and talk about more than men.

Ain't it the truth

Because it is so true, I must share today's xkcd webcomic. I can't tell you how many times I've been home all day and missed a delivery or service call. And for those not familiar with this brilliant webcomic, there is always an extra treat if you hover your mouse over it (although I don't know if that is only on the xkcd site).

The final straw

Anyone who has followed this blog for a while is probably familiar with our stormy relationship with tv services. We've tried more than once to ditch Comcast and get AT&T's U-verse, to no avail. Yep, we're too far to get a signal because of old lines in our neighborhood. So we've grudgingly stuck with the cable company.

Well, that has finally ended. We're done. I called and canceled service this morning. We ordered DirecTv last night, to be installed tomorrow. Yes, I canceled before the new service is up and running, but we haven't had cable since Tuesday and weren't going to have it back until Monday. At least we're saving a day or two of paying for service we can't use.

So here's the story. The cable suddenly went out Tuesday. I didn't call right away, because sometimes it's just a flaky connection. I wanted Chris to take a look first. He couldn't make it work, so we were pretty sure it was once again a bad box. We've had several before.

I called Wednesday and let them walk me through various steps to confirm that, yep, the box is bad. I know the drill: get a new box. Only problem? The service center in Bloomington is gone. The nearest one is in Columbus. They offered to send a tech to switch out the box, at no cost, with the caveat that if they did find it wasn't the box we might be charged. The time-frame? Thursday between 1 and 5. No problem. I was going to be home all afternoon.

Thursday. No one came. Apparently the tech did call, but I missed answering and there was no message. When I called at 4:50, they told me they had called, but since I didn't answer, they didn't come. Um, aren't those courtesy calls anyway? Why didn't they come knock on the door? Or leave a message? Seriously, even a message that I needed to call and reschedule would have been better. The soonest they could schedule another tech to come out? Monday afternoon.

So what would you do? Would you drive an hour to Columbus, then an hour back, to replace the box? Or wait for the tech to come Monday? Since this wasn't our first experience with poor customer service from Comcast, we chose option 3. We jumped ship and signed up for satellite service. They can install it on Saturday. Considering it was 11 p.m. Thursday when we did this, I think Saturday afternoon is darn reasonable.

Want to know the kicker? When I called Comcast this morning to cancel, they tried to make it all my fault. I didn't answer the phone. Their notes showed there was no way to leave a message. Bullshit. My answering machine works just fine, on the 4th ring. I even got 2 messages on it yesterday. Bye-bye Comcast!

I know this is getting long, but I have a few more things I'd like to mention. First, have you ever noticed that people will recommend their satellite or other alternative service but NO ONE likes their cable company? It seems consumers are realizing this but the cable companies aren't.

Second, related to the first, when I posted to Twitter and Facebook last night asking for recommendations and griping about our experience, I got several interesting comments that I would like to share:

Third, just for those interested, the reason we chose DirecTv is that they have the best 3D programming, which we can't take advantage of yet, but we'll eventually get a 3D tv, what with Chris's avocation being 3D, so we wanted to be prepared.

"Good for you! Eff Comcast and their awful customer service!"
"I just saw you went with DirecTV. I love our Dish Network, although we still need to get them off our ATT bill!"
"we are planning on doing this when we move but we move in 20 days so we are waiting till then.""I'm glad to be done with Comcast altogether. We always had great techs with DirecTv and good customer service."
"Comcast is ridiculous. Isn't it more of a courtesy call to say they're on their way? They should still show... We liked Directv."
"We got fed up w/ comcast & cancelled. We just have Netflix right now & the local HD channels that are free."
"one of the reasons I hated Comcast, at least in this area."
"Thinking about doing the same next week!"


Third, just for those interested, the reason we chose DirecTv is that they have the best 3D programming, which we can't take advantage of yet, but we'll eventually get a 3D tv, what with Chris's avocation being 3D, so we wanted to be prepared. 


Also, if anyone wants to switch to DirecTv, let me know and I can give a referral through their "Refer a Friend" program where both of us would save $10 for 10 months on our bills. (You need to sign up through a special website or phone number and give them our account number to take advantage.)

Celluloid dreams

There are a lot of lists of 'must-see' movies out there, including the AFI 100 Years... 100 Movies, Academy Award Best Picture winners, the IMDb top 250, Yahoo! 100 Movies to See Before You Die, and TIME All-Time 100 Movies.

I've seen a lot of those movies (including 63 of the AFI list), but there are a lot of movies that don't necessarily make these lists that I'd like to recommend. So here goes:

Some of my all time favorite movies include The Philadelphia Story, 10 Things I Hate About You
(my favorite Shakespeare adaptation), Love Actually, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Arsenic and Old Lace, Star Wars, The Princess Bride and An Affair to Remember. I could watch these over and over.

Movies I think everyone should watch are Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Really, the issues raised in these films are well-treated and still relevant.

My favorite Hitchcock film is To Catch a Thief, although there are so many good ones, that's a tough choice. Also noteworthy are Notorious, Rear Window, Dial M for Murder, North by Northwest, and The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). I'm actually a big fan of Hitchcock's films.

And yes, there are a lot of old movies on my lists. You really can't go wrong seeing a movie with Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, James Stewart, Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly.

OK, I realized I forgot to add a movie to my list here: Mamma Mia!

Idle musing

To preface, as we were leaving the post office this afternoon, another blue Subaru went through the light at 10th & Pete Ellis and we ended up behind that car once the light changed and we turned onto 10th St. This is just an idle monologue I had in my head to pass the time as I drove. 


We just passed ourselves. I wonder where we're going?

Oh look, we're going the same way.

Yep, we're taking Bypass. And so are we.

Oh, well, that's obviously not us. We aren't turning there.

And so we continued on our way as the doppelganger car turned into a driveway. It's not as entertaining written down as it was when we were following the other car. 

I want to learn more about George VI

"The King's Speech" is a movie that seems to polarize audiences. I loved it. Yes, I have a major crush on Colin Firth, but I loved the story too. The movie made me want to learn more about George VI.

A friend of mine recently complained that she hated the movie, pointing to the fact that the main character was born to privilege, with a 'silver spoon' in his mouth, so his problems didn't interest her. I think the story has much more depth than that; hopefully I can articulate all the reasons here (because the essay I composed in my head, before I gave up and got out of bed, was really good.)

Let's take on privilege. Yes, Bertie was born into a privileged situation. But that didn't help him any; it seems to have made his situation worse. The pressure and expectations of his position didn't give him room to find his own way, choosing a path that complimented his talents and minimized his limitations. The high expectations and family infighting added to his problem.

If you want to look down on privilege, look no further than his brother, the infamous Edward VIII. Now there is a shining example of what can be wrong with being born into privilege. His romance with Wallace Simpson was followed and lauded as one of the romances of the century, but they truly were spoiled. This was a couple that really did live off the people. They spent extravagantly, living in an ivory tower on the backs of everyone else.

Some of the reasons for his stammer are explored in the movie, and his father's constant ridicule is a major part. He strived for his father's love and approval, just like any child. That silver spoon certainly didn't give him a silver tongue. And it didn't make his parents good at parenting.

His struggle humanized him, showing that it doesn't matter what your station is. If someone in the public eye can overcome a stammer, so can anyone.

George VI is a fascinating person. I really didn't know much about him, but the bit I've learned since this movie came out makes him one of the most underrated historical figures I had never heard about. Think of what  a different world we would live in if Edward VIII hadn't abdicated. He actually objected to England getting involved in WWII, protesting that Hitler should be left alone because he was the leader of Germany. Think about that. Probably the best thing he ever did was abdicate.

George VI also revolutionized the British royal family. He was a man who never wanted nor expected to be king. It was thrust upon him during a very turbulent time. He stepped up to the task and did what needed to be done. Before him, the royals were much more like Edward VIII. George VI instilled a sense of duty. The current royal family works, in their own fashion, because of him, dedicated to public service. Are they like you or I? Well, not exactly, but they are still people.

So I ask: is the movie and story invalid as a portrayal of a man's struggle just because he was a prince and king? He was still a man fighting an internal battle. He had to fight all his early training both that he was above and better than others and that he was inferior. Yep, that's quite a dichotomy. But it's true. His stammer seems to have been caused by his feelings of inferiority when compared against his 'perfect' older brother, pounded into him by his father's disparaging remarks. And he had to open himself up to working with a commoner to cure that stammer. That's a big deal.

If you can't be sympathetic to the inner battle of a prince 'deigning' to work with a commoner, consider a different yet similar battle. Think about a white person in the south in the 1950 working with an African American. Think about a Brahmin in India working with an Untouchable. Find the parable that works for you to make you understand that he was incredibly brave given his time and circumstances to do this.

And let's look at current affairs for a moment, because some of this story still resonates. Edward VIII abdicated because he couldn't be King of England and Head of the Church of England and marry a divorcee. Do you remember the controversy when Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced? And then Charles married a divorcee? Yep, same issue. Can he be king? I don't know if that's ever truly been resolved, so I wouldn't be surprised if Prince William is actually the next king even though his father is technically still the Crown Prince (which is giving William time to grow up and have a bit of life a little further from the spotlight.)

Elizabeth II went from being just a princess to being Crown Princess in the blink of an eye.... and has been one of the longest reigning sovereigns. Those little princesses that Bertie tells stories to grew up to be the current queen and Princess Margaret. Remember the beloved Queen Mum who died just a few short years ago? Yep, she was King George VI's Queen Elizabeth. (Back to the movie, I think that is my favorite of Helena Bonham Carter's roles. And she clearly shows a woman in love with her husband. Heck, there is a conversation in the movie that she married him DESPITE his being a prince because she loved him. Talk about romantic.) This wasn't a story that took place in a vacuum.

I'm sure I could go on, but this has already gotten rather long. Suffice it to say that I can't wait to watch the movie again because Chris still hasn't seen it and you know it's on our Netflix queue!

Kodo

We went to see Kodo last night at the IU Auditorium.

This show was on our short list when we ordered our season tickets, but got cut because we had seen it before and the budget just didn't stretch that far. Then an ice storm ruined our plans to see Blue Man Group on February 1st. The Auditorium was generous and offered complimentary tickets to one of three shows (Kodo, The Chieftains, or the Joffrey Ballet) for those who weren't able to go to Blue Man Group due to the storm.

So, we did get to see Kodo's One Earth Tour (although we are bummed we missed Blue Man Group). And it was awesome!

First up was Sakaki, featuring a solo dancer. It must be all the time I've spent with Chris, but the light reflecting off the dancer's white costume lit the auditorium. The dance was based on an old Shinto ceremony, according to the program, and also served to cleanse the auditorium.

Stride was a very fun piece, featuring cymbals and many of the taiko drummers dancing while drumming. What a great way to begin, after the cleansing ceremony! This was followed by Chonlima, which featured four drummers along a line of drums.

In Miyake, which had three of the big drums with two drummers each, I noticed that one drummer was a 'southpaw'. Five of the six drummed with their left shoulder toward the drum, but the sixth had his right shoulder toward the drum. It was a very athletic performance and I could see some similarities to martial arts or even yoga movements (makes sense that they would be related.)

My favorite number of the first half was the final one, Monochrome, played primarily on small, high pitched drums. It was like a rain storm! The quiet tinkling of the seven small drums gradually increased from a tinkling 'drizzle' into a wild 'monsoon', with three bass drums providing a thunder-like presence. And the bass drummers? Great ab control.

After intermission, we were treated to five more performances.

Jang-Gwara was a cymbal piece, followed by Sora, a very upbeat song. For fans of the Marching Hundred, the four drummers playing the same bass drum was reminiscent of the drum line in Sing Sing Sing. A quiet interlude of Kumo no Namiji, with a singer, flute and drum, covered while the stage was set for the highlight. Before getting to that, I'd like to note that the singing was very similar to that of Native Americans.

And the highlight: O-daiko, on the biggest taiko drum. Two drummers, in loincloth-like outfits (covered the essential), played the big taiko. I was spellbound by the play of muscles on the performer we could see. Yes, he was mostly naked, but it was really a revelation to see how he played. And I'll admit he was in really good shape, which I certainly didn't mind.

The finale was Yatai-bayashi, and then we were treated to an encore rendition of Sora with the whole company. There were a total of thirteen performers, three of whom were women. And if after reading all this, which is sort of dry, but I wanted to remember, you would like to see highlights, Kodo has a little teaser of a promo available on YouTube. It has bits of several of the songs from this tour.

Kickstart Chris's project!

Chris's first film was entirely self-funded by us. It made a bit of a dent in our pocketbook, so for his next film (he is making 3 short films for his final degree project), we decided to take a stab at using Kickstarter.com to raise some of the money.

Filming for Project Z-6463 is set for mid-May, so he is trying to raise $900 by May 1st. More about the project can be found here, at his Kickstarter project page, which was just launched today.

How does Kickstarter work? you ask. Well, here are the basics.

Kickstarter is a website that helps raise funding for creative projects. The creator of the project decides how much money they think they need and a deadline to raise it by. If the goal is reached by the deadline, they receive the amount raised (which can be more than their goal). If the goal is not reached, no money changes hands.

How can you pledge to this or any other Kickstarter project?

• First, you need a free Kickstarter account. you need an account because they need a way to keep track of who is pledging how much. 
• Payments are made through Amazon payments accounts, so you also need one of those (if you don't have one, they walk you through setting one up when you pledge). 
• They do a good job of explaining why and how in their FAQ.

Why should you pledge? Well, you really don't have to, but we would really appreciate not breaking the bank. If you do pledge, you will see that there are several rewards you can receive, depending on your commitment level, just like if you pledge to PBS or NPR. The very basic reward, for a low $10 pledge, is a copy of the completed movie on DVD (both 2D and 3D versions.) Think of this as a way to prepay for something you might like to see. If you always dreamed of having a movie credit, there are a limited number of opportunities to become an Executive Producer, with a $100 pledge. Take a look and see if any of the rewards are something you would be interested in. Once again, if you would like to find out more about his project (it's the zombie mime script for those who have been waiting since the Script Development Series readings), you can find it here.

While you are at Kickstarter, you may want to look around and see if there are any other projects you would like to back. 

Kids' movies part 2

After my last post, I thought I should talk about a kids' movie that I think does things very well. It is so much easier to portray violence (it's easy and uncomplicated). Relationships are tough. So I really want to give kudos to "Cars".

What does "Cars" do really well? It builds relationships and friendships between and amongst the characters. It is obvious that the cars in Radiator Springs are friends. And Lightning McQueen learns about friendship throughout the movie. Starting with Mater's persistent and matter-of-fact overtures of friendship, McQueen sees that relationships can be generous and kind, that friends help each other, that competition and winning aren't everything.

McQueen sees the contrast between Chick's mean behavior causing accidents and the King's sportsmanship. He goes from lonely, not having any friends to invite to the big race, to having his new friends volunteer to help him as his pit crew simply because he needs them.

What better message could a movie give? Relationships take work, but they don't have to be hard. And "Cars" really shows that.

Kids' movies

We watch a lot of kids' movies around here. There are a few I won't let the boys watch, but they've seen quite a few. And with the weather this winter, we've been cooped up more than usual, so those DVDs and our Netflix streaming cue have been well-exercised.

Which has me thinking about the content of movies geared toward kids. Am I the only one who finds that they have an awful lot of violence? And some of the themes, like dead parents, seem to not be a problem. But have so much as a smooch and the rating might have to be PG! What is wrong with this picture? 

Frankly, I would rather have my kids watch a movie with a little sex and nudity than some of the violence that is apparently considered ok for them. They've seen naked bodies; it's no big deal. But watching fights encourages them to act in ways I'd rather they didn't. So why does nearly every classic cartoon have violence, name calling or scary themes? 

Don't believe me? Here's a little refresher.

A selection of Disney classics:

Snow White (the witch tries to kill the heroine); Pinocchio (the whale); Dumbo (Mrs. Jumbo gets locked away); Bambi (do I really need to go into this one?); Cinderella (one of the tamest with just the evil step-mother and step-sisters); Peter Pan (sword fighting with Captain Hook); Sleeping Beauty (one word: Maleficent); One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Cruella De Vil); The Jungle Book (Shere Khan); The Little Mermaid (the seas witch is pretty mean); Beauty and the Beast (wolves attack, the mob scene, Beast goes beastly); The Lion King (Scar plots the deaths of Mufasa and Simba, Mufasa is killed, Simba and Scar fight).

A selection from Pixar:

Toy Story (Syd); A Bug's Life (those grasshoppers are scary); Monsters, Inc. (the monsters try to scare kids - although I give bonus points to this movie for the ending); Finding Nemo (Nemo's mom dies, the sharks); The Incredibles (numerous fights); Cars (actually, just Chick causing accidents); Wall-E (fight with Auto at the end); Up (the fight with Muntz); Toy Story 3 (the dump).

A selection from DreamWorks:

Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third (the humor); Madagascar (Alex tries to eat his friends); Kung Fu Panda (more fighting); Monsters vs. Aliens (lots of fighting); How to Train Your Dragon (fight with the giant dragon); Megamind (it's about a villain - he does bad things).

Now, this isn't to say that we don't enjoy the movies. It's just something I've noticed. 

(By the way, a tool I sometimes use to determine if a movie is suitable for the boys in kids-in-mind, which rates movies but also goes through scene by scene so you know why they chose their rating. It allows parents to make an informed judgement call about the suitability of a movie for their kids.)

Date night!

Dates are hard to schedule with small children who require babysitting, especially with a crazy grad school schedule to work around. But we've really been trying to go out at least once a month.

One of our neighbors also has small children and offered a babysitting exchange. Once a month I watch her kids while they go out and also once a month she watches ours while we go out. It's been nice since babysitters can be expensive. The babysitting co-op idea is a great way to make friends and have an evening out. I've even exchanged sitting with another neighbor during the day for appointments and such. We also have some really nice neighbors who have offered to watch the boys, usually about once a year.

Most sitters we've used have charged $10/hr for the two kids. A typical movie requiring 3 hours of sitting would cost $50 ($20 for two tickets plus $30 for a babysitter). Add any popcorn or drinks and it's just too much! That's really the reason we haven't had a regular date night the last few years.

Another option we have used is Grandma. The grandparents all like spending time with the boys, so we can often send them for a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. We've done that for the last several years. But Grandma Deb is now retired and available for the occasional weeknight evening. Considering many of the Auditorium shows we want to see are during the week, this has been very helpful. We try not to abuse the privilege.

So where do we go on date night? We have gone to movies when they were $5, but the weeknight price has recently gone up, so we will probably do that less frequently. We also like to go to the shows at the IU Auditorium, through the Department of Theater and Drama, or one of the theater companies* in town. And now the IU Cinema is opening, where most movies will be free. We can see lots of classics and foreign films.

*Local theater companies include Bloomington Playwrights Project, Monroe County Civic Theater, Cardinal Stage Company, Theater of the People and Starrynight Productions.

TV saga

As anyone following me on Twitter or Facebook knows, we have had issues upgrading our tv service.

It started several weeks ago when Comcast informed us of their 'digital migration' - a fancy way of saying they will no longer have analog service and we had to get a digital tuner.

For several years, we have talked about trying AT&T's U-Verse service. We had tried once before, in January 2009, but were too far for the signal. A lot has changed since then and the signal supposedly goes further now, so we decided to use this as our impetus to switch.

Last Friday the installation tech came out around 10 am to hook us up... and found all sorts of errors on the line. He called for a service tech to come check the lines; they cleaned up a lot of problems, but still not a clean enough signal. So, many hours later (almost 7 pm), and after rewiring from the pole to the house, we were left with the promise that another service ticket had been placed and hopefully we could reschedule an installation soon. Chris got on Twitter and tracked down someone at AT&T who promised to look into it.

Tuesday I received a call from AT&T tier two support asking if we had been updated on the situation. We hadn't. Turns out someone had come out Sunday and determined that we are just too far so our order was canceled. I'm not sure if it was Chris's tweets, but I guess I should be happy someone called to let us know. And we got a new telephone line that isn't in between the cable and electric (you have to see our outside wires to understand that). And they fixed some problems on the lines that will hopefully mean our phone doesn't go out every time we have a lot of rain.

Thus, the trek to Comcast's office on Henderson Thursday morning to pick up a digital tuner. (We have thought about switching to satellite, but there are a lot of trees around us. Plus, we have heard about a lot of problems during lousy weather. So, we'll stick with cable for now.) Picking up the tuner was easy. The problems started when Chris hooked it up.

Around 5:30 pm, after getting home, Chris hooked up the tuner. Remembering that the woman at Comcast mentioned having to call to activate it, something which was NOT in the less-than-satisfactory directions, I called the 800 number. The automated message mentioned it might take up to 45 minutes to completely download the program guide.

Flash forward to 7:30, after eating dinner and playing. The boys like to watch a show before bed; it helps wind them down. Still no tv. No channels, no channel guide, the remote did nothing. So I called to report trouble and got another signal sent with the same caution about taking up to 45 minutes.

8:30. The boys are now in bed. The tv is still not working. Chris unplugged and re-plugged the unit. He did some digging in the basement and changed the wiring so it doesn't go through the vcr... and found a very old trap in the house on the cable line, which he removed. While he did that, I called technical support. The first call got dropped. I called back and got forwarded to a 'specialist'. As he was asking about how things were wired (understandable to need to know if it was a simple wiring issue - I passed that to Chris since he understands all of that better than I do), it suddenly started working.

I'm not sure if it was Chris's fiddling with the wiring or if one of the activation or reboot signals finally made it through.

We thought all was well until this morning when we turned it on at 7:38.... to find only the last station watched available. And the program listing at the bottom of the screen didn't go away. And the time on it didn't change.

I'm sure you've guessed - yes, I called tech support again. While the very nice woman I spoke to walked me through trying to get the remote to do anything (it wouldn't even turn it off), it suddenly started working at 8:00. She had no idea why it did that.

Ah, I'm sure you think all was well, just as I did.... until I looked at the dvr function and realized it did not work. The message on the screen that it was unavailable was a pretty good clue.

So on to the second call to tech support this morning, where I talked to another very nice woman, who had, coincidentally, worked at the Bloomington office before. After much trying of this and that, she discovered that our box was mis-coded in their system as not being a dvr. Luckily she was able to correct that, after which she had me unplug the box to reboot it, then she sent a new activation signal.... and it worked.

At this point, all is well. I've taped one show to test the dvr and turned the box off and on with no problems. The full guide doesn't seem to show (it goes about 2 hours out and then falls off) but I hope that will correct itself. I'm tired of calling tech support..... and I really don't even want to contemplate changing services again any time soon!

No difference

No difference by Shel Silverstein
Small as a peanut
Big as a giant,
We're all the same size
When we turn off the light.
Red black or orange,
Yellow or white
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.
So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!

A few things have conspired to put race/ethnicity in my mind. I guess my thoughts here apply to a lot of differences that people use to separate groups into 'them' and 'us'. Does it really matter what the 'other' is?

I recently read The Help by Kathryn Stockett for book club. A major theme of the novel is race relations. It takes place in Jackson, MS, in the early '60's. At the discussion, one mom brought up the idea from a book she'd been reading that we all need to talk to our kids, as young as 3 and 4 year olds, about race. Another mom, who happens to be African American, talked about how she actually did that with her older daughter, which helped with schoolyard confrontations. A third mom mentioned that she doesn't even think of herself as Asian unless someone points it out to her. And yet another mom who works at a school for children with learning disabilities pointed out that they really strive to not define the children by their difference: they have dyslexia, they aren't dyslexic. Interesting distinction.

Last night I watched an interesting movie, Dancing in September, which follows a fledgling show at a fledgling network. There is a lot more to the story, but the show is about black characters, written and produced by a black woman, at a network that is trying to appease activists because of backlash about the lack of representation for African American actors on tv. It's a really good movie and I recommend it if you want to see a little of what happens to shows we love. Because the show starts as a really good, heartfelt show and slowly becomes that cliche of dumb black characters through suggestions from the network. Because it's all about ratings and keeping advertisers happy.

One of the things that irritates me about a lot of 'ethnic' shows in the last decade or so is that the characters are all caricatures. It doesn't seem to matter if the show centers around a black family or a Latino family, they all seem to have to be dumb. (That's actually even true about comedies centering around white families.) Why do people watch that crap? And why can't we have more shows where the characters just happen to be black/Latino/Asian or whatever? Seriously, the reason The Cosby Show was so good and popular was because the Huxtables could have been any family. They just happened to also be black. It was funny. It was heart-warming. That's what I miss about family comedies.

There is some hope with dramas. At least characters are allowed to be real, normal, and not stupid. I admit I don't watch much tv these days. Between getting the boys in bed and the late schedule, I find too many shows start to feel like a chore. The only serial series we watch regularly are Castle and The Big Bang Theory. Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs and Man Vs. Food are other shows we watch, but it's ok if we miss an episode. So there may be some quality shows out there that I just don't know about (and please feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.)

But back to the topic. First, what is the difference between race and ethnicity? Because I think race is a loaded word used purposely to highlight something that is really a matter of ethnicity. Here's an interesting chart that points out one of the major issues for me: race is defined by governments, not science. And my background is science. The government in the US defines race by skin color, but not all skin colors.

Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't define people by their ancestry? Or by their difference from us? Can we get to a point where someone is a person who happens to be (fill in the blank)? I know it's idealized, but maybe if we all try to change how we talk, we'll change how we think. And if we can't change how we think, maybe at least our kids will think in that idealized way. And maybe one day people will be so mixed (multi-ethnic or multi-racial is a growing demographic as it is), it won't be an issue.