Drama Free is the Way to Be

 

“The best way of removing negativity is to laugh and be joyous.”

~ David Icke

I’m not a fan of drama.  In life, I mean.  Television, movies, books—bring it on.  But when it comes to every day living, I’d prefer things be a little more humdrum.  But some people seem to thrive on drama.  Always looking for something to gripe about, dwelling on bad situations, quick to take offense.  I’m sure you know the type.  Not that we need to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that life is just a bunch of roses, but I just don’t see the point in choosing to be mired in such a way of thinking that you end up spreading drama wherever you go.

Except for some family members that I’m pretty much stuck with (can’t choose family, you know), I’m lucky not to have a whole lot of drama-ridden negative Nellies in my midst.  Though, honestly, that’s not all luck; except for family, I do get a whole lot of choice in who I spend time with, so I try to choose wisely.  But today I ran smack-dab into a bit of drama courtesy of a classmate.  Her dramatic method of choice is the quick to take offense and then lash out variety.  I know this about her; I’ve seen it in action before.  So you’d think I wouldn’t be surprised when it happened again, this time with her negativity aimed in my direction, but surprise me it did.  And, as drama is wont to do, it managed to seep into my brain and put a cloud over my whole day.  That’s my fault, of course; I shouldn’t let other people’s wackiness have such an impact on me, but sometimes it’s hard to take a step back and ignore it. 

Still, at this point, I’ve had my say, addressed the perceived insult with an apology (since I honestly did not mean to offend), and have gone on about my business.  But it doesn’t feel resolved, and I feel pretty sure things will be tense when we see each other again tomorrow.  That’s the way it is with drama—it likes to linger.  But, I know that I can’t do more than I’ve done; things will either be okay or they will not.  Obviously, I hope for the “okay” resolution, but I’ll admit that there are days when I completely understand reclusive hermit types, and think it would be better if we all just lived in our own little bubbles and didn’t have to interact with each other at all.

Anyway, I just wanted to get it off my chest a little bit, and say that each time I run into such drama, I am a little confused, and frustrated, and saddened.  But, with all due respect to Mr. Icke, I think tonight the best way of getting rid of negativity and moving on from the drama is to see what happened on tonight’s episode of White Collar, so that’s what I’m going to do, and hopefully before this headache takes over and the med I just took for it wins out and I find myself sound asleep on the couch again!

Good night, and I wish you all a sunshiny and fun Friday, completely drama free. 

Fun with Amazon

 

So, the other day, there were a couple of books Brian wanted to order from Amazon.  I’m the online shopper of the family, so he always sends me his wish lists and I go in and place the order.  Sometimes I can be strong and not buy anything for myself while I’m there, but often times I find something that strikes my fancy. 

Currently I’m wanting to purchase some sort of kitty condo type thing to put out on my porch for our cats.  As I’ve likely mentioned, our cats are barely a step away from being feral, but I still count them as my pets.  Or my friends, as I usually call them.  Still, the condos I liked were sort of expensive for something to buy on a whim, so I put that thought aside for a while.

Then I decided to browse around and see what Stephen King might have to offer these days.  I mean, it’s been at least a year—and maybe two—since I read 11/22/63, and since I’m pretty sure he puts out a book in about the time it takes me to need a haircut, so I figured surely there was something interesting to find.  And I was right; I selected something called Doctor Sleep, which seems to be a follow up of sorts to The Shining.  Should be interesting.

But, I’m actually more excited about finally picking up a copy of On Writing.  Part autobiography, part how-to guide, I’ve read excerpts from this book over the years and never failed to be just a little bit inspired.  Seriously, the man is prolific, and perennially successful, so, yeah, I’m interested in the tidbits he has to offer about the craft.  I’m very excited for it to arrive.

Oh, and I also picked up a copy of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style.  I am not nearly so excited about that, but my Little, Brown guide is hopelessly our of date and my capstone professor says Strunk and White is the official reference for the paralegal certification exam, so I guess it’s important. 

And, that’s how it goes.  I drop by Amazon to pick up two books for Brian and end up leaving with another three for myself.  And I still don’t have that kitty condo.

How’s your willpower when you visit Amazon?

Six Word Seuss

 

 

Happy birthday, old friend, and thanks!

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.~ Dr. Seuss

See more and link up at Show My Face.

Break Time!

 

                                                                        Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net



Whoo-hoo!  I had my last class of the semester today, so I am done!  Well, okay, not 100%, totally done, but almost.  I’ve still got to turn in my first legal memorandum for my research and writing class, but I’m sort of not counting that.  I’m not counting it because it is already essentially done, too; I’m just at the obsessing stage.  It’s written, cited, and formatted, but I can’t let it go just yet.  Every day I change a word here, tweak a phrase there.  Like I said, obsessing.  I might turn it in tomorrow, but more likely it will be next week.  Still, for all intents and purposes, the winter break has begun.

Of course, it’s the wrong time of the year to really get much of a break, since there’s always a lot of holiday stuff to do.  And even though holiday stuff is fun, it can still be a lot of work.  And stress.  But even after the new year, I’ll have a few weeks before classes begin again, so I’m definitely going to get some serious resting in.

My plans aren’t very concrete—walk if the weather’s nice, nap if I’m tired, clear off my DVR, take some pictures of holiday decorations, maybe use that spa certificate I’ve had for far too long and have a massage.  Basically just take some deep breaths and enjoy the down time.  As I said yesterday, I won’t be job hunting anymore, so no more countless hours of poring over job listings and filling out forms.  That’s a big relief right there. 

But, one of the things I definitely intend to do is get back to the blogosphere.  There are blogs I’ve been neglecting since the pace of the semester has really picked up, and I’ve missed them.  Some I read—though I have rarely been commenting lately—and some I haven’t even had time to visit.  It’s absolutely time to do something about that.  I’ll share with you a list of some of the places I’ve been missing, in case you’d like to spend a little of your own downtime browsing around and getting to know some good people.  There’s absolutely no particular theme to these blogs, except that they all make me feel good and like my visit has been time well spent.  There are a lot of places on the Internet that do not achieve either of those things, so those that do are to be cherished.

So, in no particular order, here are some of the friends I need to catch up with:

Jen, Snapshots

Roger, Ramblin’ with Roger

Candy, clhPhotography

Jeannie, For What it’s Worth

Melissa, The Bright Side

Miss Riki, Refreshingly Riki

Melinda, Musings

Donald, Rebooting This Crazy Life

Sara, Recovery Corner

Josie, Two Shoes in Texas

Liz, Eternal Lizdom

I met many of these fine folks this past summer while participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  I tried again with the October challenge, but that was pretty much a bust.  It happens again in January, so I’ll be giving it another go, but I’m not waiting that long to reacquaint myself.  I’m looking forward to mingling in the virtual world again.  And, though it feels a little bit selfish (and lazy) to say this, I’m really looking forward to doing whatever I want for a while, which will likely be just a whole lot of nothing!

L is for Les Misérables

 

Before we get to today’s topic, a short note about some blog business.  I know I mentioned once before that I’d had some comments disappear while using the Intense Debate CommentLuv system.  Well, it’s happened again, though I may have stumbled upon the issue after some further research.   My fingers are crossed.  In the meantime, please accept my apologies for any of your comments that have vanished into the ether, and know that I appreciate them all sincerely. 

Also, tonight on American TV, we’ve got the first of the presidential debates.  I don’t have high expectations, but hope that the candidates will at least lay out their line of reasoning and that voters will listen with an open mind.

Now, to the topic at hand.  Back when I was still in high school—1978, to be precise—there was a television movie adaptation of the book, Les Misérables.  I was one of those weirdo kids who always enjoyed literature class, and, don’t tell anybody, but I even read some books that weren’t actual assignments.  I had tried to read Victor Hugo’s (lengthy) classic some time shortly before the movie hit the small screen, but, honestly, it just didn’t do it for me and I set it aside.  When I saw the commercial for the TV movie, I thought maybe if I watched it first, then I’d be more inclined to actually read the book.  With Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins in the primary roles, it looked like it would be pretty good .  But the plan didn’t work too well, as I wasn’t particularly impressed with the movie, either.

I think that failed experiment pointed out a flaw in my beloved platform of television.  You see, TV can do many things.  It can educate and entertain; it can expose people to places and things they might not ever have the opportunity to otherwise experience; it can help open minds and make changes to social norms.  As a medium, it’s got a lot going for it.  But what it’s not always so good at is interpreting literature, and especially classic literature. 

Of course, it’s possible Les Misérables isn’t the best test of that ability.  As I mentioned, it’s a pretty lengthy book—spanning about twenty years and covering a variety of storylines, all set against the backdrop of the political and social unrest of 19th century France.  Admittedly, that’s a pretty big undertaking to squeeze into 2.5 hours.  Still, I was disappointed.

So, this story that’s been captivating audiences (even if not me) for over a hundred years, what’s it about, anyway?  Basically, it’s about a man, Jean Valjean, whom we meet as he is being released from prison after almost twenty years.  His crime?  First stealing some bread, and then attempting to escape his imprisonment.  Not exactly a hardened criminal, but he’s a marked man now.  The story follows his life as he attempts to leave the past behind him and build a new life.  That new life involves hiding from an obsessive police inspector (Javert) out to put Valjean back behind bars, as well as raising the young daughter of a recently deceased factory employee.  Oh, yeah, and surviving an armed insurrection gets thrown in there, too.  It was a busy couple of decades.  Like I said, a lot to fit into a standard TV film.

Still, television gave it another try in 2000, this time as a mini-series.  Honestly, I didn’t even want to watch that one, though my instinct is that its format gave it a much better chance of success.  But besides having already been unimpressed with both the book and a movie, casting is always a big consideration for me.  In this case, it had the impressive John Malkovich as Javert, but also Gérard Depardieu as Valjean, and I have to admit that I’m not much of a Depardieu fan.  But of late, I’ve been thinking I should queue up Netflix and give it a try.  But I’m still not getting my hopes up.

But, while television may not excel at interpreting classic literature, it turns out that theatre can pretty much nail it.  The classic tale of honor and redemption was set to music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, with lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and debuted in Paris in 1980.  The lyrics were adapted into English by Herbert Kretzmer, and the show moved first to London in 1985, and then to Broadway in 1987.  It’s been wowing audiences—including me—ever since.  I hope TV won’t mind too much that I’m cheating on it just a little bit.

Linking up with ABC Wednesday; be sure to check out the full listing of other L entries.   

 

 

 

Tube Day Tuesday—The Dramatic Emmys

 

 

  Things haven’t calmed down too much around here, so I’m operating on far too little sleep, and far too much caffeine and sugar.  That being the case, I’m going to say just a few things about this year’s Emmy awards, and then I’m going to call it a night.

  First, for the first time in . . . well, maybe ever, I actually forgot about the Emmys.  As a TV addict, seeing which of my favorite (or not so favorite) shows get to take home a trophy is a cherished annual tradition.

Image credit:  digitalart/FreeDigitalPhotos.net


But, this year, with all the excitement surrounding my granny, it completely slipped my mind.  By the time I got home Sunday night, I just sat down and sort of melted.  And by the time I realized the date, it was after nine, and I had missed most of the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards.  Kind of a bummer.

Secondly, I just want to go on record that I believe The Big Bang Theory was robbed, and should have walked away with the Outstanding Comedy Series statuette. 

And, lastly, I worry about the decline of dramatic programming on network television, or at least the recognition of it.  Don’t get me wrong; I love my satellite dish, and all the additional programming options it provides.  But, with some notable exceptions (just about anything on USA Network), most of my absolute can’t-miss programs still show up on good old fashioned network television.  Yet, this year, not a single one of the nominees for Outstanding Drama Series aired on one of the major networks.  One was from PBS, so at least not all of them required a subscription to view, but the other nominations were from Showtime, HBO, and AMC.  And this is a trend that seems to have been increasing over time.  You have to go back to 2008 to find a year where even half the drama nominees came from network TV, to 2007 to find the majority, and 2006 before you find a winner. 

Again, this is not meant to disparage cable programming in any way.  Homeland, this year’s drama winner, is an excellent program, and my DVR is already set to begin recording season two when it returns this weekend.  But I’d hate to see the industry and the audience become elitist and begin to think that it simply isn’t possible to have good drama on the networks.  It’s true that there are some financial differences at work—especially for programs from the premium channels—that might give an economic advantage to the cable shows, so maybe it’s slightly easier to churn out slightly better television.

But there seems to be this long-held belief that if something is highly popular, it can’t possibly be award-worthy, at least when it comes to network dramas.  You don’t see NCIS raking in any nominations, or Blue Bloods, or any of the Law and Order programs.  Even The Good Wife fell out of overall favor this year, though it did get some nomination love for some actors, and even scored an Outstanding Guest Actress for Martha Plimpton.  I’m just not sure why that is.  I’ve seen most of these highly touted dramas, but I don’t watch them regularly, because they just aren’t enough to pull me in week after week.  And while I understand viewership doesn’t necessarily equal quality (witness reality TV), you  might consider that there’s at least something good going on if people tune in year after year. 

So I guess this is really just an open plea to the Academy to keep in mind that outstanding drama has found a home on network television for many, many years, and to remember that it’s still going strong.

May Photos, Day 16—What You’re Reading

 

When I was younger, I read a lot.  I mean, a lot.  Somehow, as I got older, I have slowly gotten out of the habit.  I need to change that.  However, at the moment, I’m actually reading a couple of different titles.

I mentioned back in the day one photo post that I was reading a photography book, and I still am.  I try to go through a few pages every day.  It’s not the sort of thing—at least for me—that you can read cover to cover, but it is teaching me some things.  I’ve had this camera for almost a year now; probably time I learned to use it as something more than a glorified point and shoot. 

And as for Cell, well, I’m a long-time King fan.  This one has been sitting around on the shelf for a long time, but I’m only just now getting around to starting it.  My sister says it’s a zombie story, so it’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Who knows?  Maybe having two books going at once will be the kick in the butt I need to get back into the book habit more regularly.

Generation Gap (May 10, 2006)

It’s my fault, I’m sure. Somewhere along the line, I’ve failed my son. I’ve wanted him to enjoy all the new-fangled technology this day and age has to offer, but I never wanted him to become jaded to things from a simpler time.

It all started innocently enough, really. We were browsing the bookstore, and he was complaining for at least the hundredth time that there wasn’t anything to read, and I was asking for at least the fiftieth time (because sometimes I just ignore it) what he thought he was looking for. The closest I ever got to an answer was, “Something different; these things are all the same.”

Okay, so we finally found two books that he would settle for. One—whose title I’ve forgotten already—had a red cover with an upside down dog pictured, and a fairly bizarre snippet of a description. He declared that suitably “different”, and thought it might be interesting. The other was A Stranger in a Strange Land, which he only took grudgingly, and told me flat out he’d probably never read. We’ll see about that.

So, are you wondering yet how this all gets back to him being jaded by today’s wizardry?

Well, as we continued our day’s errands, I continued the conversation, trying to determine how we could spend an hour and a half in a bookstore and he could find little or nothing of interest.

“So,” says I, “what is it about the books you’ve enjoyed that made them different?” He’s fourteen, so, of course the answer was, “I dunno.” But I didn’t give up.

Since I’d heard at least ten times that day that Dan Brown should write more books, I said, “So what is it about The Da Vinci Code that’s so spectacular?” To which all I got was, “It’s not the same as everything else; it’s completely different.”

“But what’s it about?” I insisted. “I mean, down deep, isn’t it just a regular old mystery/adventure?” (I haven’t yet succumbed to the hoo-ha surrounding this book, though the kid keeps telling me I should read it.)

“Well . . . yeah, but it’s different. For one thing, the guy isn’t a cop or anything.”

Ah. Now we were getting somewhere. When I probed just a little bit more, I was finally told that the main character was just a regular guy—a college professor, no less—who goes out in search of the Holy Grail.

I cracked up. “That’s not totally different,” I told him, “that’s Indiana Jones!”

“Nuh-uh,” he protested, but, having never seen the epic saga of Dr. Jones and his compatriots, he was really in no position to make much of an argument.

So, I declared to him that Raiders of the Lost Ark was one of the best movies of all time, and, even though that wasn’t the adventure where Indy went looking for the Grail, we should watch it. The kid actually rather likes Harrison Ford, so it wasn’t a difficult sell.

But, that’s where the real problem began.

Later that night, while I was reveling in one of my favorite movies ever, he was painstakingly telling me how cheesy the special effects were, how fundamentally different Indy is from Dan Brown’s protagonist, and why the film would probably be a flop if it were released today.

Now how did that happen? How is it that when all I wanted to do was expose him to the wonders of the internet and iPod, that I somehow turned him against something so fundamentally pure as a classic Steven Spielberg romp? Not that I shouldn’t have seen it coming, I suppose. He’s never liked Jaws, either, and he’s always believed that the last six Star Wars films were better than the first three.

Clearly I have my work cut out for me.

Oh, the Possibilities (Dec. 9, 2005)

I love bookstores. Seriously; is there any other place simply brimming with such a variety of ideas? Well, maybe a library, and they’re good, too, but the whole feel is different. Maybe it’s the idea that you could actually own some of these ideas, instead of just borrowing them for a while. Or, maybe it’s because spending money can be so much fun; that’s probably closer to the truth.

Anyway, I stepped in to a Borders store yesterday. My sister works there, and I was dropping her off from lunch. I didn’t particularly have anything I definitely intended to buy, and certainly nothing I needed. But I was still there an hour later, with a couple of things in my hands—holiday gift finds, what joy! And, twenty minutes or so after that, I realized there wasn’t really time to get all the way home and then back to the school to pick up my son, so I figured I might as well browse a little more just to kill the time. And, oh, the things I saw.

Dr. Phil has another bestseller; no surprise there, I suppose. And, it appears I am woefully out of touch with the current Sudoku craze, but there must have been at least a dozen books, and a dedicated end cap. There was an intriguing title called A Short History of Nearly Everything. Oh, and there was this book, five hundred pages if it was one, containing nothing but names. Names of every origin you could imagine. It was a reference for writers to help choose character names. Wow.

So, when it was finally time to leave, two hours after I walked in needing nothing, I had maybe six things in my hands, and a whole list of things to look into more closely next time around. Of course, I’m proud of myself; the things I bought were gifts. Well, except maybe for this one collection of short stories that sounds pretty interesting; it might end up being a present to myself. I’d never heard of it until yesterday; I found it in my browsing, but sometimes the best things come to your attention unexpectedly. That’s what I love about bookstores.