She hides…
And then…
Archive for December 14, 2007
Call for New Words
I was thinking about a new post, and I got stuck on a word.
“Friend.”
Because the person I was going to refer to is not a friend. Neither is he an acquaintance. It seems to me there’s a significant gap between those two words, filled by a vast number, perhaps a majority, of our social relationships.
A friend is an intimate, a confidant. They know some personal stuff, they know you with your proverbial or literal hair down. Obviously, there are degrees of friendship; they won’t all help you bury the bodies, but a friend is someone on the inside.
Acquaintances are people you know, and that’s about that. You’ve been introduced. They’re present or former co-workers, or clients, a friends-of-a-friend, or the real estate agent of your brother-in-law.
But what about everyone else? The people whom you hug when you see them, with whom you keep in touch and occasionally drop a line to, but who don’t know your birthday or your problems. There are many people whom I know, for whom “acquaintance” is too cold, and “friend” is too warm. Often I say “someone I’m friendly with.” They are friendlies. Or something.
Anyway, I want a new word. And here it is: A call for you to nominate new words that you want. What do you say instead of a word you wish really existed? What word do you grope for regularly that simply is not there?
You know what I need?
A cat sling.
You ever see those baby slings? Yeah, like that. Because what happens is, the cat gets into my lap and then gradually starts to fall out.
Now, I like having him in my lap, but I don’t like being committed to holding him there. Yet it seems kinda cruel to just let him flop onto the floor due to excessive relaxation. Also, the mid-flop flailing can be hazardous.
A cat sling.
Tuesday Trivia: All solved!
This theme quiz was handled in short order. Congratulations!
Tuesday Trivia: Guess the Theme
(Theme solved by Evn, comment #6.)
1. “To make a long story short…” / “Too late!”
Solved by Evn (comment #1).
2. Trying to get to Shell Beach.
Solved by Evn (comment #13).
3. This is the directorial debut of an actor, and his leading lady is his real life wife. It is the only English language film he directed. She made her screen debut in her teens and is the daughter of a famous actress.
Solved by Evn (comment #20).
4. This is the eight film adaptation of this classic novel. There have also been two mini-series, and two made-for-TV movies. This modernized version stars a man who started acting in his teens, and also writes and directs, and a woman who made her screen debut in her teens and is the daughter of a famous actress (but is not the same actress as in clue #3).
Solved by Hazel (comment #14 and 15).
5. The machine that goes “Ping.”
Solved by Evn (comment #2).
6. “Come on, ________, think of something clever to say, huh? Something full of magic, religion, bullshit. Come on, dazzle me.”
Solved by Evn (comment #13).
7. A famous fictional character (and his fictional co-stars) meets a famous historical character in a plot revolving around the two stars’ shared addiction.
Solved by Melville (comment #3).
The True Diversity of American Religion
Jason quotes Philocrites about Mitt Romney’s “I am a Mormon but Don’t Hold it Against Me” speech.
By trying to define “faith” as conservative traditionalism and “pluralism” as a name for monotheistic traditionalism, Romney misrepresented the true diversity of American religion, explicitly dismissed Americans who don’t identify with a religious tradition, and painted the traditions he did mention in a way that celebrates their most traditionalist wings and ignores almost all of their visions for the commonweal. What a disappointment.
I agree with everything except the “what a disappointment” part. What the flock were you expecting, tolerance? On the Right?
I think not.
Monday Movie Review: The Namesake
The Namesake (2006) 6/10
Ashoke Ganguli (Irfan Khan), a Bengali professor living in New York, marries Ashima (Tabu) and brings her to the United States in 1974. Their American-born son Gogol (Kal Penn) struggles between his family’s traditionalism and his desire to assimilate. Directed by Mira Nair.
The Namesake is a movie struggling to find itself. Although I haven’t read the novel, and so have no idea how close it is to its source, it feels like a movie trying to slavishly follow a novel’s plot and pacing. It has a novels way of rising and falling around events, without a clear flow of character or narrative arc. I wanted to take it apart, shake off the loose pieces, and put it back together with a more sound structure. Almost everything about the movie is appealing except its inability to tell a story.
This is the sort of movie I see all the time and don’t bother to write a full review of. (After all, most weeks I see two or three movies and only review one here.) But it has some very good qualities that are worth discussing. First, of course, is the modern immigrant experience; arriving not on Ellis Island but at JFK International Airport, treated symbolically (if clumsily) in the movie as a sort of waystation; each time the Ganguli family passes through JFK they pass between worlds; between states of being. Ashoke and Ashima are always aliens in their adopted country, their traditions don’t fit in. And looking at it, you can certainly see how most of our traditions didn’t fit in at one point, and how the first generation born here struggled with a foot in each world.
There’s a fascinating anti-feminist feminist component about The Namesake. I realize that sounds contradictory, so hang in there.
In the course of the movie, there are two women in Gogol’s life. They are incredibly poorly-written characters, stereotypes of Evil Feminists or Evil Modernism or something else Evil and Female. Their evils are variously independence, informality, premarital sex, wearing short skirts, and disrespecting tradition. The feeling at the end of the movie, when the family comes to a particular sort of resolution but the Evil Women are cast aside, is of misogyny.
Rethinking my position involves spoilers about the end. Continue at your own risk.
Friday Catblogging: The Anklesaurus
Okay, right after I took the picture, he snagged a bit of flesh, but it was worth it.
Waste Time. Feed the Hungry.
This is so great. Play the vocabulary quiz game and donate rice through the United Nations to help combat world hunger.
It’s a super-good quiz. The words are hard, and some of the words given as possible answers are also hard.
So far, my best level is 48. Go ahead and beat that.
