somaroy

Resultolotions!

The end of the 2009 is fast approaching, and you know what? I have completed like… one resolution, maybe? With two months left in the year, I need to pick up the pace. I need to cram a year’s worth of accomplishments into two months. Can I do it? I THINK SO.

Some of the resolutions are really simple. Like get back into photography. Or part with a large proportion of my clothes via donation. Read more for fun. Some of them are a little more time consuming or difficult. Like stop being lazy/become more active/eat healthier. Or stop procrastinating on school work. Or teach myself the guitar. Or get out there and meet people. Or stop exuding a “fuck off” vibe. Or finish either of the screenplays I started a year ago. These are difficult. But I’m gonna do it. I have two months, and I will be damned if I continue this loser life I am disappointingly comfortable living.

Does True Veganism Exist?

Last week, in Environmental Health, we learned about food safety/regulations. He told us about how there are maximums allotted for various food stuffs regarding insect parts and rat hairs. This is not news. What I found interesting, however, was a rhetorical question raised by the professor: do you think you can ever wash all the aphids out of a head of broccoli? The unanimous answer was no.

I guess you could say the same for a lot of leafy or green vegetables, or any vegetable/fruit/etc. So, my question is, are you ever really eating anything that is 100% free of animals? Or do insects not count? Maybe this is being too technical?

Anyone who knows me well knows my views on dietary restrictions. I don’t like ‘em. I don’t care if you are a vegetarian/vegan/whatever, as long as you don’t go around judging those who aren’t. With that said, a lot of people try to take a moral high ground. With THAT said, I kind of love it when I think of anything that could cause anyone standing on any moral high ground to plummet to their…moral… plateau?

Where the Wild Things Are

People are super stoked for the imminent release of Where the Wild Things Are. From a purely cinematic perspective, I can share this excitement - the film looks like it is going to be a visual adventure, all in muted tones no less!

What I don’t understand, however, is how people who are around my age (I am 23-going-on-24) are excited about it because it was one of their “favorite” books as a kid. I don’t remember anyone in my life ever liking that book.

Now I am just as guilty of being super stoked because it was a book from my childhood and I think I liked it? But then I looked back real hard and realized that I never actually read it. It was read TO me by a teacher because I couldn’t fucking read in kindergarten. I would get the W and I mixed up in the word “swim” in pre-school, so it’s safe to say reading that book was completely beyond my reach. I remember being bored by the story and by the book because I thought it was ugly. Actually, the artwork kind of scared me as a child.

I DO remember loving Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, however. And I loved The Magic School Bus. And the Clifford series. I remember that my classmates did not consider Where the Wild Things Are as a favorite of theirs.

I think a LOT of people are confused. I’m not saying it’s impossible for that book to be a favorite of a lot of individuals. It is a classic. I am highly suspect, however, of the magnitude of people who think this was a favorite book of theirs when they were kids. I think it’s a classic case of nostalgia and the use of The Arcade Fire in the trailer. Also Spike Jonze and Karen O. It’s a veritable hipster “culture” frenzy. People are mis-remembering their childhoods, and that happens to everyone. Like, I never really liked Ren & Stimpy as a kid, but I somehow long for it still.