Mouse Farts in a Wind Tunnel

March 28, 2003

I was pointed towards another Carleton blog today. Early posts in this one are from Mike's time at Carleton -- what a scream! Here's a lovely one:

paths through the snow are wonderful! i was walking back through the snow yesterday on a roughly straight path which had evolved across a field from all the others (including myself) who had the need to walk the same direction and found myself stepping on the areas which needed to be flattened down in order to improve the path. i imagine many people do the same thing, the resulting path is more established making more people use it and eventually resulting in a better situation for the original individual. the catch is.. if all we do is try to improve what we are using, we never actually use it.

...

if anyone has any info pointing towards anyone who's done any hobby-ish analysis of winter snow paths let me know. i'd love to see some daily pictures sequences showing the life of paths. no matter how well original paths are designed, these will be better ;). the only way to build good paths is make it all grass for a year, and then build paths where the grass has naturally receded. (so do grass paths and snow paths lie in the same places?)

This distills the essence of my college experience: paths through the snow and geeky ruminations about them.

This year is the twentieth reunion of the class I matriculated with. I was on the then-unusual five year plan and graduated a year later than these folks. I am seriously considering going to Reunion. Thinking about it is simultaneously exciting and terrifying. On the outside, I have so little to show for my life, except that my dogs are happy and healthy and I've been sober for over twenty years. The inside is a whole 'nother story, of course, but how or whether to address that at a Reunion of Successful and Smart People?

I also want to go back to Northfield. This town has occupied a special place in my heart and mind since college. I don't dream about it as much as I used to, which was frequently, but the dreams are always full of the home-feeling. The last time I was there (or the time before, who remembers), I drove around the old neighborhood at night. It felt oddly like driving around in my unconscious. At least my id has a happy home point now, just for reference.

posted by el goose on 3/28/2003 10:22:28 AM | link

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March 26, 2003

There has been a discussion on my college's alumni e-mail list the past couple of days about sexism in the Academy Awards and whether or not Adrien Brody committed assault when he jumped Halle Berry onstage at the Oscars the other night. It's such a high-brow group; they don't read nearly enough Fametracker, where forum members debated the exact same issue.

"I bet they didn't tell you *that* would be in the gift bag" -- Brody's bizarre comment after the macking was what I found repulsive. After thinking about it once the discussion started, I found it frighteningly sexist. And coercive. Just like the movie business itself, in miniature. Deconstruct that five minutes of the Academy Awards ceremony and you've got a handle on how the entire industry works.

Sex-and-gender issues gets played for high stakes all the time in show biz -- arguably that's what the business is built on. And of course this gets played out around issues of physical beauty (Halle Berry, yes! Adrien Brody, peculiar!) and one of my own personal bugaboos, weight.

Several articles I like:

The Women's Academy (though I have some quibbles with the last category)

Tears of a Clone: Why Hollywood's Women Are All Choked Up

Hollywood's Big New Minstrel Show

Beauty In the Eye of The Beholder

Compare the matter of Adrien Brody's weight loss for The Pianist with that of Renee Zellweger's weight gain for Bridget Jones (or that of Robert DeNiro for Raging Bull). The men are clearly celebrated for using their bodies in such a way as an essential tool of their trade, the weight gain as absolutely necessary for the integrity of their dramatic roles. The actors are brilliant for their (arguably necessary) sacrifice.

The play in the mainstream media about Zellweger's weight gain was completely different, although arguably necessary for playing Bridget Jones, who is depicted as being somewhat zaftig, at least in her own mind. Zellweger was shown as making an almost incomprehensible and yet totally wacky choice -- to gain weight, something she would never do on purpose in real life. This drives me nuts, since it arguably only brought her to the low side of an average range. Casting a slightly plumpish or recognizably round Brit? Forget it.

All of which brings me back to why I love Fametracker and similar 'trashy' sites so much -- fans deconstruct this stuff for themselves and each other all the time. At least this group of moviegoers isn't some group of empty vessels that is filled up by the Truth of the films they see. They know specifically the ways in which they are being lied to by the industry. Some they accept, some they don't, some they ridicule. Pretty entertaininging all around and much more interesting to read than many movie reviews.

posted by el goose on 3/26/2003 12:57:28 PM | link

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March 24, 2003

I had planned to keep the blue bar at the left empty for design reasons. But once the candy hearts snuck in, all hope was lost.

posted by el goose on 3/24/2003 08:52:03 AM | link

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