Book Club Book Four

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

This was an interesting book. The story and the characters were so full of sadness hopelessness and isolation. Lonely in personal prisons of their own mistakes and pasts, and not interested in redemption or happiness. And yet the book itself I didn't find sad. The writing was so stylized and beautiful that it kept the reader at a distance from the characters - they were more like a beautiful picture full of sorrow that you might look upon with interest and detachment rather than friends you might suffer and grieve with.

This can serve as either a condemnation or recommendation of the book, I suppose, depending on how you look at it. On the one hand, I don't feel like it is generally a good idea to keep the reader at a distance from the characters and story of a book because it doesn't serve to keep them interested and motivated to see it through to the finish. On the other hand, in this instance I think if you truly empathized with the people in this book you would be too depressed to finish the book - these characters have given up on themselves in so many ways.

I have a hard time deciding what I want to say about this book - the writing is so elegant and lovely; the story so dark and somewhat uneventful. I think if the writing hadn't been so enchanting, the characters so damaged that I kept hoping for some happiness for them, I would have been bored to tears and unable to finish. As it was I breezed through with my hope for their hopelessness and the rhythm of the words.


Up Next: Nada. The book club has been canceled due to only 4 people showing up (2 of whom hadn't even read the book). So I guess I'll just try to review anything I read that is worthy of it - which won't be much since I revel in the quick, trashy read. Have any suggestions or books you'd like to see me review - send 'em to practicalpablum at gmail dot com.

SYTYCD vs DWTS Acronym Smackdown

In this week's Entertainment Weekly (or I guess it's last weeks, but I'm reading it this week), Ken Tucker does an article about The Dancing With The Stars finale airing the same week as the premier for So You Think You Can Dance. (I can't find the article online, but his tv blog is here). I'm not going to call it a review although that is ostensibly the space it occupies in the magazine, because instead of reviewing either show (which face it don't need it anyway) he decides to make commentary on how we can't go a single week without a dancing competition on tv. Because you see, Mr. Tucker doesn't see any difference between these two shows.

And that I take issue with.

Comparing DWTS and SYTYCD (I am SO not typing those names out each time!) is effectively the same as comparing Don't Forget The Lyrics and American Idol - and I think we can all agree those shows are highly different. Both involve singing, yes, but one casts regular people scorching our eardrums for cash prizes, while the other feature genuine talent stretching and applying their skills with the aim of an actual CAREER in the field.

It is much the same with these "dancing shows." Both have their respective charm and appeal, but that is where the similarities end. DWTS showcases washed up athletes and "celebrities" desperate to regain or maintain the slightest ray of the spotlight. As dancers they are competent AT BEST, and unwatchable at worst, and the entertainment value of the show revolves around the attitudes, costumes, and train wreck voyeurism of watching people we love or hate or forgot even existed stump around performing feats their bodies were never meant to do in a pathetic attempt to find that 16th minute of fame (or knock off a few pounds).

On the other hand, SYTYCD puts that spotlight on people with genuine talent. God given gifts and back-breakingly achieved technique in the dancers and choreographers who push the limits of creativity and physicality each and every week. These are not your average Joe off the street looking for a free ride through the tabloid papers. These are people who have dedicated their lives to improving their abilities and exploring the boundaries of what it means to dance. Every week they expose the millions of Americans who watch to talent and skill and originality that most of us will never posses in our wildest dreams.

The dancing on SYTYCD showcases passion and technique and culture and variety and emotion and every joy and pain and miracle the human body can achieve. The talent in each and every contestant in each and every top twenty is astonishing; the intelligence and power and creativity of every choreographer (many of whom are past contestants) is inspiring. SYTYCD pushes the envelope of what it means to dance - and they bring that experience and education into the homes of everyone who watches.

They are the REAL stars, and it demeans them to be lumped into the same category with any faux-lebrity who thinks they can dance.

It's Hard To Make A Title About Cox Cable Sucking That Doesn't Sound Dirty

Since we moved to Omaha we have had Cox Cable. We have HAD to have Cox Cable as it is the only choice here. And while I'm quite fond of Omaha and enjoy living here, I have to say I am honestly considering moving somewhere we can get different cable services because they suck so hard.

The problem is the DVR. We have lived here 9.5 months, and we are on our THIRD cable box. No wait, that's not right - second cable box. But we may be about to be on our third because this one isn't working either, although I think it is their signal and broadcasting rather than the device itself this time. The first one we had to get rid of because during playback of certain recorded shows it would just turn itself off. Super annoying. At the time I thought the entire issue was a glitch with the machine, but in light of our further problems I think the recording errors were broadcasting malfunctions, and the turning itself off was a machine glitch. Still pretty pathetic no matter how you figure it.

This second box has been no better. We have had to have the signal resent to it at least twice because of recording issues - you can check your DVR'd list, but you never actually know if a show is there or not. probably 30% of the time when you try to play a show everything just freezes up. Cause it didn't work. Awesome. It is also really special when it freezes up 5 or 10 minutes into the show - that isn't frustrating at all.

Monday night we were lucky enough that nothing froze up until the last five minutes of everything - so we got almost all of every show (except one which I only got 1/2 of), but when you are talking about season finales, missing that last 2 or 3 minutes is kind of important. By the way, can anyone tell me what happened between House and Cuddy? Missed it.

Last night we missed both Glee and NCIS all together, and all I can say is they are lucky Lost worked or their offices would have been firebombed. As it was all I could do was curse them out on Twitter - too bad I don't have a million followers.

And yes, it is in fact true that too much of my evenings revolve around the tv. But you know what? Who cares? I am home with 3 small kids all day every day. I don't drink, I don't do drugs or smoke, I'm trying to cut out overeating and I nver go shopping anymore. TV is all I have left vice wise and I'm NOT giving it up! I like, nay LOVE, my television and the cable just better start working properly because this is ridiculous.

Book Club Book Three

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

I really enjoyed this book, although I would recommend that it be read a chapter at a time with time spent thinking before starting a new chapter, rather than all at once like a novel. I read it all in a couple of days, and while it was a fast read and easy to get through (and certainly pulled me through because I was interested to see the progression of her journey) I would have preferred to take a little more time to get something out of it for myself. but I can always re-read for that.

In general this book is about one woman's year long experiment trying to make herself happier within her own life. She set out to give herself goals and resolutions to follow, with the goal of increasing her own personal happiness while also not changing anything about her life in general. She acknowledged that her life was already happy and fulfilling, but she wanted to see if it could be even happier. Each month she focused on a different aspect of her life (marriage, parenting, spiritual, money, etc), and worked to find ways to make those areas of her life happier. Now, her choices and methodology are certainly not going to apply to everyone - she admits that from the beginning. But she isn't setting out to write a book telling people how they can become happier, she is setting out to explain how she became happier.

Certainly, there were things she focused on or chose to do (or stop doing), that I didn't agree with, or wouldn't really apply to my life. But there were also several revelations that really resonated with me. The first was that, while we can choose what we do, we can't choose what we like to do. I moved to Steamboat because the idea of being someone who hikes and skis, and enjoys being out in nature being active and healthy really appealed to me. But after several years of forcing myself to hit the slopes, of feeling guilty when I wasn't out enjoying the lifestyle available to me, and miserable when I was, I had to accept that no matter how much I want to be that person, I am not. And that is a hard thing to admit - that our dreams for who we could be are not always in sync with who we actually are. But as disappointing as it was to realize I was never going to be flying down the slopes with my husband loving life, I am happier fr having accepted that aspect of my personality, and now I am free to explore activities that I truly do enjoy.

The other thing that made the biggest impact on me was her theory that what we admire most in others is often something that has waiting potential in ourselves. For example, admiring a friend's fashion sense might indicate that you wish to spend some time exploring your own fashion sense. This hit a chord with me because I often find myself admiring people on the street or other bloggers, but I don't often take the time to evaluate what it is about them I am most drawn to, and how I might apply that interest towards my own personal growth.

In general, while I feel that this book could be interesting and helpful to almost anyone, I will admit that it probably rang truer for me because I see many similarities between myself and the author. One of her biggest sources of happiness was eliminating clutter in her home, and even becoming a bit of a crusader about clearing the clutter out of her friends' home as well. For some people this might come across as excessive or irritating or unnecessary - what does having a place for everything have to do with happiness?- but for me it was an absolute truth because clutter really does play a part in my own mental clarity and ability to relax and be happy.

I don't know that I will be embarking on my own Happiness Project having read this book. But I do feel I have some new tools to apply to the job of living; thoughts that have consolidated things I've been dancing around for a while, and ideas for moving forward in my own life with happiness and calm. One of her conclusions at the end of the book was that in general she didn't find herself with more of the positive happy feelings than she had in the beginning. But she found herself with less of the bad feelings. Less guilt, regrets, resentment. And that is something I could live with. Or without. you know what I mean.

next month: The Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick


ps: I do have one bone to pick - the subtitle of this book is: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun . And indeed, she sings in the morning, cleans her closets, learns to fight right and generally has more fun. Never once does she mention actually reading Aristotle. Irrelevant and yet it irks me.

Idol Gives Bleck

I am glad that American Idol has decided to utilize its ratings for charity. I think the idea of Idol Gives back is a great idea. But I have to admit that I hate how they do it. I do not want to see a bunch or celebrities stumping for charity. I have said it before so I won't waste time saying it again, but I find sickeningly wealthy people asking us regular folks for money supremely distasteful. I also do not in the slightest enjoy watching live music performances and random awkward comedy routines. Especially not while a credit card donation hotline number flashes before my eyes. It is boring, and self indulgent and in general I feel it is done not to actually help people, but so that everyone can later go home, revel in the luxury their grandiose paychecks have afforded them, and feel good about themselves.

But I have a DVR, so what do I care, right? I can just zip through the whole thing or delete it completely - who cares what celebrity said what for which charity? Doesn't matter to me, I'm already on to my other recorded shows.

But isn't that kind of the point? Aren't they trying to reach all their millions of viewers in order to raise awareness and money and donations? Kind of defeats the purpose if we aren't watching. Not to mention - how much money did it cost to put on this whole production? I bet that could have fed some kids.

I wish they would just put aside this whole self serving rigamarole and start charging for votes. believe me, it isn't going to cut down on the number of people voting by that much if it only costs $.10 or even $.05 per call. And every votes every week the entire season? That is hundreds of millions of votes - which would be millions of dollars raised without doing a single thing differently. They could find a way to shorten (or dear god, please get rid of) those horrible Ford videos and show a few minutes of one of the various charities being benefited through the whole season's accumulated donations.

It would all be simple, straightforward and behind the scenes - everything Hollywood hates.

So I won't hold my breath. But I will hold down my FFWD.

iPhone Therefore I Am

I think I am probably the only person (my age) who did not want an iphone when they came out. I mean, sure, they are super cool and all, but I like, nay LOVE my Blackberry and all of its tiny buttons. Buttons make me happy. Add in my lifelong issue with touch screens (they tend to not "see" me, just like automatic doors used to never open for me), and not wanting to switch to AT&T (actually, I couldn't even if I had wanted to - they don't cover Steamboat) and I was firmly in the no-iphone-no problem camp.

But now I'm on Twitter, seeing all of these people playing games together bceaue they all have iphones and I want to play.

I'm seeing all these super cool photo apps that let people take awesome pictures with their cell phones, and I want to take cool pictures too.

I'm constantly seeing newer, cooler apps, and I want those apps (some of them anyway).

And now I'm hearing that the iphone will be available on Verizon sometime soon? Huh.

I will most likely still stick with my Blackberry (I REALLY love buttons), but the decision is getting harder. I never thought I'd say it, but *whispering* I kind of want an iphone now.

How To Train Your Dragon

How wonderful is this movie? Well, I've seen it twice, in the theater, and it is an animated children's movie, so that should tell you something. Granted, I saw it twice because I have two kids to take and couldn't take them at the same time due to nap schedules and cousin accompaniment, but still. It was magical enough to make it my son's very first movie theater movie, so that's saying something.

Charming, funny, enchanting, How To Train You Dragon is the story of a boy who doesn't fit in with his tribe finding and befriending a dragon. The characters are very funny (Vikings with Scottish accents for whatever reason), the dialogue continues the Pixar tradition of offering something for the adults in the audience as well as the kids, and the whole story is just has heartwarming as you would expect from this type of film. But no sap or treacle. The animation is wonderful, and there are some super dreamy scenes of flying on the dragons that will have you swooning.

I'm not so great at the whole spoiler things so I don't want to get into plot or details because you never know what might ruin it for someone else and I tend more towards over-sharing than secrecy in all things. So just go see it for yourself - I guarantee you'll like it.