Medium Stature Tales

It has been a while since I have updated my blog, so I have thus decided to relate several events that I have experienced in the last several weeks.

#1 - The Bus

I ride the bus quite a bit. Last Sunday, I sat down behind a little kid. He was probably around six or seven and at first I thought he was alone before I saw another kid a few seats away that I guessed may have been his brother. Even so, they were pretty young to be on the bus alone, but whatever, I'm not Dr. Phil and therefore am not going to condemn their parents for being irresponsible. I'm guessing that's what he does as I have, I am proud to say, never watched his show. Anyway, I was sitting there minding my own business when out of nowhere I see the six year old chewing on the cord you tug on when you get to your stop. I tried to look away and think of interesting or, at least, less disgusting things, but at this I utterly failed. I was transfixed. I understand that he's six and a boy, but this was just so gross!! I could not think of one reason, other than maybe coercion that someone would chew on something that many people grab daily and are probably never cleaned.
Then I saw it. This kid had a piece of gum that he would pull out of his mouth in a long-ish quarter inch strip, wrap around the yellow cord then proceed to chew off.
Ick.
It was wrong on so many levels. I really wanted to tell him to stop, but didn't.


#2 - Music

There are many times that I listen to music on the way to or from class. On this I am certainly not alone, but usually I don't have my music too loud because I'm afraid of dying and becoming a statistic. Seriously, would you want to be on the news because of your tragic bike/mailtruck collision death and have the newscast conclude with "The victim was reportedly wearing headphones and therefore did not hear the screams of small children as the truck began to tip over. She was 19."
Anyway...I was walking to class last week, sans headphones, and as a girl with earbuds walked past me, I heard the music blaring out of the tiny speakers and then, the most depressing part, realized that I could tell what band she was actually listening to. It was really sad.
Oh, and it was Coldplay.


#3 - Oprah

I like Oprah, but sometimes I just want to shake her.
Lately I have been watching her show when I'm home and today she had Vera Wang and the director and cast of Across the Universe as guests.
I like Vera Wang. She's been on Project Runway a couple of times, and she seems like a very nice person and is obviously very good at what she does. (Particularly the marketing aspect - i.e. she's on Oprah. Probably best PR move of the year.) This part of the show was good. While I didn't like all of the clothes she showed, there were some cool things and she's selling stuff at Kohl's now which I think is very respectable for a designer - making good clothes more accessible to "normal" people.
The Across the Universe segment however....not such a fan.
Let me say first that it was a very daring film that took a lot of work and I respect that. But...it was probably the worst movie I've seen in a long time. Well, since Step Up at least.
First of all, it was the most predictable movie I have seen since, well, Step Up actually. (Which, may I say, I was forced to see. I want my $7 and wasted 2 hours back. No joke.) As far as acting goes, the main guy wasn't bad, except his haircut annoyed the crap out of me - it was half mullet half hockey hair - not a combination I would recommend. Evan Rachel Wood was basically the same character she always plays. Naive, sometimes "depressed", sometimes "happy", sometimes "mad", but never committing to anything resembling emotion or conviction. The rest of the cast was dismal, except for the guitar player from Detroit. He was the highlight of the movie for me. Not only could he actually act, sing, and play the guitar really, really well (at least I think it was him...) his character was actually genuine and had a story that made some sort of sense. The music was okay, but the whole time I was waiting for Rufus Wainwright to show up and sing Across the Universe. His version is flat out amazing, so naturally I was disappointed when they sang it in the movie. I will admit that I liked Hey Jude, but this was not enough to redeem the crap fest that is this movie.
Oprah apparently LOVED this movie and so had the director on. The funny thing was that she talked just as much about the Broadway version of Lion King (which the director of AtU created or something, I'm still not sure) than the movie before bringing out some of the cast to sing a medley.
I don't think I'm alone on this, but does anyone else find musical guests on tv shows awkward? Especially when they're just singing with a tape (as in today) and standing there with one hand in their pocket. It's just weird.


#4 - My thumb

Prety much just to entertain myself, here's an updated picture of the thumb. Fortunately it doesn't hurt anymore, but oh how lovely it has become.....