Whale Rider: She's So Cute

So I rewatched Whale Rider recently because Sexy Elaine reminded me that it was good the last time I was in Vancouver. And it was as good as I rememered, though a lot of that is because Keisha Castle-Hughes is the cutest kid EVER. I remembered as I was watching it that I always kind of thought that in some ways they weren't explicit enough about the gender role issue, and I know that sounds TOTALLY CRAZY given that the movie is about breaking gender roles in Maori traditional socieity, but there are actually points in that movie where I forget that the issue is that she's a girl and isn't supposed to lead the tribe because of gender.

I've always thought, though, that this is one of those films that's a little unfair to men. And I say this as somebody who's generally unfair to men. There's not really a single positive male portrayal in this entire film. Maybe the uncle - but he's portrayed as lazy. The grandfather? Portrayed as small-minded. The father? Deserts his daughter. Yep. This is a movie for women who have a pretty defined attitude towards men. For sure.

And also... Cliff Curtis.

 

Why Friday Night Ended Up Being Awesome

Hott Scott: Do you think you're the kind of person who only likes a relationship when it's new, before it gets, you know, less exciting?

Me: NO! I'm not like that at all. Why would you say that about me?

Hott Scott: I mean, you're like that even in, you know, just a conversation. So, think about it.

And now my empassioned love of Hott Scott is fading because I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT.

Friday was lovely. K-rock, Hott Scott and, at various points, Baby Britney, A-Train and Mikey hung outside at Road Runner with merlot and margaritas and those kids got d.r.u.n.k to the point where (and she may kill me for telling you this) K-rock was quoting a famously popular contemporary ballad's lyrics WITH MEANING AND PASSION as they related to her life. That's some wine down the hatch, people. It was good. I learned a lot about myself. And them.

Thanks, guys.

 

Where I've Been: Also Titled a List of Things I'm Really Good At

So, I went to Pittsburgh. I saw lovely Candy and Ferris and Dana and Pookie and the Kash Kids and Moon and it was fantastic. I don't have the energy right now to really, you know, dig into it, but here's a quick list of highlights:

- Eat'n Park and the Squirrel Cage the moment we got off the plane with Ferris, Dana and Pookie. That's the way you introduce somebody to Pittsburgh. Also, for your reference, here is the Eat'n Park Christmas Tree commercial that we all kept referring to like it was the bible.

- Realizing the free hotel room a friend comped us was at the freakin' Rennaissance. I mean, for real. I wish we'd rallied to get there earlier.

- Walking into my mom's house with the boy I had brought with me and having her immediately put an entire spread of food on the table and then introduce him as my "traveling companion." Way to walk the line, ma.

- So, hanging out at Highpoint, and I'll just use the quote that somebody else did. "I loved him. And I loved him because he was AGGRESSIVELY asking how the wings were, and he was sincere. They're good together."

- The Steelers game. That's right, ya'll. They lost. But we had club seats and the guy next to me was cool and the stadium is beautiful and it was a really, really, really good day.

- NOT the night I got drunk and threw up for hours while drunk dialing shamus. That part was just embarassing.

- The moment at the Pittsburgh History Museum when I found my grandfather's mine on the mine map.

I came home from this trip with:
- Happily colored pages from a coloring book that make me smile when I look at them in a silly happy way
- The most awesome music mix ever created
- A bottle or two of really good beer

Then, I did what I'm best at:
- I established boundaries that were important to me while managing to SIMULTANEOUSLY sabotage something that had been developing to be really good
- I ran from a situation the minute it got a little bit harder than I felt like dealing with
- I justified fear as practicality

I rule!

I'm going to SF for Thanksgiving. That'll help. Because that trip was so amazing, yet tonight I feel so terrible, which, ironically, is what I'd been making decisions precisely to avoid. I rule!

 

Yep. Still No Real Entry...But

You don't even understand cluster unless you've seen my life lately, but...

GIRL! And you know who you are. If you delete your MySpace profile and I have no real email address for you, how am I supposed to get in touch with you this weekend? Call my parent's house or email me and we'll see what we can do. Though, you know, I think I understand why you took it down.