The Social Network

Are you ready for a long-winded ramble on why I disliked the movie The Social Network? Because you're going to get one.

I finally saw it last night, and as with Inception, I was concerned it had been overhyped to the point that there was no way it could ever possibly be as good as everyone has said. Unlike Inception, I was right. I just don't get what everyone sees in this movie. For starters:

1. The Story

So this is based on a true story and, I'm sure, filled with some exaggerated plot points. Nevertheless it is a true story. And a dull one. So some college kid and a friend he meets his freshman year start up a website that makes them billionaires. Oh, wait. The friend gets cut out of the deal and only walks away with 65 million dollars and one less friend. Are we supposed to feel bad for them? I mean, think back to college. Some guy you meet comes up with a brilliant idea. You are good friends, but you haven't known him all that long. Then he pulls a dick move on his billion dollar idea and you sue him and walk away with 65 million. How upset are you going to be that you and this dude are no longer friends? I don't buy it. As for Mark Zuckerberg, same thing. Oh, boo hoo, some girl you liked in college won't accept your friend request. Oh, well. There was just no point to the movie. What was I supposed to take away from it?

2. The Dialogue

I loved the West Wing. I thought the way it was written and the words they used and the walking conversations worked so well. It's the White House. I expect things to be that way. Aaron Sorkin rights great dialogue. BUT, this rapid fire speak just didn't work for me in this movie. I know they are all in Harvard and way more intelligent than I could ever dream to be, but still. Everyone they meet speaks this way and that's just not what life is like in the real world. Eventually you're going to run across an idiot. They are everywhere. Everyone just took themselves way too seriously. It's "The Facebook". You didn't cure cancer.

Beyond that, it was just two hours of people talking really fast and suing each other. Rich people fighting over money. Boring.

It's one of those movies you watch and every one is praising and you just think why? I don't understand. It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen. If it was just a movie that came out about Facebook that I watched one Sunday afternoon, I might walk away from it thinking, oh, that was alright. But Best Picture? Not by a long shot.

And I'm not someone who needs a lot of bells and whistles to enjoy a movie. The Straight Story is one of my favorite films and there is absolutely nothing in that movie but a guy riding a lawn mower.

This movie just felt like it was so self-important, which is true to a lot of what Aaron Sorkin does. With the West Wing it worked. The White House and what they deal with are pretty important things. It's also why Studio 60 on Sunset Strip didn't. People writing for a comedy show are not that important, but they sure thought they were. People inventing Facebook, not important. Yes, Facebook is an amazing tool that everyone uses and has changed the internet. That's a pretty significant thing. I'm not denying that. But, it's still a website. People thought MySpace was pretty special at one time. Now look at it.

I love Facebook. I check it way more often than I should. Embarrassingly often. Like, every 10 minutes. It's sad, really. I thank these people for inventing it and bringing it into my life. But, I really didn't need to see a movie about it. Maybe a nice article in a magazine or newspaper. Or online.

The Cold and Little House on the Prairie

It’s cold today. Really cold. The coldest it’s been so far this season. Of course everyone is in freak out mode and it will be the only thing discussed at coffee makers and in elevators around the state. A chorus of “cold enough for ya” will be heard echoing off the snow banks as people wait for buses or to cross intersections. These sort of things make me very stabby. Small talk makes my skin crawl. And this weather brings all of that out. We live in Minnesota. It’s cold. It is the third week of January and it gets this cold every third week of January. It is no surprise. Yes, it is normal to complain about it. I complain about it, too. But let’s not act so surprised.

I started up my Little House on the Prairie season 1 DVDs last week and they have been quite enjoyable. That show is my childhood. I’ve seen every episode countless times and can usually tell which episode it is within the first 30 seconds of the first scene. It’s great to watch it without commercials. It’s odd how when you watch it on TV, as I have been for over 25 years, that it is the same commercials every time. Bankruptcy lawyers, medication for the elderly, electric tomato slicers, any number of “as seen on TV” products. Now I can watch it commercial free. And it still takes about 50 minutes to watch. Shows were so long back in the day.

Winter season is fast approaching on Little House. Knowing the show was filmed in California and that Michael Landon probably never stepped foot in Minnesota in the middle of January, it’s sometimes laughable how flippantly they treat the weather. But it does make me think about the real Ingalls and how the hell they survived living here on a day like today. A little log cabin with only a fire place and a thin comforter to keep them warm. Riding in wagons with the bitter wind whipping in their faces. Women forced to wear dresses while the freezing wind and snow blows up their skirts. How did they do it? I can’t handle getting a warm car ride into work and having to stand outside waiting to cross the street from where I was dropped off to get inside the heated building I work in.

I can barely handle being inside. I’m still shivering.

They should really turn up the heat in here.

Totally Lame

Work completely ruined me today. I actually cried. Totally humiliating. Not too many people saw the tears, but still, not very professional. I was just so frustrated that something had to come out. And since I couldn't actually scream and swear and wave my hands in the air at the person who made me so angry, the tears came out instead. Luckily, not in front of him.

I think I was so upset because I've been and things have been so positive lately and then to have this person just come down and start getting in my face about this issue that is just so not life threatening and that could be solved so easily if people would just communicate, I just found it so frustrating.

I was also pissed because I don't want to be upset about something like this. I don't want my job to make me cry. At the end of the day, something like this is just not worth getting upset over, yet there I was. Upset. And still it is festering in my brain. Probably because I know that tomorrow morning I have to go in and deal with it some more and that is just depressing.

So tonight I had a candy bar after dinner - which is something I don't want to do. And I am drinking beer - which I am also trying to cut back on during the week. All because some dude at work got under my skin. And I have no self control. It's lame. Totally, totally lame. But here I sit.

At least Community was on tonight. That made me laugh.

331 Club

I played at the 331 Club last night. I've been trying to get in there for a while now and sort of fell into a gig there when a friend's band had to cancel. I had a great time. It was so much fun. Shawn played drums and we tried out a couple of songs with him on the electric guitar for the first time. I also did a cover of "Johnny B. Goode" that I think went over well. Full set list below.

331 Club January 15, 2011

w/ The Absent Arch and Western Fifth

Setlist

Johnny B. Goode

The Paul Simon Song

Minnesota

Good to Know

Back at the Start - It's You

Cohabitate

Flavor (brand new - first time played)

Adore

Can't Even Tell

The Party

Good

Cast a Spell

I'm Going to London!!!!

I booked tickets to London this morning. Three days in London and then 24 hours in Paris. I'm so excited!!!! I've never been overseas before. I cannot wait. I really don't even know what else to say.

Yay!!!

Inception

Friday night I finally saw Inception. I was concerned that since I had waited so long to see it that it would never live up to the hype. I had managed to stay spoiler free, but knew enough to know that the ending would leave me guessing. And it did.

The most basic premise of Inception goes like this:

Leonardo DiCaprio plays a guy who has perfected controlling people’s dreams. He has a group of cohorts, each with a specialty that help him to achieve various projects he’s hired for. His group is hired by a businessman to go into a rival’s dream and plant a thought that will help him beat the rival’s company. It’s a tricky maneuver to implant an idea into someone’s brain so they have a very complicated process. And this is where all the action takes place in the film. There is a side story about Leonardo’s wife that is integral to the storyline and that I won’t get into here as I do not want to spoil it.

My plot description is seriously lacking. It’s a complicated movie that is nothing without the visual. It really captures dreams well. I was completely engrossed throughout the whole two hours. The performances were great. The action was intense. The story was well thought out. I find I’m pretty good at catching plotholes, especially in movies where time and reality are at stake and there were none I could find here. Of course, now I will go read about it online and people will point out a whole bunch of them, I’m sure.

5 stars.

Yes and Yes

One of my favorite blogs is Yes and Yes. It’s filled with positivity (just look at the title) and great To Do lists and little quips of joy and inspiration that make you want to go out and take on the world – in a positive way.

The writer of the blog puts out a Year in Yes calendar. I ordered one this year and it is so much fun. It has random holidays you didn’t know existed, days ear marked with cool things to do or try (Cultivate a new laugh on January 25^th or Learn the names of clouds on May 14^th, for example). Each month also has a specific list about yourself to write out. And a place at the bottom to keep note of the things that happened that month that you loved.

The list for this month is: New Things I’ll Try This Year.

Here’s my list (so far):

- Retry Indian food. Every time I’ve had it in the past, I’ve hated it. But as a vegetarian, it is always suggested to me. My taste palette has changed a lot, so maybe I’d like it now. I used to hate sushi and can’t get enough of it now, so who knows? But I’m willing to give it a shot. Just, nothing spicy.

- Touring. Okay, so this one completely relies on if finances and vacations are plentiful and if I think my album is doing well enough in certain areas to actually venture out. I’ll figure this out once I get my final report back from the radio promotion company I’m using.

- Learning The Banjo – WELL. I have a banjo. I got it for my birthday last year. It is a much more difficult instrument to play than I thought it would be. I thought since I play guitar and the ukulele that picking up the banjo would be a cinch. Not so. So I really want to concentrate on learning how to play it.

- Learning To Play Piano – WELL. I can play the piano. I know the chords, I can hit the chords. I just do it more slowly than I would like to and I still have trouble with one hand doing one thing and the other doing something completely different. So I want to work on this.

- Sending Out Holiday Cards. I want to send out holiday cards. And I don’t mean wishy washy Christmas cards or a picture of Matt and me or a yearly update letter, but I want to make something and send it out at the end of the year to friends and family. I really want to focus on being as creative as possible this year.

- Become An Expert At Cooking At Least One Dish. Right now the only dish I know how to make is Broccoli and Cheese Casserole. It serves me well at holiday get togethers, but I need to learn how to make something a little lighter and versatile. Something I can whip up at home for dinner or bring to dinner parties.

- Learn To Sew. I don’t want to make scarves or blankets, but I do want to learn how to sew a button back onto a sweater if I need to.

The one thing that just came to me this morning and I thought would be super fun to try to do is start a “Mix Tape Trade Off”, but with CDs, of course. I love getting CD mixes. I love making CD mixes. Wouldn’t it be fun if once every couple of months you got several mix CDs full of new songs from your friends in the mail? 1. Getting presents in the mail is awesome. 2. Getting new music is awesome. How could this not be fun? But I’m really bad at organizing things like these, so we’ll see if that happens.

One new thing you should try this year is reading Yes and Yes. It really is a great blog with cool features. And the Year in Yes calendar is currently on sale.

Get Out Your Tinfoil

I am officially disturbed by all the dead birds and dead fish turning up. I am incredibly gullible and I love conspiracies and myths and all that nonsense. Doesn’t it seem strange that birds started falling from the sky after the New Year when we are just one year away from 2012, the supposed end of times? How freaky is that! Should I start stock piling and digging my underground bunker?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/01/dead_birds_dead_fish_turn_up_a.html

Here We Go

It is the new year. 2011 is here. It is January. It is cold and dark. But not as dark as December. The sun stays out until close to 5:00 now. So that’s nice. It’s still pitch black when I get up in the morning, though. I’m back at work and I would much rather be at home, so nothing has really changed there. And I like my job, so I don’t know how people who hate their jobs get up in the morning.

I’m looking ahead to the following months and I have a lot I want to accomplish. I need to dive in and get myself out there. And if that means late nights at local music venues networking and getting myself known, then so be it. And if that means going out alone on those nights and drinking only water, so be it. I need to do this.

I can and I will.

2011 is going to be awesome.

How?

Today Gabrielle Carteris, better known as Andrea Zuckerman from Beverly Hills, 90210, turns 50 years old. 50!!! I know 90210 debuted 20 years ago. But, still...50! This stuns me for some reason. It makes me feel old. I'm the age that she was when she played Andrea. Which is also crazy. She was in her 30s playing a high school kid. I mean, out of all the actors in Hollywood, they couldn't find someone closer to 16 to play the part of the nerdy Andrea? It's not like she was winning Emmys.

But, whatever. Andrea Zuckerman is 50 and, for whatever reason, that makes me old. So, happy birthday, Gabrielle.