Teen Witch

So, Teen Witch is a 1989 fantasy movie (according to ABC Family) that comes on ABC Family every Halloween as part of their 13 Nights Of Halloween.

Teen Witch is also pretty much the greatest movie ever. Though it came out in 1989, much like movies that came out in the super early 90s, it is quintessentially 80s. And even though my best friend insists that I am pretty much the gayest person ever for liking this movie so intensely I say, "Not true!" This movie is simply awesome.

Summary/Spoilers: There's this chick named Louise. She has a best friend named Polly. They live in a world where people believe shoulders are simply too small and must be altered with shoulder pads. It's kind of like how a lot of chicks wear padded bras when they think they're boobs should be none-surgically bigger, except the shoulder pad thing is for guys and girls. People also tease their hair in many different fashions, wear large scrunchies, and listen to music heavy with hooks and power chords.

Now, Louise and Polly, despite living in this awesome world of shoulder pads and power chords and adhering to the dress code of the times, are total losers. They are the things upon which bottomfeeders feed. However, after a night on a date with a total creep, Louise stumbles upon this psychic's shop and finds out that she's a witch--for real real. And then she's all, "Oh my god! This is *so* great!" She takes Polly to this great concert and she ends up getting this rock goddess' jean jacket and she uses said jacket in a spell to make her the most popular girl in school.

It totally works too, because the next day, when she walks outside a walk track is playing for her. A walk track, people. And then she ditches Polly, who she used to ride bikes with every day to school, and rides with these cool kids in their awesome car instead. [And then there are some interesting things involving theatre and there's this one scene where Polly raps against these three cool eighties dudes, but all that's not important part].

Louise is loving her new found popularity and everything is perfect. Then there's Brad. Just by the way she says his name you can tell she's head over heels in love with him. And he starts giving her the eye and then some Kenny G like music starts to play and she gets in his car and they go to this under construction/abandoned house and he kisses her.

And she's so happy and everything's great...And then she goes back to the psychic to ask if the kiss was real. But she's unhelpful at first, asking her what's the difference if he only likes her because of the spell. However, she changes her mind and tells Louise how to reverse it, just in time for the dance.

Then it's the night of the dance. Brad is there with Randa--because Louise, afraid of his love/like for her being fake, told him to go with her. She breaks the spell. They lock eyes and...he still likes her, yay!

End of Summary/Spoilers

So, yeah. It's the best.

Glee, The View, & GQ, Oh My!

Today on The View Patricia Heaton filled in for Joy. Patricia is on The Middle, which I don't watch. At one point, they were talking about the television show Glee, which I do watch. Cory Monteith [Finn], Dianna Agron [Quinn], and Lea Michele [Rachel] made the cover of November's GQ their spread in the magazine is supposedly risque.

Sherri complained about the "sexualization of young girls" and said she didn't like seeing these types of pictures. Patricia complained about how she lives in LA and billboards with girls posed in questionable positions. Barbra pointed out that these girls are only acting on the show and they're not really sixteen or what not.

Sherri also told this story about some chick who was 35, but played a 15 year old on television wasn't allowed to drink in public because the network she worked for wouldn't let her. She portrayed this situation of a tyrannical network having too much say in your life outside of work as the ideal. Putting so much emphasis on the impact of television and actors and is damaging to all involved. It makes society look to television for how to live their lives, it creates no separation between actor and role [which leads to typecasting], and creates a society of weak minded fools who cannot differentiate fictional entertainment from reality.

However, Sherri shouldn't be worried about the supposed sexualization of young girls when the young girls in question are in their mid twenties. They're women and it's their personal choice to dress or pose how they want.

She also tried to blame the magazine in an effort to make someone responsible. She made this comment about how "Playboy is in a mylar package, but GQ is out in the open!" However, this isn't true. There certainly have been issues that have been obscured by a divider because of their cover has someone naked or nearly naked on the cover. And even though Playboy is in that mylar bag, these same dividers cover issues of playboy as well.

Barbra pointed out that if anyone young is seeing these pictures it isn't going to be the first time they've seen such images. Still, Sherri and Patricia seemed worried for the children who watch Glee seeing these photos, but maybe they should be worried for the children who watch Glee because they watch Glee.

Glee is has used the words damn, hell, ass, and bitch multiple times. In season one they had episodes that involved premature ejaculation, teenage pregnancy, and being bribed for your panties. I've yet to know a child that lives in a house with cable and without a guardian. If they think they're kids are too young to watch Glee or read GQ then they shouldn't let them, but the content should still be available to the general public. By not wanting these images available in such a way, they are asking society to do their parenting for them.

In other news, Elton John and Leon Russell made a record together called The Union and it's out and I'm probably going to buy it.

Reality

I would by no means categorize myself as one of those reality television addicts. I really only watch the auditions for American Idol [with the notable exception of Adam Lambert's season, which I watched in it's entirety] and those marathons of America's Next Top Model, but I by no means HAVE to see a reality show.

And then of course My Life As Liz had to go and pop up on the television. I'm caught between wanting to shake my fist and say, "Damn you Liz Lee!" and having to watch it whenever it comes on. Granted, I'm pretty sure I just saw the last episode and that I am beyond late in seeing it, but still. I have never really cared this much about the life of someone else that I did not personally know that was not a fictional character.

However, I think that aside from her being absurdly cool, I really like the show because of the parallels I find between her life and mine. I'm not saying by any means that my life is as interesting as hers or even really resembles her very much, but there were enough similarities to hold my interest.

See, she's kind of a music snob and the show chronicled her senior year. She abstained from things like high school parties and other things that were and still are pretty much a no-no for a typical nonconformist or "enlightened" high schooler. But I liked how she was honest too. Like how she said it was her senior year and even though she wouldn't typically do things like parties and prom, she did want to try new things.

But mainly, aside from being a sometimes funny, nerve wracking, and always interesting look into someone else's life, Liz kind of epitomizes two things I really value--living life without regrets and going after your dreams.

But yeah. It'd be cool if they followed her to New York and things like that, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't watch. Not because I don't think she'd not be interesting, but because I'm actually trying to cut down my television consumption and because I think the main reason I watched was because she was a high school senior trying to figure out the shit in her life and I was a high school senior doing much the same.

Now she's in New York and living her life and I am still trying to get where I'm going.

Wow, that previous line sounded a little depressing. It wasn't meant to be.

Dates

I know I'm a little late on this, but September 14th? September 14th? I have to wait until mid September in order to get Glee: Volume 2, Road To Regionals!? It is a travesty.

The only consolation is that ABC Family is showing Boy Meets World in the morning and Fox is supposedly showing re-runs all summer. I have yet to catch one of these alleged re-runs, but that is mainly a result of my failing and poor schedules.

But, yeah. I finally decided to look it up on Amazon and I'm half tempted to pre-order it and half tempted to wait until more people pre-order it because I think that'll make the price go down.

Anyway.

Summer has officially started which means that the temperatures are rising. The heat index is just baffling. Why is the world allowed to get this hot? It's unbearable and I stay inside most of the time. So now, in addition to autumn, Glee is a reason for summer to just end right now.

Meanwhile, maybe that oil spill will be taken care of by summer's end. On the news right now they're talking about the effect this is having on the Vietnamese-American community in the gulf, which is apparently a mainly fishing/shrimping/etc employed community. Also, the ticker says that Senator Byrd died. He was ninety-two. The ticker says that the cause of death is not yet know. I say that, hello, he was ninety-two. The average US life expectancy is seventy-six.

But yeah, back to that oil spill thing.

Setting aside that it was ridiculous that it even happened, there's all these families that no longer have any work because of it. And, you know, this probably isn't helping the unemployment rate any, but it does shine some light on human nature over all.

Most everybody gets angry when things like that happen, which they rightfully should, but then the interesting thing is what they choose to do afterward. Some people get really hopeless and give up, but then other people still have a peppy, hopeful attitude in spite of it all. Such attitudes are not only inspiring, but necessary.

And they're not just necessary in particularly trying times, but at all times. The peppy part can go, but the hopeful part must stay. Because, really, if no one has any hope in anything then they aren't getting anywhere.

Anyway, that's the end of me and the sappy stuff. I've got another episode of Boy Meets World to watch ["Everybody Loves Stuart" for anyone whose interested] along with breakfast and a long day of writing ahead of me if I don't fall asleep first.

The Clock

Groundhog's Day was wonderful, even if Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and we're due for six more weeks of winter. There's always a bright side, which in this case being that there's only six more weeks and not seven or nine or something (because seven and nine are sequential numbers).

So, this is another one of those just before I've got to leave for class posts.

I still have yet to continue writing a thing for the rewrite. That will change today; I'm on a schedule. I'm going to write like nobody's biz. I'm going to go to class, take notes, and write when the teachers lose my interest. I'm going to try to find any unforeseen holes in my plot.

Speaking of plot, I've come realized that there's really only one element that I seriously pay attention to. Sure, I make sure that it has conflict, and sure I make sure that it's sound, but I really pay some major attention to The Clock.

I remember when I went to the young writer's conference last year and there was this guy who talked about how he helped write films and teleplays and he talked about all the elements of plot, in particular the clock though he did talk at length about the other elements and the plot arc and such.

Now, the reason I pay so much attention to it is because it's the only thing that really makes anything else matter. I'm not spouting off advice here (because I'm kinda under-qualified), but rather rambling to myself in a rather public manner that isn't the supermarket.

You have the goal, you have the obstacles. The obstacles make the goal matter by making it hard to achieve. A time limit makes something matter more because if goal x isn't met by time y then it ceases to matter all together. The only thing I could think of that didn't have a time limit actually does.

The only thing I could think of was The Odyssey. Odysseus wants to get home to his family and is tossed and turned by all these events and he takes forever to get home. However, that has the time constraint element, because if he took too long he'd be too old, his wife would be remarried, or the family or him would die before they could be reunited.

So I've really been focusing on the clock lately and not just in this novel but in short stories. I think maybe one of the things I need to work on is other ways to implement time constraints.

Also, happy Black History Month. Now, I've got to eat, make tea, and leave. Did I have homework? I don't think I did it. Gee...

Journal Writing

Journal Writing

For one of my classes we have to keep a journal, writing at least four entries a week. The entries can be about anything really and the teacher doesn't read them, just makes sure that they are done every week. The entries can also be any length whatsoever.

Not gonna lie, sometimes in my entries I only write one sentence. However, on other entries I end up filling up pages of my notebook. Most of my class isn't too keen on the assignment though, and they end up only writing one sentence per entry. What is it that makes journal writing so appealing to some and so repulsive to others?

My classmates that aren't too fond of the assignment all say the same thing: Well, I don't do anything. The thing is, neither do I. Our days are largely identical, so what's the difference between us?

Over the years I have managed to amass a vast collection of spiral notebooks, composition notebooks, loose leaf papers, and various websites where I have cataloged years of my life. Why? They are for the most part very boring even for me to read. When I die they will probably be recycled. Plus, my time writing them could be spent writing stories or spent with my family or my friends. So why do it?

Initially, I could only really think of two reasons, the first of which mainly just applies to me. 1) the people I prefer to spend time with don't live very close and 2) it's so much easier than paying a therapist.

However, I did come up with a new theory consisting of two parts. The first part is how people who enjoy and avidly write journal entries are most likely introverted [in my opinion, I have no science to back this up]. The second part is that these introverted journal writers probably think better once their thoughts are outside of their head, and since talking to yourself has that whole, "You're crazy," stigma, journal writing is not only the next best thing, but an accepted form of talking to yourself [or an inanimate object for those of us who start entries with, "Dear Journal"].

Now, I'm not saying that people who write are introverts, just that those who write journals are. But hey, I could be wrong, and in that case, it's just a theory.

Speech Impediments

Speech Impediments

I read actual newspapers. I know I can get news online faster and all that, but I like the physicality of them and pay more attention to print. If it was up to me, the newspapers would never go out of business [which I don't think they will anyway because much I like to think of papers like phones. Mobile phones were thought to entirely replace land lines, but there are people who have and use both, and even those who just have land lines. I think this example is relevant to newspapers and even ebooks].

I digress.

This wasn't supposed to be about my love of all things physically readable. This was supposed to be about one of the things I read there. It was an opinion piece, one of those write ins I think. Anyway. Point, I have one.

This person was writing about the founder/president/whatever of BET making fun of some political official/person for stuttering. The BET person was trying to say that it was a sign of ineffectual communication on the politician's part, but instead of saying that he mocked the fact tat they stuttered.

Now, excuse the language, but I have to agree with the writer that that person is a complete and total ignorant bitch. They're mean and really stupid, because everyone knows that if you want to make fun of a politician for not be a good communicator you don't even have to go after their personal flaws/weaknesses. Honestly. Besides, it's not like most of them write their own speeches, so you could go off of that.

My problem with the write in was how the writer compared speech impediments to disabilities such as paralysis and blindness. Now, while in some cases it can be severe a lot of the times it's not and can be cured through various processes or at the very least manageable. I still think that founder person was terribly wrong, but I think that the writer exaggerated to get a point across.

I mean, they said that Porky Pig wasn't funny because he made fun of people who stammer.

Really?

Come on. I'm tired of everything that is perfectly fine being called some kind of prejudice and for every little thing being turned into a disability. I've a stammer and I've a lisp as well. Neither of them is as prominent as they used to be, and most of my friends don't even notice (unless I get really excited and try to talk about something so much faster than I usually talk).

So...yeah, I said I had a point.

Bottom Line: people need to think about what they say before they say it, stop being unnecessarily mean, stop turning every little thing into a disability, and realize that Porky Pig is funny, even if he does make fun of people who stammer--which I don't think he does (I think it's just a character trait).