10.15.2013
10.14.2013
I had a bad reaction to autumnal decorations, yesterday.
There was a slow onset. Mitch and I were at some friends' apartment, and it was clean and cozy. Some festive leaves and a birdhouse awaited us at the threshold. And this should register somewhere from neutral to nice in my brain, but instead I had an irrational reaction to it. WE'RE DOING THIS NOW? I thought angrily.
This couple, they have framed photographs of vegetables in their kitchen. Glossy ones, cut out of magazines, and put behind glass. You can't tell me that someone has a sentimental attachment to plums, that the memory of sweet potatoes helps get them through their day. No. This is all-out, 100% decoration. They have a "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry" plaque hung unironically. And the worst part about all of it? IT'S FUCKING NICE!
Pumpkin-smelling candles! Little paper pennants in gold and eggplant!
I asked Mitch in the car ride home, what he thought of the fall decour, and he said, "It made me feel really comfortable." "WHY DON'T YOU MARRY THEM THEN?" I replied. Fine times.
The thing about it is that I'm not like that, and I'm okay with myself. I grew up in a house that had the nice decorations. People have actually hired my mom to decorate their houses. So my parents' house does pretty good in the decorative festivities. I picked up a lot of things from my mom, but the interior decorating wasn't one of them. My mom rides her bike across states, builds art installations, and helps old and hurt people learn how to walk again. I'll take some of that, please.
It's odd, though, how I feel like we all need to be doing the same thing, that the way other people live their lives has a bearing on mine. Human empathy, probably. But it's too bad that I can't just leave the nice people's gourds alone.
I figure it's a good time for this.
This couple, they have framed photographs of vegetables in their kitchen. Glossy ones, cut out of magazines, and put behind glass. You can't tell me that someone has a sentimental attachment to plums, that the memory of sweet potatoes helps get them through their day. No. This is all-out, 100% decoration. They have a "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry" plaque hung unironically. And the worst part about all of it? IT'S FUCKING NICE!
Pumpkin-smelling candles! Little paper pennants in gold and eggplant!
I asked Mitch in the car ride home, what he thought of the fall decour, and he said, "It made me feel really comfortable." "WHY DON'T YOU MARRY THEM THEN?" I replied. Fine times.
The thing about it is that I'm not like that, and I'm okay with myself. I grew up in a house that had the nice decorations. People have actually hired my mom to decorate their houses. So my parents' house does pretty good in the decorative festivities. I picked up a lot of things from my mom, but the interior decorating wasn't one of them. My mom rides her bike across states, builds art installations, and helps old and hurt people learn how to walk again. I'll take some of that, please.
It's odd, though, how I feel like we all need to be doing the same thing, that the way other people live their lives has a bearing on mine. Human empathy, probably. But it's too bad that I can't just leave the nice people's gourds alone.
I figure it's a good time for this.
10.11.2013
Church of Gravity
Mitch and I just saw the movie Gravity in 3D. It opens with a gorgeous shot of Earth from orbit. No people or ships are in frame for a minute or so.
It's hard to describe how gorgeous this depiction of Earth is. High definintion. 3D. Big Screen. Instead of just oceans, clouds, and the glow of the atmosphere, we see land masses, deserts, and major rivers. Then the, like, little shuttle shows up and the rest of the movie gets on with itself.
What I think would be really cool is if there was an extension of that opening sequence available for people whenever. If they played, in theatres, a long sequence of a view from space with the Earth slowly turning. You could walk in whenever, into the dark. Put on your 3D glasses and sit in the quiet. It would be like church, the beauty and magnitude of the planet that offers perspective.
Sometimes I think about Earth, how unusual it is that we live on a place that sustains life. The distance between us and anything remotely like us is astronomical (hah). I just feel like I should be happy since it's so unlikely for me to be alive and breathing oxygen and drinking water.
Even that doesn't always do the trick. If I could see the Earth on big screen once in a while, it would be therapeutic.
It's hard to describe how gorgeous this depiction of Earth is. High definintion. 3D. Big Screen. Instead of just oceans, clouds, and the glow of the atmosphere, we see land masses, deserts, and major rivers. Then the, like, little shuttle shows up and the rest of the movie gets on with itself.
What I think would be really cool is if there was an extension of that opening sequence available for people whenever. If they played, in theatres, a long sequence of a view from space with the Earth slowly turning. You could walk in whenever, into the dark. Put on your 3D glasses and sit in the quiet. It would be like church, the beauty and magnitude of the planet that offers perspective.
Sometimes I think about Earth, how unusual it is that we live on a place that sustains life. The distance between us and anything remotely like us is astronomical (hah). I just feel like I should be happy since it's so unlikely for me to be alive and breathing oxygen and drinking water.
Even that doesn't always do the trick. If I could see the Earth on big screen once in a while, it would be therapeutic.
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