the lost boys

I finally saw Lost Boys.

There are a lot of things to be said.

1. the Coreys were ridiculous. And now one is dead. Which is pretty sad.
2. the fake blood was awful. It made me want cherry Kool-aid
3. Jason Patric is a dreamboat.
4. Jack Bauer officially scares the shit out of me.
5. what? Rory Gilmore's grandfather is a vampire? THE vampire??
6. the concert scene almost made me pee my pants. body oil + huge pony tail + SAXOPHONE = me laughing uncontrollably through a fairly important scene, it turns out.
7. Bill (of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, you know, the one who's NOT Keanu Reeves) must have famous parents. Seriously, how does someone with a face like that get into show business?

Overall, I really enjoyed it. Here is my favorite scene:




If I ever get a husky, I'm naming him Nanook.

what's with all the dystopia?

So I finally picked up my next book for book club, A Clockwork Orange.

When we were deciding on books in the spring, most of the suggestions were ones we never read in high school but felt like we should have. So far, East of Eden has been my favorite and is going on my list of Top Ten Books I Didn't Want to Read Originally, But Ended Up Enjoying. Included on the list are Name of the Wind and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? However, I don't think this new book is going to make that list (but then again, that's the nature of the list, isn't it?)

I'm getting a bit burnt out on dystopia. So many of the books we read in high school take place in a sad, grey future where problems during the date of publication are amplified to the nth degree. Books like Farenheit 451, Anthem, 1984, and Brave New World paint pictures of a dismal future where everyday man has accepted a life without books, or names, or become dependent on drugs like soma to endure the sad state of the world. Even my favorite book in elementary school, The Giver, depicts a future without color and without memory.

I fear for the future. I am sure that within 50 years, the oceans will be polluted or dried up, nuclear war will break out, robots will rebel, and aliens will plumb our green planet for needed resources. And I am "sure" of this because of the countless books I have read that tell me that our future is depressing and dark. That the sun will burn out and men and women will be used as batteries for large sentient machines.Look at the movie Wall-E! Earth is a dump, humans have fled the earth, and the only creature remaining in the rubble (that doesn't require solar charging) is a cockroach. No doubt the people that produce these movies and novels hope to influence people; to induce change and new thinking that could save us. But I don't feel empowered and capable of change. I feel crushed by the weight of outstanding evidence that tells me the future will suck. I feel powerless and scared.

The only solution to NOT feeling scared, I believe, is to stop reading these books. But it may be too late. Especially since I have to read this one for book club.

OR I can just concentrate on the movies and books with good futures. Like...

• Back to the Future II
• Star Trek
• ...that's all I can think of.

eye-popping

So I just watched 28 Days Later for the first time ever. I know.

I love movies. Especially thrillers. Especially thrillers with ambiguous names. Especially thrillers with ambiguous names about the zombie apocalypse. But NOT thrillers with ambiguous names about the zombie apocalypse starring Cillian Murphy, featuring him popping NON-INFECTED people's eyeballs just because he's feeling a bit overprotective.It's just a surprise that I've never seen this until tonight.

But not as big of a deal of never hearing the song American Pie, as my friend admitted to a shocked trivia team last week.

I still don't believe her.

RLS: I am being courted by a hipster, part 3

Yes, that's right. part 3. Because the story just wasn't. over. yet.

So a few things since last time:

You may recall that this boy sent me a text message asking if I received the mix tapes he left right under my face. I did not respond to him. And I feel pretty crummy about that. However, I did warn him that I rarely answer my phone and am very slow with text messages, so he was at least slightly prepared for it. I wanted to say something- something that might deter him- but couldn't think of the right response, so I just never did. And 8 days after he sent it, I deleted it from my inbox.

Anyway, I woke up this morning and checked my email for a response from my boss, hoping the message would just say: "Of course, Claire! We are hiring 4 more employees so the workload will be lighter and when you go on vacation no one will hate you!" And of course the next thing I did (after receiving a much less helpful reply) was check Facebook.

Most days there is nothing new to see in the morning because I was on the computer late the night before, but this morning I found a message in my inbox. It was not a book club reminder, or a request for prayers, or something from my roommate saying "I found a lamp! It's perfect; there are owls ALL OVER IT," but an invitation to dinner from him.

I've decided to share it with you. I wasn't sure if that would be a mean thing or not, but it helps the story to know exactly what was said. Subj:Hey Claire-

I've come to the park a couple times to tell you that I would like to take you out to dinner. but you look so busy, and I feel bad to pull you away from your job.

Would you like to go to dinner with me?

This short note reveals several things.

1. I was a lot better at hiding my uncomfortableness and get-me-outta-here face than I though I was
2. He restarted his Facebook.
3. He has been watching me at work without my knowledge.
   

Let me go back to #2 for a second. My freshman year at the College of Charleston, I went on a blind date with a Citadel cadet.

For those of you that don't know, the Citadel is a military college in Charleston with no affiliation to any branch of the military, where young men (and a handful of women) willingly attend four years of mandatory ROTC. The freshman are called "knobs" because their bald heads are so shiny and round, they look like they might open doors.

My friend at the time was asked on a date and refused to go alone (because honestly, they're a bit creepy- especially when they hang around outside the girls' dorm on a Saturday night like piranhas) so I went with her for moral support. After the "date"-which was mostly me listening to how great the Citadel is because the older kids beat you with sticks and freshman can't use condiments- we went home, impressed that we had had a truly collegiate experience.

Two days later, I decide on a whim to listen to a friend's band on Myspace (Absence of Ocean- check em out) and check my homepage which I haven't been to in ages. Because let's face it, Myspace is the creepy abandoned theme park of the internet. And I have a friend request. From the knob! The knob who never learned my last name. Creepy. I said yes anyway, went to his page and he has two friends: Me, and Tom the Myspace Guy. Which led me to the obvious conclusion that he created a Myspace just to friend me.

back to the hipster: So I saw his back-on-facebookness and I drew a similar conclusion. That may be a bit self-centered. I dunno. Either way, he's back on the internets.

Anyway, the bigger issue. #3- he has been watching me while I'm at work. Watching me. Enough to discern that I was too busy to talk to him. GAH.
So hopefully that is the end of the story. I let him down gently, via FB message, which I hate to do b/c that is a lame way to communicate about this sort of thing. And he ended it with "see you at Trivia" so I don't think there are any hard feelings. But it could mean a pretty awkward Friday at Starbucks.

pills

My mother is trying to force Daniel to swallow his antibiotics. This is the kid that throws up every time he goes to the dentist. And I mean every time. His gag reflex is more sensitive than a 13 year old, which should tell you something.

She tried hiding the pill in whipped cream (huge mess) and yogurt (nice try). And now it's causing a huge fight because Ryan has decided to chime in with parenting advice. Because who knows more about these things than a surly 13 year old who barely recognizes the world outside his Xbox360?

Some things are just skills you have to learn, and apparently swallowing tiny pills is one of them.

(I'm looking at you, MH)

pow!

Happy Independence Day!

ah, family.

Someone my mother knows on FB posted an article like this, claiming that Obama hates the British because his grandfather was tortured by British soldiers during a rebellion in Kenya. Honestly, if Obama is harboring any ill feeling toward Great Britain, it might be because of this:

Anyway, the article got me to thinking. I could never be president.

If they pull out Obama's grandfather and say that because his grandfather was tortured by the British he now hates GB, then I can only laugh at what the media could dig up about my family.

So I'm gonna come clean about it in public, right now. Just so the media won't make me look like I was hiding it later on my campaign trail.

MY great-grandfather was tortured by the British.As a member of the early IRA, he was interrogated and water-boarded (and a whole lot more unspeakable things), then kicked out of Ireland and sent to Australia. He stayed there for a few years, all the while writing letters to my great-grandmother pleading with her to come meet him in Australia. But she refused because the entire country was full of criminals. So they decided to meet in America. It's kind of a romantic story, actually.
She took a boat from Cork to New York, and he came through California. His brother was already in the states working as a policeman, and got him into the country in what my grandfather assures me was a completely legal and legitimate way. He traveled across the country to her and on his way discovered the opportunities available in the Midwest. The two married and settled in Detroit, where they raised my grandfather, and where he met my grandmother.

My dad's side of the family might be a bit more scandalous. I can't even imagine the number of things someone could dig up if they were to actually pay for the genealogy services online. Artists, architects, doctors and lawyers, sure. But also a distant relative that apparently tried to commit suicide by laying behind the wheels of the family car as his wife backed out of a parking space. Jokingly referred to as "Cousin Speedbump" by my Uncle Larry. And she was murdered by her husband with a hammer.
We are also tied to a haunted house in New Orleans (a city I recently discovered the DeBuys family has lived in since before the Louisiana Purchase) and a woman who cruelly mistreated her slaves named Madame LaLaurie. A woman my paternal grandmother told me I resemble very closely. Great.I don't see it. But what a legacy, eh? I think I'll name my first daughter Delphine in her honor. If you want to hear a disturbing story, just visit this website: www.prairieghosts.com/lalaurie.html

And those relatives are just the ones I know about. If years from now I ever decided to run for office (which I won't because let's face it, I could not handle the pressure), I shudder to think what else could be found out about my wonderful family.

Maybe next time I'll focus on the cool relatives, like a dueler way back when:

"The DeBuys-Alpuente duel was also fought with double-barreled shotguns with single balls. DeBuys was saved by a Hollywood ending in which the ball hit a twenty-dollar gold piece in his waistcoat. Feeling lucky, he crossed swords with Aristide Gerard later that afternoon and received fourteen wounds. A born duelist, DeBuys is known to have fought twenty-four duels."

awesome, right?

EDIT: If you tried to comment and it didn't show up, I did NOT delete it. I gotta fix some settings I guess.