May 5, 2009

Come Dance With the West Wind

As I left work yesterday to go "crack the whip" on a youngster who won't do his homework unless a "tutor" sits with him, I drove down a road I don't use often. It's a cracked concrete road, like many of the winter-ravaged roads around here. There are areas of it that I watch like a hawk, because not only do oddly shaped potholes crop up overnight, but long fissures gape open, sometimes three inches or more wide. I just got new tires and I sure don't want to replace any - or do worse damage.

So as I was driving down this road, leaving the "industrial" area (really just a bunch of business-to-business companies ... and AT&T), and as I'm reaching a minor retail area, we pull up to a stoplight. Gas stations, Goodwill, Walmart, Meijers, Applebees, a couple of banks, apartments. Just three minutes back down the road and there's trees and prairie and little traffic. Right here, it's bustling.

Playing in the thermals above the traffic were two hawks. Circling, dipping down - obviously just goofing around. Made me wish I had my good camera with me and that I'd had the time to pull over, set up and take some shots. Of course, if I'd had the time for that, they probably would have flown off anyway. Was definitely a joy to behold.

Which kind of made up for the fact (kind of) that the youngster I was supposed to tutor bailed on me. Apparently he's in big trouble and is now grounded. Gee, this relationship's off to a good start!

Then again, maybe I can tell him about the hawks ... and a time for everything ... including homework and basketball both.

(title is from a very short John Denver song I've always loved - "The Eagle and the Hawk")

Posted by Red Monkey at 5:47 AM | Comments (1) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

April 25, 2009

Growing Older

I was not really the kind of kid who did a ton of sneaking around on my parents. I never snuck out of the house, even as a teen. One of my biggest rebellions was watching MASH once, peering around the corner of mom's room, when I was supposed to be taking a bath. I hurriedly ran back to the bathroom, ran a bit of water in the tub and dried it with my towel so my towel was damp. It was enough to fool my mother (sort of - she didn't really believe me, but she let me get away with it since she hadn't bothered to get up and get proof). But that was just the one time.

There's just one TV show I can remember pretty regularly sneaking out of my room to watch. Maude. It was difficult for me to get the exact right angle to actually see much of the show and to this day, I have a hard time believing that Mom and Dad would possibly have watched it very regularly. I, on the other hand, was completely enthralled with Bea Arthur's demeanor, her voice ... and her character's very outspoken views.

I would tiptoe out of my room and after just a few feet, the back hallway opened into the front entrance hall. This gave a clear view of the dining room and about half of the den. If I was lucky, neither parent would stand up to get anything from the fridge or otherwise move. If they moved, I was totally exposed and would be busted.

I admired how Maude said precisely what she thought and damn the consequences. I also thought she had the coolest voice in the universe.

I know I'm getting old now ... all the tv and movie folk that I grew up admiring so much are slowly passing away. I find it's much harder to deal with that than the fact that I get tired trying to help a friend move or find my joints creaking in the mornings.

I adored Bea Arthur my whole life. This world is a much poorer place now that she's left it. Requiescat in pace.

Posted by Red Monkey at 4:50 PM | Comments (0) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

April 17, 2009

Punkd & Punked Again

So, I happily bought a lot of 43 vintage Star Wars guys from someone at work the other day. Also in the box (besides guns, accessories and such) were two Fisher Price Adventure People, which I also happen to hoarde collect. A couple of days later, the same guy I bought them from brought one more Adventure Person over to me. Now these guys are, honestly, worth next to nothing, but I had them when I was a kid and I love them. I was very tickled to add a couple more even though I do already have these particular guys. (Actually, I'm not sure there are any left that I don't have.) I put him on my desk shelf and grinned when I looked up. Nice deal.

And I come in to work one day this week and he's not sitting there. Instead, he's been covered in tin foil and placed on a Tech Deck (finger sized skateboard). He looks like a mummy in a sarcophagus. Frankly, I consider this awesome and haven't touched him. Every time I look up at that shelf, I giggle.

And then yesterday? Yesterday morning I walk in to this:

I laughed, removed them and placed it all in the candy jar on a co-worker's desk. And then?

I ignored the whole thing for a few hours. I get there before everyone else, which means I leave before them - so they have plenty of time to devise new tricks to get me. I thought I'd do a very mild payback. I said nothing. Then, as we were chatting at one point, I looked over at the packets in the candy jar, squinted and said, "Is that GoGurt in the candy jar? WTH?"

There was some muttering that it was mayo, but no one rose to the bait.

Later on, the print manager came over and was chatting to a co-worker about what they did to my keyboard. I turned around and said, "What?"

"Oh, you know, how they had all those packets in your keyboard."

"Huh?" I put on my best blank, stupid expression, but I was sure they could see right through me. As they fell for it, my expression got better and I just kept playing dumb. They were all disappointed that apparently the cleaning crew had removed the packets. As they continued explaining it, I pulled out my phone, scrolled to the photo I'd taken that morning and said, "Oh! You mean this?"

Heh. I had them going, but I really couldn't keep it up much longer - I was ready to burst out laughing. Apparently, though, I freaked the print manager out by my deadpan expression throughout it. My other half says my deadpan is pretty scary.

LOL Was quite fun. You really know you're part of the group when they start finding new ways to tease you.

Posted by Red Monkey at 6:26 AM | Comments (1) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

April 12, 2009

Confession

I have never seen the Wizard of Oz all the way through. I've seen bits and pieces, but not the whole thing. Also, the only reason I've seen Sound of Music all the way through is because I was the lighting director for my high school's production of Sound of Music. The "real" version? Haven't seen it all the way through either.

In fact, I've only seen two musicals all the way through. Brigadoon, because it was Celtic and I was feeling stubborn. (I believe, however, that I walked out of the room during some huge dance number.) And Chicago. Because my other half forced me into the theatre to watch it. The deal was that I'd watch Chicago if she's go see 8Mile in the theatre with me. (Later I had to twist her arm so she'd watch the DVD ... she did not see it in the theatre.)

So yeah. I hate musicals. With a passion. They're long, they're boring and nothing happens. And when it looks like something IS finally going to happen? The actors freaking break out in a song and dance number.

Meh.

So there's my confession.

Posted by Red Monkey at 8:07 PM | Comments (2) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Stumble

April 7, 2009

Just ... Gone

Spoiler Alert:
If you, like me, didn't watch the 4/6 episode of House Monday night, if, in fact, you have still not seen it, click away quickly. In fact, you should probably avoid the internet completely until you've watched it. That is, if you don't want the big plot twist revealed. Personally, I should have known not to even log in to Twitter today. *sigh*

Okay, so Los Interwebz are abuzz with last night's episode of House. People are talking about the "shocking" death of Dr. Lawrence Kutner. Of all of the various underlings, it seemed that Kutner was the most well-adjusted. He was a geek. He had a great sense of humour. He had some of House's crazy ideas without House's callous obsession with learning the answers no matter the emotional cost (or just about any other cost).

As it turns out, Kal Penn (who played Kutner) has been teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. He was working for Obama's campaign. He's pursuing a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University. He decided he wanted to pursue political science more than he wanted to pursue acting - at least right now.

That's some of the background.

Now, Los Interwebz have gone bonkers about the way in which Kutner's character was "deleted" from the show.

You see, people insist that there was no warning that Kutner was going to commit suicide. The other characters on the show certainly seemed to think they'd had no clues. The viewers seem to agree and many are calling it a cheap dramatic punch.

I have to say, I very much disagree.

Before I explain I should say something about one of my favourite movies - it relates, trust me.

That movie is Joss Whedon's Serenity. The pilot in this movie is a geeky li'l boy and definitely one of the most beloved characters in the series (and the movie). You can guess where this is going, right? (Cuz if not, it's a spoiler ... ) When we're most of the way through the movie, but still have plenty of time left to go, he pulls off a beautiful maneuver and they all land safely. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. And then a part of another ship bursts through and skewers him. Dead. Major character, major beloved character, taken away suddenly and seemingly without warning. We spent all that time getting invested in these characters and no one writing the show even considered putting a red shirt on the guy so we'd know not to get too accustomed to him. We had no real warning. That's just unfair.

Actually, it's very much like life, which is generally a theme Joss pursues in everything he does. He's not about dumbing down his shows to match some Hollywood misguided concept of what we'll understand or accept.

Now, back to House and Dr. Kutner.

The show has, in many ways, reminded me of some of Joss's shows. It's more "Hollywood" or "network" than realistic, to be sure. Still, the characters are a little more complex than many network shows. Motivations are a prime focus of the show and they're not always the motivations that seem easy. It's a show known for try some intriguing twists - and for tackling some serious issues around the topic of depression.

So. Does it surprise me that the tv show House killed off a major character by suicide? No. Does it surprise me that it was done suddenly and without much warning? No. Was I surprised that Kutner was the one who killed himself?

Yes ... and no.

Do I think there was no warning?

No.

Kutner was pretty well adjusted, yes. And he was a wonderfully fun character. But he was troubled and there was no doubt about that. He was adopted; his parents were shot in front of him when he was 6; he didn't have a steady love interest; he didn't really talk of friends. His ethics were quite questionable - after all he started a website capitalizing on House's reputation - and he talked about depression. In fact, to a certain extent, he defended suicide to Taub in a couple of episodes. Insisted that it was not necessarily an "idiotic" choice.

One writer states, it was "like the writers realized they hadn't done anything useful with Kutner in all this time and decided to make suicidal lemonade out of superfluous lemons." His fear, and I can understand it given the last season or so, is that there will be no overarching impact on the characters after Kutner's death. He says:

But based on how the show's been operating for a good long while now, I don't see his death having any real impact on House, and only slightly more of one on the others. And if I'm right, then Kutner was sacrifice for the sake of a Very Special Episode -- and for an incredibly creepy cross-promotional website (that I'm not going to bother linking to, or else it might help encourage future sites along the same line) -- and that's a waste of a good actor, if not a memorable character.

I tend to disagree with Mr. Sepinwall about this. We've seen some long term effects on all of the characters over the last year - certainly Wilson has been deeply affected by Amber's death. Taub is starting to show some long-term effects of many of his decisions. I think House is as well. He keeps trying new solutions to his pain ... and then gets scared and wants to get back to "normal." But I think something is breaking down in him ... he's beginning to "get" how he affects other people and he's beginning to not like that effect.

However, the show is still a mainstream network show, not an indie flick, and I certainly don't think they've done with any of the characters nearly as much as they should have. There's no overarching plot consistency as there is on the best shows television has offered (shows like Joan of Arcadia, Saving Grace, and even Dexter). Instead, there's a loose theme that runs through all of the episodes, but the focus seems to be the Scooby Doo mystery of the current patient's illness.

With the caliber of cast and writers, someone needs to let them do the show right ... to really explore the depth of these characters and not be so terribly constrained by one hour, once a week. Take a risk and break out of the mainstream and give us the depth we need.

Kutner's death could be a step in that direction. For now, it's a warning shot to all of us ... to remember that we need to be involved with those around us. Not just a surface engagement, but reaching out to get to know each other.

See, no one really reached out to know Kutner. He was the cute, silly geek. No one needed to really worry about him.

And that's how it often is in real life as well. Not everyone slashes a wrist and cries about it. Not everyone comes to work drunk just for the attention. Not everyone shoots up the American Civic Association.

Sometimes they just disappear. Without warning. Without a reason that we can fathom.

Just ... gone.

Posted by Red Monkey at 6:36 PM | Comments (0) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Struggles | Stumble

February 22, 2009

If It Weren't For Those Meddling Kids

Once upon a time, I went to elementary school. Well, actually, I went to three of them, but this story takes place at the third one.

Nice suburban neighborhood in a part of Dallas/Fort Worth with loads of creeks and trees, sat Butler Elementary school. It was this insanely progressive school, on the cutting edge. Or that's how they portrayed the school. The reality was it was one huge one-room building, real cutting-edge. o_O

The year after I began attending, my language arts teacher was well-aware that I was determined to be a cop. Actually, I wanted to be Joe Hardy, but that's another story completely. So, when a flasher was reported to be in the woods behind the school - the woods that butted up to our playground - things were a little tense. Add to that, the fact that the group of kids I hung with and I played at the very very outer edges of what was allowed and I think we made our teachers a little nervous. Plus, we played detective stories almost every day. (Except when we were managed to get the entire fourth grade to play Star Wars and made Leia and Darth Vader walk out of the interrogation room stumbling drunk ... yeah, we were ahhhh, interesting kids.)

We were told, rather explicitly I might add, to NOT go anywhere near the woods.

Umm, yeah. Like THAT was gonna work on us. We understood how policework was done. I mean, we weren't just some snot-nosed kids poking around and messing up evidence. (Please forgive the old sketch...one of these days I'll redraw just this portion as a separate sketch.)

Of course, we hung out at the edges of where we were supposed to be, all but bringing binoculars to school in order to scan the woods more effectively. If my parents had owned a pair of binoculars, I would have brought them to school, no doubt. As it was, I crept as close as I thought I dared and convinced our little group to be very observant of every adult male near the school.

And then I found him!

The parks department had a man with a leaf blower in the park next to the school. There was NEVER ever someone from the parks department there blowing leaves. We found the flasher!

So we ran up to the teachers, panting, out of breath and delivered our discovery. I'm fairly certain that at least some part of me wanted to go run up and bop the dude on the head and drag him in to the teachers, but we did settle for just telling.

The teachers rather pooh-poohed us. There, there, child, sure you have identified the ra--err, flasher.

Turns out we were being incredibly observant. Turns out the dude was not an employee of the parks department after all.

He was, however, a city employee.

Yes, we managed to ID the undercover cop.

Oops.

I bet that poor cop never lived down his Scooby Doo reputation after that.

Posted by Red Monkey at 5:40 PM | Comments (1) | People Say I Have ADHD, But I Think - Hey Look, A Chicken | Storytelling: She was, of course, supposed to be sleeping. | Stumble