1. I have a vague desire to see "The Strangers." The film has been panned by critics, but I think that horror films--unlike, say, dramas--don't need to be particularly well made in order to be gratifying. It's like pizza and steak: bad steak is bad, but bad pizza is still good. You know?

Movies like "The Strangers" present an interesting question: ( Read more... )

(this is a redux of a post i made earlier ( Read more... )

it's well known that atheists are inviable as politicians. a recent gallup poll found that, whereas 5% and 11% of americans would be unwilling to vote for a black or female presidential candidate, respectively, a whopping 53% would be unwilling to vote for an atheist; this percentage exceeds that corresponding to any other demographic, including ( Read more... )

it's always strange for me to hear people talk about how awkward or angsty they were in middle school, or even elementary school. i want to say that i didn't have the psychological complexity to experience real angst or frustration at 11; it wasn't a question of my situation, it just wasn't really possible for me to do things like worry about my ( Read more... )

odds and ends:

1. i'm probably more prone to envy than anyone i know. it is very, very difficult for me to feel happy for other people; even those i like. i would say that there are only three people whose happiness unconditionally makes me happy: J, K and R. this can make life less pleasant (and not just for myself), but i'm not sure i quite regret it ( Read more... )

this is from spike lee's "bamboozled." i really love terence blanchard's score here.

Click to view

I'm returning one week from now to Amherst, after a year away. My first semester at home (taking classes at UMN) was pretty miserable; probably the worst five months of my life, if that says anything. (I even gained quite a bit of weight.) The funny thing is that when I think of it now, and particularly when I revisit music I listened to then, I ( Read more... )

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-- or, "andy's annual vanilla sky tribute."

1. chuck klosterman doesn't get it quite right in sex drugs and cocoa puffs. he argues that tom cruise's decision to live a "real" life is confused; in fact, there is nothing which could be experienced or achieved in the "real" world which could not be had in a virtual one, since the perceptual illusion of ( Read more... )

i think about affection all the time; imagine it; wish for it; take it as a baseline for how i interpret my relationships and those of others. apparently i'm not discreet about it either, since barb describes me as clearly "THIRSTY, very thirsty" for affection. her immediate reaction is to wonder whether all this is the result of my parents' having ( Read more... )