Continued Research

To follow up on my interest in Chris Rock's Good Hair documentary, I decided to look up Tyra Banks' opinion on the matter-- I vaguely remember her having a natural hair day where she and others took off their wigs. Anyway, she had an entire show on the subject, semi-inspired by Chris Rock's documentary and it was SUPER enlightening. I didn't realize how intense hair was for black women. It's SUPER sad because the chemicals burn. And little girls have terrible self-esteem-- other kids made fun of them. One five-year-old was obsessed with a Hannah Montana wig, not because she loved Hannah Montana, but because she thought it made her look pretty. One woman went back to her natural hair and her mom won't introduce her to people as her daughter because she just "doesn't look like my daughter anymore." One lady was relaxing her THREE-year-old daughter's hair-- and that shit is super painful and TERRIBLE for your hair! Plus, they spend like, a JILLION dollars on all of the stuff! And the extensions! And it's so time consuming!

On Tyra, they said that historically, women with looser hair were way more likely to be freed and have better jobs and stuff because it was a sign of being the offspring of the slave owner, and the trend stayed.

I just really didn't realize any of this. I kind of feel like a douche because I always feel so sorry for myself and other women because of how much maintenance is required, even for the most low maintenance girls, just so that we don't look like complete monsters-- whereas, someone is going to be attracted to a guy no matter how little he does to himself. I just didn't know that black women had SO MUCH more pressure than we do. I don't do SHIT to my hair. Plus, I learned in health care sociology that black women are WAY more likely to give birth to a baby with low birth weight and black men AND women have a lower life expectancy, regardless of education or wealth (which is usually the determining factor), just because of the constant pressures of racism-- the stress releases chemicals into your body, and because it doesn't stop, it takes a huge toll on their health.

Anyway, if you want to watch the special, here is the link to the first part.

In other news, I have so much to do this week, and I didn't even realize it. I think it'll be okay, because it's mostly not academic-- it's just about finding time.

I watched Donnie Darko for the second time on Halloween. The first time I watched it was with Pat, and we were painting and chatting at the time (which I hardly ever do during a movie I haven't seen) and so I attributed my lack of understanding to that. Turns out, it's straight up confusing. I guess I'm going to have to watch it again, and I shall as I both own it, and think Jake Gyllenhaal is super attractive.

Also, I am currently rediscovering the miracle of The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys. I always consider it to be my least favorite of a trio of movies, the other two being Imaginary Heroes and Igby Goes Down (which, to be clear, is not widely considered to be a trio). But now I see that I really can't rate them in terms of favorites. The movie really is the shit! They all are! Plus, Jena Malone-- she might not be my FAVORITE actress ever, but there is something to be said for the fact that she's in the BEST MOVIES EVER! Seriously. Into the Wild, Saved!, The United States of Leland, The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys... plus Stepmom, which is pretty good, Life as a House, which isn't GREAT but has HUUUGE merits (of which Jena Malone takes huge part), Donnie Darko, which... is still up in the air for me, and I can't forget Pride and Prejudice, the Knightley version, which... in comparison with the 6-hour BBC version is INCREDIBLY all-encompassing of the story without being too rushed... a miracle that I don't fully understand.

But seriously, The Secret Lives of Alter Boys-- I need to remember to not underestimate this movie again.

That is all.

Update: All of the Malone talk made me need to see an interview (except let's be honest-- this is going to turn into a JILLION interviews) and I would TOTALLY want to be her friend! She seems like the fucking SHIT! Which shouldn't surprise me, given her aforementioned movie choices.

Not One of My Better Entries...

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but WTF on the Pope front. If you haven't heard/read, there is a lot of dissent in the Anglican community over the Anglicans allowing women and openly gay clergy. Soooo the Catholics have decided to allow the Anglicans who don't want gays and women in high places to join Catholic priesthood while keeping some of their Anglican-ness, INCLUDING their ability to be married!! W.T.F. I honestly never thought they'd allow married priests, and certainly not so soon. But way to fuck it up by doing it because they want to welcome (more) sexists and homophobes. Lame lame SUPER lame! Here's an article from the Huffington Post.

ANYWAY, last night I had a LOT of trouble sleeping, which usually isn't the case for me. But it SUPER sucks when it just won't happen and you're calculating the hours of sleep you have left and what you can get out of the next day so you can have a snooze.... fine. In the past. BUUUT in addition to that, I've had two successive dreams about tarantulas.

The first one was that my friend Amanda was coming out of a door to tell me a story and she mentioned that she had a tarantula. I freaked out and told her not to come out, but she did anyway and put the spider in my hand. I freaked out and threw the spider into a room. But before I could close the door, the spider SHOT back and me and was freaking out and crawling frantically all over my body. I screamed at Amanda and kept trying to get the tarantula off, but she smiled and kept telling me the story.

THEN, during my nap today, I dreamt about my "step brothers" and either another sister by my father or Indigo as a baby. Really hard to say. While this dream was pretty complex, at the end of the dream, I went into Cole's bedroom and he had a tarantula loose in there. I freaked out, obviously, but I also remembered my Amanda dream IN this dream. In the dream I wanted to call Amanda to tell her that my Amanda-tarantula dream was a premonition for the current encounter with a tarantula.

I THINK I'm a little stressed... and I THINK I know why....

(L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A. L.A.)

Yesterday I found an application on my laptop called FRONT ROW, which... may do other things, but what captured me was it's ability to show me movie trailers! Oh HELL yes! I'm not going to list all the movies I want to see because I'm pretty sure I was using this application for like... an hour last night. But ... be prepared for when I can't resist anymore. Also, perhaps you should look into this application. Seriously... I almost died.

Actually, there is one that I must mention. Apparently they've decided to make what seems to be another For Richer or Poorer, but with Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker as the leads (as opposed to Kirstie Alley and Tim Allen). It's called Did You Hear About the Morgans? and it takes place in Wyoming instead of Amish country. LAME!

PUMPED about Toy Story 3 though...

LASTLY, one of my previous anthro professors comes into the hillel pretty regularly and today I told her that I am officially an anthro minor. COINCIDENTALLY, for the first time, she attempted to give me a tip. Shameless.

A Bunch of Warm and Fuzzies

I LOVE the onset of seasons!!!! I LOOOOVE when people are bundled in their fall-wear! I'm probably biased, but I think fall is ESPECIALLY nice in a college, Boston setting. Some majestic old trees against the red brownstone buildings. All the students look trendy with their scarves and hats and vibrant colors and sipping on their coffees and teas with rosy cheeks and noses. People inside pouring over books and slowly eating a cup of soup. I like that the darkness sets in before 6pm and the sun is up before I can even THINK about opening my eyes. I love fresh apples and hot apple cider. I love fall playlists on your ipod-- especially when you steal someone else's fall playlist and a lot of the songs are unfamiliar but distinctly fall!

I'm procrastinating... but I just want to say that the travel mug idea-- gold! If I put a tea bag into my cup in the morning, there is no shortage of places that will give me free hot water throughout the day! Plus, it's caffeine but it doesn't FEEL like a huge body-altering amount. It doesn't feel like it'll give you a crash... but hard to say.

A little bit ago, I decided I was over my standard lipton tea bag and went to get a chai latte instead. Well they didn't accept cards and I only had $3.50 when it cost $3.91 (which I think is pretty ridiculous, especially when I was supplying my own mug...). Anyway, the girl making the chai latte ended up giving it to me for free!! Actually, more correctly, she bought it for me with her own points! And she wouldn't even accept my $3.50 in cash! How incredibly kind!!!! I've decided that my $3.50 is going to have to go to a street performer or someone homeless or something.

Also, I know that it's hard to find time, but I have to SERIOUSLY recommend getting the free podcast to NPR's This American Life. It just makes you feel REALLY good! I know that listening to radio for an hour is kind of hard, and I don't know that I would do it if my job wasn't made for listening to the radio, but... seriously. It's amazing!

Lastly, I've shown this video to a bunch of people and so... if you're bored and want 7 minutes of ... warm and fuzzies, I would recommend watching this Jon Stewart interview of a boy from Africa who built a windmill using only a library book picture and things he found. It's very cute and funny.

The Seductive Powers of Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Big week, this week.

I'm not going to break it down day by day because I know that's always an especially boring read. But I will say that I have a TV comedy midterm paper and oral presentation, my supervisor appointment, my LA application, a paper for healthcare sociology, film studies midterm, a Chords concert to perform in, a Hanson concert to go to, a viewing of Citizen Kane during Chords rehearsal, and cupcakes to sell. PACKED. Maybe that's how your weeks regularly are... but umm... not for me.

So... lame. Also I bought season 5 of The Office (I do not judge myself) which has already arrived and is BEGGING me to watch it! AND I got the last of the David Sedaris books that I have not read (I thought I'd already done that, but to my blissful surprise I found one from 2005 that I missed). Then I got a book written by Amy AND David Sedaris which... I may wet my pants over! These haven't come in yet (more intervention from the heavens, I imagine), but I am going to be very surprised if they don't make their way to me before my academic coast is clear.

I feel pretty good because I'm choosing to see next week as my payment for the week of sloth that I just had. Not sloth like the summer, but I truly did very very little this past week.

Today I bought a travel mug. I've been thinking about it for a while but I really didn't want to get one that wasn't perfect. I've had travel mugs before but they never stuck in my life and I'm pretty sure it was mug design (the alternative theory being that I don't drink enough tea... although now I'm pretty sure that I do). I just really want one that isn't going to spill if I put it in my bag when there is only a few drops left. I really feel that this should be a main feature for travel mugs, yet you always find the ones that have spinning tops to open and close it but it never prevents liquid from coming out-- thus, in my opinion, nullifying the purpose of being able to "close" in the first place (harsh? Yes. ).

So I've been waiting on this for like 10 days and I finally went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and.... well I got one that DOESN'T prevent spilling! I was SEDUCED! I was seduced by it's green color and promise that it was made from recycled material and can be recycled later! When I got back, I tested it to see if it was spill proof... but I knew that it wasn't. Damnit. Plus, I got myself a metal water bottle... which was another act of seduction. I reuse my water bottles anyway, so I KIND OF didn't need to make the purchase, but at least this way I won't get plastic water bottle BPA cancer (/I probably already have it from soda... how increasingly fatalistic is this generation becoming with the ever growing knowledge that every single action we do is giving us cancer? I'd say limitlessly fatalistic, if I had to take a guess).

Neat Stuff at Work

One of the groups that uses BU for housing over the summer is a group of future principals (I THINK... but don't REALLY care). But either way, I found this art that some children made for their teacher and I thought it looked REALLY COOL!!! It's almost creepy...