Parenthood Season 2 Finale (The TV Show)

I just watched the season finale of the TV show Parenthood for the second time.

I want to love this show. I wish this was my new favorite show. A new X-Files, a new Gilmore Girls. It has all the makings of a wonderful soapratic dramedy. A Brothers and Sisters with different enough characters that I see no problem watching the drama of another family I can barely relate to, again. Don't get me wrong, I love this kind of show, and I so rarely find a good one, that when I do I'm just thrilled and will tell everyone about it, even though I'm usually a little embarrassed.

As an avid Gilmore Girls fan, Parenthood was on my radar right from the beginning. I'm pretty convinced Katharine Hepburn, Judy Garland and Rosalind Russell all dropped the best of themselves on the soul of Lauren Graham as they left the earth, but I digress.

Here's the problem. The show spends so much time watching itself, that the audience doesn't ever get a chance to actually see anything. What the hell am I talking about, right? Well, for instance, in a scene in which two people are looking at each other and talking, the camera will bounce back and fourth between the two characters, and often so quickly that by the time your eyes focus on a face, the camera is moving back to the other face.

It's really frustrating. I want to see the whole picture. I want to see the subtle facial expression that occur while the other person is talking. I don't want to have to work so hard to see what's going on in a frame.

The last two episodes were really filled with emotion, but so much of it was lost in the attempt to direct our focus to the speaker. I want to control where my eyes look. It's not a documentary, it's not The Office or Modern Family or Parks and Rec. Parenthood doesn't need the camera to be a character - no one responds to the camera in anyway, but we're forced to follow the supposed eye movements of some random cameraman? I can't stand it. Seriously. It greatly decreased the ability to transmit the raw emotion that the episode had been building up to. I should have cried. I should have cried a lot, but nothing.

So, I'm a little disappointed. It's still a pretty good show, though. I see a lot of potential in it, a lot, and I legitimately want it to be my favorite.

As soon as they start utilizing the full range of actors on that show, and focus a little more on the unspoken, it'll be through the roof.

My Funny V

http://siruguri.livejournal.com/


I discovered yesterday, much to my dismay, that I have been unconsciously, and now consciously scoping out future husbands. I have been a staunch advocate of singlehood since the dawn of my time, so I feel forced to attribute this only to the presence of a vagina, and all that comes with it.

Crude? Perhaps. But gimme a break here, Folks, this is a game changer. A couple of months ago, I was under the spell of what I lovingly refer to as "pure idiocy," aka, a large family, with four kids. If one, why not four, live a little, right? I was out of my freaking mind. And now this. THIS.

Every member of the male species is under scrutiny, many more briefly then others, but it's getting pretty ridiculous. Celebrities are on the table obviously, but I have even taken to googling their slightly less attractive, but closer to my age, younger brothers. Some random tall guy was looking at the river from our fire escape, and I wanted him to turn around...so I could see his face, of course.

AND, on top of that 'of course,' another: Of course, realistic possibilities, meaning not strangers, not people who live across the country and who are not famous, are not an option. That is why I attribute this to a vagina issue.

From here on out, until this little spell commits suicide, I will and must refrain from being, and this is the only time I will reference this in my life, "Drunk in pub-lik." It is absolutely, positively vital that I be successful, or the next thing I know I'm going to be holed up in some trailer with four little tykes screaming for their supper while my hick and I shape tinfoil into hats, awaiting Zeeton's orders. You laugh, but this is serious. Abortion suddenly becomes the only rational choice there, and I would just assume avoid that, too.

Pray for me.

A Doozy

It's been quite sometime since I updated - I've been busy with the damn drawing a day blog, which by the way, is really getting on my nerves already. It's been a month, and I'm just not sure what benefit it's bringing. I don't get any better, I spend an inordinate amount of thinking of things to draw, only to discover I don't really know how to draw most them. I suppose I will gain some things - patience, commitment, maybe a few random tricks of the trade, but I'm not sure it's worth it. I'm not going to stop, but I can feel other interests tickling the back of my brain, calling out, "Amy, play with me. Watch me. Listen to me. Read me. Make me. Paint me." You get the idea. My guitar is calling out loudest, and I may pick that up again here shortly.

My Asian American Lit class reads just about a book a week, and I'm behind.

We made it through season two of Californication, and were hesitant to start season three, but it's ok so far, just like the other seasons. Lots of sex, some drugs, some David Duchovny being very un-Mulder. I like it more than Human Target, but I'm not sure what that means. The Wonder Years is coming along - half way through season two. I never want to watch it, but once we start I usually enjoy it. I told my roommates to tell me to shut the fuck up when I hem and haw over watching it. We still watch Modern Family, Community, 30 rock and Parks and Rec - the funniest lost of shows TV has seen in quite awhile. I also watch Parenthood but my "macho" roommates are too good for that. Same with Brothers and Sisters, but even I'm losing interest in that show - then again I'm behind quite a few episodes, but I don't want to watch them until the seasons over.

What else? I was home for less than 48 hours last weekend for Cobin's first birthday and to try bridesmaid dresses for Sonya's wedding in July. Guava is the color, so a pink/orange color - actually I'll just post it here.

It's not quite that color, a little darker, a little oranger, but close. Actually even the color Guava on the website isn't the color of the actual dress. Anyway, it's stair climbing time. I have six floors in the building connected to mine, so when I get home from work I run up them as fast as I can twice. By floor three I'm usually ready to bust a lung, but it's kind of fun. I pretend I'm being chased, like in the movies. I do not run down the stairs though 1) Freddy Krueger 2) I'm clumsy and would hate to fall down all the steps - or even one flight for that matter.

I bought a Betty White calendar. March is totally cool:

I just got email from a very good friend of mine who I haven't talked with nearly enough over the last couple of years, but with just a few lines, he totally rocked my world.

"Saw your drawerings. Its like I am peeking into the artist's mind and finding chaotic order, the cognitive web that influences each day. Each time I react to a drawing, even if its in my own way and different from yours, this is THE connection. This transcends time, space, and unique experience; an inevitable friendship. A single tear rolls down my face, and I crack a smile as a warm chinook wind breezes through my hair. The heavy snow creeps above the sole, and against only thin in-step fabric--- a warm spring day rises from memory to reality, and I am six, and walking alone to school."

Holy shit, right. Essentially, it doesn't mean much to anyone else, but at the same time it totally points to this weird fucked up world we live in where things can be absolutely falling apart, and then we go and find these links between ourselves and other people, and those links are always there, no matter what, even when they feel broken or when we don't work hard at maintaining them. I'm always amazed at how detached I can be from the real world and feelings and all that good stuff, when I have people in my life like this, who constantly remind me that I live in this world, I participate in it, I influence and am influence by it, and in no way am I above it or beyond it, or somehow outside it. The inside experiences are the best ones any way, I don't know why I fight it.

Guess that's it for now - I'm going to go nurse my philosophical meltdown. Luckily, mine is far less serious than most, and will most likely go away with sunshine.

Ghoul Pool

Well, it's not so much a pool as a bathtub, but here we go. I do not want any of these people to die, but I want to be considered a psychic when they do. We all gotta go sometime.

These are in no particular order, but I will claim otherwise should some freak event occur in which these are in some kind of order.

Andy Griffith - heart failure
B.B. King - diabetes complications
Carol Channing - cancer
Fidel Castro - heart attack
Helen Thomas - kidney failure
Courtney Love - overdose
Harry Carey Jr. - mishap with a "toy" gun
Jack Lalanne - heart attack during sex
Jane Russell - heart attack during sex (may or may not be with Jack Lalanne)
Olivia de Havilland - I won't be surprised when Joan Fontaigne goes first. (stroke)
Kim Jong-Il - for some reason...I'm hesitant to speculate
Nancy Reagan - boredom, after suffering another fall
Mickey Rooney - on a horse...or heart attack on a horse to be more specific
Otto von Habsburg - on his throne, in his sleep
Snooki - punched in the nose, which stabs her brain
Billy Graham - swooped up by Jesus himself, til J-man learns he's an anti-Semite...
Phyllis Diller - lung cancer
Vera Lynn - heart failure
Zsa Zsa Gabor - cancer
Kirk Douglas - stroke

New Blog

Alright, I created a blog for the drawings. I may come to regret this. http://adrawingaday2011.blogspot.com/

The end of two thousand and ten, let eleven begin.

Well, 2010 started with the decision to move from St. Paul, back to Grand Forks to work as the secretary of the Anthropology Department at UND. I spent the first three months living at the America's Best Value motel, and it passed uneventfully, expect for on January 26th my friend Sonya gave birth to a little monkey. Not literally, of course, but he is my little monkey - a bouncing baby boy named Corbin, who I believe also came with an engagement ring.



I moved into an apartment on March 15th with my friends Ryan and Nick. We live downtown, above an organic food store, overlooking the Red River and the vision that is East Grand Forks, MN. It looks like a hill-less ski resort town in the moonlight, and like a shit hole in the sun. Not much to be done about that, I suppose.



Also in March was the birth of another bouncing baby boy, Elijah, to my cousin Sarah in Switzerland. I had hoped to find a kindred spirit in another March 11th kid, but he came on the 9th. Maybe that's close enough.



Let's see...in June we had the (now) annual Schlobohm Family Reunion with a little twist - instead of one day it was three, and instead of having it at Grandma's we had one day at my uncle's in Byron, one day at my aunt's just outside of Faribo, and one day at another uncles in Edina. And, as if that wasn't a big enough twist, we had themes: Hawaiian, All-American, and the 70's. I wore a dress in Hawaii, got sunburned and played volleyball in America, and was Mork (of Mork and Mindy) for about 25 minutes until my duct taped shirt's insulation threatened me with spontaneous combustion.



For the Fourth of July I met Sonya in Mil Lacs, and spent some time swimming and hanging out with her and the kids. Mary came up that day too, with her boyfriend Jesse, to watch the fireworks.

By August school was starting and I signed up for my three free classes: Philosophy of Economics, Creative Writing-Fiction, and Algebra. My job became slightly more complicated with the return of all the students, but it was a welcome complication. I also like when the student workers come back, they're very entertaining, and have really manned up to the task of keeping their old boss amused and free from unnecessary humming and pacing - we all know how I get in confined spaces. I hope they like their job, and appreciate having a boss that is flexible and understands how it is to be a student. Should they, unlike their boss, choose to participate in the real world, they will see how good they had it. Sometimes I'm too flexible, but you only live once, right? And who wants a boss who lives in the real world anyway? But, perhaps a New Year's resolution?

We had the Benson Family Picnic in Rochester the first weekend in August...the 7th, it was my sister's 22nd birthday. My mom's cousin gave everyone quite a scare when she wouldn't wake up the morning of the reunion and was rushed, conveniently, to Mayo. It's a long story involving a lot of information I "know" but don't really know, but she seems to be making an astounding recovery considering she had a large amount of white on her brain scans, and suffered spontaneous effects of brain damage weeks after arriving back home.

The smoking ban went into effect in Grand Forks on August 15th - just one step closer to making it illegal to emit any fumes in public - all the douche bags who like to fart or chew bubblegum in confined spaces are goin' down.

September through mid-December is kind of a blur. My friend Naomi had a baby boy named Dwight. Year of boys, I guess. One day I worked 24 hours straight, at three different places. I wrote my first official letter of complaint against my so-called "boss" and gave it to my actual boss. I got a B on my first graduate level paper, and an A in the class, from a notoriously difficult professor with whom I have had many times, usually ending with a grade of B or C. I'm tickled.

Now, here we are: 1-1-11. One year away from the year of the end of the world as we know it. It's so exciting. I suspect this year will bring an array of boring and not-so-boring events, but I look forward to it. Time goes by more quickly when I'm busy, and I do plan to rush these next few years, but not so much that I miss out, because I hate to miss out.

I'm thinking of doing a drawing a day and blogging about it. I've already done today's.



Happy New Year. As Otis Redding (and everyone else who's ever tried to) sang in White Christmas , may your days, may your days be merry and bright.

Bert the Duck and Cover Turtle

Holy shit, I have no life again. School is done. I'm sure I botched my 20 page paper on the freedom from coercion versus standard of living/quality of life...whatever that means. I should have chosen a less complicated topic, as usual, but whatever. I think I managed to hang onto my D in Algebra, maybe even bumped it up to a C...that's pushing it though. My creative writing class should be the saving grace in all of this, I did a massive rewrite of my second story. Even if the teacher hates the story, I did a full on throw away of all but the first page, so if that's not editing, I don't know what is.

I have now watched Tron twice, started the first season of Damages, watched two episodes of Brothers and Sisters, watched It's a Wonderful Life, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Everybody's Fine (which, by the way, I cried through almost the entire thing, for who knows what reason), and Prancer (which I proceeded to Tweet about all night).

All in all it's been pretty nice. I'm going to make a diorama, but I haven't chosen a scene yet. One of my roommates is doing the basement from Wayne's World. It looks pretty good so far. I was going to go to Michael's tonight, but of course we're having a snow storm...which is why I'm still at work at 4:49PM - I didn't bring my boots...or gloves...or hat...it was pretty nice at 8 this morning.

I had a nice conversation with my NASA friend. He's worked for NASA, that's why I say that. He has a habit of making me think about what the hell I'm doing here. He's been to 19 countries, worked for NASA, worked for the oil fields, has done archaeology all over the US, is finishing his master's in Space Studies this spring, and to top it all off, he want's to go to Harvard for architecture. He's a "doer" like I can only strive to be.

I'm going career hunting hardcore. There has to be something I would like and would be good for a significant amount of time. Seriously. Tomorrow though - I'm going home now :0)