Banner by Adam Friedli.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Zooey Deschanel
Actress Zooey Deschanel. I think you probably know who she is by now. I mostly want to say that while her new show New Girl doesn't look like it will cut it, you can feel free to see her in Our Idiot Brother and have a fantastic time. She was also pretty great on Weeds and Almost Famous, just to name a couple. She's a great actress.
50/50 (2011)
There are a million different ways to leave somebody. There's the usual. You find out that they have cancer and you just can't deal with it. So you pack your bags up and you get out of there as soon as possible. Of course, you can appear to be there for the person only to say something like, "I'm gonna miss you." By doing this, you've already written the person off as dead. You can make them deal with your emotional problems regarding the cancer rather than helping them deal with theirs. And then there's one of the more heinous ways: You can appear as if you're there for that person, only to begin a life anew behind their back with another lover. These are just the most easy to describe. When you're a cancer patient you get used to people leaving you. Maybe they're other cancer patients who couldn't survive - and don't pretend that this doesn't affect you as well - but maybe they're the people you thought would always be there for you.
Regarding 50/50, my strongest thought is that Seth Rogen was perfect. I have never watched a movie and thought, "Wow. Seth Rogen really nailed that one." He's been fun. He's been clever. He's been cute. He's done some good work and some bad work. But in 50/50, he was perfect. Seth Rogen's character Kyle is one of the few people in cancer patient Adam's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) life who never left him throughout all of his trials. And I honestly think that he is one of the best examples of how someone ought to act when they find out someone they care about has cancer. His initial response reflects a kind of terror and disbelief. (This was the first time I cried during the movie, and certainly not the last.) But soon he works his way into normal mode. He spends time with Adam like always. They talk about the usual things. Kyle is concerned with going out and getting laid. He is goofy and selfish, but in the way that he was always goofy and selfish. He didn't make the cancer about him. He was simply there with his friend, helping when asked, discussing the cancer when it is brought up, but first and foremost, being honest, being a friend, and being ordinary. Adam may have acted like he wanted people to treat him like he was going to die, but in truth, what he wanted was Kyle. Before Adam discovered that Kyle had read and highlighted a book (books?) concerning dealing with a loved one with cancer, I knew he was the exemplary individual in Adam's life. Yeah, I figured it out before Adam did, but Adam caught on.
I think the reason this is important to me is because I don't know that I can be that person. I don't know that I could keep myself from spending either way more time or way less time with a friend who has cancer, denoting by both that I expected the worst. I don't know that I could let things be the way they used to be rather than making every conversation about cancer. I don't know that I could let the other person's needs come first. I don't know that I could keep myself from trying to make everything about how I am going to deal with this person's cancer. My mother had breast cancer and I lived across the nation. I know that people thought I should return to Michigan, regardless of what it would do to me financially. But I told my mom to tell me when I needed to come home. She was cancer free the next time I saw her in person. It was a hard time and I have always had regrets. I still wonder if I could be the Kyle to someone's Adam.
I think that my final verdict is that if a movie can penetrate so far past my comfort zone and get into the nitty gritty of emotions that I try to push down or make all right, then it's a good movie. My friend Tom, who had cancer, loved the movie, and agreed that everything short of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's eyebrows felt real, felt close. 50/50 is a great movie, and I think it raises awareness regarding a problem that we will all have to deal with: how to deal with people in your life who are sick, dying or dead.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Lost In Translation: Faygo
There is often a hubbub surrounding carbonated beverages when you travel from one place to another. The most familiar argument is whether you call it "soda" or "pop" or "soda pop." Here in the North, people claim that everyone here calls it "pop" and they make fun of you for saying "soda." In the South, people claim that everyone calls it "soda" and they make fun of you for saying "pop," especially if you have a Midwestern accent. They will say, "Paaaaaap." Like everyone's from Chicaaaago. I don't know who claims "soda pop." Perhaps that's more of a temporal thing than a spatial thing. Those jerks from the 1950s (Get it, jerks. Like soda jerks.) make fun of us for splitting the word into "soda" and "pop," while we make fun of them for thinking that the two words can exist peacefully side-by-side.
As for the soda vs. pop debate, I can vouch that most people in the North that I have encountered actually call it "pop" whereas most people in the South that I have encountered actually call it "soda." Since I have lived in both regions and sometimes wake up wondering where I am geographically located at that particular time, I usually go with "carbonated beverage" or "flavored liquid." Why? Because they're non-partisan.
It has also been told to me that people in the South call every kind of flavored liquid Coke. If it's Pepsi, it's a Coke. If it's Mountain Dew, it's yellow Coke. You see, Coca Cola was invented in Atlanta, Georgia, so the idea behind this urban legend is that everyone in the south calls carbonated beverages Coke because of Southern solidarity. A co-worker in Denton, Texas once told me that all Texans, himself included, call these beverages Coke. And yet, I never heard him refer to any drink other than Coca Cola Classic as Coke. If he ordered a Pepsi, he said, "Pepsi." If he ordered a Mountain Dew, he said, "Mountain Dew." As a matter of fact, after living in Texas for three years I can say that I've never even once encountered this nomenclature in practice. I know that it does happen, but I think it can be said that the statement, "Everyone calls it Coke" is decidedly false when only a couple people have ever done this. My brother Micah lived in Texas for quite some time and now lives in North Carolina. He might be of a different opinion, but one would think that after three years of experience I would have heard this at least once. And keep in mind, I worked at an establishment that served fast-food fried chicken in Texas. If anyone were to fit into this stereotype, don't you think it would have happened there?
Faygo was invented in Detroit, Michigan. And considering that it is also often referred to as Faygo Pop, you might imagine that it has something of a Midwestern following. While it is said that Faygo can be found throughout the United States and Canada, it just can't be found in a lot of places I've lived. It's like ordering a Shamrock Shake in March in New Mexico. They have never even heard of the phenomena. They don't know that there are other McDonalds' out there that carry it. Such is the case with Faygo. Many people cannot imagine a world where a soda pop company called Faygo exists. But the people of Michigan, we know what's up.
In 1987, Faygo Pop was sold to National Beverage Corporation. Of the many subsidiaries, the most popular is probably Shasta. I'm pretty sure that this is where the division lies. In the North, at least in the Midwest, Faygo has claimed superiority, possibly because of our connection with the Detroit-based original company. But in the South, and possibly in other regions, people drink Shasta. We're all drinking beverages made by the National Beverage Corporation, though there is a noticeable difference between Faygo and Shasta variations on the same drink. I remember they served Shasta drinks at Taco Cabana locations in Texas, and I used to drink it simply because it was something I never remembered seeing in restaurants in Michigan. Little did I know, but I was drinking Bizarro Faygo.Now, this article is based on research, but also heavily on personal experience. Where do you drink? Do you have Faygo, Shasta, or both? If you order a Mountain Dew, do you call it soda, pop, soda pop, or something else? Do you call it by name or do you call it yellow Coke? Also, what other regional delicacies are you familiar with that you can't talk about with people of other regions because of their lack of experience? What did you once think was a world-wide thing only to find out that it is local? Drop me a line. Especially if your name is Micah Tiemeyer, because Micah is a little more of an Uncle Traveling Matt (Fraggle Rock, anybody?) than I am. But the rest of you can join in also.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)