Friday, February 22, 2008

la la la

My IPOD is possessed. I literally have it nearby all the time, since I have realized that music keeps me sane. (or happy, excited, or calm - whatever the situation calls for.)

Anyway - I KNOW I turned it off after the gym last night. Then pressed the 'lock' button so that when I shove it in my pockets or bag it won't turn on and drain the battery. I double checked it. OFF.

Not so much. Last night, around 11 I'm lying in bed and hear this faint noise like singing. I start wandering around my room - sure enough my IPOD is playing through my headphones. Strangely, it is still in 'lock' mode.. which means it could not have turned itself on. And, it is on a different playlist than what I had it on. Perhaps our house ghost, Eugene*, enjoys my music as much as I do, and wanted to listen?

*He's real, he flickers lights, turns off the TV while we are watching it, turns on the faucet, hides our things, and leaves dishes in the sink. Apparently he listens to IPOD's as well.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

npr

Yes, I am a dork. In the past month or so, I have become addicted to NPR - national public radio. For those of you in town - 90.0 (WBUR) carries NPR.

I find myself switching to this station more than the alterna rock or pop stations, or even the simple station surfing I used to enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I still love WBCN from 3-7 pm which (usually) is the funniest radio show - Toucher and Rich. (Ridiculous, and slightly immature humor, sometimes crosses the line, but nevertheless, hilarious.)

Who would have thought that I would care to listen to the political updates, and BBC news? I guess I sometimes get caught off guard when I realize that I actually am an adult.

Monday, February 18, 2008

crushes and covers

This weekend I saw The Last King of Scotland http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455590/.
Great movie - A bit graphic/gory at times, but a good story. (It is the story of Idi Amin, the president /dictator of Uganda from 1970-1979...and all the corruption and genocide that ensued during his reign.) On a lighter note, one of the main characters is my new celebrity crush. . James McAvoy. You may remember him as Mr. Tumnus the fawn, from The Chronicles of Narnia. Judging from his pics on
http://www.imdb.com/, he is cuter in films. I think it was the Scottish accent in The Last King of Scotland that got me.. I have a thing for accents apparently.

Is it possible to have a 'crush' on a song? How else would you describe the short lived obsession with a song that causes you to download it and play on repeat (and perhaps sing it ridiculously loudly in your car, by yourself)? I know other people who do this too, I'm not crazy! Anyway, I currently am a fan of the Jim Sturgess covers of Beatles songs from the Across the Universe soundtrack. Particularly "Girl", "Something", and "All My Loving." Check him out on the soundtrack, or more simply, on his myspace artist profile -
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=152893222

Monday, February 4, 2008

families

I heard on NPR about how some families were suing a teacher/school district due to questionable material presented in an elementary school class. The lesson was on types of families, and the book being read included a family with a same sex couple as parents. I can see where this is going, but have a hard time understanding why.. but I'll get to that in a minute.

So, some parents are upset that the teacher did not alert them of the lesson, so they could exclude their child from it, due to its 'questionable material', stating that same sex couples were against their religious beliefs. Again, I understand, maybe you want to be alerted so that you can discuss how your personal beliefs fit in with the lesson.

However - my issue is - you can teach your child that their religion is intolerable of certain things, or holds certain beliefs, but as members of society, these children need to be aware of what is in their world. If they make friends with a kid who has two moms, or two dads, do you forbid them from hanging out just because your religion does not allow same sex unions?

People love to overreact. The parents really need to take responsibility themselves and say to their kid, Yes, you learned this is part of society, however our religion believes in 'x'. And then, they have to be prepared to deal with the questions the kids have, and the possible revolt against religion that their kids could have. It is not the teacher's responsibility to make the religious connection for kids (in a public school). Maybe these parents should home school !