A few of the rose bushes in the yard are still blooming. Nice.
190
2 years ago
Monday, December 7, 2015
Sunday, December 6, 2015
I'm an Old Fart
Heard a very catchy tune yesterday: Let's Marvin Gaye and Get It On, by Charlie Puth, with Meghan Trainor. I watched the video, and realized that I am an old fart.
The following were some of my thoughts during the video:
1. The video is set a high school dance. Target audience therefore is high school students. OK then!
2. How old is Charlie Puth? Good heavens, is he even out of high school? Babyface. (According to Wikipedia, he is 24. Still, LOOKS SO YOUNG.)
3. How many high school students these days even know who Marvin Gaye was or how groundbreaking his music was? Would they know know that the song referenced is Gaye's Sexual Healing?
4. LYRICS ISSUE 1: "We've got this king-sized to ourselves/Don't have to share with no one else." Well, I would hope not. Unless you're in to that. Oh, dear.
5. LYRICS ISSUE 2: "Don't keep your secrets to yourself/It's kama sutra show and tell". Does the intended audience know that the kama sutra is and ancient Indian Hindu text that not only discusses sexual positions, but also provides information about virtuous living, and the nature of love, family life and other matters?
5. LYRICS ISSUE 3: "You've got to give it up to me/I'm screaming mercy, mercy please." Erm, no. One never need give in sexually because one's partner says one has to do so.
6. You know, I don't actually need to see a closeup of any couple open-mouthed kissing. Ever.
7. The chaperones: well, she looks appropriately mildly disturbed by the wave of teenage sexuality that has washed over all of the attendees at the dance. He, on the other hand, looks like the sort of man who is dressed up to be nerdy but really isn't, and is rather a lothario who is looking for his own opportunity.
8. Meghan Trainor has SUCH a round behind. She's a lovely girl.
9. There's a guy feeding a girl a strawberry while she's lying down across the refreshments table: that berry looks rather large for him to be cramming it down her throat that way.
10. Well, by the end of the video, it's practically an orgy. Assorted couples all over the dance floor, the tables, in the bathroom stalls, in a car and in the janitor's closet (at least those couples attempted to find some privacy), everywhere. And I'll point out that on the floor of the gym, most of the couples have girl-on-top positions. Not sure if there's a message there -- perhaps it was just more visually appealing, since the girls' dresses and legs are more interesting than the back of various suit jackets would have been.
11. Kudos to the video-makers for being all-inclusive; the players were various ethnicities, and among the standard heterosexual couples, I also spotted lesbian and gay couples, couples that included larger-sized individuals, couples of mixed race, and even more than one menage-a-trois, Oh, and an 'old' couple -- the chaperones who were similarly, um, overcome by the song.
So.
Well.
Is it inappropriate for a high-school aged crowd?
I know that some high school students are embroiled in rampant hormones. Perhaps it's a good thing that sexuality is treated as something about which one need not be ashamed or embarrassed. On the other hand, does it add to the pressure that teenagers feel to be sexually active before they are emotionally ready?
Sex should be taken a bit more seriously, I think. Not so seriously so as not to laugh in the bedroom, of course -- but seriously enough that teenage casual-and-rampant-sexual-activity, as in the video, should not be encouraged.
I know, I know -- it's just a video. Still. I think that my sentiments on this matter clearly make me an old fart.
Nevertheless, it is a catchy song.
The following were some of my thoughts during the video:
1. The video is set a high school dance. Target audience therefore is high school students. OK then!
2. How old is Charlie Puth? Good heavens, is he even out of high school? Babyface. (According to Wikipedia, he is 24. Still, LOOKS SO YOUNG.)
3. How many high school students these days even know who Marvin Gaye was or how groundbreaking his music was? Would they know know that the song referenced is Gaye's Sexual Healing?
4. LYRICS ISSUE 1: "We've got this king-sized to ourselves/Don't have to share with no one else." Well, I would hope not. Unless you're in to that. Oh, dear.
5. LYRICS ISSUE 2: "Don't keep your secrets to yourself/It's kama sutra show and tell". Does the intended audience know that the kama sutra is and ancient Indian Hindu text that not only discusses sexual positions, but also provides information about virtuous living, and the nature of love, family life and other matters?
5. LYRICS ISSUE 3: "You've got to give it up to me/I'm screaming mercy, mercy please." Erm, no. One never need give in sexually because one's partner says one has to do so.
6. You know, I don't actually need to see a closeup of any couple open-mouthed kissing. Ever.
7. The chaperones: well, she looks appropriately mildly disturbed by the wave of teenage sexuality that has washed over all of the attendees at the dance. He, on the other hand, looks like the sort of man who is dressed up to be nerdy but really isn't, and is rather a lothario who is looking for his own opportunity.
8. Meghan Trainor has SUCH a round behind. She's a lovely girl.
9. There's a guy feeding a girl a strawberry while she's lying down across the refreshments table: that berry looks rather large for him to be cramming it down her throat that way.
10. Well, by the end of the video, it's practically an orgy. Assorted couples all over the dance floor, the tables, in the bathroom stalls, in a car and in the janitor's closet (at least those couples attempted to find some privacy), everywhere. And I'll point out that on the floor of the gym, most of the couples have girl-on-top positions. Not sure if there's a message there -- perhaps it was just more visually appealing, since the girls' dresses and legs are more interesting than the back of various suit jackets would have been.
11. Kudos to the video-makers for being all-inclusive; the players were various ethnicities, and among the standard heterosexual couples, I also spotted lesbian and gay couples, couples that included larger-sized individuals, couples of mixed race, and even more than one menage-a-trois, Oh, and an 'old' couple -- the chaperones who were similarly, um, overcome by the song.
So.
Well.
Is it inappropriate for a high-school aged crowd?
I know that some high school students are embroiled in rampant hormones. Perhaps it's a good thing that sexuality is treated as something about which one need not be ashamed or embarrassed. On the other hand, does it add to the pressure that teenagers feel to be sexually active before they are emotionally ready?
Sex should be taken a bit more seriously, I think. Not so seriously so as not to laugh in the bedroom, of course -- but seriously enough that teenage casual-and-rampant-sexual-activity, as in the video, should not be encouraged.
I know, I know -- it's just a video. Still. I think that my sentiments on this matter clearly make me an old fart.
Nevertheless, it is a catchy song.
Saturday, December 5, 2015
You Never Know
Today's earworm: Meghan Trainor, Like I'm Gonna Lose You, with John Legend. It's a sweet, melodic reminder not to take the ordinary days for granted.
We hope you enjoy.
We hope you enjoy.
Friday, December 4, 2015
Dewclaw Carry-You
Herself speaks.
Tiny Dog snagged her dewclaw on the carpet while running around with her toys. It broke. SMALL DOG BLEEDING, ALARM, ALARM. A minute or two of pressure stopped the flow of blood, but she needed to be kept still for several minutes to make sure it didn't start bleeding or get snagged again. Beloved Husband had just arrived home and needed to go change his clothes; I was in the middle of browning some chicken for Offspring the Third's dinner after theater rehearsal. What to do?
There, on the doorknob to the study, was the baby sling -- I'd gotten it out to show Offspring the First when she was home for Thanksgiving.
I stuffed a small fleece blanket into it, and then tucked Tiny Dog in as well. She was unsure at first, but then settled in comfortably. I could resume my activities and take care of her at the same time. Win!
I won't do it often. Or ever in public. (That's crazy-dog-lady territory.) Still, it was handy. And it reminded me of how very useful the sling had been with the Offspring, so long ago.
Tiny Dog snagged her dewclaw on the carpet while running around with her toys. It broke. SMALL DOG BLEEDING, ALARM, ALARM. A minute or two of pressure stopped the flow of blood, but she needed to be kept still for several minutes to make sure it didn't start bleeding or get snagged again. Beloved Husband had just arrived home and needed to go change his clothes; I was in the middle of browning some chicken for Offspring the Third's dinner after theater rehearsal. What to do?
There, on the doorknob to the study, was the baby sling -- I'd gotten it out to show Offspring the First when she was home for Thanksgiving.
I stuffed a small fleece blanket into it, and then tucked Tiny Dog in as well. She was unsure at first, but then settled in comfortably. I could resume my activities and take care of her at the same time. Win!
I won't do it often. Or ever in public. (That's crazy-dog-lady territory.) Still, it was handy. And it reminded me of how very useful the sling had been with the Offspring, so long ago.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
A Terrible Legacy
There was a mass murder in San Bernardino, California, yesterday. Once more we are horrorstruck. So many shootings. So very many. Fourteen people were slain, with seventeen more injured. Unthinkable. And yet somehow unsurprising. Alas.
The perpetrators, a husband and wife, left their six-month-old baby with a relative before committing these atrocities.
The child.
Her parents have left her naught but a legacy of pain.
What happens to her now? If her relatives try to protect her from learning too young the truth of what her parents did, there will nevertheless be some classmate who overhears the talk of the adults -- for adults often are careless about what is said in front of children -- and who will taunt the child on the playground. Children are cruel, and adults are cruel, too. There will be whispers and subtle (or not-so-subtle) shunnings for this child throughout her life. And perhaps not even whispers. There will be barbed words, or worse, for her: a lifetime of danger, not knowing who might know her parents' history and find her guilty by association.
And if people do manage to keep her history under wraps for a short (or even a longer period of) time: when do they tell her? What do they tell her? How can they possibly prepare her for such a terrible knowledge? "Your mom and dad are murderers." It would be nearly incomprehensible.
What can she do? Will she feel the obligation to atone for her parents' sins? What possible degree of abnegation would be sufficient? Will she find that people expect her to be a rigorously devout Muslim and to show herself to be very different from any radicalized Muslim who has wrought such crimes? Will she find it necessary to take the exact opposite path from her parents and throw herself into a lifetime of activism for gun control or for peace or for some other type of social justice? Will she feel she must deliberately put herself into harm's way, to demonstrate that she is Not Like Them? Or will she give in, knowing that she has been damned by people since her infancy, and follow in her parents' footsteps?
It is a terrible fate.
I am sorry, child, that your parents brought you into this world and then so mercilessly branded you with horror and abandoned you. I hope that as you walk the jagged path that is your inheritance, you will still find moments of happiness.
Good luck, baby girl.
The perpetrators, a husband and wife, left their six-month-old baby with a relative before committing these atrocities.
The child.
Her parents have left her naught but a legacy of pain.
What happens to her now? If her relatives try to protect her from learning too young the truth of what her parents did, there will nevertheless be some classmate who overhears the talk of the adults -- for adults often are careless about what is said in front of children -- and who will taunt the child on the playground. Children are cruel, and adults are cruel, too. There will be whispers and subtle (or not-so-subtle) shunnings for this child throughout her life. And perhaps not even whispers. There will be barbed words, or worse, for her: a lifetime of danger, not knowing who might know her parents' history and find her guilty by association.
And if people do manage to keep her history under wraps for a short (or even a longer period of) time: when do they tell her? What do they tell her? How can they possibly prepare her for such a terrible knowledge? "Your mom and dad are murderers." It would be nearly incomprehensible.
What can she do? Will she feel the obligation to atone for her parents' sins? What possible degree of abnegation would be sufficient? Will she find that people expect her to be a rigorously devout Muslim and to show herself to be very different from any radicalized Muslim who has wrought such crimes? Will she find it necessary to take the exact opposite path from her parents and throw herself into a lifetime of activism for gun control or for peace or for some other type of social justice? Will she feel she must deliberately put herself into harm's way, to demonstrate that she is Not Like Them? Or will she give in, knowing that she has been damned by people since her infancy, and follow in her parents' footsteps?
It is a terrible fate.
I am sorry, child, that your parents brought you into this world and then so mercilessly branded you with horror and abandoned you. I hope that as you walk the jagged path that is your inheritance, you will still find moments of happiness.
Good luck, baby girl.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Solitary Bear
Today, I both long for, and am disquieted by, solitude.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
The Laundry Waits
I have finished all of the laundry from the Thanksgiving holiday.
Eight thousand or so dishtowels have been folded and put back where they belong; freshly-made beds are awaiting the next trip home by Offspring the First and Offspring the Second; and Cherished Friend's bedding is clean and carefully stored away until next time on the shelf marked "FUR-FREE LINENS". The Thanksgiving tablecloth is tucked in the sideboard until next year. The fall-themed hand towels are back in the linen closet, and the winter-themed ones are now making their appearance.
I feel as though the laundry is Anticipating. It waits, as we all do, for the Next Time.
Remain patient, Laundry. You will have your turn again.
Eight thousand or so dishtowels have been folded and put back where they belong; freshly-made beds are awaiting the next trip home by Offspring the First and Offspring the Second; and Cherished Friend's bedding is clean and carefully stored away until next time on the shelf marked "FUR-FREE LINENS". The Thanksgiving tablecloth is tucked in the sideboard until next year. The fall-themed hand towels are back in the linen closet, and the winter-themed ones are now making their appearance.
I feel as though the laundry is Anticipating. It waits, as we all do, for the Next Time.
Remain patient, Laundry. You will have your turn again.
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