Friday, August 28, 2009

The Gaps And The Spaces


Of the many beautiful marvelous and of good report movies out there in the universe, one that particulary stuck with me was "High Fidelity" starring John Cusak. Oddly enough, the main struggle of the film wasn't a draw for me at all. It was all about Rob Gordon (John Cusak's character), and the fact that he was the closest any character has ever come to being me.

His obsessive analytical approach to everything resulted in scads of "top five" lists that he had scattered throughout all of his monologues. So in the spirit of Rob Gordon, I have a completely random list of "top threes," just categories that I've been making up throughout the day while I wait out the end of my extended Friday shift. I'm going to expound upon and explain some of my choices, and some I'll be deliberately enigmatic about.

So you'll just have to deal with my selective vagueness. Not that you'll mind, you'll probably do a dance for every time I actually just let my initial words speak for themselves without the over-explainer muscle coming in to my writing.

And don't worry, these lists will in no way resemble anything you could find on facebook in people's "notes."

Top 3 Songs I Want Used to Woo Me At Some Point In My Life:

-"My Funny Valentine" sung by Frank Sinatra
-"Something In the Way She Moves" by The Beatles
-"Talk Dirty To Me" by Poison

Top 3 Female Rockers Who Made Me Face The Fact That I Will Never Rock:

*Joan Jett
*Janis Joplin--she just makes me want to live off whisky and cigarrettes so that I can sound like her
*Pat Benatar

Top 3 Foods That I Indulge In When I'm About To Have A Nervous Breakdown:

+Sour Cream and Onion Chips
+Haagen Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
+EatMores

Top 3 Attributes That I Like Least About Myself (subject to today and not an all-encompassing scrutiny):

^My inability to admit I don’t know something.
^My callousness toward awkward boys who like me.
^My tendency to rationalize all of my actions into a moral-free zone.

Top 3 Songs I Listen To When I Want to Wallow In My Discontent

~"That I Would Be Good" by Alanis Morissette
~"Paper Bag" by Fiona Apple
~"That Day" by Poe

Top 3 Songs I Sing In The Shower

#"Guess I'll Hang by Tears Out To Dry" by Sammy Cahn
#"Summertime" by George Gershwin
#"O Mio Babbino Caro" by Giacomo Puccini

Top 3 Irish Songs I Sing In The Shower (yes, they earned their own category):

"O Danny Boy"
"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling"
"Molly Malone"

Top 3 Authors Whose Writing Style I Wish I Had

>J.M. Barrie
>Ralph Waldo Emerson
>Charlotte Bronte

Top 3 Women In History Who Kick Serious Ass And I Want To Emulate

=Eleanor of Aquitaine--ok so yeah she was a horrible person but her ambition, wilyness, dedication to education, and strategy just make me want to be her one child that she actually liked.
=Abigail Adams
=Elizabeth Cady Stanton--my home girl.

Top 3 Poets

-Edna St Vincent Millay
-Robert Burns--My overly romantic Scottish side.
-Edgar Allen Poe

Top 3 Paintings That Changed My Life And Perspective On What Art Is

*Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grunewald
*Improvisation #28 by Vasily Kandinsky
*Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco Goya

Top 3 Sculptures That Expanded My Belief In Man's Potential

+Bird in Space by Constantin Brancusi
+Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna
+Nike of Samothrace

Top 3 Kinds Of People That Make Me Want To Rip Them To Shreds Even If I Love Them

^People who can’t keep their lives in perspective and so inflict their moods on innocent bystanders
^People who instead of sympathizing always try to one-up the person who is venting and put the focus back on themselves.
^People who think that someone having a different opinion than their own makes them stupid.
^Honorary Mention: People who don't think I'm funny

Top 3 Things That I Believe Are Destroying This Society

~Reality TV--not because it's immoral. Because it makes us stupider.
~Digitality--the fleeting nature of objects freaks me out! Sure have a digital camera is awesome but it also means that everything you hold dear can be wiped out by a magnet. It keeps me up at night. Ish,
~Twilight. You laugh, but it's like five big steps backwards for women. She doesn't even know who she is seperate from this boy. Gross. Sure, yeah, let's not spend time developing our own talents and personalities, let's just become the perfect mate. Don't get me started, this could be an entire blog unto itself.

Top 3 Aspects In Life That Upset Me To The Point That I Usually Cry Because I Don't Know What Else To Do

#Anything that has to do with the elderly losing their ability to access their memories and think clearly.
#Women in an abusive, subjugated situation. I can never watch "Revolutionary Road" again because of it. It makes me physically ill.
#Veterans who have lost limbs.

That's all. It's a rough draft but I bet it stays more true if I don't polish it.

3 comments:

Alyssa said...

I'm so glad I have all these insights on Mary. I like it.

I'm not going to lie, though. Saturn Devouring His Son always freaked me out. I mean, Goya is great, I remember talking about Shootings of May Third, 1808 in my freshmen English class of all places, but the Saturn one always gave me the willies.

Anonymous said...

what the hell??? I am too stupid to be your friend - um. . . .I don't get it, but it made me laugh! you are a smarty pants!

kjohnson said...

Thanks for enlightening us with your limits, loves and need to express :) I love learning new things about you, and laughing with you. Thanks for blogging, and please keep it coming.