TRON

If I haven’t explained this before, FroggerGirl has a long memory that has a lot of random entertainment info stuffed into it. I’ve watched and remember a lot of obscure and cheesy TV and movies. One of my favorites is TRON. I remember watching TRON in class as a special “treat” in the 6th grade…a 1982 Disney movie about a guy sucked into a video game was out “treat”. It’s is pure sci-fi silliness from the early 80s. Seriously…this movie is CHEESE! What brings up this TRON moment? I saw a link to 10 Epic Halloween Costumes and there is a man who not only made himself a TRON costume…he did a special website giving a step by step description of the process. It is too funny!

For your consideration: TRON Guy

Now That's Commitment!

Ok, I read this article a while back and it stuck with me. Louis Theroux is a documentary film maker/newsman character in the UK known for unusual subject matter and commitment to documentary/news stories. He's a bit like a classy UK Michael Moore. For his most recent story he was focused on Plastic Surgery...and he even got some done in the name of his story. Either that's commitment or insanity. He committed partially out of vanity, but also out of curiosity...that's an odd mixture for elective surgery, but I guess no worse than the reasoning of contestants on Extreme Makeover. It's weird thought: Surgically altering yourself. Is the root of those decisions self hatred/self-disgust? Do you stay yourself when you make some very integral physical changes like boobs, new nose or other choices? Are you lazy if you get liposuction? Who knew one English guy's gut reduction could lead to so many questions.

Religious Crime Wave?

OK, so I was reading a Slate.com series on laws, or more specifically the breaking of laws. Today's focus: Mormons and the Amish. Who knew they were such law breakers? Well, I knew some of them were...but man it's funny to read it all in one place. It definitely makes you wonder where religious tolerance and actual law enforcement meet. From the headline it made me think there was a mass Amish/Mormon crime wave that nobody talks about. I knew there must be more the Amish than quilts, pies and a mean dislike of cameras!

Why I Love the CS Monitor

I lost ny news/infroamtion gathering way for a while. I got caught-up in CNN and MSN for it's quick, and often tabloid, news. Today I found the path. I had forgotten what a great and random news source the Christian Science Monitor is. I read it all the time in college and Grad School, and then…well go back to my Frost like path references for a clue. I rediscovered it today and I was just so happy. Everything from Philosophical editorials to a new form of bike racing is covered. I loved their book section for new and hard to find releases. What made me VERY interested today was an editorial about Kant and Atheism. I was so wrapped up in it…it was GREAT! Kant is one of my favorite philosophers, Perpetual Peace was one of the first tough books I picked to read early in college. The editorial was well balanced and confronted some issues I have been thinking about lately with so many books coming out saying belief in a higher power = diminished intelligence. So to the Christian Science Monitor I say, “Kudos! I will not forget you again.” I mean, where else will I find a Kant argument in a national news source? Certainly not on CNN.com or the other news cites that give equal time to Britney and Paris as well as REAL News.

Somethings are NEVER art

I have a confession to make: I love art, but I am more than a little scornful of certain forms of Modern Art. OK, I'm extremely scornful of many forms of Modern Art. Things like Performance Art or when someone craps on a piece of paper and call it art. I went to SFMoMA and saw a giant stack of Indigo died shirts...like 1,000 of them and it was being called Art. I guess I just didn't get it. At first I thought they were Prison shirts and that made sense, but no they were just cotton shirts. It seemed like a waste of resources more than art...I mean come on, a big ass pile of shirts?

Why this rant? Well I was paying attention to two art related stories this week. NPR and BBC covered this story of the dumb-ass artist who as an , "Act of Love" kissed a $2M white canvas in France. Her lipstick cannot be removed from the canvas and now the owner is suing her for over $2M. The lady who kissed the painting is an artist too. I get a heavy whiff of publicity whore off this lasy more than genuine LOVE of art. Maybe she was hoping to piggyback on another artist's genius? Any way you slice it she defaced valuable and well thought of art, and it was NOT improved by ugly cheap red lipstick.

The other story totally grossed me out. An Artist has an ear grafted onto his skin as a statement of art...AN EAR! This is a medical technique used to help victims of violence, frostbite, etc...replace and reconstruct their bodies. What the hell is a perfectly normal, but possibly unhinged, dude doing grafting an ear onto his forearm? It looks gross and art be damned, this is clearly a medical ethicist worst nightmare. EWWWW!!!! This is not Art! I'll take a Rubens, Warhol or Pollack any day over seeing a dude with an ear on his arm...that is just all sorts of wrong!

Hallelujah, I’m saved!

Well, saved from feeling like a total tard when I text and IM people and can never figure out the lingo or TXT language. This may be lame, but Netlingo has totally helped! It gives me more than enough knowledge to feel less like an old fart and more like the young kind of-hip person that I am! YIPEE, I can feel less lame now! OMG! TTYL! Now if only I could get a website this sweet to help me with French!

WTF: Political

Let me get this straight, with all the crap that has hit the fan politically our President it voicing concern over the WWI Era Armenian Genocide? Are you kidding me? A horrible atrocity that happened almost 100 years ago that Congress was resolving was a genocide and thus a crime of the Ottoman Turks is worth an international brouhaha? I realize Turkey has been super helpful with the whole Iraq situation, but are they really this thin skinned about their past? I realize many countries have moments of denial, but this is ridiculous. President Bush needs to settle down and realize this issue is thre least of his troubles!

Someday you just feel like crying….

Ever had a day where stress and other shit just get you down? I’m having one of those days. I hate pity parties…especially when I’m having one! I realize we all need to feel the range of emotions from happy to sad and I appreciate all of those emotions because they do inform my life. I just try to keep self-pity to a minimum, it just seems healthier and pity parties usually don’t make me feel better.

Today is a day when homework seems insurmountable, work is a bit odd and emotionally over wrought and I just discovered people really do suck! My usual stance on people will be restored once my funk is lifted, but for now….sucksville!

Enunciation is Key!

Yet again at Yoga there was a funny word play moment. Funny to me because there is scatological 13 year old style humor still in my sense of humor. My regular yoga teacher is great. I love the fact that she is a bit spacey and has odd tangents and sometimes has word salad moments(worry not; no serious neurological issues are present). Overall she is good at what she does and her spacey is a kind I can deal with. There is just one thing, sometimes she doesn’t enunciate and this leads to her favorite phrase sounding kind of dirty when you have said 13 year old scatological humor in you.

My teacher likes to talk about reaching in to tap into, “Your Innate Ability” whatever ability that is for the lesson of the class. She says is more like, “Yer Innate” and when she is speaking fast like usual…well it sounds like, “Urinate” and that makes me giggle. I know it’s juvenile, but come on when someone says, “Reach deep into your self and tap into Urinate ability to release your pelvis.” Well, it’s a little funny. Maybe it’s just me, but at this point, anything that is making me smile is a good thing!

Very Naughty Blog? Really?

JustSayHi - Free Personals

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
drugs (5x) suck (3x) dead (2x) shit (1x)


Wow...didn't see that rating coming. I figured PG MAYBE PG-13, but NC-17? That makes me as dirty as the new Ang Lee Movie. See what happens when I blog about performance enhancing drugs and say the word suck? Iguess that proves the danger of taking information/words out of context. Very Naughty FroggerGirl.

Merde = Grammaire Francaise!

It’s official; I’m a grammar ‘tard. Yup, I have issues with the structure of language, especially a foreign language. In English it’s punctuation (you know : ; , etc…) that proves difficult or if you asked me about a dangling participle…I’d be screwed. Last night was class number 3 in French. I was a bit behind on all the homework, plus the in class work we didn’t get done last week, that the last 30 minutes of class were my own personal hell. Past tense verbs that need avoir vs. etre add or agreement of objects and conjugations. I’m in this class to help me finally absorb all the French grammar info I can’t seem to keep in my head. It’s annoying to always sound like a retarded French four year old when I speak the language. My pronunciation is great; it’s just the damn grammar! I’ve been doing flash cards at work, on the Metro…hell I’d do them when driving, but that seems dangerous. There is still hope in me, I have 7 more classes to attend and in that time something has got to be absorbed into my head and stay there. I will not be a cheese eating surrender monkey, I will soldier on! Merde!

Doping is Dope!

I must be jaded. Not only was I not surprised that Marion Jones finally admitted using performance enhancing drugs, I have minimal indignation about it. Usually I'm all sorts of indignant about this kind of thing. Is it weird that I just assume the majority of professional athletes take some form or another of performance enhancing drugs? Most athletes take some low level energy/dietary/hormone booster from a trainer, nutritionist or GNC like store. The truly bad offenders take steroids and its super powerful siblings to improve their performance. I realize there are honest athletes, but in endurance sports or events where we are breaking human speed records yearly it seems odd that just hard work lead to the freakish abilities of the participants.

The only thing that truly pisses me off is when an athlete lies repeatedly about their drug use, even when confronted with evidence of their drug use. Can you really tell me Bonds, Jones and others had no idea they were taking something stronger then flax seed oil? You sprouted muscle and had massive body changes...flax seed oil DOES NOT DO THAT! Kids look up to athletes, want to be them and live their life…and a lot of them are not honest about how they achieved their glory, money and fame. Just because everyone does it on some level doesn’t make it right, and it’s actually teaching kids to be dishonest and that there is a double standard on drug enforcement and athletes on drugs. It’s ok to do THESE drugs because they will make you run faster and hit balls farther, but stay away from crack, because crack kills.

Potisive? Po-T-isive? Is that a word?

Last night at Yoga my substitute teacher either has a random speech impediment or some issue with the pronunciation of a certain word. Throughout the evening when she should be saying positive it kept coming out as potisive. Po-T-isive…with a T not an S…so it’s a new word? The teacher was truly crunchy yoga lady. Late 40s with pierced nose, Sanskrit tattoo, crazy curly free flow hair and super chipper attitude. She is married to an artist and does super intense yogic chants and practice. So maybe she meant to have Pot in her Positive. I don’t want to stereo type, but come on, this lady loves her Herb. Class was fine, but I had to laugh when she would say, "Potisive thinking will help you engage your legs. We must thrive on potisive energy.” Webster’s, you are on notice because there is a new word on the block!

No child left behind…unless it’s a sick child

Ok, let me get this straight….Bush wants all children to excel in Education and has developed the No Child Left Behind ideology…but then he uses his veto power to kill legislation meant to help keep children covered with health insurance benefits. WTF people!

I realize I do now know all of the policy ups and downs or the nuance of SCHIP, but come on! The basic premise that even a majority of congressional REPUBLICANS understood was that there is a program in jeopardy that can help States keep children insured. That by allowing children (in most cases poor to lower middle class children) access to healthcare that is not killing their parents financially these children will get regular medical care and hopefully stay healthy, instead of parents trying to decide if they should buy food or pay for the ER. What is wrong with that?

Our country is in a crisis of health care. I can barely get an appointment to see my Doctor, and I have insurance. I don’t get the feeling Bush wants to hurt kids, but by engaging in this pissing contest with Congress he is putting the health and welfare of thousands of children second to his political hubris.

Guess what Bush? You just gave the Democrats another issue they can use during the 2008 Election season. You now look like a dickhead and even people from your own party are pissed about this issue. Way to go Mr. President!

The Train Wreck Continues

Here's a shocker: Britney Spear's living train wreck just won't stop. Is anyone actually surprised by this? And guess what kids? The media will continue to cover this like it's more important than any other world event.

Move over Sudan Crisis, because it's Britney Bitch!

You'll find me in the club?

Well, not often, but Saturday night I actually went out! I went out to celebrate a great friend’s milestone Birthday. Normally, it’s like pulling teeth for me to go to a club. The places are usually overpriced, crowded and there is often a heavy whiff, if not outright stench, of meat market. For a good friend I will go outside my comfort zone to Da Club (thank you 50 Cent), and this time it was actually fun.

I realize this is a bad way of looking at the preparation for going out to a club, but I view it as the time to Whore-up. If you’re a woman you know it involves way more than average make-up, skimpier than average clothes and shoes that often make you want to amputate your feet. I like to think my end result is more high-class hooker than down right whore…especially when I see some of the outfits the 18 year old girls are wearing. Everyone makes their choices…and most of my friends and I look more classy than trashy.

Thankfully I was able to skip paying a $20 cover thanks to a free online pass, being a woman over 21 and getting to the club before midnight. Plus being with reserved VIP tables (yeah, I was a part of a VIP group) let me jump the line. However, I am aging so the idea that the club doesn’t even open until 10pm was a bit daunting. I had to take a disco nap to be even close to handling it.

The second level where our tables were located was less crowded and more fun than the main level. A bit too warm, but space to sit and relax a bit made it more tolerable. There was of course the deafening music and requisite shouting into other people’s ears to have a conversation, but I wasn't expecting quiet or soothing atmosphere. I had to apologize to my ringing ears and sore throat, but the pain was minimal.

For my once in a blue moon outing, this one was worth it. Lots of friends and folks I hadn’t seen for a long time. The Birthday Girl had a great time and now I can say I actually went out to a club this year. So until next year, you will not be seeing me in the club…unless another friend needs to celebrate a milestone B-day there. And they better be a great freakin’ friend, or I am out!

Ewwww! Yet, oddly intriguing...

Saturday I went with the girls to see Bodies the Exhibition! I have wanted to see it since I first heard it came to town. For those not in the know, it’s an exhibit that has taken human cadavers and preserved them for exhibition. They were even able to separated out their bits and pieces to be preserved separately. So we saw not just whole bodies, but the entire circulatory system was broken down and separated by limb, section and finally the whole dame thing lit up bright red! Spinal cords, embryos…you name it and it was preserved. There was a tumor with hair AND eyes! HAIR AND EYES! That one was nasty and I didn’t even realize what it was until later when comparing notes with one of the girls.

It was weird because all of the exhibits and pieces were once living breathing people (most from China) that are now skinned, preserved and gawked at daily. It was informative, but also had the side-show freak element to it. Certain displays, like the embryo section, were totally meant to shock as much as inform. Yet I was sucked in and had only minimal moments of nausea, mostly caused by a sudden realization that the skinned down person was once walking/talking, not just the strangely wax figure like preserved specimen.

It was worth it to pay for admittance and an audio tour. I learned even more about the human body and saw things that used to be impossible to display until this new preservation process. It was interesting to see what we are really like inside. It’s easy to loose perspective about our bodies and our natural processes. This exhibit does make me reconsider any notion I had of leaving my body to science. I don’t really think I need to be skinned and gawked at…I’ll leave that to other corpses!