claire.she.goes

Author: Claire

  • Amen.

    Wisdom

  • "Why buy clothes, when you can make them…?"

    So said the lovely Esther B. last weekend. She had just shown me a funky hoodie that she had sewn for herself.

    I tend to agree. Especially as I am born of a woman who made most of my clothes when I was little. (I inherited her skills, but over the past few years, I have been too lazy to use them.)

    Last week I finally bought a sewing machine. (Walmart has decent prices.) I opened the box yesterday.

    As I said, I know how to sew. I’m just…Hesitant. In opening the box, I have committed to using its contents.

    Meanwhile, in my head I have committed to making more of my clothes. And gifts. I’m looking forward to getting started!!

    With babies and pregnant ladies everywhere I turn, I have decided that this will be my next book.

    I’ve seen it in person at least once. It looks like it’ll be fun!!

  • If it’s craptastic, I’m gonna sue.

    J.J. Abrams had better not disappoint me. The movie had better be worth it. I’ve been waiting long enough.

    Why is everything in this post sounding like a demand?

    Because for years I’ve done without cool fresh Start Trek content. If I think this movie is sub par, the whole world’s gonna know.

  • Sweet, SWEET Sesame Street!!

  • Thanks, Lisa!

    I’m always thankful for intriguing comments. Dalia and Lisa never fail to get me thinking. 🙂

    eeeenteresting…

    I have left FT feeling sad, definitely — but sad in the sense that encountering God in corporate worship tore a necessary hole in my protective layer. Pain laced with a deeper joy.

    Since I left I have walked out of many a church feeling uninspired and incredibly alone. I feel where Ms B is coming from there. It’s a struggle to figure out when you should walk away from a church like that, and when you should stick around to make things better.

    Lisa wrote this in response to my church-suckage post–see below. It reminded me of a few things:

    1. Back in the day, I used to hate the idea of church. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.

    “People shouldn’t have to get together to worship God.  I have a brain. I have a Bible or two or ten…What more do I need…?”

    Oh, to be young and naive again.  Corporate worship, in the right environment, can work wonders for your soul and mind.

    2. Walking away vs hanging on.  This reminds me of someone in my family who recently started going to church again. And I think she should keep going…Dear One, I don’t know if you’re reading this post, but from the sound of things, they need your insight!!!

  • "Why Angelina Jolie Looks Young"

    EXCUSE ME????

    That’s what an ad said in the margin of my Facebook page just now.

    What are these people on?

    The last time I checked, girl was 33.  Thirty-three.  That’s the same age as me.

    A week or so ago a woman on the Yorkville stretch of Bloor Street muttered some slur about me being a KID.

    You want people to figure out why Ms. Jolie-Pitt looks young, as though it’s a mystery on par with the location of the Holy Grail?

    I’ll tell you why Angie looks young, son.

    She ain’t old.

    Interestingly enough, when I went a-Googling for a photo for this piece, I found one of Angelina without makeup.  I should’ve posted it. She looks like one of my friends.  Pretty, but still…Young.

    What is with our society and its obsession with youth? It’s the greatest irony of all: Even the young aren’t young enough.

  • Oh, honey, no. Just…NO.

    I found this article via Gawker’s article, entitled “Barack Obama: Bigger than Jesus“.  It starts out by mentioning that

    Former Clinton White House mouthpiece Dee Dee Myers just called Barack Obama “the most famous living person in the history of the world.”

    And I admire Obama as much as any open-minded-optimistic-progressive-conservative these days…But as the person who wrote the Gawker piece said, what about Jesus…Or, even Gandhi?

    I’m all for Obama love. But let’s be realistic. He’s only been in office for a little over a week. I can tell things are going to be different.

    But “most famous living person”?

    Maybe in a year. Or two. Or ten.

  • False Avatar

    …And to think sometimes I wonder why directors cast Chinese people to play Koreans, and vice versa…

    Right now there are bigger fish to fry.

    *cue Valley Girl accent*

    So I was just looking at Racialicious, and like, this series called Avatar: The Last Airbender is being made into, like, a live-action film.  The characters are, like, Asian, but SOMEHOW, the director, producers, and the, like, production company are, like, tooootally hell-bent on casting Caucasian actors for the lead roles.

    You can read about it right here.*

    *ends accent before ears start bleeding*

    What’s next? A remake of Roots with actors in blackface?

    In case you can’t tell, I am for authentic casting.  Overall, I’m very open-minded. I don’t mind seeing mixed-race couples, families, children, etc. If a family of one specific ethnic group is depicted as having members that are of another ethnic group, then hey, I don’t mind. That’s normal to me.  (That’s my LIFE!)

    And I know there may be exceptions out there. However generally speaking, if a story/novel/cartoon is traditionally known for portraying people of a specific culture along with their clothing, customs, etc., then guess what?  When the live-action version of said story comes along, I would surely hope expect that the people in charge of said production would do their best to cast members of the appropriate ethnic group(s) in those roles.

    To do anything else–namely completely disregard the aforementioned opportunity for authenticity–is sheer laziness.

    Really, people.  Are decent Asian actors REALLY that hard to find?

    I dug up those links^^^ in a couple of minutes on Google.  Just imagine what could happen if a casting executive or two used their heads?  Is it really that much trouble?  Or is it just a matter of the old Tinsel Town superstition that if the leads in your film are Latino/unknown and black/Native/Asian, then no one will come and see it?

    They need to get over that real quick.

    This is the YouTube generation. Jane Doe could be in your production. So long as you put on a good show, who cares? [EDIT: Or as I said earlier today,”…audiences love well-told stories, ‘star power’ be DAMNED!”]

    We like to watch.

    Need I remind The Powers That Be that non-white people watch films? We actually enjoy seeing people who look like us every now and then. Why do you think Grey’s Anatomy was (is?) so popular?

    Some of the folks in Hollywood really should educate themselves. Just when I think they have a clue about folks in the real world and how to respectfully portray people of colour, they go and pull something like this…

  • Thank You For Smoking, revisited.

    So as you know, I’ve seen the movie. And now I’m reading the book.

    At first, I was a little worried. It isn’t in me to like a movie better than the book it was inspired by. Yet for the first couple of chapters I was soooo there. I was genuinely concerned, as I take preferring a movie over its book to be a sign of mental degeneration.

    But I’m over halfway through. I’ve gotten over that passage where Christopher Buckley’s narrator describes black women as “insatiable”. (Yay stereotypes!!) I no longer picture Aaron Eckhart every time Nick Naylor speaks. Which is a bit of a shame…

    *sigh*

    Nevertheless. As books go, TYFS is a good novel. I don’t find it as hilarious as Lamb. It possesses more of a glib kind of–at times subtle–humor. I like it.

    Meanwhile, I’m curious about Jason Reitman and the writing process. Although basically the same, I find the novel very different from the movie. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Just an observation.

  • Books and their movie covers, part deux.

    I went to Indigo today. Bought nothing. (Yay!)

    I saw the cover of Slumdog Millionaire–formally called Q & A.  It actually looked good.

    Hmmmmm…. 😉