A Titanic Sized Entry

I am not ashamed to admit that I love Titanic. Love it to pieces. And you know you love it as well! I know you remember the Titanic mania when it came out. Maybe it was just the first "big" movie that I remember coming out but I really think few movies have had that type of hysteria surrounding it ever since. It's all my friends and I would talk about in 5th grade, sharing magazine articles about the movie and talking about how cute Leo was. Those who thought they were cool (ie: me) said they didn't find Leo hot at all, but that was a damn lie. In class they would trick us into learning how to research by "letting us" research the Titanic. The T encyclopedia was always the hardest to find during library time. It's hokey, it's shockingly outdated already, but it is 3 hours of fantastic movie.

It is also one of few movies of significant length that I can sit down and watch the whole of without getting antsy. You may have noted that there haven't been many blogs for the past few days save for my random show of support for the Butler Bulldogs. There is nothing interesting in my life and therefore I haven't been inspired. Sometimes when I go through these blogging slumps the only thing I can think to do is liveblog movies. Guess what you're getting tonight!

I've tried to break it down into half hour segments in order to make it easier to read. So sit back and enjoy all 3 hours and 42 minutes (it was the tv version, ergo even longer than the movie version) of my commentary on Titanic.

8:00-As much as I love Titanic...I really hate the 1997 era story.

8:11-The picture of Rose wearing the necklace looks like it was drawn by a high school student with a messed up imagination.

8:14-Commercials. One day I'll have a Tivo and won't have to put up with these shennanigans. One day I might actually buy Titanic on DVD as well.

8:17-I forget, is there a romance between the niece and the captain of the modern ship? If not, that would have been a fantastically crappy subplot.

8:19-Are the people on the ship scientists or treasure hunters? Is treasure hunter a socially acceptable profession? Would I have to live on a boat? I hate boats.

8:20-And our first instance of "wow, who knew how quickly these graphics would become outdated" with the simulation of the ship sinking. Wow, who knew how quickly these graphics would become outdated.

8:22-Flashes of the good old days start to bring Rose to tears. The captain decides this will be the best time to talk to her. (Side note, the woman that plays old Rose is still alive...she's freaking 99 years old. Hardcore)

8:23-FINALLY! The good old days

8:25-Rose's hat is the underappreciated costume choice of the last 50 years.

8:27-Jack Dawson, so dreamy.

8:28-"Have you been through inspection" "Yes" "good, come aboard" ah, that seems even more ridiculous now than it did at the time the movie came out.

8:29-The ship leaving the dock, second instance of "wow, who knew how quickly these graphics would become outdated"

8:33-I would love nothing more than to be ridiculously rich in 1912

8:34-My least favorite movie technique: referencing a now famous person before they were famous and then adding "ha, he'll never amount to a thing". See: Pablo Piccaso roughly 30 minutes into Titanic.

8:37-The dolphins in the water are our third and most blatant example of "Wow, who knew how quickly these graphics would become outdated"

8:38-I'M THE KING OF THE WORRRRRRRLLLLDDDD.....Forgive me for being crude, but I never noticed that he follows that line up by immediately pinning Fabrizio to the railing with his crotch.

8:39-"I may have to start minding what she reads from now on"-Cal. Perhaps my favorite character in the whole film for his blatent racism and chauvenism.

8:41-"This ship is solid as a rock, built by the Irish!"-what's that supposed to mean? We all know the ship is going to sink! Half of me is outraged. The other half thinks that's hilarious.

8:42-I'm going to start wearing an evening gown to dinner every night and demanding that my family do the same. I'm sure OMP has a tuxedo somewhere.

8:43-I lied. Jack staring at the stars and the (spoiler alert) suicide attempt scene is the most blatant example of "Wow, who knew how quickly these graphics would become outdated" Also our fourth example for those keeping track at home. Also there is no way she hangs off that boat and doesn't fall. My stomach is churning just thinking about it.

8:45- "You ever been to Wisconsin?" I have. For 5 hours. Left $260 poorer after a corrupt traffic ticket. Fucking Wisconsin.

8:46-"With all do respect, Miss, I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship"-Truer words were never spoken.

8:47-She's got at least 10 pounds on him, there is no way he holds on to her when she goes over the edge.

8:52-"Might I say, women and machinery do not mix!" "HAR HAR HAR" "Let's go have a brandy". Fantastic exchange.

8:54-The Heart of the Ocean or whatever the hell it's called is the ugliest necklace ever.

8:58-All Jack draws are boobs. Rose's boobs. A woman breast feeding her child. Boobs everywhere.

8:59-"That's the good thing about Paris, lots of girls willing to take their clothes off" That explains it...I guess.

9:04-I'm also going to start announcing dinner in this house by playing a trumpet.

9:05-Jack Dawson in a tuxedo. 11 year old me's dream man....23 year old me's dream man.

9:06-I've never been able to decide whether I love or hate Rose's dinner dress. I think I love it? But I can't be sure of that.

9:08-"she's in delicate condition" I need a friend to get pregnant so I can use that phrase more often.

9:10-"Tell us of the accommodations in steerage"-BURN

9:13-"So you wanna go to a real party?" Favorite movie line ever. This is not an exaggeration. Unbelievable! They cut it off right there for a commercial. That's bullshit. That's the best part of the movie when they then cut straight to the party in third class. Sidenote, is the Party in Third Class irish jig song the top played song in my iTunes? Damn right it is. Nothing got me in paper writing mode during college more than that song.

9:17-While it's not The Heart of the Ocean, there's no way that necklace of Rose's makes it out of third class.

9:18-Note to self, learn to play the spoons

9:19-The dance that they do on the stage does not match the music at all. This has always bothered me.

9:20-For the record, Rose, they're not impressed that you can stand on your toes. They're just awkwardly embarrassed for you.

9:23-Rose's mother trying to sufficate her with the brassiere is another underappreciated moment in the movie.

9:24-Rose's mother reminds her that the money is gone, however where did the money ever come from? Was this ever noted?

9:26-They just stopped Jack from going to church. Jesus would not be pleased.

9:27-"I've just had the last boiler lit"-OH SNAP IT'S ON! (literally?)

9:31-"It seems there are not enough lifeboats for everyone" "Hahaha, actually about half!" hahahah indeed.

9:34-Sunsets are an obvious example of "Wow, who knew how quickly the graphics would become outdated" Our fifth example to be exact.

9:35-Money shot, kissing on the bow of the boat with the fake sunset in the background.

9:38- "Monet!" "Do you know his work?" You've been warned about this already in the blog, Cameron, let's have this be the last instance.

9:48-Captain Edward Smith is probably the character I care about the most in this film. He just loved his ship so much and everyone else screwed up.

9:49-Who exactly is the guy that keeps trying to come between Jack and Rose? He's Cal's wing man, but what is his actual role. Is this ever specified?

9:52-"Did you ever find the binoculars for the look-out?" "Nope" HA Never noticed this exchange before, but I find it hilarious. "Did you ever find the hoses for the firemen?" "Nope!" would basically be the same exchange.

9:55-ICEBERG! RIGHT AHEAD! Fun story. I was watching this movie last year with my friend Nicky and right when they yelled "Iceberg! Right ahead!" she cried out (in all seriousness) "Uh oh, this doesn't look like it will end well". One of my Top 10 Nicky moments definitely, maybe even top 5.

9:57-Annnnnnd we have contact. Balls.

10:01-I want to play soccer with a piece of an iceberg.

10:02-How do I get my hair to do that funky early-twentieth century piled on top and pinned look? It's too short now, but a few months ago (working on a year actually, yikes) I could have rocked that look.

10:03-"Come on son, there's a good lad! Come on son, there's a good lad!" That guy was so excited about getting a line that he threw an extra in for fun. I'm sure Cameron wasn't too pleased about that one!

10:07-"This ship can't sink" "She's made of iron! I assure you, she can!" Oh Victor Garbor, you make any movie Oscar worthy.

10:08-"May I suggest top coats and hat?" You act like they weren't going to wear those anyway, Man Servant.

10:10-Alexanders Ragtime Band needs to make a comeback. Some rapper can sample it, right?

10:12-I never noticed what a terrible dye job Kate Winslet has on her hair. Is it because I'm watching this in HD?

10:15-Oooo, fireworks.

10:16-"will the lifeboats be seated according to class?" "Half the people on this ship are going to die!" "Not the better half, ha!" MAN I wish I was rich. I would so be dead if I was on the Titanic. Not nearly classy enough. I do make enough jokes about social class, however...so maybe...

10:23-I just realized there is still an hour and a half left...and only 45 minutes remaining of battery on my computer. Conundrum.

10:24- How did Rose not get electrocuted by swimming through the flooded hallway with the flickering lights?

10:26-There is no way Rose hits the handcuffs at exactly the right spot with the axe.

10:31-I'm going to make a loaded statement. If I ran the Titanic none of these shenanigans would have happened on my watch. I'll stand by that statement. Try and prove me wrong.

10:33-"There's nyet this-a way" Why did Fabrizio just speak Russian?

10:34-I should note that I ran up to get my computer charger during the last commercial break. You win this round, Cameron.

10:35-"Things are starting to fall apart"-Understatement of the year there, Cal

10:36-The Monopoly man was on the Titanic?

10:42-Rose, why the hell do you still believe that Cal has Jack's interests in mind?

10:44-Oh god, are we about to enter the "boat is sinking" montage? I'll admit I always cry during this one what with the old couple and the kids...

10:45-Nevermind, too early for the montage.

10:46-"You're so stupid Rose!" *make-out* "So stupid!"

10:46-Slo-mo running with a gun! This movie has everything.

10:47-The kid standing in the freezing cold water screaming looks legitimately terrified. I don't think he understood that this was all pretend. Children in horror movies/horror scenes are always awkward. There is no way they understand that this is a movie.

10:48-They HAD to make Kate Winslet wear a white dress in the scene where she would be soaking wet, didn't they. There were no other color options

10:50-No way Jack is able to open his eyes in freezing cold salt water and find the keys to the lock AND unlock the door.

10:53-The lifeboat people are idiots. "Ah yes, the man in the tuxedo clearly is the father of the little girl in rags. He must board the lifeboat with her".

10:58-I think the ethnically ambiguous accents are one of my favorite parts of this movie.

10:59-Anyone ever notice the guy who throws a chair overboard for no reason at the begining of the sad montage scene?

11:00-Speaking of which, here come the tears...

11:02-Alright, we made it through that one without any tears. Good to see I've lost the ability to feel.

11:03-I would not have been able to be an actor during the sinking scene. There is no way I would have made it through without cracking up hysterically. I swear they hired the most notorious over-actors that Hollywood had to offer and just said "Go at it!"

11:04-Oh right! Fabrizio is (spoiler alert) killed by the falling steam stack. I was trying to remember how he met his end.

11:05 I remember seeing another movie back in 1997 that was in the theater next to Titanic. During the sinking scene the volume in the Titanic theater was up so loud that we couldn't hear our own movie. I always forget how loud this movie is.

11:08-Propellor man! Is there any other character who has done so much with so little?

11:09-Oh right, it goes without saying that the sinking scene is our final instance of "Wow, who knew the graphics would become so outdated so quickly", right?

11:12-Jack explains that the ship is going to suck them down when it sinks. I never understood where he got all of his knowledge on how to supposedly survive a ship wreck.

11:13-They would have definitely drowned in all of the time they spent getting sucked under with the ship. There's not way they fight that force.

11:20-"I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about all of this" Statements like this makes me think Jack Dawson and I would have gotten along well.

11:23-I'll never let go Jack, I'll never let go.

11:24-Funny story about that key line. Back in high school I was spending the night in my friends' dorm room. Sarah and I were trying to sleep as it was roughly 1 in the morning and we're lame, but Grace, who was on the top bunk, wanted to talk to a boy named Jack that she was trying to woo on her cell phone. After about an hour of cutesy flirting talk that high schoolers are so good at Sarah, who doesn't take shit from anyone, decided she had had enough and grabbed at the phone. Grace started shrieking "JACK! JACK!" and grabbing for the phone. In one final push she shouted "I'LL NEVER LET GO JACK!" and knocked the wooden bunk bed railing off of her bed and straight onto my head. I hate the line "I'LL NEVER LET GO JACK!" so, so much.

11:26-You know what line I do love? "Is there anyone alive out there? Can anyone hear me?" It's hard not to love when he yells it roughly 37 times.

11:28-"I'll never let go, I promise" she says as she drops him into the ocean.

11:29-Only 6 people were saved from the water? Wow. That's a shocking fact.

11:30-In all seriousness I can't begin to imagine the psychological toll of surviving and event like this.

11:37-No way the old woman has the strength to pull herself up on the railing.

11:38-That necklace is so ugly.

11:38- This seems like a good time to quote the Brittney Spears classic "Oops I Did It Again" "But I thought the old lady tossed it into the ocean at the end of the movie?" "Well babe, I went back and got it" *dramatic pause* "OOOPS I! DID IT AGAIN TO YOUR HEARRRRRT....."

11:39-I can never watch the ending of Titanic ever since my aforementioned friend Sarah declared right before we entered our high school graduation that it was just like the ending of Titanic. I cracked up then and I crack up now.

11:42-And with that, 3 hours and 42 minutes later, we are done. I can't believe I did this. I'm exhausted.

Just a note, They're making a 3D version of Titanic in 2012. I see roughly 2 movies a year, so 2012 better not be a good year for movies as I already have one of those two spots filled.

11:45-Crap, it's starting again, I better go to bed before I get sucked in.

Butler Bulldogs

I was recently recruited to the Butler Dawg Pound by an alum. After their awesome win a few minutes ago I would like to use this space to display the poster that she asked her recruits to spread around. GO DAWGS!

I'll have some remarks on Cornell and Ivy Basketball up sometime within the next few days. It's all still sinking in.

Marianna's Book Club, Part II

This weeks book is The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.

When I was first handed this book I was told "It's great, but the ending will make you mad". I tell you this up front because it is the number one thing I took away from this book, fantastic but the ending made me mad.

The Help tells the story of African American maids and their white employers in 1960's Mississippi. The stories for two maids and one white woman weave together to create a fantastic story. The book obviously touches on race relations, but also gender roles and socioeconomic relations within the same race.

The ending didn't make me mad because it wasn't necessarily happy. While I hoped that this book would have a happy ending where black maids and white employers all sat down for a cup of tea to discuss their differences I knew that wouldn't be the case. What I didn't like was the lack of closure. Major story lines were practically dropped. Story lines that were supposedly building up to a major revelation fell flat. I wondered if I was missing pages because the book simply ended with no form of resolution whatsoever.

I still recommend it if only for the fact that until the end it makes for a satisfying read. The story is solid enough to keep you interested but refrains from throwing in too many extraneous plotlines. Overall solid lead, needs a much better ending.

Let's move on the more important subject, I still need a name for my book club. I tried being incredibly uncreative and googled "Funny Book Club Names" but what I came up with was this

"One of the best ways to come up with creative or funny book club names is to think about what makes your group unique.

A club that meets at lunch could be called the Lunch Bunch. One that meets over dinner could be the Restaurant Readers. One that meets at the library could be the Library Ladies. A group of teachers might call themselves the Teacher's Pets.

A reading group that likes to laugh a lot might be named the Giggle Girls or the Laughing Ladies. One made up of all men could be called the Mighty Men, while a club of all women might be the Wonder Women.

Many clever book club names also play off of book puns. For example, the Book Wormers or Book Marks"

Gag. Well it was worth a shot.

What direction should I take the naming process in? I love puns, so I would like to include a pun in there, but I don't want it to be too corny. I want it to be different, but not so different that people don't understand the humor in it. Not too much irony, I'm not a fucking hipster. No references to obscure Russian authors from the early eighteenth century, there's a reason I didn't major in English. Same goes for references to 1960's feminist writers.

With that being said, I'm making this a contest for my readers...all 6 of you (so your chances of winning are pretty high!) Name my book club and I'll make you president. It's as simple as that. You will get to choose our next book and perhaps, if I'm feeling crafty, get a personalized bookmark to commemorate your success. So get to work. I'll get my scissors out and start working on your bookmark, you start working on the names. Together, we will create something epic.

My Own Personal Book Club

I used to be quite the reader...in 1st grade at least. I had my own shelf of chapter books in the classroom library, I remember it having a label on it that said "Marianna's Books" but that's probably revisionist history. I would knock back books by the day. My favorite time of the year in school was the Pizza Hut reading competition where you would pledge to read a certain number of books in a month and if you met your goal you got a free pizza. While others would shout out their goals at 2, or if risky, 5, I would pompously up the anty to 15. This is definitely where I lost the popularity contest each year.

Around middle school I stopped reading. Actually, during middle school I just stopped caring about anything other than being moody and complaining that no one understood me. Rather than pick my reading habit up again in high school I just stopped reading all together, school work included. This led to the classic note on my report card "Marianna's grade would have been infinitely better this term if she had actually handed in her homework...at all". Around this time I was also diagnosed with ADHD. Coincidence? I think not.

In college it was suddenly cool to read. Bryn Mawr loves books. Everyone and anyone is reading at all times. I had gotten so used to not doing my homework that suddenly having to do it, and lots of it, every night kinda turned me off of the idea of pleasure reading. I bought a few books with intentions of reading them for fun but never got around to it. What books I did read for fun were limited to the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

Since I've been home I've taken up reading again. My $96 of library fines mysteriously disappeared sometime over the past year and as such I have been granted borrowing privileges again at my local library (they were taken away 5 years ago after a heated confrontation with Gladys, the former gatekeeper of the library). Also I have been allowed to participate in my mom's daily tradition of "commuting". As Mom works from home she doesn't get that time in between work and home to wind down that others get when they "commute". Instead, after she's done working but before she cooks dinner, she puts music on the stereo, pours a glass of wine and sits in the living room with a book. It's absolutely as classy as it sounds. So now every day at five the two of us sit down with a book, a glass of wine, the dogs sitting at our feet and music softly drifting throughout the room and wait for OMP to come home. Bliss.

I've managed to get back into the swing of things knocking back quite a few books over the past month and a half. Some have been great, some have been less than great, some haven't gotten past the first few pages. I would like to join a book club as there's nothing I love more than sharing my opinion, but until I find one that's not filled with crazy soccer moms (who am I kidding, I would love to join a soccer mom book club), I'm stuck being my own personal book club.

Because I can't share my opinion with anyone other than myself, you, the blog readers, will now become my audience. Please chime in if you've read any of the books I've read and have any insight into them. For the record, our next book will the The Help by Kathryn Stockett. You are officially invited to join my book club.

For now, in no particular order here are the past books of Marianna's Book Club (cooler name to be decided on later).

Devil In the White City-Erik Larson

Plot: A non-fiction book by Erik Larson, Devil In the White City takes a look at the 1892 Chicago World's Fair. Larson's information is ridiculously detailed as he follows the fairs planning and implementation as well as the side story of H.H. Holmes, a serial killer who has set up shop near the fair grounds.

Thoughts: Loved it. I bought this book two years ago after studying the Chicago World's Fair and never read it because of the whole not reading for fun thing. I picked it up a month ago and couldn't put it down. You start to question whether or not it's a non-fiction book because the story is so gripping.

I'm usually turned off by side stories, flipping through them in order to get back to the main story, but they all gelled together really well in this book. I particularly enjoyed the occasional story of Patrick Prendergrass, an Irish immigrant who thought he would gain political power through postcards (hellooooo alliteration!). I won't ruin the ending of that one for you.

After I finished Devil In the White City I immediately began to look for jobs in Chicago because I was so fascinated by the city...at least the 1892 version of it. I might be sorely disappointed should I ever actually move to Chicago and find that things have changed since then...

Holy Crap! I just looked the book up and found out that it's slated to be a movie in the next few years with Kathryn Bigelow directing! Awesome!

The 19th Wife-David Ebershoff

Plot: A complex story intertwines the lives of pioneer Mormons in the mid nineteenth century with a 21st century boy recently ousted from his fundamentalist community. Polygamy and murder twist the two together.

Thoughts: My friend Andrea recommended this book to me and after reading reviews I was eager to read it. I love reading about fundamentalist religious communities (have I looked into the requirements for joining the Amish? Yes). I am absolutely fascinated by communities that are able to function outside societal norms. That being said, The 19th Wife was incredibly confusing. The switching between present day and past is fine at first, but with the past story moving at a much quicker pace than the present day story the pacing really threw me off. By the end of the book I was only really paying attention to the modern day story (which is really gripping) so I think I must have missed the big picture of the book. While I should probably read it again to get a better idea of the nineteenth century story....I probably won't.

Outside the Limelight: Basketball in the Ivy League-Kathy Orton

Plot: Kathy Orton chronicles the 2005-2006 basketball season in the Ivy League. That's basically it.

Thoughts: I'm a huge Ivy League Basketball fan. I'm probably the only girl in her twenties who did not attend an Ivy League school who is (Caroline's degree from Barnard puts her in a shady grey area for this one...). We started going to Princeton games when I was a baby and just never stopped. There is no logical reason behind my love for the games. They're not fantastic, the play is slower than most games and the gyms are so quiet you can hear crickets. But when Ivy basketball is played I'm riveted.

That being said I was not a fan of this book. It read like a book of my blog entries would read. While I love my blog entries, even I'll acknowledge that if I were to ever make a book out of them they would need serious editing and rewording. While I appreciated the inside look into a league I've put so much time into, it was light and failed to satisfy me. I was looking forward to some insight into non frontrunner teams like Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia and Yale and how they handle being overlooked so often. Ironically....they were overlooked. Orton only covered Penn, Princeton, Harvard and Cornell in depth.

I did really enjoy reading it as the season wound down, however, and appreciating how far Princeton has come in the past four years. Reading about the teams struggles in 2006 made last night's 20th win of the season taste that much sweeter. I also enjoyed reading about Cornell, who would in the next four years come to own the league. I'm looking forward to watching them do great things in the tournament next week, from what I've seen and what I read they deserve it.

Magic Hour-Kristin Hannah

Plot: A once prominent child psychologist is publicly scorned for her failure to foresee a patients violent rampage. Humiliated she returns to her Washington hometown to help a recently found child who turns out to be a feral child. Lessons on love and family ensue.

Thoughts: Remember how I love fundamentalist communities? I also love feral children. I was pumped when my boss handed me a copy of this book and told me she thought I would like it. She was right, I loved the plot. Loved watching the relationship between the child and the psychologist flourish. Loved the descriptions of small town Washington state. It was a very comfortable book that went great with a glass of wine and soft new age music in the background.

Unlike Devil In the White City, I did not love the side stories. I didn't really care that Ellie used to be homecoming queen and is still dealing with her former glory even though she's 40. I didn't really care that Max and Julia had feelings for each other, really it seemed unprofessional as they were both doctors on the case. I also didn't care for the final twist. Julia, the psychologist, references it as being like a Disney movie at the end, which nearly made me vomit. I also didn't care for the fact that it had an epilogue that only took place five months in the future. That's not an epilogue, that's another chapter. To be fair, I don't actually know the rules of epilogues or even if they exist.

American Wife-Curtis Sittenfeld

Plot: A small town Wisconsin woman meets a man from a powerful family, marries him, deals with the repercussions. Supposedly based off of Laura Bush.

Thoughts: HUGE book, really thick. Loved the first half. Sittenfeld was really good at creating characters and I felt myself becoming a part of the story. I think the fact that I was able to separate the main character, Alice, from her alleged counterpart, Laura Bush, helped a lot. Both her and the rich family, The Blackwells, felt like original characters rather than characters of public figures.

Then they went to Princeton reunions. I'm very territorial about Princeton having spent a lot of time there throughout life. I get really angry when books, movies, etc. feel the need to reference every individual part of campus from dorms to lampposts. Maybe it's because I'm so close to the place that I notice it more than I notice it when other locations are involved. Every sentence seemed to drive the fact that they were at Princeton into the readers head with a hammer. I had a hearty laugh when she described each reunion worker as being incredibly organized and level headed. As someone who spent sleepless nights counting out reunion keys last May I can assure you I was a mess.

After they came back from Reunions the book went downhill. The similarities between the Blackwells and the Bushes became impossible to ignore. At some points I practically expected her to put quotations around the characters names, a subtle wink to the idea that this might not be fiction. This would be all well and good except for the fact that it was fiction. If I had wanted to read a sensationalized story of the Bushes marriage I'm sure there are plenty of options out there. I enjoyed the book when it was original with just enough reference to truth to ground it. After "Charlie" became president, however, it was just too much to handle.

The Glass Castle-Jeanette Walls

Plot: A girl from a family of eccentrics grows up in different places, learns to love her family despite their faults.

Thoughts: Really great book. The author, Jeanette Walls, recounts her journey throughout the United States as her family moved often to escape financial problems. Still living in the memories of my cross country trip, I was fascinated by her descriptions of the different places her family ended up. These small towns seemed to be the epitome of despair. Her eventual home in West Virginia was actually the first official town to recieve food stamps. Yet each town or house seemed to have a former glory attached to it. Welch, WV once had a booming coal mining culture, their house in California while falling into disrepair still held on to it's former beauty through small architectural details. Whether intended or not, it was a beautiful metaphor for this family. Broken, yet holding on to this idea that they might one day turn themselves upright again.

The book has a rather non-traditional ending, at least for this type of story. Unlike other feel good tales, the family does not all end up together, wealthy and happy. Walls, her brother and one of her sisters end up on their feet, doing just fine or even excelling in the case of Walls. Her parents, however, remained homeless up nearly until her father's death. While there was no magic ending, there was a peace in the ending. I realized that while I crave a happy ending to every story, there is often a fakeness to happy endings where you are questioning whether the person is truly happy with the way things turned out, or whether they even turned out like that at all. The Glass Castle's ending was peaceful. Things hadn't turned out perfectly but everyone was where they needed to be in order to feel free.

So grab yourself a copy of The Help and join the book club. Otherwise I'm heading to the soccer fields in my Volvo and joining the first mothers book club I can find. I will steal a baby as my cover if necessary.

Tragically Captivating

The general rule of thumb is never travel with my sister. Bad things happen. I have threatened to call Homeland Security on her numerous times because of the amount of terrorism attacks she seems to attract. The terrorism has been replaced by natural disasters in recent years, attracting a number of small, yet noticeable, earthquakes. Apparently Mother Nature hates Caroline and her typical western lifestyle even more than Osama.

On Friday I was watching The Olympics with my mom when my man Costas informed me that we were going to be cutting away for a newsbreak. My mom moaned and said "oh great, there's probably been an earthquake in Japan". We laughed and I set to work searching to internet to find out what the newsbreak might be. After CNN and NY Times gave me nothing, I went to MSNBC to see a giant red banner reading "7.3 magniture earthquake off the coast of Japan".

I dissolved into hysterical laughter, in retrospect probably not the right response but it was truly funny to me. Mom asked me what I was laughing about and I realized that I was going to have to break the news to her about the earthquake, most likely sending her into a fit of worries until Caroline called with news that she was safe. Rather than tell her, I just laughed harder. Finally I managed to get some words out about the earthquake. My mom did not think it was nearly as funny as I did. Even funnier? The newsbreak was about the governor of New York.

Mom spent the next hours frantically checking the internet for updates before we got an e-mail from Caroline. "yea....there was an earthquake. I kinda slept through it. I just thought it was some trucks." She continued on to tell us how great the sushi was in Japan. Winner.

Unfortunately for Caroline I'm going to stop talking about her now and rather use her story as an introduction to my thoughts on the weekends events.

After finding out that Caroline was indeed fine I went off to my friend Nicky's place. I usually spend Friday nights with her at the bar located in her dorm (excellent location for a bar, btw). Inevitably I wind up spending the night in her room...I keep a sleeping bag and pillow in the trunk of my car at all times just in case this happens. That sleeping bag is the best 15 dollars I've ever spent.

I digress.

I wandered home on Saturday morning and was preparing a giant mug of coffee when my parents came in from walking the dogs. My mom had a grim look on her face and asked if I had heard about the earthquake. I assumed she meant the one in Japan and reminded her that "yes, I did hear about that" then made a mental note to call several area old folks homes to set up informational meetings. She went on to tell me about the Chile earthquake and the subsequent tsunami warnings for Hawaii.

I made a beeline for the television, as is the custom when there is a disaster somewhere in the world, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Chile seemed to be handling the destruction as well as it could be. Now, 4 days later, we are seeing the destruction and chaos that is normally associated post earthquake, but the initial images of post-earthquake Chile were disturbingly calm and organized. People almost seemed to be treating it like we did the Snowpocalypse...it was a nuisance, but intriguing. In the background of some shots you could even see traffic flowing as if it were any other day. Truthfully, they were handling it far better than we did the Snowpocalypse. As the fatality numbers continue to rise and the actual situation begins to set it, it's clear that those hopeful first reports were nothing more than a pipe dream.

What captivated me the most about these news reports, however, was the news that a tsunami was heading straight for Hawaii. Even more captivating....they had an exact time that it would hit. We could literally have a tsunami countdown. The rest of the day was spent checking the clock, counting down the hours until the tsunami. I resisted the urge to imagine a stereotypical tsunami wave, the size of a ten story building, crashing into the Hawaii beachfront. I assured myself that it would be nothing like the tsunami that crashed into Thailand a few years ago. That it would just be a little surge of water, nothing all that interesting. Still I counted down, waited, frantically tried to dissect the charts and graphs that "experts" were parading across tv to try and determine the effect that it would have on Hawaii.

The tsunami was supposed to hit at 4pm est. At 3:30 my family sat down at our tv to watch. We flicked back and forth to try and determine which channel would give us the best coverage. I'm ashamed to admit we decided against MSNBC solely because we wouldn't be able to see the tsunami in HD. My family has decidedly different political views and preferred news channels are often a subject of contention. Over this non-political issue my mom gladly suggested that maybe Fox news would be best while my father assured her that CNN would be more than fine. Eventually we decided on the BBC, however they were more interested in the day's soccer (excuse me, football) match than the tsunami watch in the South Pacific. Bollocks.

The next 45 minutes were thus spent flipping back and forth between Fox News and CNN. All this taught me is that there are no news crews in Hawaii. The only footage anyone had of the beach was courtesy of Skype. Even better it was courtesy of the Skype of an MMA fighter. You're telling me that out of all the high rise hotels and helicopters circling above the ocean, no news channel could have gotten a camera out there? Who am I to complain, though, people were actually using their heads for once. News channels respected the severity of a tsunami and refused to send crews out to the frontlines. Meanwhile I sat safely thousands of miles away from both the destruction of the earthquake and the possible destruction of Hawaii and complained. I am truly a terrible person sometimes.

And so we sat. And waited. And watched. We studied the shots of the ocean and offered our own expert advice. In one shot the water had receded a little....in another we swore you could CLEARLY see the tsunami on the horizon. 4 o clock came and went. We waited. It was sick when you think about it. We knew what we were waiting for wasn't supposed to be all that impressive, yet we waited in case it was. No one wanted to see Hawaii harmed in any way, but we wanted to see something we had never seen before.

Gradually Mom left to go bake a cake, then OMP left to go...I don't know, do OMP things like write books and curse in Polish at Communist youtube videos. I stayed, I watched, then eventually I left as well. It never hit me that the wave never came. Eventually something else caught my attention and I moved on. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized I had spent my whole afternoon waiting for something that never happened.

I want to have a deep ending to this blog entry about the fragility of life and the power of Mother Nature, but I think that's a given. Rumor has it the Pope's Catholic as well. Death and destruction from natural disasters are givens...so why, if they're so unpleasant, are we drawn to them? I don't have an answer, all I can do is offer my advice for television executives. While Dancing With the Stars is great......nothing will guarentee my attention more than a sudden tsunami warning.

And yes. I do worry about what this says about me as a person....