Things You Missed + Derby + "Bring It On" Week + Questions + Asterisks

[snurri]

Yesterday, while you were all at your wild, all-day George Washington parties and I was at work (NOT THAT I AM A RESENTFUL PERSON*), I posted about blogs that cover future urban concepts, one of my personal manias. I also posted the shiny trailer and banner for the upcoming Paper Cities antho, which Jeff VanderMeer (among others) has said very nice things about. (Scroll all the way down for the review.)

The Minnesota Roller Girls are at Roy Wilkins this Sunday. Locals: anybody going? Anybody want to? My planned companion has flaked on me discovered a scheduling conflict. I am in the mood to watch tattooed girls in fishnets shove each other around.** I'll go alone if I have to, but it won't be pretty. (Well, I won't be pretty. But then I rarely am.)

Things that are awesome: Chris Sims kicks off his "Bring It On" week with the 30-second recap. If you have not seen "Bring It On," you might be under the impression that a movie about cheerleaders cannot be awesome. You are sadly mistaken. Of course, Sims does his best to amp up the awesome with his stick-figures*** and Shakespearean dialog.

Finally, it has come to my attention that I am a cipher wrapped in an enigma, smothered with secret sauce. No, I am not Jimmy James. But being as this is a personal blog where I tend to skirt around the personal, when I actually do talk about something that's very personal--like, say, my recent tirades about Valentine's Day--apparently people aren't quite sure what to make of it. So, inspired in part by mrissa, I'm opening the floor. Ask me anything. Yes, anything.**** I will make an effort to be forthcoming, even if it's personal. If, on the other hand, you'd rather just trade smartass quips, I can do that too. It's kind of where I live.

* This is a lie.
** I am almost always in the mood for this.
*** Stick figures + Spirit fingers = Fail
**** Except THAT.

Comments

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

How is it that you maintain your hope for the world, and your compassion for people who are largely complete strangers? This is a more or less a serious question.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's a big question. I don't know, really. I don't, always. It's just that when I'm feeling really hopeless I don't talk about it much.

I do have a basic, possibly inborn belief that people are basically good. Even people who do stupid and awful things, I think most of them either a) have been twisted by religion or culture into believing that they are doing the right thing, or b) have simply lost hope and, consequently, reason. And while people in groups tend to drive me nuts with their susceptibility to least-common-denominator, mob-type thinking, individuals tend to surprise me--once you break through the surface--with their genuine thoughtfulness and decency. I've had some amazing interactions with people whom I vehemently disagree with which make it difficult for me to dismiss their viewpoints as simply irrational or outmoded. By extension, there have to be many, many people like that in the world. So I have hope that when people actually talk to each other, their common desire to improve things will win out. Even if it often doesn't seem to work that way.

As to compassion, I think that, despite the foundation for it that was laid when I was a kid, that's something I had to learn. I can't even watch some of the action movies I used to when I was in high school, because screen violence bothers me in a way it never used to. Somewhere in my twenties human suffering became less abstract to me, I suppose because of my own experience. Not that I've suffered through a great deal myself, or even witnessed a great amount of suffering, but I think that small portion was enough to extrapolate from. I can get pretty emotional about things I see on the news. 9/11 was devastating to me. The deaths were one thing, but I hurt more for the survivors, because they could have been anyone. They could have been me.

This is probably a really bad/frustrating answer to your question, but it's the best I can come up with at the moment.

[justinhowe.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the in-depth answer to an admittedly difficult question. I am often struck by the thought while reading your LJ that you are a man "Who gives a damn" -- and that always makes me wonder whether or not I should give more of a damn.

I don't know how your answer fits into things, but it does sort of wind its way in. Thanks.

Silly bonus question: if you had to describe your current living space as a Lighthouse, a Windmill, or a Tugboat, which would best describe the place?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Well, at the very least, I am happy to have that be part of your impression of me.

IF I HAD TO DESCRIBE MY CURRENT LIVING SPACE (by Dave Schwartz, age 37) I would say it was a Windmill. Not because it operates on windpower, or sits in a field of tulips, but because it is a half-floor below ground level, and thus a Lighthouse is Right Out. Also it is on a hill high, high, high above the river and is thus not a Tugboat. (Nor is it Mike Watt.) Hence by process of elimination it must be a Windmill. Also, Windmills remind me of that bit in Army of Darkness, and that was funny.