Over the Shoulder

Kronk nervously glanced around, flooded with indecision. What to do with the emperor? But help arrives conveniently on both shoulders.

Shoulder Devil: Don't listen to him. He's trying to lead you down the path of righteousness -- I'm trying to lead you down the path that ROCKS! Listen up, big guy. I got 3 good reasons why you should just walk away. Number 1: Look at that guy [referring to the Shoulder Angel] -- he's got that sissy, stringy music thing.
Shoulder Angel: We've been through this. It's a harp, and you know it.
Devil: Oh, right. That's a harp, and that's a dress.
Angel: Robe!
Devil: Reason Number 2: Look what I can do! [does a one-armed handstand] Ha ha!
Kronk: But what does that have to do with me?
Angel: No, no -- he's got a point.

As I watch The Emperor's New Groove, I have to wonder: where did the proverbial shoulder angel/devil come from? I did a Google search, and of course good old Wikipedia had an entry about it.


"A shoulder angel is a plot device used for either dramatic or humorous effect in animation. Often accompanied by a shoulder demon, the angel represents one's conscience while the demon represents temptation(s). They are handy for easily showing inner conflict of a character. These are derived from Sigmund Freud's concept of id and superego, where the id stands for basic instinctual desires and the superego for unrealistic adherence to universal morals.

The shoulder angel often looks like stereotypically angelic version of the character, with wings, a robe, a halo, and sometimes a harp. The shoulder demon likewise usually looks like stereotypically demonic version the character, dressed as devils with reddish skin, horns and (sometimes) cloven hooves."

The entry doesn't really say who first used it, but it does mention several instances when it's been used. The Simpsons, Family Guy, several Looney Tunes shorts, some comic strips, and other tv shows have utilized it.

Today's Lyrics (from the Beatles)

A Hard Day's Night
It's been a hard day's night
And I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night
I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you
I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright

You know I work all day
To get you money to buy you things
And it's worth it just to hear you say
You're gonna give me everything
So why on earth should I moan
'Cause when I get you alone
You know I feel okay

When I'm home
Everything seems to be right
When I'm home
Feeling you holding me tight
Tight, yeah

It's been a hard day's night
And I've been working like a dog
It's been a hard day's night
I should be sleeping like a log
But when I get home to you
I find the things that you do
Will make me feel alright

This is how I've felt lately. Swamped with work (schoolwork, work for the paper, more work that I'm probably forgetting but will think of eventually...). Ergo fewer posts. Lo siento.

King Quotes

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, agression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Cultural Events in 2006

Slate.com never lets me down--there's always some offbeat article, interesting critique, or review of the papers for me to delve into at my whim. This time, it's an article entitled "The most amazing--and disappointing--cultural events of 2006." I know technically we're 3 days into 2007, but I still feel the need to mention this article.

The premise? "Slate asked a number of prominent writers, thinkers, and other luminaries to answer the following question: What cultural event most amazed or disappointed you this year?" And thus, a very amusing, 6-page article was born. Here are some of my favorite events (with subsequent critiques) from the article:

1. Art critic and professor Christopher Benfey said, "The demotion of Pluto disappointed me." The AJC's obituary writer did the article on the subject in the style of an obituary, which I thought was a clever spin for a science-related piece. But yes, I would agree with Mr. Benfey--I, too, was disappointed when I heard that Pluto was no longer a planet. And we weren't the only two--several Facebook groups were created to show the shared disappointment. One of the groups currently boasts 753,189 members. No joke.

2. Author Laura Kipnis discussed "the minor scandal involving hard-punching literary critic Lee Siegel who was suspended from the New Republic after it turned out he'd been anonymously writing glowing tributes to himself on the magazine's Web site." Wow. What I think was highly entertaining about this story was that he blogged those tributes under the name sprezzatura, which means "studied carelessness" in Italian. He also claimed to be "constitutionally childlike" and uses this title as part of his defense. Too funny.

3. Author Megan Marshall was most interested in the "reunion of Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne—after a 142-year separation." Nathaniel was buried in America while Sophia was buried in England, but now they reside side-by-side. Awwwww.

4. Executive producer and former reporter David Simon touched on a subject that directly affects me--"the clearest indications yet as to the future of the daily newspaper in America." There were several clashes between the newsroom's desire for accurate, dispassionate, fair reporting and corporate's desire to increase profit margins. The LA Times was the perfect example: the chief editors refused corporate's demands to cut costs and shrink the newsroom staff and were promptly fired because of it. I'm glad they stood up for themselves (and subsequently for others around the country).

I could keep going, but then I'd have to comment on everything in the article, which would take far too long. But I highly recommend reading it...it's very interesting.

Social Awkwardness

Social awkwardness. Yes, these are two words I know very well. We're good friends, actually. I'm not sure if we're friends because I bring those situations upon myself or if it's just simple misfortune, but I'd rather us not be friends.

Take Christmas Day for example--the trek to my dad's girlfriend's house to eat an "early dinner" and to exchange the presents my dad mandated we buy for her. I'd been dreading this interaction since he suggested the idea a few weeks earlier. I respect my dad's desire for us to be closer with the woman he's about to get engaged to (as well as her young sons) but this is ridiculous. My brother, sister, and I barely know the woman and in order to rectify that, my dad forces us to smile and pretend that her house is the only place in the world we want to be at that moment and that we'd love nothing more than to share stiff conversation with her on several general topics. My brother was amicable, I was cordial, and my sister was stone cold silent.

And I could see/
That she was offended/
She said, "Well, anyway..."/
Just dying for a subject change

So what do I take away from such experiences? Don't force people to be close right away. If you want me to like someone, then let me get to know them on my own terms and in my own time. Don't force me into awkward situations so frequently and expect me to be completely comfortable. That's all I'm asking.

Lists

1. Three things that scare me:
spiders
heights
a broken heart

2. Three people who make me laugh:
Jimmy Fallon
Tyler Braddy
Captain Jack Sparrow

3. Three things I hate the most:
stupid girls
narrow-minded people
fighting

4. Three things I don't understand:
economics
people who don't try
people who hate to read

5. Three things I'm doing right now:
listening to RENT
thinking up answers to these questions
waiting for David to call me back

6. Three things I want to do before I die:
go to Europe
to love and be loved back
get published

7. Three things I can do:
recite lines from movies I love
sing (not particularly well, but I can)
play basketball

8. Three ways to describe my personality:
introverted
altruistic
compassionate

9. Three things I can't do:
hate you
play the guitar
drive fast

10. Three things I think you should listen to:
your parents
your true friends
the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack...it's awesome

11. Three things you should never listen to:
people who can't sing
Dido
bad advice

12. Three things I'd like to learn:
how to play the guitar
how to surf
how to stop caring so much about what other people think

13. Three favourite foods:
french fries
buffalo chicken sandwiches from Charley's
gyro wrap platters from Great Wraps

14. Three beverages I drink regularly:
water
chocolate milk
Mountain Dew Code Red

15. Three shows I watched as a kid:
Boy Meets World
Salute Your Shorts
Hey Arnold!

Christmastime at the Miller House(s)

I've been back in the Snellville/Stone Mountain area for a few days now, and already my trip home has been quite the experience.

First of all, I'd like to point out that while I don't enjoy the very commercialized aspects of this holiday (i.e. the shopping frenzies, the commercials for Christmas sales on tv, the Christmas music on 94.9 FM starting in October, etc), I do enjoy putting up the few Christmas decorations we have and putting up the Christmas tree. That being said, let me say that I'm pretty much the only one in my family who does. My mom gets into in once I do, but otherwise, I'm all alone in that respect.

So on Sunday, my mom and I brought the decorations down from the attic and I put them around the house. I tried to hide the box containing all of our contruction paper stockings, wreaths, and Santas from elementary school, but my mom has a radar for that sort of thing. I'm surprised she still keeps some of it. Nevertheless, she found the box under some other boxes (it wasn't placed there unintentionally, mind you) and displayed said decorations prominently in the kitchen. Now when people come visit, they can look at my artwork and see that I couldn't write my name in a straight line at age 5. I'm doing better now, you'll be happy to know.

Our next task? Find a Christmas tree a week before Christmas. This was a harder task than we previously anticipated, but we did eventually find one. I don't think you could call it a "tree" exactly...it's shorter than I am (I'm 5' 7") and looks more like a Christmas bush. Or maybe we could call it a "fun-sized tree." My brother (who's about 6' 4") said it best -- "If it were a fish, we would have thrown it back." Too true.

I've done a few other things since coming back...I went to the dentist and had a strange woman clean my teeth and tell me that I just need to floss more. Of this fact I'm well aware; what I wasn't aware of was how easily my dental hygenist could carry on a one-sided conversation with me about the importance of flossing and how an electric toothbrush is so much better than a regular one. "Why am I telling you this?" she'd say, and without looking for a response, she'd immediately finish, "I'll tell you why..." Honestly, I didn't really need to be in the room for her to talk. She just kept going and going...eventually she made a note on her records not to cover teeth whitening with me the next time I come since she'd told me everything there is to know about the subject in a span of 30 minutes.

I also saw the movie "The Holiday" with a few friends. Good movie--a chick flick, yes, but still good. I was surprised to see Jack Black in it, and not as one-half of Tenacious D but playing a man who composes the music for movies for a living. What a cool job! It was a tad long, but worth seeing.

Finally, my brother came home last night, which is awesome. We jammed to Journey this morning (by the way, search YouTube for their "Separate Ways" video because it's terribly entertaining) and then went to a nearby park to play frisbee and walk around. After tossing it around for a while, we took a short walk on one of the trails and came back to find his Duke frisbee and the light jacket I was wearing gone. What? In a small park in Gwinnett County? Apparantly so. They were sitting by a picnic table on the ground, but someone decided to take them anyway. LAME.

And so, for the rest of my holiday, I will be writing soon while travelling between my dad's house, my mom's house, my dad's girlfriend's house (awkward), and my high school friends' houses. Hope everyone has a great holiday!