Home Again

I'm glad to be back home after my week-long vacation. The time away was relaxing, especially after I got away from the hippie commune (but more about that in a later post). Traveling away from home always makes me appreciate the things I miss at home like my own bed and the familiarity of my city, neighborhood, and environment. But I'll miss the beauty of Hawaii also. 

Out of the Jungle

Now that I'm out of the jungle and away from the geckos, I can really relax and enjoy the rest of my vacation.

Geckos 1, Kim 0

I had to bail on the crunchy granola remote place where I was staying in the jungle because I couldn't take sharing my living space with geckos. Those critters were in the rafters, on the walls, scurrying across the floor. Ugh. I spent last night in the bathroom with a towel under the door. The bathroom seemed to be the only gecko-free space. So I decamped for a nice, gecko-free hotel for the duration of my stay. But I took a picture of one of the little critters to remind me of the hell I endured over the past day.

You're in the Jungle, Baby

I'm taking a little vacation to try and relax, read, and write. Sequestered out in the jungle with no TV and barely a wifi signal, I'm hoping to make the most of my time away from the grind.

Believe It or Not

I saw a woman driving a minivan with a personalized license plate that said "Aryan 4" on it yesterday. Really? I'm surprised the State of Illinois would allow such a plate, but clearly they did. I had to get a good look at the drive as I passed her. She looked like any other minivan driving suburban white woman with dark hair. I don't know what I was expecting. Someone with Hitler garb or maybe a white robe? What I can't figure out is why you'd have a plate like that around suburban Chicago. (I saw her in Skokie, to be exact, a place with a huge mix of non-white, non-Christian people, by the way.) Maybe Aryan 4 was just visiting from someone less diverse.

Speaking of awful license plates, I used to work for a man whose license plate said "Dick." His name was Richard, but everyone called him Dick because he was old enough to have been given the name before it turned into an insult. He was a very nice guy, but whenever he'd take the clerical staff out for lunch, I have to admit, I was a little embarrassed to be riding in the Dick-mobile. Fun fact, Dick was also a minivan driver. Is there a correlation between minivan drivers and awful personalized license plates?

Hotel Living

Sometimes I have to do a blog post in addition to a Goodreads update when I read a book that I think deserves some extra attention. That book today is Hotel Living by Ioannis Pappos. Ever since I finished this book a few days ago, I can't stop thinking about it. It's the story of a Greek immigrant who completes an MBA at a European school, works for some management consulting firm in the US, and has an on-again/off-again relationship for years with a WASP who does humanitarian-like work. It's about class, money, sexual fluidity. Based on the author's bio, I suspect some of this material is autobiographical. What I really enjoyed about the book was the relationship between the main character, Stathis, and his WASP boyfriend Erik. There's a lot going on between these two and their scenes together were fascinating to me. (Erik often refers to Stathis as Feta in the book. How cute is that? He could have called him Gyro and I would have found it equally adorable.) The book veers off into Bret Easton Ellis territory later with tales of drugs, models, parties, unfortunately. As someone who read BEE's stuff when I was younger, I could deal with it, but I didn't necessarily want to see it in this book.

I got a sample of Hotel Living on my Kindle, but decided against buying it because it didn't immediately draw me in. Then, about a week later, I saw the book at my local library and checked it out and read it. I loved it so much that I ended up going back and buying the Kindle version so I could have the book for myself. I look forward to reading more work from Pappos. This was his first novel and I'm sure he'll put out another one. He seems to be very well connected in the NY literary scene. Hell, he's got blurbs from Michael Cunningham and Edmund White! I doubt he'll have trouble getting a deal for a second book. I'm sure he has one already.

TMI

One of the hairdressers at the salon I go to was talking about how her father and mother often walked around their home nude when she was younger. TMI but also WTF? Now I'm no prude, but I think it's weird and mucho freaky to see your mother and father walking around the house buck naked. The beautician explained that her father felt he could do what he wanted in his own home and that his daughters should see a man's body in full so they would be comfortable with when they came in contact with it later in life. Imagine coming home from school as a child and seeing your dad sitting on the sofa with no clothes on. Your father, his dick, and his balls greet you as you walk in the door. Or imagine your mother's T&A on display for the household while she chats on the telephone with Grandma. No bueno, folks. No bueno.

I Approve!

Last week, Rob Lowe and John Stamos joked that they'd been seeing each other for years. I wish! These two would make a great couple. Attractive, age appropriate...This is a couple I can get behind. I've watched a lot of gay movies, etc. and one of the things that can kill the vibe for me is if the gay characters don't work for me as a couple. (The same goes for heterosexual couples, but let's focus on the gay couples here.) Brokeback Mountain put me to sleep mainly because I didn't find Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal attractive separately or as a couple. They failed to ignite the spark I needed to be invested in their on-screen love affair. I'm not saying every guy needs to look like Lowe or Stamos, but the couple needs to work. Alfred Molina and John Lithgow worked as a couple in the movie Love Is Strange. They had a very believable relationship and, to quote the X-Files, I want to believe! One of the best on-screen gay couples I've seen was Paul Rudd and Tim Daly in The Object of My Affection. I loved the way they looked together and I loved the way they interacted with each other. When Rudd got himself a new boyfriend later in the movie after Daly dumped him, the boyfriend was such a disappointment. How do you go from Tim Daly to some guy who looked like a troll? I kept rooting for Rudd to get back with Daly even though Daly's character was a dick and I'd read the book so I knew they wouldn't get back together. But I didn't care. Paul Rudd and Tim Daly made an adorable couple. I saw a movie called August a while back with Murray Bartlett and I enjoyed it because I like Murray, but his love interest in the movie didn't look like the kind of guy two guys would be fighting over. The actor reminded me of the guy who played Arnold Horseshack on Welcome Back, Kotter. He was totally out of his league with Bartlett. When I see such a miscast in movies and TV shows, I wonder if the casting director owed someone a favor or something. Did someone's cousin need a job?

The End of an Era

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has drawn to a close. I'm glad to say I had the opportunity years ago to attend a live taping of the show. (I also went to a taping of the Colbert Report and got to ask Stephen a question and that was great. Colbert is the white husband I never had, but I digress.) It's sad to see Jon go, but good for him for getting out of the game on his own terms rather than being forced out or continuing to work a job he had grown tired of.


In totally unrelated news, I read about a program in the Chicago area that places rescued pit bulls with abused children. Huh? This sounds like a recipe for disaster. I know any dog can be vicious, but any dog won't clamp down on you and have to be hit in the head or killed to get its jaws to unlock like a pit bull. How many times do you have to see the news or watch shows like the People's Court and hear about a pit bull attacking a child, a person, or another pet before you realize these dogs are dangerous? 

Cuba Libre?

Now that diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba have thawed significantly, I've seen a lot of trips advertised for Americans to visit the country. I can't believe how much these trips cost. I saw one recently offered by my alma mater and it was $5,000!! That seems expensive to me. Five grand?? I'd love to visit Cuba but the price needs to come down. I don't understand why traveling there is so expensive. Maybe because the country was off limits to Amercans for so long and now the travel industry folks figure they can make some cash by overcharging since the travel restrictions are gone now.

Ass, Gas, or Cash

I've been reading articles about the Canadian hitchBot that was sadly destroyed during its brief stay in Philadelphia. I'm sorry the robot was taken down in Philly. As a former Philadelphian, I can't help but see this as yet another black eye for the city. (Although I did breathe a sigh of relief that this destruction didn't happen in my hometown, Detroit. Detroit's too busy fighting Satanists right now.) But back to the hitchBot. It is sad that we can't have nice things because there are so many people hell-bent on destruction, particularly the destruction of other people's property. One of the gossip sites I read suggested that hitchBot may have had a better chance to hitch a ride out of town in Philly had it offered up some ass, gas, or cash since no one rides for free.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

I've been wanting to see The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover for some time now and it hasn't been available on DVD via Netflix, but it was finally available through streaming, so I watched it this weekend. Crazy! Helen Mirren looked great. The guy who played her husband reminded me of the character who kept screaming, "Where's my hansenpfeffer?" in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. The movie looked like an 80s music video with the changing colors and the Jean Paul Gaultier bondage wear the cast clothed themselves in. The child who kept howling in falsetto throughout the movie made me mute the sound at times. I hate to say it, but when that kid ended up hospitalized and unable to sing, I was glad for the break from his warbling. The movie was a bit of a disappointment to me mainly because it focused too much on the boorish husband basically yelling at folks with shots of rotting food and torture thrown in for effect. I was hoping for more of a story. Oh well. On to the next movie in the queue.

Random Thoughts

As this weeks winds to a close, I wanted to recap some stuff that has been on my mind.

1. Trevor Noah: The new Daily Show host has been on a press junket lately and I found something he said to be particularly telling about his mindset. When a reporter asked him how he felt about Comedy Central having two black hosts (him and Larry Wilmore) during their coveted 11pm-12am (EST) time slot, he made a comment that he's "half white." Clearly, Mr. Noah is still working under the three-tiered racial categories of his native South Africa where you have blacks, coloreds (mixed-race blacks), and whites. Uh, you're in the United States now, bro, and we don't really have two levels of blackness here. If you've got one black parent and you pretty much look black (as he does), dude, you're black! Not colored, not mulatto, not whatever other pseudo-black term your home country has come up with to separate you from black folks with two black parents. No, you're black.

2. Not Happening: How many failed movies do Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal have to make before the studio bosses realize these two jokers can't carry a film? I don't think either one is a particularly terrible actor but, let's face it, these two just aren't leading men. They're co-stars or supporting cast members. They can't put asses in the seats and they can't carry a blockbuster film. It's time to face the facts and stop trying to make these guys happen.

3. My Spanish Class: I took an eight-week Spanish class this summer although I only made it to six of the eight classes. I blew off class during the fifth and eighth weeks because I just didn't care. My teacher was a nice woman, but the way she taught wasn't particularly helpful for me. I felt like she focused on things that weren't relevant at times (like how to pronounce a phone number the Spanish way). If someone needs a phone number, I'm sure that can be written out or the person giving it can just give each number separately: ocho, siete, uno, etc. This is not a priority!!! Another problem I had was that the teacher tended to only speak to one half of the room (and it wasn't the half where I was seated). Maybe she felt she had a more captive audience on that side. She also wasn't that great of an English speaker which tended to hinder her ability to understand (and write) words in English. No, the class wasn't a total washout (I did learn some numbers and phrases), but it wasn't that great either.