Ponyo

So tonight I went to see Ponyo with some friends. I nominate Ponyo for the Cutest Movie Ever Award. I smiled throughout the entire thing. How cheerful!

I guess I'll give another spoiler alert. I'm not giving away the ending or anything, but I will tell you my reaction to it.

Ponyo is the newly released film by Hayao Miyazaki, the great maker of anime, Studio Ghibli and Disney. It is about the fish/daughter, Brunhilde (MCKA Ponyo, played by Noah Cyrus) of a creepy, human-hating wizard dad, Fujimoto (Liam Neeson, the first role he's had where he's creeped me out) and the big, bold and beautiful goddess of the sea (Cate Blanchett). Ponyo has been given magic by her creepo father, who I think regrets his decision when Ponyo swims away. He's very protective of his children, to the point of being overprotective. Anyway, Ponyo gets trapped in a jar, and is found by Sosuke (voiced by the bonus Jonas. I forget his real name), who brings her to school in a bucket. His mom, Lisa (Tina Fey), works next door with old women. Ponyo likes ham and spits water at people she doesn't like. Betty White plays one of the old women. I love Betty White.

Anyway, Ponyo the goldfish is taken back to sea by Creepy Liam Neeson and his "meh"ing carps, where she tries to turn into a human. She initially makes a really creepy human, until she finds the elixer and the well (which aren't explained very well), and turns into a magical human, which upsets the balance of nature, and things go crazy. The moon gets closer, theres a tsunami of giant carp, there's a massive flood because of the moon being so close and ancient extinct sea creatures are out and about.

Despite all the drama (and reckless driving by Lisa, who decides it's a good idea to try to beat the tsunami in her car with her 5-year-old son), there isn't much danger in the movie. The scariest part is them walking through a tunnel. And the tsunami and everything, but you know it'll turn out okay, because it's Ponyo controlling the tsunami. There's not much plot either. It's a really cute movie, and I usually enjoy plotless movies just as much as plotted movies, but if you need something to anticipate, this isn't for you.

The psuedo-antagonist that's present in every Miyazaki movie isn't really even an antagonist at all. He's just a worried dad. Who needs to wear less makeup/get healthy and stop spritzing when he walks on land, and stop asking 5 year old boys to come with him. Stranger Danger!

Here's a picture of Ponyo's parents together, and a close up of her Dad. He is creepy, she is large.

BTW, the chickens have started laying! There were 2 eggs today! Yay! Free eggs!

A few things that annoy me that I'm not going to explain.

Inconsiderate people.
Unreliable people.
People who treat you like you aren't capable.
People who treat you like an inconvenience or liability.
Usurpers.
People who have the power to do great things but don't.
People (and chickens) who try to mount you when you don't want them to.
People who want you to be a part of their poor decision.
People who listen only to their heart or their head.
Names of products, or advertisements for them, that tell you nothing about it.
People who call you gross to your face even though you're not gross, just different.
People who feel entitled to do something but they're really obligated to do the opposite.
A lack of people.
Too any people.
People too frequently.
Empty relationships.
Confusing websites that won't let you upload mature content.
People who say one thing but act the opposite way.
Pandering.

And there goes the balloon...
That's better.
: )

Soldier's Girl

I watched the movie Soldier's Girl today. I guess this is technically a spoiler alert, but it's all in the movie description, and it's based on a true story, so we already know what happens.

It's about a soldier (during peacetime) who is stationed in Tennessee and who has a kind of screwed up roommate. I think he has some mental health issues. Anyway, Barry (the main character) ends up falling in love and having a relationship with a transwoman and drag queen who he met at the gay bar his roommate dragged a bunch of them to (as a "test"). Characters and developed and introduced, everyone kind of knows that Barry is in love with a tranny, and the plot begins to develop. His roommate talks a new recruit, who gets in fights with Barry often, into beating Barry while he sleeps with a baseball bat. Barry dies. We see the reactions and reflections of people. End of movie.

I was fucking bawling my eyes out.

The movie as a movie was not that great. The story that is in the movie however, is so heartbreaking. The things that make a movie good were lacking and actually made the movie rather dull. However, the movie allows you to imagine what is really happening inside these people's heads and lives that they don't show in the movie. Which is what made me burst into tears and sob for a good 10 minutes while Barry got his head bashed in with a baseball bat.

Overall, bad movie, good story. If you have an imagination and care about the issues faced by soldiers and transpeople, and the people who love soldiers and transpeople, it's a good movie. If you're apathetic and unimaginative, it's a bad movie.

Speaking of soldiers/sailors, my brother moved out again. He was home for about a month. It was really nice. I had someone to talk to, and joke with, and who didn't mind driving me places, and while he can be really judgemental about my choices, is generally a nice, polite, funny brother. He is now living with my cousin in Snobville. His impetus for moving today? His local gym membership expired yesterday, and his Snobville gym membership starts tomorrow. My brother the bodybuilder. What a weirdo. We have always had very opposite interests.

Come and take a dip in the hope, the future is fine.

So, I've been playing around with my schedule since my last post. I was sad that aside from religion, I would have only social science classes. I don't want to get burned out on social science, because I like it a lot. Ergo, I have switched things around.

I have added Statistical Modeling, New Venture Formulating (a management class), Intro to Environmental Science and Principles of Computer Science.

I think that will round out my studies, especially since I want to work for community-based organizations. I would enjoy being a community organizer, a pollster, campaign manager, a city planner, local administrator/elected official or a lobbyist for a non-profit advocacy group (not a business group. Greedy jerks). I think the ship has sailed on the city planning, but maybe I could work it out. I can always take undergrad classes without a degree while working on my masters or doctorate.

When I tell people that I want a career with public policy and planning, they look at me like I'm crazy. Why would you want to slave away for pennies and piss people off when you could be a doctor or something more lucrative and less stigmatized? Doctors can fix individuals problems , but I want to be able to prevent and fix those problems so they happen less frequently, in the most efficient and least imposing way. (Don't get me wrong, doctors = awesome, but I would make a lousy one. I have no bedside manner)

I could go on forever about this (I almost just did. I wrote three paragraphs, but decided to delete it, because it's getting away from the topic of this post, which is my future and my goals, not my platform. I'll save that for another post).

I'm not very good at many things. I am not very good at public speaking, getting people to do what I want them to, anything related to arts, entertainment or sports. The things I am good at: organization, memorization, begging on behalf of others, planning, complaining, etc, make for a good behind-the-scenes public policy slave. So public slave it is.

I don't want to be a office bitch for some rich company, or an aide to a puffed up Senator. I want to help people. I can help people. I don't think I'd be better at it than most people, but most people don't pick public slave jobs. They pick more jobs with money or reputation or freedom, like a rational person would.

Shchool ish cool.

I am beginning to get excited to go back to school.

Don't get me wrong, I love home. I love the peace and freedom that comes with home and summer. But I do miss actually doing things and having a purpose. I miss stress. I miss being with my makeshift family constantly. I miss new experiences and stimulating conversation. I miss grocery shopping and Target runs. I miss stealing pizza from the Pause and napping on the janky couches in Fireside. I miss work, and homework, and professors.

I went to see my apartment today. It's nice. It's on the 3rd floor, so I'll need to find a couple friends to help me move. We have a dishwasher. Yay! We'll just have to get used to not having a custodian this year and cleaning things ourselves. : ) I'm excited. I can take the elevator up the hill in Holland (because almost all of my classes are there) when I get to school, and in the winter, I can sled back down the hill. It's a small hike to campus from the apartment, but that's okay. I could use the exercise.

I'm very excited to move in. We have some stuff that we still need to buy, but we have the important stuff, such as large furniture and some dishes and all of our personal stuff. BTW, if anyone is looking to get rid of a comfy couch or some end tables or pots and pans, let me know. I will take them off your hands. : )

I'm also getting my schedule together for the year. I have mainly Polisci and Soc/Anthro classes, with 2 Women's Studies and 1 Religion class left to take for the rest of undergrad. I want to take another stats course as well, though. I'll see if I can squeeze it in.

In other news, I played my mom in Trivial Pursuit today. I won. I just bought it today at Goodwill for $3. : )

Stupid

The title of this post is stupid. Literally. lol

I have been active but I have little to write about. I have been very tired lately. I have fallen asleep at the computer the past two nights, ergo I haven't updated. I like that word. Ergo. Hence is also a good word. They're good college student words. Thus is a little too high school. haha. Kidding. At least people have stopped saying uber.

I know what to write about! Today, David came over and we watched MirrorMask. It is a really interesting and bizarre movie. It is very similar to Labyrinth and Dark Crystal in both tone and strangeness. And the Jim Henson company helped make it. Only it's done with mostly computer animation, rather than puppets, like Labyrinth was. It works really well, though. I give it 4.9 stars out of 5. Some parts made no sense, is the only drawback. Like the part with the gorilla penguins. I had no idea what was happening, but the gorilla penguins are really cute. It's a very whimsical movie. It's allegorical. : ) The cast is really good. It's a family friendly movie (even though Valentine's tower is really really phallic, but all good towers are). The whole movie made me smile and giggle, and the last line made me rofl. I highly recommend it, and might buy it myself.

A Dedication:
This is a post for Maddy.
I wrote a haiku!

Angela's Issues

I want to talk about Angela. Angela is one of our chickens. She is the only non-reddish brown chicken. She is mostly a silvery white, with black. Although recently she has been getting some yellow on her and some teal in her tail.

I don't think she's a she. Well, not totally. I think we may have a dyke or maybe intersex chicken.

You see, she is more female in appearance, so always assumed she was a hen. Americaunas, the breed of chicken we have, lay blue-green eggs, and the legs of the hens are also blue green. Her legs are blue green, but there is a noticeable presence of yellow as well, the color of the rooster's legs.

Hens typically have a small, pinkish comb, while roosters have a large bright red comb. Angela's is larger and redder than the rest of the hens, but smaller than Dwight's comb.

The other hens are much smaller than her and Dwight, who are about the same size.

She doesn't 'flock' as much as the other hens. She is much more independent, and doesn't stick as close to the other chickens, similar to Dwight's behavior. Meredith, Phyllis and Kelly actually stick closer to Angela than Dwight if everyone else is, too, but Pam is definitely Dwight's girl. Although she still doesn't like to be separated from them. Chicken are stupid, but smart enough to realize they need each other.

She is very bossy. Bossy where she is at the top of the pecking order. She will even peck Dwight, who is the ruler of the roost, usually. She even herds the girls the way Dwight does. We thought maybe she was just the head hen.

Then came the shocker.

Angela mounted Meredith! I mean, we've been seeing Dwight mount Pam and Kelly (mostly Pam), but until recently, Angela didn't display this very roosterish behavior. We've always noticed she was rather cocky, but not to the point where mating comes into it. They are getting to that age, too. We've started watching for eggs now that they're getting to be old enough.

What if Angela isn't a hen? Maybe we should ask a farm animal vet about it. I haven't heard anything about biologically intersex/transexual chickens, but I've heard things about cocky hens. Maybe she is just mounting them without mounting them. I guess we could see if she lays, but with 5 hens in one house, it'll be hard to see who lays what.