The Wisdom of Hollywood

Rather unlike me, I kind of didn't bother myself with the Oscars this year. Usually I'm way into them and sometimes even throw some kind of party to watch them (such as the year when The Return of the King was up for all those awards... You should have seen my celebration when they announced it as Best Picture), but in recent years, for fairly obvious reasons, I've just been out of the loop as far as knowing about the types of movies that are nominated. This year I had seen all of one of the films up for Best Picture, and even less of the movies that actors and actresses were nominated for, so I didn't have as much an interest in watching. However, I did catch the last 45 minutes or so, and although I'm utterly unfamiliar with Slumdog Millionaire and while I'm quite glad that Milk didn't sweep like I was so worried it would, I literally gagged my way through Sean Penn's Best Actor acceptance speech. Is this a fluffy Hollywood awards show or a platform for uninformed, indoctrinated liberals to spout hateful, hypocritical epithets toward members of a democracy?? Hollywood openly shames traditional values, and to thunderous applause! You would think such a vehement attack against my worldview would make me feel a little more threatened...

Observe the pseudo-intellectual, uneducated, hypocritical, slobbering indoctrination for yourself:



I have a friend at school who's a self-proclaimed "liberal activist, especially as regards gay rights" (I personally think of him more as an indoctrinated, buzz-word flinging, desperate-to-prove-his-"individuality" product of the media, and said that after seeing Milk, he heard that if it had come out a few weeks earlier, the results of Proposition 8 would have been different. That, my friends, is called a propaganda film.

And, for the record, I don't find the president to be an "elegant man" in the least. In fact, during his address to Congress last night (during which I was more upset than is reasonable that he was overriding American Idol), all I could think was that he's an empty suit spouting empty promises. Once again I say, heaven help us all. (Wups, a religious reference! I'm in danger of getting slammed and lynched by the teeming, liberal masses!)

Homework Holiday

Just for the record, for the first time since school started this semester, I am completely caught up with my reading. Of course, this is aided by the fact that I finally have possession of all of my textbooks (why should it take over a month for a book to be shipped here from anywhere in the continental US?). It's a good feeling, and I'm determined to stay caught up.

It's a great way to spent Presidents' Day, don't you think?

A Question

Is it good to have hope in something even if it's weak or false or unfounded or based on shaky promises?

Think. Discuss.

Valentine's Day

This has turned out to be the best/worst Valentine's Day ever. The good news is The Girl sent me a box with BCEs. The bad news is The Girl had to send me a box with BCEs instead of sharing them with me in person. She really likes flowers, and then we watched Pocahontas "together." Say what you will, I think it's one of the most romantic Disney movies of all.

(If you haven't seen the special edition including the "If I Never Knew You" scene, I highly recommend it. It really rounds out the relationship and story.)

Is it not ironic that I finally have a loved one, but I'm still alone on Valentine's Day? Well, not for much longer.

The Trainwreck: It's Over (Almost)

I've been waiting for a while to get this off my chest...

So for several weeks now I have been inexplicably drawn to spending far too many hours of my life in front of American Idol, and it's more ridiculous in scope and singers than ever before. I've always been annoyed by the audition rounds (including the undeniable plants and lame drama that inevitably surfaces), but this year, more than ever, for whatever reason, I have found myself patently and uncategorically bored. I don't know why this season more than others, but I was almost never even slightly amused! I was annoyed and rolled my eyes about a thousand times (Bikini Girl, schizophrenic Tatiana, overcompensating-for-something "Norman Gentle" and drama crybaby Nathaniel... seriously dude, just stop being a girl and get ahold of yourself... and some pants that fit... oh, and lose the headbands), but hardly ever impressed or entertained. Strange as it sounds, the one redeeming factor of the entire show seems to be Seacrest, who, despite his cheesiness and bad script, is able to seem somewhat genuine and acts as the glue that holds the whole staged thing together. The judges are as dry and canned as ever, including Paula 2.0, whose presence seems absolutely unnecessary (although at least she can sing, I guess). Whose idea was it to have four judges anyway?? If Paula's on her way out next year, they should have just introduced a new judge when she left, it's not like you need to be trained to be a judge for this circus.

Anyway, now that the auditions and Hollywood rounds are finally over, and we're down to the top 36, at least the initial stages are past and now it's more like a talent show than a rigged piece of reality soap opera. Now at least there's some semblance of honesty to the program, since the outcome is purportedly the result of viewer votes, although that leads to some questionability about the system as well. A lot of you might be wondering, and Cami and I were discussing why (OH WHY) if it's so absurd do we keep watching it? The answer is simple, but still complicated: No idea. There's some kind of bizarre draw that just can't be explained. Call it morbid curiosity. Thank heaven for good TV, though, to offset this pile of steaming garbage.

As far as I'm concerned, the purpose of American Idol was to bring us Kelly, Clay, and maybe Carrie, and now that they have, there's no real reason to keep it around.

Scene: Campus Quad

So there I was today, leaving from a group meeting in the campus library, when this conversation with a random passer-by:

Girl: Hey, are you Drew Graham??

Me: Yes, I am! ...

G: I am such a big fan of your drawings! I love your website!

M: Oh, really? Wow...

G: Yes, I even wrote you a couple of emails, you probably don't remember me, but (shares name)...

M: Oh, yeah! I totally recognize that name! I mean, it's not like I get a lot of mail about that stuff or anything.

G: Yes! So anyway, I just had to stop you, thank you so much!

M: No problem! I can't believe you even recognized me, but I'm glad you stopped me and said hello, I of course would never have known...

And there you go. I just laughed as I walked away. It's not like my little art gallery is any kind of special, but it somehow seems to garner a little bit of fan attention. I guess it just depends on who you ask. After all, I suppose it was the impetus to bring me and The Girl together, so...

Back to the Drawing Board...

Dear Andrew,

Thank you for your recent application for admission to graduate study at Brigham Young University.

We regret to inform you that the Psychology- Clinical PhD program has not recommended you for admission for Fall 2009...

... *sigh* Just my luck. But at least they "wish [me] success in attaining [my] personal and academic goals," right?

So, for me, I guess it's, quite literally, back to the drawing board...