I’ll admit, this topic of this post is ripped off from a similar blog at Bravotv.com (which is, in itself, one of my current obsessions). This list is a random collection of stuff I’m fascinated with these days. As Dave will attest, when something fascinates me, the people around me have no other choice than to become fascinated with it as well…this now includes you guys, sorry!
Bravo’s Project Runway (Season 2) – I know very little about fashion, less about design, and my sewing skills are so low they might as well be rated by negative numbers. Still, this show featuring supermodels, wannabe superstar designers, and arcane fashion jargon has replaced Law and Order as my essential Wednesday night viewing. (What’s the difference, I can just catch the L&O shows I miss, or ones that are eeerily similar to them, later, on any of twenty cable channels.) I’m not going to be one of these people who swears they don’t watch any other reality TV because I have been known to sit through episodes of Survivor, The Amazing Race, and The Real World. Reality TV can be fun, if done well. But even when it’s done poorly, it’s hard to turn it off!
What sets Project Runway apart for me is at the end of the day, the competition is (mostly) about talent and creativity. Yes, there’s some drama, yes, there are male and female divas-aplenty but it’s still fun to watch. One of the things I like best is that there’s very little attempt to distinguish the designer from their design. Everyone is very frank about how much of themselves they put in their work. Having worked in business for close to ten years and been told repeatedly “it’s not personal, it’s just business� it’s refreshing to see that there is a flipside out there somewhere, even if it’s not my field. My take has always been that if you did it, and worked hard on it, it is personal, no matter what it is. Call me crazy, but the more I think the more you separate yourself from what you do, the less successful and rewarding that work is. Fine, maybe I am crazy.
The Olympics – They opening ceremonies are just days away (as I write this) and you can feel the anticipation in the Gillett-Thomer household. We are Olympic junkies, especially for the Winter Games. We’re also geeks but you knew that already. In the summer games, you can see quite clearly how most of the sports connect to the human experience: swimming, running, even archery. In the winter games, the connection is not always so clear. I mean, I doubt the Scottish highlanders invented curling as a means of survival. And figure skating? Unless someone comes forth with irrefutable proof that triple salchows were the only way for our ancestors to escape hungry Alpine bears, I’m standing by my assessment that this sport is as much about sex appeal as it is about athleticism. Dave will no doubt protest me calling figure skating a sport but hey, it wouldn’t be an Olympic year if he didn’t.
Many of the winter games seem to have been created out of boredom than real need for human survival, which is what makes them so darn entertaining. And for those of us at home, it is just that, entertainment. Yes the Olympics themselves are about athleticism, but they are as much about pageantry, hence the multi-million dollar opening and closing ceremonies. They’re also about making money, hence the billion dollar sponsorship deals. Still, I love my figure skating (and speed skating, and ski-jump) and Dave loves his curling. I’ll be watching as much of the 16-day extravaganza as I can. Mostly to see if any Alpine bears show up.
Enron, The Smartest Guys in the Room – Being a business grad student and resident of planet Earth, I was certainly aware of the accounting scandal that this documentary, and the book it was based on, chronicled. But, as with many things following the birth if my daughter, the details were a little fuzzy. I have heard that this documentary was good so I decided to pop it in my DVD player one quiet afternoon. The afternoon didn’t stay quiet for very long because I was soon shouting at my TV. To me, what happened here is truly human nature at its worst. Between what I always knew about Enron’s execs, and evidence brought forth in this documentary, I have to wonder how Skilling, Lay and company plan to survive their upcoming trials. I’m not speaking metaphorically, either. They must live in constant fear that some devastated ex-Enron employee or family member is simply going to exact their own form of justice one way or another. To quote a dear friend of mine, who is often mortified at the sheer callousness of human beings, “one Hell cannot possibly be big enough� to house people who do things like this.
But back to the documentary, it’s the rare non-fiction film work that can create kind of drama about a story you more or less already know. Armed with music, striking imagery, tasteful re-enactments, and some stunning pieces of evidence, the creators did just that.
Obviously, I have my own opinions about the guilt and innocence of the principals in this case; it’s almost impossible not to. However, there are those, even among the filmmakers, who do see a difference between criminal culpability and moral culpability. Is there one? Rent or buy this DVD and decide for yourself.
Sherlock Holmes – Santa was kind to me this year and brought me The Complete Sherlock Holmes in a single collected edition. I’ve decided, after re-reading the first few Holmes tales, that I will try to reread most of the books that I really enjoyed when I was in my teens and early twenties now, as I creep ever nearer to the big 3-0. When I first read Doyle, I was blown away by the details of each mystery and focused almost entirely on those aspects. I missed a great deal of Doyle’s character development, wit and detail the first time around, perhaps because I was too impatient, too naïve, or too preoccupied with term papers the first time around. Now, I truly am reading it for fun. Of course, now I need to fit in my leisure reading around finger painting and episodes of Dora the Explorer but you see my point.
In the ensuing years, I’ve become familiar with several Hollywood versions of Holmes, some brilliant (Jeremy Brett), some questionable (Rupert Everett), but none really equals picking p the books and reading them, or rather, re-reading them, for myself.
Home Improvements – Replacement windows, repainting, new doors, new rugs, refinishing the floors, retiling…the homeowners’ work is never done. No, really, it’s NEVER done. One of the joys of owning a home is that you get to choose the renovations and improvements that you make. One of the problems of home-ownership is that you have to pay for the renovations and improvements that you make. Every once and while, though, Uncle Sam cuts you a break on the costs of your home renovations, which is probably how most ever happen at all. Let’s face it, a large percentage of homeowners are probably as motivated by this stuff as I am. Which is why I tend to want to make improvements in large bursts of activity; these bursts are then followed by long periods of inactivity during which I watch television and read mystery books while the house creaks beneath me.