The Best and Worst of 2008

 

Currently Wintersong By Sarah McLachlan see related

Here we are now, entertain us

Tonight was the Tyndale company Christmas party. Guests poured into the chandelliered venue wearing their finest clothes. Waiters wearing white gloves served such delicacies as salad with candied pecans and goat cheese, prime rib, and chicken with brie and cranberries. After the meal, a one-man show commenced: a Charles Dickens impersonator relating his famous A Christmas Carol. If anything can be inferred from the night, it is that Tyndale cares about its employees, and all who work there are very blessed to do so. I, however, lost sight of this point as I observed the girls in the table beside me.

Within minutes of the performance, the three girls, who I would like to believe were someone's high school daugters and not young Tyndale employees, were huddled around a cell phone, giggling at (presumably) whatever the one in the middle was typing. There were whispers behind hands and more giggles, and none bothered to turn toward the stage. It's not that the girls were loud or disruptive. The problem was that the way they were behaving communicated three things which, sadly, seem to reflect the upcoming generation: 1) In order to be entertained, the form of entertainment needs to be hyped up and flashy, in the style of Deal or No Deal, 2) life should be constantly filled with entertainment, and 3) it is your right to create your own entertainment. It is no longer necessary to quietly and politely sit through something you aren't interested in. If something is boring, you should feel free to entertain yourself in some other way (iPods, cell phones, and Nintendo DSs are wonderful for this).

As my cynicism got the better of me, I realized, as I so often do, that in criticising them for missing the point of the night and the performance, I lost focus of the point, too.

I want to play that trendy movie quiz game, too!

The Rules:
1. Pick 20 of your favorite movies.
2. Find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it correctly and the name of the movie.
5. NO CHEATING (googling/using IMDb/Wikiquote) for those of you guessing.

*I've included answers from facebook, too*

1. A: The grass so green. Skies so blue. Spectre is really great!
B: It's only three lines long.
A: This is why you should never show a work in progress. Big Fish, Erin M. & Katie

2. A: You don't like raisins?
B: Not really.
A: Why?
B: They used to be fat and juicy and now they're twisted. They had their lives stolen. Well, they taste sweet, but really they're just humiliated grapes. Benny & Joon, Michelle E.

3. For a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Pride & Prejudice, Joy, Mandy 

4. I don't want Swiss water. I got sick on an imported Swiss water. Do you remember that night? As long as it's not Swiss or tap water it will be fine, preferably French, no bubbles. I want it cold, no ice, no glass, just the bottle and a straw. Do you want to write it down? I don't want Swiss water, I got sick on an imported Swiss water once... Return to Me, Joy

5. You smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa. Elf, Erin M., Michelle F.

6. The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation. RENT, Erin H.
 
7. Is this a kissing book? The Princess Bride, Erin M., Mandy, Mary 

8. A: I like your dress.
B: It’s because I’ve got these incredible boobs to fill it out! 13 Going on 30, Erin H., Erin M., Mandy, Michelle F., & Mary 

9. If we get any more white people in here, this is gonna be a suburb. Hairspray, Steph

10. What do you know of my heart? What do you know of anything but your own suffering. For weeks, Marianne, I've had this pressing on me without being at liberty to speak of it to a single creature. It was forced on me by the very person whose prior claims ruined all my hope. I have endured her exultations again and again whilst knowing myself to be divided from Edward forever. Believe me, Marianne, had I not been bound to silence I could have provided proof enough of a broken heart, even for you. Sense & Sensibility, Joy,  Mandy, Mary,& Michelle F.

11. Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window. A Christmas Story, Erin M., & Michelle F.

12. Unfortunately, this guitar said, 'When I get back to Georgia, that woman gonna feel my pain.' This one said something along the lines of, 'Why yes, these pants are lycra.' These said, 'I'm very sensitive, very caring, and I have absolutely no idea how to play the guitar.' Stranger than Fiction, Kendra

13. I must confess that I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred in a handbag, whether it have handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life which reminds one of the worst excesses of the French revolution, and I presume you know what that unfortunate movement led to? The Importance of Being Earnest, Erin H.

14. A: Apples into applesauce - A unification into one smooth mixture. An egg - nature's perfect container. The container of all our hopes for the future.
B: A unification and a container of hope? United World Organization! Batman (1966), Erin H.

15. It's not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas, and thinking... Beauty and the Beast, Erin H., Erin M., Mandy, & Mary 

16. He rakes and trims the grass, he loves to mow and weed. I cook like Betty Crocker, and I look like Donna Reed, there's plastic on the furniture, to keep it neat and clean, in the Pine-Sol scented air somewhere that's green. Little Shop of Horrors, Erin M.

17. A: Don't you just hate flying?
B: Yes, I do, and I just told the most terrible one to the man I'm about to marry. Do you feel that any lie is a betrayal?
A: I said FLYING. Nobody got it! Sleepless in Seattle

18. A: What did you bring a thousand pounds to school for? Can't you see that's suspicious?
B: It's not suspicious, it's unusual. Millions, Duane & Michelle F.

19. I realize that when I met you at the turkey curry buffet, I was unforgivably rude, and wearing a reindeer jumper. Bridget Jones’ Diary, Duane, Mary 

20. Go away! And don't come back for five to seven days! My Girl, Mandy

Thanks for playing! It was fun.

Currently Reading The Disabled God By Nancy L. Eiesland see related

Disability Studies

I am incredibly blessed to be part of a graduate program on a subject I am truly passionate about. There's no way I can fully express my gratitude for the many opportunities that keep falling into my lap regarding my studies. I preface this post by expressing my gratitude so that you don't get the wrong idea about my attitude toward my chosen field of study. I love disability studies. It's interesting, important, and I can't get enough of it. Today, however, I will share the things that will probably always frustrate me about this field:

1. Repitition. Disability studies is, by nature, interdisciplinary. I believe this is one of the greatest things the field has to offer. However, because it is interdisciplinary, authors who write about disability studies from a different field (say, biblical studies) feel the need to spend a chapter or two in their work explaining the disability rights movement, the ADA, terminology, the medical vs. the social model, and other such "disability studies 101"-type information. Of course, this is absolutely necessary because their audience is likely to include people who don't have this background information. For those of us who already have the background information, though, it gets really old reading about the same things again and again.

2. Unique Terms. This is probably true of any discipline, but there are certain terms that are integral to disability studies that Microsoft Word refuses to accept as real words. To name a few: ableist, ableism, emancipatory, liberatory, and crip (though the list could go on).

3. Terms for Disability. Nobody can seem to agree what terms should be used to refer to disability. We too easily look with horror on historical terms like idiot, imbecile, fool, cripple, retarded, lame, deaf and dumb, and so on. However, nobody can really agree on what terms to use now, and it can be fairly safely assumed that people will one day look back with horror on our terms as well. Disabled? Person with a disability? Differently-abled? Handicapped? Handi-capable? Nobody can seem to agree.

4. Acronyms. The number of acronyms used in disability studies is absurd. Every time I think I've become accustomed to them, another one crops up. Off the top of my head I can think of: I/DD, ICF/MR (or it's variant ICF/DD), CILA, CP, MS, MD and PWD. Then there are the acronyms for prominent organizations (again off the top of my head): AUCD, UCEDD, IDHD, AAIDD, NIDRR, RRTC, DBTAC, ASSIDD, SABE, etc, etc. The crazy thing is, if you ask pretty much anyone in my program what these acronyms mean, they will be able to tell you.

So there you have it. In the grand scheme of things, these are really minor complaints, but kind of funny, so I thought I would share.

Tropic Thunder