January 2008 Archives

Title: Another Turn of the Crank
Author: Wendell Berry
Genre: Non-Fiction

Wendell Berry is one of Kentucky's great treasures and it's a real failing on my part that I've read so little of his work. 2008 is the year I change that. Another Turn of the Crank is a small collection containing six essays that each deal with community. Specific topics include local food, local economies, public, private and common wealth land ownership, forestry programs, conversation of land and humanity, health care and education but the overall theme is community.

I wondered to myself as I was reading this collection whether there is value in reading a collection like this where you are in almost complete agreement (even if you didn't know it yet) with the author and his positions. I've got to say that I believe there is first because I do agree with Mr. Berry on so many things that I didn't even know I agreed with him on because I'd not been pushed to think of them and my mind had not taken up the task of pondering them on its own. Second I think there is great value in reading the works of a man who strongly takes and lives his convictions. While I can agree with Mr. berry on so many things I cannot, or perhaps will not is more truthful, move back to the farm or take some of the more drastic measures that Mr. Berry takes on a regular basis to help his local economy, help farming, help Kentucky, help the environment, help society at large. His words remind me of how small my efforts in these areas have been and how much more and better I could do. In short, it gives me a good deal to think about and a good deal more to strive for.

"They believe that knowledge is property and is power, and that it ought to be. They believe that education is job training. They think that the summit of human achievement is a high-paying job that involves no work. Their public boast is that they are making a society in which everybody will be a "winner" -- but their private aim has been to radically reduce the number of people who, by the measure of our historical ideals, might be thought successful: the independent, the self-employed, the owners of small businesses or small usable properties, those who work at home."
 - Wendell Berry Another Turn of the Crank

Sweet mercy there was a scene in this episode that I enjoyed without snark or irony. Can't remember the last time that happened so let's all take a pause and commit this to memory.

Because lesbian is apparently code for "group think" everyone on the show is taking a self defense class after Kit's unfortunate stick up incident. The only good part about this scene is what could possibly be the best line of the season: "Has anyone seen Shane's vagina?" And also, Kit buys a gun. Raise your hand if you see this ending badly.

Two crazy lesbians from Miami have moved to LA to replicate the success of their insanely successful wild and crazy upscale lesbian bar called, wait for it, She Bar. There's some pseudo subplot about the place being competition to The Planet but that makes no sense at all seeing how Kit serves food, coffee, is open during the light of day and doesn't have a backroom for sex. Wait, did I just say there was problem with a storyline not making sense. Never mind. Everyone is planning to attend the opening including Tina's new "friend" the cardiologist. A discussion about the good doctor gets a jealous reaction from Bette when it's mentioned that Tina slept with her on the first date. That little tidbit leads to my favorite moment on the show, so let me buzz through all the other stuff real quick like so I can get back to this.

Shane is still celibate (well at least at the beginning of the episode), Jenny is still crazy, Max is still trying to figure out if he likes boys or girls or both, Tasha is still fighting "Don't Ask Don't Tell." Alice gets invited to an super secret hollywood homos who are closeted party (she uses the phrase "on the DL" repeatedly). She's all giddy about going because, since everyone has to sign a non-disclosure agreement to get in the place she knows it's safe for Tasha to go and they can be open as a couple. So they go there instead of the club. She then proceeds to take a cell phone picture of a pro basketball player and his date. Bitch. 

Let's just cut to the chase, otherwise known as the parts that annoyed me most.

Leave it to The L Word to ruin Charley's Angels fantasies for everyone by throwing one up that completely revolves around Jenny. That's all I'm going to say about that. Fuckers.

Kit was in fact robbed at gun point. Can we start a campaign to give this character a decent storyline? One that doesn't involve getting cheated on, falling off the wagon or getting robbed at gun point? Please.

A group of Jodi's friends do an annual group bonding weekend up in the mountains. They've been doing it for 11 years and Jodi has never taken anyone with her before, until now when she takes Bette. Of course this means Bette and Jodi's friends will hate each other on sight. Well, not exactly hate each other but not respect each other. The group of friends do all sorts of things Bette isn't comfortable with, like drinking mojitos at 9AM, and they won't just let her do her own thing, like reading/working instead of playing football. She on the other hand won't really participate or try to warm up to the group. All of my good feelings towards the friends are totally wiped out when Jodi's bff Michael literally picks Bette up and tosses her in the lake because she really just wants to read her book instead of playing football. I haven't found things like that funny since, well never, but I recall 12 year olds finding that kind of behavior funny. Later Bette bites her lip and tries to be nice to Michael after he essentially accuses her of being a bourgeoisie art snob who is part of the systematic elevation of art prices responsibility for keeping art out of the hands of the people. Kit being robbed at gunpoint forces Bette and Jodi to return to LA early. Michael tries to get Jodi to stay, saying that one of the friends can drive her back but she chooses to go with Bette instead. Can I just say that I hated this storyline? It's so lazy to have not one single person in the group actually try to talk to Bette or get to know her a little bit. It was totally like "if you're not exactly like us and don't want to do all the things we want to do then you totally suck. Fin."

As previews indicated Shane has given up sex, replaced it with exercise and is as hyper and full of energy as a 12 year boy hopped up on sweet tarts, pixie sticks and magazines stolen from his father's girlie magazine stash. The only way this was made even remotely interesting was when the lack of sex finally got to her and she tried to make out with Helena. Yep, Helena cause as previews indicated Helena's mother, the supremely funny Peggy Peabody, finally sprang up to get Helena out of jail. The absolute best moment of this week's show came when Peggy Peabody was inundated with sexual catcalls and she gave it back just as good as she got. I'm not going to ruin the line or the delivery for you because this something you.must.see. I'll just give a teaser: "I'd serve it up family style."

So Helena's out of jail and is really still just like a 15 year old with rebellion issues. Instead of being happy that Mummy bailed her out she hates her mother and the way she treats her and really just wants to get back to her sweet, sensitive, could crush my head with her biceps cell mate. So that's what she's going to do. After Shane tries to make out with her she sneaks out the back of her "get out of jail party" to retrieve the money she'd stolen and stashed, get her cell mate out of jail and the two are planning to retire to an island somewhere. Not sure if this means the character of Helena is really gone but I'm ok with it if she is.

Alice and Shane help Tina find use online dating to find a blond cardiologist with breast implants, excuse me "augmented" breasts. They have semi-hot sex on the good doctor's couch surrounded by her art collection. The good doctor didn't even mind that Tina talked about Bette a lot during dinner. So either she's a saint or she just really wanted to sleep with Tina. Either way works, since any potential love interest has to dig art and not mind that Tina talks about Bette all the time. It's nice for Tina to have something to do other than pine away for Bette or seethe at Jenny.

Speaking of Jenny....look, I just can't go into detail about her, it's gone so far with her that it's not even amusing in an absurd way anymore. I could try to explain the stupid scene with her in the gym where she wouldn't actually do anything at all besides torturing Mousy Girl but you even I, in my endless snark, couldn't do it justice. Just believe me when I tell you that Jenny is still just as crazy as she ever was. When either she does something interesting or something interesting involving her happens I'll start talking about her again.

The official proceedings for kicking Tasha out of the military have started. All of the "valid" evidence against her, meaning it's true and suggests she's a lesbian, involves Alice. Tasha's either going to have to lie about being a lesbian or she's going to be thrown out of the military. Since lying would go against her military code of honor I'm betting she's going to get thrown out, she's going to try not to but she'll blame Alice and will be really bitter. This will lead to an ugly breakup and Alice having a broken heart like we've never seen. What happened to Alice being funny? I like Alice when she's funny. I love, and by love I mean hate with a passion, the way this show has spun so freaking far from reality but makes sure to keep one "realistic" depressing storyline each season to somehow keep it tethered to the ground. We had Dana dying, Bette's father dying, etc. and this season we get Tasha running up against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

I'd sort of forgotten that like, for a living, Alice is running Our Chart or whatever it is. If I'm not mistaken both in real life and on the show Our Chart is a social networking site for lesbians that includes profiles used for finding dates (a la Tina) blogs, podcasts and video podcasts. Alice is like a little talk show host in the video podcasts she makes for the site. Apparently she's doing a-ok in the money department by doing this. This of course makes me very bitter. But I digress. The only reason this is important is because Max made a podcast about being trans that he wants to post to the site. Alice brushes him off and previews show that he's going to post it to the site and it's going to serve as the entry point for big discussions about dykes and trans men, trans men in the dyke community, trans men and lesbians, blah, blah, blah take your pick of keywords.

When last we left The L Word Jenny was floating out to sea on a small raft. As unrealistic as it was I held out hope that she'd be swallowed by a whale and therefore no longer on the show. Or, if not eaten by a whale, at least have a leg or an arm bitten off by a shark. She'd be a lot more interesting as someone who'd had her leg bitten off as a shark instead of the even more crazy bitch she is now. Yes, I said it, Jenny is even crazier this season than she's ever been before. Not crazy so much in the "she needs to be locked up" way that she was in say season 3 but in a new "entitled, stereotype of LA entertainment people, demanding bitch" way. She's seriously evil to her assistant (who has the good sense to quit near the end of the first episode), evil to strangers, evil to everyone.

In case you've forgotten Jenny wrote a barely fictionalized novel about all The L Word ladies. This novel is being turned into a movie. I'd go into more detail about it but the whole thing bores me so let me give this brief explanation: Tina is the film studio exec working on the project, Tina hates Jenny, Jenny hates Tina. Because the writers want to make me scratch my eyes out Jenny is given even more screen time this year because the new straight, older, I guess father figure guy who is now funding the film adaptation of Jenny's novel has declared that Jenny will be directing the film as well.

Title: Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Genre: Non-Fiction

I really do hate to be a follower but enough people whose opinions I trust kept telling me to read this book and eventually I relented. I'm honestly glad I did. This was a very quick read that I enjoyed and it has me thinking. I cannot ask more of a book than to give me some pleasure and things to think about.

Gilbert's personal journey would struggle to be anymore different than my own but there are some common themes and feelings. I saw myself both in her moments of despair and in her moments of pleasure and joy. This may sound trite but there are so few people (dare I say few of us?) who actually do take the road and life less traveled that it is hard not to feel connected to those who make that choice and then share with others the life and journeys that stem from that choice.

I can't recommend the book to everyone because for some it will seem too much like a fairy tale, too unrealistic though it is the author's actual life. I can't fault anyone for not wanting to read real life fairy tales but when they are well written and when the stories and prose touch me I can't help but be one of those women not only loves fairy tales but also believes they can be real.

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I've decided to occasionally (maybe always?) post items from my Reading List here as well. Reading List is mostly just a running list for me, posts here are open to discussion and in fact I'd welcome discussion. I do so love to talk about books. Well, I like talking about books with smart people. I do not like talking about books with people who, when discussing an autobiographical memoir says "the author is self-absorbed." Of course the author of an autobiographical memoir about a spiritual journey is self-absorbed. What else should she be obsessed with? My goal, after failing miserably in 2007, is to read 40 books in 2008.