I'm reading four different books at the moment. Ridiculous, I know. I managed to get out of the habit of reading too many tomes at once, for several months now, only to lapse again. Tsk.Anyway, one I'm currently reading is Australian: "The Triumph of the Airheads - and the retreat from commonsense" by Shelley Gare. It's good; I haven't read much yet but am enjoying it so far. Although, it's somewhat depressing to see, confirmed and detailed, how much our society is encouraging and rewarding dumbing down.
I cannot help but share an example with you (and will likely do this again as I slowly make my way though it).
Some of you may recall this (I don't, but then my memory has waned with my maturing years...) from December, 2005. Ms Gare quotes Barnaby Joyce in a Senate Inquiry re abortion pill RU486:
Senator B Joyce: "So if I shoot a woman in the abdomen and do not kill her, but kill the baby, I have not actually committed a crime."
Roslyn Dundas, for the Women's Electoral Lobby: "No, you actually have committed a crime by shooting a woman."
[p. 18]
God help us.
Ms Gare has been "writing about the rise of airheadism for almost a decade" the poor lass. It's so depressing. You laugh until you cry.
And of course, Bush is the best example of how being an airhead gets you ahead in the post-modern world (well that plus greed and corruption of course... And money...).
"I don't know why you're talking about Sweden," Bush said. "They're the neutral one. They don't have an army."
(Democrat congressman Tom) Lantos paused, a little shocked, and offered a gentlemanly reply: "Mr President, you may have thought that I said Switzerland. They're the ones that are historically neutral, without an army."
Then Lantos mentioned, in a gracious aside, that the Swiss do have a tough national guard to protect the country in the event of invasion.
Bush held to his view. "No, no, it's Sweden that has no army."
[p. 24]
Speaking of laughter, I saw a surprisingly funny film recently: Blades of Glory.
This silly-humour type of film isn't normally my thing (ie. I hated Something about Mary, and Meet the Parents... but I liked The Wedding Crashers, and Starsky & Hutch, so I'm not completely immune... thank God!), but I needed a good laugh and someone told me they wanted to go, so.
It was good! I laughed out loud quite a bit. I think it helped that I had watched a bit of ice skating in my formative years (and many of these skaters had cameos in the film). Visually speaking, seeing grown men in hideously tight and feathery/flowery/sequined/etc costumes is funny enough, but put these two men together in a routine and I (apparently will) laugh myself silly.
Also re movies, I have a query for you:
I have been considering going to see The Dead Girl. Has anyone else seen it? Do you recommend it? I'm afraid it will be a little dark and dreary for my current emotional fragility. Should I wait for the dvd - and improved emotional stability..? An 'ugly-cry', sobbing, hysterical, screeching breakdown in a crowded art cinema doesn't really take my fancy... (Especially after last time...)
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