Michael Moore's Best Film

TM and I saw Sicko today. I was expecting to leave the theater upset, angry and hopeless. Instead, I was moved beyond words. After the movie was over, TM and I just hugged each other and cried.

I'm still processing what about the film was so moving. For one thing, it was a well-constructed story with a beginning, middle, and end. Moore interspersed his facts and figures with really compelling human stories. They were real people with average lives. They didn't have some crazy diseases; people with health insurance went bankrupt from having heart attacks and diabetes.

As usual, Moore made the complex world of American politics and business highly accessible and extremely eye-opening.

But I think the best parts of the movie surround Moore himself. Unlike his previous films, he didn't insert himself as much into this one. Don't worry, he's still up to his usual shenanigans...his arrival at Gitmo was hilarious. But for the most part, he just let the people tell their stories. It was those stories that made me laugh and cry, sometimes simultaneously.

Moore also really loves America. I know there's been a lot of hoopla about him going to Cuba...those scenes, by the way, were wonderful...but he really does believe that America can be so much better than it is. During the part where he highlights the LA hospitals dropping off homeless patients on Skid Row, he asks the audience "Who are we?" And there is so much pain in his voice. I guess I always thought that he was just an angry guy who had at his disposal the means to shame America. But I learned that he loves his country.

I'm not nearly as articulate about this movie as I mean to be. But everyone should see this movie. Everyone should see this movie like they saw An Inconvenient Truth. You should see this movie, because Moore shouldn't be criticized for doing what every single filmmaker does: tells a story with a specific point of view. His point of view is pretty damn riveting.

I'm Not Quite Sure What It Means...

...but apparently I'm younger in NYC. Sucks that I'm leaving. I got this from tuckergurl, who will always be NYC-ageless.

My New York Age is 29

This New York age puts you into a middle category between young and old (but not "middle age" per se). Be proud. You've got a nice balance between going out hard-core and staying in. You care about culture but also like some quiet nights. Keep it up, but think about expanding your horizons in the other directions. Head to Studio B or Anthology Film Archives for the first time, or finally check out the Village Vanguard or Elaine's for a dose of old-school NYC.

What's your New York age? Take the Time Out New York quiz and find out!

A Random Thought, but Still a Good Question

As I hear about yet another wedding involving someone I know, I had a thought today: Do women take into account the timing of their period when picking a wedding date? Goodness knows, I would. I wouldn't want to be bloated or high on PMS or worried about leakage on my wedding day.

That's all.

In Today's News...

Two articles I found this morning on the Times website piqued my interest:

1. Antioch College is shutting its doors after 155 years. Founded by Horace Mann himself, that college has a fantastically progressive history: coeducating, desegregating, and hiring women in faculty positions well before the rest of the country. Sadly, I learned all of this this morning. The first and only thing I knew of Antioch was its sexual prevention policy that went into effect in 1993. That asinine policy stated that a person had to ask permission at every step of getting it on...every step. I was a sophomore at Wesleyan when I heard about this; I remembered feeling shame...the kind of shame you feel toward your uncouth cousins. As a proud student of "PCU," I felt that Antioch's new rules took political correctness to a tacky extreme. Who knew that it was the real "Diversity University?"
   
   
2. America is so stupid sometimes! Fox and CBS aren't going to run condoms ads perhaps because they promote pregnancy prevention, not disease prevention. They are afraid of the controversy around birth control, but they don't even have to balls to admit it. This article made me so angry for the networks' logic...or lack thereof. This is the best quote: “'We always find it funny that you can use sex to sell jewelry and cars, but you can’t use sex to sell condoms,” said Carol Carrozza, vice president of marketing for Ansell Healthcare, which makes LifeStyles condoms."

I'm sure there is a lot more in the news today, but now I have to get to work.

I Miss The New Yorker

I didn't renew my subscription because I figured that once I started classes, I wouldn't have time. It comes every week, for goodness' sake!!! But I miss it so much now. On Fire Island, there was a month-old issue in the house and I devoured it, I was so thirsty. I miss having something interesting to read on the subway.

Now TM is reading some of my old issues, so maybe I'll get him a subscription for his birthday or Christmas or our anniversary or something...wink, wink! The only problem: all those events happen around the same time of the year and that time of year isn't soon.

Sigh.

I'm Scared

It just hit me last night as I was falling asleep after a fantastic day on Fire Island...I'm scared.

I don't not want to move to Boston. I definitely want to attend Harvard. But I'm uprooting my life. As an adult, I have never lived in a city as long as I've lived in NYC. I'm very scared.

On top of all that, I'm starting a whole new life with TM. This will be our first apartment...a first step in what I hope will be the rest of our lives.

And there's so much I don't know...what if I can't hack it at Harvard? Will my NYC friendships sustain if we're in different cities? What if TM hates it there? What if I hate it there?

I have been burying myself in the details of finding boxes and showing my apartment and tying up loose ends at work so that I don't have to think about how scared I am. And I know I'm acting crazy right now because I'm so scared. So now I'm scared about alienating loved ones right when connection is most important.

At least I know my fear won't stop me from doing any of this.

Thanks for letting me say all that.

It's a C-O-N-spiracy!

Okay, I swallowed it when I found out construction on the New Target...the Target I was so excited about...was going be completed this fall...after I move to Massachusetts.

But this is the last staw...as I watched TV tonight, I heard the rumblings of a large truck on my street. Since my street is totally residential, I peeked out to see what was causing all the racket. It was a Fresh Direct truck! Ever since I moved here, I have petitioned Fresh Direct online to get them to come here. I had just about given up. And NOW, 5 weeks before I leave this place, Fresh Direct delivers!

It's a conspiracy created by the Man to drive me crazy!

P.S. I would love to link to websites and italize the way I normally do, but I'm using a Mac now and for some reason, it doesn't have the same toolbar on top of this window. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The Crush Grows...

My crush on Barack Obama was never a crippling one...the way I lust for Channing Tatum, for instance. However, I do heart Barack a great deal. This Times article just made the crush grow. Now, I don't want to hear him give a speech...I want to sit on the benches of a street court and watch Barack play pick-up basketball.

Of course, if I get an opportunity to hear him give a speech, I won't pass it up.

In other news, it has been reported that Michael Patrick King is writing the script for the "Sex in the City" movie. It's about time! is what I say. I hope he doesn't pick up where the show left off because it's been a good three years since that show ended. I don't want to see the ladies plastered in make-up to make them look younger. I would like to see the 4-year-old Brady and the toddler that Charlotte and Harry adopted. Of course, Mario Cantone is the source of this information and even he admits none of the stars has officially signed on to be in it. So don't hold your breath.

I recently went on a rant about the horrors of run-on sentences in a particular book...which I can't name because I didn't like it. Ever since then, I've discovered I talk in run-ons all the time. And since this blog is usually conversational, I find that I write in run-on sentences here. So now I'm hyper-conscious about inserting appropriate periods. I understand that, although they flow when heard, they often do not flow when read.

What else? I'm going to MA this weekend and hopefully will come back with an apartment in a highly-gentrified area. Call me bougie, but I am so tired of only having West Indian, take-out Chinese, and pizza as my restaurant options in my neighborhood. I just want to live near a grocery store where I can get mesclun greens and asparagus consistently.

I've been thinking about taking a hiatus from this blog. I want to try my hand at more creative writing...not for publication or anything...just to keep myself arty. The energy that I use for this blog may be diverting that goal. No final decisions yet...just thinking about it. Of course, a full course load at Harvard may end this blog with the quickness!

Oh! A big shout-out to my sent-from-the-heavens boyfriend and my kick-ass friends for putting up with me. I spent last weekend with a woman who is very similar to me in certain respects...it wasn't easy!