Posted in Books, Hi Tech, tagged amazon, creative writing, hachette, publishing, Writing on 24 Jul 2014| Leave a Comment »
Last weekend, the Seattle Times ran two opposing op-eds on the Amazon/Hachette contretemps. Frank Schaeffer wrote in favor of Amazon, while Nina Laden countered in favor of Hachette, creating a “debate” of sorts. I put “debate” in quotes because, from a purely debating standpoint, it was no contest.
Unfortunately, both pieces missed the main point.
Posted in Culture, Movies, Television, tagged Ben Hur, Bret Maverick, Charlton Heston, james garner, Maverick, television series, The Americanization of Emily, The Great Escape, The Revitalization of Emily, The Rockford Files, TV Westerns on 22 Jul 2014| 13 Comments »
I know nothing about James Garner. And I want to keep it that way.
When I was young, I had several TV Westerns from which to choose: Have Gun Will Travel, Branded, Bonanza, F Troop, The Rifleman, Rawhide, Gunsmoke, and Maverick, just to name a few.
By far, Maverick was my favorite, and James Garner was the reason why.
Later, when Mr. Garner showed up in a new series, The Rockford Files, I tuned in regularly.
Growing older, I looked farther back and found his movies, including Sayonara, The Great Escape, and my favorite, The Americanization of Emily (which I echoed in the title of my novella, The Revitalization of Emily).
In short, I was a fan.
Posted in Culture, tagged Esquire, Esquire article, Esquire metric, female Thor, feminism, gender equality, gender parity, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Rebecca Traister, Traister, women's rights on 18 Jul 2014| 10 Comments »
Lately, the world has been getting on my nerves, and things that otherwise might roll off my back just…aren’t.
A friend posted a link to Rebecca Traister’s article in the New Republic:
I Don’t Care If You Like It
Women are tired of being judged by the Esquire metric
In it, Traister takes issue with an Esquire article lauding the beauty of 42-year old women. She goes on to take issue with other things as well, such as Marvel’s recent announcement that they’re going to introduce a female Thor, and Harry Reid challenging Mitch McConnell’s assertion that women have achieved parity in the workplace.
I’m not commenting on the article per se nor on the Esquire article when I say that it seems that a man can’t say anything positive about a woman that doesn’t get taken by some as an offense. The ultra-nuanced deconstruction of every comment males make about females is to a certain extent counter-productive, and if men complain (as I’m doing here), they often get lambasted, which is also counter-productive.
I do get it. I get the fact that women don’t want to be judged solely by the “Esquire metric” (a metric that gets more and more difficult to achieve the older we get, thus pushing more and more women out of the “acceptable” range as they age). Esquire’s lauding gorgeous, 42-year old females for being, well, 42, female, and gorgeous, is merely applying the objectification standard to a non-standard bracket. I do not consider the Esquire article to be a “step forward” for women. But what about Marvel’s female Thor, which Wired magazine complains doesn’t go far enough? And what about Harry Reid giving Mitch McConnell hell on the topic of gender equity, which Traister says makes her feel “obligated to feel grateful”?
It’s as if we (men) can’t appreciate female beauty, can’t stick up for women, and can’t try to nudge the pendulum of social change in any way toward real gender parity, because whatever we do, it’s too little, too late. We’ve failed before we even start.
When you boil it down, heterosexual men are attracted to women, but there doesn’t seem to be a way for us to express that anymore.
My wife and I were both young and beautiful once (or so she tells me), but now after 30+ years, we’re both old and squidgy. She’s still beautiful to me, in so many ways, and yes, sometimes she doesn’t feel that it is so. Am I to wave her off with a dispassionate “Oh, come on. You know you’re beautiful”?
In my fifty-plus years, I’ve seen women’s issues and rights advance and improve. I’ve also seen plenty of setbacks. And, in a sort of reverse reaction, I’ve seen beauty standards applied to men in a way they never were before, and seen men become vainer and vainer in response. Yay, equality.
But my question is this: In an age where women are seeing their rights, freedoms, and even their safety curtailed by SCOTUS, politicians, and religious leaders, is it wise to slam the actions of those who are actually moving things forward or at least trying to do so? If we condemn the small steps because they’re small, we may never gain any ground at all.
k
Posted in Culture, Hi Tech, Low Tech, tagged creative writing, internet diet, low-tech living, quiet living, Serenity, simple living, simplicity, social media, unplugging, Writing on 03 Jul 2014| 3 Comments »
One evening, when I was courting my wife-to-be, we were at my place when the phone rang. Since we were talking, I ignored the phone. “Aren’t you going to answer that?” Nope. If it was important, they’d call back (I didn’t have an answering machine). This was my relationship with technology in those days. Technology was my servant, not the reverse.
Well, sometime during the last three decades, that has changed, so I’m just now coming off a full week of an “internet fast.”
Overall, I am surprised at how easy it was. I stuck to my “going dark” guidelines so successfully that when I tried to go back online, I found that all my little electronic connectimoids needed to be charged up. The computer, the tablet, even the smartphone had gone almost entirely unused for a whole week.
What did I miss? What didn’t I miss?
Posted in Culture, Hi Tech, Low Tech, tagged internet diet, low-tech living, quiet living, Serenity, simple living, simplicity, unplugging on 25 Jun 2014| 2 Comments »
I will not be employing a shabbos goy this week.
When I lived in Jerusalem, I learned about the shabbos goy. The shabbos goy is a non-Jew who will do tasks of work which are forbidden to Jews on the Sabbath. To keep everything on the up-and-up, the shabbos goy should be someone who would be on the premises anyway, such as a maintenance worker or babysitter. Thus, on the Sabbath, a shabbos goy can turn on the house’s lights or rekindle the fire (both of which are forbidden to Jews), and everyone benefits from the work that the shabbos goy did. No commandments were broken. Nothing to see here. Move along.
So, as I said, I will not be using a shabbos goy this week.
In a prevoius post, I mentioned that I was considering an “internet diet.”
Well, today it begins. Today I’ll be going dark.
I’ll be taking it One Day at a Time, but my goal is to go a full week without major technological contact.
What does that mean, specifically? Good idea. Let’s define terms…
Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged chef, cooking, curator, dream job, horologist, symphony conductor, what is your dream job, Writing on 19 Jun 2014| 6 Comments »
The other day a friend asked me what my “dream job” would be. The phrase that leapt to mind was: independently wealthy, incredibly influential, international food critic.
Then I gave the question a little thought. What would be my dream job?
The fact that I did not pick my current job–Software Developer–was no great surprise. Neither was the fact that I did not choose any job I’ve had in the past. Some people may find pumping gas or running a web-press fulfilling, but I found the former stultifying and the latter terrifying.
Curiously, though, neither did I did not pick one of my current avocations, i.e., “Writer” or “Chef.”
For “Chef,” I know too well how much work and dedication that job really takes to make a living at it; I get enough of a workout just cooking for my small family. For the “Writer” job, well, let’s just say that I got close to that, know how unstable the industry is and how unreliable writing income can be; I just can’t put my family through that kind of financial and emotional stress year after year.
So, what would be my dream job? Eventually, I settled on three:
Posted in Culture, Seattle, tagged quiet living, rainy weekend, Rainy weekends, seattle weather on 13 Jun 2014| 4 Comments »
My eyes brightened when I saw the forecast: showers beginning Friday, continuing through Saturday and Sunday, with sunshine returning Monday morning.
I love drippy weekends. Even though they cut into my convertible drive-time, even though they make my rosebuds ball up and rot, even though they make my friends unhappy because their plans for beach-days or BBQs or mountain drives or afternoon walks get washed out, despite this I still love drippy, rainy, dreary weekends.
Rainy weekends mean I don’t have to mow the lawn.
Rainy weekends mean I don’t feel guilty about not washing the car.
Rainy weekends mean I can let my glass of red wine breathe for a bit while I sit on the deck overlooking the greenery, smelling the fresh, moist air, listening to the birds at the feeder and the drip, drip, drip of the water falling from the trees.
Rainy weekends mean bundled up mornings with warm coffee and a perhaps shot of brandy.
Rainy weekends mean spending time with those closest to me.
Rainy weekends mean quiet.
And I like that all to pieces.
k
Kurt R.A. Giambastiani 