In honor of Earth Day, show us something (literally or figuratively) green.
Some time back, there was a vox qotd on pet peeves, and at the time, I thought "Well I can't think of one!" so I let it slide. But it just hit me. There is something that completely annoys me, more than anything else.
When I watch a movie, I like to get a bit absorbed in it. I don't mind talking, if it's brief, and in lowered voices, and when there's a lack of dialog in the film (montage moments, that sort of thing). But when someone just talks to hear the sound of their own voice, and when it happens constantly, and you miss entire sections of dialog because they are oh, I don't know, cooing to the dog, or asking DO YOU WANT POPCORN? or um, telling you something that happened to them today, or asking if the director also did that movie, or the other, well. It makes me want to hit them. A lot. What is the point of watching a movie if you aren't going to listen to it as well?
What happened the first time you were left home alone as a child?
Submitted by Warhead.
The first time I was left home alone as a child for any substantial length of time, my mom let me pick out a movie from the local video store to watch while I was alone. I chose Xanadu. I was eleven. I was home alone for maybe 6 hours. I watched it over and over and over again. By the time my folks got home, I had it memorized. I wasn't afraid at all, I loved it. I wasn't allowed to go outside, because I think my mom worried something might happen to me. You know, I might have fun, or get sunshine sickness, or something horrid like that.
Someone just presented me with the bestest present. Roller skates. White, with four red wheels, a stopper at the front of each one, and red shoelaces. She bought them for a halloween costume some years ago, and they're a size and a half too big for her, but she thought they might fit my feet.
I was cranky, sitting at my desk, surrounded by post-its and headache inducing notes, and two monitors screaming at me: "WORK WORK WORK!" I got up and went to see my friend, who, you know, practically runs the place, and we went to her car so I could try on those bad boys.
Not only did they fit, but they were perfect. I skated around the parking lot. Yes, me, yes, at work, yes, with windows facing the lot. My coworker Chris came out, and saw, and shook his head, but you know something? I don't care. I was a freakin gazelle*. Only, you know, on wheels. It is much harder now than it was 20 years ago, but it didn't stop being fun. You think a girl my age could get into a roller derby career?
*a very drunk gazelle, perhaps on acid, with bricks strapped to its legs.
What have you lost that you wish you still had?
Submitted by gunderson bee.
Where do I start?
The metabolism that I had until I was in my mid twenties. I could have eaten a steel bar for breakfast and digested it within an hour.
The smooth skin that used to be around my eyes, which is now getting marked up with wrinkles.
The black cat with green eyes I received for my sixteenth birthday. She ran away two weeks after we brought her home.
Pictures of me from high school, and ones from those mystery years between graduating and having kids.
My sanity.
My energy, flexibility, agility. I used to be able to do a handstand and fall into a back bend. I used to be able to do a lot of things. Now just a cartwheel is a stretch.
The money my ex and I made on our house, when we sold it. The money that was spent without my knowledge, to keep us living a lifestyle beyond our means.
My grandfather's house. Though it was never really mine, I cried when it was sold. He and my grandmother designed it and paid to have it built. After the flood of 1955 they took scores of photos, and spent months cleaning out the house and making it livable again. There were water marks an inch from the ceiling in the closet housing the hot water heater. It was the one place in my life that always felt like home, to me. But when my grandfather passed, my aunt and dad decided it was better to sell and split the proceeds.
My idealistic beliefs.
Other than TeamVox, who was the first person you added to your Vox neighborhood? What made you want to be their neighbor?
Submitted by TheFiercestCalm.
How are your Saturday nights different now than they were five years ago?
Five years ago my kids were five, eight and nine. My Saturday nights are a lot quieter now.
Another work conversation for all of you. Enjoy.
Me, staring at my screen: Wait a minute
Coworker, staring at his screen and typing: What's up?
Me: Well Avery sent me a quote for five wireless access points and five power injectors, but he included fifteen antennae. Actually thirty. What's up with that? Six per?
Coworker: Wait, so how many sql servers did he say?
Me: What?
Coworker, laughing, still typing: Hold on a minute, I think I am overmultitasking again.
My mom mentioned some foreign movie about a boy who finds a strange creature, but she couldn't remember the name of it. I started googling, and came across this movie instead. I'm not even done with it, but I had to take a break and blog about it, because it's amazing. See it.
I always knew I wanted to see Italy. This movie made it worse. I've already started imagining saving money for a trip, but I expect that at the rate my money goes to bills it will take twenty years to put that sort of cash together. A girl can dream, though, right?
Wikipedia's article on the movie is pretty decent, as well, though it contains spoilers.
In a 2003 interview for Rome’s L’Unita, Ammaniti recalled that the idea of his book Io non ho paura came to him during a road trip he took to Puglia in the late 1990s.
The setting of the film is in an area of Italy where the director spent his youth, in Basilicata and Puglia. The primary set is in the countryside near Melfi (population roughly 16,000), due north of Potenza. Many reviews misidentify the film’s setting as Tuscany, because of the beautiful scenery or Sicily, because crime is involved. Salvatores chose to challenge the kind of Italian film that typically becomes popular on the foreign market: “the beautiful ocean, the nostalgic past, mafia, pizza, and mandolins.” After the release of this film, Salvatores was asked often about the connection between kidnapping and the South of Italy regarding Italy's history. He mentioned in an interview that although the film's mystery revolves around a kidnapping, the film is not about kidnapping, it is about the journey and loss of innocence of young boy, the main character, Michele.
In the book and film, the setting is in a fictional town called Acqua Traverse, or literally water crossings. It is said to be in a province of Lucignano, not to be confused with Lucignano which is in the province of Arezzo, part of the region Tuscany.
A strong primary color scheme was used in the filming technique of this movie to portray the way children see the world, and focusing on specific objects that interest them with a close-up view. The vivid scenery in this film is one of its most recognized characteristics. There are many views of fields and hills of wheat, this endless land being the backyard for the children of Acqua Traverse and the setting to their childhood adventures.
The majority of the actors in the film, especially the children, were local citizens who'd never acted before, let alone seen a film crew in their tiny town. The director spoke with psychologists about the impact filming in that small town may have on the residents. The filmmakers needed to explain to the parents of the children who were acting in the film that this was not a ticket to Hollywood.
"The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire." -- Pamela Hansford Johnson
Show us a self-taken picture of the sunset.
Submitted by Connie.
I do these a lot.
