wrap-up
Stuff that happened:
- An unfortunate event: The passing of Bruce McManlypants. On Friday night we attended a quasi-wake for one of the coolest cats to ever be. Brucey was the rescue and beloved child of M and R, and a constant fixture of our DnD escapades. He ruled the roost with an iron-clad will and soulful, knowing stare. With the ability to manipulate gravitational pull as well as the outdoor acumen of a jungle cat, Bruce was simply one-of-a-kind. Though we are sad to see him go, we are all grateful for the sweet kitty affection he gave to his human minions every day that he stayed, and for the coming-together of family that came in his wake. Love to you, Brucey. Keep an eye on us from wherever good cats go!
- The new season of The L Word started on Showtime. I’d been catching up during the late-night marathon over break, so I’m totally ready to see how this season goes. It should be crazy good, emphasis on the crazy.
- We are now minus one Holiday Tree in the household. Since K’s busy next weekend, we needed to go ahead and take the sucker down before it dried out and blew away. We carefully extracted the shiny bits, took off the lights (remembering to banish the blinky set from the box with the other sets, dammit), and carefully maneuvered it out the door. It looks so forlorn and tiny out by the street. I want to take it a blankie.
- The re-emergence of DDR. Because of the Holiday Tree, DDR action was on hiatus until after the season. Mere seconds after the spruce was carted off, we rearranged the furniture and put the mats back out, better to play the new DDR Max 3 Santa left beneath the tree. Reports are in: DDR to TMBG and Devo is way cool, man. Whip it. Whip it good.
- The beginning of Oogie’s Revenge, the next Nightmare Before Christmas video game. Four chapters in, using this walkthrough when I get stuck. Like I did last night. Stupid hanging man in the tree.
- The Secret Lives of Women: Plastic surgery addicts. Can I just get it out there: I love reality TV. Not so much the game show variety, but the human train wreck kind? So there. We live in an age where even the tiniest interest can be addressed via television docu-drama. This interesting-but-sensational show follows a handful of women whose excessive plastic surgeries have damaged their features or their families.
One woman has whittled away her kids’ college funds, credit rating, and her family’s home equity with the surgeon’s knife. Another’s face is grotesquely lumpy from gangrenous injected-silicone cheeks. Yes, gangrene. In her face. A young girl–a beautiful model–has a lipo habit; she’s constantly shaving off inch after inch from her belly, thighs, butt, hips, breasts. A belly dancer whose ripped, rippling belly is still not “hot” enough.
Yes, it’s crazy people that go this far. There’s loonies everywhere, right? Yes, plastic surgery can repair accidents and birth defects, give pain relief, restore youth and vigor. There’s no debate that it’s necessary. And, finally, yes, people should be free to do what they want with their own bodies. Pierce it, color it, fuck people of the same sex with it, even abuse it or prostitute it. Letting people own themselves means accepting that some (crazy!) folk will choose to disfigure or destroy themselves.
I guess what discomfits me is the statement that elective plastic surgery rates make. Between 10 and 12 million people get plastic surgery procedures every year. To be perfectly fair: statistics published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (PDF) note that 8-9 million of those surgeries were minimally invasive–peels, injections, and lasers. Whether you consider it 1 or 10 million, that’s still a fair amount of people.
What’s startling? 90% of those procedures are performed on women.
So, important things get a single paragraph, but plastic surgery on bad TV gets a lengthy examination? Enh, I don’t get it either.
January 10th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Thanks so much to both of you for coming out on Friday. It meant a hell of a lot to have folks around.
Also, I so nearly watched that show last night, seeing it while flipping through the channels, but then I was afraid of feeling trashy and wasn’t really ready for seeing the Horrible Lives of Real People(tm).
I am, however, very glad someone I know watched it so I can hear about it. :)
January 10th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
Hey… we’re friends–heck, we’re family. We’re there whenever you have need, same as you’d be for us. :)
And I’m glad somebody got something out of my sick fascination with the stupid stuff people do. Heh.