Thanks to my awesome brother-in-law, John (affectionately nicknamed “Virus”), we get to play cool PS3 games that we didn’t buy.  One of those games is Ridge Racer.

Usually when I’m busy with schoolwork, the husband plays either NBA 2K8 or this game.  The graphics are pretty sweet and the customization of the cars is pretty complex.

It’s really funny because the husband talks to the female announcer lady that talks to him throughout the race.

For example:

When she says, “Good luck!”

He says, “Thanks!”

When she says, “See you at the finish line!”

He says, “OK!”

When she says, “Are you ready?”

He says, “Yes!”

When she says, “Give it your best shot!”

He says, “I will!”

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I better graduate soon or else these innocent conversations might develop into something more.

Remember how ten years ago everyone was going to their hair stylists asking for the Jennifer Aniston haircut?  Well, I went to my hair stylist a couple weekends ago and asked her for the Axel Steel.

“Um, like the Guitar Hero character?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

A shampoo, cut and blow-dry later, this is how it turned out:

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Juuuuuust kidding.  But it sure looks like it, right?

Oh and by the way, the double-chin is prosthetic makeup a la Phil Laak aka The Old Man appearing in World Series of Poker 2008.

The older I get, the harder it is for me to stomach the media-created “Christian Right.”

So many misrepresentations, so many embarrassments.

As a Christian, I was appalled to watch this video and accept the fact that this man preaches each week to a congregation.  This is really just tasteless:

It starts slow but it picks up quite a bit.  Link from Metafilter.

I could never run for President.  Besides the fact that I was born in Brazil, I wouldn’t be able to stand hearing things like this about my family.

Wearing new shoes usually adds about thirty points to the greatness level of your day. Today is no exception. I picked these up a few weeks ago at DSW. What can I say? I’m a sucker for argyle. Crazily enough, they are a size 8 and they fit snugly. I could have sworn that I used to wear a size 7. This lady at DSW overheard me lamenting this shoe size change to the husband and she said, “Oh honey, your feet never stop growing. I used to be a size 6 and now I’m a size 9!”

Yikes.

I think that’s crazy talk but I sure hope I don’t eventually grow to wear a size 9.

The husband and I experience an incredibly high frequency of strangers who feel compelled to comment on our conversations. I’m not sure if we are talking too loudly or if the topics we discuss are just too provocative – or maybe we just look really approachable. And it’s not just when we are conversing together. We also experience this when we are alone and are minding our own business.

If I’m waiting in a long line for the bathroom, I can always count on a woman next to me to make some smart remark about how “they still haven’t figured out that three bathroom stalls isn’t enough for an auditorium of women” accompanied with a playful elbow nudge and a wink. If I’m at the Social Security Administration Office and the rude security officer has just chastised a person for drinking bottled water because no food or drink is allowed in the office, I can always count on the middle aged woman in front of me to roll her eyes and mutter under her breath, “Can someone say power trip?” Before I can respond, she’ll launch into her extended sob story about how she’s here to change her name because she has recently divorced her husband and that it was a rotten marriage to begin with and truth be told, she’s happy to be free of it. I usually look around the room at this point to try to figure out why she’s chosen me to talk to. One, I’m not wearing a suit. Two, I’m not blowing bubbles with my chewing gum. Three, I don’t have any visible tattoos. Four, I don’t have a permanent sneer on my face. Sigh, the price I pay for looking plain.

This is the kind of thing that I pretend to be annoyed with but whenever I leave Houston to visit another city, I always realize how much I miss it. When a parent swears at their disobedient child in a public space, I miss not being able to exchange a knowing glance with a stranger next to me as if he/she were someone that I’ve been exchanging knowing glances with my whole life. Some people find southern hospitality fake and shallow – and in some settings (especially in retail stores) I agree – but for the most part, I really enjoy it. People who have conversations with strangers obviously don’t take themselves too seriously and probably feel that all people, even strangers, have enough in common to share a dialogue without any of the usual prerequisites.

Something strange that I have observed about men and women (this is, of course, an overgeneralization) is that women love to shop for their unmentionables and men hate to shop for their unmentionables.  I’m not sure if it’s some sort of male challenge to see how long their underwear and undershirts will last but I pretty much am always the one that suggests that the husband needs new underwear.

I have a bone to pick with the person who is in charge of ordering underwear at all Wal*Marts and Targets.  There is ALWAYS a ton of XXL, XXXL, M and S sized underwear and usually a drastic lack of L sized underwear.  This is an inventory control issue.  Why haven’t they figured it out yet?

Also, I have noticed that there is an alarming lack of briefs.  There’s always a lot of boxers, boxer briefs, trunks, and even bikini briefs (yikes), but very few packages of briefs.  I have no theory about why this is.  But the husband is extremely loyal to briefs and I’ve cautioned him to maybe start transitioning to something else because it seems like they are phasing briefs out.

I have also observed that the husband generates three times as much laundry as I do.  He wears business casual clothes to work (dry cleaning), gym-clothes during lunch, sometimes gym-clothes at night, and something comfortable to walk around the house in.  That’s a lot of laundry.

Thus concludes this trivial post.

This past week I’ve written and deleted three drafts posts with dissatisfaction.  So whatever I write here gets published.

It is becoming harder and harder to avoid writing a political post so I’ll try to get one out soon.  Just to be upfront, I have gripes with both the Democratic and Republican sides.  I have problems with the whole political process.  I might have to add a “Political” post category by the time we get to election day.

The economy is frighteningly unstable.  I think with all the Hurricane Ike news and with a ton of people still without power, people haven’t really taken in the stark realities of this week’s events.  I think it’s interesting to see the heavy handed government interventions in the financial markets this past week from a Republican administration.  This just goes to show that there are no promises after someone gets into office.  There’s really no telling whether McCain will provide little government or whether Obama will provide all the programs he’s been talking about.

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I’m disappointed that Apple issued a recall on their ultracompact USB power adapters for the iPhone.  There’s reportedly only a small percentage of adapters that are faulty but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.  You can either exchange it in store in October or fill out the web-based form now.  Thanks to MacRumors for letting me know about this.

October is also when the MBP is supposed to come out.  I’ve been waiting for this redesign for — is it two years now?  Crazy.  But what’s even crazier is I’m considering not getting one.  Well, I’m really hoping that they make it lighter in this new redesign.  But if they don’t, I might consider getting a Mac Pro or a iMac for my photo processing and a lightweight, compact laptop for travel and mobility.  One or maybe both of those will probably have to be refurbished since my tech budget is pretty limited.  Has anyone ever bought refurbished from Apple?

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My internship this year is at Texas Children’s Hospital in Adolescent Medicine through BCM’s Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Fellowship program.  It’s been an interesting experience so far in that I feel like I’m getting a sneak peak at what medical or nursing school is like.  It’s a really robust environment where you’re surrounded by sharp people and you can learn as much as you possibly want to.  It’s also nice to be able to disassociate hospitals with terrible events.  I’m also helping to facilitate experiential groups at a local high school and will be also be working with Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program (JJAEP) students both in Houston and in Baytown.

It’s because of these two things and my full load of classes that sockparade might suffer a bit this year.  But I definitely consider it a worthwhile trade-off — hopefully it won’t get too bad.

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I never used to like cars.  I mean, I never appreciated their beauty until after I met the husband.  My brother-in-law was over last night and they were talking cars and while I’m still drooling over the Audi A5, the brand new Audi A4 is pretty fantastic too.  The headlight redesign is amazing.

Speaking of cars, I love car commercials that use great songs.  There’s a Saab commercial that has cool female vocals but I don’t know who she is.  Let me know if you’ve got a clue.

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This is the first weekend we’ve had where we have no plans and no place we’ve committed to visiting.  It’s the first real weekend I’ve had in a long time.  I can’t wait!  See you on the other side.

This is the post I wrote last week and was planning to finish and post on Thursday– before all the hurricane craziness happened.

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Finally.  I just finished uploading the last of my Turkey photos.  Sometimes it’s hard to balance how many photos I take on a vacation.  I’m usually afraid I’ll regret bringing my D200 somewhere so I end up bringing it everywhere.  After 10 days in Turkey, I decided to leave the D200 at home for the last day of shopping in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.  It’s quite unfortunate because there were a lot of great photos to be had but it was also nice to just enjoy myself without carrying the extra weight.  Some people enjoy the solid, heavy feel of the D200 but I wouldn’t mind some lightweight technology.

I definitely think my D200 is one of the best investments I’ve made since graduating from undergraduate college.  I’m still trying to convince the husband to get an SLR camera.

I’ll be throwing up photos of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains as soon as I get a paper off of my back.

So after some observation, I realized that Twitter isn’t killing my blog.  Google Reader is killing my blog.  I usually blog about the interesting things I like but now I just share them through Google.  I think the solution is to pick out the really outstanding items I share there and blog about it.  We’re getting this (sockparade) down to a science.

Here’s a quick sampling:

I love Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys.  I don’t know anyone that doesn’t.  Here it is in blog form.  Just make sure you read it from the oldest entry to the newest entry.  Did you know they are coming out with a Facebook Movie?  If you’re bored, check out the blog Cake Wrecks for a few good laughs.  I found it through Boing Boing but apparently Ashteroid is blogrolling it too.  Disaster movie got a 00% on RottenTomatoes.  Do you like your drinks on the rocks?  Here is an ice alternative that looks like real rocks.

The geek level and randomness varies from day to day.  You can either follow my reader by bookmarking this page, checking out the blue widget I have on my sidebar, or joining Google Reader yourself and adding me as a friend.

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I think it’s interesting how everyone (myself included) is hating on the new facebook layout.  I finally took a look around this morning and while it’s pretty cluttered– I have to admit that I always prefer personal customization.  Not Myspace-customization where the font, colors and backgrounds become hideous, but drag and drop widget customization.  So I think I’m okay with it.  It’ll just take some time to get used to.  What’s interesting is that Flickr recently updated their website too but I haven’t heard as much grumbling.  Without making a comment on whether the new Flickr is better or worse than the old Flickr, they flipped the page the same way Facebook has flipped, by placing the main content on the lefthand side of the page and the column on the right.  I think this is better design (which is why sockparade is the way it is) but it’s counter intuitive when you have already been trained to expect to see the page the old way.  I haven’t heard too much grumbling about Flickr.  Is it because Flickr management has made their way into our hearts and we trust them to do what’s best for Flickr?  Even if it means that comments left on your photos are mashed up with comments you’ve left on other people’s photos?  But maybe we’re willing to give that up in order to mute some activity?  That’s customer loyalty.

Speaking of layout changes, I am still scratching my head as to why Microsoft would change MS Office menus in Vista.  I know they were trying to innovate and keep up with the times but one of their greatest advantages over Apple was that they had a huge user base that was trained on the interface of MSOffice.  I’m not sure why they would sacrifice that.

I won’t miss the windowless classrooms, the busy work, the meandering lectures on sleepy Monday afternoons, the long lines at lunch, or the tuition payments…

… but I’m really going to miss having the opportunity to meet so many different people and getting to know them in bits and pieces over the course of two years.

Even when working for a big corporation, you really only get to know your immediate department co-conspirators.  Graduate school — at least a fairly small one (~120 people in my year) like the social work program that I’m in, provides a pretty unique environment to build friendships.

I just wanted to write that down so that I didn’t take it for granted.

I also wanted to state that I like Chicken Broth.  Er, chicken broth.  Uncontrollable capitalization there.

I want a upgraded MacBook Pro, blah blah blah, I’ll stop boring you with my wants and needs.  Let’s talk about your wants and needs.

I want to give Bon Iver a big hug.  I think he needs one.  (I know his name is Justin Vernon.)

****************The Dark Knight SPOILER ALERT***********************

Courtesy spoiler alert extended– but if you haven’t seen it yet, you probably are not going to or don’t care if the movie is spoiled.  In which case, keep reading.

So I promised a thematic review of The Dark Knight (TDK) in a previous post about TDK and even though no one was really holding their breath for it and even though most people have probably already long forgotten the plot of TDK, it makes a lot of sense to me to write about it right now.

I’ll admit that I’ve been putting this post off for awhile because I’m afraid I won’t do justice to it.  Even today, I came home from another hospital orientation (I’m pretty sick of orienting myself at this point, I just want to get started), I cooked myself dinner, and read through half of my RSS feeds and am only now finally starting to write.  I’m terribly tempted to upload, tag and organize photos on Flickr, load the dishwasher and organize my underwear and sock drawer before I go any further but the husband is coming home from his business trip in about three hours so I better make the most of a quiet house on a Friday night.

I do wish that I wrote this earlier today because most people surf here on Friday afternoons when things are slow at work but it’s too early to cut out for the weekend.  But I’m okay if you don’t get to reading this until Monday.

Alright, let’s jump in:

Evil vs. Less Evil Theme

This is the most basic theme in the story of Batman.  Unlike other superheroes, he doesn’t have superpowers and his drive is not quite as noble as that of Superman.  He is largely motivated by anger and vengeance and he has notably restrained himself from murdering any villain or criminal.  This can at times be frustrating because the villains rotate through the revolving doors of Arkham Asylum like clockwork.  But this theme is the reason why I like the story of Batman the most.  I relate to it the most.  I don’t believe people are naturally good and evil.  I think we are all naturally evil and sometimes we just act less evil than others.  I believe we all spend most of our lives trying to fight that evil — some through a faith in God, some for the promise of nirvana or rewards in an afterlife, some through spirituality, some through a contemporary version of karma, and others through a simple cultural work ethic.  The story of Batman gives me hope that a person with every right to be bitter and angry at the world and its darkness can somehow still work for the good.  As a social worker, I have seen and heard the stories of young people who have the odds stacked against them.  Stories about murder, rape, neglect, loneliness and all the ugliness and darkness of this world.  If I didn’t have hope that people who are victims of evil can turn their lives around and achieve great things and pursue goodness, I don’t think I would have the strength to do what I do.

Criminals/Villians are Usually the Product of our Society

At the same time, when Harvey Dent becomes Two-Face, it’s a difficult but necessary reminder that even if a person strives their hardest for goodness, the circumstances and incidents of reality can sometimes be heavy enough to bring that person down.  Our first reaction is to marvel at the fact that Harvey Dent, the upright and honest District Attorney, could be pushed to the point of kidnapping Commissioner Gordon’s family and wanting to murder innocent people.  That the symbol of integrity and justice in Gotham City could so quickly become a villain is alarming.  But it makes perfect sense to me.  The person with the most hope for justice usually has the greatest fall when he/she is confronted with the injustice of reality.  This is also why I think truly overcoming evil is only possible by nothing short of the grace of God.

Hey, the same thing happened to Michael Corleone in the Godfather trilogy, didn’t it?  Michael was different from his brothers.  He wanted to separate himself from the “family business.”  But circumstances sucked him in deeper than he would have ever predicted.  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

A lot of people blame criminal behavior on mental illness but a lot less people are willing to blame criminal behavior on the circumstances of reality.  Whether it be lack of education, unemployment, economic deprivation, psychological stress, or a simple cost-benefit analysis that leads to crime– it is usually inaccurate to attribute crime to mental illness.  I really enjoyed the portrayal of the Joker in TDK, not just the acting performance, but the suggestion that perhaps The Joker is actually more aware and more lucid than the masses.  Did any of you feel that way?  That despite his gruesome gags and his chilling detachment from death, The Joker was the most real character in the entire movie.  He was the most tormented, for sure, but he was the most honest about his pain.

An example that hits a lot closer to home is the creation of terrorists and international criminals.  Countries where living conditions and economic opportunities are poor are typically fertile breeding grounds for fundamentalist terrorist groups.  Syriana portrayed this dynamic in a compelling way.  I sometimes wonder if the tragedy of the Holocaust would still have occurred if the people of Germany weren’t as economically devastated and low in morale as they were after WWI.  It’s easier for us to dismiss terrorists as mentally ill than to consider that perhaps they are ordinary humans pushed to their limits without an ounce of hope outside of the violence or the twisted fundamentalist belief.  It’s frightening to consider that the human mind and heart could be so fragile.

The Masses

This is always a difficult theme for me in movies.  I am absolutely terrified of the masses.  I shudder when I read historical accounts of mob mentality.  Whether it be Nazi Germany, the genocide in Darfur, city riots, soccer stadium stampedes, or even the Salem Witch Trials, I am chilled to the bone to think of the vulnerability of groups of people to powerful ideas– or rather, the vulnerability of people to the ideas of power.  There are countless global conflicts that follow the formulaic story of an oppressed group organized by a charismatic leader to brutally oppress their former oppressors.  The drastic power shifts that can take place in a politically unstable country are really disturbing.  Even more disturbing are the power shifts that can sometimes take place in a seemingly non-war, non-political environment such as a business meeting or a church.  Some readers will probably argue that business meetings and churches as just as political as any other venue.  But you get the idea.  I think my fear of the mindless masses is part of the reason why the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Beijing creeped me out so much.

So I haven’t really figured out what I think about this theme in the movie.  The movie portrays the masses as simple minded people who are influenced and essentially controlled by a handful of men behind closed doors.  This is why this post is relevant right now.  After watching my country approach the presidential election, I keep getting the sinking feeling that this is all just a charade to influence and control the masses.  Don’t get me wrong, I believe there are informed voters and die hard theorists and economists that are voting in accordance with their well-thought out beliefs, but then there are just as many voters who are swayed by the propaganda, the media (whether it be CNN or Fox News) and their friends.  This bothers me to no end.  I really want to believe that individuals are more autonomous and more intelligent than this dismal diagnosis.  But I’m not so sure.

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So, are you tired of reading?  Cause I’m tired of writing.

The Masses Need a Leader that Fits Their Needs

The Masses Need a Scapegoat that Fits Their Needs

Those are the last two themes I outlined when I first set out to write this post.  I think they are pretty self-explanatory.  Of course I could write a hefty paragraph or two for each theme (don’t doubt me) but I’ll spare you.  Depending on which camp you are in, ObamaBiden, McCainPalin and BushCheney could easily make appearances in either paragraph.

In summary, I think the movie was pretty good as a movie but its true greatness lies in its ability to be a launchpad for exploring life themes.

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In unrelated news, this personal email written by Anne Kilkenny, Alaskan housewife, has been getting a lot of press (heard the story on NPR this afternoon).  Of course, it’s just a personal email without substantiated numbers but it’s definitely an interesting read.  And I think it’s fun to see just how accessible information is these days.  In the NPR interview, Anne admits that she’s not quite sure what a blog is and that she is still on a dial-up connection.