'tis the season is over. christmas and going into debt to get material goods for toys because we can't be bothered to show our love in more meaningful ways is over. some christmas lights remain. some trees are still up. some people are still insisting on caring about others (when they should be back to their usual selves already) just cause a bunch of folks died on the other side of the world (how many of those who are all concerned and donating money could even point out on a map the location of sri lanka two weeks ago?)
it seems like such a nice thing to want to help, though, doesn't it? it'd be a nice thing if the world had a good disaster relief organization like we have in this country, right? it's not arrogance that brings us the rescue of everybody else, is it? and, if it is, is that so wrong? if we could rescue everyone, save everyone from evil dictators or indifferent weather, if we could unilaterally bail out everybody, that would certainly be a good. but, it seems a little odd we stand so much against the redistribution of wealth and we don't want to give handouts to those in need right here at home, but a little weather (or, technically, i guess a tsunami isn't weather, since it's caused by an earthquake and not a storm) affects people who could have prepared for it in the first place (and who our own early warning system could have warned, if we were really so concerned for their well being) and we jump right in. a leader we helped put into power takes the power his people allowed him over many years to have and suddenly he's an evil we need to jump in and destroy, nevermind that we've got our own problems (and our own leader taking liberties with removing ours)
it's a strange dichotomy, our socially accepted indifference to the suffering around the world and our ability to completely bypass that indifference for grand gestures of caring... occasionally, and as long as the local news can show us local citizens who narrowly escaped, and show us women holding dead children and families broken, homes destroyed... except, how long will it be before we stop caring again, before we all forget where sri lanka is?
thing is, why do i bother complaining when people bother to do something that, arguably, is a good thing?
maybe i'm just so in love with being contrary, i can't help it. maybe i'm just sick of hypocrites and arrogant fools who think it's their place to save the world, but only when it's convenient or the news is depressing them. maybe we should stop reporting innocuous stories about celebrities and cover all the deaths around the world, the genocides, the disasters, not just the big ones, not just the ones with convenient access to oil, but every tragedy, every life lost, and see how long we can take it before we all implode
that being said, i meant to do another list entry today, but the list is so long it would be another week long, multiple entry number, and i don't care to do that again, so i'll just give the list (sans commentary), my 103 rentals* from blockbuster video in the last 122 (if my count is correct) days:
- 0911 . candyman
- 0911 . the game
- 0913 . the station agent
- 0915 . tremors 4 the legend begins
- 0915 . the shape of things
- 0916 . ringu
- 0917 . run lola run
- 0918 . the awful truth season two disk one
- 0918 . cabin fever
- 0919 . wrong turn
- 0921 . the eye
- 0921 . the awful truth season two disk two
- 0923 . mean girls
- 0923 . jeepers creepers 2
- 0924 . the bourne identity
- 0924 . man on fire
- 0925 . fearless
- 0927 . the last samurai
- 0927 . the shipping news
- 0928 . rebel without a cause
- 0928 . crouching tiger, hidden dragon
- 1001 . outfoxed rupert murdoch?s war on journalism
- 1001 . the deep end
- 1002 . the weather underground
- 1002 . dirty pretty things
- 1005 . ladykillers
- 1005 . super size me
- 1009 . casa de los babys
- 1009 . young adam
- 1011 . gattaca
- 1011 . darkness falls
- 1015 . fahrenhype 9/11
- 1015 . fahrenheit 9/11
- 1017 . the punisher
- 1017 . master and commander the far side of the world
- 1019 . the day after tomorrow
- 1019 . the lost skeleton of cadavra
- 1021 . tomie
- 1021 . the office the complete first series
- 1022 . following
- 1023 . arrested development season one disk one
- 1023 . the game
- 1025 . south park the passion of the jew
- 1025 . south park bigger, longer & uncut
- 1027 . ratcatcher
- 1028 . arrested development season one disk two
- 1028 . dawn of the dead
- 1030 . touching the void
- 1102 . galaxy quest
- 1104 . house of sand and fog
- 1106 . arrested development season one disk three
- 1106 . last house on the left
- 1111 . the stone reader
- 1111 . the thing
- 1113 . the hunting of the president
- 1119 . the chronicles of riddick
- 1119 . bush?s brain
- 1120 . i?m not scared
- 1120 . sliding doors
- 1122 . a day without a mexican
- 1123 . control room
- 1123 . joseph campbell and the power of myth
- 1127 . dirty pretty things
- 1129 . the saddest music in the world
- 1129 . uncovered the war on iraq
- 1202 . the da vinci code decoded
- 1202 . spider-man 2
- 1204 . the terminal
- 1204 . the dreamers
- 1206 . the pink panther
- 1206 . audition
- 1209 . existenz
- 1209 . the bourne supremacy
- 1210 . cracking the da vinci code
- 1211 . love object
- 1213 . dodgeball a true underdog story
- 1213 . deadline
- 1214 . collateral
- 1214 . unlocking da vinci?s code
- 1215 . the door in the floor
- 1215 . zatoichi
- 1217 . blood work
- 1221 . napoleon dynamite
- 1221 . shaun of the dead
- 1222 . corn
- 1222 . we don?t live here anymore
- 1223 . shrek 2
- 1225 . the exorcist
- 1226 . cube 2 hypercube
- 1228 . anchorman the legend of ron burgundy
- 1228 . garden state
- 1228 . pitch black
- 1230 . ghost in the shell
- 1230 . dogma
- 1231 . elf
- 1231 . ghost in the shell 2 innocence
- 0103 . king arthur
- 0103 . grand theft parsons
- 0105 . buckaroo bonsai
- 0107 . the alamo
- 0107 . dark city
- 0110 . hero
- 0110 . zoolander