General update

Crampy, achey, got a cold, trying not to fall into the pit of despair again when it comes to my future employability prospects and so-called career in general. But also, my parents come into town this afternoon to visit for a week and that should be fun.

Media Roundup with brief commentary

Movies:

Yes, I have entered the phase where I'm watching a lot of "kid-friendly" stuff. I mean, for a broad interpretation of that phrase.

* Shrek 4 -- Shoulda stopped with 3. Sexist and with annoying idiot plot moments all over the place, in addition to the awkwardly-choreographed-for-maximum-3D-impact chase scenes. April has a crush on Fiona, though.

* Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything -- Boring and racist (lazy Mexican gourd character). Also the phantom hands phenomenon really started to bug me after a while.


TV:

Ditto headnote above.

* Sesame Street Season 41 -- I continue to be impressed by the new format, and by the writing. Also I figured out this morning that there are no villains but there is real conflict, and how that might both explain my fondness for this show (I mean, besides its anti-conservative bias) and have influences some of my own storytelling tendencies.

* My kids love Caillou but I feel compelled to incessantly mock it. I think it's good for teaching emotional literacy to preschoolers (thus the annoying narrative telling us what Caillou is thinking), but its subtle biases have begun to grate. I think I need to work on calling them out non-sarcastically for my childrens' sake. ETA: also, preternaturally sedate parents! I want their drugs.

* Word World's pirate episode gets a thumbs-up from the girls.

Books:

And now you have found my adult refuge...

Girlvert by Oriana Small a.k.a. Ashley Blue -- This was a quick, compelling, fascinating read, a memoir of one of the biggest and, in some ways, most atypical hardcore porn stars of the aughts. If you want to talk about marginalized voices, here's one for you, and it's srsly worth a listen. This is the real stuff. You'll see what I mean.

The Girl Must Die, Erika Lopez -- Aforementioned. Like Lopez, I am fortysomething, queer, dirty-minded and having a touch of a midlife crisis, as you may have noticed. We have some big differences, too, but dang. If you liked Lopez' stuff before you will love this book. It's just as raunchy and ridiculous and transgressive and ridiculously fun as before but the substrate, the final message, is so much stronger and saturated with real meaning this time. This is her masterwork.

A lot of cookbooks. Gastrokid is way better than I would have guessed from its pretentious title.

A lot of books about 1940s Los Angeles and the Gilded Age. Research. Two different projects, I promise.

Day Care Endorsement from Simone

Wailing in the car: "I want to go back! I want to go play with my friends!"

Yeah, I think she's more than ready for preschool.