Tag: eclectic me | The World According to MEH

Mr. Writer*

Posted on September 23, 2009 by admin • 12 Comments

Aaaaand, I’m back with more of my favorite literature. First, a little more backstory. There was a time in my mid-twenties when I couldn’t read any serious fiction. I still read my beloved mysteries, but I eschewed literature. I didn’t have any particular reason–I just wasn’t feeling it.

Much as I am not now. Now, granted, I don’t go to actual bookstores that often because I prefer to order online, but when I do, I am dismayed at the drivel that is being published. So much dreck and so little silver (fucking hate gold). There is very little to interest me. I don’t give a damn about any of the books people are reading right now. I really don’t. They all look the same to me, and they fucking bore me. I do not read literature to be bored, people.

Is it too much to ask that authors write something original? I would rather an author take a huge risk and fail magnificently than write carefully-crafted books that are well-written, safe, tidy little journeys, and fucking boring! We are not Victorian, England. Fuck that shit. No, seriously. Fuck that shit. On the flip side, don’t write something shocking just for the sake of being shocking. I fucking hate that shit even more. I am not easily shocked, and I resent people trying to push that button. Just write an exuberant, dark, fantastical, engrossing, intriguing story, and I am there, damn it! On with the show.

Ok, so that isn’t the title song. It’s Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side as an exhortation to all the writers out there to let their freak flags fly. Here is the actual title song/video of the day.

Everyday I Write the Book*

Posted on September 22, 2009 by admin • 22 Comments

So, ok. My last three posts have been about all ways I differ from the mainstream when it comes to pop culture. TV, movies, and music. What’s missing from these lists, you ask yourself? Well, you probably don’t, but I’m going to tell you, anyway. Books, of course. I am obviously a very verbal woman, and I loved reading since I first taught myself to read at a very young age. I don’t know how young, but it was before I went to school. One day I couldn’t read, and the next day, I could. My mom loves to tell the story of how I would sit at the table when I was two, holding the newspaper in my chubby little hands and “read” it–upside down.

I was reading eighth-grade books by the time I was in first grade. I started reading the dictionary for fun. I made it to the “I” section before I stopped. I got teased a lot in school for being fat, Asian, and/or smart. Books were my solace, my escape, and my friends. I read pretty much nonstop after I got out of school until I went to bed. I would take a book with me to whatever lame Taiwanese event my parents made me attend. I would find a nice corner and read. I read The Scarlet Letter when I was ten (didn’t like it) and half of War and Peace before giving up.

I am embarrassed to admit that I devoured the teenybopper romance crap that were precursors to Harlequin Romances. Girl meets boy. Girl likes boy. Boy is with another girl (or just oblivious). Girl chases boy throughout book. In the end, girl gets boy. Rinse, lather, repeat. As a younger child, I read all the Nancy Drew books, the Hardy Boys, and Trixie Belden, too. I read the choose your own ending books, and Encyclopedia Brown as well. Yes, even back then, I liked mysteries.

In college, I started reading Asian women authors once I realized I could, and it was on after that. I started reading anyone of color I could get my hands on–especially women. I went to a Lutheran college (St. Olaf) in the early nineties, just as diversity was becoming a buzzword, so pickings were slim, to say the least.

I’m a Hazard to Myself*

Posted on September 19, 2009 by admin • 4 Comments

All right. I’ve done movies and I’ve done TV. Next up is music, of course. As I have said before, I don’t care for the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Zepplin, etc. I like the stray song by them, but I am not enamored of their oeuvres, and this causes me no angst at all. Except when other people rag on me about it, and even that doesn’t bother me. Eh. Make me like them, I say. So far, hasn’t happened. I just don’t really relate to many of the older bands for whatever reason. (Mebbe because they are all-male and all-white? Could be). I also didn’t hear my first pop song until I was in sixth grade or so, and it was Eddy Grant’s Electric Avenue. It was weird, but oddly catching. As a teen, I liked the usual boy bands–Duran Duran, a-ha, Bon Jovi, and (to my everlasting embarrassment) New Kids on the Block. I wasn’t really exposed to a wide range of music until well after I graduated from college.

I’ve Got Bette Davis Eyes!*

Posted on September 17, 2009 by admin • 8 Comments

Ed. Note: I knew I forgot a movie. It is now added.

Ok. Now that we’re all grooving to the She’s Got Bette Davis Eyes, I can continue with my list of what makes me ME. Next up is my list of movies. Let me start by saying that I haven’t seen many of the classics. In addition, I don’t care to see many of the classics. Quite bluntly, I don’t want to watch a bunch of white people doing white people things in which movies the only people of color who appear are maids or hookers or dead extras. Quite simply put, I don’t relate to much of the themes and feelings of old movies.

Bringing it to the present, I hate Hollywood movies with a passion. I’m talking about the big, epic, bloated, star-infested movies that are churned out every year. In addition, American actors get so much press about their personal lives, it’s hard for me to separate the actor from the part. When I see Julia Roberts and her big-ass grin, no matter what the movie, she’s Julia Roberts to me. Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt, and Leo is Leo. It doesn’t help that they often get typecasted in their roles as well. Hm. In rereading the old post, I notice that I mentioned Julia Roberts in that one as well. I can’t help it. She’s the quintessential American actor to me.

I can’t think of a single epic Hollywood movie that I actually liked. In fact, I can’t really think of the last American movie I liked. Huh. Oh, and I fucking hate chick flicks as well as dick flicks (yes, I coined the term. See explanation here. Yes, I’m linking to myself. Deal with it. It’s a good blog entry), so that leaves out maybe eighty percent of American movies as well. I don’t like movies that try to shock me. I am damn near unshockable, and I resent movies that does grotesque things just for the sake of shocking.

So, what do I like? I like engaging characters. I like a good storyline. I like thoughtful comedy and good psychological insight. Here are my favorite movies. Note that I don’t necessarily believe they are great movies–I just really enjoy them for one reason or another. They aren’t in any particular order because that’s not how I roll.

I’m Eclectic! Boogie Woogie Woogie!*

Posted on September 15, 2009 by admin • 13 Comments

moulin rouge Ok. Since I have in the past listed all the ways in which I am soooo different from everyone else and how much it sucks, I’ve decided today to do something a bit different. I am going to list all the ways in which I am sooooo different from everyone else, and why I rock! Ok, not really. I’m just gonna list a bunch of my faves because I’m tired of not talking about them. And, since it’s my blog (sez so, right in the title), I figured, why the hell not? Over the weekend at Balloon Juice, there is usually a music thread or two. This weekend, there was an ’80s thread (and one last weekend, too, I think), and us late nighters started throwing out the YouTube videos like they were going out of style. There is a guy over there who is trying to find the perfect song for me after hitting a home run the first time around with Cat Stevens’ Father and Son, which is still in my rotation. He’s tossed out several songs, and I have reacted with my usual randomness. I posted Adam Ant, Bon Jovi, MJ (because someone had to), Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper, Public Enemy, and a bunch of others. Someone said something about Tom Petty being a guy thing, that no woman would like him. In response, I posted the two songs by Petty I like: Free Fallin’ and The Alice in Wonderland Song. A couple of people said they really liked Free Fallin’, and the guy trying to find songs for me said I have eclectic tastes.

I do, damn it.

Tag Archives: eclectic me