Girl Power at its Glammiest

warning: this post is about kicking ass! if you can't handle this colorful language, do not read on.

Saw Sucker Punch in theaters. Pretty girls all dolled up in pin-up style make up and sexy outfits kicking ass against fantastical monsters. Not much in the way of plot, but very artistic in melding of costume, music, and choreography in the fight scenes.

And O the music...

Like any movie, I guess I took away from it what I brought in. A little bit of girl power - but not enough.

I realized it a couple years ago when looking for inspiration for writing. I went to our (extensive) DVD collection looking for femme fatales and bad-ass female role models... only to discover my favorite movies were severely lacking.

On the internet, I found several lists of favorite powerful babes in movies. All these lists were so short, only 10 or 15 girls, most of whom, in my humble opinion, are not worthy of the title.

When Buffy the Vampire Slayer came out in the 90's, followed by James Cameron's Dark Angel, I thought we were entering a revolution in girl power and strong female role models, but the new millennium has disappointed me by not adding more women to the list.

I'm not really a feminist in the elite sense. The girl power I like to see is a balance. Yes, she may be trained in martial arts, cool and collected under pressure, and kick ass, but that doesn't mean she can't also have a fashion sense, style, beauty, know how to cook, or otherwise fall into her "traditional" gender role. Don't most Moms in real life embody both these sides every day?

It's these women that I miss in the current media. Yes, we have the 'pretty girl who can actually fight' part covered, but even Buffy and Leeloo have their 'damsel in distress' moments when a man must step in and save them. Don't get me wrong; I'd be nothing without my man and I think we save each other all the time. But I do think our girls onscreen could be a little stronger. A little more like the real life women who battle challenges more badass than any vampire or ninja. Because if our ideal female isn't strong, confident, smart, and sexy, how can we ever expect to be?

health:exhausted - mood:impatient - weather:gray

music:pretty girl -sugarcult

"she's beautiful as usual with bruises on her ego"

References/Inspiration

Top 10 badass women in movies

Miss Representation

MFIF

List it Tuesday: what I want to cook

Today's list is meals I want to make:

Mac n' Cheeseburger
Quiche Lorraine
Hard Cider Glazed Porkchops
Beans on Toast
Spicy Roasted Potatoes
Spaghetti Carbonara Frittata

Probably not in one week... that would be a lot of eggs and cheese.

Conditional

Nothing is absolute.

It makes me mad when people judge a situation in absolutes


The bullies are picking on her so she must have done something to provoke them.
He doesn't have a job so he must be lazy.
This product is inexpensive so there must be something wrong with it.

We have a serious problem abusing the word and concept of "therefore." Saying it doesn't always make it so. An alleged cause does not always lead to a supposed effect.

I'm a huge believer in possibilities. There is never just one motivation for an action, or only one solution to a problem. That's what makes creativity and flexibility so important. Thinking inside the box is closing your off your mind from the world. A wise person knows that even at her most observant, she is ignorant of many things. Because in our myriad universe, there are tens of thousands of things that are too small to see, too intangible to feel, or too complicated to comprehend.

Todays stats:

health:poor - mood:panicked - weather:stormy

music:in it for life -sick puppies

"some people talk like they can't hear, some people walk but get nowhere"

a little study I may or may not commit to... curious to see how my current situation affects my writing. i miss those cute little livejournal emoticons that correspond to your moods- hehe

Sorry!

Totally missed List It Tuesday! Bummer.

the best de-motivation

Where it hurt it was intense; a stinging, burning sensation that was all-encompassing. But that pain radiated and rippled, until she could feel the shivers running up her spine and the hair standing up on her hot neck. Her body was sensitive to each nerve ending, but she was heavy and sluggish. Limbs were slow to react. Eyes were droopy and unfocused. Could her body handle this?

___

It's that day again, the time to be creative... only I'm not really feeling the creative vibe above the pain from the kidney stone my body is currently trying to rid itself of. So I thought I might get a bit creative in trying to describe this gut-wrenching feeling...?

I've never seen pain as that much of an inspiration, which is somewhat of a shame, I guess, since it's something we all experience. We can't all sit on the pink-sanded beaches of Hawaii and smell the ocean breeze or stand amid the green atop a cloudy mountain in Ireland. But we all fit into the basic range of human emotions and tactile responses.

And we all have days when we are almost too lazy to care. When the mere thought of lifting yourself out of bed is exhausting. Or excruciating.

Here's to those.

Sometimes, I Hope I'm Wrong

Okay, I hope I'm wrong here, because I think I just saw something that made my stomach turn.

Flipping channels, I found out there's a show on the science channel on today called "The Next Wave: Science of Tsunamis" - not so much an educational show as it is one of those scare-you shows about maybe possibly someday hypothetical probably more likely in about 150 million years according to real geophysicists mega-disasters that could happen to you.

I'm sorry, science channel, did you think this was an opportune time after the disaster in Japan to scare people and raise your ratings? Did you think you could benefit when so many people are in misery right now? 'Cause that would be insensitive, disgusting, and just wrong.

But maybe it's just a coincidence?

Anyway, my thoughts and prayers are with the victims who are suffering now in my favorite place in the world, Nippon.

List it Tuesday: Favorite Lyrics

For my first list this week, I decided to write down all the song lyrics that speak to me:

My Lyric List

From Lost in Mary's Land

All rock. Or... alt. rock, as it were.

Can't read my crazy writing? You can full list of lyrics, artists, and song titles here.

I so wish I could write music. The beautiful poetry of lyrics is something close to my heart. Music inspires me.

Lots of Sick Puppies on here... guess they're on my brain since I'm seeing them next week! Woot!

- wit - 


ps. a shout-out and a please visit to: Sally@Sow and Sew who's currently hosting List it Tuesday :)

our Human condition

I'm so glad I joined Creative Every Day for so many reasons. One of them is discovering how sometimes, totally different people are experiencing the same emotion at the same time.


I'm not the only one that has recently expressed their fear in words:


Knowing is half the battle by Jamie @spunkyness
Fear of the first step by Lisa @Think.Write.Create.
Confessions of a Scaredy Cat by Tracy @tracyswartz.com



Is it the change of season and the rapid approach of Spring? Is it leftover anxiety from the start of a new year, a sign of these times and this mess of an economy, or a reaction to frightening global events? There are always reasons to fear, but every day we stare terror right in the face, just like my fellow authors above. Exposed, the things that scare us are just a little bit easier to overcome.


Fear is just a door that separates us from an unknown future.
See you on the other side.


Did you write about fear recently? Did I miss someone who did? Please let me know!

- wit - 

copy. write. infringment.

I find comfort in the safety of anonymity. It is the paranoia that surrounds me and keeps my thoughts safely to myself. And I wonder why there is more fear in sharing? What good do ideas do when locked inside, gathering dust and haunting the tired writer's mind.

These words that rattle and clamour against the skull like unsettled spirits. But these ghosts are mine. I am still too anxious to set them free.

I discover that writer's block comes in two forms: the absent genius and the possessive muse. The turn of phrase that gets past is not the first to be written. The best is kept for herself. Like a hen, she sits on her words waiting for brilliance to hatch.

Newborn, I will brand these letters. And the world will know they are mine.

- wit -

My Addiction is You

To my husband:

My love

You cannot possibly fathom how incredibly boring my life is without you

Nor can you grasp the loneliness I feel when you are away

Just your presence makes my day worth living

Your smile, your voice, your skin, or your laugh

These are the things I need and crave

Everything I see or hear I want to share with you

Because everything I experience reminds me of you

When I said forever, I didn't mean some far-reaching hour years from now

I meant every moment between now and then

Like a child consumed with thoughts of Christmas morning

My every thought is fixated on your return to me

As if my mind and heart are already there

And the time in between is nothing more than a bad dream

If love is a sickness, I am gravely ill

Addicted to you, this withdrawal will surely be the death of me

But I want the symptom, not the cure

So please, the only gift I ever want

Is you

- wit - 

Missing

When the one I love travels, my home is suddenly full of holes. Looking at the possessions left behind, I suddenly become aware of all the missing pieces. His favorite seat is empty. Toothbrushes and toiletries have disappeared from the bathroom. Clothes are missing from the dresser and closet.

Strange, how such small details go unnoticed until he is gone. The things that annoy me - his stuff on my side of the bed, his insufferable mannerisms - fade from memory and are meaningless. But the good suddenly holds such power as soon as it is missing.

While the absence of these things is sad, it is also comforting. It is a reminder that my loved one is somewhere, alive and hopefully well, and all these things are with him. It means he is coming back.

- wit - 

Fractured Shelter

My nest has fallen from its tree.

She isn't the me I know. Her ink has dried up. Words flowed from my lips soft as rain. I wrapped lyrical phrases around me like a blanket. My pen was always moving. She is a fractured shelter.

She gathers twigs to weave together, but the winds of change are blowing too hard in these stormy days. She is naked and hollow, the cold blowing right through. My pages are missing. They are leaves scattered to the wind.

We huddle inside and wait for Spring.

- wit - 

The First Rain of Spring

In the morning I catch the breeze as I round the corner through the alley and open up on the harbor. From its salty mist I can tell it comes from the sea. This far-off breeze brings with it a healthy rainstorm, and spring is not far behind.

The dirt is saturated, but still the ground soaks up the water greedily, the first green shoots of daffodils showing their tips in a nearby garden. This rain is cleansing, washing away the stagnation of winter. Windchimes are ringing on porches and birds are chirping noisily in the trees.

My town is not a concrete jungle, but a brick wilderness. Streets both paved and unpaved weave together with a patchwork of bridges over flooded waters. Nature pokes her head in the spaces in between and we barely notice her except when she brings forth from the sky. I feel closer to her today, as she announces the return of spring's reign.

On rainy sidewalks, people bow their heads beneath hoods and umbrellas, like the flowers buried just under the soil. Today, we are still hibernating, but soon we will show our faces again.

- wit - 

Had Enough

When did "family-oriented" become business speak for "not committed enough?"

Back in the day, you really were what you did: instead of heading off to college, young adults would prepare to join the family business. We have the surnames to prove it - Baker, Cooper, Taylor, Smith. Work and family were one in the same, whether it was the family farm, the family trade, or the royal family. Now, internships have replaced apprenticeships. We work hard to separate our family and social life from our profession, dividing our lives into two worlds. One must have a personal e-mail and work e-mail, home phone and work phone, and be careful whom to friend on facebook. We try to maintain some shred of privacy in a naked culture and find balance between conflicting demands.

If we try to devote any more time to our family world than to the other, then something must be wrong. They call it lazy, apathetic, unmotivated, distracted. Your boss never stops to think that while you're an energetic, self-starting go-getter in the office, your family might describe you as the opposite. Absence and tardiness have the same consequences even when one is off the clock.

Despite our change in attitude, the fact still remains: Family comes first. These are the values that our lives were built on. So why has this become so hard to understand? Why do we have to beg and plead when someone we love is in trouble or seriously ill?

I believe if there is to be an imbalance, the scales should always tip in favor of family. Jobs come and go, but the people you love are to be cherished for as long as they are with you.

- wit - 

Through the Glass

I remember walking a Nature Center trail through suburban woods until we stumble upon a sudden opening, where the brilliant sun shines down on a clearing of wildflowers. It takes my breath away. This is a painter's dream, a vivid palette of light and color. This is the scene of a Victorian romance, where lovers picnic or tumble around in an endless tryst. This is a place where time stops, and I am overcome with the sudden urge to run in the middle of it all, immersing myself in flowers and sunshine. Then I remember chiggers and ticks and all the other nasty things that might be crawling in that tall grass. So I enjoy from afar, and stay on the trail that takes me safely back to the car.

Nature, in all its beauty, is something we'd rather not experience first-hand, lest the snakes bite us in the grass. It is something we want to bottle up and take home with us, to admire on the shelf at our convenience.

- wit -