Semper Gumby: always flexible

I am so freaking late to the game on this one, but it has to be said: Generation Kill is AMAZING. The miniseries, I mean... I haven't read the book it's based on, but after watching only two episodes of the show I know it's next on my reading list (after I finish a truly depressing non-fiction account of the building of the Oklahoma City bombing memorial... you can probably guess why it's taking me a while.)

But honestly, I can't get over how phenomenal Generation Kill is. I've been nursing a cold (four months of winter the likes of which is usually only seen in Siberia, and the moment the sun comes out I get sick) so I've been staying in a lot, which has given me TONS of time with which to watch tv on my crappy little laptop screen. Its just like the summer after freshman year of college when I sprained my ankle and spent two months catching up on Veronica Mars, Alias and Sports Night, only this won't last as long.

The show is so well-paced, so well-edited, and the writing is tight, terse and clever all at once. I don't know why I'm surprised, given that David Simon (he of the Wire and Treme) is so centrally involved, but I am just floored by what I've been watching. And I say this as someone who really doesn't like war movies. I mean, don't get me wrong: watching shit blow up on screen is one of my favorite past-times, but I'm well aware that I prefer my violence fantastical and escapist rather than realistic and depressing. In Generation Kill, though, they neither glorify the violence or try to make it a tragic epic about the moral costs of war - instead, it just really feels like we're following these men through an actual invasion, with all the violence and humor and bureaucratic screw-ups that comes with it.

Anyway, I'm only two episodes in so I'm sure my appreciation for the miniseries will become more complex and reflective as I make my way through, but I just thought it had to be said now: Generation Kill is FANTASTIC, and anyone who isn't watching it needs to start right now.



*Oh, and one more thing: this is Ray, my favorite character so far. He got burned by an illegal camp stove that one of the other Marines was using to make espresso! He was on the debate team in high school, but all his fellow teammates thought he was high on uppers all the time! He wears pimp sunglasses and knows all the words to Avril Lavigne songs! He also has some of the most epic speeches on American society, the war, and the ridiculous recruitment commercials the Marines made with that stupid dragon, but they aren't very family friendly. If I removed all the swear words from my favorite monologue so far there would be, like, five other words, and most of them would be definite articles. In short: I LOVE YOU RAY.

There's two things in the world you never want to let people see how you make 'em: laws and sausages.

Have I talked about The West Wing? I know I'm late to the party - like, ten years late, but I believe in making a fashionably tardy entrance. I've been watching the first season (in between writing up a storm of personal statements for grad school and battling the actual snow storm outside my house) and holy crap, that was an amazing show.

Aaron Sorkin is sort of a sore spot for a lot of TV enthusiasts. It seems like either you love him and think he's God's gift to television or you hate him and wish he would die in a fire. And preferably take his too-witty fast-walking characters with him. But I've always sort of viewed myself as a swing-vote when it comes to Sorkin: I hated Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip but I thought Sports Night was probably the most underappreciated tv show of the last 15 years (and given that that year-span includes Veronica Mars, that's saying something) Clearly, I have unresolved issues. But people, West Wing... it's a revelation.

I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised. I mean, this is a tv show about the United States! And government! And smart people! Those are three things I adore! And the writing itself is so unapologetically in love with the idea of America, so optimistic about what American government could do, the positive agent of change it could be... I'm getting all verklempt just thinking about it. It's sort of strange to watch it now with 8 years of the Bush administration under my belt, but I'm also noticing a lot of overlaps between the Obama administration and the rocky start of the fictional Bartlet government.

Mostly I think I love The West Wing because it's just so ridiculously nerdy, and completely willing to revel in that fact. To wit, I leave you with the Antiquities Act (my fave!), a banking bill, and a fictional American president waxing rhapsodic over the great insitution of America's national parks*:





*I love the national parks too! Come hang out with me, President Bartlet... we can drink tea and I'll tell you all about Grey Towers! It'll be awesome.

"For Milo, who knows the way."

The Onion AV Club does a feature called Q&A where the various writers answer a question posed by either a staff member or a reader. The most recent installment of Q&A, "Families and Art," had the writers listing the works of art and culture that their parents passed onto them, and what they're going to make sure to pass onto their children. I liked the discussion and want to try it here; so here is the list of stuff my family made sure I appreciated, and some of the stuff I'm going to make sure my kids are introduced to.

Thanks, Family, for these Things:

1. The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. I just... it's so... the English language does not contain the words to accurately describe how much I love this book. I can't remember how old I was when I first read it, or even if my mom read it to me first, but I can remember my mom handing it to me and saying that it had been one of my dad's favorite books. It's just so amazing - Tock, Digitopolis, Dictionopolis, the princesses, and Milo, surly unhappy disaffected Milo who ends up saving the day in spite of himself.


2. Full Moon Fever, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Part of my Sunday morning ritual growing up, I'd wake up to the sound of Tom Petty wailing about not backing down and the murmur of my mom's voice as she puttered around the kitchen. Later in the afternoon my best friend would come over and we'd put on the CD again, jumping off the sofa whenever Tom cried out "and I'm free, free fallin'!" No one broke any bones, surprisingly.

3. Mozart's Requiem. My grandmother used to play this for me. Not necessarily the happiest of music choices for a young girl, but amazing nonetheless.

4. Sound of Music. Another grandmother speciality - we'd watch it whenever I'd stay over at her house. My bedtime usually came and passed during the intermission (when you put in the second VHS, 'natch) and she'd forget to make me go to bed because she was caught up in the drama of Maria and Captain Von Trapp. And what about the teenage Nazi?!


5. The Never-Ending Story. I actually hated the book, but my brother bribed me into reading it, which taught me the importance of bargaining. And I later put those skills to good use with my grandmother and a copy of Gone with the Wind, so hey, good lesson.

6. Star Trek: The Next Generation. Thanks, Isaac, for preparing me for a life-time of geekery by getting me hooked on the deep space adventures of a bald man and his devoted crew. I had the biggest crush on Wesley Crusher EVER. I'm blushing just thinking about it.


Get Ready, Hypothetical Future Children, Here's What's Coming:

1. Illinois, by Sufjan Stevens. It's about America! And Illinois! And Lincoln! And he plays a million instruments! My future hypothetical children are going to be forced to listen to the entire Sufjan Stevens discography but Illinois will get an extra few rotations.


2. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon. I used to re-read this book once a year, until I lost my copy. I need to get a new one, but I'm putting it off because it won't be dog-eared in all the right places like my old copy. I'm very resistant to change.

3. Singin' in the Rain. I actually didn't see this classic musical until the end of high school, but now whenever I'm feeling blue I know that I can just pop the DVD in to my computer and instantly feel better. Debbie Reynolds is adorable, Gene Kelly is gorgeous (of course) but my favorite actor in the whole movie will always be Donald O'Connor. The faces he makes? Priceless.


4. The Ordinary Princess, by M.M. Kaye. A book about the seventh daughter of the King and Queen of a fantastical kingdom who, upon birth, is given the "gift" or ordinariness by her ornery fairy godmother. Probably the best book out there for an awkward, nerdy young girl (with the obvious exception of Catherine Called Birdy, another fabulous children's book starring a forthright heroine in an unlikely setting.)

5. All seven of the Harry Potter books. This is obvious, so I think no further explanation is needed.

6. Veronica Mars, Seasons 1 -3. This will obviously be introduced to my hypothetical future children once they are old enough to appreciate a) the perils of high school, and b) the beauty of detective noir. Veronica is just like Nancy Drew, if Nancy had to deal with dead best friends, roofies, and a Ned Nickerson who might have date-raped her or started a gang-war. Not to mention, of course, class warfare and a dizzying high school hierarchy.



What say you? Anything passed onto you that you're thankful for, or something that you're going to make sure your kids get? Share it with the class!