dream out loud

One of the things that I like about living in China is that I’m, for the most part, sheltered from media opinions about entertainment. I don’t know who the Golden Globe nominations and winners are until I’ve looked it up online. I don’t know who the latest “It” girls and guys are or what “Must See TV” is anymore. I guess this means my information is opt-in, rather than in-your-face-all-the-time.” Back home, it was impossible to *not* know these things, it was on the newsstands when you were grocery shopping, heard about while you were in line or on the subway, in every commercial break during your favorite shows.

So going into Avatar, I knew only a few things: it was a James Cameron creation, it used CGI, it cost a lot of money, but was also making a lot of money back home. I read not a single review. This is not to say that this information already came with a lot of baggage. Now, James Cameron has some excellent work (The Abyss) and he has what I might refer to as “in-between” work, such as Rambo, Terminator, and Aliens. They are “good” as an entity but when you stop and think about it, I don’t think anyone would say they have particularly good dialogue, character or plot development. Last but not least, there was that behemoth film Titanic. It was beautiful to look at, but in the end, really just a waste of three hours.

Well, going back to Avatar. It was somewhere in the middle of all these films. Beautiful, and dazzling special effects like Titanic. A bit more plot, but not as much as The Abyss. There were some thinly veiled allegories to political situations, but nonetheless appreciated. But similar to all the other blockbusters, a clear villain and a clear good guy. Like always, the villain is unrelentingly bad, with no positive traits. Meanwhile, the good are without fault and you cry on the inside when they get hurt.

In these cases, I have learned to suspend my perception of reality. It’s the only way to enjoy these characters and movies. When you think too much about the plot and the characters, then you’ll find flaws and weaknesses. So my advice? Sit back, relax, put on the 3D glasses, and enjoy!

I know I’m a little late, but I’ll blame it on being busier than ever. I feel badly about using that excuse every time I fall behind on correspondence. Well, Happy New Year! I’m going to do away with New Year’s Resolutions because those never stick. Also, why are resolutions for a year anyway? At the end of the year do you succeed? Fail? Try again next year?

We are at the end of the early 2000s and I was thinking about how many changes we’ve seen in those 10 years. We went from riding the tail end of the dot com bubble to a major global economic decline. We went from naivete and invincibility to feeling vulnerable and not always safe after an attack on America. We listened to everything from synthetic pop music to brooding, emotional lyrics.

Personally, in the past ten years, I have:
1. Held 8 jobs (I don’t know how that is possible, since I’ve been at some for years… law of averages, I guess)
2. Lived in 8 different homes (If we include the remainder of 2010, that will bring us to 9 on both counts!)
3. Traveled to 8 other countries
4. Changed careers
5. Earned a Master’s Degree
6. Bought an apartment
7. Made lots of new friends, lost many good friends
8. Went to well over 30 concerts
9. Taught approximately 145 students
10. Paid off all student debt

What is on the horizon for the next ten years??