Stigmatize

The Word of the Day for October 14 is "stigmatize."

stigmatize: (verb) To accuse or condemn as disgraceful.

Synonyms: brand, denounce, mark.

Usage: She was stigmatized because she had a child out of wedlock.

Relevance to My Life: At the opulent holiday party thrown by my husband's employer, I came to anticipate his coworkers' and their spouses' questions about my livelihood with a kind of amused dread; upon learning that I was "just a stay at home mom," I could see their eyes glaze over for that brief instant before they fled, leaving me standing there, stigmatized as an uninteresting frump who would have nothing worthwhile to contribute to a lively intellectual conversation.

Please, Housewives are bad-ass.

Teresa at the Last Supper

Someone ought to tell these chicks that they're boring frumps.

Ok, ok, so these chicks don't really count as housewives, but they're definitely something else.










The Real Housewives of Atlanta - Better Tardy Than Never

I don't think a single one of these women spend any time at all doing the endless loads of laundry that seem to be my lot in life. Might wreck their heinously tacky nails.









The Real Housewives of Orange County Visit Bellagio spa and salon

Watch as they try to turn a normal woman into one of them. *sigh* Nearly everything about these women is fake. It is staggering.

I have to admit though, the waxing scene was pretty funny.







Suburban Housewife

"Mother's Cure."








Mother's Little Helper

Or as the Rolling Stones put it nearly 40 years ago...

Untiring

The Word of the Day for October 13 is "untiring."

untiring: (adjective) Characterized by hard work and perseverance.

Synonyms: hardworking, industrious, tireless, indefatigable.

Usage: He was an untiring fighter for justice, democracy, and tolerance.

Relevance to My Life: The kids' untiring pursuit of a sugary snack led them to drag a dining room chair into the kitchen, climb up on the counter and explore the deep recesses of one of the kitchen cupboards where they were rewarded with a crumbling bag of forgotten Hallowe'en candy.

M&Ms Get in the Bowl

This one cracks my kids up, even though they're not the biggest fans of M&Ms.











Snickers Feast Movie

This one cracks me up! I love the Viking. Plus, who doesn't love a Snickers?









Monty Python - Spam

Did someone say Vikings?










Monty Python- Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook

This is one of my all-time favorite sketches.









Monty Python - The Lumberjack Song... auf Deutsch!

Und mit Lederhosen. Brilliant.

Empty-headed

The Word of the Day for October 12 is "empty-headed."

empty-headed: (adjective) lacking seriousness; given to frivolity.

Synonyms: featherbrained, airheaded, dizzy, giddy, light-headed, silly, vacuous, inane, ditzy, flighty.

Usage: She was a pretty but empty-headed young woman.

Relevance to My Life: Aghast, I stared at the new Assistant Director for Alumni Relations, a tall empty-headed blonde, with a bought pair of tits who demonstrated her general vacuousness the second she opened her mouth. Nevertheless, as time went on, she succeeded in garnering large donations and bequests from alumni. As it turned out, she was the perfect person for the job.

Trailer for Clueless

Alicia Silverstone's Cher gave us a perfect glimpse of the vacuous, empty-headed blonde.











Legally Blonde - Girls, I'm Going to Harvard!

This is one of my guilty-pleasure movies. :)








Legally Blonde - The Bend and Snap

The feminist inside me is still not sure if this is more demeaning toward me or women, but it is a funny scene!








Legally Blonde - Case Scene

Elle Redeems Herself. Maybe it's the underdog-lover in me, but I like to see the stereotypical ditzy blonde succeed once in a while.

Zealotry

The Word of the Day for October 11 is "zealotry."

zealotry: (noun) Excessive intolerance of opposing views.

Synonyms: Fanaticism.

Usage: We will continue to support the global fight against terrorism and zealotry.

Relevance to my Life: Her previously-unspoken zealotry became apparent to me as soon as I saw the wide array of bumper stickers on her Ford station wagon, from Westboro Baptist Church-approved sentiments on homosexuality to a pro-life sticker featuring a baby seal imploring me to save the baby humans.

I was going to showcase clips from movies which dealt with zealotry, but started crying halfway through the trailer for Schindler's List, so instead I'll leave this as a short blog entry. I don't have it in me today.

Blooper

The Word of the Day for October 8 is "blooper."

Blooper: (noun) A clumsy mistake, especially one made in public; a faux pas.

Synonyms: blunder, boner, boo-boo, botch, bungle, flub, foul-up, pratfall, bloomer

Usage: During the movie's closing credits, bloopers from filming, including clips of the lead actor flubbing the same line six times in a row, were shown.

Relevance to My Life: If someone were to make a movie of my life, the blooper reel during the closing credits would feature many embarrassing stumblebum moments like tripping over air.

A random assortment of blooper reels from youtube:

The Office season 6 bloopers

I don't know how anyone can keep a straight face around Ed Helms.










Scrubs Bloopers

I love this show.










The Hangover Gag Reel

You know, I still haven't seen this movie, though everyone assures me it's the funniest thing ever.












Pirates of the Caribbean

Sometimes action movies provide the funniest bloopers.












Jackie Chan Bloopers

Jackie Chan's bloopers are among the best ever, though I have to say I wonder if one of these days his policy of doing all of his own stunt work, some of it dangerous, no nets, no safety lines, will end badly.











House Outtakes


Another great show!

Entangle

The Word of the Day for October 7 is "entangle."

entangle: (verb) Twist together or entwine into a confusing mass.

Synonyms: mat, snarl

Usage: The door handle had entangled itself with the strap of her bag.

Relevance to My Life: The pull-string on my canvas jacket had entangled itself in the turnstile at the entrance to one of Seoul's busiest subway stations, and at the height of morning rush hour, no less. Still foggy-headed from jet-lag, I fumbled fruitlessly with the string, hoping to untangle it from the gate mechanism as the line of commuters grew behind me. Red-faced and near tears, I apologized as best I could in my rudimentary Korean, when a gentleman stepped up and quickly helped thread the strings around the bar, freeing me.

Lost in Translation trailer

No movie captures the experience of being in a foreign country where you are so severely jet-lagged that you can only stumble around in a haze, not understanding a thing that is going on around you quite like Sophia Coppola's "Lost in Translation."










For Relaxing Times, Make it Santori Time

The look on his face at the director's shouts of what I can only assume is "Cut-cut-cut!" is priceless.












Sean Connery - Suntory Whiskey Ad

I had no idea that this whisky was even real, but I wonder if Sean Connery would do a spoof ad.

Hilarious.










And now for another whisky advertisement...


Scotch Whisky Commercial - Haka Kilts

Remember, it's a kilt; if they wore anything underneath it, then it would be a skirt.











All Blacks - aka "Ka Mate"

To be fair to the All Blacks, here is an ad showcasing one of their pre-game hakas which must be awesome and terrifying face-to-face.

Dissertate

The Word of the Day for October 6 is "dissertate."

dissertate: (verb) Talk at length and formally about a topic.

Synonyms: hold forth, discourse

Usage: The speaker dissertated about the social politics in 18th century England.

Relevance to My Life: While my Russian professor dissertated about the oppressive conditions in the Soviet Union near the end of Stalin's reign, he grew increasingly animated in his words and gestures, attracting a lot of attention from students waiting in the hall. All dressed in dark hues and with his flashing eyes and long, unkempt black beard, he had an air of Rasputin about him.

Ahhh, college.



First Day of Economics Class

This professor was about as far removed from Vladimir and my other Russian professors as you could get.









Contemporary American History

This is closer, but with less screaming and more Russian.
R.I.P. Sam Kinison.









Kurt Vonnegut

And now for English class...









Revenge of the Nerds - Computer is your Friend

Meeting a girl in computer lab, awww...










And now for some extracurricular activities:


Animal House- Flounder and Neidermeyer

ROTC











Shout

The ever-popular Thursday Night Toga Party

Implore

The Word of the Day for October 4 is "implore."

Implore: (verb) Call upon in supplication; entreat.

Synonyms: Beg, pray

Usage: Once more I implore you not to waste so much money upon me.

Relevance to My Life: I implored him not to leave me, to remember his promise that he would never ask for a divorce, but he remained firm in his wishes, bought himself a new house and moved out.

The War of the Roses trailer

The end of a marriage can be Hell.










She-Devil Ruth Blows Up the House

Extreme, but I bet Ruth felt satisfied.











Meryl Streep in SheDevil

She is absolutely hilarious in this movie, one of my guilty pleasure favorites.










Scene from She-Devil

The bit at the end where she says "I said MOVE!" always gets me laughing.

Energize

The Word of the Day for October 3 is "energize."

energize: (verb) To give energy to; activate or invigorate.

Synonyms: perk up, stimulate, arouse, brace

Usage: Coffee and tea energize me.

Relevance to my life: The positive feedback from the editor energized me to finish my half-written novel.

I often have trouble sustaining my level of motivation when it comes to my writing. I get caught-up in second-guessing myself, certain that every word I write is crap, poorly-placed among other crappy words.

When I find my motivation flagging, I often turn to Joyce Carol Oates. Reading her books and listening to her speak inspire me like nothing else. It is almost as if hearing her voice in her writing and her interviews makes my own voice clearer in my head.



Joyce Carol Oates on the thrill of writing

She talks about writing about people in extremis. Yes. This is what makes her writing, her stories so powerful. She writes about some of the worst experiences that people can ever face in their lives, yet she does so so beautifully and so tenderly.








Joyce Carol Oates discusses the craft of writing characters.

I can identify with her when she describes the first 6 weeks of writing a novel as being Hell. Sometimes I don't last as long as 6 weeks. It is a comfort to know that even such a prolific and talented writer as she still struggles as a part of the process.










Creative Quotations from Joyce Carol Oates

More quick inspiration to sustain and energize you.









And now, another struggling writer:


Sideways Trailer

Miles is a writer drowning in self-doubt and stymies by his past. A great movie, even if you don't like wine. :)