2 posts tagged “wasting time”

It snowed all day.  All day and most of last night, and apparently it's set to do it again tonight.  When that happens, you have to really stay on top of the snow removal or else you get stranded (particularly when you drive a Toyota Yaris that has, like, 5 inches of ground clearance).

So I was out shoveling out the driveway (or, really, mostly sweeping it, as it is very, very dry snow) and a neighbor came up riding an ATV with a snowplow attachment and offered to plow our driveway out for us.  I respectfully and gratefully declined--it was nice of her to offer.

But this is one of the things that I think is so intensely stupid about modern American life.  It's a driveway and a front stoop; it took about 10 or 15 minutes of sweeping to get it totally cleared out (granted that has a lot to do with it being such powdery snow).  Meanwhile, for those 10 or 15 minutes, I created no pollution, I spent no money, and I got some exercise.  I also got to have fun with my son, who loves helping sweep and shovel, and the dogs who enjoyed wading through the virgin meter or so of snow accumulated in the front yard.  Why would I want a machine to do that for me?  What would I really gain from it?  I'd get less exercise, pump out noise and air pollution, and free up 10 minutes maybe ...to do what, exactly?

There is a pattern in which Americans will pay for something to make their life more convenient by doing some bit of trivial work for them, then pay to go to a gym or pay for exercise equipment (which, likely, they don't use enough) and go do that separate from their chores, then in the overall scheme of things, it's saving them nothing.  Maybe they get a little extra time, which most studies suggest they spend sitting unproductively on their asses watching reality shows.  Feh. 

I think about the garden the same way.  True, it's a lot of work, although it could be done in easier ways than I did last year, and the canning and freezing take time and effort and forethought.  On the other hand, it's work that, again, creates relatively little (canning and freezing create some, but far less than the alternatives would) pollution, gives us exercise and vitamin D from all the being out in the sun.  The alternative is to not garden, work more hours for money that I can then exchange for food--food that creates an unknown quantity of pollution and does not require me to exercise.  Most importantly to me, the time spent gardening is time spent with my family, as we garden together, while time spent working more hours to make more money is time spent away from my family.  It's also time spent caring for living things and getting back in touch with nature and the season cycle.  My most high-tech piece of gym equipment is a wheelbarrow, and my son is getting quite an education while we're out there, too.  It's all win-win. 

Our bodies need to do hard work, and so do our minds.  The human body and brain were not meant to spend most of the day sitting, let alone sitting reading gossip web sites and watching TV.  Until T and I are much too old and infirm to handle a snow shovel and a rake, I expect we'll carry on like this.  You wanna feel our biceps?

AFI's top 100 movies.  Bold the ones you have seen.  Strike out the ones you couldn't finish.  Star (*) the ones you have seen more than once.  Also, I'm putting question marks [??] for the ones that I think, "Seriously?  One of the greatest movies of all time?  Who the fuck are you kidding?"

1. Citizen Kane (1941)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. Casablanca (1942)*
4.  Raging Bull (1980)*

5. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
6. Gone with the Wind (1939)
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Schindler’s List (1993) [??]

9. Vertigo (1958)*
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939) *
11. City Lights (1931)
12. The Searchers (1956)
13. Star Wars (1977) ******  (srsly, doods.  I went through an entire year of junior high school in which I watched this movie every single day after school.  Every single day.  Ponder the nerdery involved for a minute.)
14. Psycho (1960) **
15. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
16. 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)
17. The Graduate (1967)** 
18. The General (1927)
19. On the Waterfront (1954)
20. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
21. Chinatown (1974)*

22. Some Like It Hot (1959) [??]
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
24. E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982) * [??] 
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)  (Oh, Gregory Peck.  How I love to lick your creamy center!)
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. All About Eve (1950)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)*  (Hard boiled = super cool.)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979) **  (I find it odd that I've seen that movie multiple times.  It's kind of a downer. )

31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)*
32. The Godfather Part II (1974)
33. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)*
34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)* [??]  (It's good, but it's no Dumbo.)
35. Annie Hall (1977)**
36. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
38. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
39. Dr. Strangelove (1964)*****  (My son did actually shout "mein fuhrer" the other day while trying to prevent his hand from raising in salute.  Ah, he's headed for greatness, that one.)
40. The Sound of Music (1965)    (Even pondering this movie, just hearing a few bars of one of these songs is enough to induce convulsions.  Good God, how do people stand this shit?) 
41. King Kong (1933)
42. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
43. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
44. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
45. Shane (1953)  (What kind of communist hasn't seen Shane, for chrissakes?)
46. It Happened One Night (1934)
47.A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 

48. Rear Window (1954)*********  (OMG!  You have no idea.  Grace Kelly is so fantastic in this, and the framing and the...I loooooove this movie.)
49. Intolerance (1916)
50. Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) - is this the first one? then yes, otherwise no.
51. West Side Story (1961)  (Generally speaking, I don't *do* musicals.  Except Chicago.)
52. Taxi Driver (1976)*****  (Travis Bickle is some seriously compelling shit.)
53. Deer Hunter, The (1978)
54. M*A*S*H (1970)**
55. North by Northwest (1959)**
56. Jaws (1975)*
57. Rocky (1976)
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
59. Nashville (1975)
60. Duck Soup (1933)
61. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
62. American Graffiti (1973)**
63. Cabaret (1972) 
64. Network (1976)
65. The African Queen (1951)  (I HATE this movie.  HATE.  Blind boiling hate.)
66. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ***
67. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)  (Um, I've seen the play--does that count?)
68. Unforgiven (1992)
69. Tootsie (1982)* [??]  (No, seriously, wtff?  This movie is stupid.)
70. A Clockwork Orange (1971)**  (God, of course, man.  I love me some ultraviolence.)
71. Saving Private Ryan (1998)  (Because I find Tom Hanks absolutely intolerable.)
72. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) *
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) *  (Yummy man-meat here.)
74. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) *
75. In the Heat of the Night (1967) 
76. Forrest Gump (1994)  (The very idea of this movie makes me vomit.  Also, the Tom Hanks thing.  Also, the blind boiling hate thing again.  WTFF?  I never saw it, but I say with confidence that this is not even among the top 100,000 best movies ever made.)
77. All the President’s Men (1976)
78. Modern Times (1936)
79. The Wild Bunch (1969)
80. The Apartment (1960)--I think I've seen this, but now I can't think of what it is.
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
83. Titanic (1997)   (Gay, so gay.  Not in any of the literal senses.  In the, "Kate Winslet, how could you do this to me?  I've been your fan since Heavenly Creatures, and now this shit?  Alright, alright.  Make your money and get it over with, if you must" sense.  And then in the, "What is that screeching alleged 'love' song there?  It's from what?  Noooooes!"
84. Easy Rider (1969)***  (Drugs and motorcycles, baby!)
85. A Night at the Opera (1935)
86. Platoon (1986)**  (I've seen this a really depressing number of times.  I don't know why.)
87. 12 Angry Men (1957)

88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)*  (I LOVE this movie.  Oh, the repartee!)
89. The Sixth Sense (1999)*
90. Swing Time (1936)
91. Sophie’s Choice (1982)
92. Goodfellas (1990)****  (What?  Like I'm a clown to you?)
93. The French Connection (1971)
94. Pulp Fiction (1994)******* 
95. The Last Picture Show (1971)

96. Do the Right Thing (1989)
97. Blade Runner (1982) ** 
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
99. Toy Story (1995)
100. Ben-Hur (1959)  (I don't really *do* this sort of epic thing either.  Or whatever this is.)

So, there's mine.  Perhaps more interestingly, what movies should be on this list replacing the ass stink of Forrest Gump and Tootsie? 

The Big Lebowski?  It would really pull this list together, man.