Comment of the week

From my college friend Melon, about a recent post regarding health and fitness:

A) In some cases, the Obie reunion just came at a really good time - if it had been last year, I could have been your Fat Buddy (grad school sedentariness in a place where we needed a car for the 1st time, depressed job hunting, celebratory job-acquisition feasts, etc.), but it happened to be this year, when I've lost 40lbs.

B) You can do anything you actually, really want to, whether you hate change or not. It's got nothing to do with it. Change you start yourself isn't the same as change forced on you.

C) I totally wimped out of Couch to 5k - god, I hate running. But I like lifting weights! :)

As you might imagine, I particularly like point B.

Comment of the week

Julia responded to my recent post about antidepressants and weight gain:

You might want to try fish oil or flaxseed oil supplements instead of (or in addition to) meds. A Harvard study found that omega-3 fatty acids help with bipolar disorder and depression. I have used it for about ten years with no need for antidepressants or other meds to regulate my moods. And, whether or not it helps with moods, it's good for your heart and HDL. Good luck.

Good advice. Someone recommended St. John's wort before I started on Lexapro, but I've heard mixed things about it. Re: fish oil, I'm vegetarian, but flaxseed would work. I could even eat it on popcorn. Thanks, Julia!

Comment of the week

This one comes from Diana, a college friend with a lovely blog of her own, in reference to my tell-all post about the nutritional intricacies of my diet:

Any way I can get my hands on that program? I'm one of those people that convinces myself that everything is just fine... until confronted with hard evidence. We eat more than half our meals vegetarian now, but we still need less cheese/pasta and more actual vegetables. Email me if you have a copy or something.

There's nothing like gardening to make you eat more veggies; I say GO for it. There's no WAY you're going to let that home-grown stuff go to waste: it becomes precious. We ate tomato-pepper-basil salads almost 3x per week this last summer, and just knowing how much work went into it made it seem delicious every time. I'm very sad that we won't have a garden next year (because of the shade issue) or perhaps even the next (since we can't afford to get the land cleared and I'm afraid of chainsaws).

Comment of the week

Regarding my recent blurb about Randomocity, Anna "Flamingo" writes:

I catch your blog while surfing and typically enjoy reading it, however, gotta disagree with you about the title: I LOVE it :)

Randomocity is one of those words that's used occasionally in internet slang, but has never really been given an actual definition. Also, I've never seen it used in any respected media outlets. Really there's nothing unfortunate about it except for some obscurity that a little thought can accommodate for: Random, Anxiety, Velocity, City... any of those words could come into play I'm guessing.

I can say that I am more interested in seeing Randomocity than many of the films I've seen trailers for recently. Soundtrack please :)

And of course she's absolutely right. The word "randomocity" existed, at least on the Web, before the filmmakers came up with the title. We can only hope the movie lives up to Anna's interest (and mine). (About the soundtrack: Many of the film's Internet fans are begging for it, too, but there doesn't seem to be one yet. Maybe with enough online pressure, they'll think about putting one out.)

Comment of the week

In response to my recent post about my new glasses, Jen Katz -- Oberlin alum and blogger -- told the following true-life story:

My trusty six year old glasses - from Group Health on 15th Ave. East, no less! - tragically snapped in half on Tuesday, due to a slip on a slick sidewalk en route to school, so I, too, am having that weird eye-feel of adjusting to new glasses. It seems like it really shouldn't be *that* different; after all, they're just glasses. But those glasses have been an integral (though subtle) part of my senses, all day, every day, to the point where I am are literally lost without them. I actually miss those plastic tortoise shell frames! (But I'm moving on with my snazzy blue and yellow enameled wire rims.)

(BTdubs: Hi!)
(BTdubs2: I actually had to nerdtastically tape the bridge of the old glasses with masking tape and walk around like that for the better part of the week. AWESOME.)

Comment of the week

An anonymous commenter gave me flak about my reasoning re: Heath Ledger's likely posthumous Oscar win (the opening phrase, in quotes, is mine):

"but the deceased Dark Knight star should get the statuette not just for the good work he'd already done when he died but for what he would have accomplished in the future."

really? the Oscars are not the place for this sort of "tribute". I guess you can count me as a 'cold bastard', but i'm totally over this obsession with honoring Ledger. yes, he did a good job in TDK and yes, he should have been honored for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. But, it will not be a travesty if someone else wins.

Get a grip, please.

What the Oscars are "for" is a matter of much debate. My critic is right, however, to observe that I'm surrendering a bit to how the Academy Awards do work rather than how I (and he) would like them to work. Call it Hollywood realpolitik. Was The Departed Martin Scorsese's finest accomplishment in direction? Nope, but it took the Academy decades to finally get around to honoring him with the Best Director statuette. When they did, it was a de facto lifetime achievement award -- an acknowledgment of his entire career.

Similarly, Heath Ledger turned in an Oscar-worthy performance in Brokeback and another arguably award-worthy one in Dark Knight. His logical trajectory? Maybe a few more roles before it would finally have been his turn, and maybe he wouldn't have won for his best performance -- it happens all the time. So why not cut to the chase and give the man the Oscar he would have won? I'm not saying this necessarily makes the most sense or is the fairest way of operating, but hey, The Reader was nominated for Best Picture this year, and so was Benjamin Button.

The Oscars ain't about fair, but sometimes they split the difference between absurd out-of-touchness and actual hipness, and when they do, that's cause for (minor) celebration. I see the inevitable Ledger award as one such instance. Oh, and you're right -- it certainly won't be a travesty if Josh Brolin, for example, wins for his first-rate performance as Dan White in Milk. I just don't think he's gonna, so I'm glad that Ledger will. See? Realpolitik.