My opposition to "Second Act" has nothing to do with the fact that it looks like a bad movie. As I've written before, I have a special place in my heart for lots of bad movies. And I don't object to Jennifer Lopez, either. She's fine. What I do object to is the kill-me-now boring "I am middle-aged-but-still-sexy-woman-hear-me-roar" trope. Tiresome. So so so so tiresome.
The idea of a woman entering her "second act" (what the fuck) just as beautiful and sexy as she was at age 25, but with all the wisdom (whatever) of middle age is supposed to be liberating and "empowering" (OMG, kill me) but it's exactly the opposite. It's not enough for a 50-year-old woman to be accomplished or wise or kind or nurturing or powerful or successful or all of the above She also has to be beautiful; and I don't mean the kind of beauty that older women who know how to live radiate from within. No, I mean Maxim magazine (does that still exist?) MILF hotness.
Gag.
And you know what else? There's no corporate job interview scenario in which a person can fake a Harvard degree. It's 2018, and anyone who is interviewing Harvard graduates, real or fake, has access to the Internet. I mean really.
Zero stars. Zero.
*****
Tuesday: The carpet people are coming tomorrow. One more day of living in a construction zone; one more day until I can return my house to its customary orderly state.
I'm quite happy about the carpet, but quite sad about the untimely death of my favorite Instagram cat. Yes, I know. But this was an especially cute cat, who had a cat stroke at only four years of age. This cat's Instagram feed was one of the funniest things online, and created for the best reason--because the cat's owner thought her cat was amusing, and she wanted to share the fun.
There are lots of reasons to worry about the meanness and emptiness of the social media landscape, but an Instagram community built on shared enjoyment of a mischievous cat and his hilariously captioned silly photos and videos strikes me as a great use of the Internet. I'll miss him.
*****
Wednesday: Question for a person who is reshelving books: Among a pile of books of similar size, which book's authors (other than Muriel Spark, who already has her own shelf) might be worthy to share a shelf with Flannery O'Connor?
A. Evelyn Waugh
B. Nathaniel Hawthorne
C. Penelope Fitzgerald
Trick question. The answer is no one.
Reshelving books is like solving a puzzle, and I'm terrible at puzzles. I should taken a picture before I cleared off the bookcases, but the books are all back on the shelves now, in the bookcases that are back where they belong, because my house is back in order again.
This was actually an extra-good day because I also won my company'e Employee of the Year award. I felt like SpongeBob. That's my face on the wall, twelve times in a row.
 |
| Suck it, Squidward. |
*****
Friday, December 21. Four days before Christmas and here we go again.
You know what? I think they should give him his stupid wall. There's nothing inherently wrong about a wall. If a border between countries is reasonable, then why not secure it with a wall? Lots of countries do it.
I think we should be much more generous to refugees and asylum-seekers and really almost everyone else who wants to come to this country. We're the richest country in the world. We can share. So build the wall, and then use it to manage the influx in an orderly fashion.
It would be nice if it was that simple, wouldn't it?
My work friends and I are off the hook for this one. I'm on vacation next week, and even if it continues past New Year's Day, our project is funded, so we can continue working. About 25% of Federal contractors, who don't get back pay after the shutdown ends, are not so lucky.
Maybe they'll figure this out quickly. Or maybe Mexico will open its mail--they might have missed our last bill.
Meanwhile, Merry Christmas.
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