Challenging My Father's Viewpoints: Why the Straight-Ticket Sucks

I know there have been a lot of opinion pieces about politics lately, but just hear me out. I won't be quite as bad as most of those.

When it came to the election on November second, I'll admit that I voted largely Democratic. But that was because the Democratic candidates were the ones I consider to have the stances on issues, arguments, and plans. It was not just because I checked the straight-ticket box on the ballot and went on with my day. No, surprisingly, I actually researched the candidates and the issues, then made my decisions.

So I was furious -- no, livid is a better way to describe it -- when my dad told me that he just voted the straight Republican ticket.

I have no problem with him voting Republican at all; that's just the way he was raised (he is a good ole farm boy, after all), and that's the way he's going to stay. My problem lies in that despite being a remarkably intelligent guy, my dad would just take the easy route on voting. And my dad doesn't usually take the easy route on anything. He has to make everything complicated. (Like slicing a stupid pizza. If it's a square, he can't just cut it into a grid. No, he has to cut it the same way you would cut a round one.)

The biggest problem I had with him voting straight-ticket was the fact that in doing so meant he had voted against Proposition B, the legislation imposing laws against puppy mills. The fact that my dad, who gets so absolutely silly over our pure-bred dog in a way that he never got silly over me when I was a child, could vote against a proposition protecting puppies and grown dogs from such cruelty almost made me cry. It didn't seem to matter to him that our Cocker Spaniel could have easily been one of those dogs from the puppy mills.

No, of course, it didn't. Because he thought it was too much of a Democratic legislation. So he voted against it. And then thought there was nothing wrong with voting no on protecting puppies.

Of course, the whole ordeal just made me livid. And it reminded me how much I hate politics . This stupid bipartisanship hasn't helped the government much at all; instead all political venues have now turned into giant schoolyard fights between Republicans and Democrats. Sides always have to be chosen, and it almost always boils down into Democrat versus Republican.

My dad asked me how I had voted. I told him, expecting to get the same reaction I'd gotten when I had told him that I'd voted for Obama. I did.

I probably should have told him that I had voted the gay Democrat ticket. He probably would have had a heart attack.
 

Migraine + Couch = No Homework + Harry Potter Marathon

This past weekend, Friday and Saturday were particularly hectic for me, so of course I wound up with an excruciating migraine on Sunday morning. Which basically meant I got absolutely no homework done and spent all day switching between naps on the couch and watching movies. Since I had all day to kill, I figured why not have a Harry Potter marathon?

Even in my headache-induced coma, I could still remember that I'm eager for Christmas break because it means I finally have the chance to go see the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that I've been dying to see (no pun intended) ever since the book was released. This fleeting thought was enough to make me pop in my much-played Sorcerer's Stone DVD and start the marathon as a sort of refresher course.

I ran into a tiny little problem though. Of the six movies already out on DVD, I only own four: Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Goblet of Fire, and Half-Blood Prince. This in itself isn't that bad; my favorites (GoF and HBP) are included. No, the problem lies in the fact that I've only seen Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix once a piece, and of course they're the movies I don't own. Well, drats.

But I still managed to enjoy the ones I did watch (perhaps because I've read the books far too many times to count), even with plot holes I probably wouldn't have understood if I hadn't read the books first. And it was nice to remember all my favorite parts from each of them. I'll try my best to keep the descriptions accurate.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, but my favorite lines from this one really have nothing to do with any major plot lines. And I wish I could find a video of either of them on YouTube, but alas! no luck. But maybe HP fans will understand.

Courtesy of HarryPotter'sCauldron.blogspot.com

The first one is fairly early in the movie, right around the time Harry meets the Weasleys for the first time. Mrs. Weasley is hurrying Fred and George along, and they play the classic which-twin-is-which trick on her. But then one of them drops my favorite line in the whole bloody movie: "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother." That line would be great with just an American accent, but Oliver or James Phelps' awesome British accent makes it even better.

I knew there was a really slim chance of finding my second favorite line in the movie on YouTube, so I didn't even try. But it's dropped by another minor Gryffindor, Quidditch Captain Oliver Wood, when he's explaining the rules of the game to new Seeker Harry. I am always far too entertained by his simple line "Bludgers. Nasty little buggers." in his heavy Scottish accent.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I slept through a large majority of this one, so a lot of the details are a little fuzzy. But I can always remember this one pictured at left. Not to mention Mr. Weasley's awesome line a few seconds later: "Now tell me, Harry, what is the function of a rubber duck?"

The basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets is pretty cool too, even I hate snakes with a fiery passion. I just hope I never run into him when I'm down at the river or the lake next summer.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

For me, this one has always been obvious. Since they cut some of my favorite scenes from the movie (the Quidditch World Cup game and the creatures Harry encounters during the Third Task), I have to follow it up with a scene I know for sure is in both the movie and the book and is always good for a laugh: Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing Ferret. I'd include a video, but they've all had embedding disabled by request, so here's a link.  I also enjoy McGongall giving the dancing lesson to the Gryffindors.


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Even though I usually hate it when random things get added into movies, but I thought the scene with the Muggle waitress making a date with Harry, who then stands her up because he leaves with Dumbledore, was a nice touch.  And the scene when Ron accidentally eats the love potion-laced candies meant for Harry, you have to admit it's pretty dang funny:




Sorry, but that's all I got. I'm lucky I managed this. Happy Finals Week! Please don't die. You would be missed.          

This Time of Year, Enough is Enough.

This is me. (Courtesy of TVSquad.com)

This post is going to make me sound like a total Grinch. But it's barely December, and I'm already sick of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love the holiday. I love spending time with my family and tearing into all the presents.

No, what I hate is that Christmas is freaking EVERYWHERE. There is no escaping it anymore. In fact, there was very little chance of escaping it even before Thanksgiving. It doesn't help at all that I work retail part-time. We had a few Christmas songs thrown here and there into our already-irritating overhead music selection. But that music selection got even more irritating when it switched to nothing but Christmas music. The week of Thanksgiving.

All Christmas music wouldn't be so bad. If it weren't the same six songs over and over again with a few different ones randomly thrown in. I swear, I could be at work for roughly six hours and hear twelve different versions of "Little Drummer Boy" or "Santa Baby" or "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Not to mention I just get really ticked off whenever I look at these stupid pyramid-shaped thingamajigs that basically look like trees made of red plastic ball ornaments and that seemed to be sprinkled randomly throughout the entire store. It's not really the way they look, although that irritates me, but it's the fact that they were put out on the sales floor along with the rest of the Christmas decorations at the end of October.

I've decided that we've started celebrating Christmas way too early in the year (is it too much to ask that we wait until after Thanksgiving is over?) and that there's also too much Christmas overkill. But maybe that's just the frustrated thoughts of an equally frustrated retail worker.

(Oh, and just a hint, please be nice to us. This is one of our busiest seasons, so we're doing our best, but we can't do everything. And your being rude to or impatient towards us isn't going to do you any favors at all. We have the tendency to act passively aggressive towards you in subtle ways you won't notice.)

Okay, now that I've done my little rant, I can take a deep breath and calm down a little bit. To make up for my tirade that made me seem like the new Grinch, I thought I'd share with you some of the things I DO like about Christmas. At least in the days/weeks leading up to the holiday, my favorite parts are watching my favorite Christmas movies. And I guess I'll be like Santa and make my list.

First up on the list is one that does double duty for two holidays. I usually save Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas for the month-and-a-half span between Halloween and Christmas. And even if I don't get around to watch it, you can bet I will be belting out the soundtrack in my car several times throughout the holiday season.

Courtesy of IMPAwards.com

Second up is one of my all-time favorites. I can remember watching Christmas Vacation when I was about five or six years old and laughing at all the parts I didn't understand but still thought hilarious. It's even funnier now that I actually get it. Plus, it helps that I finally realized that Rusty is actually played by the same guy who plays Leonard on The Big Bang Theory (small world and mind now blown, huh?) And who can't help but laugh at Clark's awesome, "mature audiences only" tirade?




Third on the list is another of my childhood favorites: A Christmas Story. This was an ode to all the kids who were sure they'd never get the thing they wanted most for Christmas. It's also one of those Christmas movies that used to have a full 24 hours dedicated to; now, though, I have to settle with watching it with my DVD player set on repeat. And there are so many great scenes from the movie: "You'll shoot your eye out, kid," all of the main character Ralphie's long-winded descriptions of the Red Ryder BB Gun, "the F-dash-dash-dash" scene, the tongue-stuck-to-the-flagpole scene, the "I can't put my arms down" scene, or the infamous leg lamp. (By the way,you can buy the leg lamp here.) But this is one of my favorites:




Another of my favorites is the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Don't get that confused with Jim Carrey's The Grinch. The two cannot even be compared. Jim Carrey's version wasn't narrated by Boris Karloff and didn't have the song "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch." It didn't stand a chance in my book.

Courtesy of Aveleyman.com

A new favorite of mine is ELF. This one was surprising because I typically don't like Will Ferrell all that much (so sue me), but it still had its hilarious moments like "You smell like beef and cheese, you don't smell like Santa!" And for true Christmas Story fans, grown-up Ralphie has a brief cameo, which makes the movie even better. A new Christmas classic and the star from another classic? Yes, please.

Well, my list is complete, and if you don't mind, I think I'll go check it twice and watch some of those movies. Especially A Christmas Story. But just remember: "You'll shoot your eye out." :)