Julie & Julia
January 24, 2010
My wife got the movie Julie and Julia as a Christmas present from her friend and we finally sat down together and watched it. The movie was entertaining, had some funny parts and Meryl Streep did an amazing job as Julia Child.
After the movie I did some research on Julie Powell and the Julie/Julia Project. I read some of her blog and found a Newsweek article about her and some of the negative feelings so many people have about her now. I was shocked to see how many people strongly dislike this woman even though they have never met her.
Based on what I found about her, I am sure the Julie Powell character played by Amy Adams was cleaned up and made more likable than the Julie Powell in real life but the level of scorn displayed by so many people who left comments about her was sad. Many of them said she was the perfect example of the sense of entitlement people have and the get rich quick mentality of so many Americans. They attacked her for being a bad cook and ripped into her for being a terrible writer.
I don’t know Julie Powell, before today I have never read anything by her. I only know her story from the movie and what little I did read after watching it. She may be a terrible person, who knows. She may not be. I doubt anyone leaving comments about her one way or another has ever met her. However, what these articles and comments do reveal is the propensity for people to attack those who become successful.
Julie Powell was a normal person just like 99% of us living in America. She was struggling with day to day life and wanted to do something different. She decided to start a blog to narrate her journey through Julia Child’s cookbook as she cooked every recipe in one year. She didn’t know that anyone would read it. She had no idea it would turn into a movie and lead to her future career as an author. She must have been a good enough writer though to attract readers who followed her journey through the cookbook. She must have been a good enough writer to land a movie deal for her story.
One person who left a comment on the Newsweek story nailed it in my opinion.
I detect a whole lot of jealous bloggers out there. Get over it, folks, and be happy for her success. I saw the film last night. Just beautiful.
We love to attack those who make it, especially when we perceive in our own mind that they don’t deserve it. Julie Powell’s success has no impact on my life nor does it have any impact on the lives of most people. It does not make my life any worse that she made money doing what she did and it doesn’t make any one’s life better to attack her success. In fact, those who hate Julie Powell and attack her likely make their own life worse by getting emotionally tied to a person they do not even know.
The Internet is a great tool but it has connected a world of strangers together in a way that makes us think we personally know others that we have never met. It gives us the very sense of entitlement she was accused of having to attack strangers we have never met because we feel they have wronged us or gained some advantage over us. “Authors” attack bloggers because they aren’t real writers. “Singers” attack contestants on American Idol because they aren’t real musicians. “Regular” people attack bloggers and American Idol contestants who become successful because, well, they are envious that a normal everyday person made it big when they didn’t. The success of others does not have any relevance on our lives unless we allow ourselves to become bitter and envious towards their success.
I say good for Julie Powell. She set out to do something and became successful at it. What she does with her life, her marriage, her success is up to her. It sounds like she has made some bad decisions and for that, I hope she can turn them around for the better. Apart from that, her success affects my life in one simple way. She wrote a story that was turned into a movie. I watched that movie and for 1-2 hours I was entertained.
Armed Forces Themes: Update
January 20, 2010
I am working on getting these themes ready. The themes are done and ready to release but I am waiting on the branches to approve my license application and give me the go ahead. I was misinformed about the logos/emblems being public domain so I did have to go through their licensing department and get approval. I have filled out the paperwork for the Navy and the Air Force and am trying to get the Army and Marine Corps on board as well.
Hopefully it won’t be too much longer.
Here is a preview of my themes.
Comcast
January 20, 2010
I know there are probably a lot of people out there who will disagree with me on this but I must say it anyway. I have been very impressed with the quality of service from Comcast. We have our phone/internet/tv through Comcast and their level of service is beyond superior to Dish Network. I don’t cuss much, if ever, but Dish Network brought the profanity out during a call a few years back when they failed three times (twice in one day) to come out on a service call and then proceeded to accuse me of being difficult to deal with. After 12 wasted hours of my life spent waiting on them to show up and another 2 hours on the phone, they were lucky I am a pretty laid back guy.
Comcast on the other hand, has always shown up when they said they would, the guy who initially set up our cable ran into a major problem when he found out that our underground cable had been cut. Instead of the expected hour long installation it turned into 4 hours while he had to run a new cable from the box to our house. Because I helped him with this and got under the house to run the cable he threw in a $70 wire box for free. With one exception where a drunk driver took out the main Comcast splitter, we have never had an issue with their services. We had to go get a new box for our TV today and even though there were about 40 people ahead of me, I was in and out in about 20 minutes.
So, I figured I would spread some love to a company that a lot of people most likely hate. Thanks Comcast.
Seasons of Struggle
January 10, 2010
I read this today in “Streams in the Desert” by L.B. Cowman and thought it was worth sharing.
I once kept a bottle-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth for nearly one year. The cocoon was very strange in its construction. The neck of the “bottle” had a narrow opening through which the mature insect forces its way. Therefore the abandoned cocoon is as perfect as one still inhabited, with no tearing of the interwoven fibers having taken place. The great disparity between the size of the opening and the size of the imprisoned insect makes a person wonder who the moth ever exits at all. Of course, it is never accomplished without great labor and difficulty. It is believed the pressure to which the moth’s body is subjected when passing through such a narrow opening is nature’s way of forcing fluids into the wings, since they are less developed at the time of emerging from the cocoon than in other insects.
I happened to witness the first efforts of my imprisoned moth to escape from its long confinement. All morning I watched it patiently striving and struggling to be free. It never seemed able to get beyond a certain point, and at last my patience was exhausted. The confining fibers were probably drier and less elastic than if the cocoon had been left all winter in its native habitat, as nature meant it to be. In any case, I thought I was wiser and more compassionate than its Maker, so I resolved to give it a helping hand. With the point of my scissors, I snipped the confining threads to make the exit just a little easier. Immediately and with perfect ease, my moth crawled out, dragging a huge swollen body and little shriveled wings! I watched in vain to see the marvelous process of expansion in which these wings would silently and swiftly develop before my eyes. As I examined the delicately beautiful spots and markings of various colors that were all there in miniature, I longed to see them assume their ultimate size. I looked for my moth, one of the loveliest of its kind, to appear in all its perfect beauty. But I looked in vain. My misplaced tenderness had proved to be its ruin. The moth suffered an aborted life, crawling painfully through its bried existence instead of flying through the air on rainbow wings.
I have thought of my moth often, especially when watching with tearful eyes those who were struggling with sorrow, suffering, and distress. My tendency would be to quickly alleviate the discipline and bring deliverance. O shortsighted person that I am! How do I know that one of these pains or groans should be relieved? The farsighted, perfect love that seeks perfection of its object does not weakly shrink away from present, momentary suffering…
Nobody likes struggling or going through tough times. I am no exception but this story is a great reminder that present pain and struggle forms us, strengthens us, and grows us into better people. When everything is easy our tendency is to get lazy and complacent. In the case of this moth, the struggle needed to get out of the cocoon would have led to the full development of its wings and the ability to fly. Instead, its wings never developed and it would die without ever reaching its full potential.