Borat and some rants

Firstly, I am aware the man is a genius. Sacha Baron Cohen, that is.

...and cute, too. *giggle*

So, this is no anti-SBC rant. Nor is an anti-Borat rant...love the Borat.

I went...late...yes yes, I know, I know....to see Borat: Whateverthehellthatlongrestofthetitleis this afternoon. I fully accept the fact that I have just crawled out from under a rock of papers and now stand confused and blinking under the harsh light of the afternoon sun.

Or...you know how in WoW someone hits you in that special way that their class allows and you're dazed? That's how I feel. But sadder. But we'll talk about that later.

Anyway...honestly, and not because my knee-jerk and childish reaction to anything popular is to dislike it. And don't use that admission against me, friends who read this. I am choosy...that's all.

ie. don't make me listen to your/your favourite band.

Borat was funny. But not ~that~ funny. Not like the funny he was on the show.

It could have been that I was in a bad mood and it might have been that I had a headache and it might have been I was harbouring resentment towards 3 kids who couldn't handle 5 customers at the concession I had to go to because Burgerking was closed.

So...I'm watching the show, right? And...some of the people he's exposing as the misogynist/racist/dumbasses they are (and, speaking of "exposing" what about the underside of that big guy's nuts? holy heck!) are funny...very funny in a "laugh at them" and "shocked that they still exist" kinda way. Then....it just got depressing. By the time those 3 potential serial rapist kids picked him up in that camper...well...I started to slip into the "bummed" state.

Reading Bumf's review I certainly understand this way of thinking. I'm bringing up Bumf because I don't have handy/am too lazy to find links to other writers who felt the same way (believe that Hitchens had a point in the same ballpark). Oh..the way of thinking. Basically that we're an empathetic bunch and that while it seems that we have a pile of misogynists and racists on our hands, it's actually the human condition in which people are trying to identify with a very peculiar fellow on his own terms...meeting him far more than half way at times. Yeah. I get that.

Uh..then I watched the movie. I still agree with the above...up to a point. Most people..yeah...just an acceptance of eccentricity. The dinner scene...they were accepting until he got too rude for them to smile and take it. Personally, by the time he handed her a bag of shit. Actually, in a way...isn't it kinda bigoted to think that because a fellow drops into the US from a former Soviet country, that he would shit in a bag and hand it to you and you should treat him like a 3 year old? Oh, crap...did I just get the joke? Well, sometimes the penny drops a little late for me.

Anyway...that aside. They empathized with that mf like crazy. However, the frat boys? This is where I disagree with Bumf and others. Now, I don't know what was done off camera, but neither do you so we'll have to take each other's word for it. Those kid did not look at all baited to me. Before Borat even sat down, that kid screeched a question about the state of the 'bitches' in K. Bitches, hos...blah blah blah...you fuck them and don't call..'because I don't respect them', he says. All that wasn't any more prompted than those people who see I'm white and in an attempt to identify with me by telling a racist joke. Canadians who tell me how much they hate Americans. Skin colour, nationality, or gender...assholes do this all the time. And these kids...yeah, I'm glad they were exposed because you can bet they're not getting laid...but what about the thousands more that just learned to keep their mouths shut more often? That guy at the rodeo was not prompted to say what he did about muslims.

The feminists, though...they rocked. I thought they did a good job and looked pretty dignified. There you really did laugh at Borat and his, 'c'mon, pussycat...smile for me.' The people on the subway...I think that's a pretty natural reaction if you live in a city like NY.

My point being that yeah, you know what? I think there is a whole lot more misogyny and racisim in North America than we typically notice. I think for every one of those frat boys, there's 500 others just like him. And then there's 500 more who would never be bold enough to say it, but practice that bullshit all the time. Look at some of those men's magazines, for christ's sake. Check out Askmen.com.

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I'm nearly at the end of my time off without school. I even tried this week to be social, but find myself all twichy and weird...especially after I am away from the house too long with too much coffee in me. I need to figure out how to get a bit more social time into school next semester, because it's becoming clear to me that social ability is something that does not come naturally to me and needs practice or I become a freaky mess with a longing to a/ go home but b/ attempt to stick around long enough to try to correct the social damage before I do a.

So...time off ended up as angsty as time on. Finding myself with all of a sudden nothing to do kinda turned out how I expected. Firstly, I launch into a rampage of productivity in several areas a/ housework, b/ knitting, c/ cooking. Then, I sit down and play WoW and am super productive there. Then, I feel tired so I take a day to do nothing. That is the key. I then get depressed and bored and all twitchy and then nothing gets done at all for the next few days. Hopefully I snap out of this and get those kitchen cupboards I dumped out back in shape.

Happy new year.