Today has been a rather productive day so far, all in all, except that I've done little work on my thesis other than thinking about it. I talked to my best friend on the phone, I had a light breakfast, tried some cheese (I like to branch out), boiled some eggs for a later meal, got my acceptance letter from a literary seminar in St Petersburg, Russia, bought a plane ticket, called my bank about something entirely unrelated, and now I'm doing laundry, after which I will go help my friend finish moving, and then I'll probably have a drink or two. See how nonchalantly I just ran all that together?
I'm going to Russia. I have a plane ticket from New York to St Petersburg, Russia. I'm going to be in St Petersburg for three weeks, for a literary seminar. I... there are no words. That's 4300 miles, that's... somehow not the farthest away from home that I've ever been, that's weird. Apparently Warsaw remains at the top of the list, due to the shift in origin. Anyhoo, it will still be the farthest east of home I will have been, so that's something. Incidentally, the farthest west of home I've ever been is somewhere on the island of Oahu.
Time to go help a friend. And read on the train. Cat's Cradle. Yesterday on the train, I was thinking about how Bokononism is layered onto the narrative, and then I was reading the part where Jonah is interviewing Dr. Asa Breed, and one critic I read described how unrelenting Jonah was in this scene, how disparaging of science and scientists he was, how bitter he was toward humanity in general, and while I agree that Jonah's portrayal of human beings is not always the rosy picture we may get in ...wait, I have no examples for that... I found it particularly interesting that Jonah has very few dialogue tags, and there is very little exposition other than Dr. Breed's dialogue tags, which present him as the one getting all up in arms, getting very impatient, beginning to shout, while Jonah keeps asking questions. I need to have a writing day. Ah, well, maybe tomorrow.
Oh, and remember what I said about the Super Bowl ads? The New York Times has an article today about the ethnic stereotypes in those Salesgenie.com ads that rubbed me the wrong way. I find it highly weird, however, and rather disturbing, that the Bud Light ad featuring Mencia teaching a group of male immigrants how to pick up chicks was defended by Budweiser's guy, "Robert C. Lachky, executive vice president for global industry and creative development at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis," who cited their extensive research to make sure the ads weren't offensive. Um, really? The one man holds up a chicken and tells a woman she has her eyes. I realize that the Super Bowl is a traditionally macho event in a traditionally macho sport in a traditionally macho society, but really??? First of all, I love football. I get that from my mother. Second of all, as stated in the article, 95 million people tuned in, meaning a pretty broad demographic, some of whom I would like to think are thinking like me. That may be a bit too much to ask, but here's hoping.
In most of the ads that I saw (I have to go, so I'll have to be more specific later), the men were the actors, the women were being acted upon. One woman, in a Chase Bank commercial where the husband fancies himself a James Bond-type because he thwarts identity theft when the bank calls him (meaning that although he is being acted upon by the bank, he assumes the role of subject, the bank has somehow given him the power to do something), looks at him like, "oh, honey," as in: you're so dumb and cute and in charge even though you're not and I'm totally in the role of good woman behind her strong man. Blagh. Must go. More ranting to come, I'm sure. ;)
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