Big Eyes

I watched Tim Burton's Big Eyes (with Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz) last night, and I'm here to write a review about it.

My favorite part of the movie was probably Margaret Keane herself. Modest, romantic, and endearingly dorky, Amy Adams really shone playing her. Margaret is an independent woman artist, and you get to see her evolution as an artist, and that part was just fantastic.

And of course, with Walter Keane, you get to watch all the morbid horror and fascination of a sociopath and a top-notch manipulator and con man in action. That there are people out there who are really like that is incredible and somewhat horrifying. My favorite part was the way he stepped in and gave her everything she wanted at a time when she was most alone and vulnerable, because that's what real brainwashers do.

One note I should say about the movie is that the degeneration of the Keanes' marriage is irritating, depressing, and painful to watch. (I kept waiting for her to bitch-slap him, but she never did. Oh well. I was raised by people from New York and Boston, and that's what I'd have done.) While the ending is happy and even triumphant, the movie itself is not. Psychologically speaking, I would have something cheerful to watch afterward.

This could be taken one of two ways:

- You could say it's the fault of the moviemakers for not allowing you to enjoy yourself.

- You could say they were just trying to portray honestly the emotions behind a manipulative and abusive relationship.

In any case, it's an interesting movie and I'd recommend it. It's worth sitting through at least once.

Humans of New York spinoffs

Saw this interesting article on one of the spinoffs of Humans of New York:

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/07/18/419549880/the-seldom-seen-faces-of-the-humans-of-kabul?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150718

I actually participated in one of the spinoffs of Humans of New York once. My college has one.

I was at a local coffee shop one day, and the barista accidentally gave me two coffees instead of one. I sat down in a chair, and asked a boy nearby with a camera if he'd like my other coffee.

He turned out to be a photographer and interviewer for our local "Humans" chapter. He asked if I'd pose for him, and then he interviewed me. I ended up talking about really personal stuff, like my struggles with depression. Later, I began to regret the conversation.

I emailed him with the address he had given me and asked him not to reveal to anyone that I was mentally ill -- there was too much stigma attached to it. He agreed, and instead put up a quote about my discussion of introversion and how undervalued it is in our society.

I've actually been approached since then by people who think it's "so cool" that I've appeared in a "Humans" chapter! :)

Unconscious Bias

Very good piece on unconscious bias and how it's different from conscious prejudice:

http://www.ted.com/talks/yassmin_abdel_magied_what_does_my_headscarf_mean_to_you#t-414264

I have had some experiences with unconscious bias myself.

I grew up in a very small, out-in-the-country, mostly-white town. The people who weren't white had absolutely nothing to do with the people who were. (Once, I was running in PE in middle school and there were two Hispanic girls running behind me. "Hey, you're Mexican, right?" one asked the other. "So, why do you hang around with white girls?")

So when I went to college in a major city, it was a big culture shock for me. All of a sudden, I was encountering people of all different kinds of races, all gathered together in one place.

I got surprised by a lot of things -- like, for example, that my favorite artist was highly intellectual and also Hispanic. I was made uncertain by a lot of things -- for example, Black men intimidated me at first, being a white girl as I was. I made friends with a Chinese foreign exchange student, and he was actually one of the most outgoing people I've ever met. I had to confront these initial reactions and overcome them.

I've seen a lot of unconscious bias in family members as well. I won't name names, but I've seen people fake stereotypical Black inner city accents, talk about all Hispanics as if they're undereducated and willing to work for less, say that homosexuals are unnatural and not good at staying in committed relationships, and say that we don't need feminism anymore because women have total equality right?

I agree with the speaker in that video. I think it's good for us to have our unconscious biases challenged. I know that I'm a better person for it, and I'm better at picking out unconscious bias in other people than I used to be.

In fact, I would say that unconscious bias is the biggest race issue of today. Look, for example, at police officers arresting, shooting at, or being more suspicious of Black people. I highly doubt most of them woke up and thought, "I'm going to be a racist today and shoot a Black person because they're Black! YEAH!" It's unconscious bias that makes Black people seem more dangerous to a white cop.

Unconscious bias is why women get paid less than men, it's why people who aren't white are more likely to be detained or arrested. It accounts for a lot of the problems in today's society.

Flooding

It's raining so hard here, they've issued a flash flood warning.

All the pools have flooded over, and the ditch out back so resembles a river that you could probably go whitewater rafting on it. The water went into the garage and right up to the front and back of the house, before finally receding.

At least one small business we've heard of has already flooded right through and been completely ruined. Police and ambulance alarms are blaring up and down the road every five minutes, and there have been car accidents and mud slides. Some people are trapped inside their houses.

Dad says we should stand on the roof with a boat, a paddle, and a sign that says "Somewhere Else or Bust." He's only sort of kidding.

This isn't the first time I've lived through some alarming natural disaster. Once, when I was in high school, me and my family had to evacuate our house and sleep on our grandparents' house's floor because of a wildfire burning through hundreds of acres of territory near our place of residence.

We haven't lost anything important yet, but we'll have to see. We're somewhat afraid the shed out back is going to collapse because of poor, muddy foundations.