Tag Archives: Entertainment

Getting Off the TV IV

Posted on by
3

Welcome to the Ignorant Historian! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I love to read. That’s no secret. So why is it that I watch so much TV?

Television isn’t evil. But it’s also certainly not essential and rarely constructive. Reading a book isn’t always especially constructive either, but there is still greater value in reading junk than in watching junk. Not that I usually read junk…but most of what I watch would be qualified as “junk.”

Why do I struggle with watching too much TV?

1. It’s easy. You know that. You probably watch more than you want to, too. Watching television requires almost nothing of me.

2. It sucks you in. If there is one show that want to watch, it’s easy to turn the entire evening into a TV-watching binge.

3. I am, if only in part, a product of my culture. I have grown up with technology and stimulation. To sit silently in a room with a book that does not interact with me isn’t as easy as it may have been for someone who had books as their only form of entertainment.

4. I like the noise. Being single, my apartment is usually silent unless I choose to make it otherwise. I don’t always have to have noise, but I do prefer it to silence. I have taken to listening to audiobooks while I do my chores around my house, but some activities (like reading and sending emails) don’t allow me enough brain power to also listen to an audio book, so sometimes I turn on the TV. Enter point #2.

So what am I going to do about it?

I wrote this post last week and just left the question hang there for a couple of days. I really didn’t know how to answer it. But Friday afternoon I decided not to turn on the TV all weekend. And I didn’t (well, except to listen to audiobooks on my DVD player). I had a great weekend, too. Instead of watching TV and whiling away the hours, I listened to one whole audio book, crocheted a lot, and took care of a few chores around the apartment. The time didn’t drag, but it also didn’t fly by. It was quite pleasant.

I want that to be the norm in my apartment, not the other. I’m not giving up TV completely, but I’d like to cut my viewing to just a few hours a week.

Next project: working on silence.

My Date with Myself

Posted on by
2

I’ve been wanting to see Phantom Menace in 3D and not having any Star Wars-loving friends in Raleigh, I decided I would go myself.

Yes, I like Star Wars; so? I do see the ridiculousness of paying $13.50 to see a movie I’ve already seen a half dozen times, but I did it anyway. As the first movie ticket I’ve purchased in over 6 months, it’s really not that extravagant of a purchase.

Anyway.

I started making my plans on Monday. I originally had hoped to see a matinee next week when I was off for President’s day (I’ve never had President’s Day off before), but when I was offered good pay to work it anyway, I took it. I’ve only been back at work for 4 weeks after a 3 month break, so I’m not really in need of a holiday.

Since a matinee was out, I decided to go on a week night so it wouldn’t be busy. Tuesday…why not?

Oh yeah, Tuesday was Valentine’s Day. I’m comfortable enough going to the movies by myself (though this was a first), but not comfortable doing so on Valentine’s Day.

So I postponed my “date with myself” a night, going out on Wednesday. Which also turned it into a celebration of thankfulness as I got my first “real” paycheck in over 3 months that day, too.

I enjoyed it, though I must say I don’t know if 3D really adds too much in the experience. And watching it in the movie theatre didn’t allow me to do something else during the pod races, like I usually do. I don’t really find watching a fake sporting event where you already know the outcome particularly interesting. I’m still glad that I went, though.

27 Things at 27

Posted on by
8

Continuing the birthday-eve tradition of 26 things and 25 things, here are 27 things that I’ve done at the age of 27:

1.  Saw Phantom of the Opera.

2.  Saw my baby brother marry the best woman for him.

3.  Was a bridesmaid (and a maid of honor) for the first time(s).

4.  Got buried in snow in North Carolina for the first time.

5.  Watched Gone with the Wind.

6.  Added a second tax site at work.

7.  Met a US congressman…who got voted out in the most recent election.

8.  Read several books that really influenced me.

9.  Started making serious progress on making my life better for creation.

10.  Saved a (very small) emergency savings, and kept it.

11.  Left apartment life behind (though I was sad to part ways with my roommate of 3 years).

12.  Grew my first vegetable garden with moderate success.

13.  Went on my first overnight work trip.

14.  Got my car wrecked by an anonymous drunk, angry driver.

15.  Went to kids’ camp for the first time as an adult and loved it.

16.  Have finished my 5th year at my job…by far the longest I’ve worked anywhere.

17.  Helped my roommate through the first homeowner’s crisis I’ve ever dealt with: the death of a water heater.

18.  Vlogged for the first time.

19.  Got my game on, competing with friends in a diet and exercise competition.  The first time was helpful, the second time, not so much.

20.  Switched from teaching Sunday school to kindergarteners to helping with the 5th and 6th grade class.

21.  Had my first solo vacation and loved it.

22.  Voted for my first Democrats.

23.  Helped with the first ever Readathon for Hunger.

24.  Wrote a novel.

25.  Decorated my first full-sized Christmas tree not in my parents’ home.

26.  Read 164 books.

27.  Traveled to Atlanta, Wichita, Myrtle Beach, Norman, Charlotte, Roanoke, Denison (Texas, 2x), Kansas City, small town Kansas, and the middle of nowhere.

FQF: Pretentious on a Plane

Posted on by
11

1.  Where do you like to sit on a plane?

First class!  Okay, they’ve only offered that to me once, when they cancelled my flight.  I was 17.  Yeah, they definitely don’t do that anymore, unless you’re a dignitary or something.

Seriously though, I like to sit as far front as possible (last on, first off).  I prefer seat “A”, the window on the left (when you are sitting down).  I’ve done a lot of experimenting, and I’ve determined that that’s the best seat for me to feel like I have room as my left side is not against some stranger (I’m left-handed).

I also have a trick of changing seats at the last minute.  I frequently fly without someone beside me by doing this!  I have the best of luck…if there is one empty seat on the plane, there’s about a 50% chance it’ll be next to me.

And no, I don’t think it’s because I smell.  Thanks for asking.

2.  What sound irritates you?

Tapping and buzzing noises.  I don’t like the sound of fans in bathrooms.  Any buzzing sound will set me on edge and I will be unable to concentrate on anything else.  And no, I haven’t always been like this (thankfully!), but it would be distracting while trying to concentrate in class the last few years I was in school.

3.  What’s something in your life that just isn’t colorful enough?

My car. Unfortunately, all my options really ran the spectrums of grey, so I went for more of a graphite.  I like my car, but it lacks the zest of my last car that was electric blue.  I’d also love to drive a purple car one day.

4.  What’s a film you were sure you would dislike but ended up liking?

Get Smart.   Saw it with the family when we were on vacation, and I thought it’d be super stupid.  Turned out to be quite funny.

5.  What kind of grades did you get in school?

All A’s until AP Calculus. (Wow, I realize how pretentious that sentence sounds.)  And then in college and seminary I had a good mix of As and Bs (and that one C in a freshman-level class in my major in my last semester), trying to get no more than 1 B a semester.

FQF: Dinner and a Movie (or 2)

Posted on by
7

1. What’s your favorite science fiction movie? Make it a double feature. What’s your second favorite?

Favorite is probably the new Star Trek. I actually didn’t see it in the theaters (wish I had!), but I really enjoyed it. When picking a second, it’s really hard not to pick Inception since I just saw it and loved it. Instead, I’m going to have to go with a Star Wars…maybe Episode III? Sorry to purists out there, but I prefer the ones actually made when I was alive.

2. Which ethnic group has the best food?

LOVE Mexican food (both real Mexican food and Tex-Mex, though I must admit I prefer Tex-Mex). I could literally eat it every day. Chinese is a close second, but I’m pickier in which kinds of Chinese food I like.

3. What is your favorite Disney princess?

Toughie. Aurora, probably. I’d love her life in a rural cottage with plenty of time to think (and presumably to read).  Or maybe Cinderella.

4. What is America’s gift to the world?

Wow…hmmm. Though we are merely the bearers of this gift and not the originators, I think I’d have to say the Gospel. While it’s also been distorted here–often beyond recognition–America has also been the place God has chosen to incubate the Gospel, and many Americans have been major instruments God has used to spread it. The downside is that Christianity and America are often linked in a way that is highly unflattering to God. May God help us to de-Americanize the Gospel and continue to selflessly share this wonderful gift.

5. Excluding romantic love, when was the last time you told someone you loved them?

This past weekend to sweet little “Abby,” my friend’s 5-year-old girl. I treat her like a niece. She started calling me “Erica” to be silly, so I started calling her “Abby.” Then she started calling me “best friend” and then “sister.” She knows how to wiggle her way into your heart, that’s for sure!

Womanly Quotes

Posted on by
11

“I’ll never forget a poll that appeared in Marie Claire, which found that a slight majority of American women would have a one-night stand with a stranger for money–57%….Yet the same women were more reluctant when asked whether they would accept money to gain ten extra pound permanently–only 41% would gain weight for money.” – Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit, p. 163

“People would actually prefer to stay home and watch a lame prerecorded comedy than get together with some real people?  How sad.” – Alice, quoted in Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit, p. 119

On how not to cheat on your wife: “All I’m saying is that if you want to be on a diet, you might wanna stop hanging out by the dessert cart.” – Thirteen, “Open and Shut,” House

“All those people who looked down on knitting–and housework, and housewives–were not being feminist at all.  In fact, they were being antifeminist, since they seemed to think that only those things that men did, or had done, were worthwhile.” Debbie Stoller, quoted in Girls Gone Mild, by Wendy Shalit, p. 121

“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. ‘Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,’ he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in the world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.” – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

“Don’t wait till the bubble’s off the wine” – metaphoric support of shorter engagements, Mrs. Mingott in Age of Innocence

“I’ve heard a lot of people blame the Internet for the decline in friendship.  I don’t think that’s entirely fair, but with regard to my friends who have weblogs, I do see the point.  One by one they have dropped out of sight….If all of my friends blogged, I would have no one to talk to outside my family, though they would surely all link to me.” – Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit, p. 125

“Every time a couple gets married, 2 single people die.” – Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation, “94 Meetings”

“The goal is not to stand on top of the pile.  The goal is to hold yourself to a personal standard and become someone you would respect if you were someone else.” – Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit, p. 136

“But I am slow-thinking and full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires…” – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Maybe He’s on Vacation?

Posted on by
12

I don’t know if it’s summer or the excessive number of 24 episodes I watched over the holiday weekend, but I’m lacking in bloggy inspiration.  Even the week of posts I usually have ready to go have dried up.  There’s no lack of desire to blog, but I’m missing my muse.  If you see him, let me know (you didn’t expect me to have a female muse, did you?).

So, now I’m up to no good again, stealing blog ideas.  Actually, some of my best ideas come from others…I love that about blogging.  While Amy Beth is off galavanting in the land of the pyramids, she left behind these questions (with her answers…obviously the below ones are mine):

1. What is your current obsession?

Could be getting back on track with my schedule after the holiday weekend.  Other possible answers include SYTYCD and 24 (I had to stop in a good spot…actually, they’re all good spots.  I hope I have a chance to watch more this weekend!). 

2. What are you wearing today?

I’m wearing my favorite brown skirt (SO comfortable and cute), a bronze-colored lace pattern shirt (hard to describe, sorry), and brown flip flops.

3. What’s for dinner?

Probably soup, spaghettios, or pizza.  It’ll be after water exercises, and I need something quick and effortless.  And I haven’t gotten groceries (except for 24-watching junk from the grocery store in walking distance) in a couple of weeks.

4. What’s the last thing you bought?

Allergy medicine.  I had run out, so I stopped taking it, but my throat got incredibly after a couple of days.  I had been putting it off since Walmart sells the 30-day supply for $4, but the cheapest drug store sells the 20-day supply for $10.  It was worth it though, to get my throat feeling better.

5. What are you listening to right now?

Nothing, music-wise.  I only listen to music in the car.  So I guess the correct response would be my fingers tapping the keyboard.

6. What is your favorite quote?

Favorite?  This is hard.  I love a good quote, which is why I regularly post them here.  Reading through them makes me want to re-read all those books!  Since I have to pick one, my favorite outside the Bible is this one from C. S. Lewis as I keep going back to it:

“He wondered for a moment if it was Mars he was looking at; then, as his eyes took in the markings better, he recognised what they were–Northern Europe and a piece of North America. They were upside down with the North Pole at the bottom of the picture and this somehow shocked him. But it was Earth he was seeing–even, perhaps, England, though the picture shook a little and his eyes were quickly getting tired, and he could not be certain that he was not imagining it. It was all there in that little disk–London, Athens, Jerusalem, Shakespeare. There everyone had lived and everything had happened; and there, presumably, his pack was still lying in the porch of an empty house near Sterk. ‘Yes,’ he said dully to the sorn. ‘That is my world.’ It was the bleakest moment in all his travels.”

You’ll have to check out “It’s a Small World” for the context.  Gives me chills.

7. What language do you want to learn?

Turkish.  I haven’t put much effort into it though, because I don’t know how useful it is except when I take trips there.  I do think that this time around won’t be my last…I’d love to make a commitment to go every year, or at least every other.

8. What do you love most about where you currently live?

My church, hands down.  When asked if I would be willing to move for work, I answered unhesitatingly that I want to stay in Raleigh, and it was for this reason. 

9. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

Right now, I’d love to just get in my car and drive down to Florida and spend a couple of days on a beach.  Or I’d travel to Europe or Australia.

10. If you could do or be anything (career wise), what would you be?

A writer, almost more than a mother. (not that those are mutually exclusive)

11. What’s your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?

My pj’s?  Can that count?  What does this say about me??  Mom, if you’re reading this, they’re getting awfully thin…

12. Describe your personal style?

Style?  How about “ordered with a side of quirky.”

13. Do you collect anything?

Postcards.  Comments. (hint hint)

14. What makes you follow a blog?

It has to be well written.  Can be from any walk of life, but the writing needs to draw me in.

15. What makes you comment on a blog?

If I can relate.  A post might be well done, but if there’s not a single point of connection, I don’t comment.

16. What is the most enjoyable thing you did today?

It’s still early, so my day’s been mostly business.  Writing this post, though, has been enjoyable, so I’ll say that.

17. What’s your favorite thing to do when you have free time?

Usually I’d say reading, but I haven’t done a lot of that lately.  I spent most of my free time lately watching 24, and can’t wait to get the opportunity to continue the adventure!

How Well Do You Know Ronnica?: The Answers

Posted on by
12

First of all, the scoreboard:

Jen 90%
(she’s very proud to have won…she’s a bit on the competitive side)
Elizabeth 80%
(I’m impressed…but I guess you have the benefit of knowing me in RL and my blog)
Dori 70%
(some of these were particularly easy for her…but others weren’t)
Amanda 70%
(not bad…better than I did on yours!)
Dana 60%
(I’m actually surprised on this one…but I guess the little stuff tripped you up!)
Liz 60%
(Good job!)
G. Zoe 50%
(You weren’t as bad as you thought!)
Sleepy Jane 50%
(not bad for mostly guesses!)
Iva 30%
(no, I want unfriend you!)
Francesca 30%
(because you picked the wrong person to copy off of!)

And now, the answers:

1. What nickname did my family give me?
a.  Ronni
b. Bubby – or Bub, for short.  I have no idea how this got started, but I’ve been told I’ve had it since I was born.
c. Short Stack
d. Ronni Jon

2. How many boyfriends have I had?
a. 0
b. 1
c. 2
d. 3 – a very long time ago

3. Which reality show do I not watch?
a. American Idol – I watched part of one season, but after watching SYTYCD, it’s a whole lot more boring.  This is a hard one, because I don’t know that anyone but Dana knows that I’ve watched Survivor at all!
b. So You Think You Can Dance
c. Survivor
d. The Amazing Race

4. What country would I live in if I couldn’t live here?
a. Turkey – love this place
b. Australia
c. Mexico
d. Italy

5. What’s my favorite sport to watch?
a. Major league baseball
b. College basketball
c. College football – Boomer Sooner!
d. Professional golf

6. What is my favorite non-Pixar Disney movie?
a. Beauty and the Beast
b. Little Mermaid
c. Sleeping Beauty
d. The Emperor’s New Groove – I enjoy most of the princess movies, but this one beats all for sheer entertainment value.  Hilarious.

7. What is my favorite sport to play?
a. Volleyball
b. Tennis – though I rarely do it.  It’s hard to find someone who is as bad as I am yet still knows the rules.
c. Basketball
d. Softball

8. If I had to eat the same type of food everday for a month, which would I choose?
a. Mexican – yum, yum, yum.  I miss good Mexican (Tex Mex, really).
b. Italian
c. Chinese
d. Milk and cereal

9. Which is NOT a pet peeve of mine?
a. Others using the same knife as me to spread butter – I’m not a germaphobe.  Yes, the other three things really bug me, just ask anyone who’s lived with me!
b. Doors being fully opened/closed
c. Light in the room while I’m sleeping
d. Things being symmetrical and/or at right angles

10. If I had to, which movie would I be most likely to quote word for word?
a. Legally Blonde
b. one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies
c. one of the Ocean’s movies – Ocean’s 12 specifically, though I have a good grasp of the other two as well.
d. Enchanted

And a bonus question:

If I didn’t have to worry about making a living, I would want to be:
a. A dancer
b. A writer – Not that surprising, I know.  I’d also like to teach, though.
c. A teacher
d. A musician

Fiction is Just Fiction?

Posted on by
24

books and TVI love to read.  That’s nothing new.  Many of you read, too.  There’s two major reasons why we read: to learn and to be entertained.

Yet, even the reading for entertainment requires discernment.  Though I’m just a baby fiction writer (“embryo” might be the better term…a complete novel has yet to be birthed), I know that part of why I write is to express my worldview.  Even if that wasn’t my obvious goal, my worldview is bound to work itself into the piece.  Even the more entertainment-only authors still express a worldview.

That’s why I don’t buy arguments for books like The Shack that say, “It’s just fiction” as if that’s code for “no thinking allowed” or “for entertainment purposes only.”  I imagine William Young would take offense if you were to tell him that it was a great story but nothing more.  I don’t want to speak for him, but I’m pretty sure he meant there to be a deeper purpose behind his writing than just a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.  It’s the same thing for many other books and authors, though it might not be as clear.

Lest you TV-watchers and movie-goers think you’re in the clear, these forms of media are also excellent conductors of worldview.  Possibly more so, since we tend to be in a more passive position (rather like a sponge) when we’re imbibing them.  I love these types of visual entertainment, but I also enjoy parsing them a bit.  I listen for key value statements and look for stereotypes.  The world of a show or movie is often what the creator makes it…is there a part of reality that has been written out?

When I see these things, I ponder them, and when I have a young, captive audience, I’ll point them out, too.  Thankfully, Lana didn’t mind me pausing the movie to point out something…like how often the Star Wars characters entreat each other to look to their feelings for validation (more often on the dark side, but both do it) as if that was the final source of truth.

So what do you think…do you think fiction can just be fiction?

Photo by swruler9284

The Danger of the Adjective “Christian”

Posted on by
22

I hinted at this post in the comments section a couple of weeks ago, but now I’m diving in.

I don’t like the adjective “Christian.”

[Take a deep breath.]

No, I’m not one of those who wants to throw out the term “Christian” altogether.  It’s in the Bible, and I think it’s a great term.  Sure it’s been misused, and that’s why I often identify myself as a “follower of Christ,” but I don’t think we should give it up.  After all who wouldn’t want to be called after the name of their Lord and Savior?

I just wish that we wouldn’t use it as an adjective, or at least not use it so indiscriminately.  For those who hate grammar, I’m saying that I’m fine with sentences like “He is a Christian” but don’t like phrases that begin with “Christian”: Christian music, Christian fiction, Christian bookstores, etc.

There’s two major problems I’ve seen with using “Christian” this way.  First of all–and most seriously–we risk labeling something Christian that is not godly, or at least that we haven’t taken the time to determine if it is godly.  Here are a couple quotes that I think bring this point home:

“The danger of labeling things ‘Christian’ is that it can lead to our blindly consuming things we have been told are safe and acceptable.  When we turn off this discernment radar, dangerous things can happen.” – Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell, p. 86

“In short, we are easily deceived by cultural values painted in Christian veneers (or clothed in Isaiah 40:31 T-shirts).” – “The Gospel and the Gosselins” by Julie Vermeer Elliott in Christianity Today

Just because something is labeled “Christian,” does not mean it is in line with the teachings of that term’s namesake.  I’ve read many a Christian book, heard many a Christian song, watched many a Christian video (okay, only a few, because I haven’t seen that many) that has made me cringe because of the poor teaching it was presenting, everything from the misguided to the blasphemous.

As a Christian, I’m called to be discerning in every choice I make, from the type of entertainment I imbibe to the type of thoughts I intake and make my own.  In a way, God’s asking that we never turn off our brains.  Every moment requires active attention.  We should be asking questions like,

What is this author really saying?

How do these lyrics affect my view of myself, others, and God?

What view of the Word of God does this video present?

While many Christians are quick to point out that which clearly is not biblical (e.g. Playboy or Phillip Pullman’s novels), we forget that the most dangerous untruths often present themselves as half-truths.  Things that present themselves in Christian clothing often demand the most scrutiny.

So that’s the first danger, passively taking in as good that which we haven’t determined that is good.  Secondly, we risk labeling something Christian that  is simply of poor quality. 

This is clearly the less substantial danger of the two, but it’s something to consider.  Let’s face it, your average piece of “Christian fiction” is of lower quality than your average piece of fiction.  There’s a big market for things with the word “Christian” on them, and publishers and companies are more than willing to cater to the demand if it’ll gain them an extra buck or two.  Sure, there’s some good stuff out there with the “Christian” label, but it’s not all good.  By allowing this stuff to masquerade around as “Christian” we’re allowing the world to continue to view us stereotypically as uneducated simpletons.

I’m not seeking to throw out the baby with the bath water, but I am urging my fellow Christians to be discerning.  If you’d like a great resource on where to get started, I couldn’t recommend something better than Tim Challies’s The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment.  It’s not a book of rules, but rather a look at what the Bible has to say about discernment.