There is no food in the world that I love more than squash. I love all kinds of squash – summer squash, acorn squash, pumpkins, zucchini – they all make my mouth water. You can put them in salad, in ravioli, paint them, carve them, stuff them, stew them, steam them, bake them – the possibilities are endless! Despite all of these options, there is one variety of squash that stands out as the best squash of all – butternut squash.
Butternut squash is the perfect compliment to any meal. By “any meal,” I mean Thanksgiving dinner. Seeing that orange mush on the table is a symbol of family, love, peace, joy, and tastiness. It is a beautiful creation – squash mixed with a myriad of secret ingredients to create the candy-like wonder which graces our table. It is the dark horse of the holiday – it is not as famous as the potatoes, or as necessary as the turkey, or as standard as the cranberry sauce (which nobody likes anyway). It is annually forgotten or misrepresented until I take up the cause – Squash or Death! No Squash, No Stuffing! No Thanksgiving is complete without squash, and anyone who says differently should come over and try it sometime. It may actually be my one true love (besides Bruce Willis...and Disney...and bagels...and pizza...and sunshine...etc.)
Please see Part I to get a grasp of what I'm talking about...
Culprit Number 2: The Script
Remember my discussion about Kelly and her way of dealing with breakups? ...Getting really pissed off and writing a bunch of angry songs about how great she is without her loser ex? Well, The Script is the polar opposite.
Most people only know The Script's famous singles, like "The Man Who Can't Be Moved," "Breakeven (Falling To Pieces)," and "For the First Time." I'd say I'm a solid The Script fan, and trust me, they've got so many great songs on their two albums, the first being self-titled, and the second, Science and Faith. They are a great band and I can listen to every song on repeat, especially the beautiful voice of Danny O'Donoghue--but, like Kelly, this band has got a huge obsession with the breakup songs. Only, unlike Kelly, whoever is writing these songs is having a hell of a time moving on, and it's getting to the point where it's getting dangerous.
(But c'mon--who can break up with Danny--he's such a looker! With an Irish accent!)
So with two albums comprising 21 songs, I have labeled a whopping 9 as breakup songs. That's nearly fifty percent!
#1- "Breakeven (Falling to Pieces)"
Probably the band's most popular single--I got so sick of it the spring and summer of 2010 because it was sooo overplayed. But just look at the title of the song--he is falling to pieces! As I said, dangerous. He's still alive but barely breathing...He's got time while she got freedom...
But you know, he says that she finally met a man who's gonna put her first...so apparently he was an asshole. So are we supposed to pity him?? He's flippin' out, all choked up...and she's okay. This guy sounds a little mental, honestly.
#2- "If You See Kay"
I just discovered this song the other day, actually. I never liked it because the first twenty seconds are weird, so I would always hit skip, but after listening to it, it's been on repeat for days. Alas though, another song about this guy freaking out that his girl left and he just doesn't know what to do and is searching all over her. Apparently he didn't say enough to her, "and he won the battle but lost the war"...again, leading me to believe that he was an asshole. But he's running around asking all his friends to tell her that he loves her, he wants her back, and he doesn't know what he's gonna do without her. She was torn between what she wanted and what she needed, and if you love someone, you gotta let them go. Again, are we supposed to pity the guy, or is he just super needy?
#3- "The Man Who Can't Be Moved"
This is the song that got The Script famous in the US, I think. For me, this song got me obsessed and it was in my top five most played for years until I finally got sick of it. Again though, another song about this guy who lost his girl, and it's turned dangerous. He's gonna stand on the street, defy the police, scare fellow passerby, brave the weather, and wait for this girl to come see him..."if one day she wakes up and finds that she's missing him..." This guy's got "a big hole in his world." GIVE ME A BREAK! Don't you have a job?! And honestly, waiting on the street for this girl...indefinitely...is just kind of creepy.
#4- "Before the Worst"
This was the first song I ever heard by this band after iTunes offered it as the free single of the week back in 2008. This song is a bit more ambiguous on whether or not they've broken up yet. It's obvious though, that together or apart, this guy and girl are not doing well right now. He wants to go back before it all went wrong, "before the worst." This pair was apparently ready to take on the world with their love, but shit happened, and now either their relationship sucks and he wants to go back to when it was good, or they just broke up and he also wants to go back to when it was good.
#5- "Exit Wounds"
This song is a bit too emo for my taste, and he's comparing the pain of his breakup to wounds that need to be treated in a hospital...sounds too much like New Moon. This girl left him and he seems to be suffering a lot-- the marks of battle, he still feels raw, a million pieces on the floor. But now he's getting a little self-pitying, saying he's got baggage and he drinks the pills. Wow. Dangerous again, but at least this time he's asking if anyone can help him with these exit wounds, rather than being reckless. He says he doesn't know how much more his heart can take...I wonder if this is referring to the four breakups he went through on the first album.
#6- "Dead Man Walking"
The ultimate paranoia song. This guy is now freaking out that he and his girl are gonna break up, while he's still with her!!! He's holding her hand but she's barely holding on... He's "already broken, already knows she's moving on...already knows there's someone in his place." An inevitable breakup or paranoia?
#7- "Long Gone and Moved On"
The title of this song explains it all. It seems to have been quite a long time since he and this girl split up, but he's having a much harder time dealing with it than she is, considering she's already with some other guy. But this song at least resolves strongly--he's decided he's gonna change the way he feels and he's finally gonna move on too!
#8- "If You Ever Come Back"
Again, another title-explanatory song. He's watching his girl leave with her suitcase, standing on the tracks...yet he is still hopeful! He's hoping she'll come back, "that she could give him the cold shoulder again, that she could still give him a hard time, that he could still wish it was over." It seems they were fighting quite a bit (a common theme?) and she finally threw in the towel...but he wants to go back to that. Again, he's being dangerous though, because he's leaving his door unlatched--anyone could come in and take his stuff!!!! I do like hope, though...
#9- "Nothing"
This is the band's newest single, so I'm sure you've heard it on the radio if you listen to the top 40 stations. In this song, our protagonist has lost that hope of song #8. His friends took him to the bar and he got drunk. He can't stop calling this girl with whom he just broke up, but she says nothing. He's now "shouting her name all over town"...again causing a ruckus all over town...but he's gotta let her know "that he's still in love with all of her."
Alright. If you stayed with me this long, I greatly appreciate it. It means a lot when people think that my thoughts are interesting. Maybe one day I can break 100 followers on Twitter! But I digress...
What have we learned from The Script? Well, there's a good chance that this guy is a huge asshole. Why else have nine girls left him? And in a lot of the songs, he admitted that he fucked up, but now he's sorry about it. I'm not going to place the blame entirely on him, though. In many of these songs, it seems he's learned what he did wrong, but then there's a new song and he's dealing with yet another breakup! He seems to be one of those people who always needs to be in a relationship, believing themselves nothing without a partner. I hate those people. That's where my girl Kelly takes the cake. She tries the relationship and realizes she doesn't need anyone trying to hold her down, and she's stronger from what she's learned in her relationships that failed. Don't get me wrong--I'm not at all against relationships, but I'm against relationships that form for the wrong reasons and that don't help you grow. If you're in a relationship just for the hell of it, and it's not doing anything for you, don't be in one! And if you're in a relationship that sucks, don't be in that one either! But unlike The Script, take a lesson from Kelly instead, and become stronger from it and figure out what you learned about yourself and what you want out of a relationship--don't wander around the streets or just sit in your house because you just can't even move on without the other person and don't know how you're even going to live now.
The purpose of this post though isn't to shit on The Script. As I said, they're one of my favorite bands, and yes, some of their songs get a little whiny after a while when you're really considering the lyrics, but what I appreciate about the protagonist of their songs is that he really understands that love isn't all rainbows and puppies and strawberries. Sometimes love is rain without the bows, and wolves, and Brusels sprouts. One minute you could be infinitely happy and in a split second that happiness shifts to sorrow or anger or hurt. You've gotta grow from those whom you love--friends, family, significant others--and without struggles and conflict, you'll never discover yourself.
I leave you with a final song from The Script, called "This = Love." This one is one of their more (relatively) uplifting songs, stating that "love is why we do it, love is worth the pain, love is why we fall down and get back up again."
I've been scrapbooking for a few days now (the reason why I've been scrapbooking will not be covered in this post, and will probably never be covered. All you gotta know is that apparently I am a sixty-five year old woman!) So, while I've been scrapbooking I've been listening to some CDs that I can just put on and not have to worry about skipping tracks and such, because the music player is very far away from the table (first world problems, I know). During these last few days, I have noticed a trend of some certain artists to be kind of obsessed with breakups.
Culprit Number 1: Kelly Clarkson
Ever since Kelly won Idol back in 2001 or 2002...some year around then, we've known her to be a strong, independent woman. Her first single off her first album was called "Miss Independent," after all! Her obsession with the breakup song began with her second CD, Breakaway (I mean, just consider the album title--she is breaking...away). Encompassing such tracks as "Since U Been Gone" (probably one of the most quintessential breakup songs of my generation), "Behind These Hazel Eyes," "I Hate Myself for Losing You," and even "Walk Away," we begin to wonder who the hell pissed Kelly off! I sure would hate to be that guy. Although, we also have to wonder what kind of breakup it was, since she's got one song talking about how upset she is that she lost this guy, and then another song talking about how great her life is that that she's not with this guy.
WHO IS THIS GUY MAKING HER FEEL SO CONFLICTED ABOUT THEIR BREAKUP?!
We then reach Kelly's dark days: My December. I don't think this is anyone's favorite album, and she still seems to be really upset about her breakup with that guy from Breakaway. The only notable song off this album was "Never Again" in which she is very obviously still pissed at this guy--based on what she's seeing, it seems that this guy left her for anther woman. But if that is the case, then why would she have said that she hated herself for losing him on her last album?
WHO'S TO BLAME FOR THIS BREAKUP?!
With the release of her next album, All I Ever Wanted, we got everyone's favorite Kelly song, "My Life Would Suck Without You." Now, this is personally one of my favorites. I've heard before that it was a follow up to "Since U Been Gone"...but when we really think about it, there was a whole record in between those two songs, so it's been a looong time since she broke up with that guy. And after releasing an emo album about how much she hates him, I myself think Kelly is too strong of a girl to take that scumbag back. I think it was more of an effort to please her label, which was probably noticing how angry she was being. Anyways, not long after, her next single "Already Gone" was released, and it seems that whoever this guy was, they broke up again. Though by now, she seems to have matured quite a bit, and instead of being angry and indignant, she is more accepting that she and this guy must part ways, because their relationship has become "poisonous."
We think Kelly's finally done with the breakups...but then comes her new album, just released a couple weeks ago! In the first single off of it, "Mr. Know It All," Kelly goes back to her angry roots, getting mad at some guy (let's face it, with a song by a girl--it's always about a guy) for thinking that he knows her. I'm not a big fan of this song--I can very well relate to her, getting annoyed when a certain person thinks that he knows everything about me, but I think a lot of girls feel that way and I think the song was a bit unnecessary. Just recently she released the next single, "Stronger." There must be some kind of rule stating that every successful girl-power artist must release a single by this name (Britney, Christina, Mary J. Blige...) I think this is a great song, especially the flash dance in the music video, but it's the same topic that Kelly's been singing about for years! She just broke up with some guy, and now she's doing great.
Kelly, we get it. You get in relationships, and get pissed off. You get really pissed off and then write 532659238 songs about how upset/angry/stronger/happy/sad you are. But your repertoire has not changed in the last seven or so years...let's switch it up a bit, okay?
This time of year, a lot of my parents' friends send out Christmas cards. These cards have morphed over the years. It used to be that they all sent pictures of them and their kids in front of the Christmas tree (awww). Then later, the kids would be pictured alone, or with the family pet, possibly in front of the fire or perhaps (unconvincingly) enjoying the great outdoors as a family. More recently, cards arrive with signatures like "Rosemary, Mike, & the kids" or "Rick & the girls." Christmas cards are more of an afterthought than ever.
(example of a typical family Christmas card)
The cards that I look forward to every year are not really cards at all, but autobiographical letters (sometimes 3-4 pages, single spaced) detailing a family's achievements over the course of the year. Each kid gets a paragraph or two where they can talk about how great they are ("Timmy was student of the month! Jane danced in the Nutcracker! Joey sat on the bench for baseball, football, and basketball seasons but he was a great contributor in practice!"). Parents can sing their own praises, as well, casually mentioning their new job with more vacation days and a bigger salary or the houseboat that they bought "just because." I don't look forward to these letters because there is nothing personal about them. I don't want to hear your family's bragfest, I want a personal letter or a phone call or nothing at all.
The time has come, my friends, for a Christmas Card revolution. Down with ambivalence, down with bragging until your face turns purple. In with caring about each other and making an effort all year through so that relationships aren't reduced to the exchange of cards once a year. Give of your time and yourself all year through, LIVE the spirit of Christmas, and love each other, gosh darn it.
And now for the question that plagues millions of adolescent (according to Amanda, adolescence goes until age 23!) and probably older girls as well...and let's just throw in gay guys as well... what are we to think of Vince Vaughn? Now, we've seen him in movies like 'Wedding Crashers' and 'The Break-Up' and we're supposed to see him as this kind of cool and funny guy. It is Christmas night and I am currently watching 'Four Christmases' with VV and Reese Witherspoon. Now, let's look at the women VV has acted next to in these movies-- Isla Fisher, Jennifer Aniston, and Reese. All wonderful leading ladies. All considered very attractive ladies. Reese even holds an Oscar for Best Actress! Based on this information, am I supposed to therefore consider VV rom-com male material? Because I just don't. BUT AM I SUPPOSED TO?? My co-writer Amanda says that he could be cute, but he tries too hard. I guess I can see that. He's a funny guy, but he's just so tall! Is that why I can't take him seriously? I don't really know... And this post is currently being written by a quite tipsy Sabrina, so I'm not even really sure where it is going. Those are just my current thoughts on Vince Vaughn, and I would love to hear the thoughts of others on this enigmatic actor.
Definitely not getting my votes with those chops...
Or...debonair and suave?
Friday, December 23, 2011
Today’s question—what’s so great about being a girl? I was talking with an acquaintance of mine earlier today and he was telling me that he wants to hitchhike (“travel by road”) all around America once he gets here (this acquaintance of mine is French, so that previous statement might make a little more sense now). Unfortunately I had to snap him back to reality and tell him that hitchhiking is actually illegal in most places in the United States and also pretty dangerous. He asked me why. I said that he could get killed…or something. I know that I’m one full of great responses. He didn’t seem to be buying my lame responses, so I simply said, well I guess it’s dangerous for a girl… Which brought him to a whole new topic of how he’s happy he’s a boy. And then I began to think to myself…what is so great about being a girl? I tried to make a comeback and got stopped. He said, oh yeah forgot about the periods! A smart-ass answer from someone whose first language isn’t even English. Sigh. Shafted again.
I took a good long time to think. Why do I like being a girl? And then it hit me as I looked in my closet and saw the shiny new dress I bought for New Years Eve. SEQUINS. Girls can wear sequins! I wore sequin flats last night at our party, and I wore a sequin tank tonight to the Messiah Concert. HA! Take that, boys! We can wear sequins!
Not so fast though… There I am, walking through the Grand Hall of the Kennedy Center, feeling pretty girly and chic in my sequin top until…I look to my left and see a man standing against the wall waiting to enter the concert hall wearing what? A bright green sequin tie. Yes. A sequin tie. And on top of that white button down shirt, all eyes were on him. And in the midst of Santa hats and Christmas sweaters and funny pins, everyone loved that man at that moment. Everyone except myself, because he took sequins from me. This man was wearing sequins, and I was once again shafted.
And so begins the bright future of this what I hope will be a witty blog. I have titled it after today’s story—because honestly, it’s a pressing question! Can men wear sequins?! And then the scary question—if they can, then what is so great about being a girl??!
