Fear of Success: hate

So really I felt like ranting. Then I didn't. On most days I do hate more than two things. I just can't think of anymore at the moment, Firefox keeps shutting down on me, and I don't want to lose the post waiting for hate I'm apparently not feeling to inspire me. Because that's just not what should inspire anyone. So I'll start with the short list and move to the fun stuff. Feel free to add yours in the comments.

Things I hate:
1. Those epilepsy-inducing Lewis Black ads on my computer. Not only do they jitter around, they put into hyperdrive what I despise about Lewis Black in general. It's not that I don't agree with him at times, it's that I DON'T LIKE BEING YELLED AT ALL THE TIME!!! AREN'T YOU HATING THIS? We get that you're angry, Lewis; perhaps more people would listen to you if you'd lower your voice.

2. Everybody Loves Raymond was one of the most mean-spirited television shows ever created. If I had been born into a family that spent so much energy sniping at each other as these do, I would have slit my wrists when I was 13. And as an old married lady, I can attest that truly healthy marriages do not consist of you and your partner communicating through sarcastic mind-fuck jabs. That the American public ate this shit up for almost a decade (and still does in syndication) speaks volumes to me about how little respect we have for ourselves.

Things I love:

1. Steampunk anything! I know that now it will suffer from overkill that anything with wide notice starts to achieve, but I still think that shit looks cool.

2. Being able to follow creepy stories like this one through newsreaders (6! A sixth foot was found!).

3. Geek culture reigns supreme at last.

4. Adam Baldwin. I have been a fan of his without knowing who he is for years. No, I'm not going to pretend I knew who that guy playing that military tool in Independence Day was all 56,000 times I saw it. It wasn't until his appearance on Angel as the slyly smarmy Marcus Hamilton that I started to think, "Hey! I think I have a little crush on this big tall actor guy who isn't VDO! Hey! He was My Bodyguard, and Mother! Hey!" Yeah. I'm slow like that. And as I didn't catch up with Firefly until way after the fact (sue me, I'm a Joss fanatic, but I also worked retail and it disappeared in a blink), I fell in love with Jayne after everyone else was saying, "Yeah? So?" I have never claimed to be one with the Innovators, folks. I'm usually an Early Adopter, but sometimes life gets in the way.

And now he is once again stealing my heart as John Casey on Chuck. No one makes throwing a computer monitor in a guy's face look nearly as appealing. Plus, he is literally one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood, appearing in movies, TV shows, in guest spots (anyone see the season finale of CSI:NY?), and fan conventions. I get the feeling the guy hates being idle and I have much respect for that (even if our politics don't jibe).

5. Bart Campolo's posts on the God's Politics blog. Bart puts a capital H in humility as he explores what it is to love those others consider unloveable.

6. My DVR - how many times have you saved me and my sad little world with your ability to record and save TV shows and movies? I would have been so on the ball with that Firefly thing if you have been a part of my life then. It has only improved. Because now, I can have both a life and be a sad television-addicted couch potato. I love you, DVR!

7. Finding strangers's blogs through luck, linking, Google Alerts, and happenstance, and seeing the world through many different perspectives. Sometimes I feel we can't truly know the world - and therefore ourselves - without first seeing it through the eyes of a stranger. These blogs allow me to do that in these disconnected times.