Monday

Miscellaneous Rambling

Fifty Shades dominated the weekend box office. * * * * * * * Over the weekend, I thought about women who pursue the cloister and how the vast bulk of them are (I'm assured by anecdotal evidence) happy, perhaps the happiest people on earth. And then I thought about the millions of bored and vapid middle-aged women making Fifty Shades into a cultural phenom. You can probably figure out the conclusion I was reaching. * * * * * * * Joke: An elderly woman died last month. Having never married, she requested no male pallbearers. In her handwritten instructions for her memorial service, she wrote, "They wouldn't take me out while I was alive, I don't want them to take me out when I'm dead." * * * * * * * Maybe that elderly woman should've been a Fifty Shades fan. Probably coulda found some creep to beat the hell out of her occasionally. That woulda been titillatingly fulfilling. * * * * * * * What, you say? How can I criticize Fifty Shades without reading the book or seeing the movie? The same way I know Hitler was an ass but I never met him. * * * * * * * Lent draws nigh and with it comes the best part: Figuring out what you'll give up. This year, I'm giving up reading anything secular. I'm carving out some exceptions, but other than those exceptions, I'm kinda doing that Kerouac oath without the onanism part. * * * * * * * I never did finish The Dharma Bums. I've pulled it off the shelf. I'm including Buddhist stuff among my exceptions (or categorizing it under "religious," depending on your perspective). * * * * * * * TDE blogging will be a little different this week: more posts, less substance ("Hey Scheske, it's impossible to water down your gruel any further!"). It's not a permanent thing, but it is how this week is coming together.