The Second Half

Kurt and I left the Jerk Club's party and headed over to Lee and Max's shin-dig. There was plenty of drinks to go around! And what a celebration when the Steelers won the game!! I now know who "The Bus" is. :)

Half-Time Show

The Rolling Stones!!

Superbowl

The Jerk Club held their annual Superbowl party. Plenty of food, cider, and jerkiness!!

Root Beer

Kurt and I went down to the south side to pick up a case of Filbert's Root Beer. Filbert's opened for business in Chicago in the 1920's, during prohibition. We met Ron, the owner and grandson of the original owner, and he was gracious enough to show us around the back of the house. The machines used to clean the bottles, cap them, and label them, were really interesting! They were all machines from the 1950's, as they try to preserve the art of making root beer.

Pizza and Beer

A whole group of us went to Piece for one last dinner with Erin, before she headed off to The Big Apple.



And then Kurt and I headed over to The Charleston to meet up with more friends!

Serendipity

Last night, Kate and I got together to chat, eat Pizza Metro, and watch Serendipity. I love this movie and now I am all sappy about love and such. I am such a girl sometimes.

"You are lying here because you don't want to be standing somewhere else."

Blooming

My lipstick ivy is beginning to bloom. I've owned flowering plants before, but I've never gotten them to flower! It feels like Springtime in my apartment.


**On a side note, it was announced today that James Frey's literary agent fired him as a client.**

Transamerica

Mark, Michelle and I went and saw the film "Transamerica" last night. It was an pretty incredible film and Felicity Huffman was amazing. And although the film does deal with the struggle of changing genders, it really explores much deeper issues.

On a journey across the country, Bree (played by Felicity Huffman) comes to terms with being a parent to a 17 year old boy whom she just met. She also confronts her family, whom she's been estranged from for many years, in order to rebuild a relationship with them. I believe that the film is more about relationships with others than it is about the gender of the main character.

The make-up design was amazing in this film. Felicity's character looked very masculine under her layers of make-up. She also did a great job in being overly feminine, with the pink, silk robes, pink, fake nails, and pink, lip gloss.

I was very impressed with the film and would recommend everyone go see it!

Also, they announced the Oscar nominations this morning. Here is my list of films/actors that I want to win:

Best Actor: Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (sorry Joaquin)
Best Actress: Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line
Best Film: Brokeback Mountain
Best Director: Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain
Best Documentary: March of the Penguins

I will be tuned in on Sunday, March 5th to see who takes home the statues!

Truthiness

On December 23rd, I announced that I had begun reading “A Million Little Pieces”, a memoir by James Frey. On January 6th, the Smoking Gun announced that many of the facts written in the memoir were actually not factual. This last announcement has caused a lot of discussion and controversy about the book. A couple of the questions that have been raised are “what is truth?” and “who is responsible?”

I was very upset when I first learned that much of the book had been fabricated. My experience in reading the book was a very difficult one, as it delved into the topic of addiction. In reading this book, I went through a range of emotions as addiction is a sensitive and real issue in my life. So it was upsetting to learn that the author stretched, and in some incidents changed, the truth in order to make his “character” more heroic.

And I find it interesting that James refers to the people in his book as characters, instead of people. I would think that in writing a memoir, there would be a constant understanding that these people do exist and they did experience what he wrote about. To refer to them as characters just removes the reality from the people, and I am not sure why he chooses to do that.

So what is truth? I have read some books on addiction and on being a child of an alcoholic, and one of the main problems that addicts and children of addicts face is they don’t understand what “truth” is. Addicts live their life in a state of altered truth. They twist and contort reality in order to make their actions more acceptable and less harmful. They also tell lie upon lie in order to cover up their actions and addictions. So children of addicts are raised without understanding what “truth” is, because their parental role model(s) don’t live with a complete sense of truth.

I do think that our memories can deceive us. Our minds, as a coping mechanism, have the ability to filter the truth in order to make it less painful. But I also think that we have the ability to see the truth, completely. And we have the ability to decide whether we want to purposefully alter that truth or not. I believe that James Frey altered his truth in order to sell more books. And for that, I do not respect him.

And that brings up the next question, who is responsible for this? Of course I believe that James had a huge responsibility to tell the truth in his memoir or to re-classify his book as “based on a true story”. But I also believe the publishing company, Random House/Doubleday, had a responsibility to check the facts. If they are publishing a piece as non-fiction or memoir, I believe they must do the proper research in order to have the right to label it as such. Just as we expect journalists to perform fact-checks on their non-fiction pieces, I believe we should expect the same from authors, editors, and publishers.

But I can’t help but wonder if society is also to blame, just a little bit. I feel that we have grown to accept living in a state of truthiness. (Truthiness being defined as "quality of stating concepts one wishes or believes to be true".) We have allowed truth to be altered, and yet still refer to it as truth. Reality shows are a perfect example. I watch Dancing with the Stars, and I know that Master P is not a good dancer and yet other people are voted off the show before him. Why? Because Master P brings in better ratings.
We can watch Jessica and Nick, on their reality show, laughing and cuddling and running off into the bedroom to make love, and yet once the show is canceled we watch them file for divorce. And yet their show is still called a reality show.

So perhaps, we as viewers/readers need to strengthen our definition of truth and reality. And that can be difficult, because it would also require us to strengthen our own truth, which could be a painful and scary request.

And perhaps I need to stop hoping that the addict gets better. I read this book with the idea that this addict faced his family and friends, and admitted his wrong doings. This addict apologized and made strides towards becoming a better, honest, sober person. Maybe I need to stop wasting emotion by hoping the addict becomes cured.

And finally, I do think that James Frey, although sober, still has the personality of an addict. He obviously is still stretching and altering truth, in order to make his sobriety seem more heroic. He almost romanticized addiction and recovery. And then when questioned on the facts, he just denied, denied, denied.

I know that story all too well.

Seafood

What the hell is up with the water over in Asia? It must have miracle grow in it, or something. Jeesh, all marine life over there is freakin' huge!!


And Drew Lachey might be a shrimp, standing at a mere 5'6", but that boy can dance!

My New Track Jacket

Kurt finished my track jacket! He designed and screen printed the image on it. I love it!

The Screaming Bluedogs

Kurt and I went to the Elbo Room last night to see The Screaming Bluedogs. It was a pretty kick ass show.
"I'm going out in the front yard
Gonna make a railroad out of rain
Gonna take a shot of whiskey
Sit back, and wait for the train"

Gavin is 3

We celebrated Gavin's 3rd birthday this weekend. The birthday party had a baseball theme. The kids ate hot dogs and chips, had their faces painted, did a treasure hunt, and ate cupcakes. Gavin loaded up on Spiderman and Batman toys along with some new books.

Photos by Kurt Pennypacker