Life of Pride
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Oh, the joy of a new year! As my TKD instructor said, I can "leave all the bad in 2007 and take the good with me." Or something like that. He put it better, of course.
I spent the afternoon of New Year's with Gabi. I gave her a Pashmini scarf for her belated Christmas present, and she gave me a teapot + infuser + tea. Good stuff. We walked around my beautiful neighborhood for an hour, in the sunny, glorious - albeit chilly and windy - fresh air. In the park area near the townhouses, we swung on the swingset. Her scarf flew off. I lunged and caught it mid-swing, and we both laughed like a couple of little kids. Then we walked over to the movie theater and watched Juno. After the movie, I made us pancakes with bits of strawberry in the batter. When she had gone, I retired to my room, where I began a new journal with my start-of-the-year prayer and my resolutions. I read a lot of Bible and became lost in it, forgetting the time in a way I wish would happen more often. For dinner, I ate leftover marinaded steak, a small baked sweet potato with Splenda and cinnamon, and a fresh salad made with all my favorite ingredients - Romaine lettuce, carrot, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, half an avocado, walnuts, raisins, a sprinkling of Feta cheese, and a vinaigrette dressing I mixed myself. Dessert was a slice of a dark chocolate orange.
Everything has a fresh flavor to it. It was a good day.
I spent the afternoon of New Year's with Gabi. I gave her a Pashmini scarf for her belated Christmas present, and she gave me a teapot + infuser + tea. Good stuff. We walked around my beautiful neighborhood for an hour, in the sunny, glorious - albeit chilly and windy - fresh air. In the park area near the townhouses, we swung on the swingset. Her scarf flew off. I lunged and caught it mid-swing, and we both laughed like a couple of little kids. Then we walked over to the movie theater and watched Juno. After the movie, I made us pancakes with bits of strawberry in the batter. When she had gone, I retired to my room, where I began a new journal with my start-of-the-year prayer and my resolutions. I read a lot of Bible and became lost in it, forgetting the time in a way I wish would happen more often. For dinner, I ate leftover marinaded steak, a small baked sweet potato with Splenda and cinnamon, and a fresh salad made with all my favorite ingredients - Romaine lettuce, carrot, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, half an avocado, walnuts, raisins, a sprinkling of Feta cheese, and a vinaigrette dressing I mixed myself. Dessert was a slice of a dark chocolate orange.
Everything has a fresh flavor to it. It was a good day.
Comments:
I noticed the Juno reference, too. Here are some comments about Juno from Screenit.com:
PROFANITY
• At least 1 "f" word (with another modified to sound a little different), 10 "s" words, 3 slang terms for sex ("do," "lays," "did it"), 9 slang terms using male genitals ("thing," "pork swords," "junk," "wiener," "d*ck"), 4 using female ones ("vagin," "vag," "snatch," "nookie"), 1 for breasts ("fun bags"), 4 asses (1 said as "a-hole"), 2 damns and at least 5 uses of "Oh my God," 4 of "God" and 3 uses of "Oh God."
SEX/NUDITY
• We hear Juno state that "it all started in a chair." We then see a flashback to her sexual encounter with Paulie. That includes a view between her legs toward him seated nude on a chair (due to the positioning of the camera and his body, no explicit nudity is seen). From that same view, we see her panties come down (no nudity), and then her walk toward him (she's still wearing a t-shirt) and then straddle him there. Most of that's in close-up away from the involved body parts, so while we know they begin to have sex, we don't see anything explicit. We do hear him state that he's wanted this for a really long time, and she then kisses him after saying she knows.
• Juno goes into a store to take a pregnancy test (for what we hear is the third time) and gets the same positive results. The male clerk matter-of-factly states, "Your eggo is preggo" after asking, "What's the prognosis, fertile Myrtle?" He then adds something about maybe her boyfriend having mutant sperm. A woman there also asks about her nipples changing from the pregnancy.
• A non-photo realistic cartoon drawing on Juno's wall shows a topless woman, but something in the pic blocks any view of the breasts.
• On the phone, Juno tries to convince her friend that she's pregnant and suicidal, saying she isn't Morgan Freeman. After she jokingly asks if her friend has any bones she needs collecting (in reference to the Freeman film "The Bone Collector"), Leah jokingly replies only those that are in her pants (presumably an erection joke).
• Leah asks Juno when she decided she was going to "do" Bleeker, and Juno replies that the act was premeditated, clarifying that as the sexual act, not the resultant pregnancy. Leah then asks what it was like "humping Bleeker's bony bod," and Juno replies that it was magnificent.
• After a group of high school males jog by, Juno states that whenever she sees them with their "things" bouncing around in their shorts, she can't help but imagine them naked with their "pork swords."
• Juno tells Paulie that she's sorry she had sex with him, adding that she knows it wasn't his idea.
• Juno comments on knowing that a jock wants her (sexually), adding that his kind like the quirky girls.
• Juno comments on her friend Leah being into older teachers.
• Juno states that it's been two months and four days since she had sex (and got pregnant). In voice over narration, she then comments on hating adults using the term "sexually active" in reference to teens. We then see a flashback or imagined bit showing a female schoolteacher demonstrating how to put a condom on a banana.
• A young female receptionist at a woman's clinic tells Juno to fill out the form completely as they need to know about "every score and every sore." She then asks if she wants a boysenberry flavored condom, adding that her boyfriend wears one every time they have intercourse and that they make his"junk" smell like pie. Since she's there for an abortion, Juno says she's off sex now. Juno later complains about this, commenting on the condoms that looked like grape suckers and the receptionist talking about her boyfriend's "pie balls."
• After Juno comments on embryos having fingernails, Leah thinks that's cool and wonders if they could scratch the "vagin" on the way out (during birth).
• Leah tells Juno to be quieter about being pregnant, adding that her mom doesn't know they're sexually active.
• We see Juno's writing in Paulie's yearbook next to her photo, and it says something about that he can "wank off" with that. After his mother comes into and then leaves his room, we see that he's holding a pair of Juno's panties balled up in his hand.
• Juno is anxious as she tells her dad and stepmom that she's pregnant. Bren says she didn't know Juno was sexually active, while Mac, upon hearing the identity of the father, says he didn't think Paulie had it in him. Juno then makes a comment about Paulie being really great, and then adds what sounded like her saying in the chair (where they had sex). While supportive, Mac says, "I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when." Juno then exits the room, and Mac wonders if this is all his fault. Bren says it isn't, adding that kids get bored and have intercourse. Mac then says that when he sees Paulie, he's going to punch him in the "wiener."
• After asking Paulie if he knows that Juno's baby is his (Paulie's), his friend says that he's going to stop wearing underpants to raise his sperm count.
• About a commercial product for which Mark composed the jingle, Juno jokingly adds, "Get more snatch by the batch."
• Juno jokingly tells Mark that she drank tons of booze, and thus he might get a baby born without "junk" (a penis, after he says there are only two options for the baby's sex). That term is then used several times again.
• Juno says she was named after Zeus who had tons of "lays" (or ladies).
• When Juno is asked if her parents are worried about her being out late, she replies that she's already pregnant and aks what other shenanigans she could get into.
• Juno comments on shoving a baby out of one's "vag."
• We see Juno's bare, pregnant belly on several occasions.
• Juno jokingly tells Mark to stop surfing porn (he isn't) and to get back to work.
• After Juno tells Leah how weird she (Juno) looks naked, Leah replies that she wishes her "fun bags" (breasts) would get bigger.
• Leah refers to an older male teacher as being "hot."
• About Paulie's prom date reportedly smelling like soup, Leah says that guys have endured worse things for "nookie."
• About his high school prom date years ago, Mark says she let him put his hands all over her.
• Mac asks Juno if she's having boy problems, adding that he doesn't much approve of her dating in her condition, adding that it's skanky, skivvy and "tore-up from the floor."
• After they make up, Paulie asks Juno if they can make out now. She says yes, they do, and Leah jokingly yells out from across the field that Juno could go into labor from "sucking face" like that.
• Juno states in voice over narration that she knows people are supposed to fall in love before reproducing, but she and Paulie aren't normal.
Do you find all this edifying or entertaining? Seriously, your blithe remark that you watched this movie casts all your self-searching -- along with your searching for God's will -- in an odd light. Don't you think?
PROFANITY
• At least 1 "f" word (with another modified to sound a little different), 10 "s" words, 3 slang terms for sex ("do," "lays," "did it"), 9 slang terms using male genitals ("thing," "pork swords," "junk," "wiener," "d*ck"), 4 using female ones ("vagin," "vag," "snatch," "nookie"), 1 for breasts ("fun bags"), 4 asses (1 said as "a-hole"), 2 damns and at least 5 uses of "Oh my God," 4 of "God" and 3 uses of "Oh God."
SEX/NUDITY
• We hear Juno state that "it all started in a chair." We then see a flashback to her sexual encounter with Paulie. That includes a view between her legs toward him seated nude on a chair (due to the positioning of the camera and his body, no explicit nudity is seen). From that same view, we see her panties come down (no nudity), and then her walk toward him (she's still wearing a t-shirt) and then straddle him there. Most of that's in close-up away from the involved body parts, so while we know they begin to have sex, we don't see anything explicit. We do hear him state that he's wanted this for a really long time, and she then kisses him after saying she knows.
• Juno goes into a store to take a pregnancy test (for what we hear is the third time) and gets the same positive results. The male clerk matter-of-factly states, "Your eggo is preggo" after asking, "What's the prognosis, fertile Myrtle?" He then adds something about maybe her boyfriend having mutant sperm. A woman there also asks about her nipples changing from the pregnancy.
• A non-photo realistic cartoon drawing on Juno's wall shows a topless woman, but something in the pic blocks any view of the breasts.
• On the phone, Juno tries to convince her friend that she's pregnant and suicidal, saying she isn't Morgan Freeman. After she jokingly asks if her friend has any bones she needs collecting (in reference to the Freeman film "The Bone Collector"), Leah jokingly replies only those that are in her pants (presumably an erection joke).
• Leah asks Juno when she decided she was going to "do" Bleeker, and Juno replies that the act was premeditated, clarifying that as the sexual act, not the resultant pregnancy. Leah then asks what it was like "humping Bleeker's bony bod," and Juno replies that it was magnificent.
• After a group of high school males jog by, Juno states that whenever she sees them with their "things" bouncing around in their shorts, she can't help but imagine them naked with their "pork swords."
• Juno tells Paulie that she's sorry she had sex with him, adding that she knows it wasn't his idea.
• Juno comments on knowing that a jock wants her (sexually), adding that his kind like the quirky girls.
• Juno comments on her friend Leah being into older teachers.
• Juno states that it's been two months and four days since she had sex (and got pregnant). In voice over narration, she then comments on hating adults using the term "sexually active" in reference to teens. We then see a flashback or imagined bit showing a female schoolteacher demonstrating how to put a condom on a banana.
• A young female receptionist at a woman's clinic tells Juno to fill out the form completely as they need to know about "every score and every sore." She then asks if she wants a boysenberry flavored condom, adding that her boyfriend wears one every time they have intercourse and that they make his"junk" smell like pie. Since she's there for an abortion, Juno says she's off sex now. Juno later complains about this, commenting on the condoms that looked like grape suckers and the receptionist talking about her boyfriend's "pie balls."
• After Juno comments on embryos having fingernails, Leah thinks that's cool and wonders if they could scratch the "vagin" on the way out (during birth).
• Leah tells Juno to be quieter about being pregnant, adding that her mom doesn't know they're sexually active.
• We see Juno's writing in Paulie's yearbook next to her photo, and it says something about that he can "wank off" with that. After his mother comes into and then leaves his room, we see that he's holding a pair of Juno's panties balled up in his hand.
• Juno is anxious as she tells her dad and stepmom that she's pregnant. Bren says she didn't know Juno was sexually active, while Mac, upon hearing the identity of the father, says he didn't think Paulie had it in him. Juno then makes a comment about Paulie being really great, and then adds what sounded like her saying in the chair (where they had sex). While supportive, Mac says, "I thought you were the kind of girl who knew when to say when." Juno then exits the room, and Mac wonders if this is all his fault. Bren says it isn't, adding that kids get bored and have intercourse. Mac then says that when he sees Paulie, he's going to punch him in the "wiener."
• After asking Paulie if he knows that Juno's baby is his (Paulie's), his friend says that he's going to stop wearing underpants to raise his sperm count.
• About a commercial product for which Mark composed the jingle, Juno jokingly adds, "Get more snatch by the batch."
• Juno jokingly tells Mark that she drank tons of booze, and thus he might get a baby born without "junk" (a penis, after he says there are only two options for the baby's sex). That term is then used several times again.
• Juno says she was named after Zeus who had tons of "lays" (or ladies).
• When Juno is asked if her parents are worried about her being out late, she replies that she's already pregnant and aks what other shenanigans she could get into.
• Juno comments on shoving a baby out of one's "vag."
• We see Juno's bare, pregnant belly on several occasions.
• Juno jokingly tells Mark to stop surfing porn (he isn't) and to get back to work.
• After Juno tells Leah how weird she (Juno) looks naked, Leah replies that she wishes her "fun bags" (breasts) would get bigger.
• Leah refers to an older male teacher as being "hot."
• About Paulie's prom date reportedly smelling like soup, Leah says that guys have endured worse things for "nookie."
• About his high school prom date years ago, Mark says she let him put his hands all over her.
• Mac asks Juno if she's having boy problems, adding that he doesn't much approve of her dating in her condition, adding that it's skanky, skivvy and "tore-up from the floor."
• After they make up, Paulie asks Juno if they can make out now. She says yes, they do, and Leah jokingly yells out from across the field that Juno could go into labor from "sucking face" like that.
• Juno states in voice over narration that she knows people are supposed to fall in love before reproducing, but she and Paulie aren't normal.
Do you find all this edifying or entertaining? Seriously, your blithe remark that you watched this movie casts all your self-searching -- along with your searching for God's will -- in an odd light. Don't you think?
# posted by 
: 8:53 AM
: 8:53 AM
Whoa, "Anonymous," hang on for a second. Did Screenit.com also mention the following:
- The cute Asian teen with the sign outside of the abortion clinic, bravely proclaiming that God loves all babies, who convinces Juno not to have an abortion
- Juno flat-out telling a mixed-up man that he must not divorce his wife, that divorce is bad
- Juno and her boyfriend through the course of the movie deciding that they could love each other for life, with the implication that they will be married later in life, and that they do not plan to have sex again until then
Yes, the characters in the movie are quite up-front about what they have done - but that's exactly it! The "act" is not depicted in graphic detail, but what is shown is enough to tell a teenage viewer that sex is not necessarily the glamorous thing that all the other movies promise, and that it has serious, life-making consequences.
I volunteer at a local teen center on Friday nights, and the kids are so steeped in false sexual ideas and images. I think that Juno could radically change the way teens nowadays think. It is in-your-face honest, and I appreciate it for the deep truths it expresses. It may not be "clean," but it is in its own way "pure."
- The cute Asian teen with the sign outside of the abortion clinic, bravely proclaiming that God loves all babies, who convinces Juno not to have an abortion
- Juno flat-out telling a mixed-up man that he must not divorce his wife, that divorce is bad
- Juno and her boyfriend through the course of the movie deciding that they could love each other for life, with the implication that they will be married later in life, and that they do not plan to have sex again until then
Yes, the characters in the movie are quite up-front about what they have done - but that's exactly it! The "act" is not depicted in graphic detail, but what is shown is enough to tell a teenage viewer that sex is not necessarily the glamorous thing that all the other movies promise, and that it has serious, life-making consequences.
I volunteer at a local teen center on Friday nights, and the kids are so steeped in false sexual ideas and images. I think that Juno could radically change the way teens nowadays think. It is in-your-face honest, and I appreciate it for the deep truths it expresses. It may not be "clean," but it is in its own way "pure."
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, "Anonymous." I am exposed every day to the realities of life, and I'm realizing that, to reach these people around me in America, I have to understand what makes them who they are. It is a different culture from the one in which I grew up as a homeschooler. Many have suffered a lot more than I have. But my upbringing is not my doing. I didn't cause myself to be born into a wonderful Christian family. If I was born into another family, what choices would I have made? Who would I be?
I could be Juno or any other misfit. My entire life is a gift from God.
I didn't know what levels of mature content were in the movie when I went to go see it, nor did I maintain a running tally as I watched. I would never write the movie myself. It did have some truly gross and unncessary moments. But it was honest and true to life, and it brought hope out of darkness. Would I have gone to see it if I had read up on its contents? I don't know. Would I have gone to see it a year ago? Probably not.
I don't have to defend myself to someone who won't even give his name. I am responding because I am troubled by your implication that no good can come out of a "mature" movie. I would argue instead that you can only address some topics fully by giving the elements that evoke the proper emotional response as well as the mental.
This is an ages-old debate, of course.
I could be Juno or any other misfit. My entire life is a gift from God.
I didn't know what levels of mature content were in the movie when I went to go see it, nor did I maintain a running tally as I watched. I would never write the movie myself. It did have some truly gross and unncessary moments. But it was honest and true to life, and it brought hope out of darkness. Would I have gone to see it if I had read up on its contents? I don't know. Would I have gone to see it a year ago? Probably not.
I don't have to defend myself to someone who won't even give his name. I am responding because I am troubled by your implication that no good can come out of a "mature" movie. I would argue instead that you can only address some topics fully by giving the elements that evoke the proper emotional response as well as the mental.
This is an ages-old debate, of course.
Well, I would say that there is nothing "mature" about the movie, given its description, "mature" being a misnomer for that sort of thing. I don't think I implied that nothing good can come of bad, though; that would be silly. What I do think is that this kind of bad is entirely unworthy -- and also entirely unnecessary to convey whatever good there might be in it. You could append a pro-life theme to pornography, but that wouldn't make it worthwhile.
Anyway, all the best to you as you make these decisions. I am saddened by the bad ones I have made, and I hope for you that you will have fewer regrets.
One more little comment: I think you already know "what makes these people who they are." It isn't hard to grasp and doesn't require repeated viewings of simulated sex acts, etc. You know, already.
Anyway, all the best to you as you make these decisions. I am saddened by the bad ones I have made, and I hope for you that you will have fewer regrets.
One more little comment: I think you already know "what makes these people who they are." It isn't hard to grasp and doesn't require repeated viewings of simulated sex acts, etc. You know, already.
# posted by : 8:06 PM
: 8:06 PM
I don't know for sure who you are, but your style of communication reminds me of someone else who assumed he could know a large number of things about me from extremely limited information. My warning to you would be, don't judge on incomplete information, lest ye be judged.
I felt I should add as well that I don't mind at all being reminded and challenged about the crud in a movie I watched. The part I object to is the last sentence of your original comment, in which you carry it so far as to make a judgment about the state of my heart.
And no, I do not normally watch movies or TV shows full of graphic crudity for the sake of crudity. I despise such things, in fact. The purpose of Juno was pure, however. And my own purpose in watching it was research, since a friend had recommended it to me. I was a Lit major. That's what we're trained to do - analyze for the good.
It didn't even occur to me that watching the movie might be a problem. It's like telling a pediatrician that he is a pedophile because he looks at naked children.
And no, I do not normally watch movies or TV shows full of graphic crudity for the sake of crudity. I despise such things, in fact. The purpose of Juno was pure, however. And my own purpose in watching it was research, since a friend had recommended it to me. I was a Lit major. That's what we're trained to do - analyze for the good.
It didn't even occur to me that watching the movie might be a problem. It's like telling a pediatrician that he is a pedophile because he looks at naked children.
Hey, Sarah.
I miss you and Gabi, and I wish I could be there to spend time with you. I wanted to see Juno, but it just came to our theaters and I haven't had the time. I hope your time back home with your family was restorative. :)
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I miss you and Gabi, and I wish I could be there to spend time with you. I wanted to see Juno, but it just came to our theaters and I haven't had the time. I hope your time back home with your family was restorative. :)
