The past two Sundays, I've gone with the boss-man to a nearby shooting range and learned to handle a gun.
For those of you who know me fairly well, this isn't that surprising. As a cop's daughter, I've been wanting to learn to shoot for a long time. And as they say, what's bred in the bone will out in the blood, or something along those lines. I've been foaming-at-the-mouth-rabid about the Second Amendment for years. I love that Faye Valentine of Cowboy Bebop carries a beautifully animated Glock. Everyone else in my family can shoot.
So now it's my turn.
I got to experiment with all different calibers and all different kinds. I really like revolvers. Interestingly, since I'm ambidextrous (though trained since childhood to favor the right hand) and left-eyed, when it comes to shotguns and rifles, I'm a lefty.
I've had a lot of fun. I'd only been out shooting once in my life before, and that was seven years ago. My first shot since then, last Sunday, was just below the red circle in the center of the target. My boss was amazed, and happy to watch my progress. He's said the following:
1. I'm a natural;
2. I'm better than people who have been practicing for 8-10 years;
3. I'm the most adept girl he's seen;
4. I can go into competitions.
Since he and his wonderful wife (also my boss) have been trying to think of ways to marry me off, we all agree that might be a potential way to meet men. (As long as they know how to read.)
Anyway, I think I've discovered a new hobby. Now when I'm in a good mood, I smell the tang of gunpowder.
14 comments:
You go, girl! Let me just say, I love the Bebop! You should try knife-throwing next.
Hahahaha! That's also been a private goal, since I was a teeny tiny toddler watching The Princess Bride. :)
Oh, yes, and long live the Bebop. There's nothing like.
If you like Bebop - check out Samurai Champaloo. It's a series created and directed by the same guy that did Bebop. It's dang good.
I saw the first three or four eps of Samurai and LOVED it. Only problem? SO expensive. And I have this thing about owning the movies and TV shows I really love. Any over-the-ocean professionally not-quite-the-original versions you'd recommend (since Asian copy right laws are three thousand times more sensible than ours)?
Could you be any more awesome? I think not. :)
Well shucks - perhaps I should change my handle to Mr. Awesome :) Hubris will get you every time.
Netflix. And Bittorent - that's the answer. I don't even own a TV and don't want to ever again. The only TV in my apartment is gutted and filled with books. I have a netflix account and just watch them on my computer monitor. My monitor is 19 inches, so it's comfortable enough to watch from the couch. I netflixed the entire Bebop and SamChamp series about six months ago and watched them all in an orgy of artistic delight.
For the newer stuff, I download them via bittorrent. I caught up on Battlestar Galactica via Netflix, but the newer episodes I had to download. This is also where I fed my Planet Earth addiction ;)
On the subject of Japanimation - are you a Miyazaki fan? Spirited Away?
Miyazaki disciple would be more appropriate. :) I wax incoherent when it comes to Spirited Away. It's my everything movie, the one I watch for every mood I'm in, but especially when I'm happiest. I saw it in the theater the week it came out and I believe my consciousness dissolved and for two hours I sat entraced by the beauty and imagination and artistry and heart of that work. I never wanted it to end.
I love his other stuff too. Haven't seen it all yet, but my collection includes Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, and Howl's Moving Castle. I'm also a fan of Castle in the Sky and Kiki's Delivery Service.
What did you like best about Spirited Away? Besides...well...everything?
Ah, Spirited Away is my top movie of all time. I saw it twice in the theatre when it came out. It'd be hard to say what I liked best about it, but unlike any other movie it completely transported me. I think that is what drew me to science fiction and fantasy as a kid, that feeling of something completely "other" and outside your experience. And not just that, but the whole world is so fully realized that you get the impression that every character has an individual story going on behind the scenes. It was just so visually beautiful and so refeshingly not American!
My introduction to Miyazaki and my first love was Princess Monanoke. At first just because I had a crush on the Princess :) I mean, come on...she rides a wolf around in the woods and wears masks, what's not to love? There's gotta be a self-help group for guys with crushes on cartoon characters...the little mermaid was my childhood undoing.
I think I've seen just about everything of his that you can get in the states - except for Kiki. Have you seen Porco Rosso? That's another good one. Nausicaa is good as well. His new one, Ponyo on a Cliff, is due out in 2008. Apparently there's a few short films that are only played in his studios - I haven't been able to get ahold of them.
Is there any outside of Miyazaki you like? I haven't found much anime outside of the first Ghost in the Shell and the old classic Grave of the Fireflies.
I'm a hopeless cartoon crusher as well...my first love was Prince Philip of Sleeping Beauty, and then there was Dimitri of Anastasia...and, of course, Ashitaka, with his curse and his innate nobility and his clear vision of ending hatred and his kick-ass way of handling a bow and a sword. Ridiculous.
Porco Rosso and Nausicaa are on my "must see" list, as is Grave of the Fireflies...but no, I haven't seen much outside of Miyazaki; my experience in film and literature tends to be deeper than it is broad. I'll find an artist I like, and read/watch everything s/he has ever done, but I'm slower to explore new artists on my own.
Anime is a tough genre, I've found; you have to sift through tons of mud to find the gems. And I don't have Netflix. :)
Although in my teeny-bopper years, I was shamelessly addicted to (the much-edited-for-innocent-American-girls version of) that awful Sailor Moon.
Well, I've just netflixed Kiki - so I'll let you know what I think about it, though I'm sure I'm going to like it :)
I remembered a view others that are worth watching. There's one called Memories that is actually 3 short pieces by three different filmmakers. They usually have it at a blockbuster. Two of them are amazing and one is pretty good. Voices from a Distant Star is good too - it was created by one guy alone on his computer; it's very atmospheric and well scripted. That's about it for anime, though...you're right, it's tough to find the good ones among the dross. And don't even get me started on the kick-face movies. What's your favorite non-anime flick? I also tend to go on author kicks in literature - I've recently discovered Carol Shields and am slowly working my way through everything she's written.
Of course - my reading and viewing will increase when classes are out in a week. Thank God - I'm ready for summer, even though I have to go back to the same crappy day job for a while.
Kiki is totally cute -- also one of the few works by someone else that Miyazaki made into film (Howl's Moving Castle was the first he'd done since Kiki). Hope you like it! Let me know what you think -- I haven't seen it in a few years, so I may need a refresher myself.
As for my favorite non-anime flick - ACK! I don't know! That question always temporarily short-circuits my brain because my tastes are so eclectic, ranging from Disney to sci-fi to fantasy to thrillers to chick flicks to Westerns to action to drama to international to indie that it's always almost impossible for me to pick just ONE. But okay, I'll give it a whirl. Just pulling something whimsically out of my hat, I'll say, oh, Magnolia. Postmodern brilliance. Simultaneously full of despair and hope, sorrow and joy. The essence of Story, of fragmentation seaming into connectedness. Miracle breaking into the ordinary. Fantastic performances, wonderful directing. Absolutely beautiful.
Yours?
I didn't know you were a student! Que estudias? I'm assuming acting, but it's still worth the question. What kind of program? What focus?
And, of course: What day job? Crappy summer day jobs are the best and the worst ever.
Argh, how dare you turn my own question back on me! I feel the same way...it's hard to pin down. When asked what my favorite movie is, I always say Spirited away. I do like the work of that french dude...whose name I can't remember now...but I like The City of Lost Children a ton. He also did Delicatessen. Magnolia is indeed wonderful! I was completely entranced when I saw it in the theatre back in undergrad. Did you catch all the references to Exodus 8:2? I also like some of the Wes Anderson films, especially The Life Aquatic and The Royal Tennenbaums. Ah - Pan's Labyrinth...that could possibly be a new favorite.
Yes indeed - I'm just finishing up the first year of a 3 year MFA program in Acting. A piece of paper that says I have a masters in pretending. It's been hard for me to realize that the grades, really, truly, do not matter - it's what I'm learning. Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago. Despite supposedly being an intense conservatory acting program, Roosevelt requires us to take many courses that I would rather not. So I'm studying to be an actor, and taking a Stage Manager course, a dramaturgy course, etc... It bothers me less than my classmates because I'm a learn-aholic about just about everything. There's only 8 of us and we spend about 12-13 hours a day with each other, so it's a good thing we get along.
Crappy summer day jobs...meh. One of these days I'll make enough money doing audio-books and voice overs that I won't have to have one. One of these days... In the meantime, I take whatever I can get. It's just a receptionist/filer in an office, but it'll last me through 2 months until I go to Italy for a month!
On a completely different subject, I'm going to be in South Bend in a couple weeks! I'm going to visit some ultimate frisbee friends and play in the kickoff summer league play on Sunday the 20th. I don't know yet if I'd be coming down on Saturday or early Sunday. I'd love to take you and/or Mariannes offer up of showing me the sights. I promise not to compare everything to Chicago or make too many Indiana jokes!
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