Various Musings on Various Topics

I'm back from a fun filled weekend in Columbia. It was a lot of fun to go back and see all the old sights, like our old house, the mall, the church, Shakespeare's, etc. There's pictures of everything up on my photobucket account. The link is in the right-hand column. ("My Pictures")
Now for the various musings.
The trailer for the September 11th movie "United 93" (which I will not post an imDb link to out of decency) has begun showing. Frankly, when I first saw it in the theater before "Inside Man," I was shocked. It's been 5 years. That's like making a Pearl Harbor movie in 1946. Now, I understand that technology is more advanced. They can make movies faster. But why on earth would you make a movie about September 11th??!? Are people that sadistically entertained? Have we run out of ideas in Hollywood to the extent of making entertainment out of disasters? What's next? "Coming in 2008: Hurricane Katrina the Movie." I mean, come on. Don't you think that people are still probably upset about 9/11? For the sake of decency, why would you put out a movie that recounts events disasterous to our nation that affect people very strongly still today because of lost loved ones? They haven't even had ample time to "heal!" There was a theater chain in New York, I believe, that actually pulled the trailer from theaters. I applaud them. No wonder our society is falling to pieces.
Which brings me to my next musing. This morning while flipping through channels, I came across the horrendous "My Super Sweet 16" on MTV (a channel I very rarely watch). Wow. And I thought some people in college where spoiled. The featured brat was a 15-year-old daughter of a car salesman in Beverly Hills. (Speaking of which, remind me never to live anywhere near there. I'm scared that the snobbiness will somehow rub off. Ewww.) I tuned in a little late (oh darn) and discovered the brat trying on dresses. She was going to get three for her party. Why? Just because. "I want to be a star" was the phrase most often uttered in this half-hour. She tried on one that showed a little too much upstairs, if you catch my drift. She "absolutely loved" it, but her mom was concerned, and rightly so. The brat's response? "Well, I like it, and that's all that matters." $500 later, she had a dress and her mom looked like she couldn't do a thing about it (sic). She then went car shopping (apparantly it's just a given that you get whatever car you want on your 16th birthday. Nevermind working for it, nevermind having to start off with a crappy one.). She really wanted a 06 Mitsubishi Eclipse, but her parents wanted her to get something safer like an SUV. So, the giant Yukon or Escalade (I couldn't tell) it was. Later, there was drama as the brat discovered her father, who also had his own job, was not able to find a band for the party. Nevermind a local band, or even a DJ. She wanted someone like Green Day or Haylie Duff. Drama Drama Drama. The party then followed. Oog. She was driven into the party in one dress, changed right after that, and then changed again. GO figure. Add gratuitous shots of various "friends" saying, "THIS PARTY ROCKS! Every other sweet 16 is gonna look pitiful next to this!" etc. The brat's parents then revealed the big surprise: they bought her both the Eclipse and the other SUV. "Something to drive on the weekend," I believe her father said. Then some famous singer I've never heard of popped up. Woohoo.
Wow, where do I start? First of all, I've never seen anyone more spoiled in my life. Two cars at 16? I'm 19 and am still probably 3 or 4 years away from my first car. Second of all, great job with the parenting, morons. She's obivously discovered that she can whine enough and get her way (if I hear "Daddy, daddy, daddy!" one more time I'm going to puke) at an early age. Her parents virtually had no say. The only thing they were good for was paying for it (around $150,000 the brat said). There was absolutely no discipline present. Third of all, why on earth do people feel the need to spend that much money on one, in my opinion, rather insignificant day? Even if the dad did say "You only turn 16 once!" For that matter, we only turn 14 once. And 15. And 17. And 18. And 19. Moron. But I digress. The only day I can think of where that much money is even consdered is perhaps your wedding day, but even 15 grand is pushing it. Aiyoh.
That's it. I'm burnt out on the whole spoiled brat topic. In local news (haha), I enroll in classes tonight! Hopefully, I'll be taking a Prob and Stats class, the next level of Russian, Journalism 301, a international political science course, and a history class about the Samurai.
Fun stuff in Kansas!