First, a little social commentary. Nehring the Edge
explains the situation, but I'll summarize here. Movie ratings are not law (that surprised me when I found it out; they're just theater rules), but most movies are submitted for ratings from the MPAA because most theaters won't show unrated movies. (That includes smaller documentaries, not just movies that would be X-rated if they were.) Recently, the MPAA gave a movie a PG rating for promoting Christianity. That's horrible. I'm not saying Christians should be allowed to proselytize in movies and boo to the MPAA for shooting us (though they're Baptist, I think) down. I'm saying that if movie ratings can discriminate on the basis of religion, this is the beginning of a slippery slope. And, as the article (or perhaps another blog post I read on the subject) mentions, there are many Christians who won't see the movie anyway because it's rated PG. I read a
Washington Post Magazine article a few years ago that lamented the uselessness of movie ratings. Did you know that PG-13 was created in response to the movie
Gremlins? Before that, it was either mild enough for PG or harsh enough for R, but now there's a whole gray area. I object to the age restrictions of PG-13 and R. Parents should be allowed to decide what their children can see, regardless of age; I feel the same way about parents allowing or not allowing their children to read Harry Potter. If your child can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality, you know that best, and should
not let them read those books. If your six-year-old is mature enough for books about death and war, go for it.
Next, a link to this week's
Catholic Carnival at CowPi. The Catholic Carnival is a collection of blog posts written on a specified theme. I like how it exposes me to a lot of St. Blog's parishioners I would have missed in the sea of lengthy blogrolls. I always picked up the links from
Happy Catholic, but I finally came across the
Google Group that let me subscribe. One of these days, I might even be good enough to be in it.
Finally, a bunch of
Friday Fives I missed, because today's activities aren't worth talking about.
May 5: What's In a Name?
1) Do you like your birth-name? Why? I love it! I was named after the actress that played the Bionic Woman (Lindsay Wagner, who now does Select Comfort commercials for the Sleep Number bed, which my parents own), but that's not why I like it. It's originally a man's name, and it has no special meaning ("from the isle of the linden trees"), but it feels perfect and feminine and pretty to me.
2) If you could change your name to anything else, what would it be? I wanted a K name when I was younger, but I got over it. I love my name now. See question #1.
3) What names would you consider giving your children? I've always liked Alyssa. I don't know why. Maybe it's my fondness for Y. It's such a forgotten letter. I have no idea about boy names, but I like saint names: Anthony (for today's feast), Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Not Jesus. It'd be far too awkward to punish (my future son) Jesus.
4) If you had a band, what would you name it, and why? I think I read of an actor with a band called Animal Crackers. That's kinda cool.
5) Is there a name that you completely hate? Why? I wouldn't name a child Jesus, like I said. Or Hitler, or Osama, or ESPN (pronounced "espen";
I am not making that up). I also prefer names that are relatively easy to spell and definitely easy to pronounce. (I've read "Lynsey" and heard "lindsAY" before.)
May 12: (no title)
If you knew you were going to die on at specific day at a specific time, what's the last...
1. song you would listen to? What kind of question is this? I'd be hearing whatever's running in my head, which lately has been Christian music from the radio.
2. book you would read? The Bible. Duh.
3. person you would talk to? God?
4. food you would eat? Now this is appropriately silly. My mom's chicken teriyaki. It's so good.
5. goal you would accomplish? To read the whole Bible. I think it has become the third contender in the tie for my favorite book.
May 19: (no title)
1. What type of mood are you generally in on a rainy day? Frustrated. There's the risk of wet socks, the awkwardness of carrying an umbrella, and the limitation of hairstyles (not that I ever get particularly creative).
2. What are your favorite things to do when the weather is gloomy? Stay inside with power that has not gone out.
3. Have you ever been kissed in the rain? Not
in, per se, but
while it was raining and I was safely on the porch.
4. After the rain stops, do you continue what you were doing, or do you run outside to do something else? Whatever I was doing was probably inside to begin with.
5. What is your favorite drink/food to have when it's raining outside? People have rain food? I'm pretty weird, but that's a bit much.
May 26: Honey, I'm Home!
1. How many places have you lived in your life? I'm assuming this means "houses" and not "countries" or "continents." Counting two stints in short-term military housing, I think I've lived in ten different houses/apartments. Twelve if you count both dorm rooms as well. I've gotten good at moving.
2. Which was your favorite and why and what street was it on? Besides the past three semesters of college, I liked Germany best. We lived in Speicher GLH (government leased housing) for a while, then moved on base. Base housing didn't really have streets. We had building numbers.
3. If you could live anywhere for the rest of your life, where would it be? Anywhere that feels like home is good for me.
4. What would your ideal home have in it? All of my stuff.
5. Can you describe your current crib? I have never used the word "crib" to describe my house, ever. Our house is really good, actually, which is our reward after years of apartments and temporary housing. We have five bedrooms; the fifth has the other computers (mine is in my room). My parents have done a lot of remodeling and such over time. The outside is all brick, which I love. I also like having my own bathroom, since everyone else lives upstairs. It means I have to clean it, which I did today, but I can deal. It has a split foyer, which means that you come in the front (double) door and must immediately go upstairs or downstairs. Being half underground makes my room super cold, but I close my vent and wear a sweatshirt.
I'm skipping June 2 because it was about the 80's. I was no older than four. I can barely remember last month, let alone fifteen years ago.
June 8: (no title)
1. What is (or would be) your dream vacation? I haven't been on vacation in a very long time, but I think I'd like to go, so anything would be good at this point. Even back to Europe or Hawaii.
2. What's one thing no vacation can do without? Visiting a location to take pretty pictures.
3. What has been the best trip of your life so far? My 8th grade class trip to England was pretty awesome.
4. Who was with you on that trip and what is the role of that person in your life? My mom went as a chaperone. A bunch of my school friends were there, too. I got to have two of them (Kat and Andra, who I've mentioned in my blog before) stay in my room because I brought a chaperone.
5. What's the worst thing that can happen during a vacation? Constant rain. I hate rain, especially when I have outdoor travel-type things to do.
