News of the Weird

Big news story of the day...

Hansen sets world record at swim trials

...

*waits*

*pauses*

...

*dies giggling*

I'm sorry, but when I read that headline I honestly read it as Hanson, and couldn't figure out why they were swimming. Or if it was a relay. And when they had taken up the sport and become so good without getting major news coverage.

Okay, really I just for a second thought "Hanson" and nearly died laughing.

Didn't see THAT one coming

Well. Apparently the 'MS (minus the 'P') has me extra weepy. (Gotta remember to steer clear of the Reader's Digest.) Seeing this following tidbit at TV Guide Online actually made me tear up.

DYNAMIC DUO: Hollywood power players Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg are joining forces to bring the Battle of Iwo Jima to the big screen. Eastwood will direct an adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima for Spielberg's company DreamWorks. The story chronicles the 1945 battle on the small Japanese island, which produced the historic photograph of six American soldiers raising the nation's flag on Mount Suribachi, the island's commanding high point.

I will so be there on opening day. Do they need financial assistance to make this movie? Because I'll chip in. Gran and I will be seeing that first thing. I don't care that I wanted to punch Clint Eastwood prior to the Oscars this year (being all snotty over Lord of the Rings...dude, bite me). This is just one of those things that gets me in all my love for my grandfather and his time in World War II.

Preoccupation

I got distracted this afternoon. I was trolling about online for pictures to make Maveness icons. It's weird trying to find pictures that you consider representative of you. Especially considering the fact that based on different emotions and different times, I might choose different pictures.

And then a post by ebonbird that was insightful and eloquent (as ebonbird always is) got me off on a tangent with the pictures.

Here's the interesting thing. I look at the pictures I collected before I got off on the tangent. Then I look at the other pictures.

Even though you can tell a difference between the two sets (because the first set is predominently red and the second set is much darker), they still have a strong, underlying theme. They're still very similar. One of the earlier pictures is of Marilyn Monroe, from the Playboy shoot. It's actually quite artsy and beautiful, with her stretched on her side on a red sheet. Marilyn Monroe was a seriously beautiful woman, although extremely sad (which comes through in so many of her photographs). In the second set is a photograph of Alek Wek (who I consider to be the most beautiful woman in the modeling industry, if not the world) done by Herb Ritts that is...fierce and womanly to rival Grace Jones. She's nude except for a pair of high heels, a silver background and her skin just *glows* (well, she was obviously oiled for the shoot too, but her skin glows anyway). And she's so fierce and proud and majestic. In many ways those two photos, of Marilyn and Alek, would seem completely opposite...yet they're so similar.

Edited to add: I just looked at the pictures again, and I realized what the theme was. I'm very big on texture and depth. Plus they're all lush and dark. They're all almost haunting. Which is also how I like my music...dark and haunting (hence a deep love for Alison Krauss, who can do some seriously haunting work).