File under "Cry, things that make me"

Caution: I promise that other than things like this, I am quite a well-rounded, likeable person. Ha ha ha.

I probably don't come off as an excessively emotional person. You're probably largely off base. While in day to day life I tend to...overuse humour in the place of getting all emotional...(although humour should be in inverted commas because humorous it may or may not be), I'm going to make a confession here - I'm a ridiculously unstable person, which means I go through ridiculously unstable emotions and phases where I am, basically, a giant cry baby. My mental stability is almost as questionable as, you know, my social life, etc. It's pretty inexplicable but hit a raw nerve when I'm having a bad day and I'll well up, and then get really angry to mask that. I'm good with the sudden bouts of inexplicable anger.

But apart from that, crying is something that is reserved for the home, and it turns out, the movie theatre. When it comes to movies, it turns out I am essentially a giant marshmallow, with the added bonus that the marshmallow isn't just a softie but also prone to bouts of uncontrollable tears. I don't like it, but I tell it as it is. So, because you love me (oh come on, don't be afraid to admit it, the internet is a relatively safe forum when it comes to the heartfelt expressions of our undying love etc), I take it you want to know which movies/television shows/music/etc transform me from a moderately stable, often happy person into a quivering wreck, right? Well you're lucky, because that's what you're going to find out.

Movies: Don't lie. You've watched Marley & Me, you used to own a dog, and you were watching the end bit and in tears, right? Doesn't that sum up pretty much everyone who watched that movie? I've read the book too, but books don't tend to make me go soft - I need the visual attached to the story. But yes, I'm going to come right out and tell you that when I first went to see that movie with three good friends, three of the four of us were blubbering by the end (Note: the one guy not crying, the most likely to cry in any other movie - trust me, has not and has never owned a pet). I watched it again the next year by myself in an English hotel room and yet again, I teared up. Sue me. But it isn't just overly depressing movies about dogs (SPOILER! SPOILER! For the people who have a go at me when I disclose even the tiniest little plot point) getting put down that get me bawling - oh no, there are more.

Have you seen Freedom Writers? Every time I watch that movie, regardless of how much I prepare it for mentally and how little attention I pay to the beginning of the movie, as soon as you reach the middle section with Marcus and Miep Gies and they do the whole Anne Frank scene, I am invariably sitting and crying my eyes at, and trying to work out if everyone else watching with me is as well. What can I say? I'm Jewish, it hits a nerve? To be honest, I'm not sure, but when I first watched it with a hundred other people, I don't think there were many dry eyes.

Of course, when I was younger, I cried at everything. Some movie called Spirit about a horse? I remember crying in that even though to this day I have no idea what exactly the plot was. Turns out, though, that wasn't the only animated movie that could set me off. Just recently, I was bawling like a newborn in Toy Story 3. The cinema - three of us girls who've actually become invested in the characters over the two prior movies; several harried mothers attempting to chain their children to the comfy leather seats (my friends and I are big ole' spenders) and several schools of kindegartners (one of whom, I have to let you know, was wearing a trucker cap, oversized Man United jersey and big ass silver chains - the original six year old gangster?). When it got to the garbage dump, or Andy saying goodbye to Woody, us three were pratically on the floor crying, and all the little kids were laughing and throwing popcorn. Age gap, it's evident.

Music: I go through phases where different things make me cry, because I'm an unpredictable wreck. Music is particularly topsy turvy - when especially emotional periods of my life are around, I'll cry at anything. Judge me all you like (or don't, please don't), but after my grandfather died I couldn't listen to the Charlie Chaplin version of Smile as done by the cast of Glee without bursting out into tears - clearly the song did not achieve its goal. Other songs that have made this elite list include Superman by Five For Fighting, Together We'll Ring In The New Year by Motion City Soundtrack, Caught In The Crowd by Kate Miller-Heidke, You and Me by Lifehouse...Can you tell that I'm probably in need of some form of medication? I'm joking. That was a joke.
This is why I've not gone into comedy.

Television shows: So far you've gathered that I'm massively overemotional in select situations, and television shows are no different - you sit me down with a finale of a show that I have loved for years, or a character that I've become really attached to dying, or any given episode of Cold Case that has to do with the death of a child, and BAM, I'm in that same state. Did I cry in the Scrubs finale? Maybe - mind you, not the Med School series, because that was ... a whole different animal. This is why I avoid most hospital shows - too many characters I like would die (I watch ER sometimes and I really shouldn't), or shows where people dying is an everyday event. Really, it's quite alarming that I got into Lost, considering the amount of death that show carries with it.

Now I'm finished this post.
Oh...I'm going to cry.

I'm JOKING YOU WEIRDOS.

A rant about feminism and chick flicks

This is a belated little rant about feminism in chick flicks (or lack thereof), and a small assortment of other little things that came to me in this study break. It's kind of like an assorted box of chocolates except smaller, and more about things that I hate and love, but I hate a lot of things. I'm a bitter, twisted person. My rants tend to veer completely off topic though, hence the selection of other things floating around my mind right now.

I love a soppy chick flick as much as the next girl. I will go to hundreds of them, sit through them over and over again, point out improbabilities in the plots, nitpick, laugh, cry, etc. That's all fine. Usually, I confront all of the soppy issues with joyous, girlish abandon and have a good time, but something struck me while watching Letters To Juliet with a good friend of mine. Something I usually ignore, but I just felt was blatantly obvious in that movie, and that is the distinct lack of feministic values shown by the main character.

I get it - it's not a movie that's designed to make you think. I would also like to clarify that I am by not means a crazy, obnoxious, loud feminist, but there are some things I just can't stand - hey, I'm female, I like rights, I don't think certain movies paint us well - us, being the entire female gender. Look, I understand that the girl is in a relationship and it's hard to just get up and leave something like that, but c'mon - get yourself OUT of an unhappy relationship. Don't force yourself through something that sucks, grow a pair and recognize that you can do things for yourself, without some guy's approval.

On the same note, I understand that the whole point of the romantic comedy is to put all of the pitfalls in front of the couple to prevent them getting together, and then bringing them together at the end in a romantic, interesting way, but come on. It's 2010. Girls don't have to wait around for months for a guy to ask them out. We are capable of doing things ourselves. One of the highlights of being mobile, and vocal. Don't spend the entire duration of the movie fumbling around the "I'm in love with him...but how does he feel about me?" idea, get out there and ask him. I'll watch a movie and actually feel disappointed with the main female lead instead of just laughing off her patheticness - it goes to a stage beyond that.

Does the girl have to be lost without the guy?
Can she take the lead for once?
Can a girl in a movie for once turn down a guy who has been a complete douche to her instead of seeing through it all for love?
Can a woman decide to focus on her career, instead of deciding that her relationship is more important?
Can a woman even be the one being douchey, for a change?
Is it possible?

Thought of the day, for those who aren't Masterchef-ily inclined.