Gwen's blog

Current Events

May 3, Houston: The big one -- the Inprint reading -- occurs at the Alley Theatre on Monday, May 3. Do not miss it or you'll be sorry. I'm not kidding -- I'm going to say the craziest, most intellectual yet hilarious stuff I can think of, and I'll be sharing the stage with the ultra sexy Oscar Casares, too.

June 24, Houston: I'm one of the peeps scheduled to read at Poison Pen, at Houston's famous Poison Girl bar. Besides me, everyone there will be ultra, *super* sexy. Come see me and drink!

June 26, Washington, DC: I'll be reading at the American Library Association conference. Come on down.

My other blog: Go read my the Houston Chronicle parenting blog (or my ChronMomBlog, as I like to call it) and make sure my kids won't resent me more than other kids resent their own parents.

Buy my new novel, Lone Star Legend. Already did? Well, buy a few more for your friends, then. :)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Thoughts on Fictional Aspergers

There are two fictional characters I suspect of having Asperger's Syndrome, whether or not the actors were consciously portraying them that way:

1. Napoleon Dynamite.

2. Bill Haverchuck of Freaks and Geeks.

Or maybe I'm just projecting that onto them because I like those characters, and one of my sons has Aspergers, and I want to imagine my son living a life with a happy ending. Every week.

And now that I'm searching for links, I see that I'm not the first person to have expressed those thoughts:
So, once again, know that you can count on Gwenworld.com for all your years-after-the-fact pop culture commentary! Here's some more:
I saw Shallow Hal last night, and it wasn't as bad as I'd assumed it would be, way back when it first came out in 2001. I guess I was just looking for an excuse to dislike Gwyneth Paltrow. That was before she wore that too-big-in-the-bust pink dress to the Oscars, and I began to feel bad for her, instead.

yays

I was in the dentist's office for about four minutes this morning, and now I'm good to go. (Tiny bump on my new temp bridge was throwing off my bite, wreaking havoc. Now it's gone.) Thank gosh. It wasn't until it was over that I realized how much I'd been dreading that visit. Oh, also, dreading things makes me grind my teeth. Which makes them hurt more. Duh. Vicious cycle ahoy!

I'm going to start a museum

in which I archive lame attempts at flirting by self-important Corporate American men.

Not because they flirt with me, but because I've been in a position to overhear the flirting, over and over and over again. Because they do it right in front of me, because I'm not pretty enough to be visible to them. Plenty of women can say the same thing, I'm sure -- that they overhear crass come-ons on a regular basis, that they feel disrespected by the men who do such things in professional settings... But would other women obsessively analyze and catalog the phenomemon, like I unwillingly find myself doing every week day? Probably not. Upon hearing any random failed come-on, I immediately, telepathically comprehend the would-be pick-up artist's secret fears, skeevy desires, and pathetic fetishes. I don't want to know, but I can't help it.

And that's why hearing that crap tortures me. No, not because I'm an old, fat, jealous shrew. Not because I'm a jealous lesbian. But because it's pretty depressing, hearing the silently screamed longings of men I can't admire.

Five Pound Allowance

Speaking of being a fat, jealous, lesbian shrew... I can't wait until Christmas Eve. Why? Because I'm going to eat baked goods on that day. Baked goods of my own making.

I've decided to allow myself to gain as much as five pounds, between Christmas and New Year's. Because isn't that, like, the legally ordained amount of weight that we gain that week in America? So I'm ready.

And then, by May, I plan to lose 20 pounds net. And then I will be done. Wish me luck.

And merry December 24th to y'all, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and whether you eat baked goods or not. Have fun.

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11:57 PM #

Comments:

 Oh my gosh, Gwen, it's so funny that you say that because those two characters (maybe especially Bill) are about my favorite characters in anything, ever. I feel this deep affection for both of them, far beyond the usual scope of my emotional reactions to characters on television or in movies. They just get me right in the heart-box. Right there.


# posted by Blogger Calista : 4:36 PM  

 I haven't seen Napolean Dynamite but I do like Freaks and Geeks. It was so long ago that I hadn't thought of that.
There's a new show called 'The Big Bang Theory' that we've seen a couple of times and there's an obvious Aspie on there. He's a funny character and you can tell the writers are either aware of Aspergers or have researched it for the character.
p.s. The show isn't great. It just has it's moments.


# posted by Blogger greenish : 5:50 AM  

 Please do start that museum. I would like to start one myself for the same thing. Mine would actually include the deployment of finger guns in my general vicinity though. WTF.


# posted by Blogger jagosaurus : 8:05 AM  

 I'm with you on that post-holiday weight loss. I've been mentally gearing up for a massive effort beginning January 6 (because I've got the week of New Year's off, and diets ain't happenin' then).

Did you see Perry Pool's message on the Billboard By The Day this morning? I 'bout liked to wreck the car...


# posted by Anonymous Jennifer : 8:47 AM  

 God, I miss Freaks and Geeks.

And I think you're totally right about the Aspergers.


# posted by Blogger Mama Drama Jenny, the Bloggess : 1:50 PM  

 Hey, Independent Lens is showing a documentary about a guy with Asperger's on January 8. It's called Today's Man and it looks great. http://www.orchardpictures.com/todaysman/

Happy holidays & baked goods!


# posted by Blogger Marigoldie : 4:43 PM  

 I feel so protective of both of those characters, like I want to hug them and give them a bowl of soup or something. In the F&G episode where the geeks go to the popular kids' party, and Bill tells the cheerleader that the reason he always looks happy is because he's watching movies in his head? I just swoon, overwhelmed by Haverchuck love.


# posted by Blogger Jen : 10:39 AM  

 Jen, I so hear you. I especially loved the episode where Bill's mom starts dating the gym teacher -- with that sequence at the beginning where Bill comes home from school, fixes himself a snack, and watches television, laughing so so hard at the show. That boy makes his own fun -- and for some reason in the context of the show I find it so admirable and moving.


# posted by Blogger Calista : 7:16 PM  

 Calista: Right? Especially Bill..

Greenish: I liked your clarification, at the end, about the show not being that good. :)

Jag: Ha! We should collaborate. It should include video. The gem of my collection is a guy asking my coworker how she's doing, and when she says fine, he says, "You are that. You certainly are that." And then, not done yet, he says, "There is *no doubt in my mind.*"

Jennifer: My method is Mall Walking - EXTREME!
And yes, I did see the Perry Pool's message, which can be paraphrased thusly: "O HAI JEEZUZ IT R UR BURFDAY!!"

Mama Drama J: :) You can buy the box set. I broke down and did that.

Marigoldie: Thanks. I'll check it out.

Jen: You're a good person.

My fave is when he dresses as Jamie Summers for Halloween.


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 8:55 AM  

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