"This is the movie to see over Thanksgiving." "It's a definite must-go-see." "You just need to get your tickets now because there's going to be a line." "You're gonna love it."
All of the above statements were made by Oprah on today's show featuring the new Baz Luhrman film, Australia. Nicole Kidman (who I really like) and Hugh Jackman (who I like like) were guests. Mission accepted - I will be seeing this film while I'm visiting my family in New Hampshire. As I told, you, we're having an Oprah-approved Thanksgiving already, and she's now added entertainment to our holiday week.
In addition to seeing the movie, I had another assignment from the show. Oprah, charmed to pieces by Jackman and his gift of an Australian brand of cookies to her entire audience said, "We're gonna start callin' 'em bickies, too!" The 'em to which she was referring were cookies - or biscuits as they're called in Australia and the UK. So, for the remainder of the year I will now be referring to cookies as bickies.
A new metaphor has popped into mind in this late stage of my follow-the-leader project: I'm painting my life by the numbers. There are many women I've witnessed who do this without being aware of it. And you know what? I've done it, too, to varying degrees. How many of us make automatic decisions or judgments based on what we see on TV, on the pages of magazines, or even based on what our friends and families want, instead of living our own "truth?" I'm frightened by how I can comfortably sleepwalk, for lack of a better term, through daily life choices. I'm looking forward to shedding these self-imposed rules to test my ability to live entirely present in each moment, without needing to turn to outside sources for validation. I wonder how hard it'll be to shed this "Living Oprah" skin and slip into my own. Will it be an easy transition, or will I miss the ease of turning my will over to O?
Oy! Enough self-indulgent, self-reflective babble. Back to the movie! Oprah was over-the-moon for it. Although she's sent us to other films, this one seems to top her list. That's quite an endorsement. I hope I can convince my family to accompanying me.
We'll see how many of my new behaviors and daily rituals make my family roll their eyes or laugh hysterically over the holidays.
Hopefully I won't make them toss their bickies.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
28 comments:
You know, I've wondered the same thing. It would be interesting for us voyeurs of your experiment to know. Will you continue the blog to let us in on your deprogramming experience?
I hope you LOVE this movie. I haven't seen Oprah this excited about a movie in a while.
Paula, I will continue the blog. I've some ideas about how to keep it moving forward, even when my project ends. Hopefully I'm cooking up something you will all like! xoLO
theparakeet, do you think you'll see it? she was SO excited about it, i totally agree! xoLO
Really, who wouldn't be charmed to pieces by Hugh Jackman? Sigh. And the new James Bond movie comes out this weekend...thank you, gods of eye candy!
yogajen, i casually asked jim if he "might" like to see the new bond movie...you know, making him feel like it's his idea to go. xoLO
As a Brit I should point out that the word "bickie" is not used any old way. It's either "Oooh, bickeeeeees" in a self-indulgent, slightly naughty tone or, "Can I have a bickie pwease?" in a talking-like-a-child-means-we-know-it's-a-treat voice.
Now you know, use the word wisely....
G! thank you so much for saving me the embarrassment of misusing my new word. sounds like i better start practicing my baby talk. xoLO
It may well be different in Australia so maybe I should not asume to be a voice of biscuit-based authority!
Your comments at the end of your post really struck a chord. I think I'm one of those women. What's interesting about your experiment is that by doing exactly what you are being told you should do by a 3rd party, it makes you reflect on the nature of one's daily decision process and so you have embarked on a kind of deconstruction of conformity by being a conformist. Does that make sense? Am I talking crap?
Anyway, I'm throwing out my paint palette...
G, you're not talking crap. you're absolutely on target. and, i think - with the exception of some highly evolved women - we all fall into this trap to one degree or another. i think it's a major leap to step out of this cycle, but i really think it can be done. I HOPE. oh, do i hope. best, LO
As an Australian I do actually use the word bickie a hell of a lot heehee
I so intensely dislike Nicole Kidman that I am unable to stomach the preview for that movie let alone an hour of her on Oprah. She bugs me because she is young and beautiful but has frozen her face with what is obviously injections. I saw about 10 minutes of the show today and it appears that she has also puffed up her lips. She is also so thin that I think she may be a bit unhinged, but I'm not exactly sure about that.
I can't tell if I am one of the women of which you speak. Sometimes when I watch a bunch of "women's programming", I start to feel as though I should feel like I don't do enough for everyone and my shoes aren't nearly as fabulous as they ought to be.
I'm an Aussie, we seem to use bickie much more casually then the Brits. It's the every day term here, but we're lazy and do it to everything... Garbo for garbage man, fridge almost exclusively instead of refrigerator, and so on.
As for womans programming... I lack the womans bit, but I think there's men's programming as well, and there is *definately* Gen-Y programming. As a guy I've got certain expectations about what I'll like, what I want, what decisions I should be making. As a Gen-Y, everyone seems to have a predefined role, and they get *very* nervous when you break your programming. I get angry when I realize that I'm doing something because others want it done like that. Teachers, parents and society have roles we're "Expected" to fill, like paying our dues at work instead of having decent jobs for decent money, going to uni and then getting jobs where we're pushed around, going clubbing and drinking in lieu of socializing. People really don't like it when you're different to what is wanted, and look for ways to punish you. I'm finding, though, that I have lots of resources to do what I think is right, not what others want. Which is why I'm getting a new job instead of "Paying my dues" in a role which doesn't suit me, moving instead of letting my older sister rely on my to keep her life running (At the cost of my happiness), and working to be financially independant instead of buying fappery.
If a snotty nosed Gen-Y can do it with little skills and no assets, I'm sure you can too ^_^
Hi Robyn, you realize that I now know going to the new Bond film is as much your idea as it is mine. Not like I was tricked really. I remember your reaction to Daniel Craig as he came out of the water in that little swimsuit of his in the last movie. No, I'm not tricked.
Love, husband jim
"Bickies"? Your poor husband...
As an Aussie who loves your blog - it would be my pleasure to send you a packet of Tim Tams.
Not only are they the best biccies in the world they are the integral ingredient in a "TIM TAM SLAM"
Google it!
You soooo need to try a Tim Tam slam! As another Aussie I insist.
If you think 'bickies' is strange, you should hear what a fanny is down here.
Pun intended.
Oooh! Seb is naughty! You make me laugh! I confused my kiwi hubby by telling him we were going to have biscuits and gravy for brunch. He considered what I served to be scones.
Timtams are heavenly...Take him up on the offer!
Tim Tams are delightful. When I lived in the United States (i.e., most of my life) a friend from Australia sent me some, and I found them to be most delicious. I'm now an Australian citizen. Coincidence? Yes, but it's a good story that highlights the choccy bickie goodness that is the Tim Tam. ;)
Australians use the word bickie most of the time to indicate a cookie. In fact, my Aussie husband insists that a cookie is something else entirely (generally bigger, or something, he can't really explain, he just knows one when he sees one). Bickie is short for "biscuit". And the thing that Americans call a biscuit would be a scone.
Just FYI.
Heehee...good one, Seb. I encountered that bit of slang in Scotland too. A fellow at the pub tried to make a naughty joke at my expense and he was most disappointed to find that I knew exactly what he'd said.
I have zero desire to see this movie. None.
elisha, do you use the work cookie ever?
iamsusie, i had a friend who told me the same thing about NK. i ended up liking her after the way she dealt with her divorce from TC. he was so crazed and i thought she was really classy with how she dealt with the media. (i just had the same shoe-esteem issue this morning!)
quadlex, i once trekked in nepal with a group of australians and i found the slang so entertaining. they laughed at me constantly because of some inadvertent "dirty" things i said. i REALLY appreciate you giving us the male perspective. sometimes i think we believe that women have it rougher, but clearly that's not the case...it's just that men aren't as vocal about it!
haha! JIM! i didn't think you read the comments on my blog. hee hee. you are so funny. although, i can't seem to recall the bathing suit scene you're referring to. maybe we should rent the movie so i can get a refresher before we see the sequel. i do this for you, my love.
jeri, we can just add this to the long, long list he's suffering through this year! LOL
matt, you are so kind! how exciting! of course - i can't eat it (Best Life Challenge) until the year is up. do you think your offer will still be good after Dec 31?? and what on earth is a Tim Tam Slam? i'm gonna hit google right now...
seb, omg. i need to find out about fanny. i used the term "fanny pack" with my aussie friends a lot in nepal because many tourists were carrying them. everytime i said it, my pals doubled over laughing. i never found out what i was saying to make them laugh so much!
fangfang, your husband must have been so grossed out by the thought of biscuits and gravy. hilarious.
bonni, wow. so you emigrated for baked goods? :) ah! thank you for the cookie explanation. i was wondering.
yogajen, now i have to google this term!
brigitte, this is what my mom said. i was disappointed because i have to go and i'd love it if she'd join me.
xoLO
Tim Tams are now being imported by Pepperidge Farm and sold in Target. Choccie bickie heaven!
I have to be catty and ask, "What happened to Nicole Kidman?!" She looked awful! I know she has a new baby and all, but she looked like a cast member of Desparate Housewives. Sometimes "procedures" do more harm than good.
Fanny is another word for vajayjay....or...oh no...No...don't say it...no....VAGINA!!!!
I made my old flatmate (NZ slang for roommate) shoot beer out his nose when I ran into his room to examine the appearance of myself in my short skirt in his full length mirror. I said, "I just have to check that my fanny isn't showing"...of course I meant my butt. I was very embarrassed when he explained what the word meant to him. I was not as embarassed as my poor mum was when she came to visit me on Air New Zealand. The plane was full of Kiwis returning from Disneyland. Mum was accessing the overhead locker and she apologised to a row by saying, "Sorry, I will get my fanny out of your faces in a moment." When I explained what she had said she was mortified!
To me, this movie looks like a complete YAWN (even though I do like Hugh Jackman). I'll be interested to see what you thought of it after you see it. I'm spending my money on the new James Bond...yum.
On a personal note...I've been reading your blog ever since I saw you on the Today Show and am thoroughly enjoying it. I'll be sad when your year is over. Cheers!
@fangfang - That's gold!
I remember being twelve or so and hearing the one of the Golden Girls say 'he smacked me on the fanny' and being mortified at the thought.
Five years later I came out as a flaming homosexual.... maybe the two are related.
LO: You're welcome ^_^ I think everyone has a sucky time of this "Life" thing, but it's expressed in different ways and it's nearly impossible to compare how much suck in one person's life compares to another.
Anywho, enough philosophy. Thanks for the blog.
Post a Comment