This was the first movie in our “Avenger Assembly” film series where we will watch all the movies featuring Avengers characters which will culminate in the release of the Avengers on May 4. As always, Robert Downey Jr. is a perfect Iron Man, the plot is entertaining and the effects are superb. Now if only they had not cast Terrance Howard, all would have been good.
I know a lot of you out there are fans, what with Rolling Stone naming it one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and with apologies to Bill Withers who wrote the song, but here is why I can’t stand it.
Its universality, combined with its simple lyrics, means that everyone knows the song and that it applies to nearly every situation. For example, each year the high school students at the church I attend produce a Sunday service for the congregation. The theme each year is tied to a few of the Unitarian Universalist principles. I was an advisor for the youth group for seven years and I can tell you that when brainstorming music for the service, no matter what the principle, someone always suggested “Lean on Me,” usually to excited approval. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning? (Principle 3) “Lean on Me!” Justice, equity and compassion in human relations? (Principle 2) “Lean on Me!” The right of consciousness and the use of the democratic process within our congregation and society at large? (Principle five) “Lean on Me!” I no longer am a youth advisor, but in youth service last week, there was my old friend, “Lean on Me” to accompany the first and seventh principles (If you are wondering, they are: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; and, respect for the interdependent web of all existence for which we are a part.) It got so that I wondered if a song that can fit so many different ideas is really saying much at all.
Secondly, the lyrics are pretty sub-par. Withers starts out okay, with the reminder that we all have pain and sorrow. But then, if we are wise, we supposedly know that there’s always tomorrow? What does that mean? Tomorrow with more pain and sorrow? Or just that, there is a tomorrow, that should be good enough news for us all? No matter, because he quickly leads in to his most excellent chorus, which is probably the main reason Rolling Stone and everyone else likes the song. It is a very good chorus. But then the second verse is quite awful, the worst one: It begins with the okay message that one should swallow one’s pride if there are things that one needs to borrow, but then a very bad rhyme scheme of “for, no one can fill/those of your needs/that you don’t let show.” Withers wisely quickly returns to the chorus. I do have to give it props for the next verse. It always conjures up a wheelbarrow in my mind. It is rare that yard tools make an appearance in the music I listen to.
Like many songs with few lyrics, it spends a lot of time repeating them over and over. Not only is this an example of lazy songwriting, it also drives up the “ear worm” factor. Ear worms, as anyone who has been through the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disneyland knows, are bits of songs that play repeatedly in your head. And the ear worm factor for “Lean on Me” is very high. In fact, I’m taking a chance writing this essay, that it won’t lodge itself in there for the next week or so. There comes a point when the catchiness of the song becomes a problem, not a good thing and this song crossed that point some time ago for me.
So continue to enjoy “Lean on Me” if you must, but please keep it far, far away from me.
It’s time for the annual winter warning picture. If you can’t stand constant grey and rain for months on end. If you can’t stand rain so heavy it destroys the grass over the winter. If you can’t stand walking around in wet socks all day because your shoes have sprung a leak, then don’t, by all means, move to Portland.
I have some pretty firm views about how wolves are in their own environment and I had to leave those views at the door to the theater as the wolves in this film don’t fit with my view. That aside, this movie’s intensity made it great fun, even if the subject was rather grim. Liam Neeson is on a run of fabulous roles, fabulously acted.
No essay this week. I got behind on everything and so a massive amount of catch-up housework got done during the usual essay writing time. So sorry.
Boyfriend Matt watched this movie and it changed his life. I found the stories of the men incarcerated compelling and heart breaking. This was a documentary worth watching for many reasons.
I work 32 hours a week and have for several years now. I love it and I think it is time for more businesses to rethink what a “standard” week looks like.
I have had a lot of jobs over the years and the one thing that all of my full-time jobs had in common is that there was not enough work to keep me busy full time. I am efficient in my work and do not like to mess around, which may contribute to my quick completion of all the duties of my position. And when I did what I should and asked for more work I never was assigned any additional, nor were my ideas for me to increase my workload approved. In previous positions this led me to many frustrating hours of aimless Internet surfing and eventually, a new position at a new company where the problem would repeat itself. In my current job, my plan to work less was approved.
I have taken a 20% pay cut which was worth it to trade in eight hours of aimless Internet surfing for time that is my own. I still qualify for full-time benefits, and my employer gets a happier employee doing the exact same amount of work for less money.
I physically have to be at my job every day as I just can not get out of recess duty one day per week and so I work five days, but leave early on four of them. This has been a fabulous schedule for me as it gets me up and going five days per week, but with built in free time four days per week. It feels great to leave at 1:30 on three of those days.
So why do we have to work 40 hours per week? I’m lucky that this job pays the full cost of my benefits; at many companies employees must work 40 hours to receive any benefits at all. But maybe we should have a rethinking of what “full time” really means. How much of the American work force is stretching their workload to fit an eight hour day just to qualify for the health insurance? How much money are companies wasting on employees who are not actually working at work? Because our view of “full time work” comes from a “40 hours per week” lens perhaps companies are missing out on making positions more flexible. If more companies employed more people who did their jobs in less than 40 hours perhaps more people could be employed.
My reduced work schedule has benefited both myself and my employer. Let’s open our minds to a “full time” work week of less than 40 hours. Try it on and see how it feels.
Yep-per. No snow all winter and then BAM! Snow on the first of March. I took this picture and then headed straight back to bed because we had a two-hour delay.
You can read this month’s poem here.
Four “grown up” books and five young adult books read this month. Apparently, I should have become a youth librarian. Darn you, early twenties ill-thought choices.
