i went wednesday to see the midnight showing of star wars episode 3 (benefit of living in europe: seeing the premiere at least 6 hours before anyone in the US). and i just have to say: well done, george. seriously. i wasn't a huge fan of 1 or 2 (i considered joining the 'i hate jarjar' fan/antifan club), and certainly didn't hold any sort of special place in my heart for anakin, thanks to the walking plywood performance of hayden christensen in 2. i have since heard that george directed him to be as oakish as possible and can only say to that: whatever.
in 3, hayden has aged and looks less *Nsync-y and more Nirvana-y as he moves with stealth (and oh so much less whine) toward Darthdom. and now i feel free to love darth again with that love reserved only for the truly evil. so much better. and ewan, thank goodness, has lost some of his beardliness and looks less wookie and more jedi. now, lest you think all i did while watching the movie is check out the hotties, let me say the story was fantastic and answered so many questions that i, as NOT a fanboy, did not already know the answers to. (man, just wait for darth's first breath through the mask!)
the first two episodes were decent movies in themselves but didn't feel very connected to the initial three. however, watching 3 made me want to pop in 4 and go, oh yeah. what can i say? the whole thing is clearer and *sniff* even better now.
alright. enough of that. the title of this blog refers to a common practice of prague cinemas (movie theaters to the north americans out there): assigned seats.
usually i consider assigning seats in a movie theater a bit of a pain and kind of useless, like when there are only 10 or so people in the auditorium and the ticket person has put you in the back row left. then, i move. you would, too.
but as i finished getting ready at home before the midnight show (braiding the hair and fashioning my best attempt at leia's sticky-bun headphones—that takes a lot of dexterity and bobby pins to do yourself, fyi), i began to have flashbacks to premieres i attended in the states and to the long lines and *gulp* pushing shoving biting and running into auditoriums so as not to be stuck in the front row left. as my breathing sped up and i found my braids slipping through my clammy hands i suddenly remembered the way czechs do it: assigned seats. aaaahhhh.
rob and i arrived at the theater with about 20 minutes to spare and found tons of people crowding the entrance but, on closer inspection, realized everyone was just standing around having a very civilized group smoke before heading in. four auditoriums were hosting the show and as we took our seats—calmly, with no running or pushing or shoving—i thought to myself, 'well now, isn't this civilized?' isn't it? choose your seats the hour, day or week before you plan to see the movie. keep the system loose when the theater is mostly empty, but for the big shows and premieres: what a relief.
then, of course, the panic set in that we might be watching a dubbed version of the movie. rob kept trying to reassure me that it was for sure titled. i believed him, sort of. i was all ready to scream 'NNNNOOOOOOO' and go running from the theater when the titles didn't appear and a czech voice started reading 'a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.' but, thankfully, the czech subtitles came onscreen when the english words did.
sorry to say, the braided buns came out the second lucasfilm started glowing. but i wasn't alone. i saw two girls on the metro in full leia regalia: the white flowing robes and belt of bling. way to go, girls.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Monday, May 16, 2005
hoši děkujem!
(ha! i discovered that the czech diacritics work.)
the 10 million or so folks on this planet who call themselves czechs are sleeping with smiles on their faces tonight. they kicked some canadian booty. world champions with a score 3-0. good job, guys.
the first goal came early in the first period. the second in the middle of the third and the third goal late in third period, on a canadian power play with an empty goal to boot. Josef Vasiček sent it down the ice and into the goalie-less net. very nice aim, Pepa.
my friend rob and i joined 30,000-40,000 of our closest friends in old town square (staromak) to watch the games on big screens (AND be entertained at the breaks by a hilarious cover band called Las Vegas). by the end of the second period fireworks were already being lit and 'we are the champions' was being sung. maybe a little premature, but it all worked out in their favor.
the cameramen in vienna favored reaction shots of the supermodel girlfriends-slash-wives (no surprise) while the crowd in prague screamed, spilled beer (all over rob), and smashed bottles onto the cobblestones. all in all a fantastic night.
now the metro is full of shouting fans (the one night passengers are actually alive and breathing on public transportation it seems) and cars zip through the center, blaring their horns and hanging flags out the windows. i'm very happy for the czechs. they are extremely proud of their hockey, as well they should be. this is their 11th world champion title. the 6th, apparently, since 1996 (i had to look at fox sports for that stat--the story was listed 5th on a sidebar...pretty important news to americans, i know).
i'd like to say to all of the americans out there who are ashamed of their nationality when they travel and prefer to say they are canadian, thinking they'll get better treatment: well, tonight that was surely NOT the case! (and shame on you, anyway.)
the canucks played a very good, very physical game. the shutout was thanks to Tomaš Vokoun, the czech goalie who has done a tremendous job filling the very big skates of Dominik Hašek. they did, however, make idiots of themselves by picking a very large, longer-than-necessary fight in the last 45 seconds. gentlemen, gentlemen. please. so three very unhappy canadian players had to sit out the last few moments pouting in the penalty box. bad show.
it's easy to sound patronizing when saying that i'm glad czech won but i really am glad, grateful, proud for them. hockey is such a big deal here and there's so little for major national pride. and anyway, i doubt the canadians were gathered in a big public space in ottowa cheering on their players. these celebrations aren't typical in north america. so glad i'm here.
rob and i delayed our ride home by toasting the team in a nearby restaurant. we sat near the door and watched the happy czechs with flags blanketing their shoulders and faces painted red, white and blue walk past screaming their chants. and along came a sanitation worker dressed in orange, pushing a wheeled bucket with a broom sticking out of it. i wouldn't want his job tonight. old town square is covered in broken glass, strips of toilet paper and cigarette butts (i'm somewhat amazed my hair didn't go up in flames. rob was, too--about his own, which he said was FULL of product).
the 10 million or so folks on this planet who call themselves czechs are sleeping with smiles on their faces tonight. they kicked some canadian booty. world champions with a score 3-0. good job, guys.
the first goal came early in the first period. the second in the middle of the third and the third goal late in third period, on a canadian power play with an empty goal to boot. Josef Vasiček sent it down the ice and into the goalie-less net. very nice aim, Pepa.
my friend rob and i joined 30,000-40,000 of our closest friends in old town square (staromak) to watch the games on big screens (AND be entertained at the breaks by a hilarious cover band called Las Vegas). by the end of the second period fireworks were already being lit and 'we are the champions' was being sung. maybe a little premature, but it all worked out in their favor.
the cameramen in vienna favored reaction shots of the supermodel girlfriends-slash-wives (no surprise) while the crowd in prague screamed, spilled beer (all over rob), and smashed bottles onto the cobblestones. all in all a fantastic night.
now the metro is full of shouting fans (the one night passengers are actually alive and breathing on public transportation it seems) and cars zip through the center, blaring their horns and hanging flags out the windows. i'm very happy for the czechs. they are extremely proud of their hockey, as well they should be. this is their 11th world champion title. the 6th, apparently, since 1996 (i had to look at fox sports for that stat--the story was listed 5th on a sidebar...pretty important news to americans, i know).
i'd like to say to all of the americans out there who are ashamed of their nationality when they travel and prefer to say they are canadian, thinking they'll get better treatment: well, tonight that was surely NOT the case! (and shame on you, anyway.)
the canucks played a very good, very physical game. the shutout was thanks to Tomaš Vokoun, the czech goalie who has done a tremendous job filling the very big skates of Dominik Hašek. they did, however, make idiots of themselves by picking a very large, longer-than-necessary fight in the last 45 seconds. gentlemen, gentlemen. please. so three very unhappy canadian players had to sit out the last few moments pouting in the penalty box. bad show.
it's easy to sound patronizing when saying that i'm glad czech won but i really am glad, grateful, proud for them. hockey is such a big deal here and there's so little for major national pride. and anyway, i doubt the canadians were gathered in a big public space in ottowa cheering on their players. these celebrations aren't typical in north america. so glad i'm here.
rob and i delayed our ride home by toasting the team in a nearby restaurant. we sat near the door and watched the happy czechs with flags blanketing their shoulders and faces painted red, white and blue walk past screaming their chants. and along came a sanitation worker dressed in orange, pushing a wheeled bucket with a broom sticking out of it. i wouldn't want his job tonight. old town square is covered in broken glass, strips of toilet paper and cigarette butts (i'm somewhat amazed my hair didn't go up in flames. rob was, too--about his own, which he said was FULL of product).
Sunday, May 15, 2005
you say hockey, i say hokaj
did you know the hockey world championship finals are tomorrow? if you are in the U.S., the correct answer to this question is 'no.' unless, of course, you are a die-hard hockey fan and have been seriously jonesing for a hockey fix with your precious nhl out of commission this year.
for the first time in who knows how many years, the world teams are not suffering as their best players remain in the U.S. to play for their moneyed teams--fulfilling contracts and the like as they battle for the stanley cup. nope, this year the gang's all here.
the joke here is that babies are born with skates on their feet, hockey is so much a part of the national fabric. but it seems to be wearing thin these days as i ask students if they play hockey or skate. the answer is usually a sullen 'no.' oh yes, i forgot--playing hockey means wrenching yourself away from your computer screen.
anyway, when hockey championship season rolls around, you will find czechs filling local pubs and bars, cheering for their mostly expatriate sons--who only seem to find their ways back to playing in the czech red, white and blue when the worlds or olympics are at stake.
i live in a huge panelak--one of those big communist-built hulks of a concrete building whose walls (prefab) are so, well, crappy, that when i am awakened at 7am by someone drilling five floors down and two entrances over it feels like it's next to my head. those times when i'm home watching hockey i can be away from the tv with the sound off and still know when a goal has been scored by the shouting echoing through the building.
czech played U.S.A. (why do i capitalize that? who knows? love of motherland?) thursday afternoon in the semi-final round. i was on my way to a graduation party in the countryside with a bunch of czech students and some of their teachers. on the bus ride there someone got a text message with the score 1-0 in favor of the U.S. and suddenly, as one, all heads whipped around to me. i don't play hockey! i protested. the rest of the afternoon i had to keep repeating 'today i am czech' so that no one would kill me and eat me as one of the more drunk teachers suggested. fortunately for me the czech players pulled off a mirrored game to last year's against the U.S.
that was here in prague, at the new arena (built by sazka, the company with gambling centers around the country. doesn't that seem odd and sort of a conflict of interest?). the score was tied at 0 even after overtime and the U.S. team won in the penalty shootout round. very disappointing and my students really didn't believe me when i said i was cheering for czech. they believed me this year when i joined in their 'kdo neskace neni czech: hop, hop, hop' (whoever isn't jumping isn't czech: jump, jump, jump) cheer as the czechs won in the penalty shootout round this time. whew. i escaped with my life--barely, it seems.
so i have had no problem telling czech friends that i am much more interested in a czech victory than an american one, not least of all because i don't think many folks in the U.S. even know it's happening. and here? well, i'm sure there will be video screens set up in old town square for the gold-medal game tomorrow night. i was there in 1998 when czech beat russia for the gold at nagano, so i think it would be right for me to be there again. i'm hoping czech pulls out a victory against canada as they did against sweden in vienna tonight. national pride doesn't show up too often here, but it does where hockey is concerned.
for the first time in who knows how many years, the world teams are not suffering as their best players remain in the U.S. to play for their moneyed teams--fulfilling contracts and the like as they battle for the stanley cup. nope, this year the gang's all here.
the joke here is that babies are born with skates on their feet, hockey is so much a part of the national fabric. but it seems to be wearing thin these days as i ask students if they play hockey or skate. the answer is usually a sullen 'no.' oh yes, i forgot--playing hockey means wrenching yourself away from your computer screen.
anyway, when hockey championship season rolls around, you will find czechs filling local pubs and bars, cheering for their mostly expatriate sons--who only seem to find their ways back to playing in the czech red, white and blue when the worlds or olympics are at stake.
i live in a huge panelak--one of those big communist-built hulks of a concrete building whose walls (prefab) are so, well, crappy, that when i am awakened at 7am by someone drilling five floors down and two entrances over it feels like it's next to my head. those times when i'm home watching hockey i can be away from the tv with the sound off and still know when a goal has been scored by the shouting echoing through the building.
czech played U.S.A. (why do i capitalize that? who knows? love of motherland?) thursday afternoon in the semi-final round. i was on my way to a graduation party in the countryside with a bunch of czech students and some of their teachers. on the bus ride there someone got a text message with the score 1-0 in favor of the U.S. and suddenly, as one, all heads whipped around to me. i don't play hockey! i protested. the rest of the afternoon i had to keep repeating 'today i am czech' so that no one would kill me and eat me as one of the more drunk teachers suggested. fortunately for me the czech players pulled off a mirrored game to last year's against the U.S.
that was here in prague, at the new arena (built by sazka, the company with gambling centers around the country. doesn't that seem odd and sort of a conflict of interest?). the score was tied at 0 even after overtime and the U.S. team won in the penalty shootout round. very disappointing and my students really didn't believe me when i said i was cheering for czech. they believed me this year when i joined in their 'kdo neskace neni czech: hop, hop, hop' (whoever isn't jumping isn't czech: jump, jump, jump) cheer as the czechs won in the penalty shootout round this time. whew. i escaped with my life--barely, it seems.
so i have had no problem telling czech friends that i am much more interested in a czech victory than an american one, not least of all because i don't think many folks in the U.S. even know it's happening. and here? well, i'm sure there will be video screens set up in old town square for the gold-medal game tomorrow night. i was there in 1998 when czech beat russia for the gold at nagano, so i think it would be right for me to be there again. i'm hoping czech pulls out a victory against canada as they did against sweden in vienna tonight. national pride doesn't show up too often here, but it does where hockey is concerned.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
'tis the season
...for maturita.
yes, here in the czech republic, spring is not only the time when the dirty black snow has finally melted and the trees being showing green again, but students hit the books. hard. the gymnasium (college-prep high school) next door to me is an 8-year school and i am close to several of the 8th-year students. this week was their maturita.
maturita is one of the smattering of latin-based words found in czech. two guesses what it derives from. in german it's called the abitur, if you cared to know. the maturita is a set of 4 15-minute oral exams. yes, oral. and before you start with the 'psshaw, no problem' line, allow me to explain further. the students are required to speak on czech literature and either english or german (most at this school choose english) and then choose two more subjects. common ones are: yet another language, math, history, geography, chemistry, biology. more random are: social sciences, computer programming. for each subject they are to be prepared to answer one of 30 questions that they will choose by picking a number out of a bag. seriously. they receive the questions beforehand and study from them.
'questions provided beforehand=easy as pie' you say? let's do the math. 120 possible questions and you have to be prepared to talk (at least once in a foreign language) for 15 minutes (including answering questions from your teachers, which may or may not help you) on each of them or risk failing. add to this the pressure mounted by your teachers, who tell you over and over again throughout the year that this is a really big deal and you HAVE to study hard, compounded by knowing that you might not get into university if you get a failing grade, not to mention the shame to yourself and your family of the dreaded 5 (no A-F here in favor of the more clinical 1-5).
and so, students begin studying for their maturita in the fall, and really get serious after christmas, and the cramming reaches fever pitch around easter. the kids are given the week before the exams off as 'holy week' and many don't show up the week before that, either. the students i know and love told me that for the last 9 or so days they hadn't showered, they've barely slept, and rarely eaten. i think lukas is the big exception to that rule. more on him later. daria tells me she subsisted on chocolate.
yesterday i ventured into school for the afternoon segment, as a support to vera. the first thing i saw when i rounded the corner was vera, excited to see me and reaching out for a hug. the second was a very red-eyed classmate of hers who was clearly somewhere in the middle of a cry. she had received a 5 and was not doing well with it. i listened sympathetically as she talked with vera and then, when vera left, i smiled at her, squeezed her arm and said, 'keep breathing.' this earned me a smile and she sighed and said she was going home to sleep. can't blame her.
i think the 5 scared the crap out of vera, though. she was extremely nervous. english was her first subject.
oh, have i mentioned possible topics? no? here are a few:
english: australia; british education system; washington d.c., and points of interest; early american history (vera asked me at one point if the first continental congress was in 1774. i laughed and said i have NO idea)
geography: the universe
history: ancient egypt, mesopotamia; czech history from WWII
it goes on. basically pretty broad but rather random. creates a need to study useless facts so that they can be parroted back on demand and promptly forgotten.
let me make a long story short (too late). even though vera panicked before each exam (english, history, czech lit., social science) she got good topics and answered them very well (in so many ways it's all about the luck of the draw). 4 hours after she started she was informed she got 4 1s. i'm so proud of her. and i was honored to be there as her support and for her to tell me i was exactly the person she needed there with her. doesn't often get better than that.
this morning i went back to support eliska and daria. both of them had studied long and hard and they were both surprisingly relaxed. they had the same subjects: english, czech lit., biology and chemistry. neither of them was sure what their grades would be. daria got all 1s and eliska got 1s and a single 2. the students are told their grades alone in the room with the teachers. daria came zooming around the corner out of the room yelling 'samy,' meaning only 1s. very exciting.
this afternoon iva and lukas went in. iva is late for everything and her maturita was no exception. she didn't miss anything but she cut it closer than anyone else would have. she brought a heavy backpack full of books and her older sister weighed down with more of the same. before each subject she spent her 30 minutes of downtime cramming for the next. she dragged me into her study room before english to get warmed up. lukas, on the other hand, was the picture of relaxation. he had shown up the day before and we chatted while vera talked about czech literature. he said he knew that he knew all he could know and so he was going to play volleyball. he told me today he slept well last night and was so bored this morning he just sat watching tv until it was time to come to school. lukas (english, math, czech lit., programming--he's been working at a multinational company most of the year as a computer whiz) got all 1s as well. iva (czech lit., enlish, history, geography) got 2 1s and 2 2s. she immediately took off to find her geography teacher to ask why.
i am so proud of all of them for the work they put into it and for the poise with which they went through the ordeal. each one of them said it was somewhat easier than they imagined and that they can't believe it's over. all they have been pressing for for so long finally done with. all that's left is a short ceremony on friday morning. they are now free. well, free until they have to take college entrance exams, which begin in about 2 weeks. tomorrow we head to their classmate's cottage for a night of celebration.
yes, here in the czech republic, spring is not only the time when the dirty black snow has finally melted and the trees being showing green again, but students hit the books. hard. the gymnasium (college-prep high school) next door to me is an 8-year school and i am close to several of the 8th-year students. this week was their maturita.
maturita is one of the smattering of latin-based words found in czech. two guesses what it derives from. in german it's called the abitur, if you cared to know. the maturita is a set of 4 15-minute oral exams. yes, oral. and before you start with the 'psshaw, no problem' line, allow me to explain further. the students are required to speak on czech literature and either english or german (most at this school choose english) and then choose two more subjects. common ones are: yet another language, math, history, geography, chemistry, biology. more random are: social sciences, computer programming. for each subject they are to be prepared to answer one of 30 questions that they will choose by picking a number out of a bag. seriously. they receive the questions beforehand and study from them.
'questions provided beforehand=easy as pie' you say? let's do the math. 120 possible questions and you have to be prepared to talk (at least once in a foreign language) for 15 minutes (including answering questions from your teachers, which may or may not help you) on each of them or risk failing. add to this the pressure mounted by your teachers, who tell you over and over again throughout the year that this is a really big deal and you HAVE to study hard, compounded by knowing that you might not get into university if you get a failing grade, not to mention the shame to yourself and your family of the dreaded 5 (no A-F here in favor of the more clinical 1-5).
and so, students begin studying for their maturita in the fall, and really get serious after christmas, and the cramming reaches fever pitch around easter. the kids are given the week before the exams off as 'holy week' and many don't show up the week before that, either. the students i know and love told me that for the last 9 or so days they hadn't showered, they've barely slept, and rarely eaten. i think lukas is the big exception to that rule. more on him later. daria tells me she subsisted on chocolate.
yesterday i ventured into school for the afternoon segment, as a support to vera. the first thing i saw when i rounded the corner was vera, excited to see me and reaching out for a hug. the second was a very red-eyed classmate of hers who was clearly somewhere in the middle of a cry. she had received a 5 and was not doing well with it. i listened sympathetically as she talked with vera and then, when vera left, i smiled at her, squeezed her arm and said, 'keep breathing.' this earned me a smile and she sighed and said she was going home to sleep. can't blame her.
i think the 5 scared the crap out of vera, though. she was extremely nervous. english was her first subject.
oh, have i mentioned possible topics? no? here are a few:
english: australia; british education system; washington d.c., and points of interest; early american history (vera asked me at one point if the first continental congress was in 1774. i laughed and said i have NO idea)
geography: the universe
history: ancient egypt, mesopotamia; czech history from WWII
it goes on. basically pretty broad but rather random. creates a need to study useless facts so that they can be parroted back on demand and promptly forgotten.
let me make a long story short (too late). even though vera panicked before each exam (english, history, czech lit., social science) she got good topics and answered them very well (in so many ways it's all about the luck of the draw). 4 hours after she started she was informed she got 4 1s. i'm so proud of her. and i was honored to be there as her support and for her to tell me i was exactly the person she needed there with her. doesn't often get better than that.
this morning i went back to support eliska and daria. both of them had studied long and hard and they were both surprisingly relaxed. they had the same subjects: english, czech lit., biology and chemistry. neither of them was sure what their grades would be. daria got all 1s and eliska got 1s and a single 2. the students are told their grades alone in the room with the teachers. daria came zooming around the corner out of the room yelling 'samy,' meaning only 1s. very exciting.
this afternoon iva and lukas went in. iva is late for everything and her maturita was no exception. she didn't miss anything but she cut it closer than anyone else would have. she brought a heavy backpack full of books and her older sister weighed down with more of the same. before each subject she spent her 30 minutes of downtime cramming for the next. she dragged me into her study room before english to get warmed up. lukas, on the other hand, was the picture of relaxation. he had shown up the day before and we chatted while vera talked about czech literature. he said he knew that he knew all he could know and so he was going to play volleyball. he told me today he slept well last night and was so bored this morning he just sat watching tv until it was time to come to school. lukas (english, math, czech lit., programming--he's been working at a multinational company most of the year as a computer whiz) got all 1s as well. iva (czech lit., enlish, history, geography) got 2 1s and 2 2s. she immediately took off to find her geography teacher to ask why.
i am so proud of all of them for the work they put into it and for the poise with which they went through the ordeal. each one of them said it was somewhat easier than they imagined and that they can't believe it's over. all they have been pressing for for so long finally done with. all that's left is a short ceremony on friday morning. they are now free. well, free until they have to take college entrance exams, which begin in about 2 weeks. tomorrow we head to their classmate's cottage for a night of celebration.
Monday, May 09, 2005
welcome one, welcome all
...to my blog.
first off, i would like to comment on the lack of caps. if this bothers you tremendously, such that you are unable to read this blog, i'm super sorry.
gee, did that sound trite? no? dang.
a friend, jason (see his blog here and check out day 58 specifically), recently flipped out while peeking over my shoulder as i wrote an email to a friend. he was mortified and nearly personally offended at my lack of capitalization. well, too bad. i would like to say that later in the day, as we continued (can you believe it?) to discuss the email slang/different grammar rules he did say that when he was in college and just starting the email thing, he said the way he and his friends figured they could get away with not capitalizing the letters requiring it was to just type the whole thing with the caps lock button depressed. oh, i said, THAT is better than no caps? first of all, harder to read. second of all, i don't want to be yelled at for a whole email. third, for emphasis you'd have to go to italics, and we all know that's a bit much. anyway, that made his whole criticism of my pinkie laziness moot, because he'd gone the other way himself. hmph.
emails are emails. folks, i'm an english major. i know grammar, i know spelling, i know punctuation. and i choose not to capitalize. once upon a time when i was the editor of a weekly newspaper entertainment section, a friend, kelly mcevers, wrote a review of the latest liz phair. and kelly wanted to do it a little differently so we agreed she'd write it as a friendly email. part of that was no caps, random misspellings and limited slang (this was 1995--it was still pretty new). we laughed as my copy editor went into spasms of disagreement but style won the day and the review ran in our email form.
now. would i do that with every review/article/feature that came along? heavens, no. but emails are allowed to have their own style and quirkiness--things you wouldn't allow in formal communication. and yes, if i have to write a "formal" email, i do capitalize. hey, i'm not trying to piss anyone off or make some kind of political statement. i just like the look of no caps. ever heard of bell hooks?
first off, i would like to comment on the lack of caps. if this bothers you tremendously, such that you are unable to read this blog, i'm super sorry.
gee, did that sound trite? no? dang.
a friend, jason (see his blog here and check out day 58 specifically), recently flipped out while peeking over my shoulder as i wrote an email to a friend. he was mortified and nearly personally offended at my lack of capitalization. well, too bad. i would like to say that later in the day, as we continued (can you believe it?) to discuss the email slang/different grammar rules he did say that when he was in college and just starting the email thing, he said the way he and his friends figured they could get away with not capitalizing the letters requiring it was to just type the whole thing with the caps lock button depressed. oh, i said, THAT is better than no caps? first of all, harder to read. second of all, i don't want to be yelled at for a whole email. third, for emphasis you'd have to go to italics, and we all know that's a bit much. anyway, that made his whole criticism of my pinkie laziness moot, because he'd gone the other way himself. hmph.
emails are emails. folks, i'm an english major. i know grammar, i know spelling, i know punctuation. and i choose not to capitalize. once upon a time when i was the editor of a weekly newspaper entertainment section, a friend, kelly mcevers, wrote a review of the latest liz phair. and kelly wanted to do it a little differently so we agreed she'd write it as a friendly email. part of that was no caps, random misspellings and limited slang (this was 1995--it was still pretty new). we laughed as my copy editor went into spasms of disagreement but style won the day and the review ran in our email form.
now. would i do that with every review/article/feature that came along? heavens, no. but emails are allowed to have their own style and quirkiness--things you wouldn't allow in formal communication. and yes, if i have to write a "formal" email, i do capitalize. hey, i'm not trying to piss anyone off or make some kind of political statement. i just like the look of no caps. ever heard of bell hooks?
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