geek/dork/nerd: julie-julie-julie-in-july edition

Oh, come now. Julie Andrews is so not a nerd. As far as this Xer is concerned, Mary Poppins alone means she can never fall below dork. And the ambassador thing. You know what duties the title primarily entails? She recorded about a minute's worth of narration for the fireworks show. Can't we forgive her that? (It's a pretty cool show... some of the fireworks form cubes. =) )

Aw, c'mon, Mary Poppins is a little bit nerdy. But no, really, there's something brainwashy, cultishly scary about Disney's perpetual insistence on nonstop happiness. It's like *Brave New World* or something, with everyone hopped up on soma.

Sheesh, sometimes you are such a New Yorker. (And I say that with a deep, unrequited love of the City.) But I gotta tell ya, the whole reason to go to Disneyland is so that, after you've shelled out your 60 bucks (yikes!), you can sort of soak up a little happy. If you're willing to let it be, it's a little island of uncynical "aaaahhhh" in the sea of ultra-cynical "AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH" that is the Greater Los Angeles Area. Sadly, that's not at all why far too many people go. Go often enough, and you can spot them at 20 yards. I know it's been a while since I read it, but I always felt that Huxley's point was that it's a sad commentary on the human race that we can seem to find a way to have happiness without rigidity, but I wonder why we can't find identity without misery. He was saying, "We can't all be Alpha's (and most of us wouldn't want to be), but we should all have that choice." But why can't we also just get hopped up on soma from time to time? Sorry to clutter up your comments area. It is, after all, your list, not mine. =)

I got no problem with genuine happy. It's the forced, phony happy that scares me. I've been to both Disney World and Disneyland, and had a great time at both of them. But I'm not sure how you got "I wonder why we can't find identity without misery" from my disdain of corporate enforcement of happiness.

Oh, I'm with you there. Enforced happy is not good. It never lasts. The "Brave New World" is appropriate. The Disney company is offering enough short-term happiness to fill every occasion, and they sure ain't going broke doing it. They're good at it. I deal with that by recognizing and accepting what they offer and purchasing and applying as needed. But I still refuse to see most anything with Tim Allen in it. =D (Sorry, Tim.) I meant to comment more on "Brave New World" than on you. It seems to me that, while the society was, by design, consumerist and totalitarian, both antithetical to the Gen-X geek world view, it's members were genuinely happy, just a little "too" happy. The story then introduces some one who points out the lack of freedom, but this character was miserable from having a miserable life. I wanted - want - there to be a middle ground between the two. I got a feeling I'm about to get the smackdown of my life, but since it's been like 15 years (nearly half my life) since I read the book, please be gentle. =)

No smackdown, but I will question whether people who are drugged constantly can be said to be genuinely happy.