Here are five random thoughts.
1. What does pop singer Adele mean when she asks, “Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing pavements?” As I understand it, the British phrase “chasing pavements” means “giving up,” so that would make the lyric redundant, wouldn’t it?
2. In the new “Star Trek” movie, when young Kirk is tooling across Iowa and he runs his convertible off a cliff, exactly what part of Iowa is that? Are the screenwriters sure he didn’t grow up in Arizona?
3. I have noticed that TV and movie characters often comment to another character that he or she “looks like hell,” and they are almost always overstating the case. For example, on “24” a few weeks ago, Renee tells Jack, “You look like hell.” And — especially considering what he had been through — he doen’t look that bad. Does anyone ever say this in real life? Have you ever told your friend, “You look like hell”? Has anyone ever told you that?
4. Whenever I ask someone what music they enjoy (this was part of my battery of “get to know you” queries when I did newspaper profiles), they regularly say “Oh, I like anything — except country and rap.” If this is such a common sentiment, why have country and rap been the dominant mainstream genres for the past decade? Do I need to make more redneck and black friends?
5. You know how when you’re reading a library book, you sometimes come across a page that has a spot of crap on it? Like someone 20 years ago was reading that page when their grilled cheese sandwich exploded? Or they just couldn’t hold back a sneeze? Are you like me — do you read that page just a little bit faster just so you can turn it?
Theories and/or solid answers to these questions are appreciated.