275. TWAs.

I keep a mental list of "to write abouts" for my blog. TWAs, if you will.

Here's my current list: (1) Nasty (bad apples, mind you!) Prius drivers, (2) car chases involving me, (3) crappy public art around town, (4) a great quote from Titanic, (5) bad DVD menu designs, (6) a more educated and wealthy Willie Loman guy who wouldn't stop giving me "free" advice at Rick and Ann's, (7) Project Runway Finale thoughts, (8) Dave Chappelle's appearance on the Actor's Studio (I like both very much), (9) a disturbing Navy commercial, (10) having a strong response to something not real...perhaps, (11) the design application and procrastination at work this very moment (!!!!), (12) thoughts about the movie I saw last night--damn procrastination!, (13) the Oscars... and my list goes on...

Sometimes other blogs remind me of my mentally written posts, and suddenly I become inspired to cross one off of my ever-growing list. Last night, Sara with no "H" wrote a little movie review about Walk the Line. (What?! You haven't seen it? Stop reading this post right this instant and get your fanny over to a theatre!)

My Oscar post:

George Clooney is one impressive man. Not only is he sexy, handsome, intelligent, gifted, and humble, he is also honest. True humility doesn't exist without honesty.

From Clooney's Oscar acceptance speech: "You look at these performances this year, of these actors, and unless we all did the same role, everybody put on a bat suit--and we'll all try that--unless we all did the same role, I don't know how you compare it. They are stellar performances and wonderful work, and I'm honored, truly honored to be up here."

He didn't say, "Yeah, I worked my ass off. I do deserve this more than the other bums." I think everybody recognizes an egotistical asshole when they hear one.

I wondered, though, how many people noted that he didn't say, "I don't deserve to be up here." Many would mistaken such a statement as humility, and I would strongly disagree. It would've been disingenuous, because George Clooney knows that he's good. Those same hypothetical people who love to argue with me (damn you, hypothetical people!) would claim that knowing, or even admitting, one's positive worth is arrogance, but arrogance by definition is having an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities.

I think Clooney strives to be good at what he does. Most people who are like Clooney know no other way. I bet he doesn't view others in his field as competitors, people to be better than. He may strive to be as good as someone else, or even see them as a benchmark/role model until he obtains that level, and if he does do this, I don't think he does it in the competitive spirit as many Americans understand it--to compete is to annihilate the other. You know, "2nd place is 1st loser." "Win at all cost." Crap like that.

Most likely, though, he probably doesn't pay much attention to other people and their success, or lack of, in comparision to his own. Like I said, I think he just strives to do good, honest work, because that is just who he is.

Clooney is already a classic. He's a stand-up guy who operates honestly in his world. That is, he's honest with himself (the most important honesty there is--if you aren't honest with yourself, how can you be honest with the world?), and it shows.

I'm really curious to see what else this man does. So far, I'm extremely impressed.

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I prefer cricket over baseball. Why? Oh dear. Another TWA to add to my list.