Weekend Drudgery

The next few weekends are going to be rough. The painting deadline looms in September and I'm really struggling to resolve it. On top of that, I'm really good at distracting myself - not that I need to be! Anyway, my studio space is next to the lounge (it's on the dining room table!)and right now the family is watching a recording of the 46664 concert for Mandela's birthday. I have the ipod in my ears and I'm listening to Hoobastank - I'm sure I'm still spelling that wrong...
At the moment our very limited television station is having a 007 special. We're subjected to 2 episodes per night on Friday and Saturday nights. It's horrendous. The man is a social pariah - were he an actual person, I'm convinced he would be mad from some disease he'd picked up or a complete alcoholic.
I had a friend from school who went to University in Cape Town. His name was Rob and he was really witty and had older parents who taught him to be well mannered. He was one of those people who are great fun but incredibly respectful. He was one of the many people who helped teach me how to drive. A feat not easily accomplished I might add. One of his first experiences was opening a door for a female student and having her turn and snap at him, telling him he was a chauvinist, blah, blah... Bearing this story in mind, it amazes me that somewhere along the line, 007 hasn't had his come uppance yet!
I can just picture it - he comes up to the target and tries his lines and she turns to him and says, 'Are you talking to me? Are you talking to me?' I picture an American lady being more effective, since they do that whole putdown with the hand on the hip, the head swivelling and the finger shaking thing - it slays me every time I see it! And guess what, throughout the whole movie, he still doesn't get his way with her... In other words, she's not just playing hard to get, she really does find the whole chauvinistic thing repulsive.
I really wish society was a little more astute about what they swallow. I also wish they would stop taking their queues from so called "icons" like actors. There's an advert at the moment where this guy runs around asking banking advice from all sorts of people he passes - a traffic cop, a take-away owner, a runner in the park. I think the same applies to any advice. If you want parental advice, ask someone who's raised a few healthy well-adjusted adults. If you want marital advice, go ask someone who's been married for 50+ years don't even bother looking at a divorcee or unmarried person offer any advice - any constructive advice. I know society is heavily manipulated by media, but for heaven's sake! We're not hypnotised, we can still use our free agency. So as a society, could we refrain from asking Oprah for relationship advice since there's no apparent evidence that she has a successful relationship herself, and could we stop listening to Madonna or Angelina Jolie's ideas for parenting, since we have no idea of how stable their kids will be once they're adults?
Ok, enough rambling.