what it feels like for the girl next door

Maybe it's the fact that this is New York Film Festival week here in autumnal Manhattan.
Maybe it has to do with me having written so much lately for trusty Bway.com.
Maybe it's the fact that Best Friend Mike has been to the Northeast so much this month.
Maybe it's collitis.
But lately, my mind has been CHURNING. I just keep rehashing ideas and concepts. Like, "What does such-and-such really mean?" or "What is this trying to say to me?" or "What's the real life impact of Reese Witherspoon having made a Terri Schiavo propaganda flick, disguised as a romantic comedy... Apart from me being pissed at Reese Witherspoon?"
(I wish I could have had these critical thinking skills when I was actually in COLLEGE, mind you.)

Today's topic of thought: What's up with the American ideal of "The Girl Next Door"? Like, first of all, what does that even mean? I think it's inherently someone 'wholesome' and non-threatening, right? Because the term- which is starting to seem like a vaguely loaded one- is getting used quite often lately, sometimes to describe someone who's the supposedly maligned victim (Jennifer Aniston), sometimes for a vacant husk that's meant to represent a wifely ideal (Laura Bush). So is the girl next door empowered, or is she passive?

I don't know why I'm thinking about this so much. This is so lame. I guess I'm just trying to say that everyone is NOT on the same page as far as feminine ideals are concerned, and as someone who will 99.9% have a daughter someday, it's freaking me out.

What are my "girls next door" like? Well, on Long Island, I've got a old woman (60-ish) named Josephin on one side of me who was once investigated by the FBI, and an Iranian housewife on the other side. In Manhatty, I've got a Tara Redi-esque party girl to the left of me, and boys (ick) to the right. Oh, and I lived in Farmingdale until I was 4, where we lived next to a pot dealer named Linda. So are my living situations out of joint, or is the ideal completely illusory?

[Sidebar: Did I just say "illusory"? Sorry. I've been reading a lot lately.]

OK, I need to take a break from thinking for a while. Tonight, I'm going to see "The Squid & The Whale," starring Laura Linney, who would totally live next door to me if I could pick my neighbors.

KEVIN :-)