The New York Times > Health > Mental Health & Behavior > The Secret Lives of Just About Everybody

The ability to hold a secret is fundamental to healthy social development…. “In a very deep sense, you don’t have a self unless you have a secret, and we all have moments throughout our lives when we feel we’re losing ourselves in our social group, or work or marriage, and it feels good to grab for a secret, or some subterfuge, to reassert our identity as somebody apart,” said Dr. Daniel M. Wegner, a professor of psychology at Harvard.

I found this article interesting. Anyone care to comment or debate the benefits of keeping up a good lie?

Speaking of lies, one of the highlights of my winter break was watching Mike Nichols’ Closer with my closest mate Christmas night. The script was something between Mamet and haiku; how did screenwriter Patrick Marber cram so many wonderful shards of broken poetry between just four characters? Adult themes + adult sexuality–a real treat for adults on this continent.

And speaking of continents, Marber seemed to hit the differences between Europeans and Americans when it comes to sex, fucking, and love right on the head. (Yeah, that sentence was intentionally convoluted.) Clive Owen has been amazing in everything I’ve seen him in, especially as Max in Bent. Nice to hear Damien Rice in the movies, but that one song was played way too many times.

The strong women who use the truth to keep their lovers at a distance + the broken men who will destroy everyone–including themselves–with the lies they tell. Next on Oprah. (As if.)

If anyone is interested in discussing this film further, please comment. I’d love to keep talking about it.