Have you ever watched kids play at the park? Complete strangers yet all it takes is the mutual love of a red slide to create a bond of friendship. What changes when you become an adult? And is it really for the better? As human beings grow older we grow more complex but we seem to take this as we must block out more and more people in order to "know" ourselves. I've always thought the meaning of life is knowledge. How can you accumulate knowledge with any sort of importance without collecting friends, neighbors and the masses to share and be with? What happens as we age that makes us want to block more and more people out?
Is the distrust of people that we grow, that cynicism, usefully, needed, important? Or maybe it's just modern paranoia? Would it be better to go to that childlike innocence?
Why do we learn such distrust, even with people who have never hurt us and would logically have no inclination to hurt us?
I understand, life throws us curve balls left and right, making it harder to trust, making it harder to accept people like we did back in the park, back when things were as simple as "I like her because she shares the big red slide".
I guess, what I'm trying to say is... I wish I was less cynical, but I do not know if that is a good thing or not.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Beginings and Endings
9. “It is as difficult to start things as it is to finish things.”
Finishing something cans sometimes be difficult, from procrastination to general distractions, getting to the end is a chore in itself. Add that to that nibbling self doubt as you come to the end and become more scrutinizing of your work, always going back to change or alter something... With each change the end becomes father away, and every time it comes close more changes are made. It's a cycle of infinite incompletion.
But you know what? Starting something is even harder. I talked before about motivation, so already just sitting down to work is a challenge. But actually getting started? Making that first move even when you have the motivation to do so... It can be nearly impossible. For writers it's that first line, the first hump. The line needs to grab you, it needs to lead you into the rest of the work, simply put it needs to be good. But when you sit down at your word processor, try and think of an opening like that isn't an equivalent to "It was a dark and stormy night."
I think this is because at the beginning you have nothing. Nothing but ideas, maybe a few notes, a few broad concepts of how you want to do the task at hand. You are the farthest you can be from being done. Ending becomes difficult because you have little left to do, so you start going back to make sure everything done was done well... But you know you're almost done, the end is in sight. When you start you have nothing, you have to take the first step.
And that's what it's all about isn't it? That first step, going from zero to one, going from nothing to something. Before starting this article I spent twenty minutes frustrated over how to begin, how to start, how to simply get the ball moving. Momentum is a powerful thing, and with each step towards the end my goal comes closer to me. I move with quickened pace to completion, banging at my keyboard with nary an issue now. I'm almost done. The hardest thing now will be my closing line.
Starting something is harder than finishing. A brick wall standing between you and your goal, it seems impenetrable at first, that first brick seems so secure, so unmovable. But once you start, once you take that first step forward, each brick that falls becomes easier and easier. Nothing to something, it may be only a moment compared to the rest, but it takes a lot to start.
That first step is a doosey.
Finishing something cans sometimes be difficult, from procrastination to general distractions, getting to the end is a chore in itself. Add that to that nibbling self doubt as you come to the end and become more scrutinizing of your work, always going back to change or alter something... With each change the end becomes father away, and every time it comes close more changes are made. It's a cycle of infinite incompletion.
But you know what? Starting something is even harder. I talked before about motivation, so already just sitting down to work is a challenge. But actually getting started? Making that first move even when you have the motivation to do so... It can be nearly impossible. For writers it's that first line, the first hump. The line needs to grab you, it needs to lead you into the rest of the work, simply put it needs to be good. But when you sit down at your word processor, try and think of an opening like that isn't an equivalent to "It was a dark and stormy night."
I think this is because at the beginning you have nothing. Nothing but ideas, maybe a few notes, a few broad concepts of how you want to do the task at hand. You are the farthest you can be from being done. Ending becomes difficult because you have little left to do, so you start going back to make sure everything done was done well... But you know you're almost done, the end is in sight. When you start you have nothing, you have to take the first step.
And that's what it's all about isn't it? That first step, going from zero to one, going from nothing to something. Before starting this article I spent twenty minutes frustrated over how to begin, how to start, how to simply get the ball moving. Momentum is a powerful thing, and with each step towards the end my goal comes closer to me. I move with quickened pace to completion, banging at my keyboard with nary an issue now. I'm almost done. The hardest thing now will be my closing line.
Starting something is harder than finishing. A brick wall standing between you and your goal, it seems impenetrable at first, that first brick seems so secure, so unmovable. But once you start, once you take that first step forward, each brick that falls becomes easier and easier. Nothing to something, it may be only a moment compared to the rest, but it takes a lot to start.
That first step is a doosey.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Poem That Makes No Sense
Temptation is so sweet
Laying on my tongue
Delaying my retreat
Reaching in so firm
Wandering through the plain
The empty seas of home
I hear an idle strain
I hear a subtle tone
Following the sound
I journey here and there
My footsteps on the ground
The only partner shared
And to the empty echoes
I find myself so deep
In the tempered deco
I lay my head to sleep
The noise now forgotten
Like hill and vale and tree
I am now begotten
In my land of dream
Laying on my tongue
Delaying my retreat
Reaching in so firm
Wandering through the plain
The empty seas of home
I hear an idle strain
I hear a subtle tone
Following the sound
I journey here and there
My footsteps on the ground
The only partner shared
And to the empty echoes
I find myself so deep
In the tempered deco
I lay my head to sleep
The noise now forgotten
Like hill and vale and tree
I am now begotten
In my land of dream
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Justice
I want you to do something for me, don't worry I'm not gonna tell you to get up and do something. This one can be done right here and now. Picture your most cherished, the singular person who you love. It could be a family member, a friend, a lover. It could be your dad, your daughter, wife, or your best friend since childhood. Picture them, let them linger in your mind till you can't help but smile. Do you have them?
Good, now picture someone hurting them...
Picture them in the hospital, they're sobbing or in a coma. They're covered in bandages, they're really badly hurt. Can you feel that sink in your heart? Can you feel that sink fill with rage once you find out someone did this to them, and meant it? Imagine what you would do to this person, the one who hurt your most dear. Don't hold back, be honest with yourself and let the first thought be your answer...
Pretty violent isn't it?
This is why we have the Justice System, why we take the power to punish out of the hands of those wronged, and into the hands of the community. It's because we have those kneejerk reactions. Those swells of rage and hatred, we become less than man. We fill with adrenalin and can't possibly be rational... The slow methodical way out justice system works is meant to temper that fury, temper the hate and the anger. Till at the end all there are is what was done, and what needs to be done.
Justice isn't just about punishing the wicked, it's also about protecting them as well. Making sure the people who do horrible things are treated fairly... Making sure they don't suffer for more than what they did. Justice is a balancing act, thus the scale in Lady Justice's hand. Justice is impartial, thus the blindfold over Lady Justice's eyes. Justice is also powerful, and when it comes, the sword that Lady Justice carries will come to use.
You can talk all you want about corruption in the courts, lawyers manipulating obscure laws to get their clients off free or with less penalty. But at it's heart, our justice system is cold, it's methodical, it's slow, and it's right.
"We can judge a country by the way it treats its prisoners." Winston Churchill
Good, now picture someone hurting them...
Picture them in the hospital, they're sobbing or in a coma. They're covered in bandages, they're really badly hurt. Can you feel that sink in your heart? Can you feel that sink fill with rage once you find out someone did this to them, and meant it? Imagine what you would do to this person, the one who hurt your most dear. Don't hold back, be honest with yourself and let the first thought be your answer...
Pretty violent isn't it?
This is why we have the Justice System, why we take the power to punish out of the hands of those wronged, and into the hands of the community. It's because we have those kneejerk reactions. Those swells of rage and hatred, we become less than man. We fill with adrenalin and can't possibly be rational... The slow methodical way out justice system works is meant to temper that fury, temper the hate and the anger. Till at the end all there are is what was done, and what needs to be done.
Justice isn't just about punishing the wicked, it's also about protecting them as well. Making sure the people who do horrible things are treated fairly... Making sure they don't suffer for more than what they did. Justice is a balancing act, thus the scale in Lady Justice's hand. Justice is impartial, thus the blindfold over Lady Justice's eyes. Justice is also powerful, and when it comes, the sword that Lady Justice carries will come to use.
You can talk all you want about corruption in the courts, lawyers manipulating obscure laws to get their clients off free or with less penalty. But at it's heart, our justice system is cold, it's methodical, it's slow, and it's right.
"We can judge a country by the way it treats its prisoners." Winston Churchill
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Lost
The poetry within my heart is dampened
By the whisper of your voice in my ear
Endless calls of can’ts, don’ts, won’ts
Everything is caught shadow, nothing is clear
Wandering breathlessly through a mountain
Lost and aimless without a guide
Trying to lose your voice, your presence
But you’ve left me nowhere to hide
Echoes in my mind
Torn bits of my heart
Rejecting all that’s kind
I don’t want to be a part of this anymore
Let me go.
Let me live.
You’ve taken everything
I HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO GIVE.
By the whisper of your voice in my ear
Endless calls of can’ts, don’ts, won’ts
Everything is caught shadow, nothing is clear
Wandering breathlessly through a mountain
Lost and aimless without a guide
Trying to lose your voice, your presence
But you’ve left me nowhere to hide
Echoes in my mind
Torn bits of my heart
Rejecting all that’s kind
I don’t want to be a part of this anymore
Let me go.
Let me live.
You’ve taken everything
I HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO GIVE.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Merit
So when I heard that Hurt Locker beat out Avatar for both Best Director and Best Picture, I felt slightly validated in my decision to simply write off the Academy and their rewards entirely. I have many issues with the Oscars, but after Slumdog Millionaire won eight awards last year, I simply could not bring myself to accept their validation anymore. Now don't get me wrong, Slumdog Millionaire is an amazing film deserving massive amounts of praise, but eight awards?
This brought me to a thought though about merit. The worth of something, how do you judge it? Hurt Locker cost eleven million dollars to make, Avatar cost over two hundred million, so does that mean Hurt Locker should get more recognition because it came from a smaller budget? Hurt locker came and went with twenty-one million dollars gross, Avatar has made over four billion, does Avatar get the praise due to making more profit per cost?
How do we judge things? Hurt Locker is a visceral realistic tale of a Military Bomb Squad unit in Iraq, Avatar is a science fiction film about dominance of culture and environment taking place on another world... Which is the better story? The one that makes you feel the reality of the world in specific, or the one that makes you think more broadly about it?
How do you put merit to something that has no real world application beyond entertainment? I loved a movie you hated, that person adored a movie that was critically panned. A movie comes and goes without a word, and five years later it's suddenly a cult classic. Where do we draw the line of good and better in something that's a personal experience to us all?
The idea of judging an idea... It seems strange to even me, someone who writes movie reviews. I tell people what movies I thought were good, which ones I thought were terrible. All my opinions in my reviews are simply a reflection of myself. All my ideas of what makes good entertainment are completely lost on the people who like something else.
And yet each year the Academy Awards come on, some few people tell us what movies were the best, who are they? Why do they get to decide that, which movie comes out on top, which one was simply good enough for a mention...
The Razzies, another award show held usually about a week before the Academy Awards gives out the awards for the worst films. They will juddge a piece of entertainment not on it's accolades, but on it's failures. Lambasting the least entertaining films, according to them, and handing out an award for it.
Now I'm not saying that you cannot judge art, nor am I saying you shouldn't. I'm saying we all have opinions of one pieve of entertainment's worth, it's merit... And if I were on the Academy, Avatar would have won Best Picture...
This brought me to a thought though about merit. The worth of something, how do you judge it? Hurt Locker cost eleven million dollars to make, Avatar cost over two hundred million, so does that mean Hurt Locker should get more recognition because it came from a smaller budget? Hurt locker came and went with twenty-one million dollars gross, Avatar has made over four billion, does Avatar get the praise due to making more profit per cost?
How do we judge things? Hurt Locker is a visceral realistic tale of a Military Bomb Squad unit in Iraq, Avatar is a science fiction film about dominance of culture and environment taking place on another world... Which is the better story? The one that makes you feel the reality of the world in specific, or the one that makes you think more broadly about it?
How do you put merit to something that has no real world application beyond entertainment? I loved a movie you hated, that person adored a movie that was critically panned. A movie comes and goes without a word, and five years later it's suddenly a cult classic. Where do we draw the line of good and better in something that's a personal experience to us all?
The idea of judging an idea... It seems strange to even me, someone who writes movie reviews. I tell people what movies I thought were good, which ones I thought were terrible. All my opinions in my reviews are simply a reflection of myself. All my ideas of what makes good entertainment are completely lost on the people who like something else.
And yet each year the Academy Awards come on, some few people tell us what movies were the best, who are they? Why do they get to decide that, which movie comes out on top, which one was simply good enough for a mention...
The Razzies, another award show held usually about a week before the Academy Awards gives out the awards for the worst films. They will juddge a piece of entertainment not on it's accolades, but on it's failures. Lambasting the least entertaining films, according to them, and handing out an award for it.
Now I'm not saying that you cannot judge art, nor am I saying you shouldn't. I'm saying we all have opinions of one pieve of entertainment's worth, it's merit... And if I were on the Academy, Avatar would have won Best Picture...
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Rant of Indignation
In this society, people have expectations of you.
Grow up. Get married. Spawn like crazy.
And when those expectations are not met to a T, some people get a bit... huffy.
People are all about political correctness these days and yet they continue to assume that women should find a partner to be complete and that men need to horse around for a few years before settling down. Just a little slice of bullshit, if you ask me.
Women do not need a partner, whether a man, another woman, hermaphrodite or any other gender assignment role (or lack thereof), to be complete. And no, don't EVEN say "yeah, that's what cats are for" you ignorant, idiotic PRAT. The double standard of society is overwhelming to me as I start to experience it.
I can say I want to go out and have a good time without any sort of commitment being involved. People automatically assume that only sluts, whores or idiots go out and have a one night stand. Darling, I hate to break it to you but you're just a bit upset because you can't get any of the aforementioned types of women to go home with you, let alone a respectable one that just wants a bit of a rough and tumble.
I know. I can't stick to a topic to save my life. That's why I RANT not write amazing opinion pieces like my partner (I mean, holy crap did you READ yesterdays post?).
Anyway.
Point: Let me find myself before I find someone else.
And don't get pissy when I "find" a few other people on the way.
Every day is a
New chance to learn a little
Something about you
-M
Grow up. Get married. Spawn like crazy.
And when those expectations are not met to a T, some people get a bit... huffy.
People are all about political correctness these days and yet they continue to assume that women should find a partner to be complete and that men need to horse around for a few years before settling down. Just a little slice of bullshit, if you ask me.
Women do not need a partner, whether a man, another woman, hermaphrodite or any other gender assignment role (or lack thereof), to be complete. And no, don't EVEN say "yeah, that's what cats are for" you ignorant, idiotic PRAT. The double standard of society is overwhelming to me as I start to experience it.
I can say I want to go out and have a good time without any sort of commitment being involved. People automatically assume that only sluts, whores or idiots go out and have a one night stand. Darling, I hate to break it to you but you're just a bit upset because you can't get any of the aforementioned types of women to go home with you, let alone a respectable one that just wants a bit of a rough and tumble.
I know. I can't stick to a topic to save my life. That's why I RANT not write amazing opinion pieces like my partner (I mean, holy crap did you READ yesterdays post?).
Anyway.
Point: Let me find myself before I find someone else.
And don't get pissy when I "find" a few other people on the way.
Every day is a
New chance to learn a little
Something about you
-M
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