I've come to this conclusion about the profession of writing: lots of people want to be writers, and lots of people say that anyone can write, but most people don't like to focus inwardly for long periods of time. They don't want to force themselves to pour over their own memories for diamonds.
They don't want to constantly mine the human experience for good material.
But a good writer knows that everything is material. Every conversation, every memory, every word, and every experience is something that can be saved and used later.
While hanging out with some friends, I had this realization: some people don't like to be alone to think. They don't want to think about the things that bother them. They would rather spend time around people and things which make them happy than face the possibility of having to be alone with their thoughts.
And maybe that works for some people.
I'm not one of those people who can ignore the world around me and pretend it doesn't matter. I wish almost every day that I was. Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and it's probably true. Life was easier when you didn't know things. It was easier to believe in God than it was to believe we came from Evolution. It was easier to believe that the world was a good place because I grew up in a nice part of it. It was easier, and safer, when I didn't know anything about sex.
But part of enjoying life, part of growing up, part of the human experience, is losing that innocence. Some days, it hurts more than others. Like the day I found out I was no longer allowed to drink from a bottle. That one was rough. Or the day I found out it wasn't cool to sleep with stuffed animals anymore. Man, highschool was a bitch.
Then there are other days I wouldn't have it any other way.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Shempi, Upside Down Dogs, and the Japanese Space Elevator
My current musical obsession:
Ratatat is the band, "Shempi" is the name of the song. Interesting stuff. They also have an album full of remixes of rap songs which may be the niftiest synthesis ever conceived of by mortal music engineers.
Also, this might bring joy to your day.
This one is my favorite:
A friend of mine pointed this out as well. Apparently, the Japanese are building a space elevator. Holy crap, they're going to take over space. That is, if the Chinese don't do it first.
He also pointed out that Firefly would be a better way for things to end up, especially when faced with other... alternatives. Although, I do have to admit that I've always wanted a gigantic flying robot battle suit, and if Japan does start building them, and like, recruiting pilots to destroy the rest of the world (and the aliens, obviously), I would probably be first in line.
Either way, I'm thinking we should all start learning Chinese immediately.
Right now, I'm sitting here thinking about how neat it is that I might see the a new space race in my life time. And this time, we might do some things that no one expected would ever be possible.
What if, within my lifetime, you take a drive down to your local space port and hop a shuttle to the moon? Maybe that's still way far off, but one can always hope.
Ratatat is the band, "Shempi" is the name of the song. Interesting stuff. They also have an album full of remixes of rap songs which may be the niftiest synthesis ever conceived of by mortal music engineers.
Also, this might bring joy to your day.
This one is my favorite:
A friend of mine pointed this out as well. Apparently, the Japanese are building a space elevator. Holy crap, they're going to take over space. That is, if the Chinese don't do it first.
He also pointed out that Firefly would be a better way for things to end up, especially when faced with other... alternatives. Although, I do have to admit that I've always wanted a gigantic flying robot battle suit, and if Japan does start building them, and like, recruiting pilots to destroy the rest of the world (and the aliens, obviously), I would probably be first in line.
Either way, I'm thinking we should all start learning Chinese immediately.
Right now, I'm sitting here thinking about how neat it is that I might see the a new space race in my life time. And this time, we might do some things that no one expected would ever be possible.
What if, within my lifetime, you take a drive down to your local space port and hop a shuttle to the moon? Maybe that's still way far off, but one can always hope.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The View?
What the fuck, right? Why would I watch the View?
Well, every once and awhile, it's fun to watch a train wreck.
Elizabeth Hasselbeck is insane, everyone knows this. She fully endorses Sarah Palin, which is funny.
The hilarious thing about this, is that she breaks down during a conversation about the dreaded "n"-word. She gets incredibly upset because she doesn't understand why white people aren't allowed to say it, but black people are. She even says "we live in the same world," reasoning that we are all somehow immediately equal because we are all equally represented on billboards, commercials, and in films.
Elizabeth, I have some news for you: not everyone grew up in the middle class white America. Not everyone has that "unique" perspective on life, racism, equality. And you're forgetting to mention the other thing, the important one: White people don't want to hear the word because it reminds them of their guilt. And most white people, at least the normal, non-racist ones, do feel guilty for the past. They don't want to hear the word, because it makes them uncomfortable.
I say let us hear it. Scream it from the fucking rooftops, and then beat the shit out of us if we use it. Some people need to have their comfort zone rattled a little.
But again, this all goes back to one thing, and that is this: context. It's all well and good to say that no one should say a particular word because it offends your sensibilities, but what are you really saying? You're requesting that people stop using a word, a word, which intrinsically has absolutely no meaning. Who cares if someone wants to say it in the privacy of their own home, or even to a friend in public? It is the connotation of the word which matters, and the meanings of words change constantly. The English language is an enormous shifting database of words and phrases.
By spending so much time focusing on why words are bad, they are given the power to be upsetting. By focusing on not saying them, you have done precisely the opposite. You are announcing to the world that these words are taboo, which of course means that people will use them more often. Talking about them makes them part of our lexicon. Want a word to disappear from use? Just wait. Time is the only thing that does the trick. In time, language will change again, and fuck might not be the go to curse word for almost every situation.
The truth is that there is a double standard that people like Elizabeth don't understand. They don't get it, because they don't live in the same world we do. Hollywood is in its own fucking microcosm, and she has no clue how things work. My black friend can call me a honky, and I won't take offense, but you can be damn sure if I were to refer to him with the terrible word, he would be upset. And he should be.
We are not at a point in America where the race barrier has been broken. It still exists in an extremely pronounced way, and as long as it does, we have to continue to watch what we say. Obama has stated many times that this is not a white America, or a black America, but a United States of America where everyone is equal and awesome. That may be what he wants to achieve, but we still have a long way to go to claim that we are, indeed, a cohesive group of Americans united under the same principals and freedoms.
Well, every once and awhile, it's fun to watch a train wreck.
Elizabeth Hasselbeck is insane, everyone knows this. She fully endorses Sarah Palin, which is funny.
The hilarious thing about this, is that she breaks down during a conversation about the dreaded "n"-word. She gets incredibly upset because she doesn't understand why white people aren't allowed to say it, but black people are. She even says "we live in the same world," reasoning that we are all somehow immediately equal because we are all equally represented on billboards, commercials, and in films.
Elizabeth, I have some news for you: not everyone grew up in the middle class white America. Not everyone has that "unique" perspective on life, racism, equality. And you're forgetting to mention the other thing, the important one: White people don't want to hear the word because it reminds them of their guilt. And most white people, at least the normal, non-racist ones, do feel guilty for the past. They don't want to hear the word, because it makes them uncomfortable.
I say let us hear it. Scream it from the fucking rooftops, and then beat the shit out of us if we use it. Some people need to have their comfort zone rattled a little.
But again, this all goes back to one thing, and that is this: context. It's all well and good to say that no one should say a particular word because it offends your sensibilities, but what are you really saying? You're requesting that people stop using a word, a word, which intrinsically has absolutely no meaning. Who cares if someone wants to say it in the privacy of their own home, or even to a friend in public? It is the connotation of the word which matters, and the meanings of words change constantly. The English language is an enormous shifting database of words and phrases.
By spending so much time focusing on why words are bad, they are given the power to be upsetting. By focusing on not saying them, you have done precisely the opposite. You are announcing to the world that these words are taboo, which of course means that people will use them more often. Talking about them makes them part of our lexicon. Want a word to disappear from use? Just wait. Time is the only thing that does the trick. In time, language will change again, and fuck might not be the go to curse word for almost every situation.
The truth is that there is a double standard that people like Elizabeth don't understand. They don't get it, because they don't live in the same world we do. Hollywood is in its own fucking microcosm, and she has no clue how things work. My black friend can call me a honky, and I won't take offense, but you can be damn sure if I were to refer to him with the terrible word, he would be upset. And he should be.
We are not at a point in America where the race barrier has been broken. It still exists in an extremely pronounced way, and as long as it does, we have to continue to watch what we say. Obama has stated many times that this is not a white America, or a black America, but a United States of America where everyone is equal and awesome. That may be what he wants to achieve, but we still have a long way to go to claim that we are, indeed, a cohesive group of Americans united under the same principals and freedoms.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Tee Hee
I have some links to share.
First up is Mark Wahlberg. He's pissed because Saturday Night Live did a decent parody of his acting. Andy Samburg has always made me laugh, ever since the infamous Lazy Sunday, so I found it mildly entertaining. The impression isn't bad, and after suffering through Wahlberg's latest craptastic adventure, The Happening, I'm entirely fine with poking some fun at him.
I'm honestly not sure whether The Happening was poorly written, filmed, or acted. There are moments where it might make you laugh a little, which isn't neccessarily out of place in a disaster film. But something was lost in translation here.
Out the window is Shyamalan's signature tension building. Instead, we're thrown right into the "action," which is never terribly interesting, nor exciting. Some of it is even kind of funny and it shouldn't be, and when it wants badly to be taken seriously, say by taking out a character we met only a few minutes before, there is no emotional impact. How are you supposed care about these people when nothing interesting happens to them? Sure, there are people dying, and it's this terrible event, and everyone is scared, and the best friend of course splits off from the group and ends up screwed. This is nothing we haven't seen before, done better by a dozen other films. I'm starting to think M. Night struck gold with the Sixth Sense.
And there's no twist. Some people will die, some won't, but there's no twist. The plants are killing people. If there is one lesson it could impart, it is the following: when the wind blows, if you're hanging out with too many evil polluting humans, you will die a horrible death related to whatever object nearby can cause a sufficiently grotesque amount of gore.
And I'm not sorry if I spoiled it for you. Even if you were thinking about seeing it, you should just forget it. Save the money for something useful, like an ashtray, or a rocket launcher.
Let us shift gears to Sarah Palin. I do so enjoy hearing about her these days.
CNN spent a lot of time covering this story earlier. This guy who used to be a Bush Strategist says that McCain knows he fucked up bad by picking her. Says McCain knew he "put the country at risk" by picking Palin as VP.
Alright, so he's a Bush strategist. He could be wrong, right?
I mean, it's not like she inspires people to yell "Kill him!" in regard to Barrack Obama at her rallies. Oh wait.
She's got to be the one we've been waiting for. Finally, a woman who knows what it's like to be a regular old, joe six pack, racist, ignorant American. It'll be refreshing to have someone with so much experience in abusing power for personal purposes.
Have you voted yet? You should vote, dude.
First up is Mark Wahlberg. He's pissed because Saturday Night Live did a decent parody of his acting. Andy Samburg has always made me laugh, ever since the infamous Lazy Sunday, so I found it mildly entertaining. The impression isn't bad, and after suffering through Wahlberg's latest craptastic adventure, The Happening, I'm entirely fine with poking some fun at him.
I'm honestly not sure whether The Happening was poorly written, filmed, or acted. There are moments where it might make you laugh a little, which isn't neccessarily out of place in a disaster film. But something was lost in translation here.
Out the window is Shyamalan's signature tension building. Instead, we're thrown right into the "action," which is never terribly interesting, nor exciting. Some of it is even kind of funny and it shouldn't be, and when it wants badly to be taken seriously, say by taking out a character we met only a few minutes before, there is no emotional impact. How are you supposed care about these people when nothing interesting happens to them? Sure, there are people dying, and it's this terrible event, and everyone is scared, and the best friend of course splits off from the group and ends up screwed. This is nothing we haven't seen before, done better by a dozen other films. I'm starting to think M. Night struck gold with the Sixth Sense.
And there's no twist. Some people will die, some won't, but there's no twist. The plants are killing people. If there is one lesson it could impart, it is the following: when the wind blows, if you're hanging out with too many evil polluting humans, you will die a horrible death related to whatever object nearby can cause a sufficiently grotesque amount of gore.
And I'm not sorry if I spoiled it for you. Even if you were thinking about seeing it, you should just forget it. Save the money for something useful, like an ashtray, or a rocket launcher.
Let us shift gears to Sarah Palin. I do so enjoy hearing about her these days.
CNN spent a lot of time covering this story earlier. This guy who used to be a Bush Strategist says that McCain knows he fucked up bad by picking her. Says McCain knew he "put the country at risk" by picking Palin as VP.
Alright, so he's a Bush strategist. He could be wrong, right?
I mean, it's not like she inspires people to yell "Kill him!" in regard to Barrack Obama at her rallies. Oh wait.
She's got to be the one we've been waiting for. Finally, a woman who knows what it's like to be a regular old, joe six pack, racist, ignorant American. It'll be refreshing to have someone with so much experience in abusing power for personal purposes.
Have you voted yet? You should vote, dude.
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