tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15259494797977221092024-03-14T09:04:41.178-07:00Redd KaimanReddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-73189939581131719002015-11-01T12:10:00.000-08:002015-11-01T12:45:09.869-08:00GlowThe sun is out.<br />
<br />
It's National Novel Writing Month.<br />
<br />
Wikisource has a collection of the world's finest literature.<br />
<br />
YouTube has the collected works of music spanning Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and so forth.<br />
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If your favorite artist has a Twitter account, you can tell them you like their work.<br />
<br />
They might not respond, but that was never the point. <br />
<br />
You go into your word processing program.<br />
<br />
You type things. Interesting things. You can listen to podcasts about interesting things as you do this. <br />
<br />
You go to Goodreads and ask people who buy books if they would buy your book. Cause you lose perception when you've been on the inside of the story too much.<br />
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If your instincts feel good about it, you publish it. <br />
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If they like it, you write something similar.<br />
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If they don't like it, you write something different.<br />
<br />
And there you go.<br />
<br />
Someone always likes to ruin a good thing.<br />
<br />
Anytime a motivational quote comes along, someone likes to poke a hole in it.<br />
<br />
People trying to ruin Halloween.<br />
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If you want to help your community, build the community, don't tear someone down.<br />
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Take pride in being a foolish rogue.<br />
<br />
They say in every election, the candidate who is more like Bugs Bunny always wins against the candidate who is like Daffy Duck.<br />
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So be Bugs Bunny.<br />
<br />
Elmer Fudd starts every day trying to murder Bugs Bunny.<br />
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And Bugs has fun with it. He gives it a hard time.<br />
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Critics call each episode cliche, but it's really a chronicling of an animal's survival. Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-51266957650442765072015-07-25T04:15:00.002-07:002015-07-25T04:15:32.413-07:00BraindumpI have a lot of stuff on my mind, so forgive me if this post goes nowhere.<br />
<br />
My maternal grandfather passed away. It has not been fun.<br />
<br />
In an attempt to feel better, I started reading Jerry Weintraub's <i>When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead. </i><br />
<br />
It helped me a lot. Jerry had a lot of fun Hollywood adventures.<br />
<br />
I wanted to see what he had been up to lately. <i> </i><br />
<br />
I found out that Jerry passed away on July 6th.<br />
<i> </i><br />
Adjusted for the International Dateline, my grandfather and Jerry may have passed away around the same time. <br />
<br />
Jerry produced The Karate Kid. Okinawa was a big part of those movies. My grandfather lived in Okinawa, so this really resonated with me. <br />
<br />
I wish to live a more fulfilled life because of both of these men.<br />
<br />
I have a list of tasks that continues to pile up. And there's a wide stream of thoughts that flood my mind. I've been having really bizarre intricate dreams lately. <br />
<br />I'm in a constant debate with myself. And that debate is the ability to be both in the present moment and have a well planned future. I'm having issue figuring out how Buddhists are able to obtain this balance.<br />
<br />
It's something I'm dealing with.<br />
<br />
I was reading an advice column. It was about guitar practice. Someone was having issues making the most of their practice. They were losing enthusiasm. Another person chimed in, saying that you have to practice guitar so much that it's not fun. That you'll want to kill yourself from practicing so much.<br />
<br />
That would be the only way to success.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR-NXv5Tma0">Bubble butt. Bubble bubble bubble butt.</a><br />
<br />
I think the guitarists are being too hard on themselves. It should be simply a matter of having your work out there.<br />
<br />
I thought we weren't supposed to give a fuck? <br />
<br />
Perhaps it's time to pick speed over perfection. Isn't that the definition of punk rock? <br />
<br />
But sometimes, you work too fast, and we go back to it not being fun anymore. And you say, I could have been a banker instead of this. <br />
<br />
Because rushed sequels aren't fun. Maybe it's a matter of playing it by ear. <br />
<br />
How come you always know when something is corporate? You could shoot a video on a potato, and you would know it's viral marketing for something else. How does that happen? How does the groupthink run so deep?<br />
<br />
I don't favor people who take pride in ignorance. It's okay not to know something, but the fact that people refuse to Google the answer amazes me. <br />
<br />
I have found them to be bad luck. <br />
<br />
Anytime I work with someone, and they say "X" was an influence on their work, I go see what "X" is. I don't have to enjoy it, I only have to know what it is. And they love me for it. This sounds simple, but it's really hard for people to do.<br />
<br />
I need to work with positive people. I'm complaining a lot here, and I don't like it. Don't appreciate what negative people make you become. It's funny for a while until the novelty wears off. <br />
<br />
I also think the current crop of rock consumers are snobs. Myself included. That's how I used to be. And I think that snobbery means you shouldn't care that much about what they think. Maybe a little bit, but only because you want to.<br />
<br />
That energy needs to be used for the generation of new content. And not some stupid YouTube channel where all you do is bitch. A media personality? You want to be a media personality? That's dogshit. You have to terrorize your assistant to keep the facade that you deserve to be there. You have to gossip and bring others down.<br />
<br />
And when your scandal hits, it's all over. You can forgive an artist for doing evil things. You can't forgive a media personality. Because scandal meshes with the personality. Shooting at the walls of heartache, bang bang...<br />
<br />
Something pissing you off should be a call to action.<br />
<br />
I've been looking at these five year old pieces of electronic equipment, and I'm staring at them in amazement at what they're capable of, and if the current crop of artists can't grow to appreciate it, what does that say about where we're going?<br />
<br />
That's another thing I've been fighting. Being happy with what you have versus fulfilling your maximum potential.<br />
<br />
If I'm happy, nothing gets done. And if I'm at maximum, I'm waiting for burnout eventually. Maybe there's a sinner/saint relationship to it. You want more in life when you work, and then you come home and pray and confess your guilt for wanting more.<br />
<br />
I don't know, this is a braindump. <br />
<br />
I don't really admire people who go into any creative field without having a general curiosity. I love reading Jerry Weintraub's stories about Armand Hammer and all the shenanigans they've gotten into. It's like they found some layer to life that most of us have yet to discover.<br />
<br />
But how can you communicate with an A&R rep if you're still angry at MTV? It's beyond irrelevant. <br />
<br />
You can't be an aspiring career musician and only listen to the music you like. You have to experiment. That's how you communicate with others in your field. Peter Voogd said billionaires experiment. I love that. <br />
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There should be an energy to the process.<br />
<br />
When Tom Cruise was working with Kubrick, he said the multiple takes gave him time to work on things that were bothering him about Eyes Wide Shut. There was progress. Whatever the speed is, it should be better than yesterday. <br />
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Bragging about yourself is a faux pas. Hiring a person to brag about you is perfectly acceptable. <br />
<br />
I think people aren't really that soft. We just give a fuck about schadenfreude too much. We'll get tired of it. A new perspective will emerge. The pendulum is swinging the other way. <br />
<br />
I'm sort of worried about how people will perceive me because of this post, but at the same time, this is coming from a sincere place. If you cannot accept that, we probably aren't compatible. It wouldn't work eventually.<br />
<br />
It's a post. You didn't even pay for it. You can't even write.<br />
<br />
Man of words. True believer. Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-36856863770237359982015-06-06T03:34:00.001-07:002015-06-06T03:34:14.010-07:00The Why's<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-8b26dcee-c864-8692-b85d-cd484c498887" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s been a long couple of years. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve had my successes. I’ve had my setbacks. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve had doubts. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve had vivid fantasies that I swear were real that make me go out and come up short. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve been dodging this question for a while, because I thought it was lame for a very long time. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The question of why? </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why I do what I do?</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What was the reason for avoiding this question? </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Because this question was brought onto me by people who grew up with lame reasons. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This question was brought to me by people who did not share my vision. Their question of why was their attempt at having me explain my work to them. It was an attempt for me to earn their validation. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I don’t need their validation. If I have to explain to someone why I wanna make a horror movie in the same tone you would explain a workplace incident, chances are, this person is not on my side. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve learned that now. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve been on a spiritual/philosophical journey with regards to a person’s emotions and their need for a relationship. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It would seem that a person who is fun to be around, who is a joy around, does not need to seek another person to accompany them. A person who does not need someone will attract one. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A person who is depressed, however, will not attract anyone in their moment of need and weakness. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It is said that this person will be “clingy”. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It is the same as to how a bank will not give you money unless you really don’t need it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It might be counter-intuitive. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In a way, it is. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But it showcases how the majority of thinking is flawed. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Most people add no value to the marketplace. They will be destroyed by the rising autonomy economy. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They only seek a partner so they can deplete them sexually, emotionally, or financially. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And they continue to be alone. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To truly have these things that you desire, you must earn them. Not in terms of office politics, but in terms of attitude and deed. For yourself. It is in your selfish need for others to prosper. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Not only hard work either. The labor that will be rewarded should probably be more complex. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To get the results you want, you have to be better than the results that you want. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To quote the Dead Kennedys: </span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Kiss ass while you bitch, so you can get rich, but your boss gets richer off you”. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">If the company cannot profit while you work for it, consider yourself a candidate on the chopping block. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I explain this to regress to my earlier point. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Why do I do what I do? </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I’ve worked at a bunch of different jobs in the last couple years. Co-workers come and go. They’re good people. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But truthfully, the one thing in my life that remains constant, that gives me my identity, is my creative work. It’s what I will be remembered for after I die. I had a lot of anxiety building up to the completion of my projects. Because I felt like I would be forgotten if they didn’t get done. Like if I died, I would cease to be. This was a very primal feeling. Like realizing your only child is not yours. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But the work got done. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I don’t fear death. That’s one reason why I do what I do. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What are some other reasons? </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It can’t be the money. I haven’t made much from the current state of the endeavor. There were other occasions where I could be paid handsomely for the amount of work I’ve put in my projects. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And I’ve attempted that. And sometimes, you can come up short. You witness a man on social media working in a “safe” industry having a mental breakdown upon receiving his ten year stint at a company that he only worked at to provide for his children. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That fate is much worse than the artist’s struggle. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s the root of the mid-life crisis. It’s probably the root of workplace violence and other public incidents. </span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Van Gogh’s time, most people did something safe to provide. Do we remember them now? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Emperor of Vienna is dead. Vienna no longer exists. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, why do I do what I do? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Because it can be better. How many times have you turned on the television and there was nothing to watch? How many times do we feel like all music sounds the same? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We have the technology to make it better. Let’s make it better. Because we can. And have a lot of fun doing it. You can feel it. In your gut. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I think about what Mozart would do with our technology. I think about it a lot. Especially in my bad times. The times when you’re pulling your hair out trying to make the video render correctly. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s an adventure. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">People play RPG’s.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do they pick the role of the farmer? The man who goes to a job he hates so he can feed a family? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No, they pick the role of the adventurer. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Does your significant other’s eyes light up when you tell of them about what you’ve been doing recently? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then perhaps a change is in order. A lot of people drift in life after they enter the workplace. They only maintain their figure until they marry. They only hustle and bring value after they secure employment. They don’t do things for themselves, and their life implodes slowly because of it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Value yourself. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What people think success is and what success actually is are two very different things. I have witnessed this firsthand. Successful people are caring. They might have to be slick based on the difficulties they deal with, but the universe smiles kindly on them for their ability to get out of certain situations. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tyler Perry and Eva Longoria have been big inspirations in my new model for success. They want to do everything. Because this is life. Your afterlife insurance policy has no guarantees. There’s a lot of uncertainty in that. If we are meant for heaven, we will be in heaven.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Personally, I don’t think we have much say in the matter. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All we can control is what’s given in front of us. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, let’s go out and do as much as we can. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Do we have to be rational? </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Can it be possible that we take on too much and fall under our own weight? Yes. I’m experiencing that right now. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s silly for me to talk about this, but I think about my Wikipedia page a lot. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I don’t write it. That has to be someone else’s job. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And it annoys me. Because as much as my ego gets huge, I still don’t have a Wikipedia page. That annoys me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I see people get in fights, they start drama. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I used to be one of these people. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But I don’t do that anymore. At least, not on the scale I used to. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s fun to point at something you’ve accomplished during an argument. It’s much more fulfilling. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s weird to watch someone manufacture drama among their peers while you labor on something of value and forgive a volunteer for messing up because you know they did not act out of malice. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s weird watching someone go into deep debt buying ugly expensive goods while you’re reading a book on Richard Branson. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s weird listening to Symphony no. 40 when Iggy Azalea...I’m not going to finish this sentence. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, why do I do what I do?</span></span></div>
<span style="color: white;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s the better option. Long term, it’s less suffering. Short term is another conversation. </span></span>Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-53307164477601643892015-06-01T09:22:00.001-07:002015-06-01T09:22:56.112-07:00How To Get Fans In Other CountriesA lot of people (including fellow w<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rite</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><a href="http://nicolapalmerwriter.blogspot.com/">Nicola Palmer</a>) have been wonde</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ring how they can expand themselves f</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rom thei</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r domestic bounda</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ries out into the wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rld and </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">create a wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rldwide fanbase. </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">As you have hea</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rd f</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rom my <a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-not-to-promote-yourself-overseas.html">past exploits</a>, I have had a lot of expe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rience in this a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rea. While it was not all glo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry, fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rtune, and fame I have lea</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rned a couple of things. </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><b>Go To Them</b> </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">This sounds </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">really obvious (you may have hea</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rd simila</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r advice <a href="http://theresesquared.com/how-to-build-a-raving-fanbase">here</a></span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">, <a href="http://www.stayonsearch.com/how-to-get-fans-followers-subscribers">here</a></span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">, and <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Get-More-Fans-for-Your-Facebook-Page">here</a></span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">) but the gist of it comes down to this: You need to know whe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re you</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r audience hangs out and find them. </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Even if you'</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re publishing books about hillbillies that live off the g</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rid, you can find them somewhe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re on the Inte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rnet</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">. It might be a little wei</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rd when t</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rying to find it in te</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rms of count</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry, but if you take the time on Twitte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r and in the fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rums, someone is about to show up. </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">The</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re might still be a chance you a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re still unsu</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re who you a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re w</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">riting fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r. You like to expe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">riment and play a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">round with things, so it's ha</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rd to find the </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">right age o</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r gende</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r that defines who you</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r co</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re audience is. </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">If you'</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re mo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">right b</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rain, </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">don't think of it in te</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rms of statistics and demog</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">raphics. Think of it in te</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rms of who do you wanna w</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rite fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r. </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">One time, I was at the gym when I saw this blonde, bo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rde</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rline p</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reppie woman</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> on one of the exe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rcise bikes </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reading something. I asked he</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r what it was about and she </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">replied with a smile "It's about an ai</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rplane that c</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rashes in the mountains and</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> the su</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rvivo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rs have to eat the dead to su</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rvive". </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r whateve</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reason, I decided not to continue my conve</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rsation with said pe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rson, but when I think about my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Loss-Terrorists-ebook/dp/B007HLMIG4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337246826&sr=1-1">body of work</a></span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">, she is my imagina</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry audience membe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r. Maybe pande</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ring to a myste</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rious blonde possibly bo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rde</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rline psychopath is not a good indicato</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r of success, but knowing she exists helps me when I deal with people who think "you'</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re w</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">riting fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r women, they won't get it" and all the things people say when they think too ha</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rd about stupid things. </span><br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><b>Dabble In Local Cultu</b></span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><b>re</b></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">One of the wonde</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rful things about the Inte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rnet is that we can now communicate with people in othe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r count</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ries f</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reely wheneve</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r we want</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">. </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">When you think about how it used to to cost a thousand dolla</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rs to send a t</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ransatlantic teleg</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ram back in the day, it is </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">really something to ponde</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r f</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rom time-to-time. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">The comments on Yahoo a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rticles have the occasional fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reigne</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r in between the common </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">redneck</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">riff </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">raff. When you igno</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re the t</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rolling and misspelled wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rds, it's </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">really a wonde</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r.</span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">If you allow you</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rself to dabble, you can find out a lot about people. A lot of ste</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reotypes I have had about B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ritish people in thei</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r posh etiquette has withe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">red away and been </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">replaced with images of godless d</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">runken hooligans and the exploits of Ch</span>a<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rlie B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rooke</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r. I'm actually glad this has happened, it's made me like B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ritish people mo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">As fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ricans, all I can say as a w</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rite</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r is you have to get ou</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r attention. You have a lot of competition. Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ricans like to get to the point and do things. I tweeted a while ago that I would actually watch socce</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r (futbol) if they had a shot clock. A shot clock, fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r those unfamilia</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r with it, is a device used in basketball that fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rces playe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rs to make a shot in unde</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r 24 seconds unless they want the ball to go to the othe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r team.</span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">It always makes the game exciting. I can't stand a bunch of guys </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">running a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">round a field fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r th</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ree hou</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rs. So </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">remembe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r that if you wish to g</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rab a Yank's attention. A lot of Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ricans still fea</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r this elitist pe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rception the they of B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ritannia, so if you can be down-to-ea</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rth and unique, you should be okay. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Then again, these a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re the same people who c</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reated and em</span>b<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">raced Twilight out in the southwest. Something happens when you a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re alone w</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">riting manusc</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ripts in the dese</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rt that makes you think of </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rain and shiny vampi</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">res.</span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Sometimes it can be the way things a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re dist</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ributed in one count</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry that can mean all the diffe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rence. </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">In </span><i><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Rip It Up and Sta</span></i><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><i>rt Again</i>, Simon </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Reynolds ch</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ronicles the histo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry of the postpunk movement whe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re he discussed the state of B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ritish </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">radio as compa</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">red to Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rican </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">radio. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rican </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">radio has a la</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rge selection of </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">radio stations to choose f</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rom in any </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">regional a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rea. Because of the la</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rge numbe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r of stations, the musical choices a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re often stuck with Top 40s hits mixed with classic </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rock. Now, I'm not enti</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rely su</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re how English </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">radio is, but appa</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rently it's diffe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rent with single channels that b</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">roadcast nationwide. That's why MTV was a big deal in the US. It was the only thing that b</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">roadcast music nationwide.</span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">That's why all those </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reality talent shows a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re big deals he</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re. This changes how both sides of the pond pe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rceive cultu</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re. Once Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ricans find a comfo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rt zone they in it, whethe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r it's </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rap o</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r anything else. But in England, you can take </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">risks. You can have Ellie Goulding. Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rica would have </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rejected Ellie Goulding if she came he</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re fi</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rst. Same with Adele. Same with Amy Winehouse. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">In a Hitqua</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rs inte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rview with eithe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r Ma</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rcus Beese o</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r Nick Gatfield (I can't fully </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">remembe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r which one it was) it's small </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rule in England that if you </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">replicate what Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ricans do best, it won't wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rk. B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ritish </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rappe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rs seem goofy ove</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r he</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re. But, Amy Winehouse wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rked because the</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re was nothing like that he</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Same thing with Danny Boyle movies and Tom Ha</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rdy in B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ronson. B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ronson has to be one of my favo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rite movies about c</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">riminals Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rican/B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ritish o</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r othe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rwise, and a lot of that has to do with the unique voice the film is p</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">resented in. You might see him as some local buffoon, but I thought it was an inte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">resting cha</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">racte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r study.</span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">(As an aside fo</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">r</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> a second, I wanna say that if someone can w</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rite a Ha</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry Potte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r/Na</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rnia/Tolkien sto</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry with pottymouthed B</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ritish melting pot immig</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rants as the main cha</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">racte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rs</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">, I think that would be awesome. Like <i>Attack The Block</i> mixed with magic)</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><b>Change Your Sleep Cycle</b></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">This is a little thing you can do that might imp</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rove you</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r chances fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r a fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reign fanbase. I like to w</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rite at night. W</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">riting at night is fun. All my best essays as a kid we</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re slung out at 4:00 AM. Late night typing is a sign of g</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reatness. You can keep you</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r goofy Folge</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rs coffee mo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rning </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">routines. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Anyway, my noctu</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rnal w</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">riting habits means that I am mo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re aligned with Aust</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ralians, Kiwis, and Limeys (saying Aussie, Kiwi, and Limey makes me want to put a lime and a kiwi into a Victo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ria Bitte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r) wheneve</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r they pop in on Twitte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r. This gives me the chance to inte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ract with a g</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">roup of people I no</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rmally wouldn't talk to if I had a no</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rmal sleep cycle. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">So, if a fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reign fanbase is something you desi</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re, take a night (if you</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rk schedule allows) to play a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">round with when you tweet</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> and see if you can chat up you</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r ove</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rseas fanbase. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><b>T</b></span><b><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r</span></b><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><b>ial and Error</b></span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Taco Bell is an Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rican fast food outlet that se</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rves Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ricanized Mexican cuisine. They have expanded into a bunch of diffe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rent count</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ries. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">They t</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ried to expand into Mexico. </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><b> </b> </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">It didn't wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rk. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">They t</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ried again, this time selling Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rican food. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Still didn't wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rk. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Disneyland Pa</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ris. Took a couple t</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ries and a lot of money befo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re they made it wo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rk. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-not-to-promote-yourself-overseas.html">I wanted to chat with people in different languages.</a> It's a funny sto</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry I tell people now. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">In wanting to quench you</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r impe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rialistic thi</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rst fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">recognition, you will encounte</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r a couple pitfalls. It happens. </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">If you want an exotic omelette, you have to climb a tall t</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ree, get some wei</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rd eggs, and</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> c</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rack them. </span><br />
<br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Fo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r whateve</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">reason, the count</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ry you might want could be hesitant. But that could be okay. The Da</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rkness singe</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r Justin Hawkins once said that his favo</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rite band was Ae</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rosmith. He acknowledged that Ae</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rosmith was not that big in England as they we</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re in Ame</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">rica, but he felt like it was his own little popula</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">r obscu</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re band. </span><br />
<br />
<span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">Chances a</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re, the</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">re could be someone who sees you as that awesome little cultu</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ral sec</span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683">ret. </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2012/03/weight-loss-terrorists-struggle-eternal.html">So embrace it</a>. </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"> </span><span id="yui_3_2_0_21_133663372043683"><br /></span>Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-72800202415774723672015-03-18T02:44:00.002-07:002015-03-18T02:44:42.790-07:00Random Unsolved Plotline From My Life (again)I'm going to make this short and sweet:<br />
<br />
I need to dust off that old copy of Dark Cloud and beat that game.<br />
<br />
That is all. Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-87518976895054161612015-03-10T01:56:00.000-07:002015-03-10T01:59:11.524-07:00What My Dog Taught Me. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4pXjcj1En9GuBSGpNL-aYh0RkqSUAjHHutXMm4G_GQ28tANYYQGZPQYSKpJMr2Yi9fG_abYvdHrzO6tpkSs4FNc243vyKTtvWlvn3s-lFS5yppsxEB6eQyel0wTBfdV6HsuKGBSRI8Qw/s1600/IMG_1178.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4pXjcj1En9GuBSGpNL-aYh0RkqSUAjHHutXMm4G_GQ28tANYYQGZPQYSKpJMr2Yi9fG_abYvdHrzO6tpkSs4FNc243vyKTtvWlvn3s-lFS5yppsxEB6eQyel0wTBfdV6HsuKGBSRI8Qw/s1600/IMG_1178.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This is my dog Bear.<br />
<br />
Bear passed away on February 13th, 2015.<br />
<br />
She was a Chocolate Labradoodle my family adopted from someone who didn't want her anymore.<br />
<br />
She taught me a lot of things. Like...<br />
<br />
<b>Live your life.</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJLlhjkyp0_dihUMolpIwrd5o-MBVlR8cSUTCgzaDu9BGNvVQ13UjwfzJd_bVo85R0MrPuEZ-KHJL_XoxkG5zzPrxZ__D2wmIJoGAe5bm1PMdnIcfai0E-kiXT0KcOG6RlT8XrgS5VSRY/s1600/IMG_1493.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJLlhjkyp0_dihUMolpIwrd5o-MBVlR8cSUTCgzaDu9BGNvVQ13UjwfzJd_bVo85R0MrPuEZ-KHJL_XoxkG5zzPrxZ__D2wmIJoGAe5bm1PMdnIcfai0E-kiXT0KcOG6RlT8XrgS5VSRY/s1600/IMG_1493.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></b></div>
<br />
<br />
There's a lot of obstacles in raising an animal. Sometimes, it can feel like a burden.<br />
<br />
But you forget pain. All that's left is the memories. And those were awesome.<br />
<br />
All these things you worried about. The ending. Mild paranoid glimpses of suffering. <br />
<br />
We didn't let her out sometimes because we were afraid she might get attacked by coyotes. <br />
<br />
Were we right in doing so? Yeah.<br />
<br />
But it's not something I'm worried about right now. All we can think about is wanting more time. I made sure to do a lot of things with my dog, so I did not regret it when the day came. Do I wish I had more time? Yes. Do I really regret anything? Not too much. <br />
<br />
And it's made me take a step back to focus on what's important. There's a lot of things worth having in life that comes with its fears and obstacles. That doesn't mean you don't engage in them. You can either prepare or do, but you shouldn't worry.<br />
<br />
No regrets.<br />
<br />
Typos. Big deal. Bad reviews. Big deal.<br />
<br />
Big picture. Big deal. <br />
<br />
I feel like I wasted a lot of time worrying, and not enjoying the moment. Listening to a person's opinion on a musical genre they don't even enjoy. Stop wasting my time. <br />
<br />
My dog's passing has forced me to take a different look at my life.<br />
<br />
<b>Don't focus on the dogshit/diarrhea/vomit/whatever</b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bwpOVJl7cZHkQa0c2Iao5DcnEm-8ao2i22nBprOw79kPA7SkXrOF0OIHQ2dAllR-8-O5FfHc-FBlPPdqNrhhECb4O1Ic5Mka7GQsOFJYVamUStZ3UoPgKRKQ86HtYyEoYZA_qxEi_LU/s1600/IMG_1496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_bwpOVJl7cZHkQa0c2Iao5DcnEm-8ao2i22nBprOw79kPA7SkXrOF0OIHQ2dAllR-8-O5FfHc-FBlPPdqNrhhECb4O1Ic5Mka7GQsOFJYVamUStZ3UoPgKRKQ86HtYyEoYZA_qxEi_LU/s1600/IMG_1496.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, it's the light reflection, don't come to conclusions</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A couple weeks before her death, I had decided that I was going to feed her rotisserie chicken.<br />
<br />
It gave her diarrhea. I got a lot of crap for doing it, both metaphorically and literally.<br />
<br />
But that's cleaned up right now. It's over. It's done. And I'm glad I did it. And I'm glad I dealt with it. We live in this anxiety fear driven media pushing society that takes all conflict as a setback.<br />
<br />
But sometimes, it's okay to take the cons with the pros.<br />
<br />
Sometimes the cons aren't that bad. <br />
<br />
Not going to lie, my dog had a lot of misadventures.<br />
<br />
She tried to eat a pinecone once. She tried to smell a firework before I dragged her away.<br />
<br />
You regret the things you didn't do moreso than the things you did do. This moment has forced to come to terms with that.<br />
<br />
I'm at a crossroads in my life. There's a lot of risk in greatness, or so they say.<br />
<br />
I have been fearing controversy. It's not even controversy. It's mild disagreements and arguments with people on the Internet.<br />
<br />
My dog's passing has taught that it is important to truly live one's life, and not get lost in the meandering negativity.<br />
<br />
And that's what I plan to do. I hope you do too. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-82432929399080621162015-02-25T03:45:00.000-08:002015-02-25T03:56:36.797-08:00What Keith Olbermann Taught Me About Being Likable So, <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/espn-suspends-keith-olbermann-after-penn-state-tweets-194548919.html">Keith Olbermann is in trouble again</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-rI6SG_HyaKtGS5wixSGnXT72w1-T-QcEtAhxg__0Wmg41Qg_gEqqZlKm3uDaMqJRVsMdUFkVdlfD-PkdaqTHFU-uBQWjaDHi7Igll-VKnbtaJxxI_KhtVlI5S6g55zd5c-lQU7cxwek/s1600/Keith_Olbermann_-_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-rI6SG_HyaKtGS5wixSGnXT72w1-T-QcEtAhxg__0Wmg41Qg_gEqqZlKm3uDaMqJRVsMdUFkVdlfD-PkdaqTHFU-uBQWjaDHi7Igll-VKnbtaJxxI_KhtVlI5S6g55zd5c-lQU7cxwek/s1600/Keith_Olbermann_-_small.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the only picture I could find of him that was free to use<br />
I got what I paid for. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
He went off on a rant about Penn State's victories being reinstated and ended up insulting students who raised money to fight cancer.<br />
<br />
Did he get trapped into it? Kind of.<br />
<br />
Was there a more diplomatic solution that he overlooked? Absolutely.<br />
<br />
It's easy to be on the outside looking in and throw stones, but I'm not going to do that.<br />
<br />
I don't think he should get suspended, and I don't think he should get fired.<br />
<br />
But I sure as hell am going to remember this when he calls for someone's resignation. Guarantee it.<br />
<br />
It's easy to want Olbermann to get fired. He's not likable.<br />
<br />
And it's funny. Because, unlikability on a level like this is not something that can be conjured in a work of fiction. We all deal with toads and tools (and a few toadstools) in all walks of life, but it's never easy to create a tool of a character in fiction.<br />
<br />
What is the difference between Robert Downey Jr. and Macklemore?<br />
<br />
What makes you feel a certain way about a person?<br />
<br />
A part of it can come from your allegiances. I like the Lakers. Never understood why some people don't like Kobe. He's innocent. He doesn't need a wheelchair to take him off the court when he hurts an elbow.<br />
<br />
Lebron. I've come to the terms that he's a human being. And it's a silly game.<br />
<br />
Bill O'Reilly. Michael Moore. Each side has theirs.<br />
<br />
So, it has to be something more than that.<br />
<br />
<b>Likability comes from knowledge, more importantly, knowledge of everyone's perspective and knowing the world does not revolve around you </b><br />
<br />
You know how certain things are racist, but other things are tolerated?<br />
<br />
I think it comes to this...<br />
<br />
When someone feels like they aren't treated like human beings, like a joke is made at their expense, as oppose to an observation of the human condition, they find it racist.<br />
<br />
The preceding sentence was very lawyery. I did that on purpose. There's going to be someone yammering about it.<br />
<br />
Giuliana is not friends with Zendaya. That's why there's problems.<br />
<br />
Insulting someone you don't know is different.<br />
<br />
But at the same time, the entire point of Fashion Police is designed to tear people down. Fashion Police Brutality. Even the Fashion Police are racist. That was a joke. I hope it was received as such. Fine, give me a day to pen the apology...<br />
<br />
There's a difference between joking about an experience with your friends, and that asshole nine year old yelling racial slurs on Xbox Live.<br />
<br />
You see it in a lot of shows where diverse people are depicted. You can feel like there was this obligation to quota. No character has a voice, because you don't know where that character comes from. <a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2013/02/lena-dunham-mythical-networking-creature.html">Lena Dunham</a> writing a black character, for example.<br />
<br />
And interesting characters can't exist because of it. Conflict is interesting. But, conflict can be interpreted as prejudice.<br />
<br />
If Luke Skywalker is black, you'll say he couldn't stop the Death Star without white Han Solo saving him.<br />
<br />
If Han Solo is black, you'll say that he is some type of oppressive archetype because he's helping a white person succeed.<br />
<br />
Quota destroys innovation, whether that's financial, political, or otherwise.<br />
<br />
Does that mean you shouldn't talk to those different than you? No, it doesn't.<br />
<br />
I personally don't think most people are racists. I think there is some flaw in human psychology that we've yet to analyze. We never acknowledge good things. This is where negativity comes from.<br />
<br />
I mean, working in customer service can make you hate people. But that's only because you're forgetting the good people you work with everyday. You take them for granted, because you don't worry about them. You don't toss and turn thinking about them. Unless you're a weirdo like me, of course.<br />
<br />
But let's be honest. The reason why Olbermann has backfired is because...<br />
<br />
<b>He comes off as insincere </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
People used to ask Mister Rogers why he remained to be the same person offscreen as onscreen.<br />
<br />
Mister Rogers replied "Kids can spot a phony from a mile away". He always accepted people for who they were.<br />
<br />
Back in the day, a group of thieves stole Mr. Rogers car. They returned it shortly later with the note "Sorry we stole your car, we didn't know it was yours".<br />
<br />
If that doesn't warm your heart, don't talk to me.<br />
<br />
You never want to make money being a personality. That is, something that you need to turn on and off. Something you're not consistent with.<br />
<br />
If you're not an artist, and you are burdened to create content everyday, all that is left is creating drama. All that's left is pissing people off.<br />
<br />
You can't seal yourself off and work on your novel or your album. You can't go into self-exile and train for your next match.<br />
<br />
It's not good to be a personality.<br />
<br />
Because we all have bad days. And each fanbase needs an excuse.<br />
<br />
Kate Gosselin has no excuses. There's no reason to be a fan of Kate Gosselin.<br />
<br />
All the reasons are gone. Especially if you're not a nice person to work with.<br />
<br />
John Travolta is getting a lot of flack right now. But if you love Welcome Back, Kotter, Saturday Night Fever, and Pulp Fiction, there's nothing his new silliness can do to take that away. Although, some will argue that he tries.<br />
<br />
Making something of worth can erase a lot of negatives. At least excuses. A lot of despicable people have made amazing things.<br />
<br />
It's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZVKKJbEsdc">this weird emotion I feel when Kanye says he has the right to work with Disney Imagineers</a>. It's almost like when Iggy Azalea does anything. Can you imagine Gucci Mane throwing a fit over Papa John's giving out his number? I don't even think Iggy Pop would care.<br />
<br />
You know that old Outer Limits episode where scientists create fake aliens in order to create a fake alien invasion so the world can unite?<br />
<br />
I feel like Iggy Azalea is an alien created to bring people of all races together. I feel like T.I. might secretly be a martyr. Everyday he says to himself "One day, it will all be worth it". It makes more sense than what we're dealing with right now.<br />
<br />
We like Walter White, because we want to pretend that's who we will become when we have to deal with something as bad as cancer.<br />
<br />
Everyday, we wake up, and deal with obstacles. We like to look up to those who solve those problems.<br />
<br />
And we resent those who only make it worse on themselves.<br />
<br />
Those teenagers who keep tripping in the slasher movies. We actually root for Jason Voorhees. He has plans, and he knows where he's going.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiarYcjSCa14OwxAg5tBGHqkwrEQshsKuNDr5rr3g3mTBdSS6dSDKMO9AQ9-Yn4odWDR6Rx6-q0hEDYPD8QdfqIyImhJKTRbH2IN0ByWQ0mGAGDo07TFk8uhFlLNToPZ0wrCPCuzFeo_jI/s1600/jasonvoorhees01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiarYcjSCa14OwxAg5tBGHqkwrEQshsKuNDr5rr3g3mTBdSS6dSDKMO9AQ9-Yn4odWDR6Rx6-q0hEDYPD8QdfqIyImhJKTRbH2IN0ByWQ0mGAGDo07TFk8uhFlLNToPZ0wrCPCuzFeo_jI/s1600/jasonvoorhees01.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I root for everyone in this picture</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's the fundamental root of drama and storytelling.<br />
<br />
We mess up. We accept characters that mess up. But they have to redeem themselves. Redemption means they've learned something. And we like them better for that.<br />
<br />
Keith Olbermann has been to the doghouse before. And he's going back. He hasn't learned. This bothers people.<br />
<br />
He's not Steve McQueen going back in the cooler.<br />
<br />
He's every other guy apologizing, maybe make a comment about anger management, rehab and the like.<br />
<br />
And it's going to continue...<br />
<br />
So till the next time, we'll see you.<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-16712552647298700372015-02-09T02:38:00.001-08:002015-02-09T02:38:16.593-08:00Thirty Million Dollar Mindset So, I saw Jupiter Ascending.<br />
<br />
I really liked it.<br />
<br />
A lot of people didn't like it.<br />
<br />
These are the same people who complain about a lack of originality in Hollywood.<br />
<br />
So, fuck 'em. <br />
<br />
And from this point on, I'm going to actively repel people in my life who do not want me to succeed.<br />
<br />
This isn't a matter of being a snob.<br />
<br />
Saying you will succeed isn't snobbish. Dismissing someone's accomplishments is snobbish.<br />
<br />
It's the definition of being a snob.<br />
<br />
It's an unwarranted criticism from someone who doesn't deserve the time of day.<br />
<br />
I wanna succeed, and I'm going to surround myself with people who want to succeed.<br />
<br />
And I'm going to hang around people who are in touch with me creatively on a larger level.<br />
<br />
Nicholas Meyer didn't watch a lot of Star Trek. If he did, it might have stunted him from pushing the series forward. He dug into things he was passionate about. Mainly, Napoleonic naval warfare. And he bled that into Star Trek, and he created some of the greater films in the series.<br />
<br />
A lot of people look at the culture at large as some sort of get rich quick scheme. Sometimes it works, even to the point where it makes a good artist angry and loathsome.<br />
<br />
But it doesn't last long. All con artists get caught eventually.<br />
<br />
It takes a balance. A lot of people wanna be Kubrick. They treat the film they're working on like they're Kubrick. No studio today is going to give a young director Kubrick money or Kubrick power.<br />
<br />
But Kubrick didn't have access to the things a lot of young filmmakers have access to. <br />
<br />
It's both easier and harder to be a filmmaker.<br />
<br />
It's easy to do things. But society wants more. Hitchcock might not have been able to maintain a social media campaign. It is what it is.<br />
<br />
And maybe we're a better society because of it. <br />
<br />
Maybe Hitchcock getting caught on his bullshit if he were to live in the modern era would be a good thing. Like Bill Cosby.<br />
<br />
It's a new world. Plan accordingly. A lot of history is nostalgia, so beware putting the past on a pedestal. Opera was a crude artform for poor people. People with class stayed home and sang madrigals. It's in Gone With The Wind. <br />
<br />
There's so much room so for so many interesting opportunities. <br />
<br />
There's a project I've been thinking about.<br />
<br />
I've been thinking about it since 2007.<br />
<br />
Since high school.<br />
<br />
It's something that always comes back to my mind when things get hard.<br />
<br />
For this project to exist, I'm going to need thirty million dollars.<br />
<br />
Now, there are many other projects I have to execute before I can get to this.<br />
<br />
This project is my Ganondorf. It's my Ganon.<br />
<br />
I died a lot of times before I got to Ganondorf. Not just that, I took time off and did other things because life got in the way. <br />
<br />
When I was a kid playing Legend of Zelda for the first time, I didn't realize I had to light the Deku Stick on fire. I was in that chamber for a good three days.<br />
<br />
It seems silly, and it is. But, eventually, with time, you play the game, you beat Ganondorf, and you beat Ganon. <br />
<br />
It's not about how slow you go, as long as you finish, so said Confucius (although people wonder if Confucius actually existed, blahblahblah, cognitive dissonance, little picture)<br />
<br />
The point is, there's going to be a lot of time focusing in on this thing. Maybe someone else could have come along and done a better job. But they are not here right now, and I am. And after that's done, we move onto Majora. Did I ever beat Majora? I don't even remember...<br />
<br />
And as long as there's something to do (which there is a lot of), I'm going to keep showing up till said thing is done.<br />
<br />
I always thought I was guilty to aim for something like this.<br />
<br />
But in order to acquire that kind of opportunity, you're going to need to do 30 million dollars of work. And to get the results you want, you have to be better than the results that you want. Everyone thinks they're underpaid at their job. This will be no different. <br />
<br />
But the truth is, I plan to exceed those expectations. And not feel guilty if things turn out right.<br />
<br />
You can't be afraid of success. <br />
<br />
I mean, it's life right? And we know we're gonna die right? And the haters don't follow us to the afterlife right?<br />
<br />
So, what's the problem? <br />
<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-44393794346964898102015-02-08T21:11:00.000-08:002015-02-17T02:39:38.982-08:00Do The Hustle Filmmaking is changing.<br />
<br />
It's changing faster than the fashion world.<br />
<br />
It's changing faster than your software updates.<br />
<br />
It's hard to keep up.<br />
<br />
You can take some time as a scriptwriter, and learn the craft.<br />
<br />
Reading books. Experiencing 5000 years of storytelling.<br />
<br />
But with regards to actually getting in the industry, there's so many changes to the process of filmmaking that it can be hard to jump in. And not just jump in, but jump in and become successful.<br />
<br />
By the time people figure it out, you feel like you've missed the ship.<br />
<br />
I mean, look at mixtape campaigns.<br />
<br />
So, there's a required skillset you need to implement change.<br />
<br />
And that skill, is maintaining passion.<br />
<br />
And that skill is the ability to hustle. The ability to adapt and overcome.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJnudX7unVgAQv5aR22Isza2_Gmk2qRgRmaZKNAiR4KcO9hw6oUkXaRlYcAyOO6rnBVyDqBPYTRvQwxoIwguVYen57bojl70CiAX48lU-V5usEQ1C2M8BI5IDRu0BCj4BAV2GwGLpiWc/s1600/Oakland_Rickenbacker-Acosta_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMJnudX7unVgAQv5aR22Isza2_Gmk2qRgRmaZKNAiR4KcO9hw6oUkXaRlYcAyOO6rnBVyDqBPYTRvQwxoIwguVYen57bojl70CiAX48lU-V5usEQ1C2M8BI5IDRu0BCj4BAV2GwGLpiWc/s1600/Oakland_Rickenbacker-Acosta_1920.jpg" height="271" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
It annoys me to no end when people have no hustle, no game, and think they can somehow survive in the industry. Or any industry, really.<br />
<br />
The arrogance that lives behind that mindset astounds me. It escapes logic. It shows that someone's life has been too easy. They've never worked in customer service.<br />
<br />
I ask you on Twitter what your story is about, and you give some snarky comment about going to some bizarre website where your ebook is located. Piss off.<br />
<br />
If you're not likable, you're leavable.<br />
<br />
I'm a bit of a superstitious type. It's something that has happened over time due to certain experiences I have.<br />
<br />
I'm convinced that people bring bad luck on themselves.<br />
<br />
If you wish to prosper, and you hang out with bad luck people, you will not prosper.<br />
<br />
I'm also becoming resentful of the contest mentality. The idea that you're going to give the heimlich to some film producer, and your problems will be saved. That's an idea I had when I was eighteen. When you see someone in their thirties with ideas like that, you want to slap them in their face.<br />
<br />
And anything where you have to add personal drama. It's a side effect of the contest mentality. The need to be a victim.<br />
<br />
Filmmaking is not being an artistic victim. Filmmaking is logistics and creative problem solving. It's fitting other people's needs to fit yours.<br />
<br />
You talk about wanting to be rich. You talk about wanting to be famous. I ask for your Twitter/social media/whatever, and you go on some rant on privacy.<br />
<br />
There is no privacy.<br />
<br />
And there really is no privacy for rich and famous people.<br />
<br />
How are you supposed to be famous if you don't want anyone to know who you are?<br />
<br />
I mean, I understand haters. I don't tell certain people of my activities because they always have something negative to say. They don't like the movies I like and they don't like my projects. If you're not lovable, you're leavable.<br />
<br />
This seems to be a big issue in a lot of relationships, or lack thereof.<br />
<br />
Stop complaining about being single. You're not lovable, that's why people don't want to hang out with you. You're not fun. You don't do cool shit. Do cool shit. Always. Because that is life.<br />
<br />
Get in trouble for the right reasons. Make it worth it.<br />
<br />
It infuriates me.<br />
<br />
Maybe corny's a good thing.<br />
<br />
Maybe you're either T.I., jail going troublemaker, or T.I., Iggy Azalea producer.<br />
<br />
Maybe we all have bad days and should deal with others so they deal with us.Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-7077953299691535912015-02-05T07:00:00.000-08:002015-02-17T02:35:08.063-08:00Why Nobody Likes Iggy Azalea When is the Grammy's? That's sometime soon?<br />
<br />
All this access to technology, and I refuse to Google when the Grammy's are taking place. I don't want to feel like I'm investing time in figuring out when that event occurs.<br />
<br />
But that's just me.<br />
<br />
The big issue behind this year's Grammys, is whether or not Iggy Azalea will fulfill the prophecy of being the female Macklemore.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJlNNmTqISFpH9YKS6a06qNhobjjmDVywNuBpokO8UHj7LWO8NOcPkpcmw4N3J0GKhglCXsptJC7aZZ4Mx8cAGSCpq1GvQbRlgYzGn62IzHKmJDCfow5MI9SXU9GxYClLpHaQvMxsDpQ/s1600/iggyazalea01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJlNNmTqISFpH9YKS6a06qNhobjjmDVywNuBpokO8UHj7LWO8NOcPkpcmw4N3J0GKhglCXsptJC7aZZ4Mx8cAGSCpq1GvQbRlgYzGn62IzHKmJDCfow5MI9SXU9GxYClLpHaQvMxsDpQ/s1600/iggyazalea01.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Before I go any further, I would like to deliver a message to everyone in America:<br />
<br />
Kids, if you have the passion to want to go in the arts, a field where you can bullshit yourself as an innovator, I would say at least take a couple of shots at it. Because the way things are going, it's only going to get worse.<br />
<br />
I thought Macklemore was the worst thing to happen to hip-hop in America. But at the end of the day, Macklemore is at least pretending to deliver a sincere and positive message.<br />
<br />
Iggy Azalea? I don't even understand it. I don't even comprehend it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzAtNMT8TO4Tcuvg6KW3P6i2Tvh_YJrUmukzrErBc2SSnGrN3qZhGQTT6OANqtdk_J5Ptciz0eR7Ev40uu_hLZ6al8zYLFomRg7vEFpeM72rCg0Od3ZHJM6tUueXBmGHlD__wzLzKxUm0/s1600/iggyazalea02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzAtNMT8TO4Tcuvg6KW3P6i2Tvh_YJrUmukzrErBc2SSnGrN3qZhGQTT6OANqtdk_J5Ptciz0eR7Ev40uu_hLZ6al8zYLFomRg7vEFpeM72rCg0Od3ZHJM6tUueXBmGHlD__wzLzKxUm0/s1600/iggyazalea02.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I don't think artists have to voice their opinion on every single thing that happens in the news. I think that's an ignorant placement of our values. There was some fire accident in another country. On the same day your film/album drops. You forgot to mention it. You asshole. Don't you know tweets save lives?/endsarcasm<br />
<br />
But yes, kids, definitely pursue your dream for at least a year. Rappers today don't even rap. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv0tKC_b9KU">They mumble through the autotune</a>. Even if you're a fecal matter musician, you might be an innovator of something in the future where you'll be written off as a genius. So at the very least, sling some poo on the wall and see what happens. Say you're trying to explore yourself, remind people that what you're doing isn't illegal (unless you have an uptight city council, but I don't wanna get into that).<br />
<br />
But, case in point, Iggy Azalea. People don't like her. Could it be because...<br />
<br />
<b>She has completely destroyed the notion that you need street credibility in hip-hop</b><br />
<br />
Iggy's finishing what Rick Ross started.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss9sfPmGvnCVZwMYL60d99adKDOpCCqiEYP3qKsADTUYm2Z-PDDz1rSseL3mP6Sg4MIOuj5OeYfxbm_Qmymoz4e6B0T4dSoRINdBpuo1ZgYt72k2UauiqyRAPnI_UB0I4m2zCdMSvW1M/s1600/rickross01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgss9sfPmGvnCVZwMYL60d99adKDOpCCqiEYP3qKsADTUYm2Z-PDDz1rSseL3mP6Sg4MIOuj5OeYfxbm_Qmymoz4e6B0T4dSoRINdBpuo1ZgYt72k2UauiqyRAPnI_UB0I4m2zCdMSvW1M/s1600/rickross01.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Remember when 50 Cent did that whole thing where he said Ja Rule was whack?<br />
<br />
I still don't understand that. I need someone to explain that to me. How is someone who had to go to jail considered not a "credible" artist, but you'll turn around and accept the fact that a correctional officer took his name from Freeway Rick Ross?<br />
<br />
And Rick Ross is going to say something about police brutality? Did he hate himself as a correctional officer? Is Rick Ross suffering from borderline personality disorder (sidenote: What happened to Nicki Minaj's other characters that were in her head? Did that go away with Ebola?)<br />
<br />
Maybe it was one of those situations where Jay Z saw Rick Ross's following, saw his numbers, signed him up, did a little more investigating, realized what happened, and did his best to make sure everyone forgot about it.<br />
<br />
Ever listen to rap music made by real killers? It reminds me of the rap equivalent to Charles Manson's album. Or white supremacist punk bands. <br />
<br />
Like, you're too busy doing bad things to focus on being an accomplished musician, and everything has this creepy vibe when you think about the background behind it. Do you really think Tony Montana would be a good rapper? Be honest. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwFPAbPAaNE">Iggy ain't in the murder business</a>. Iggy doesn't wanna be in the murder business. No talks about romantic conjugals with dysfunctional collectors of murderabilia. Authenticity ain't fun kids. Romantic idealism is amazing. Authenticity is using your driver's license and putting it in an art gallery. Don't go there. It's not fun. <br />
<br />
<b>She Doesn't Seem To Care Much For The Genre</b><br />
<br />
Christopher Nolan has said something that has dramatically changed how I see everything. With regards to movies he said "When you watch a film, and you feel like whoever made this film thinks it's the greatest film ever, that's the sign of a quality movie".<br />
<b> </b><br />
You can apply this with anything. Being literate in your craft. Doing the little things that show you care. Giveafuck, as I like to call it. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baqu9I9_pUk">Just look at this video at 1:30 when she was with Sway</a>.<br />
<br />
Didn't even try to freestyle. <br />
<br />
Like, listen, I understand we all have bad days, maybe a fear that the rap would have came out whack. But there wasn't even any passion there. Riff Raff did better. And Riff Raff doesn't even perform apparently, he plays his songs, vibes out to them, and just randomly sings the chorus when he performs live.<br />
<br />
Q Tip gave her a shoutout on Twitter. Do you realize how happy I would be if Q Tip gave me a shoutout on Twitter? He made 90s hip-hop what it was. He only got paid $10,000 to make one of the greatest albums of all time.<br />
<br />
And she dissed him. A student of the craft wouldn't diss Q Tip.<br />
<br />
Eminem made a song about her. Did she counter with a rap song, like a normal rapper? No, just a rant about how she's offended. That's so lame. Offended? In the murder business? The realest? Can you not feel it in your gut? How lame it is? <br />
<br />
Like, I try not to diss people in the industry because it burns networking bridges and blah, blah, blah, but I'm taking the risk on this one. It stinks. <br />
<br />
<b>I think the reason why hip-hop is so prevalent as opposed to heavy metal is that heavy metal tries too hard without getting any results. </b><br />
<br />
And that's the cost of pride. Obscurity and disappointment. And a bill for all this gear. Hip-hop just needs a laptop. Hip-hop is an improvised explosion device. <br />
<br />
But honestly, she ended up randomly ranting out one of her pre-written songs. How can you not look at that and tell me that's lame? <br />
<br />
It stinks so much.<br />
<br />
<b>It's Continuously Inauthentic </b><br />
<br />
Listen, if you don't like white people, and you don't like white people listening to rap, that's fine. But you have to, on some level, enjoy white people when they're authentically who they are. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThzN8Wzm98k">Let them be apathetic and sing to Madonna in their GAP clothing. </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2012/05/why-you-are-sad-with-your-career-aka-my.html">Do you like Huey Lewis and The News? </a><br />
<br />
(sidenote: A Dominican woman once told me she liked white boys. I asked her if she liked Huey Lewis and the News. She said she liked CNN. I thought that was hilarious)<br />
<b> </b><br />
You gotta let white people dance to Joy Division. You have to let losers like...what are we at now...Teen Mom? Who replaced Jersey Shore? Wasn't it Buckwild? But they died right? Who holds that crown now? <br />
<br />
You have to let people live in their niche. Everyone hated Paris Hilton. Wanted her to go away. Mission Accomplished. Now we have Kardashians.<br />
<br />
You wanted Saddam Hussein out of there, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Saddams-Secrets-Georges-Hormuz-Sada/dp/1591454042/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423139287&sr=8-1&keywords=saddam%27s+secrets">he was smuggling his cache into Syria</a>.<br />
<br />
Congratulations, you now have ISIS.<br />
<br />
Winston Churchill once said that the "Wars of the People will be much more violent than the Wars of the Kings". <br />
<br />
Vacuums get filled.<br />
<br />
As much as I don't like Iggy, I think it's going to get worse. Like, we're going to get Bieber Iggy. Mumbling autotune as he screams at you playing Call of Duty Bieber Iggy.<br />
<br />
And then we'll say "At least Iggy's a grown woman". <br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-23917260679059607802015-02-05T01:18:00.000-08:002015-02-05T01:25:45.402-08:00Three Types Of People Who Like Me Life is interesting.<br />
<br />
I think I've said it before, but it bears repeating.<br />
<br />
I only wish that the intricacies of life could have been replicated in film.<br />
<br />
I want a movie to have a prophecy and not have the prophecy come true. Like puppies and the porcupine.<br />
<br />
A lot of people in the media industry have decided to create more content and more views by making life harder for everyone else.<br />
<br />
I don't like this.<br />
<br />
Never have.<br />
<br />
Never will.<br />
<br />
Can I be tempted? Sure. But who wants to be tempted?<br />
<br />
At this point in my career, I have figured out that the things that I write, the things that I create, are enjoyed by three different types of people. And they are:<br />
<br />
<b>Horror Aficionados</b>: This is pretty self explanatory. If you have a passion for horror films or are someone who's so passionate about films that it overflows into a love of the horror genre, we're going to get along. If you've ever watched a shitty horror film and wished someone came along who cared about the genre, talk to me about movies. It might take a couple shitty movies before we get the one we want, but we can have fun.<br />
<br />
<b>Mildly Gothy College Girls</b>: It might have to do more with who I'm attracted to, but women who are gothy tend to like my stuff, especially when it comes to captivating female characters. I pride myself on making projects that have strong female characters.<br />
<br />
I feel like this recent feminist-but-only-when-it's-convenient has sort of alienated me a bit, since a lot of it doesn't really improve the conditions for women in the industry. No one has come along trying to make interesting movies that have female characters. A lot of it is whining without action. That's lame.<br />
<br />
A while back in the gym, I was talking to this girl on an exercise bike. She had blonde hair, seemed really preppy.<br />
<br />
And she was reading a book. And I asked her what her book was about. And she said she was reading about an airplane crash that happened in the mountains and how the survivors had to eat the dead to survive. There was so much enthusiasm in her voice telling me this story. I'd like to make stories for her.<br />
<br />
So, if you're a college girl (and I think college girl is a state of mind than anything else), check my stuff out. You can poke me with a stick if I act out of place.<br />
<br />
<b>Black People Who Like Monster Movies</b>: When I was a kid, I had a friend named Shawn in Torrance. I remember Shawn made a joke about how some guy's Mom was so fat that Godzilla's heat vision would bounce off of roastee's Mom's ass. I don't know what happened to Shawn, but I would like to make movies for him, wherever he is.<br />
<br />
I tried in the past to work with playwrights trying to be the next Tyler Perry. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't. And I've realized that, while I enjoy work in serious relationship dramas, I gel best with guys and girls who know who MF Doom is. The Abstract and The Dragon. Wu Tang. Godzilla movies and kung fu movies.<br />
<br />
I remember as a kid, I made a ninja movie in high school with my friend Jahlani. Jahlani got grounded for having a BB gun under his bed (J, I'm not snitching, the statute of limitations are up on that), and we had to shoot the ninja film without him.<br />
<br />
It's an <a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2014/04/unresolved-plotlines-from-my-life.html">unresolved plotline in my life</a>. I would like to put my own spin on what Michael Jai White does so well.<br />
<br />
I'll probably talk about the ninja film later (it was called Kabuki Blood Theatre) which was my own personal <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fYy36b0URI">Heart of Darkness</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-13427870560041082802015-02-05T00:48:00.000-08:002015-02-05T00:48:15.763-08:00My Scumbag Mind It's a weird thing.<br />
<br />
I always have one thing to do each day. It's an important thing.<br />
<br />
I go. I do that thing.<br />
<br />
And then my brain stops caring about anything else after that.<br />
<br />
I try to do other things. A lot of times, I get other things done. But that's about it.<br />
<br />
Again, this is personal stuff. I always get business stuff done when other people are involved. But personal daily chores can be, well, a chore.<br />
<br />
The concept of the "most important task of the day" was something I did when I burned myself out a while back.<br />
<br />
It's a horrible issue I'm dealing with.<br />
<br />
I mean, it's not drug addiction. And I know most people constantly wait till the last minute of the last day of their last life to do the things they truly wanted.<br />
<br />
And I think I might have become like this after reaching some seriously huge personal goals. Writer's block is different for someone who's written fifteen feature length scripts as opposed to someone who's on the third feature length script.<br />
<br />
It might be different for someone who started a blog, and never got pass their second post as opposed to someone who underwent a <a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2013/02/stickup-7.html">whole yearly webcomic</a>.<br />
<br />
But I don't like it.<br />
<br />
I don't like it when people tell me to relax.<br />
<br />
I don't want to relax.<br />
<br />
Full potential only relaxes after the muscles are stressed out.<br />
<br />
Taking time to smell the roses.<br />
<br />
Maybe I shouldn't.<br />
<br />
Maybe I need to surround myself with people who are so goddamn talented, I want to kill myself when I am in their presence.<br />
<br />
I guess it could be who I am.<br />
<br />
Oh, you like hip hop? Let me talk to you about Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.<br />
<br />
Oh, you like rock? Have you heard that new Bobby Shmurda song?<br />
<br />
I don't know, maybe I'm bitching a little too much. This is life. This is what you do. I always take a step back and think about what those Italian Renaissance Men would have done with current technology and opportunities.<br />
<br />
I've procrastinated on getting a new gym membership. I might sign up on March. That depends on a couple other things.<br />
<br />
It's good for creativity, but it's really bad for marketing.<br />
<br />
My best ideas come at night. My best tweets happen at night. There's a lot of people in India and England that think I'm funny because I'm tweeting jokes in their waking hour.Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-62125262763474285232015-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:002015-02-02T00:00:09.124-08:00Water and fire, but not firewater Next time you have the urge to do something self-destructive, I'd suggest you see someone else doing it.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amoeK1hRVhE">Watch a video of someone punching someone else in the face</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVFoQaKLIvk">Watch a video of two guys screaming at each other</a>.<br />
<br />
Sit in the comfort of your home, dorm, or living room and realize what an ass everyone in these videos is making of themselves.<br />
<br />
And realize that that could be you if you were out to do such a thing.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2KPeMcYsuc">Watch a video where a man complains about being a man</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6p5AZp7r_Q">Watch a video where a woman complains about being a woman</a>.<br />
<br />
I've had the urge to address the issue on the division of the sexes lately.<br />
<br />
But, I've done my research and am immediately discouraged by such an outing.<br />
<br />
And opening your mouth and generalizing a small faction as an entire group makes you seem like a buffoon.<br />
<br />
Because you don't really hate women.<br />
<br />
And you don't really hate men.<br />
<br />
There was that boy that you really got along with. You thought about asking him to hang out, but you didn't, And you know if you were to write a sexist post, and this person were to see it, you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself.<br />
<br />
And same applies to everyone. You know Hitler knew some cute Jewish girl in his life growing up. He probably wanted to talk to her, but never did, and someone else did and married her.<br />
<br />
He probably thought about her when he killed himself.<br />
<br />
There's a lot of people in unfortunate circumstances who are in denial of what needs to be done, so they lash out when they should be working on themselves.<br />
<br />
J. Cole's been making a lot of sense. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MGB_G_ZjMo">"Cause I know every poet just wanna be loved"</a>.<br />
<br />
Originally, I thought he said "deep down, every boy just wanna be loved", but that works as well.<br />
<br />
If you hire a star player, let them be a star player. No one cares about your boring fucking opinion.<br />
<br />
Your boring opinion fucking sucks. Do cool shit to do cool shit.<br />
<br />
Jennifer Aniston's movie career isn't doing as well as she wants it to. Because I don't think Jennifer actually watches movies. She doesn't have an urge to do cool shit. She did all her cool shit making Friends. She needs to make cool shit again.<br />
<br />
But cool shit is intimidating.<br />
<br />
It's intimidating to ask for more as an artist.<br />
<br />
It's intimidating when people tell you you'll never achieve something to go on and achieve it and ask for more.<br />
<br />
I think this where the root of most people's fears come from.<br />
<br />
Pete Carroll got cocky. It's who he is. He did it with the Longhorns. He did it with the Patriots.<br />
<br />
Part of his cockiness won him the ring last year. Part of his cockiness was why he was so good with USC. But, he has to accept that there's another side to that, and if he wants to keep doing what he's doing, that's just a part of life he has to accept. He probably did a long time ago.<br />
<br />
If you live a certain lifestyle that comes with blowback and repercussions, you're just going to have to decide that this is a part of the life you chose and it's going to be a part of your day now.<br />
<br />
Walt Disney declared bankruptcy several times in his career. But he accepted that in order to do the things he wanted to do with his life, that was just something he had to deal with.<br />
<br />
Walt Disney went to his grave fighting over money with his brother so he could make his projects. Again, that was something he had to deal with, and no one acknowledges, and he is an artist who will live forever because of it.<br />
<br />
He would rather do that than work at a nine to five.<br />
<br />
Working eighteen hour days and gambling your savings, your significant others savings, all over something that no one thinks will work. Disney's folly.<br />
<br />
Take some trial, and a little bit of error. Figure out what you want. Give yourself a little space to fall. Don't make full blown predictions yet. The puppies and the porcupine picked the Seahawks. I'd like to think the Patriots would get disqualified for some cheating method that has yet to be discovered, but I'm not gonna worry about that.<br />
<br />
Worry about you. Get what you want.<br />
<br />
And make sure you'd keep doing it after you were rich.<br />
<br />
A lot of shitty reality television celebs stop being artists after the money came in.<br />
<br />
Chase the wrong thing, and you'll get it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-8597693579384622962015-02-01T22:10:00.003-08:002015-02-01T22:10:59.528-08:00DisclaimerI've been having a lot of fears regarding this blog.<br />
<br />
I had this fear that I might say something that someone would discover that would jeopardize my later well being.<br />
<br />
And I've decided if that you were someone that I'd come across that feels this way, I don't want you in my life nor in my career.<br />
<br />
Good day sir.Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-65578740572150643692015-01-13T21:53:00.000-08:002015-01-13T21:59:32.924-08:00The Most Important ThingYou know, I've been doing my best to be consistent with coming up with ideas. Any idea. One idea a day since 2007.<br />
<br />
It's been rough sometimes.<br />
<br />
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.<br />
<br />
I like to plan out how the ideas get executed. I always told myself that if I wasn't loyal, the idea well will dry up.<br />
<br />
But at this time, I notice that not everything works all of the time. Sometimes, it doesn't work out.<br />
<br />
You move onto other things. You live. You learn.<br />
<br />
But, I notice that a good eighty percent of the time, you need to work on the idea and finish it when the passion comes in.<br />
<br />
That can be hard for those endurance runs. Those multi-day film shoots. Those multi-month editing sessions. Those yearlong distribution deals.<br />
<br />
That's why what you're working on has to be good. You have to respect yourself as an artist in that way. You gotta call people on their bullshit when they give you some whack shit that they themselves have no financial responsibility in. Your sanity is not worth giving up for a minor role that probably won't get your foot in the door.<br />
<br />
Next time a child star goes crazy, look at the last movie they were in. If I was in So Undercover or Shipwrecked, I'd lose my fucking mind too.<br />
<br />
So many people would rather kill themselves than speak in public. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r9m0MjnTJE">Let alone speaking in public when they're ten. </a><br />
<br />
Not just speaking in public, making people laugh in public. Shit's hard boo.<br />
<br />
And you keep doing it until you're in your late twenties. Laugh Factory. Stress Factory. Feeling like a depressed product. Of course you do.<br />
<br />
People are full of shit. If you make complaints, I'm bringing up your resume. Complaining about Christopher Nolan when you shoot cell phone videos vertically, go fuck yourself.<br />
<br />
Don't give in to validation. Validation is overrated.<br />
<br />
Whatever, fuck your friends and your retweets. No one is going to give it, you're going to have to take it.<br />
<br />
No one wants to be criticized over a piece of shit they weren't even a smidge passionate about.<br />
<br />
And if your friends are doing you a favor and working on your thing, you have to make it meaningful. You have to be Phil Jackson about it. James Cameron, Napoleon. Be in the trenches with your boys.<br />
<br />
If you're the leader of a project, you gotta be passionate. This might be my opinion, but I think the passion overrides everything. I think you have to be smart and literate about what you're working on too, but the passion has to come through. It comes through in the little things. You listen to people. You figure out what your team's strengths are and try to accommodate for it.<br />
<br />
A lot of people don't care. And then everything falls apart. They don't listen to people. There's something off about what they're working on and they think they can deflect blame onto everybody else. Nobody wants to work on it because deep down they think it sucks, but you're not doing anything to make it suck less.<br />
<br />
Don't be offended. I did that too. Learn from it.<br />
<br />
Budget is always gonna be an issue. Always will be. But if your enthusiasm comes through, you can overrule that.<br />
<br />
Enthusiasm comes from truth.<br />
<br />
It's that joke that addresses something "that's so true".<br />
<br />
Not a lot of rock stars have gotten in trouble lately. But a lot of comedians have.<br />
<br />
Because it's a comedian's job to tell the truth. Truth scares people.<br />
<br />
Anything that lasts the test of time speaks to a truth. A vibe.<br />
<br />
Something that makes you give a fuck.<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-36035783047954599672015-01-12T02:00:00.000-08:002015-01-12T02:00:22.788-08:00Can A Blog Be Finished? You know,<br />
<br />
I've been working this blog for a little bit now.<br />
<br />
I actually started a couple prototype blogs back in high school. They were little interesting things, but I discontinued those for a myriad of reasons. Reasons that don't seem significant now. Reasons that I should have walked out of, had I had the hindsight that I do now.<br />
<br />
For the last year or so, I've had the trouble of creating content for this blog.<br />
<br />
I don't like the current community at large with their hashtag activism and their fake insincere bullshit.<br />
<br />
I don't like the term "entitled", but I will say this about my generation:<br />
<br />
We're not the kind of people that will play through a losing game of Madden/FIFA/NBA 2K.<br />
<br />
When things get bad, we turn it off. I include myself in that.<br />
<br />
We try to change the law when it's convenient for us, and change it back when it's inconvenient for us.<br />
<br />
Again, this could have been happening for thousands of years, but this is something I've noticed within ourselves.<br />
<br />
And being that we (not just my generation, but society as a whole) are sore losers that cannot tolerate different opinions on subjective matters, it's hard to create content in a non-scorn environment.<br />
<br />
I remember, I think it was a while ago when the World Cup was going on. A lot of Americans proposed that soccer/futbol have either a shot clock or a smaller field to make the game more exciting. Someone on Twitter voiced their opinion saying that this game should not change its rules, since it would be doing so for people who did not enjoy the game in the first place.<br />
<br />
A rant like that is fine, but one must then understand that if you don't want people who despise your sport to change it, you're going to have to live the rest of your life understanding that there's going to be things that you enjoy that other people do not like.<br />
<br />
Anyway...<br />
<br />
A lot of blogs on the Internet that seem to go for years without any new content do so under the terms that blogs are never really finished. If there's always tomorrow, there's always going to be the need for a new blog post.<br />
<br />
That can be intimidating/stressful for an individual that does not write under those guidelines. We are a scumbag inconsistent society. Perhaps inconsistency is needed for society at large to function, but we will complain about movie sequels and yet be angry at a blog for changing its style away from what it originally was.<br />
<br />
You outline a novel. You plot a novel. You finish a novel.<br />
<br />
You plan a film. You have a lot of meetings. The transition from pre-production to production is the hardest. Once you get over that hurdle, you deal with filming. Kubrick compared it with writing a novel over a furnace while taking a break to write other parts in a blizzard.<br />
<br />
Then a film goes out to distribution. The distribution model was different in the 1940s, which was completely different in the 1970s, which was different in 2003, which is an everchanging math problem now. You can't figure out those answers in a book. You can only do it from experience.<br />
<br />
Once a book on current film distribution is released, the game has already changed.<br />
<br />
But even that's doable. That has a conclusion.<br />
<br />
Blogging doesn't have a conclusion. It just keeps going on.<br />
<br />
And it's not like a tweet. Tweets are simple. Popcorn is simple. Sugar is simple. Simple carbohydrates. They digest easily.<br />
<br />
And most websites about maintaining a blog always focus on businesses that maintain blogs.<br />
<br />
Who the hell seeks enjoyment on the niche business examples they use for blogging?<br />
<br />
Why are you people creating a YouTube channel for oddity businesses? That's so lame. I feel it in my gut. My inability to care.<br />
<br />
Really? An entire YouTube channel about lawncare? And you're angry and looking for ways to create content for this? And you wonder why you can't have numbers that can compete with Austin Mahone? Honestly?<br />
<br />
VladTV stretches their interviews, and they're actually interesting most of the time.<br />
<br />
Lawncare. A YouTube channel on lawncare. And you're complaining about a lack of viewers and how hard maintaining a YouTube channel is.<br />
<br />
I need Sam Kinison to scream "It's fucking lawncare!". <br />
<br />
I'm sorry, I'm just whatevered out by some people.<br />
<br />
They opened up with a crappy idea.<br />
<br />
A lot of times when you pursue something, the idea is the best part and it goes downhill from there. Hitchcock said this, and he's the greatest filmmaker ever. A YouTube channel on lawncare? No, I'm not done, I can't deal with this right now.<br />
<br />
Can't you just do a normal sketch comedy channel and that have it be sponsored by the lawncare people? That could work. Why do you go and do things with which you know you're not going to get out of?<br />
<br />
Anyway...<br />
<br />
A lot of things end. Endings are good. The Lord of The Rings, despite having four endings, concluded.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2013/01/52-weak-stickup-1.html">I plotted Stickup</a>. <a href="http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2013/12/stickup-52.html">I finished Stickup</a>. If I made it a once a week thing forever and ever, I would have never started. Finite's how I work. I like to split tasks in half. I can't split eternity without creating a nuclear disaster.<br />
<br />
So, in the tradition of many a rock and roll farewell tour, I ask "Can a blog be done?".<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-48361426630009854412014-11-22T19:41:00.000-08:002014-11-22T19:41:48.042-08:00Oncoming Overhaul I think 2014 sort of was what I wanted it to be. I rubbed a lamp of a mediocre genie, and I got what I wanted. And that's okay.<br />
<br />
I tried to pander to people who did not like the same movies/music I like. That backfired on me. You do things cause you think it's a step forward, but everything falls apart, and you feel like a fool for doing it. You develop an instinct for what you're willing to put up with.<br />
<br />
I listened to chauvinists who wanted me to represent their minority in my projects while they demeaned other ethnicities with no sense of guilt or irony.<br />
<br />
I listened to racist feminists who complained that my projects did not show a "truly" strong female character while they drooled over Fifty Shades of Grey.<br />
<br />
I have tried multiple times, to write a bunch of stuff for this blog, but I have fallen in the cracks due to the nature that they were purely clickbait articles. Will I post them in the future? Probably, but not now.<br />
<br />
I have decided, at this point, to refocus this blog moreso on new projects I'm working on/interested in. This blog was supposed to promote my other stuff, but I have decided that I would rather make it a blog I would visit as a visitor of blogs. I am willing to accept the consequences of what that entails.<br />
<br />
I have been hesitant in my career pursuits by this fear of being open about my opinion.<br />
<br />
You see a lot of stories in the news of people in high positions who get fired over tweets. I don't think anybody should get fired over tweets and remarks. You might use remarks as a reason not to vote for someone, but I think anyone who wants to fire someone over remarks is someone who probably doesn't have a real job.<br />
<br />
People would rather fire someone over homophobic remarks than help out the LGBT community that's currently abused in Putin's Russia.<br />
<br />
Cause people are fake. Don't be fake. Fake collects dust and gets replaced.<br />
<br />
I've also dealt with other people that hate success or the steps that lead to success. Or they talk about how hard their life is. They talk shit about those at the top. Novelists that talk shit about Lord of the Rings. Rappers who talk shit about Tupac. While they have no body of work to counter examine with.<br />
<br />
Tolkien and Tupac are dead. You gotta worry about yourself.<br />
<br />
These idiots are trying to settle some past score. I don't care about past scores. I'm focusing on current championships.<br />
<br />
And another thing, just because I don't tweet about whatever stupid holiday/tragedy is in the news, does not mean I don't care about said thing. Gossiping hens.<br />
<br />
Hens get shot, stuffed, broiled, and fed to golden retriever puppies.<br />
<br />
Anyway,<br />
<br />
Understand that I love everybody and that I want everybody to succeed, and any point I will bring across in the future was probably done as a joke or a constructive criticism.<br />
<br />
Again, it seems I'm addressing a hypothetical fictitious scandal that has yet to exist, but be what it may I am sorry. But, I cannot let this fear stop me. I'm going to repost some long deleted posts of mine (which I might later delete cause whatever)<br />
<br />
But, I have decided that at this point, if my current or any future employers/sponsors/whatever would like to fire me over something I said, said job at establishment was not meant to be, and that it is the wishes of the universe telling me that it's time to move on.<br />
<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-4637388394272272122014-11-11T01:03:00.000-08:002014-11-11T01:03:49.154-08:00Men Are Like Dogs This is a little diddy called Men Are Like Dogs...<br />
<br />
Men Are Like Dogs.<br />
<br />
They can be cuddly. They can be adorable. And they can rip your fucking face off.<br />
<br />
They need care. They need love. They can kill you even if you've given them all of the above.<br />
<br />
A dog by its nature is a stray. He will leave you if you don't feed him and rub his belly. So don't complain and give a dog what it needs or some skank will smile as it feeds.<br />
<br />
Dogs can help.<br />
<br />
They can aid your health.<br />
<br />
And when you step on their paws they go yelp.<br />
<br />
A big dog can bark at the would be burglars. But if you like them vicious he might think you're a burger.<br />
<br />
A small dog might be fun at parties. But they're not around when the home invasion's starting.<br />
<br />
A dog can mess up and need discipline. But if you smack them in the face too much, you can get a row of teeth in your rear end.<br />
<br />
Dog in the mirror men of its own best friend. Love it well and it will be like Hachiko till the very end.<br />
<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-77232082303143381142014-10-16T21:55:00.000-07:002014-10-16T21:55:37.328-07:00Movies You know, I like movies.<br />
<br />
I do.<br />
<br />
I've always had a weird relationship with making films.<br />
<br />
It's always been a matter of re-inspiration. It's never that one film that makes me a filmmaker.<br />
<br />
It's the one that makes you love film again.<br />
<br />
Filmmaking is filled with cynicism. It's always been a part of it. Thomas Edison was an evil dude. Any TMZ scandal pales in comparison to what <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_Arbuckle#The_scandal">William Randolph Heart did to Fatty Arbuckle</a>.<br />
<br />
You have to fall in love with film again. It's too difficult not to. That's what love is. It's embrace in the face of defeat.<br />
<br />
I remember when I was in the fifth grade. My father was working on this script project that fell into development hell. It bummed him out a lot.<br />
<br />
Hell, watching that made me depressed too. <br />
<br />
But whatever. I'm beyond that now.<br />
<br />
I remember my love of horror films was sort of this weird accident.<br />
<br />
I was always nostalgic about 80s action movies.<br />
<br />
I used to think that Terminator 2 was one of the greatest films ever made.<br />
<br />
I still do.<br />
<br />
I remember how in high school, every film that came out was trying to be the next Harry Potter. It sickened me. Something deep inside told me it was bullshit.<br />
<br />
I hate that. I hated it when you were a kid, and they always pushed an aspiring franchise on you. Trying to bland up the ol' monomyth.<br />
<br />
I remember watching Commando. I remember thinking that last scene where Arnold goes full God Mode was something to aspire to create as a filmmaker. Spraying and praying is tactically a horrible decision to make in a firefight, but it looks amazing on film.<br />
<br />
There's a scene in Commando where Arnold chops a dude's arm with a machete. I thought that was cool. I was constantly preached about the evils of R-rated movies as a kid, and the idea that I would be able to create what I was not able to watch, a sort of homebrew punk rock of violence, was awesome to me. I purchased a book on horror films in the hopes of doing an action sequence like that in the future.<br />
<br />
One thing led to another, I became entrenched in horror films.<br />
<br />
We need a next generation of horror filmmakers. I thought that would be a cool thing to be. That, and rock stars.<br />
<br />
We have another generation of rappers. We have another generation of comedians. We have another generation of basketball players. We need the next generation of genre filmmakers and rock stars who are more interested in making cool shit than Twitter followers. That preceding statement is both ironic and self-loathing.<br />
<br />
A sixteen year old making R-rated films. You need to be at least seventeen to watch those. I wouldn't be allowed to watch the films that I had made. All of that bullshit about how violence in cinema is bad for children, and I would be a child making violent films, as if telling the entire establishment as a whole to piss off.<br />
<br />
How the hell are you supposed to warn your children of the horrors of Isis when you cry when you watch Psycho?<br />
<br />
I remember reading A Long Way Gone, and how Ishmael Beah talked about how he would watch violent movies and listen to rap mixtapes while serving as a child soldier.<br />
<br />
You have to understand, this was during that post-Iraq war-everybody-hates-America era. The fact that the world loved violent movies (even for the wrong reasons) was something I found interesting. I always think French action movies are interesting. Cause they're French. They're not supposed to like action movies. But The Professional is still one of the greatest films of all time.<br />
<br />
It was also cool to make films you weren't allowed to watch. To be told that you cannot get into an R-rated film, so you went on the weekend and made your own R-rated was kind of cool.<br />
<br />
There's an enthusiastic violent creativity about high school. It goes away when you're in your twenties worrying about how to pay the bills. You spend your waking life as a creative worrying about quotas and demographics. That's not how good stuff is made. Sure, I try to aim for those things, but I don't think it's always going to work.<br />
<br />
I apologize for that now, but that's a hard game to play.<br />
<br />
Every story needs conflict. It's easy for society to take conflict personally if bad things happened to a character of diversity.<br />
<br />
I use the third act of Star Wars as an example of this. Imagine if Luke Skywalker was black. He goes in to stop the Death Star, but Darth Vader closes in. But then, Han Solo comes in to shoot Vader away.<br />
<br />
Social critics would say that was a symbolic of white oppression. That Luke Skywalker would not be able to finish his task without help of the white man.<br />
<br />
Now, let's flip it, make Han Solo black. He saves Luke Skywalker, and helps the save the day.<br />
<br />
The social critics will call him a lapdog. They say he projects an image of obedience to the white man.<br />
<br />
The ubiquitous directionless agenda drivers (I don't know what they want, hence the title) have decided to turn everything into this inane political debate. It rarely makes things better. It doesn't award cool obscure diverse culture. It forces the already bland mainstream to adhere to quota.<br />
<br />
You've taken a simple friendship in storytelling, and you've turned into this bullshit projection. And ironically, it stops Hollywood from casting awesome roles for women and minorities.<br />
<br />
You try to force a conversation, when there is no room for it.<br />
<br />
So, don't get caught in the bullshit, apologize if you really mess up, and do your thing.<br />
<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-54393831493197342562014-09-29T22:54:00.000-07:002014-09-29T23:33:41.843-07:00The Little Things...I'm still on vacation. Don't worry.<br />
<br />
The irony gods live in entertainment. It's best to use that to your advantage.<br />
<br />
Say you're not into making money, and turn into a businessman.<br />
<br />
Claim to be an entrepreneur, and you make classics that don't make money.<br />
<br />
I never understood judging someone for the clothes they wear. I mean, Gandhi freed his people wearing a diaper.<br />
<br />
I like contrasts. I like chatting an introvert's ears off.<br />
<br />
I like awkward silence with a public official trying to get my vote.<br />
<br />
If I was who I really was, I'd probably get a warning. So, I act the weirdo. It's not illegal, but it's frowned upon. It's not illegal to be odd.<br />
<br />
<br />
So stop making fun of this mask. It's the one you asked for.<br />
<br />
Have too much fun, they'll call you crazy.<br />
<br />
Don't do it for money, money makes you lazy.<br />
<br />
It's okay to be awake, but remember to take an afternoon nap every once in a while.<br />
<br />
A musical about a deaf girl in a library.<br />
<br />
<br />
You know, if unicorns existed, they'd probably be homophobic. That sounds sad, but it's probably true. Ironic reality, is what it is.<br />
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The wonderful thing about writing is that you can write about whatever the fuck you wanna write about. Humanity has come along and tried to ruin that.<br />
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The Sumerians practicing cuneiform practicing this witchcraft that separated them from the barbarians. These characters they invented for themselves. Keep the magic alive.<br />
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I never felt like a failure, and I never wrote about tossing cowchips in the snow.Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-3577125879944328922014-08-29T00:29:00.000-07:002014-08-29T00:29:50.268-07:00Dark Sabbatical I've decided to take a break from this blog for the rest of the year.<br />
<br />
Lately, I've been worrying about having to keep this blog updated as opposed to writing anything actually cool worth reading.<br />
<br />
It's been this thing that has been compounding for a while.<br />
<br />
You surround yourself with people who want to have views more than they want to write about anything cool. You read more from blogs about getting blogviews than you do anything worth blogging about.<br />
<br />
It doesn't help that everyone gets offended by the wonderful drug that is the truth. Not agenda. Not policy. The truth.<br />
<br />
Agendas are the pesticide of the truth.<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, a man thought it was cool to have his film sponsor a charity project. The charity was part of the film's plot, so it felt like a good fit. It helped the movie make a lot of money. Developed brand loyalty. A "cult" like following, if you will.<br />
<br />
But now, everybody does it. And it's annoying. Aaron Carter talking about the power of one while promoting Pokemon 2000. I bring this up a lot, but it represents how I feel about the marketing effects of false charity.<br />
<br />
It's fine when you're making a documentary, but there's a lot of movies that I enjoy that will suffer from forcing an agenda down its throats.<br />
<br />
A lot of movies that are cherished works would diminish from this. Can you imagine if The Goonies had some giant "save the environment" message in the middle of it?<br />
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It would completely destroy the plot of the film.<br />
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Honestly though, that stupid Pokemon 2000 junket is why Aaron Carter has drug problems. Same goes for any child star forced into a marketing tie in.<br />
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Spielberg merchandised those awesome Jurassic Park cups at McDonalds because he thought he was working on the greatest movie of all time (at least one of them) and he wanted to share this with as many people as possible.<br />
<br />
Watch any Spielberg Behind the Scenes special.<br />
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Spielberg's crew of guys always work hard. And with each Behind the Scenes special, you appreciate their work. You know their names. Stan Winston. Phil Tippett. Throw in Ralph McQuarrie and Rick Baker while we're at it.<br />
<br />
You don't get this with romantic comedies.<br />
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You love Alien? Who's the director of the first Alien? Immediately you say Ridley.<br />
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You love Aliens? Who was the director of that? You know. If you don't, it's only because you've forgotten for a second.<br />
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Hell, Fincher directed Alien 3.<br />
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But, having said that, answer this question without Googling/Wikipedia/Outside sources:<br />
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Who is the director of You've Got Mail?<br />
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Now, I like Nora Ephron, but I don't think most people who love You've Got Mail will care about the answer to that question. And that's frustrating.<br />
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A fan's love can cause resentment in an artist. Why can't you be more like you're earlier work? Why can't you look the same way you did in college?<br />
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The disposable and forgettable nature of culture also contributes to it. Ask any late 90s rapper.<br />
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And some bitter individuals will say that an artist needs to grind and shut up about the marketing ploys. That there are some people who go to jobs they don't like everyday, and that an artist getting paid is no different.<br />
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Well, Jon Voight had a job called Baby Geniuses 2.<br />
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It was a job.<br />
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He did it.<br />
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Do you applaud him on it?<br />
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Sisqo in Snow Dogs. He has money, doesn't he?<br />
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Go down the list on the pool of depression that is the Imdb Bottom 100. Do you applaud these people?<br />
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This is why I don't listen to short term knee jerk critics.<br />
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People are not accountable for their lies and opinions. I don't take people seriously because they don't take their own words seriously.<br />
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You can have all the health and wealth in the world, but if your passion is not in the right place, it amounts to nothing.<br />
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90% of culture doesn't feel like this thing of sincere compassion. It feels like another thing you have to do.<br />
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This blog has turned into this thing I have to do in order to promote Weight Loss Terrorists and my writing career.<br />
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That sucks.<br />
<br />
Why can't it just be a cool blog talking about awesome things? Why do they insist on ruining everything?<br />
<br />
People always ask about an artist's motivation.<br />
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I think they do that because they themselves don't have motivation.<br />
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Do you ever question someone's motivation to eat ice cream?<br />
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You wouldn't. You would rather question someone who didn't eat ice cream.<br />
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People sound like annoying children with all their questions.<br />
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Film criticism is up and film quality is down.<br />
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It's not fun. I go out. I don't have fun. And then I come here. And it's not even fun.<br />
<br />
There's no fun.<br />
<br />
So I'm done. Maybe till 2016.Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-87810024818017427142014-07-16T05:17:00.001-07:002014-07-16T05:17:47.394-07:00Why The Slow News Day Will Be The Death Of Us AllPeople are slowly losing their mind on Twitter.<br />
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You have people with 100,000 tweets, twelve followers, and not a lot of interesting things to say.<br />
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It's understandable if some type of product was being promoted, but when you've dedicated that much metadata to emotional baggage, the problem is you.<br />
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There's this subculture of film critics on Twitter who seem to blab themselves into an endless bland purgatory. They have nothing else to do. People who have things to do don't tweet at all random times of the night. It doesn't happen.<br />
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Now, working on film shoots is probably one of the hardest things an artist can go through. It's right up there with extensive musical tours. It can drive you to madness if you're not in the right set of mind.<br />
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But it gives your life worth.<br />
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All this extra energy spent hoveling on social media goes away when you're doing things.<br />
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When you see a celebrity die, you shouldn't cry.<br />
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You should happy.<br />
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They have been remembered for what they dedicated their lives to.<br />
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You post their picture as your Twitter avatar. They don't need any other person to showcase their identity.<br />
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Now, could I be hating? Possibly.<br />
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Here lies Andrew, he liked Back to the Future alot. Is that really something you want on your headstone?<br />
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I don't know, maybe you do. It's up to you.<br />
<br />
But, I think it sucks. Again, it could be the social media cabin fever talking.<br />
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Dr. Oz was in the news recently for allegedly using his TV show for lying to people about so called "miracle cures".<br />
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I don't think Dr. Oz was deliberately trying to throw people off.<br />
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He had 800 episodes.<br />
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800.<br />
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He probably wanted to do everything he wanted to do with his show in the first 30 episodes.<br />
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Try hosting a podcast for 800 episodes, and see if you don't spouting some snake oil alchemy nonsense.<br />
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It wasn't a matter of lying.<br />
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Anyone forced to fill a certain amount of time, under the pressure to deliver product, will ramble themselves onto inane subject matter.<br />
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I might wanna take time off from this blog to have something of worth to write about.<br />
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There's no news to report.<br />
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That's when you should be an artist and do something cool.<br />
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But instead, we decide to elevate the banal to the theatrical.<br />
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Life has a lot of interesting stuff in it. So, take some time off.<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-58608290318162048852014-06-20T00:42:00.000-07:002014-06-20T00:44:22.380-07:00The Seven Year Itch I've been getting sloppy.<br />
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It's something that's been going on for a while.<br />
<br />
You try to give 120 percent. People complain. You make them feel inadequate. So you give 78 percent.<br />
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But you can't really give 78 percent. It's not natural. It goes against the laws of physics.<br />
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So you dwindle. You fall.<br />
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And you're afraid of promoting your blog because of some news story when some guy got fired for a joke on his blog that didn't make sense.<br />
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It's a lot of fucking bullshit.<br />
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You read blog posts about page views. You do all this stuff. You're chasing. You run for a while. And you stop caring after a while.<br />
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You got mothers poisoning their kids for blog views. What a loser. Learn how to be interesting, you degenerate fuck.<br />
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Sorry, got carried away...<br />
<br />
Your idiot friends/family try to impose their half baked agendas on to you. Everything always seems conceived beforehand. You see all these people do all these different things, not because they want to but because it allegedly leads to somewhere else. Everything they do is a regurgitated rehash of what was popular last year.<br />
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Last year's over, hombre.<br />
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It takes three years to make a movie. You know what that means? It means, to be good, you need to be able to tell the future. You have to dig deep in the collective subconscious, and say what everyone wants to say, but doesn't have the balls to be able to.<br />
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You know that whole story about the guy that says "Once I get promoted, I will work harder", and he never gets promoted because he never works hard? The entertainment industry always excuses its misfires because it builds to a tomorrow that never appears.<br />
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Sometimes, producers make movies they don't like on the hopes of winning support from people who often flounder, complain, or don't show up at the box office.<br />
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Everything these days is filtered by the actions of what I call a fringe vocal few.<br />
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The idiots displaying their assault rifles in the department store. This isn't a political statement, this is about their own narcissism.<br />
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The idiots who kill people because no one liked their Facebook post. The idiots who bring drama on themselves.<br />
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Fringe vocal few. Rod Serling called them the Lunatic Fringe of Letter Writers. They went from writing letters to CBS complaining about Lassie giving birth to puppies on television to tweeting every celebrity on Twitter waiting for a response.<br />
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Never underestimate a person's ability to ruin a good thing.<br />
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<b>Society has destroyed the ability to have a real conversation about anything for the fear of mildly damaging anyone's feelings.</b><br />
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Remember good television shows you would watch growing up? Remember how every once in a while they would have a sincere episode about something serious?<br />
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Episodes about Boy Meets World dealing with parents abusing their kids.<br />
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That one episode of Family Matters where Jaleel White broke character in the end and asked people to think about the violence in the Chicago area.<br />
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Yeah, it could be argued that Kirk Cameron took that whole issue-sitcom thing and went way overboard in the cause-related marketing.<br />
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But you need that sometimes. You need "Hey Arnold" episodes that talked about real shit. That episode where Stinky became the spokesperson for Yoohoo soda, and turned down a million dollars because the Yoohoo Soda marketing people made him look like an idiot.<br />
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They took what Spike Lee was trying to do with Bamboozled and made it universally accessible.<br />
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You know Dave Chappelle would watch that episode of Hey Arnold and think about his life afterward.<br />
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There's a lot of child stars that need to watch that.<br />
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Everything on the Disney/Nickelodeon/eventual ratchet child star incubator is this desensitized slurge where a bunch of kids are screaming "Oh my God! The popcorn machine is exploding!" while a forced laughtrack blasts in between promotional music videos that encourage tweens to have enough emotional baggage to fuel a soap opera.<br />
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Your love commodity. The drama that you market.<br />
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I'm convinced that actors lose their minds when they make hokey romantic comedies that go against who they are.<br />
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Look at each movie a child star was doing before they lost their mind. You think those movies sucked? The child stars who worked on that thing really hated it.<br />
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Greta Garbo starred in Two-Faced Woman. It was so bad that she gave up acting. That was in 1941. She passed away in 1990. The movie was so bad, she quit despite five decades of people asking her to come back.<br />
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I started really writing scripts in 2007. Sure, there was stuff I did when I was nine years old, but 2007 was when I reached all the way to page 100.<br />
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And I had to. Shrek 3. Pirates 3. Spider-Man 3. The climate needed that.<br />
<br />
It's said that the seventh year is when an artist breaks out, if they don't lose themselves in the process. <br />
<br />
I had severe emotional turmoil a few years back when I was forced to change a couple stories I wrote to something I did not want from closed minded nosey people who did not have my interests at heart. I was also working on a romantic comedy screenplay that drove me to near schizophrenia.<br />
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Which isn't to say I don't like romcoms, but this was one of those really crappy ideas. After I saw glimpses of my project's similarities in music videos and semi-Syfy channel movies, I gave up on it. And I should have.<br />
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Amputate the limb.<br />
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I wasn't having fun. I was speculating on something that cost me more sweat than I got back.<br />
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Not again.<br />
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We write what we're good at.<br />
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We don't apologize. We don't seek validation. We let inertia pull us in.<br />
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World Domination Is Not A Crime.Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-69926288847491323682014-05-24T03:41:00.001-07:002014-05-24T16:42:59.710-07:00Godzilla 2014 Review So, I finished watching Gareth Edwards' Godzilla film.<br />
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There's been a minor controversy (it's the Internet) regarding this film, so I thought I'd go out and address it.<br />
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I wish I could talk about how when I was a kid growing up in Torrance, I bought a VHS case that had a double feature of Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla in it.<br />
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I'd also love to talk about the website Godzilla Tower (a Godzilla vs. Gigan reference) that apparently got turned into some fetish site, the G-Fan (I think they called it G-Fan because they loved Gamera too) magazine I always wanted to subscribe to, and this book called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Eiji-Tsuburaya-Monsters-Defending-Ultraman/dp/1452135398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400973447&sr=8-1&keywords=master+of+monsters">Master of Monsters</a> that used to cost $220.<br />
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Master of Monsters now costs $20 on paperback since Gareth Edwards read it while researching for the new movie. I am now ordering the crap out of this thing.<br />
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I could talk about the kaiju haikus I did in high school, which got me scorn from my teachers, shows how much they were on the pulse of society. I also wonder if They Came From Hollywood ever became a real video game.<br />
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I could talk about my neighbor, who did graphic design for a collection of soundtrack CDs showing off the entire history of Godzilla until Megaguirus.<br />
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I could also talk about how I started to listen to the Outside the Cinema and Cinema Diabolica podcasts because of their Godzilla episodes, and talked to them about the failed Godzilla vs. Satan project.<br />
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I could also talk about how I watch the Heisei series Godzilla as a form of antidepressant (either that or Kakuranger).<br />
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I might even talk about Pulgasari, the Godzilla ripoff movie produced by Kim Jong Il that I obsessed over.<br />
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But, you don't wanna hear about that.<br />
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So, let's talk about this movie.<br />
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The first complaint I hear a lot about from this movie is that Godzilla is not in this movie enough.<br />
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When I first heard of this, one other movie came to mind:<br />
King Kong 2005<br />
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Not gonna lie, I was scared.<br />
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But, there's a difference between these two films that sets the absence of the title character apart:<br />
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When I was watching King Kong 2005 for the first time, I was forty five minutes in when I had to remind myself that I was watching a King Kong movie.<br />
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I remember thinking "wait a minute, this is a King Kong movie, right? It feels like a Merchant Ivory Production" while watching it. I don't think the original 1933 version had such pacing issues, and that film was made by people who hyperventilated when Superman picked up a car.<br />
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There's never a moment in Godzilla 2014 when you forget you're watching a Godzilla movie.<br />
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There's nuclear plants going crazy, conspiracies, secrets, all types of interesting stuff. The conflict is building.<br />
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And while we're on point, King Kong had a lot of fight scenes. It had T. Rexes swinging from trees. It had the deleted Black Scorpion sequence put back in and turned up to 11. Do you like that movie? Do you remember that movie? Is it something you express your love for?<br />
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The people who don't like the pacing of Godzilla are the same people who complained that Drive wasn't more like Fast and the Furious. They're the same people who complained that Breaking Bad should've had five more seasons.<br />
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They don't like the creative decisions of Bryan Cranston, apparently.<br />
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There's a lot of Godzilla movies with wall to wall action. They bore easily. After a while, they turn into the same film. Watch them if you don't believe me. And throw in some Rebirth of Mothra while we're at it.<br />
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The only thing that truly stands out from Godzilla: Final Wars is the guy who looks like Josef Stalin, and the fact that Godzilla fought his '98 self, with one of the characters calling 98 zilla a "tuna loser" or something to that effect.<br />
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Actually, I remember a lot more from Final Wars, but nothing that resonates like Godzilla 2014.<br />
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I think Gareth Edwards watches a lot of Godzilla. Gareth Edwards feels like that one poster on the Ain't It Cool News talkback/Disqus chat/whatever that has an offbeat take on an established property that works.<br />
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But, it's not just that.<br />
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I think Godzilla 2014 was a perpetrator of opportunistic circumstance.<br />
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Let's face it, a Godzilla reboot was in development hell forever. First, they wanted to make it some Imax special. Then, they thought about trying some theme park thing.<br />
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And then the 2011 Tsunami happened.<br />
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The 2011 Japanese tsunami and the Fukushima issues that occurred afterward have made this film seem really plausible. When you read about how the Japanese government hired homeless people to clean up radiation in the area, the sinister nature of coverup in this movie seems all too real.<br />
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Back in the seventies, a couple of film producers had no faith in a project they were working on. Their film was about a nuclear plant run amok. But then, Three Mile Island happened when the movie came out, and The China Syndrome ended up becoming a highly successful film.<br />
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Godzilla 2014 feels the same way. It's tapping into our subconscious fears from the last ten years.<br />
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I hate it when people shoehorn morality into something. Aaron Carter talking about the power of one while promoting Poke'mon 2000. Yuck...<br />
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Godzilla 2014 doesn't do that. It feels real.<br />
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We live in a world where Korean ships capsize and planes go missing. And flying robots hunt Pakistani children like they're named John Connor. We're plausible for a Godzilla.<br />
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I think the next couple of years of filmmaking will sort of present subconscious themes about 9/11, the Iraq war, sort of the same way a lot of movies in the eighties were about Vietnam.<br />
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It takes time to develop a narrative about contemporary history. You can only look back after it's over.<br />
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What it was actually like to deal with Vietnam was very different than what the contemporary presentation of events was. Movies like Punishment Park, Vanishing Point, and Billy Jack give a look that's different from contemporary images.<br />
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A sort of revisionism is to take effect. We're going to take what we know now and apply it to what happened back then. 50 Cent vs. Ja Rule didn't become a legendary thing until way after it happened.<br />
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When you watch The Social Network, even though it takes place in Harvard in 2003, there's no mention of protesting the war, or 50 Cent, or Avril Lavigne, or any pop punk American Pie comedy derivative which will again rear it's ugly head in 2023.<br />
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That history was rewritten for the narrative of Facebook.<br />
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And pop culture will rewrite history. How else can Nero fiddle when Rome burned when the fiddle is a fifteenth century instrument? Because it sounds too cool not to.<br />
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Godzilla '98 was sort of like that as well. The backlash of Emmerich's project only really took root during Godzilla 2000 when the Japanese filmmakers felt that Emmerich did not do Godzilla justice.<br />
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The lack of backlash during its actual release of Godzilla '98 (or Zilla, whatever) probably has to do with the fact that American audiences were not used to Godzilla in a serious context. 70s Godzilla, like Japanese Spiderman, was a microcosm of Japan in the 70s: a country not yet taken seriously because it had yet to reach its potential.<br />
<br />
70s Japan was a Magikarp. And 70s Godzilla had a lot of splashing.<br />
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The '98 Godzilla backlash didn't really become apparent until after 9/11. You can't watch a movie post 9/11 where Mayor Roger Ebert farts over some Hershey Kisses because a couple jets shot missiles at the Chrysler Building. It's not a good look.<br />
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Godzilla 2014 is on the same level that Man of Steel is to me. One, because both Godzilla 2014 and Man of Steel are both post-Save The Cat stories that try to do what Blake Snyder said and "Keep The Press Out Of It" regarding the conflict in their stories, but both filmmakers acknowledge that a story on their scale cannot avoid the ubiquity of the media.<br />
<br />
So, both Godzilla 2014 and Man Of Steel have this weird tone every time the news media in their movies covers the events that are happening. The media's there, but not really. There's reports, but no real press conferences. We're so used to having press conference scenes in movies of a similar nature, that it feels strange without it.<br />
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It's like a movie where the villain wins. If you're tired of watching the hero win all the time, you might welcome it, but you get so accustomed to it, that you wish the hero won when they come up short. Game of Thrones, anybody?<br />
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Again, it's a minuscule detail that feels strange, but it doesn't derail the film.<br />
<br />
The only thing that might separate the Godzilla 2014/Man Of Steel comparison is that while a lot of goofy Superman projects never made the public eye, we have had a plethora of Godzilla misfires. Read Superman vs. Hollywood. Watch Kevin Smith's Superman movie story. Man of Steel might be as good as it gets.<br />
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Of course, the term "misfire" is subjective. I don't think Godzilla 2000 was a misfire. It was a return to form. If anything, it was a failure in marketing. There wasn't the nerd culture that we have today that can embrace something like that. The Internet still had stigma in the year 2000. If you dated someone you met online in 2000, it would feel otherworldly. Now, it's cautious with exception, like actual real world dating.<br />
<br />
With this past, it's hard to grade Godzilla 2014 as a film. <br />
<br />
So, I have decided to grade Godzilla 2014 on two mantras:<br />
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First, we have the Nolan Mantra.<br />
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The Nolan Mantra (created by Christopher) goes like this: "A quality film is one where you feel like the person making it thinks this is the greatest film ever made".<br />
<br />
Now, the person making the film is not always the director. It's not always the producer. A lot of people have hated the films they have worked on, only to see their embodiment of misery and self-loathing go on to be the defining work of their career.<br />
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The point is, someone working on this thing cares. Passion. And when passion is mixed with skill, it becomes dangerous.<br />
<br />
Roland Emmerich does not think that his Godzilla was the greatest movie ever. He thinks Stargate and Independence Day are the greatest films ever made. Godzilla was something he was attached to for a lot of money. He was hired because of two movies he made, not for a love of Godzilla.<br />
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I think Gareth Edwards thinks Godzilla 2014 is one of the greatest films ever. Gareth made Monsters because of his philosophical fascination with monster movies. I don't think his passion is questionable.<br />
<br />
Godzilla 2014 passes the Nolan Mantra.<br />
<br />
The second mantra we have is the Nicholson Mantra:<br />
<br />
The Nicholson Mantra (courtesy Jack) says that a good movie is "a film that has three great scenes and no bad ones".<br />
<br />
There were three scenes from this movie that I thoroughly enjoyed.<br />
<br />
They were:<br />
<br />
1. Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) being forced (spoiler, but it's in the trailer, so not really) to close the chamber down on his wife. It's the type of deep character moment that you can only compare to the original Gojira when Serizawa ponders using the Oxygen Destroyer, a device he has created that sucks the oxygen out of the nearby area.<br />
<br />
Since Gojira's powers stem from atomic radiation, Serizawa fears that using the Oxygen Destroyer will only give way to some other abomination (which was explored in Godzilla vs. Destroyah).<br />
<br />
The entire Gojira film was a metaphor for the post atomic age and placed the moral dilemma that America had on using atomic weapons in the shoes of the Japanese people.<br />
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It's hard to think of another time where there was a deeper character dilemma in a Godzilla film.<br />
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2. The reveal of Godzilla showing just his leg. It built suspense up so well. There was so much building up to that moment that it just felt right.<br />
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3. The Tsunami in Hawaii/Halo jump. Anyone vacationing in Hawaii with an overactive imagination has looked at that oceanic horizon and wondered if something would come out of the water and destroy the hotel skyline.<br />
<br />
The idea of paratroopers seeing Godzilla as they fall is such an ingenious concept, that it's amazing it hasn't been overused like those longneck satellite dishes that shoot out lightning/lasers in every other Godzilla film.<br />
<br />
Gareth really scratched an itch here.<br />
<br />
While the third act had some minor issues (the warhead plot seemed jumbled on first viewing), Godzilla 2014 passes the Nicholson Mantra.<br />
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Godzilla 2014 finally did what those Millennium Godzilla movies wanted to do but failed at: It took away the atomic fears of Godzilla and tapped into our own fears of a nihilistic existence. But it didn't do that by making Godzilla be inhabited by the souls of dead soldiers (GMK: All Monsters Attack), but by making Godzilla a personification of the universe killing us. And when we face death, we figure out what's important.<br />
<br />
The 2011 Tsunami changed Japan culturally. Whereas before Japan indulged in all the weird stuff that we associate Japan with, the Tsunami made a minor shift in where the values of the Japanese people were. It wasn't a total shift, Japan is still Japan, but the country is now reevaluating what it finds important.<br />
<br />
America had the same effect after 9/11. Hope growing in the aftermath of chaos. <br />
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It always seems like we are a couple steps away from forgetting that, and because of that, it feels like the world is always a couple steps away from falling into chaos.<br />
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Now, can King Ghidorah be in the future chaos? We can only see.<br />
<br />
<br />Reddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1525949479797722109.post-89302460933430018282014-04-17T07:00:00.000-07:002014-04-18T04:06:54.944-07:00Success Is Weird I never thought I would get this far<br />
Success is weird<br />
<br />
I once worried about every step in my life<br />
It all means nothing now<br />
Success is weird<br />
<br />
They told me I would never be good enough<br />
I have won and they have been forgotten<br />
Success is weird<br />
<br />
To see some people live without a clue<br />
But some buffoons have prospered too<br />
Success is weird<br />
<br />
I have suffered, and I have seen my enemies suffer worse<br />
Sometimes it's cake, sometimes it's a kick in the head first<br />
Success is weird<br />
<br />
I am having the greatest and worst year of my life<br />
Heaven is my Hell, Purgatory my residence<br />
Success is weird<br />
<br />
Failure is in proportion to success, and I plan accordingly<br />
Success is weirdReddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17248228061926789709noreply@blogger.com0