Clerks where they could only film in the convenient store at night when the place was closed so the”Savages” put gum in the lock of the security shutters. This allows them to act as if there was daylight. So they had to make sure the front door was never in the camera shot.

I came across a news report that mentioned the yearly update from Beliot College. They publish the “Mind Set Listing”. This is a list of the life experiences that most of the graduating class has had. It shows how from year to year what a student has and has not experienced in their life up to that point.

Everyone experiences life differently. The culture is constantly shifting on some level within people. “Status quo” for a culture is a total myth. It can never exist as a constant state with our increasing knowledge that comes with time. The only way a “homogenized culture” can exist is within a milk carton. However, in that state it also comes with an expiration date. The problem with this mind set is that there is way too much arguing in society about these cultural shifts. A course of action can only be implemented when all sides come to an agreement. And that agreement has to be total aligned around set of beliefs. No one ever agrees fully with another person even if they are in the same group. Rhetoric has become the illusion of action. Time is not going to wait for people getting there “shit together”. Because it will never fully happen.

Now it is time to move off of that soap box.

I have been caught in the trap of too much Internet and TV. It is easy to do when I get into exhaustion and its side effects. (Which I will not go into) However, it is hard to read when my allergies flare up like they do every year in the end of August and early September and my eyes start burning. So the TV is there so I can watch something that may inspire at some point me down the road. I also (although it may be false) get the impression that I am at least trying to work towards something. I have to say with the Netflix subscription I have been watching more documentary films lately. There was one that is kind of in line with this idea here of “culture clash”. The film was called Exporting Raymond. It follows Phil Rosenthal, the former executive producer of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond as he travels to Russia to help adapt this sitcom for TV there. This movie shows how he has to deal with the cultural shifts that make each side here argue over “what is funny”. He may be the award winning producer here but over there he is not always treated all that well. “The fish out of water” story helps to add a bit of unsuspected comedy to film.

If you watch this movie the DVD in the bonus section has two episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond. It also contains the exact same episodes that were adapted into Everybody Loves Kostya. It is a good exercising into noticing the difference between the two even though the overall story arc is the same in both shows.

The “Culture Clashes” are always going to be good fodder for sit-coms. However, in life they do not come with the “laugh track”. There are times when it can tempt you to want to go down “homicidal track”. I know this is my case. At my age, I made it to where I am still not “married with children”. And when I made it to this point I began to slowly notice more and more the looks of “suspicion and border line disgust”. I just call it the “look on envy”. This “existence” of mine causes real issues with my family. I come from an Irish-Catholic family and do not come out and say it. But I know this behavior of mind is definitely “out of line”. Outside of my last name the only part of my Irish heritage I still follow is that I like a good pint of Guinness. As for the Catholic part, I still like the Friday Fish Fry. With the pint of Guinness. What can I say after all of those years I finally found something I could give up for Lent. Church. Maybe they can give me a pass on the church part. I come from a family that only recognizes you when you produce children. It does not matter what I do. I could cure cancer, find world peace, whatever. It will not matter because I am still not “married with children”. So to keep the peace and what is left of my insanity I just do not have a lot of conversations with them about what I doing. I would rather have no conversation that an abrupt one. Plus I have seen enough clips from Maury. (I really need to turn the TV off) to realize that being able to reproduce does not guarantee any rising of a person’s character. It does make me wonder how a young woman can find half dozen men to drag on the show for a paternity test. Then none of them are the father. So she will be on next week with another half dozen hopefuls. Even worse are the so-called men who deny their responsibility in situation.

Here is an example of what it is like for me at times. It is the movie Behind Enemy Lines
which is a decent and effective action movie. There was a bit of a miscasting in Owen Wilson (but not a fatal one) as the Air Force pilot shot down behind enemy lines. The story is about him trying to evade capture. Gene Hackman starred as the commander office leading the effort to save him. This movie for me is a metaphor about “the married with children scenario”. I would be miscast to play a role in it. I am already a bit too narcissistic. The next level would be narcissism a completely greater level. At this point, I have none the resources needed to partake in the endeavor. I also do not want to go into by “accident”. I have no desire to share the stage with Maury Povich or Jerry Springer. However, may be Ripley’s Believe or Not! I also have no real influence on anyone who is “married with children”. They never take my recommendations. And it does not stop them from talking about theirs toward me. It can be frustrating but it just part of the game. Each side has a different view of the other’s “wants and needs”. And that disagreement is basis for my plotlines throughout sitcoms.

I now know better than with my life as it stands “acknowledgment and validation” will also be hard to come by. But I am going to follow the script I want.

There is quote from Phil Rosenthal in the movie that stuck with me.

“Make the television show that you want. Because they’re still going to cancel you in the end.”

Every day, the airwaves are filled with people screaming about whom and what is “evil”. Oil/gas companies are condemned as being evil corporations. They just happen to sell a product needs to have to make things move. There has never been a time in when people were not bitching about the price of gas. It is a product that has never been priced right. And it never will be either. It is also the only product that seems to defy the economic principles of “supply and demand”. It is this frustration that makes gas perceived to be “evil”.

However, a truly “EVIL” corporation is one that gets you to buy a product in which there is no true need for its existence. Today, one of those “EVIL” corporations was revealed to me. I discovered this “EVIL” in the supermarket of all places. I wasn’t standing in front of the beer case. Nor was I in the breakfast cereal aisle. I did see the sign of evil. In this case, it was not a sign but a full display rack of evil. It was a greeting card rack full of greeting cards for…HALLOWEEN.

Really?

Hallmark and any other greeting card company are now OFFICIALLY EVIL. WTF! Halloween now needs 3 months of shopping time before the actual day. And now it has its own card. Corporate America now feels the need to hype another event for a day of over consumption. Halloween only needs 2 things for a person especially if you are a kid to enjoy it. A costume. And candy. That’s it! If I was a kid, I would be pissed off if I got a card for Halloween. I might launch my Charlie Brown rock from my bag at that person’s head who handed me the card. I would look at $3-5 price on the card and wish they had spent that on Kit Kats or Reese’s.

Environmental groups should be outraged that trees are cut down to make more worthless greeting cards.

Imagine asking a person “what he does for a living”. He replies “I write Halloween greeting cards”. You would respond “Who needs that Bullshit. And why?”

Plus our current economic status is demanding that we cannot continue putting money into “stupidity”.

However, if you are in a pinch and need to fake “sincerity” chances are there is a card for that. At some point, everyone needs to buy from the “Dark Side”.

“Everybody thinks of themselves as being slightly above average” – Garrison Keillor

I heard that confession is good for the soul. And what little I have left at this point could probably use some. I think that I am a bit more critical and selective when it comes to the various forms of media I read, watch or listen to. My own internal radar when it comes to those medium has a better construction to it than many of the people I know. I may feel that way. However, the reality of it reveals that “sadly it is far from the truth”. Last night, I wanted to write for a bit and get back to finishing a book from To Be Read Pile. I know better but last night I did not do better. ME.TV just came on air in this area. 7:30 PM, M.A.S.H. rerun was on and I love that show. It was one of the first shows ever that did a good job mixing and balancing comedy against drama. This episode “Mulcahy’s War” from Season 5 features the scene where Father Mulcahy has to perform an emergency tracheotomy on a wounded soldier his bringing back from the front line.

Instead of turning the TV when the show was over I made the mistake of channel surfing. It was a moment of weakness. It was a moment of weakness that is probably the side of effect of my current state of physical and mental exhaustion. (And that is on me to work through and out.) It is also the by-product of “The Examined Life”. In my case, it comes with no referee and a shot clock. At this moment, I needed to engage and disengage at the same time. I then changed the channel and got stuck on a show. It is hard to admit to the fact that I cannot avert my eyes when it is on. It is the TV game show Wipeout.


It is the game show equivalent of a NASCAR race. I am just waiting to see how the contestants “crash” into water. It is amazing how their bodies can be contorted in their “Wipeout” and they don’t end up in traction because of it. And then afterwards listening to the hosts make wiseass snarky comments about them. This show is like Jackass for jackasses.

When that show was over I had to surrender to fact I was getting nothing done of significant for the night. I surfed into that cooking competition show. And I still wonder why I stayed with it. Why watch a show where people tell me how food tastes? These shows are kind of worthless when it comes to their final product. At least until the Star Trek Food Replicator and Smell-O-Vision are available via TV or the Internet so you can experience what has been cooked.

It was not a total waste of time. I was able to make an observation in regards to so called “reality competition” shows. They are more “staged” than most fictional shows. Watch for this the next time you watch one of them. The more camera angles and edits there are just how much it is staged. Every camera angle has the same perfect lighting. And all these angles should capture the other camera operators shooting the exact same action. The show may say there was 2 hour time limit (for a 60 minute show) for the competition. However, with all the camera angles used I am going to guess it probably took 6-10 hours to actually film it. Remember when watching this genre of shows that what you do not see is probably more important that what you do see. There is probably a “blooper reel” for this show. If this is true then there is a good chance it was all staged.

My final solution is that I may have to lose my TV Remote Controller for a bit.

And if I throw out my couch then I could lose it forever.

I needed to post something. The last week and half I have been in the grasp of the very powerful “YouTube/NetFlix/Movieclips.com” Worm Hole. So I need get back to the writing.

I am also a bit frustrated by my mail box. I am getting more junk in the e-mail box than ever before. My postal box is filled with crap too. I would love to meet the losers who think their job of actually creating this shit is actually bringing about a better world. Especially the ones who bombard this page. Any response that includes only the phrases “Nice post” or “I found this interesting” and their URL goes back to site just peddling BS is deleted.

HERE IS A TIP. If your product or service has real value then I will find you.

And the telephone has been much better. The people I need to return the calls don’t. And ones I rather not deal with seem to always get through. I rather ignore those but the reality is I have to deal with them. I did notice the more phone numbers and e-mail accounts one has the harder it is to get a hold of them. Modern day with its vast array of communication methods doesn’t seem to be bringing about any more information than in the past.

In the YouTube wormhole. I found this clip from the movie Where the Buffalo Roam. It is the movie where Bill Murray plays the legendary writer Hunter S. Thompson. This is the opening scene of the movie. It is kind of extreme example of writer who even when he is alone he has to deal with a lot of “disruptions”. Some of them are external and the others are self made. Why is necessary for “Creativity” and “Chaos” to exist within the same moment?

There are days in which I wish I had enough money to shoot my computer. And there are days, in which I had my superpower that would enable to reach through the phone and smack the person on the other end. Oh! To Dream.

I needed to clear this off the idea notepad.

More to come. Soon.

I think the hardest think I have to constantly remind myself about is that there is never the perfect time to do anything. Any moment offers an unforeseen challenge. But why in my case does it always involve a trip to a home improvement store to get what I need to fix something? “Home improvement”. There is an oxymoron. Maybe it should be called a “home triage” store.

It is just another form of Writer’s Block in my case.

I was watching the movie Orange County. It was an entertaining movie for what it was. The premise of the movie is a young man played by Colin Hanks decides after the death of friend to change his life. He finds a book on the beach and decides he too wants to be a writer. He figures he needs to go to Stanford to get his degree. The author of the book happens to also be a professor at that college. However, he comes from a family that is dysfunctional and just cannot seem to provide the support that he needs. And this is what leads to the comedy aspect of the movie. It seems to me that this movie could be semi-biographical in my case. Without the comedy.

There is this one scene that stuck with me. Spoiler Alert. The Colin Hanks character does get a chance to meet the professor who made him want to be a writer. Kevin Kline plays that professor.

 

I guess when you try rewiring your brain in order to be a better writer can be tricky. If not borderline aggravating. I am constantly looking at how things are. How they might be underneath. I am trying to draw links between ideas that may not exactly appear to be connected at all. Then put the idea out there in hopes that it may cause a conversation to happen. I am sure that all of my ideas may not be validated by another person. I do not care if the reader agrees 100% with what I am trying to put forth. I would even be willing to someone who is willing to put forth how I may be wrong. I just welcome the chance to engage in a conversation.  Responses such as “That’s nice.” “Interesting.” “Good point” are not enough to really spark conversation. Most of the time those type of responses mean the person really did not read into the posting. The “Curse” here the need to get feedback and at the same time not always believing in it when it comes. It is hard to get the right audience needed. But it would be hard to realize it when that audience is really there. It is really hard trying to determine who the audience is by dissecting web stat charts. It is almost an extremely masochistic act. But I cannot help it.

Lately, I have drawn to other works that tell the story of people who are trying to deal with the circumstances in which they live. I just finished watching the first season on the HBO show Treme. The latest TV show from creator David Simon. He does for the city of New Orleans what he did for the city of Baltimore in The Wire.

This show starts 3 months after Hurricane Katrina and focuses on various people trying to rebuild their lives under those circumstances. I remember watching Katrina on TV at the time. I compared it to watching a modern day reenactment of a modern day Pompeii. We were watching a modern city being wiped off the map. I questioned if it was worth the cost of rebuilding. I think this thought process is a side effect of our vast sources of media. We get to “see” a lot of what is happening around the world at any given moment. The problem is we thinking “seeing” equates to “experiencing it”. This is why we also are hearing more and more from people in those dire circumstances are screaming louder ,”Unless you are here. You don’t know a thing!” Treme may not give us that direct experience. Great storytelling along with well defined yet complicated characters gives you a chance to pause and think. It draws you in. There was a lot about the culture of New Orleans that I have learned from this show. Just watch The Weather Channel every area of this country has its own issues. Extreme weather hits everyone. We have all watched the weather and have wondered to ourselves, “Why would anyone want to live there?” This series explores the reason of “Why”. It also has nice soundtrack of music from the city to listen along with.

Bad economic news is the never ending story. I have been hearing all my life. I have heard “We need to learn how to do more with less”. I have never seen this policy ever enacted on a grand scale across society as a whole. Just take a walk down any aisle in any store. Think back about a decade. And then realize. We have more things available to us than ever before. What I think the message should be steered towards is that of “We need to increase the efficient use of what we have.” However, the economic bad news has had the same effect as a bad weather storm. It has lead to many cities struggling to exist. Once again outsiders proclaim, “Given those circumstances. Why would anyone want to live there?” I came across this story a couple of weeks ago. The city of Grand Rapids, Michigan was listed as one of the most “in decline” cities in America. The people there started a grassroots effort to change their image. They got together to set a record for the “longest lip synched one take music video”. They did it with the song “American Pie” by Don McLean. Watch the video. It contains no edits. It is just one camera filming the action for the length of the song.

 

I think the song “American Pie” will always be part of the American Experience for years to come. It is a song about the belief in a dream. However, that dream is danger of falling apart in the current environment. However, in the end even with all of the uncertainty still at hand the dream persists. I think this song with return to some level of popularity in times of distressed economics. Along with uncertainty that seems to be heightened when the leaders involved seem to arguing more about ideology and trying to assign blame to the opposition. I just came up with another crazy idea. In the future, anyone running for office should have to act ONLY like a mime. That way they would be forced to perform action rather than just standing there talking on and on. It would be a nice change. Also I want to study the effects of all this non-stop political talk on global warming. All that hot air has to have an effect on something. What that is? I have no idea.

Bad weather. Bad economics. Welcome to Buffalo. Where I live.

 

It is a city that has more to it then chicken wings and losing Super Bowls. It has a lot interesting people that are for the most part nice and friendly. Unfortunately, on a whole we cannot elect any leader capable of moving the city forward. It is a city that seems stuck on nostalgia for time that is not coming back. It needs to redefined and adapt for a future. I hate hearing people complaining that it should be more like a big city (like NYC). It will never be that either. It needs to come to terms with who it is. It needs to take a lesson from what it takes to climb a mountain. You can see the top from down below. You see where you need to go to. However, you need to start at the bottom to go up. Everyone seems to take more time studying the top when they should take as much time studying the base where you start. The base is where the resources and support exist.

“Why would anyone live there?”

My relationship with this place and the people in it has changed over the years. Nostalgia can be a powerful feeling. However, the future has changed that nostalgia before it has even arrived. The hard part is coming to the realization that not everything grows together. Or at all. My needs and what is available on hand at that moment will most likely never be in total synch. Is it good? Is it bad? Or just what it is meant to be? Either way that may end up.

In a story, good character conflict can work towards a good story. Someday.

Besides, I have to start somewhere.

It has once again been way too long since I posted to this blog. It is has been a couple of weeks of annoyances and frustrations. And trying to attempt to put anything together for postings under this circumstances would have led to something that I would not like at all. It would have been a disservice to not only myself but anyone who takes the time to read this blog.

It has been a rainy spring here. And many of the home projects had to be put aside due to the weather. I was trying to write one night during a rain storm. It was raining hard and I went to check my basement to make sure the sump pump was working. I have had a couple of basement floods over the years. The basement was fine. However, the roof over the entrance way decided to spring a leak. The next day, I had to have a friend help try to repair where I thought the leak might be. And we had to do it while it was still raining. We thought we had it. A few hours later, when even more rain came the leak returned. I had to tarp the roof in a rainstorm. Let me warn you. Rain, a slippery roof, a plastic tarp along with the forces of gravity came close to making me test my health insurance coverage. The leak it turned out was caused by the roof vent not being broken and not sealed properly. The next joy was the fact it took over a week for me to be able to fix it properly. So every time it rained I was a “leak detection” duty. It was hard to focus on the writing when I was always on guard during the rains.

So let me throw a few more things out there.

Over the last few weeks, I have enjoyed the Adam Carolla podcasts. He can get on a “rant” that last a few minutes but in the end he brings to a great point. Comedian Bill Burr does the same thing with his podcast. Here is an episode when they teamed up.

I also need to rant. The rain has not been fun. It not only put a leak in my house. It is also caused a bunch of static to happen in my phone line. I had to wait to I got to work to call in to have a service call to fix the problem. My line went out on Saturday night. So this was Monday morning. I was told it would not be until at least Thursday before they could come out. And then it would be sometime between 9AM and 5PM. This is modern day customer service. “Customer service” has become an urban legend. It is a myth. I think I could find Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster a lot easier than I can find “service”. I think it would be easier to prove Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster actually exists. I also hate when the service rep tells me someone has to be their not necessarily myself and they could call me on my cell phone. I then I have to tell that person I have neither one of them in my immediate life. Then there is a brief pause. And I can hear the person thinking that I am a “pitiful borderline pathetic” person. But then again this person is in customer service which I know is providing me with the “illusion of service”. I know many who work in or have worked in customer service call centers. The next time, I see any of them I am going to have to asked them, “What the Fuck? Why do I call for customer service? If you are are just going to lie then I might as well call an adult hot-line for the same effect. I know they are lying to me to make me happy! And in the end I am going to have to handle the problem myself. But at least I can Guarantee! The job will be completed. And on time.” And by the way. It does not matter what company it is. I have never had a service tech make it to my house before 2:30PM. 

I did fix the roof. My hands were covered in tar. I would not been surprised at all if the my friend who helped the first came back. He hit me with a broken opened feather pillow. Snapped a quick photo. Posted with the title “The Evidence that Surprised No One.” Trust me. He is that type of person.

My ranting is done for now. I needed to get that out.

I am trying to get back to doing what I need to. But there are a few things I also need to complete. I will spare those details from this post.

I have been reading blog postings that kind of align with my condition.

Stephen Pressfield’s post “The Pain of Being Human”

Chris Guillebeau’s post “The Need for Change”

And last night I stumbled upon this segment from writer Sebastian Junger where he is coming to realization that his own desire and circumstances have changed.

Finally, it is nice to have a long weekend. It would be nice to spend sometime with a book, maybe a movie, the notepad along with some of my ideas. And see what happens from there.

My format problems are being caused by a conflict with Microsoft Word. I came to this conclusion because the last post was written directly in the WordPress Dashboard. And the format on that page alone turned out to make the page format appear the way I wanted it to.

And my web search has lead to a whole bunch of pages about MySQL and such. And I do not have a clue about that. But I know if I start guessing with it then I am going to be into even more shit.

The problem is my job does not allow Internet access for personal sites. In fact, you can be fired immediately for checking your own e-mail account on their servers. So when I have a chance I type up my posts on my laptop using Microsoft Word. And post them to site when I get home. Word has a function to allow direct blog postings. And then al I had to do was adjust the hyperlinks.

So it looks like for now “copy and paste” will have to be the way I write posts. Because WordPress is a web based tool.

Maybe a better answer will come my way.

Come to think about. I want to be rich just so I can hire people to fix things for me. My goal is to have a support staff of my own. This “One Man Army” gig is too tiring.