Here is another list of random thoughts and observations that have come into my head.
And they are thoughts that really fit into anything else I am writing at the moment.
1.If Easter Sunday and April 1st ever lined up on the same day then the Atheists would declare it as National “I Told You So” Day.
2. The World may have been created in 7 days. I do not want to start an argument of the specifics of time or creationism. However, before he was kicked out of Heaven Satan was on the Committee for the Creation of Food. This is why everything that tastes good is really bad for you. You have to admit he was a good chef at one point. He also took with him on the way out hisrejected proposal for the “Sell Your Soul for Rock n Roll Recruitment Plan”.
3. Who was the benchmark for evil before Hitler?
4.I wonder how well the package design has to be in order to get people to buy an empty box. I would be “upfront and honest” that there was indeed nothing whatsoever in that box. And for $14.95 plus $4.95 for shipping and handling. You too can find that to be true. Act Now! Call 1-800-NOTHING operators are standing by.
5. Hasn’t the character of Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation shown us there is no future in hair restoration products?
6. Speaking of TV. Is Kramer forgiven yet?
7.Who administered the test to the “bag of rocks” to make the determination that set the benchmark? Probably made the intern do it with the promise of a “future job consideration”.
8. Just because you work in what many consider “a noble profession” that does not guarantee the fact that you are in a face a “noble” person yourself.
9. Every single political election now includes extra “mudslinging”. Therefore, to break things up in the process there should be “mud or Jell-O wrestling” round. So instead of listening to stupidity. We can see stupidity acted out. The site of that may make people actually want to make meaningful campaign reforms.
10.All “stalemates” in any legislation passage should be settled by Monty Hall via Let’s Make a Deal- style.
11.The more colors or the brighter the color you put in your hair the longer I get to stare without you being “disgusted”.
12. If you are going to wear something on your body or painted on your car that designates that you are “A diva or sexy”. You are first going to have to do a petition drive getting people’s signature agreeing with your position on yourself. Also there may be other people who would want to question those people on the point of “Really? You thought so? Please read the second line from the bottom on this eye chart.”
I am a bit stuck at the moment for what I might want to read next. I have been reading George RR Martin’s “Song of ice and Fire” series. (AKA “Game of Thrones”) for the last two months. I need to take a break after reading the first four novels straight through. And besides the next book is not out on paperback yet. It is a good series so far and I liked how each chapter was told from the “Point of View” of a different character. It is interesting way to tell a story. I also liked how each time I thought I knew how the story might go that it went another way. I can say if you have not read it. Don’t get too attached to any character. They will surprise you. Tolkien fans would appreciate this series.
I picked up “The Night Eternal” by Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro to complete their “Strain Trilogy” for next book to read. It is a different take on Vampires in an apocalyptic world. After finishing the “Walking Dead” Season 2. I need a break from “The End of World” scenarios.
It is after that book at which I am lost for an idea of what to read next. And I do have any “readers” around me to make suggestions.
I looked at “To Be Read” pile. And there really is anything at the moment I am too keen on at the moment. “Don Quixote” is one I want to conquer but an 1100 page book is a little much at the moment. I also want to get through Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series but at the moment I am tired of the thought of any multi-book series.
I am at a lost for something new to read. The only buzz is about “The Hunger Games” series. I am not against it. However, I need to get away from that genre for a bit.
I am looking for a different book to read. I am looking for a stand alone story.
“Some people are useless on top of the ground. They ought to be under it,
inspiring the cabbages.” – Mark Twain
When it comes to American History the “Revolutionary Era” with all of its “players” in history has always held my interest. It is a fascinating time to think about how always these people and cultures came to a point to create an outcome of a totally new type of country to exist in the World at that time. 236 years later, we are still trying to fully understand what they did. The other part is not based entirely on a historical facts but more on the “archetypes” it created in the culture. “Western” genre will always hold some degree of “mysticism” in American culture. It probably started back in 1803 when President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territories from France. He then commissioned Lewis and Clark to go out and document this “unknown land”. America then became in a way a “nomadic” society moving and trying to make its fortune. “Go West” the motto for seeking that “fortune” became a part of the American Experience.
The “Western” premise usually consists of a person or family trying their hardest to work towards trying to hold on to just a small of the “fortune”. What has become known as the chance at that “American Dream”. (No one is ever going to admit to the duality that will always exist within the American Dream. It’s “strength and pride” versus the “fragility and desperation” to it. ) There is always some “bigger entity” trying to steal that away from them. The “Western” genre is made of archetypes of “good and evil” that make up the sides to the story. However, the most interesting characters are often the ones who exist somewhere between those sides. The legendary “Lone Man” in many cases.
There is a movie that touches on the previous points. I had never seen this movie before. I also do not know how I missed seeing this picture before. I just recently watched Sergio Leone’s 1968 movie, Once Upon a Time in the West. (Charles Bronson playing the man known as just “Harmonica” is a great performance. Sergio Leone created yet another great character of few words who conveys so much at the same time.)
I am going to diverge from the “Western” itself for a moment.
He may be 81 years and last appeared in a Western 20 years ago, Clint Eastwood will be forever the iconic symbol of the Western movie genre.
He recently starred in a car commercial that first aired during this year’s Super Bowl. The commercial was not selling a specific car although a car company was sponsoring it. However, Clint Eastwood was used as a spoke person who was urging Americans that they can rally together to get things moving once again. It is a message that needed to come from a man of “experience” who has seen enough of history that has taken place and realize that there is the other side. It had the right message of “reliance and resilience” for the country.
However, this is Presidential Election cycle year and political pundits had to weigh in. The problem in this country is everyone thinks that everyone motives are all “political”. Everything that anyone says is “dissected and analyzed” to a degree that the original message is totally lost. This problem really took off when President Clinton argued about the line between “oral and actual sex.” The memories. It was really fun watching the look on the Evening News guys’ faces when arguing about “blow jobs” during the Dinner Hour. But I do not want to start a political debate. I will leave that two people I know on Facebook. They are “fun vs. sad” and I am not going to say who is which one or when.
It took no time to hear how Clint Eastwood was being fooled into making a “subversive political message”. In election years, “nonsense” gets the headlines. A simple message this country needed reminding of. That is it. And you come off as an idiot if you think there is more to than that. I think all sides need to “ratchet down” on their rhetoric and some need to be hit with that “ratchet”.
“Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid” – Mark Twain
I then heard Rush Limbaugh’s decree that Clint was “duped” into it. But he himself is a fan of Eastwood’s. Who has never watched any of his movies. Look at the character Clint Eastwood has portrayed over the years. His characters never “carry water for fool’s in positions of authority”. Dirty Harry just would not be the same if he “played along with those in charge”. Watch the “Behind the Scenes” segments on his DVD’s and he will explain why he took on the character or the movie. It usually has nothing to do with the potential box office sales. Or what others tell him he should be doing.
Plus, he ran for mayor of his home town and won back in 1986. Here is synopsis of that. Read it and you realize how wrong the “blow hard” got Mr. Eastwood’s character when it comes to politics.
I want to get back to “Western Genre” of movies for one more title to watch. Here is the trailer for it.
This movie does not play like a typical movie in its genre. This film is more of character study. It is also more of psychological story of what happens to a man (Jesse James) who becomes more of “myth” than anything. And on the other hand, it is also about the man (Robert Ford) who gets too caught up in his own “hero worshipping”. This movie is about the consequences of those two extremes.
NOTE. I used Mark Twain quotes in this piece because I like his commentary on American culture. He may have passed on but many of his points are still very much relevant to today’s society.
I think there is a tendency for people to dismiss what you find based on the way you came to the material. It really should not matter. The point is you discovered something for yourself.
The “fantasy” genre of literature is something I had pretty much abandoned after high school. I also never had a good reason to return to anything within the genre except for The Lord of the Rings series. So I had not been paying attention to the genre. I am always looking for new TV series to watch and I heard reviews for HBO’s new series Game of Thrones. (I do not have cable so I have to wait for the DVD’s to hit Netflix. So when it comes to TV series especially the ones on cable I am always about 6 months to a year behind in watching them.) The series is based on the books by George R.R. Martin who is a writer I was not familiar with either. I wanted to read at least the first in the series to see how well (or maybe not) the TV series plays to the book. I was curious on how the adaptation may work. However, the DVD’s will not be available until March.
I bought the book and 800 pages of story made take pause. I have not tackled reading a book of this amount in a while. However, I made it a goal to read at least one chapter a day. Side track a moment. It is also a goal of mine to read new authors this year and tackle more from my “To Be Read” pile.
This book took about 2 ½ weeks to read. And it was so worth the time. This book is filled with very intriguing characters. Each chapter is written from the “point of view” of its various characters. There is continuity between them all. It is a long book but it rewards the reader. Every time, there was something of “cliché” moment for “fantasy” writing the author goes the other way. Then I found myself drawn in even more to the story line where it became a book that was hard to put down.
I am not going to write a full review of the details. I want to give you the opportunity to discover it for yourself. I believe this work is worth the effort. I was so taken by the story than the day after I finished this book I immediately picked up the second volume Clash of Kings. It looks like Mr. Martin’s series is going to be with me for the next two months. After that I will need a new author to tackle from another genre. I am open to suggestions. I do not want to get stuck for too long in any one particular genre.
I was thinking why this series has gained some of the spotlight when it comes to our popular culture. First, HBO knows how to promote a series. They are also more willing to take on shows that big 3 networks would not have the courage to show. But then again the FCC has a thin skin when it comes to the few of the “offended”. A series also brings attention to the book it is based on. In this case, I think it is the tone of this book which is capturing the audience. This is a story about the most “seductive and addictive” drug ever known and that is “power”. This story highlights various factions trying to obtain that “power” and the characters that are caught up in that struggle.
This book I think captures some undertones that are going on in the U.S. culture at this time. The first thing is these are characters that swear oaths and go into actions to defend those oaths. We live in a culture where it seems like those who are in “power” are constantly saying “I did not say that. I was taking out of context.” We have too many so called leaders now that hide behind lawyers, insurance regulations and opinion polls. People want to experience people who are the “antithesis” of that even if it is in a fictional setting. Secondly, I also think that our current Presidential Election process (or better yet “farce”) is bringing people to this series. In the story, it is a kingdom being ripped apart by various factions with the goal somehow reuniting that same kingdom as a whole someday. How this series will come to that ending is yet to be known (at least for myself)? It is not healthy for a society to have at least two years of two parties with various factions fighting it out for the job of the President. Two years running for a four year job is not an efficient way to run a society. At least not forward and up. But it seems like a good way to “go into the ground”. Ideology cannot be fought on a daily basis. There has to be some “pragmatics” at work. This book says as much about our present times as it does for the time in which it set.
