Hot Fuzzy Genius

We went and saw Hot Fuzz last night. It seemed to be getting good reviews, and I loved the Nick Frost/ Simon Pegg wit that flowed through 'Shaun of the Dead.' I was expecting it to be fun and light, maybe not as good as 'Shaun.'

We loved it. It was the perfect crowd, with 14 year-olds innocently randomly going "Boom Chicka Waa Waa" in front of us, and arrogant but stunned older teens behind us. We were apprehended by the movie, and we all laughed at different types of comedy. The lowbrow for the teens, the scat for the kids, the irony for us - well, I like it all.

Then we came home to find out that the Golden State Warriors had won, upsetting the number one seed Dallas Mavs. I'm a local from Oakland, and now live in San Francisco. The Warriors are our team. I've always loved to play sports, but i haven't really watched a season of anything since I was a teen. This is different though. The Warriors always stink, so now that they are pulling out some magic, the joy and ebullience is infectious. There is community built on our local team.

Of course, it's not going to mobilize us out of Iraq and into Darfur, but that might not be bad. I'm not saying that we don't need to leave Iraq and get into Darfur, but that the sports might not be subtracting from the cause.

Let me explain. Marx famously said, "Religion is the opiate of the masses." He was talking about how people and movements are numbed by Religion. It wasn't a value judgement - he wasn't saying it was good or bad, he was just saying it was numbed. Of course, if it is used for nefarious purposes such as propaganda by a state or greed by a minister, then evil is certainly inserted into the equation. Well, organized entertainment, such as television, most film, some music, and almost all sports similarly can anesthetize a populace, or at least a statistically relevant portion of a populace.

In the zealous moral enlightenment of my youth, when I was formulating world views upon world views, I didn't realize that this didn't need to be a bad thing. I thought back then that people needed to work in their free time to save the world. They needed to be inspired to do so. Well, certainly many people are numb in our culture, but it turns out that some people are depressed instead. We need to strike a balance between the horror of our work, and what we are doing to the future earthlings, and our inner selves. If we are happy we can be more productive. So, for some, the Warrior's win will help us make the changes for which we strive.

A long way down

I just finished an excellent book, 'A Long Way Down' by Nick Hornby. Fabulous fabulous, with it's themes of depression and community, this book is a great portrait of one of the base human themes of modern society. Plus, it's darkly humorous and a rollicking good read. Secondary themes of bibliophilia touched me in personal ways, as I've been reading more voluminously, and enjoying it correspondingly more as well. I highly recommend it. It's intriguing, smart, easy, fun, and fundamental.

Existence is hard. We are very smart, and we know how to compare our situations to others. The other situations don't even have to be real, we can still compare. And therein lies the sorrow. Why isn't my life better, and more like something else? One tactic I've been using is seeing the little flowers that are hidden in the grass, the ones that are so small you don't really notice them unless you happen to be sitting or lying in the grass. You have to look really closely, but there is something beautiful there. Even sitting in line, or on a bus, or having a harsh day at work, when I get a second to stop and think, I can always find a little flower.

I thought this would just be a little trick in an arsenal of personal existence strategies, but it turns out to be very useful over all. You know how stress relief helps alleviate everything from allergies to insurance rates? The ripple effect from this observational paradigm shift has had a similar effect on my outlook.

Great books are nice too.

The Rest Will Follow

I'm listening to a band called "... and you will know us by the trail of dead." Some people just call them the "Trail of Dead." They sound like some crazy death metal outfit, yeah? Well, they rock out, but their lyrics talk about the state of life, and the state of the world. Check out the song "Worlds Apart," on the album of the same name. It's about september 11th, and how we are in a candy store throwing a party while everyone else is locked outside. What are we going to do about this? For too long, the answer that those in power give is "Barricade the Door!" Was September 11th a brick thrown at the window? What will we do?

Drrrty

I'm listening to one of Donna Matrix's mixes. It's a break beat mix from 2004. It really gets you moving, twitching, really. In the last hour I've run 6 errands (all from the phone and computer) and organized two aspects of my life. It's Jessica's birthday on monday, so we've been celebrating. Last night she worked a 10 hour day, did a two hour freelance project, then I took her to see some live music. Mew is a danish rock band that sings about giraffes in a high pitched melodic way under booming bass, guitar, and drums. It was an amazing show. Jessica said it was one of the best she's ever seen. I loved it too. She seemed really happy. Then I massaged her into sleep. That's a good birthday present, I hope. She was happy, so today she'll carry it into her work. It will spread. This is why it's important to be happy. This is why music, art, wit, etc. are important. It lets us work better to make the system work better. Contribute!

Coming in from the cold

Popped a CD into my computer today so I could save some songs on my computer. A hidden video that I hadn't expected popped up. It was a story of two young Londoners, single, professional. Lonely. They didn't meet. They were parallel, they passed each other on their routes to work, they ate on different benches in the same park. They didn't meet.

Our lives here are fleeting, and every second counts. Foster love, and create a happiness inside yourself. This will help you to better impact the world. More on your purpose in life later.

Test Run

This is the first entry of this blog, Horror Love Equilibrium Point. That ludicrous title came at me unexpectedly, but has to do with a world perception that I will discuss repeatedly in the future. I hadn't thought of a title, or really thought about the fact that a title would even be needed. Then, there I was, signing up on Blogger. It asked me for a title. "Gee," I thought to myself, "I h'ain't really thought o' one." (I think in conversational conjunctions.) "How'bout 'The Point of Equilibrium Between a Polar Dichotomy of the Realization of Unjust Worldly Acts and Personal Joy and Eudomonia?'" That was too long. Besides, isn't a 'Polar Dichotomy' redundant? Thus the shortened but atrocious title was born.

A note on style: I promise to strike a balance between using annoyingly obscure words like 'eudomonia' and speaking like a slurring gutter punk with a 3rd grade education. I'll link M-W.com also, in case you love words too.