Be Happy!

If you’re not happy change it up! Maybe you’re feeling stuck in life and you’ve fallen into an unsatisfying routine that requires less energy. Maybe you're burnt out and just going through the motions. If you’re constantly being nagged by an inner voice to do something more, you should listen to that tiny motivation that's dying to take action. 

Change can be hard and to avoid the stress of change, people fall into routines. But change doesn't have to be hard, it's often our perception that makes things seem so difficult. You may consider changing your perspective and the way you look at yourself and the world around you. It's important to be consciously aware that all you know in life comes from your experiences and what others may have told you. Not only should you not believe everything you hear, but it's very dangerous to mold your thinking around any one particular experience. It’s important to believe that you are not only capable of anything, but also that anything is possible given the right circumstances. 

If you’ve formed strict boundaries of what you think is and is not possible, you need to find the power to move beyond those boundaries.You are cheating yourself out of life if you don't go out of bounds. It’s common for people to say things aren’t possible because they don’t see a way of them working out. Perhaps you're simply lacking the knowledge or understanding of what you consider to be impossible. 

Once you have the understanding of the impossible, only then will you be able to gain control and power through those debilitating boundaries of the mind. 

A good place to look for understanding of the impossible is the world wide web of shared information/experiences. There’s an incredible amount of information that can be found just by typing a question into an Internet search engine. Of course everyone has used search engines to find the lyrics to their favorite song, but I use search engines (google) every time I want to know anything. You're not the first person to be in your exact situation, and reading about someone else's trials and tribulations "how they did it" -can give you insight from another perspective, a perspective that you are perhaps not capable of seeing yourself. This may sound like common sense to some, but I don't believe everyone actually does this or we would have a more efficient world.

YOU ARE NOT STUCK! There are other ways, which may only seem possible if you are working towards them. There’s always going to be something else out there for you and here’s five ways to change it up!

1. Change the look of your daily environment:
You could do something simple like change the background of your computer -Desktop wallpapers here.

Or buy a plant for your room. If your bedroom walls are white, buy a poster or some inspiring art or …better yet, buy some paint and explore your artistic skills.  Here’s a link on how to become an artist.

2. Be aware of time:
If you don’t own a watch or a calendar both these things are on eBay for pennies! It’s unbelievable to me how many people never know the time or date. Time is slipping away. If you don’t wear a watch you are more likely to waste time without realizing it. My friends without watches on their wrists and calendars on their walls always tell me they use their phone for both, but I personally would never date a man without a watch. Keeping track of time makes more things possible. Once you get that watch you can do number 3!

3. Set dates to look forward to:
Make plans! Make future plans so you are moving forward. Make dinner plans or plan to meet up with an old friend. Planning ahead promotes organization and makes things seem more possible when you have time to prepare. Now, that you have that calendar you can start filling it in, and with that watch you won’t be late!

4. Reward: Buy or order yourself something you’ve been wanting. Not only can you mark on your calendar the arrival of your new toy, but the anticipation alone should keep your spirits high. I’m not an advocate of consuming things like movies, videogames, action figures or even books because all these things will undoubtedly become knickknacks grazing your walls, making it harder for you to move because you’ve collected so much useless sh!t in your life. BUttttt… instead buy something you are likely to use every week if not every day. A good example would be my recent purchase of a contact lenses case in the shape of a frog and his lily pad. This -under five dollars- purchase makes putting in my contacts every day a little more exciting! Don’t believe me? Order yours here. 

5. Escape yourself: Do something out of character
Okay be careful with this one. I’m not telling you to slam the door behind you on a stranger’s face or attempt a high-speed race with a cop instead of pulling over. But do something you wouldn’t usually such as:

Stand up at open mic night!  Eat something you think is gross.

Plan a trip somewhere you’ve never been! -Exploring the land is sure to break down a few of your ignorant views.

Watch a movie you think looks stupid.

Asking out that girl/guy you’ve had a crush on to a FRIENDLY night of fun. I don’t promote acting like a couple for a night with someone you barely know, which is often perceived to constitute as a date in modern times. Instead, ask them to come to board game night and be sure to invite other people they know. Date your friends not strangers.

Read the books you own. Admit you were wrong. Join the RoundTable -yup this is a link.

Get a haircut or flip your hair to the other side.
But don’t fall to being a creature of habit with a daily routine.

What’s bad about being a creature of habit?
 
.....You’re boring! 

You’re going to not only bore yourself into depression you’re going to bore your girlfriend, boyfriend, roommate, friends, and friends’ friends.

  

If you’re changing, you’re growing

and if you’re growing, you’re going 

and if you're going, you’ll get there!

           Be happy!

I'm NOT a Hipster!?

Yes, I am. And you might be too if you value independent thinking, appreciate art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. 

I was recently called a hipster after playing the song,"Country Lane" by Telekinesis, which I've conveniently placed below for you to listen to as you continue reading. This particular blog entry was inspired by the cruelty of name calling :)

I enjoy  music that features folk roots, melodic string accompaniment, acoustic sonority, electric guitar riffs, and an emotional male lead vocal performance. Admiring the chemistry of sound is probably another characteristic of a hipster, but I'm no longer in denial. 

I shun mainstream societal conventions and rules that apply to relationships, dating, and love. I try my best to ignore the media, advertising, especially movie reviews. Everyone has their own framework of understanding, but I prefer not to be influenced before going through the process myself. People are becoming brainwashed zombies entranced by the power of the media. The media promotes ethnocentric ideas that poison self-expression and originality. Unfortunately, independent thinkers are an endangered species in modern times.

You don't have to look like you just came from a rave to be a hipster.

I don't wear thrift store clothing, old-school sneakers, or thick rimmed glasses. I don't dress like the stereotypical hipster, and I'm definitely not attracted to men dressed in colorful, bright, and often animal print, skinny clothing. I don't frequent coffee shops. My hair style isn't edgy, and I possess more than 2% body fat. 

But I do have a degree from a liberal arts college. I'd like to think I have creative analytical thinking abilities and good taste in music. I'm not a wasteful person, or a collector of material things. I contribute to independent culture. I have an appreciation for indie music and independent film. I do like ironically themed parties and weird food. I love philosophy and brain teasers. As the hipster definition suggests, I have been called bi-polar, but definitely not boring. 

Those who reject the hipster way often also reject social change in general, but won't admit to admiring those who are more sensitive, intelligent, and culturally aware.

Hipsters are also associated with beatniks or the Beat Generation of the 1950's and 60's, who rejected materialism, consumerism, and censorship. The Beat Generation was made up of anti-conformists, and others who liberated themselves from mainstream ideals.

Beatnik, Hipster, call me what you want you bore me!

What’s the point?

When thinking about the big picture and the limited time we have to live, it’s often difficult for us to see the point of things. We spend so much time talking about doing things and all these things just seem rather pointless after wasting so much time discussing them.

The word “things” seems rather meaningless and pointless as well, so allow me to specify. 

Pointless:

Consuming/collecting

Excessive documentation/paperwork

Being stubborn/Unwilling

Arguing/Blaming

Stressing

Waiting/Wasting

Forgetting/Lying

Negativity/Dwelling

Indecisiveness

Debating

Hate

Important:

Finding inspiration and capturing/preserving it’s magical touch

Creating/Leaving a permanent, ageless existence of yourself.

Making a difference and improving self/environment/others

Learning and acquiring knowledge/Reading

Listening and understanding

Live music/Good Food

Family/Friends/Meeting new people/Love

Being active and eating healthy

Breathing Fresh air/absorbing sunlight

Learning to let go

Making lists

Thinking/Questioning/Discussing

Remembering

Honesty/Faith/Change

Efficiency/Competence

Dreaming/Focusing/Planning

Exploring the depths of your abilities

Exploring your desires and acting on temptation

Setting and completing challenges/goals

Traveling/new experiences/Taking Risks

Escaping

Critiquing the Critic

     In 1984, Peter Travers started writing film reviews for People Magazine. He moved to Rolling Stone in ‘88 and continues writing film reviews for them today. Through this critique, I will explore Travers’ perspective, style, method, and technique. I would describe Travers’ style of writing in the same way he describes Batman Forever; “It’s a thrill-packed joy ride that knocks itself out to please – so much so that it often threatens to collapse from plot overload.”

     Travers writes feature film reviews ranging from 500 to 1000+ words. His reviews are sometimes short and direct like his 1987 Spaceballs review, while others such as The Dark Knight are intensely descriptive and full of critical analysis. He chooses to review a variety of genres including comedy, horror, drama, action, sci-fi, and thriller.

     Travers leads his reviews with a very short paragraph, normally 3-4 sentences tops. The lead usually opens with a short, catchy line, which is either a fact or a snappy judgment about the film. Examples of this are “Mel Brooks is a gutbuster.” (Spaceballs) and “Sometimes a shamelessly stoopid, proudly profane R-rated comedy is all you want out of life.” (Role Models) It’s structured simplistically to grab the audience’s attention, get to the point of the article, and encourage the reader to continue reading. His methods effectively entertain and amuse the reader.

     The basic information of the film is hidden throughout the review in summary content and other judgments he makes about the movie.  In Travers’ earlier reviews like Thelma & Louise, he focuses on plot summary and talks about the actors in the order they appear in the narrative. But lately, he’s been leaving summary at the theaters and only telling the basic set-up like in his Eastern Promises and Apocalypto review. In the ’80s, he focused on plot summary and it could usually be found in the second, third, and fourth paragraph of his review.  Now, he gives the reader a short set-up in the second paragraph, and goes on to discuss the actors, director, writers (and if deserved) the cinematographer.

     Travers’ simple style makes his work easy to follow and fun to read. He chooses to heavily describe actor’s performances and only focuses lightly on cinematic elements, which expands his audience rather than closing it down to technical terms that only professionals would comprehend. His specific descriptions of characters and selected quotations help the reader re-experience the films.  He isn’t likely to incorporate quotes into every review, but when he does he pulls only the best lines from the film’s most memorable moments. 

In his 2008 review of The Dark Knight, Travers quotes the Joker just as he’s holding a razor blade to a victim’s face telling the man how his father carved his smile permanently into his face. Travers quotes the Joker at this plot changing moment saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.” This significant quote not only reveals character, but also comes from an extremely memorable scene that highlights the theme of the human condition. The relative ratio of factual information to critical commentary and interpretation was 50/50 earlier in his career. But now that he has gained much experience and seniority at Rolling Stone, his reviews are dominated with critical judgments and pleasurable commentary at 75/25, which is much better than his earlier safe reviews.

      The scope of Travers reviews deal mostly with the actors and genre. But sometimes he centers his review on the most popular person involved in the film. Sometimes the focus of his review is the director such as Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. All of his judgments about Apocalypto revolve around Mel Gibson and his style of filmmaking. The same is seen in his Freddy Got Fingered review where he concentrates on the wacky Tom Green who stars in the film.

    Travers’ knowledge of film seems to extend as far as that he has seen many pictures, but not necessarily taken any critical analysis film classes. He does however, appear very knowledgeable about actors, directors, and their past performances. He doesn’t speak of any one person or genre without including a comparison or their most recent appearance. He includes these references in very interesting ways.  In his review of Batman Forever, when he’s referencing Jim Carrey’s past performances compared to The Riddler, the character he plays in this film, Travers sites, “Hammered for the crudities of “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “Dumb and Dumber,” Carrey continues to play by his own rules.” He sneaks in references to past performances with similar critiques of the actor’s role.  

   I have yet to read a review where Travers presents himself by using “I.” He does, however, speak directly to the audience in numerous occasions saying how you should feel or what you should do. “Don’t ask whether or not you should take The Day After Tomorrow seriously. Don’t take it at all,” Travers declares in his 2004 review of The Day After Tomorrow.

     Travers expresses his attitude of films through his short and to the point phrases that precede many of his in-depth character and plot analysis paragraphs. These simple judgments prepare the reader for the complex sentences that follow and allow for easier interpretation.  All of his reviews include vigorous comparisons to similar genres and artists. His writing flows smoothly with transitions leading into each and every paragraph. If he knows he wants to talk about a specific character in the next paragraph he includes them in a scene or quote in the end of the previous paragraph. His transitions stream by seemingly unnoticed and holds the piece together like invisible glue. His recent reviews are always focused and sustain a single line of interpretation that is reiterated at the end. Travers’ writing style is very basic, but nonetheless informative, persuasive and of course entertaining.

please take a Risk...

This is just a compilation of phrases I read on the Internet today that may assist in your daily escape.

everybody could potentially have their brain chemistry tweaked so that their baseline emotional state would be that of greater happiness.
but I had to go well out of my way to find the motivation.

keep looking.

It depends on what you can be content with.
so many options open to you.

a process of elimination

others don’t want to help themselves

Continued existence.

explore all those possibilities

Mentally becoming what you want to be.

please take a risk

The dangers arising from environmental abuses.

100 hours on the couch exploring, for example, the meaning of dreams.

turn your attention to other things, and it comes and sits softly on your shoulder

you actually ENJOY your position of victimhood.

it’s called self-pity

but mostly the things making people happy are the ones they've always been - friends and family, achievement, religion.

afraid I won’t find it because I can’t give enough of myself to one thing to be able to tell if that’s what I want.

transhumanist.

Elimination of old age.

It is only human to grow much too attached to the ills of the world

Physically becoming what you want to be

the problems caused when true mindcrafting becomes possible will be worth it?

to lack intelligence

to discriminate against others

the possibilities opened by mapping the human genome.

Something to transcend.