Something a little different

I was going to make a longer post for this week but it isn’t coming as well as I would like but I think I have figured out a way of doing two things at the same time. I watched the film Man of Steel when it came out and I didn’t enjoy it. I have been trying to figure out whether or not I should right a review saying that I don’t feel it is worth going to see in the theatre. I haven’t really wanted to use these posts to say things against art. I wanted to use it to help show the better sides of art. Thankfully I now have a way of doing the two things at the same time. The video below is a review of Man of Steel made very eloquently and it matches in many ways my own feelings on things. If you are a person that likes reviews then you may want to check more of the videos by this gentleman. Here you go:

Thank you for reading and I’ll have more Monday.

Lack of Sleep & Mind

I find myself writing this after having a couple of interesting weeks. I have not had much time and sadly feel that if I were to try to write something it wouldn’t be up to the standards that I hold myself too. I hate to miss a week then not too long after not to be able to get a big post out. I am going to be able to get some sleep before Friday so I will have my usual post then. I know that if this is ever my job I can not use these things as excuses but I also do believe the situation is different when writing is the main way that I make an income. When writing is my main position then I will be able to concentrate more on the writing and the number of other distractions will be smaller. The biggest distraction that I have right now is my job.

Thank you, as always, for reading. I hope you return on Friday.

Heaven’s Kingdom Extended

I’ve been trying to think of a movie to cover for this week and I think I have one. It’s one of my favorite films. Well it actually takes up two different places on my list of favorites. I’m talking about Kingdom of Heaven and the subsequent director’s cut. The one that’s higher up on my list is the director’s cut because of the fuller story. There were things explained better in the director’s cut than in the theatre released version.

Either version that you watch is set in the time around the Second Crusade. This is the story as told by IMDB.

It is the time of the Crusades during the Middle Ages – the world shaping 200-year collision between Europe and the East. A blacksmith named Balian has lost his family and nearly his faith. The religious wars raging in the far-off Holy Land seem remote to him, yet he is pulled into that immense drama. Amid the pageantry and intrigues of medieval Jerusalem he falls in love, grows into a leader, and ultimately uses all his courage and skill to defend the city against staggering odds. Destiny comes seeking Balian in the form of a great knight, Godfrey of Ibelin, a Crusader briefly home to France from fighting in the East. Revealing himself as Balian’s father, Godfrey shows him the true meaning of knighthood and takes him on a journey across continents to the fabled Holy City. In Jerusalem at that moment–between the Second and Third Crusades–a fragile peace prevails, through the efforts of its enlightened Christian king, Baldwin IV, aided by his advisor Tiberias, and the military restraint of the legendary Muslim leader Saladin. But Baldwin’s days are numbered, and strains of fanaticism, greed, and jealousy among the Crusaders threaten to shatter the truce. King Baldwin’s vision of peace–a kingdom of heaven–is shared by a handful of knights, including Godfrey of Ibelin, who swear to uphold it with their lives and honor. As Godfrey passes his sword to his son, he also passes on that sacred oath: to protect the helpless, safeguard the peace, and work toward harmony between religions and cultures, so that a kingdom of heaven can flourish on earth. Balian takes the sword and steps into history.

Of course with a film that covers one of the Crusades, Religion does play a large part of the movie but I think that it’s done very well. It tries to cover aspects of religion from multiple sides and doesn’t try to show one above the other. Of course some of the actual discussions would probably not been done at that period of history but of course this is a modern film about a historical event. But any kind of discussion should be happening and I think that this film is a great start to it. Since we do not truly know any of the characters (yes even Saladin) we see them in a different light. And surprisingly many of them can be found in an actual historical picture. It is interesting when you find out who is real in this movie.

I don’t mean it was interesting to learn that Baldwin IV was a real person. I was surprised to find that Balian was an actual historical figure. He was also considered the saviour of the people of Jerusalem in much a similar way as the film. What was changed for this film was his history. There is too much to cover here so I will just say that after watching the film you can have so many different things to research, if that kind of thing fascinates you. History is much more interesting than fiction and it is up to those who want to know to find the differences in this movie.

So I guess what I am saying about this movie is that it is not just for watching it is also a stepping stone for more discussions than I think I remember a film having in a while. I thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy the movie. Until Monday. Have a good weekend.

I Just Can’t Feel That

First let me apologize for missing last week. I really have no good reason and will not try to make up an excuse. I don’t plan on trying to make up for those times. It will just be a missed week. But of course that is not what I intend to talk about today. Last week while I was finding it hard to write something happened that is both upsetting and a relief at the same time. My uncle, who has been suffering from the affects of cancer, finally succumbed. From what I understand our family had expected a little more time to be able to say all that needed to be said before he finally passed.

What I am finding is that I am not sad about it. I don’t just mean that I am not sad because I feel that it is a better thing to happen. He was suffering greatly and that from the stories that I have been told he was in great pain. All his searching for help came up with just finding a way to prolong the search for a treatment. He was fighting hard and it sadly was a loosing battle in the end.

As said before I am not sad about this. I am truthful when I say that I am in many ways happy that it has happened. I am happy because to watch, in the few times that I have been able to observe, what his cancer has been doing to him and ask for more time to be with him seems the ultimate kind of arrogance to me. Asking him to continue to live in pain while I find comfort in the idea of his death is wrong to me. I am happy because he no longer suffers. I feel at this moment I should say that I have never felt that anyone in my family ever wanted him to suffer for their own emotional needs and none of their actions say that they have. This is just part of a larger conversation in my head. We all wished for him to be able find a way to end his pain.

But of course the truth is that the feelings I have felt about this have been fleeting. I have gotten over this very quickly. And for that I am just a little bit sad. I wish I could feel more emotions for this but I can’t. I don’t know why I can’t and I have been trying to figure out why since I realized that I didn’t have the A typical emotional response about death.  The only thing I feel is anger but this has nothing to do with that sad event. I have been trying to deal with a lot of anger recently and maybe when I figure out what is causing the anger I can understand the other things.

I would like to thank you for reading this. This one is definitely a more personal post and I hope to get onto other topics soon.

 

Giving Answers Without Questions

This recommendation is going to be a little interesting since what I would like to share maybe a little hard to find. It’s a documentary made by Stephen Fry and Ross Wilson. Its called “Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive“. It was originally shown on British television and, as you can see by the link, has been released on DVD. The problem is that the DVD is Region 2 and will not play in your average American DVD player. I am sure there are other ways you can see this documentary and I will let all who are interested find it on their own.

But of course now the question arises why should someone take the time to find this documentary or even purchase it. Well for starters I wanted to watch it just to placate my need to garner more knowledge. There is a great amount of information on Bi-polar disorder and key signs of the disease. There are discussions about what age you can diagnose and the different ways it can be diagnosed. There is also a discussion on how the diagnosis has changed over the years. The last given through the first person experience of Stephen Fry who is going back and asking new questions that he has.

Having his personal story being the driving force behind this documentary I think adds something that is usually lost when done other times. When I have seen other programs that try and have a personal feel to them the focus tends to be more emotionally driven and less about the actual facts about the subject matter. I am not saying that taking things from an emotional perspective is bad but I do think that their are subjects where facts need to be considered on the same plain. Where this documentary gets its drive from is hard to say. I think it comes from a combination of the inquisitive nature of Stephen Fry and the depth of the subject matter.

The fact that there are so many different ways that Bi-polar disorder can manifest itself gives a number of questions to the larger list. We learn how it showed itself in Stephen Fry and he spends the two hours (broken into two episodes for television) talking to others about the time when they first noticed symptoms and signs. In the second half he also discussed the idea of treatment. I found this part particularly interesting because he looks at this from the side of a man who has never taken medication but who may need it. This opens up to a lot of information not just on medication but there is even discussions of more alternative ways of controlling the ups and downs of the disease.

There is so much more that I could say but I do not want to give away to much. I will say though that if you, or someone you know, suffers from or may suffer from that this is an excellent beginning point for research. I know it has given me a few answers about myself and obviously it has raised a few as well. I hope those who watch it find it informative. But also don’t feel that you have to have a tie to Bi-polar Disorder before viewing this. It is always great to expand our own knowledge base. And as always thank you for reading this.

A Step Back to an Odd Dichotomy

I am going to go a little more personal on this one. I’ve been noticing a funny difference in the way my work affects me vs. the way I would think that it would. First a little history that sets the idea. I am a person who truly enjoys things that force me to slow down. What I mean is that I like things that take time. Not all the time but it can very relaxing and can help quite, what I consider to be, my very active mind.

One example of this is something I bought for myself a number of years ago. It is an old style pen set. The kind of pen set that requires you to have a bottle of ink that you have to occasionally dip the pen into. Other than what you have to do while writing, the set up is very helpful since there is so much I have to do to get ready to write. I have an older style leather bound journal and I have recently thought about writing a couple of letters with it so I can get to my “happy place”. I love the idea of slowing down time. The idea of having to take time to do multiple steps. I hope that paints the picture that I want.

So now to work. At my job I put things on shelves. I actually put things on shelves that you might buy. It has more of a process than you might think. Or at least I see more of a process. The idea of finding what you have to put up. The opening of the box. The placing of the items on the shelf. In my mind there is a wonderful process to it.

With that then you would think that I would love my job but I don’t. There are many reasons why I don’t and you would think that many of them would be placated by the idea of a very process heavy job. It isn’t. I think because I am not really able to enjoy the process. The job I have is very time sensitive. I am not able to take the time to revel in the process. I am not one that minds being in a rush. I have had to be many times. I have even been able to revel in a process while being rushed while doing sound. I think the difference here is that I still have many questions to be answered. I have been at this job for 4 months and I still don’t know everything I need to do the job well. And I think that is where it truly lies. If I knew more I might even be able to revel in the process of my job.

I mean I have enough knowledge of sound that the differences and changes in my process are only because each situation is different. I feel good about those times because I know enough to change what I’m doing. Why I can’t stand the changes to my process at my work putting up stock is that they are controlled by the fact that I still don’t know enough. It is more controlled from outside than inside my head. It is controlled from people walking up to me and saying, “You shouldn’t do that like that. Here’s how you should do that.” I am thankful for the help but it does screw up my process. It is also a little annoying especially when someone tells you that you have to come up with your own process. But that is what we sometimes have to put up with isn’t it. And I thank you for staying with me this far. I fear I got a bit rambly and a bit non-cohesive but that seems to be part of my style on these personal things. Thanks for reading.

Short & Sweet & More

This one is going to be short and sweet today. In trying to figure out what to write for this week I’ve decided to add to the content on this blog. I am going to start posting every Friday but this time it will have more of a theme. I am going to make recommendations for things to either watch, listen to, or start reading over the weekend. I am still trying to figure out how much I am going to say about each thing but I think that it is going to depend on what the thing is. Some things will need few words while some may need more. I will at least tell you why I like it. I will, hopefully, not tell you that you need to watch, to listen to, or to read but I will, hopefully, tell you enough, and say it well enough, to pique your interest.In a way a new add to my revolution of ideas.

So I am now going to Bookend your weekend. This should be a good new chapter for this blog.  Thank you, as always, for reading.