Monday, November 7, 2011

A Movie Called Trespass

So, I'm a little half-way through this movie tonight and just had to pause it so I could gripe a little.

Never mind that I might be getting a little tired of seeing Mr. Cage in every other movie, or that Nichole Kidman only seems to have two facial expressions (otherwise I really don't mind them in movies to be honest).

What I want to point out is that halfway through this movie I became tired of seeing guns pointed at people's heads. When done right, a threatening move makes for some nice drama, but as with anything, too much is just too much.

This movie has already had two or three moments that could have been played out very well but were used so often they have simply become played out...and I'm only a little over half-way. How many times does Cage need to say "no" when told to open the safe, for that matter, how many times does he need to be staring at the safe when he says it? How many times does he or his wife need to be tossed to the floor? And again, how many times does a gun need to be pointed a someone's head?

Repetitive moments lose their impact very quickly in cinema.

Is the movie actually any good?

I'm not sure.

There's a bit of mystery...maybe, but beyond that the movie is just full of repetitive moments. Even that movie that only showed a guy buried in a box had more originality than this.

On the other hand, I do like the elongated art-deco lights on the wall.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Learning to Walk Tall

He was a friend
but we managed to get into some sort of
argument
I guess it was time to throw down
and swing at each other

I told him I would let him hit me first

He didn't seem sure of himself, but
he did it
Curled up those fingers
bulged out the knuckles
and let fly

My head snapped sharply
to the right

It stung

But it passed quickly

I remained standing still and
just looked at him

"Is that all you've got?"

He swung with his left
My head snapped to the side

More stinging that passed quickly

I stared at him some more

"I'll let you hit me one more time."

I'm not sure what I thought would happen
but one thing was for sure

If he hit me again, I was going to
put him in the hospital

It wasn't a boast

It just felt like a matter of fact
An inevitability

Something was happening here
and one way or another
I was never going to be the same

He looked me up
then he looked me down

His shoulders sank

He turned and walked away

Defeated

I had taken his best
he had nothing left to give

Something dangerous had
just been planted within me
and suddenly I could walk
a little taller

The Music

It was the music

It has always been the music

Pulsating within my veins
my blood
my soul

The hardest and heaviest
most energetic and intense
rhythms I could find

I didn't care about
the lyrical content
most of the time

Just needed to have the
nerves pounding

Thunder crashing in my skull

I would lie on my bed
stare at the ceiling
my eyes burning through the
roof
seeking a glimpse of
that eternal fire
the flames of passion
the molten plasma
of creation itself

And once I was
fully engulfed
I would sit up
and write

I was a teenager then
just a young, ignorant
boy

I still have the music
it's angrier and harder
than ever before
and now I have thirty-six
years of damnation
and sin
and madness
to draw upon
for inspiration

Let's rock

Riding the Orange Rocket

I don't know what
kind of car it was
I wasn't any sort of
car guy at the time
All I know is that
it was mean-looking
and orange

All American muscle

My friend and his
buddy let me
crawl into the back
and the tires
spun out at the
end of my dirt driveway

We took a couple of turns
sharply and maybe a
little too quickly
but when we got to
the long straight
back road
that led to his house
the driver
dropped that
orange beast into
ferociousness

I was pushed hard
into the seat
the engine roared
like a monster

The world passed by like a blur
and I knew for certain that we were going to smash
into a
limp-engined
soft pussy
of an oncoming
vehicle and die
in an inferno
of twisted steel
and devil's hooves

But instead we
slowed and pulled into his
driveway.

It wasn't my
first brush
with death
but it may have
been my first
brush with life

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Safe in My Home

I live a fairly safe
life now
with my
children
and wife

I often feel
as though
I don't belong
but most
of the time
I like it

It's not about
being safe
It's about
setting aside
my insanity

But the joke's
on me

Everyone
in this home
is mad

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Culture Wars

They're coming.
The survivors
The refugees
The soldiers
The seducers

They're coming
With their music
With their clothes
With their dances
With their baggage

They're coming
Ready to unload
Ready to share
Ready to shout
Ready to rage

They're coming
For the freedom
For the riches
For the glory
For the fame

They're coming

And they're hungry

New Blogger Interface Issues.

Wow.

Just tried the new Blogger interface and what an abysmal ride it was. Couldn't edit an older post, couldn't publish the new post on first try, couldn't preview, and when it finally posted the format was nothing like I had wanted. So I had to delete it.

When I tried to go back to the original interface I was given the option to leave feedback so I did...but after I sent it off I received an error message suggesting that my feedback was lost...so I guess they don't get to know what my problems were?

Thankfully I was able to get back to the original interface.

Monday, August 22, 2011

The Madness and the Magic

Bukowski.

He is my personal evidence that there is always something new under the sun if you look. Yeah, he's dead now and plenty of people were aware of him a long time ago. But he's new to me.

I'm reading my second book of poetry by him. Sometimes he can be bore, but other times he completely blows me away.

See, he is familiar to me. I've known a lot of people who have lived like him. Many of his words are my own thoughts.

He writes often of a madness among people. And a certain kind of magic that is waiting to be wielded.

His poetry is full of the madness and the magic.

The madness is defined by how we live our lives in that quiet desperation other poets have written about, it is the trap. The magic is the seizing of the day, the escape. We trap ourselves into lives that slowly kills us, numbs us, sucks everything of worth from our souls. But the magic gives us peace, frees us.

One of Bukowski's observations is that you can't have it all. Sometimes you may have to cut off some limbs. It is painful. We fear the pain, so we stay in the trap.

Safe.

There is a Christian musician who married into a family full of worship. He had children with his beautiful wife. He wrote many hit songs proclaiming the greatness of God.

One day he made a public statement that he was gay. That he had been lying to himself and everyone around him for over thirty years. He was finally ready to live an honest life, to free himself of a great burden.

He is now divorced. I found a website online with a recent song of his, something about how no one can tell him what to do, how to live his life. He seems happy, though his children and ex-wife are likely confused and full of turmoil.

Bukowski would probably congratulate this man and declare loudly, "What took you so long?"

I'm sure that this musician is taking care of his children financially and visits them. I don't know how old they were when he freed himself. But that's a long time to stay in the trap, to dance with the madness. He is free now. It was probably a painful amputation, and he probably tries to scratch where the limb once was. Some people probably hate him for what he put his family through.

But sometimes, it takes sacrifice to set things right.

The madness and the magic, live happy or die miserable.



Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Slowly, swiftly

When it comes,
it comes slowly

but when it goes,
it goes swiftly.

That spark of creativity,
the burst of inspiration.

It rides upon a beam of light
picks up speed as it comes nearer
then,

WHOOSH!

It's gone.

Be quick
lest you miss it.


Monday, August 15, 2011

Changing Seasons

You can feel it in the air...something is different, something has changed.

Yesterday I had some sniffles and a scratchy throat, I thought I was sick. But today I'm fine.

I've turned the air conditioner off the past few nights, only leaving it on for a few hours during the day.

The morning takes longer to brighten and the night is coming more quickly.

First comes the Fall, then the Winter.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

The Company Men

First, don't confuse this movie with the similarly-titled, In the Company of Men. Two different movies.

Second, this movie is a farce.

I enjoyed it well enough and will likely watch it again but it has some issues that reminded me of Wallstreet 2.

The main character loses his cushy corporate job and finds himself in the wonky world of the Blue-Collar man.

I think we are supposed to feel like he learns something important about how lucky he is to be living the corporate lifestyle and that the Blue-Collars are important too. But that message is lost somewhere. Maybe I'm wrong and only suspected that to be the plot since most of the White-Collar-man-turns-Blue-Collar stories go that route.

But not this one.

We find out he's been working with his company for about twelve years. He is currently making 120k per year. After a few weeks of being unemployed he has to sell the house and move in with his wife's parents. Sell the Porsche. Get a job with his brother-in-law the carpenter...oh and spend some quality time with his son...I guess.

The problem here is that there is only one major splurge...a golf club membership.

At 120k a year, with only one child, why is he still making payments on the car? Maybe the house was a little big for a three-person family, but it's in the middle of an average middle-class neighborhood...or maybe slightly higher than middle class. It couldn't have cost more than 500k. I'm actually thinking is was more like 200-300k.

So, he's got the house, the car, and a club membership. There is no boat in the driveway or mention of one elsewhere. No additional properties. No evidence of lavish expenditures (we see one corporate wife has just purchased a table that costs a few thousand dollars). He seems to be an average man with average luxuries. Yet with his high income, he is actually ushered into the poor house after only a couple of months. I think we missed something here.

Anyway, he throws a hissy fit an out-state job offer, gets angry over the competition he faces, snubs his nose at his secretary when she asks about her own job security, reluctantly accepts the carpentry job with his brother-in-law...but thankfully gets back into the corporate setting after losing everything.

So, what was the point of this movie?

Was it just to show that corporate executives are people too?

Because with winning quotes like, "I don't want to be just another asshole with a resume!", I think something was lost in translation. Yet, it sums up exactly what the movie is about.


The Numbness

When you are standing on your feet for a twelve-hour shift, it does something to your body. It's a strange soreness. Not like muscle aches or strained joints. It's kind of like the pads of your feet go to sleep and spend all of a day off trying to wake up. Lot's of tingling ensues but if you actually rub or scratch the heel you are not sure there is any feeling.

The sensation goes away. By the time you clock in for the next day of work you're feeling "peppy" and bouncing on those feet like everything is good. And it is, until somewhere around that ten-hour mark and you still have two more hours to go.

Also, it doesn't matter how many hours you work. Be it four hours or fourteen, the last hour will always be the longest part of the day.


Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Been Awhile

It's been a long time since I posted here. But, honestly that seems to be the suitable intro to most of the posts on this blog.

I've got some personal adventures to share. Lot's of changes (positive ones!) in my life over the past year.

Sleep Apnea
A new house (our first!)
A new baby (or two, depends on how much of myself I've already shared here)
A new job
Writing projects

So much new stuff I haven't shared!

Thanks to Jessica, formerly of the World of Warcraft blog, The Pink Pigtail Inn, for inadvertently inspiring me to dust off this old house!