Cheating

Jude Law, David Letterman, and now, Tiger Woods. With each new cheater that makes headlines comes articles and talk shows posing the question: why do men cheat? I’ve done some research over time.. and some of the answers I have found are disturbing..

#1. Biology
In one article, a (male) psychologist and author says that men cheat because “they’ve evolved the desire to be with different women.” While I do support evolution, I do not support this as an acceptable reason for cheating. So basically, men are just zombies mindlessly moving through life via the will of the chemicals in their bodies? With the recent green movement and the issues of poverty and disease and our disappearing natural resources it should be pretty obvious to humanity that there are too many of us. Are people really still holding to the idea that procreation is necessary and ultimately our only purpose? Give me a break! Last I checked there are about 6.8 BILLION people, of which a good handful (respectively) do not even have access to drinking water. Look around fellas, living by the will of your groin is destroying the planet, good job. I think it’s safe to say that we can chill out with the sex, and start EVOLVING a bit to focus our energies on improving the quality of life for ourselves and our children.

The war on terror

Ok, I try not to think of myself as a very political person. I despise the two-party system and the angry mobs of people who think they’re right. However I do want to present my reader(s) with my perspective on the war on terror.

Are you ready? I think this war is stupid. Almost 3000 people died in the attacks of 9/11. As of 10/31/2009 there have been 4345 American military casualties in Operation Iraqi Freedom. We are upside down in our human investments in homeland security as of September of 2006 (3 years!). If I was a terrorist I would be patting myself on the back right now. That single act of terrorism has cost us more lives and more money than the terrorists could ever hope for. In trying to make life for Americans safer we have managed not only to match, but to exceed the costs of the original attack.  No need to plan another attack terrorists, we got this under control. This war is embarrassing. We look stupid.

Sources: 1 | 2

Religion

I should probably wash my car

I am not religious. I feel happy, fulfilled, and enriched. I love my fellow man and strive every day to be a creature of compassion and to be giving and selfless. I want to change the world for the better.

You know the saying it’s not about the destination, but the journey? We all know of one thing for certain: each and every one of us will die. So then why are we here? That is the question that religion assumes an answer to. I believe we are not meant to know that answer yet, that’s why we have science. Science is the journey. Humanity’s never ending thirst for knowledge is proof to me, that we do not and cannot know. It’s like getting to know someone, you can read a paragraph about a person but do you truly know that person? Are you guaranteed that the paragraph is honest and truthful? Could you, yourself, completely introduce yourself, the complexities of your emotion, the pains and joys of your past, your insecurities and your pride, your knowledge, on paper? We don’t read manuals to gain friends; it’s a journey that takes place internally so we learn about ourselves. We shouldn’t be reading manuals to live life. Do you really believe that life is so small its whole purpose can be explained in a book?

Recreational Drinking

Ah.. alcohol. I’m a fan. I like alcohol because it gets me over the hurdles of my own inhibitions, it helps me form bonds with new people, and relaxes me when I am strung out or anxious. I think everyone at one point in their life stands to benefit from the consumption of a cold one.

However it has come to my attention that drinking alcohol is nowadays a competition. With the increasing use of social networking sites an increasing amount of party photos get posted. “Look at me I have a social life!” Yes I see that.. and all it consists of is drinking. Let me break it down- getting drunk is very easy. It’s not an impressive feat worthy of praise or recognition. Everybody does it. Good people do it, bad people do it, ugly people do it, pretty people do it. Whoop-dee-freakin-do. I feel pressured to drink in social situations.. almost every time I drink with a group of people I do it because I’m expecting something cool to happen or something to be revealed to me, something big is going to happen and I want to be part of it. I always get let down. It seems to me that the only thing that ever happens is that people act like fools and/or make mistakes.

look away

i look at you for a sign
a sign that you agree
maybe you will answer
in the way you look at me

 

and so my mind lies waiting
and days later you will say
that i’m looking at you strangely
so for now i’ll look away

 

It’s been quiet here. Above is another poem, I will be away from a computer for a few days so it will be a bit before I can sit down and devote time to a real post.

Abstract Art

I remember back in college, in my contemporary art class, we learned about non-objective and abstract expressionism art. I remember learning about artists like Pollock and Rothko, and a class discussion on non-objective art. The teacher (her name escapes me at the moment) set up a debate on whether or not abstract impressionism was really “art.” She then divided the class into two opposing sides. Going into this, I didn’t have a lot of respect for what abstract expressionism truly was, and I was dealth the “for” abstract expressionism viewpoint. I had to defend abstract expressionism as art. Each side was given two essays to read, one for and one against, and then we had to make a case for our argument and defend it. Now, it is a personal philosophy of mine to keep my mind maleable and open to change, so as I started to shift perceptions for the sake of the exercise, I learned and I felt my opinions changing.

Before I continue I want to take a moment to ask you, the reader, “what is art?” We all know the superficial interpretation as paintings and sculptures and things that are generally aesthetically pleasing. We often define it from the perspective of consumer or audience. When you can only see art from this point of view it does become very difficult to comprehend non-objective art as something that has a lot of value, especially when compared to the works of a more traditional artist like Michelangelo. The way Michelangelo recreated the human form with such detail and emotion is indeed extremely impressive. Now when you compare one of Mark Rothko’s color fields to the Sistine Chapel you might find yourself wondering how any comparison can be made. Well, this all goes back to the question “what is art?”

Creativity

Ah yes, creativity. A demon I’ve battled a lot in my life.

“I need to think of something.”

In modern society we are under a lot of pressure to produce. A problem I find with that is that when your mind is constantly chugging along focusing on an endless list of tasks you rob yourself of the true bliss in just dwelling on nothing in particular. “What do clouds taste like?” “What language do cats think in?” It is in these moments of vacation from the stressful assembly line thought process that creation is freed from the shackles of production. When I am having difficulty thinking of something, I try to think of nothing at all. Do you ever have a zillion thoughts flying around in your head at once? It can be extremely stressful and taxing to keep track of where all these little thoughts are whizzing to. One thing I’ve learned to do in these situations is stop. When I get overwhelmed I stop everything I am doing, turn away from the task at hand and stare off into space. Not exactly a model for productivity eh? I used to do this without reason, my brain just became overloaded until it would practically float away. Being aware of my apparent uselessness as a producer of whatever, it made me feel inadequate and only fueled the cycle of anxiety. Now, I have learned to grant myself permission to daydream.

I think of my mind as a bare white room, and throughout the day objects move in and out of it. Objects of different shapes, sizes, colors, etc. These are my thoughts. The thoughts or objects that are most useful or interesting or appealing, etc, I tend to keep in the room the longest. After a while I collect more and more objects until the room is so cluttered nothing else can come in. This is when productivity and creativity come to a screeching halt. Before I would open a window or move stuff around in the room so as not to stifle the completion of tasks. But now I completely release myself from the mental assembly line, guilt free. Why? Because meaningless daydreaming makes the clutter disappear. After no time at all, I have a clean bare room. Now fresh new objects are free to enter again.

The point? Doing nothing may not feed productivity, but it is the blank canvas of creativity. At the end of the day are you more fulfilled when you have produced what is expected or when you have created something truly your own that can be invested in?

Resting my brain

here’s a poem.

Quixotica

these teasing thoughts of work vs play

flicker in and out throughout the day

i am proud of all that i have done

but the war continues in defense of fun

dreams of magic and wonder and light

persist through the day and into the night

they frolic around inside my head

fed by beauty seen and read

they fuel my movement through this life

and are shelter and shield from stressing strife

always mine, they are my own

evolving and increasing as i have grown

what would we be without our dreams

but dull, austere and loveless beings

Rihanna

I was on CNN.com watching videos this morning and I watched the Showbiz tonight piece on Rihanna’s “racy” new single art. One thing that really got under my skin was that one woman had the nerve to call the photo “empowering.” Theres a certain level of sexiness I’ve come to expect from my celebrities…and then there’s just plain over the top. Rihanna doesn’t need to do this to sell a single. Everyone knows she has talent! There are a lot of pretty girls in the world, show me something I haven’t seen.

You know what’s empowering to me? A woman with brains, talent, and classic beauty. That’s sexy. Sexier than some half-nekkid pop singer. I don’t want my future daughter to look up to these images of sex and…not much else. Why don’t we give our scientists and novelists and astronauts more of a celebrity status? Women who publish research, women who write books, women who go to space; those are women to look up to. Don’t get me wrong, there are beautiful and empowering singers, but I look up to them for the message they send and their impenetrable sense of self, their genuine character they express.

Rihanna was beaten by her boyfriend and didn’t have anything to say about it. Stand up for yourself woman! Tell the world that you’re not gonna take that! She doesn’t publicly speak out against anything. Aside from her vocal talents, Rihanna the individual has no voice. What’s the driving force behind the photo? Let us see what’s going on inside that head. Any celebrity can strip down and sell their image with sex. I’m sure it was very difficult for her to get whisked away to some studio, sit in hair and makeup and have professional stylists dress her and professional photographers take her picture. She’s just using the tragedy of her abuse to brand herself and sell records. That’s. not. empowering. to. me.

Polanski

In 1977 Roman Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13 year old. He gave her champagne and sedative drugs and against her wishes performed oral, vaginal, and anal sex on her. He served 42 days in prison for the crime, and when he learned that he was likely going to be sentenced to more jail time, he fled the country. He did agree to pay a settlement from a damages claim filed by the victim in the amount of $500k. It is not on record that he ever paid the full amount. He went on to continue his film career and make money, directing movies “The Pianist” and “Oliver Twist” amongst others.

He is no doubt a talented artist and has made valuable contributions to the film industry; however some of his colleagues seem to think he is above justice. This infuriates me. I don’t care how much money you have or how many good movies you’ve made, nobody is above the law! Crime doesn’t pay, period. The victim doesn’t want to push for him to get more jail time, she probably, understandably, just wants that part of her life behind her.