May 15: Wet feet
I don't take very good care of myself. This is evident to anyone
examining my footwear. I just got through another winter wearing a pair
of boots with more holes than the screenplay to E.T. My running shoes
are in a similar state of disrepair. The grips are all but gone; the
soles of those shoes are as smooth as glass. But I wear 'em anyway. Why?
probably because I figure I have more important things to spend my
money on.
Yes, my winter boots are holey. At one time they were waterproof. They're not waterproof anymore. Now water gets in them anytime I walk through a puddle. When this happens, I am happy that I am just walking across the street and that I am not a POW being forced to march 50 miles in wartorn Germany.
Now I am suddenly thinking about Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Slaughterhouse Five, which was mentioned briefly in the 1984 movie, Footloose, which starred Kevin Bacon and John Lithgow. If you haven't seen Footllooose yet then you are either over 50 or you don't own a TV set. You can rent Footloose at the video store, but you shouldn't. Footloose is always showing on TV. Always.
Here in my small town, the local high school just mounted a production of Footloose and the girl who played Ariel Moore, the preachers' daughter, used to go to my church. She is an amazing singer and she is going to be studying science at a university somewhere next year and I am happy for her. Once I took a picture of her serving hamburgers. I think it was published in the newspaper. I do not know.
A long time ago, before I had seen Footloose, I asked my best friend if he'd seen it and he said he had. I asked him what it was about and he said it was about "this kid who wanted to dance but he couldn't because the total fundy foot-washing Baptists in town wouldn't let him."
Well, not quite, actually. That's anti-Christian biased simplification of the plot. The fundy Baptists didn't ban dancing because they wanted to be killjoys. They banned it because some kids had died after coming home from a dance. The ban was in place to protect kids in the future. That's erroneous logic, but at least it's a reason. If you're going to write a book or a play or a movie, make sure your antagonist at least has a motive to do what he's doing instead of just "I have to be bad because I'm the bad guy." That will work if your bad guy is Skeletor and you're doing a five-minute He-Man cartoon, but it won't work if you want me to plant my ass in a movie theatre for 100-plus minutes.
This was done very well in Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, which deals with firefighter Guy Montag's change of heart. Montag's job is to burn books. Then, one day, he meets someone who tells him that books are fuel for the mind, not the hearth. So Guy confronts the novel's antagonist, who explains that his job is necessary because books contain ideas and ideas make humans unhappy.
He's right, actually. There are books out there that will tell you how to make ten million dollars in 48 hours. There's a book that will tell you that you are the result of millions of years of evolution. The corner store near me sells dozens of books (actually thin pliable books called magazines) that try to persuade me that the world is filled with young busty women who enjoy having sex with four men at the same time. The most popular book of all time will tell you that you will go to hell unless you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior.
Get rid of the books and you get rid of the dreams. Get rid of the dreams and you get rid of idealism. Get rid of idealism and there is peace because everyone is content with the status quo. No one has any concept of "possibility."
Even so, I don't want to live in a world like that.
I want to live in a world where I can be offended by all sorts of stuff and where I can create things that will offend other people.
My shelves are crammed with books I will likely never read.
Next year, I may replace my winter boots.
Eeeeeee!
This note has a picture of Skeletor.
Yes, my winter boots are holey. At one time they were waterproof. They're not waterproof anymore. Now water gets in them anytime I walk through a puddle. When this happens, I am happy that I am just walking across the street and that I am not a POW being forced to march 50 miles in wartorn Germany.
Now I am suddenly thinking about Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Slaughterhouse Five, which was mentioned briefly in the 1984 movie, Footloose, which starred Kevin Bacon and John Lithgow. If you haven't seen Footllooose yet then you are either over 50 or you don't own a TV set. You can rent Footloose at the video store, but you shouldn't. Footloose is always showing on TV. Always.
Here in my small town, the local high school just mounted a production of Footloose and the girl who played Ariel Moore, the preachers' daughter, used to go to my church. She is an amazing singer and she is going to be studying science at a university somewhere next year and I am happy for her. Once I took a picture of her serving hamburgers. I think it was published in the newspaper. I do not know.
A long time ago, before I had seen Footloose, I asked my best friend if he'd seen it and he said he had. I asked him what it was about and he said it was about "this kid who wanted to dance but he couldn't because the total fundy foot-washing Baptists in town wouldn't let him."
Well, not quite, actually. That's anti-Christian biased simplification of the plot. The fundy Baptists didn't ban dancing because they wanted to be killjoys. They banned it because some kids had died after coming home from a dance. The ban was in place to protect kids in the future. That's erroneous logic, but at least it's a reason. If you're going to write a book or a play or a movie, make sure your antagonist at least has a motive to do what he's doing instead of just "I have to be bad because I'm the bad guy." That will work if your bad guy is Skeletor and you're doing a five-minute He-Man cartoon, but it won't work if you want me to plant my ass in a movie theatre for 100-plus minutes.
I have a mug like this and Beyonce STILL won't date me
This was done very well in Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, which deals with firefighter Guy Montag's change of heart. Montag's job is to burn books. Then, one day, he meets someone who tells him that books are fuel for the mind, not the hearth. So Guy confronts the novel's antagonist, who explains that his job is necessary because books contain ideas and ideas make humans unhappy.
He's right, actually. There are books out there that will tell you how to make ten million dollars in 48 hours. There's a book that will tell you that you are the result of millions of years of evolution. The corner store near me sells dozens of books (actually thin pliable books called magazines) that try to persuade me that the world is filled with young busty women who enjoy having sex with four men at the same time. The most popular book of all time will tell you that you will go to hell unless you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior.
Get rid of the books and you get rid of the dreams. Get rid of the dreams and you get rid of idealism. Get rid of idealism and there is peace because everyone is content with the status quo. No one has any concept of "possibility."
Even so, I don't want to live in a world like that.
I want to live in a world where I can be offended by all sorts of stuff and where I can create things that will offend other people.
My shelves are crammed with books I will likely never read.
Next year, I may replace my winter boots.
Eeeeeee!
This note has a picture of Skeletor.
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