True accomplishment.
It has always been my firm believe that entertainment and advertising reflect culture, and are not the root of it. Causation is hard to prove, but the correlation between films and television shows and the eras in which they were/are produced is never a coincidence. The entity known as Hollywood has a long history of providing escapism during wartime, asking questions of society during periods of cultural shift, and providing a creative outlet for those on the margins of society.
Then there's advertising. Right now, smartphone advertisements seem to be the clearest indicator of what people associate with social power. This ad in particular makes my blood boil with annoyance:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzTy9_xS1yA&feature=youtube_gdata]
What does this commercial say? How do the characters relate to each other?
- A hierarchy exists wherein the better individual is determined not by what they do for others, but by how fast their phones receive information.
- Notice also that fast access to information does not spur them on to do anything with the information except hold it over the heads of their neighbors.
- These individuals are recipients and consumers. They are not action-oriented people. Their usage of technology does not signify any real accomplishment on their part; they use the scientific advancements made and maintained by others as the basis for a misguided sense of superiority.
This is probably an unnecessarily reactionary response, but smartphone and wireless carrier advertisements seem to sum up where we have arrived as a culture. We do less, we move around less, we think less and read less. Our smart phones and back-in-a-flash data plans give us near-instant access to a literal world of information via the internet, but if pop culture is any indication, we use that access for little more than looking at kittens on youtube. Like the man and woman in the commercial above: we stay in one place, we receive and we consume.
We have lost touch with what it is to accomplish things that are meaningful and real. We don't produce. We don't wield as much interpersonal influence as we should.
Technology and mass communications are supposed to be tools for culture, but they have themselves become culture.
“We need to know who we are and if we have what it takes. What do we do now with the ultimate question? Where do we go to find an answer? In order to help you find the answer to The Question, let me as you another: What have you done with your question? Where have you taken in? You see. a man’s core question does not go away.”
- John Eldredge, Wild at Heart
My favorite meal.
I'm a man of simple taste. I might not eat wheat any more, which rules out all derivative products such as pasta and most fried foods, but I still crave me some soul food now and again. And it just so happens that my favorite feel-good meal is the perfect post-workout spread.
And what do I love so much? Eggs and a sweet potato! The eggs are usually fried, and the potato is always split down the middle with a shake of cinnamon and a big pat of butter in the middle. I augmented my eggs with some homemade guacamole this evening. My plate was a playland of protein, healthy fats and good carbohydrate. So, so satisfying.
The meal was especially welcome today as it was my fast-breaker after a semi-unintentional intermittent fast lasting around twenty-eight hours. I finished out the day with a ninety-minute martial arts workout at my home dojo.
I'm writing again about fasting because I also just wrote a "just the basics" Hub on the subject. If you want to help me make some money, I'm trying to get back to India this summer, and every click counts:
April in review
I am thoroughly addicted to Instagram. You can find me there under the name bologray; a name which word processors feel the aggravating need to space out whenever typed. I've decided to start a monthly roundup of my I'grams; mostly because I think it will help me to look back and see what really mattered to from month to month and help me decide how to best use my time in the future. I guess that makes me a narcissist, I'm done with school so I'm running protracted studies on myself. Hm.
One thing that is obvious from day one, however, is the food. I eat and live according to the Primal Blueprint, and since becoming much more judicious in the foods which I choose to eat, I have taken a much greater interest in recipes and food preparation. When I have the time, there are few things I enjoy more than getting in the kitchen for an hour or two, turning on some old episodes of No Reservations on Netflix, and cooking up a storm with meat, fresh vegetables and the spice trove which I brought back from my last trip to India.
Good food, good friends, good movies and good books. That is a good life.
Daniel - headshots for a Pensacola actor.
Shot some headshots and portfolio stuff for a buddy of mine at UWF the other day. Daniel is a theatre student at UWF, an happens to be a world-class gamer who elevates Team Fortress 2 to a level resembling art. He also happens to be an exceptionally nice guy. I wanted to make sure that he had a nice range of shots which reflected his quirky personality as well as his emotional range as an actor. I think we succeeded.
Warrior Dash and the joy of common purpose.
In retrospect, I regret having spent so much of my life in solitary pursuits. It's simply my personality that I do my best work and think most clearly when I work alone, but I regret having allowed the desire to "work better" to infiltrate everything that I do. I don't believe in doing anything halfway, so it just never made sense to allow myself to be hindered or distracted. I love to meet with people for lunch, coffees or dinner, just to pass the time and enjoy simple conversations, but environments where my work is dependent on another person's involvement have always been frustrating to me. As such, I've always been one to drive alone, work alone, and often play alone. It's not good to spend so much time inside your own head. Over the past few years, I've been reminded of how wonderful it can be to spend time with people for a common purpose. India, certainly has given me multiple experiences of pure, unadulterated joy at what I have seen and assisted in accomplishing when working with a group of people for a common purpose. I also experienced it more recently in my excursion with my friend Jeff to Warrior Dash.
Warrior Dash is a 5K obstacle course. It has whetted my appetite for bigger things...like Tough Mudder. I can't wait.