Sunday, September 16, 2012

September - Fall 2012




Hello People of the World;

Here we are with the autumn season coming upon us. What I love is that the temperature had dropped to the high 70’s, mid 80’s the last few weeks and this week as I write this it bumped up ONE DEGREE from 89 degrees to 90 degrees and between one day and the next people just couldn’t stop bitching about the “Ninety degree weather!” What a bunch of babies.

Yes, the temperature has come back up to the low 90’s as I write this but it has been mostly dry out here but that does not stop many from complaining. Man. You just know that once it drops to the upper-70’s again, people will be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-Zing. Look out, the earth turns too…. The best thing to do is to roll with the changes.

Anyways, let’s get started shall we?


1:[ First item of the month:
A Short Biography of a Once-Blank Slate

We are born absolutely free, I heard a wise man say once, except for laws of nature and that little by little we are restricting our own freedoms. For example, it is our voice box that gives us the freedom of speech but it is in our Constitutional right to Free Speech that limits it and makes it a thing to be monitored or labeled.

I feel that I am the same person I have always been. It is not until I take time to reflect that I see the influence of people in authority over me that have dented my persona; from my dad speaking about quiet people which led to critical thinking to my mom pointing out the absurdity of useless excess, from the priest telling me how to believe how the earth was made to the scientist showing me how it was actually made. Who was I before these meteors of wisdom pelted me, rendering the dinosaurs of superstition and ignorance extinct?

People often wish that they could somehow speak to their younger selves, at age ten or twenty, depending on one’s age, as if they could impart some wisdom to themselves. But, would that change you as a person, everything you lived through, ideas you had, wisdoms you absorbed that shaped the person you are now? Would you truly risk changing yourself like that for better or for worse?

If I could, I would like to see myself fresh in my mother’s arms for the very first time, not to impart useless wisdom, how egotistical is that? But to look into those eyes of mine, my baby eyes and see if I recognize myself in there, in that mind, to see if I really changed at all or was I always there.

Or, was I born absolutely free, a blank slate to be marred from the meteors of wisdom this world hurled at me in its attempts to knock me down?

Coming Soon: More Truthfulness

+ NAMELESS: The Authentic and Magical Ledger Art of EW3 & A Treatise on American Indian Art (VERY SOON): Every day I find new things to add to the ideas I wish to espouse. Basically, I find the art world, especially the Native Art world, a tragic mess of Pay For Play Commoditization of Culture. The idea that to be taken serious as an artist means that you are paid money for it belittles artistic merit, creativity, and skill and stifles the messaging that holds the mirror to society. We are playing into the trap of the Authorship of Expertise that threatens our own voice by allowing this to continue. In the end, it is all collectable coffee mugs. Or, that is what we have turned art into.

+ The Five Six Hypocrisies of Native America: COMPLETE. As you can see, I upped it from five to six because I keep running into them in this “community”. But I am contemplating whether or not I should post this. Let me know.

+ ONE: A Spoken Word (October 1): This is in the same style as my previous poem/spoken word pieces that I have done. It espouses a lot of complicated issues surrounding Native American society. It will be hard to work up the courage to read once I get it in any shape but I feel that I need to say these things….


2:[ So, the other day when I was stuck at home this guy comes to my apartment door on behalf of a local energy provider. He knocks on the door and I see that he has an iPad with him and wanted to know if I was receiving the savings that my electricity provider promised. It turns out that, thanks to some vaguely-referenced deregulation that local providers are supposed to provide me with energy at a lower cost because the big, McLarge huge corporation (Whom he said “They’re the Good Guys.”) will no longer be doing that. He asked for a bill and noted that I was still getting the basic rate over the local rate, which would be a savings of $0.01! per kW/hr!

He then asked for my account info so he could turn on the savings plan! I asked if there was a way I could do that myself online or via phone. I just don’t hand out that info to some stranger at the door and told him as much in not so many words. He got insulted and rushed to get out of there. “Yeah, sure, just call or go online.”

I did some research and I guess it really doesn’t matter because while the corporate rate would stay the same the local rate could only stay lower for a few months before the aforementioned deregulation would allow the locals to hike it up. It would be a roller coaster rate from then on. Anyways. Remember when we would be suspicious of people knocking at the door requesting personal info? Seriously, did he really think I would just hand over my account information to some guy that just showed up at my door?


3:[ More MOVIE TIME ADVENTURES:

+ Had the chance a few weeks ago to see JAWS again on the big screen with St. Mike. We had both went to the Portage last years to see it and it turned out to be a 4:3 DVD projection. This time it was in the XD theater at the Century Cinema 18 in Evanston. The huge silver screen and a very good digital projection made a great presentation. I noted that some folks even brought their kids, which is pretty cool. I mean, little kids. My little girl is into horror/scary movies too. It seems that more “classic” films are coming out again, with “Raiders of the Lost Ark” now playing the “Imax” screens and Fathom Events putting out classic films. It comes as no surprise that these are hits over the schlock that is in theaters now. Anyways, “Frankenstein”, “Bride of Frankenstein”, “To Kill a Mockingbird” and more are being screened again. For this, I am thankful….

+ I totally missed my chance to see Tsiu Hark’s “Flying Swords of Dragon Gate 3D”. It played at the local AMC IMAX in Skokie for a week. I was so broke that I had hoped to scrape up some change to go but by the time I got some cash, the flick was gone. Rats.

+ My Bonnie and I went to see “Rifftrax Live: Manos, the Hands of Fate”. Considered the worst movie ever made I felt that I would not be up for it. I tried watching the old MST3K episode but couldn’t make it through the opening car scene without getting frustrated. Sorry, Joel and the Bots. But Bonnie and I made it through the new riffing with flying colors. However, there were not too many memorable jokes and as part of the “festivities”, they had to mention the folks making that stupid sequel film to “Manos”.

Which revives this argument that we as a society are really promoting mediocrity as excellence. It seems dumb to make because they are simply trading off on the cult status of the original. Make an original film if you’re going to put in that much effort into making a movie. Stop with trying to gain notoriety with stupid films, quit trying to make the next “The Room” so you can be famous and make great films. The more filmmakers making great, quality and original films they more exposure to them the general audiences would have and a far greater appreciation for them would lead to a great calling for them. I digress.

Still, it was good to see the event and I always enjoy the guys at Rifftrax. The next one is “Rifftrax Live: Birdemic” for Halloween….

+ With the recent success of Marvel’s “The Avengers” movie, there has been a lot of geek squealing about the recently announced Justice League movie. For those of you with lives, the Justice League is a superhero team, much like The Avengers, but made up of the so-called Big Seven of the DC Comics omnibus of characters – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Green Lantern, The Flash and The Martian Manhunter. The roster has changed and expanded but the team has remained a popular staple in the comics medium since its introduction.

So, once “The Avengers” hit big, add to that the success of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, as well as the upcoming Superman adaptation “Man of Steel”, the Internets have been abuzz about the upcoming Justice League movie. There has been clamor about which characters will be included and nerdy uproaring about possible directors. But possibly the biggest thing that geeks have been shouting for is that Warner Brothers Pictures, which includes the DC Comics Movie Production shingle, needs to, NEEDS TO, NEEEEEEEEDS TOOOOO(!!!!!!) put out a series of lone character films before the Justice League films much like Marvel Pictures did prior to the “The Avengers” movie.

Honestly, I don’t think that is necessary, despite the cries of the Geekoid Masses. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are pretty much established in the ethos of mass media. Shoot, Batman and Superman have rollercoasters at Six Flags. What the Marvel films suffered from was the whole “But, the Avengers” Syndrome of weak second-halves of the films. Usually competent directors like Branagh, Johnston and Favreau were burdened with having to set up in one film, the entire canons of each character. Plus, they sort of needed these introductory films because Iron Man and Thor were not as widely known as Captain American or even Hulk, which, believe or not, was the best know Marvel character thanks to the TV series starring Bill Bixby. The directors were not allowed to fully explore the mythology and worlds that each character inhabited. The reason Iron Man was popular and became the ad hoc star of The Avengers was because he had a full-on origin film to establish the movie character. In fact, Iron Man was not a popular comic book character until after Robert Downey Jr. brought him to life.

Still, we do not need four introductory movies for Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman or the Green Lantern (We see how badly they can be screwed up thanks to the GL movie.) Everyone kind of knows the Justice League already. Sure, geeks are raging because they think Warner Brothers doesn’t care about Justice League, when in fact they have been the gatekeepers of the Justice League mythos through their animated efforts: New Frontier, Justice League Unlimited, Young Justice, even the old Superfriends cartoon. To say WB does not care about the JL franchise is not looking at the quality animated efforts put forth by them.

So, no, we do not need a bunch of single movies to lead up to the Justice League movie just so the geeks can pretend that they have some sway in the making of movies and that somehow, our opinion matters. What matters most to movie production companies is how many seats they can fill. The concept of a Justice League movie is already a winner. No need to dilute the pool of expectation and possible confusion with general audiences just to satiate geek desire. It’s nonsense. Just adapt a single comic arc and spin-off character one-shot films afterwards. Say, “Tower of Babel” storyline, which can reintroduce the new movie Batman and Ra’s Al Ghul and can delve a bit into every character’s origins. Simple.

Beside you just need to look at this one image and know, a Justice League movie can win without all the extraneous solo films. Enough said.


4:[ So, my old PC running on XP decided it wasn’t going to take it anymore and took the quick way out when I was plugging in a new Dell printer. Sucker crashed my old Dell PC. It refuses to start up, flashing the dreaded blues screen after a minute. I think it was an incompatible OS for a rather new printer. Still, it is another example of losing something associated with my past, which seems to be happening lately mainly because I am getting older. Gone are the tons of pictures of my trio and I from my marriage, videos of them when they were younger, videos we shot together that I had yet to edit. I guess I can take it in and try a data save but that will have to wait until I am firmly back on my feet financially. Still, it sucks losing those things…


5:[ Ah yes, settle in Readers for more of:

Adventures at the Coffee Shop!

+ So, while I was waiting for Mike to show up for JAWS I hit the B&N coffee shop to check email, get some work done and do some writing and drawing. I take a table and fire up the old laptop (And I do mean old) and do my work. Sitting at the couches next to me were a few people that seemed to have know each other for a while and they chatted lively and loudly about everything. I tuned them out when it turned to politics. I usually do because politics are meant to divide not unite by its very nature and no one ever agrees. If you are fighting and being mad over politics, you have very stupidly played into the trap.

Anyways. They left after a while and then some ladies with a child and baby sat there but not for long as they moved to a table. The couches were empty for a bit until this fellow walks in, without getting a coffee, pulls out the cell phone and sits.

Look, I am a guy. I look at the ladies that catch my eye. I cannot help it. But I do consciously try to temper my looking. If your guy says he never looks. He’s lying, ladies. You can bank that. But this guy was not subtle at all about looking at women, and to what area of the woman he was looking at. It was creepy and pervy. I would glance at him from time to time and see that he would just be blatantly staring. What made it creepy was sometimes the age didn’t matter. (Urp, kind of threw up in my mouth a bit, there.) He was just sitting there. He was still there when I packed up and left.

You want to know what the really creepy, crappy thing was about him? He wore a security guard’s uniform….

+ I have more sympathy now for the baristas mainly due to my friend who works as one. Hearing what they have to put up with is pretty crazy. Still, I will call out the guys doing the crappy job and call out the stupid, hipster-cool mentality they sometimes have. Otherwise, there would be no adventures in the coffee shop….

+ I was sitting there at a window table when I see this car back into a parking spot and seeing the little booboos get out of the car. It brightened my day immensely. They looked as though they had just gotten out of school as they had uniforms on. They were maybe five and seven or eight. They were hopping with excitement and waving their little coin purses around so happy and joyous because they were going to the Dollar Store. It warms my heart that it is the smallest of things that make children happy. I am sure it was not the toys or trinkets they bought but that Mom took them and being with her and that they got to “shop” like grown ups…. Makes the heart smile at how awesome kids are.


6:[ According to this article, simply walking 30 minutes a day will help you live longer. So, it looks like I am going to live into the next age like I wanted after all with all the walking that I do everyday….


7:[ And now Wisdom of the Sages presents: 
An Ever-growing List of Things That MUST Stop!

+ Stop waving and chasing down the bus. If you had the sense to be at the bus stop to begin with you would have caught it. Instead you wave your arms and run across a busy intersection to try and get the bus stopped for you. Then, throw up your arms when it doesn’t like it owes you something suddenly. How does it owe you a ride when you did even have the sense to be at the bus stop to begin with? Stop chasing it down, it has other stops to make. Your nonsense is what makes buses late….

+ So, I was standing at the crosswalk on my way to one of my jobs. You know how some intersections have the left-turn light? Well, I watch as one car makes its turn but then slows for the people in the crosswalk. (They had no business crossing at the time, but this driver respected the fact that once they were in the crosswalk, they had the right-of-way.) Immediately, the car behind her began honking and he started waving his hands big like she could see him and he even began rolling down the window getting ready to yell. So, she roared around the pedestrians just so the jackass behind her would be satisfied. That Getting-mad-from-the-safety-of-your-car Nonsense really needs to stop. It serves no purpose. Other than making you look like an ass….

+ Just heard some one say “Yeah, I went there” as a punctuation to something stupidly said…. I believe this comes from some new reality TV show. We should stop it before it festers. It’s not cute, smart or endearing…. It just needs to stop. Now….

+ Speaking of stopping something before it festers: Gangham Style needs to stop…. (It just goes to show you how much we will defend women as long as they are wearing swimsuits.)


8:[ With all the rage and nastiness going on in world both globally and locally, all I can say is: Pat yourselves on the backs Morons, what a wonderful fucking world we are making for our kids. Way to go! Woohoo! We rock!

Sorry kids, but we have utterly and totally failed you. When it comes time for you to hear some fakey adult make a speech at your high school graduation telling you it’s your time to “Change the World” and “Make it a better place”, that there are still many challenges to face, that is code is for “we fucked up and now it’s you’re problem”. It’s a cop-out. Never believe us. We were supposed to be the grownups; we were supposed to be the ones that solved the problems. I heard the exact same speech at my high school graduation.

But what did we do instead? Nothing. Now, we simply stuff our kids’ heads with our own prejudices and nonsense. Don’t give me that noise of “Some problems take longer to solve.” Bulllshit, I say. If we really wanted to, we could really band together and put all of this fucking buffoonery behind us. But here we are, still arguing about things from hundreds or thousands of years ago. And what is our biggest societal accomplishment in the tens of thousands of years of the human species? We can act like dumbasses on Facebook. That’s it. We need to wake up, grow up and figure this shit out. Sorry for the swearing but I just feel strongly about it….


9:[ From the “This Just In” Department: In addition to my continual reading of the books, I recently began watching the 2010 CCTV production of “Three Kingdoms” on YouTubes. It is a very rich production that does take some liberties with the story and characters but freshens it up immensely by cutting out much of the lingering narratives and tightens the overall story. One of the best things about it is that I am able to relive some of my favorite moments of the book. Surprisingly, the final episodes makes Sima Yi, whose descendents usurp the Han throne under the kingdom of Jin uniting the realm, a sympathetic and very cool character at the end. I recommend you check it out here.


10:[ Last Item of the Month: I think I am going to start using the word “buffoonery” more. It just seems to sum up a lot of what is happening lately at all levels of involvement, from personal to global situations. With respect to the works of Doug Stanhope.

That will do it for this month.

Every mid-September marks another year spent in Chicago. This year, it has been thirteen years since I moved here. I remember driving into the city with my brother Joey, the windshield plastered with night bugs. But the lit skyline of Chicago loomed and eventually filled the windshield. I have loved it since.

So, once again I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict any item you read here. I am not so egotistical that I think my opinions are the be-all, end-all of the discussion. Add your two cents to the conversation. Don’t be scared. It is a part of the tacit bargain struck when you make your opinions, thoughts and ideals public. People will comment on them. Try it. It’s fun. You’ll see.

Until Next Time, “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”




© 2012 Ernest M. Whiteman III