Friday, July 18, 2014

JULY Episode VII: Summer 2014



Hello People of the World;

Welp. Summer is here. Guess what? Yeah, it got warmer and humid. Surprise! But that won’t stop you from complaining. It is as if the slow turn of the earth caught you completely off-guard! The other day I overheard someone complain about how it the temperature was going to drop and “be all ucky again, like, 69 degrees.” What? Man, there is no satisfying anyone. Even today was nice, so you know what they complained about? Tomorrow’s weather that hasn’t f*cking happened yet!

Anyways, I realize that I am a few days late in posting this. I try to stick to a 15th of the month deadline for your favorite monthly newsletter. But this month I was purposely late. Here’s why: in the last few years Facebook has become the primary way I share Wisdom of the Sages. I used to send a link out in a mass email, but that became tedious, or, I just lazy. But of late, I have not been posting anything to my personal “Wall”. It has been 20 days and I just wanted to see how long I could go without posting something there. I posted for Redshade and FNFVF, but within the last couple of years I have come to realize how stupid, futile, and egotistical it is to post to your Facebook Wall. So, I began posting silly stuff and non-personal/political stuff.

This made me realize how stupid, futile, and egotistical Facebook and other social networking sites really are. I started with posting something silly every three days or so. Then, when I went a week without posting something to my personal wall, I thought to see how long I would go. Unfortunately, it meant that I would eventually post WoS on the 15th, making it 17 days since I last posted. But I thought, naw, f*ck it, go 20 days. Hence the posting today. Aren’t I awesome?

Let’s get this edition started, shall we?

1:[ First Item of the Month: Fuck the World Cup.

Can I say that? Just once? Yeah, fuck the World Cup….

You don’t kick a bunch of people out of their homes and build a multi-million dollar stadium over the ruins just so we here in ‘Merica can pretend we care about soccer for a few weeks. And how quickly that caring dried up when Team USA lost. Jackasses! All team sports are meant to do is to divide us and help us Other one another.

So, yeah, fuck the World Cup….


2:[ My Truthfulness Stuffs:
 
My Useless Self: Ego & My Own Limits

I am running out of things to write about here. Which is why always I stick the “asking for suggestions” bit at the end. It is my way of seeing if you are truly reading this. I have admitted to not being very smart, to not being political, to being a disaster in dating/relationships, to being a non-game-playing artist, to a full-on hypocrite about my beliefs. I have reached my egotistical limits. What is there left to reveal to you Dear Reader?

Let me know.

Updates from my other Truthfulness Projects:

+ NAMELESS: The Authentic and Magical Ledger Art of EW3
A Treatise on American Indian Art

All you care about is money. This city deserves a better class of artist. And I’m going to give it to them.

I have decided to purchase a scanner/printer for my own use and to use for the film festival. This way, I can scan all the completed sketches into electronic formatting. This will go a long way to getting the type of show I want to do for NAMELESS in the production stages. I continue to see NO other project like mine out there. None. What. So. Ever. It’s weird.

I mean, it can’t all just be about money, can it? How stupid is that? How much of a colonized mindset is that that we willing give up our “sacred” cultural images, history, and heroes, for money? It can’t be that. Can it?

I am having a tough time trying to make a movie that could really change how movies are made and how people view Native American actors, all with no money, nothing but an appeal to the Native community’s own espoused support for the arts. But nothing is happening. Nothing. All these artists want money. Cash up front, buy my shit and I’ll support you. Fucking nonsense. I am not about to let your buffoonery wreck my movie. Sorry guys. Go sell your sketches of headdresses elsewhere.

Go sell your drawings of headdress wearing women and wonder where people get the fucking idea that wearing a headdress is cool. Idiots.

To quote the great man, ‘It’s not about money. It’s about sending a message…’.

+ The Five Six SEVEN Hypocrisies of Native America:
(Because Seven is a sacred number)
:

+ I was surprised at how one of my best friends, who is a proponent of Native American first-voice in media, was suddenly against letting another Native person speak out against the use of the Blackhawks logo at a recent event. He felt there is a time and place to do such things. I told him, “There should always be room for that discussion.” But my friend steered it towards Indian school’s use of the same logos and how we, as Natives, should look at how we are using the same logos too.

I agree. We should stop using trite Native stereotypes as logos and works of art ourselves. But that does not mean it makes it okay for the Blackhawks to use it for now. I guess it does kind of hurts the image when you are grant-funded by the Blackhawks too… I guess….

+ I guess what makes me really sad is that this item suddenly has the multi-“+” added to it but here is another:

“Natives need to do-colonize their thinking, lives, their government!

“Natives need to control how they are represented!

“Natives need to be a sovereign people with power to control their resources!

“Stop the stereotypes- what? BRAD PITT did what? AWESOME! IMMA RE-POSTING THAT SHIT!

“White SAVE-YOR! White SAVE-YOR! White SAVE-YOR!”

If Brad Pitt really cared, he would forgo his egotistical throwing money at the problem and actually stand with Natives getting policies change to give tribes greater control over their land and resources, education and help re-work the national public education system to present a more accurate history in our nation's school. But he buys us houses. So, he gets a pass. Dummies….

NEXT MONTH’S TRUTHFULNESS: Ego and _____?
Let me know what I should cover next in my series on Truthfulness.


3:[ More MOVIE TIME ADVENTURES:

+ More Reviews: Since there were some many movie I finally saw I will have to go over them ever so briefly. I may have to dust off the old WOS Reviews Page. Anyways. So, I finally got around to seeing Spike Jonze’s HER. It was a pretty good story and Joaquin Phoenix sold the concept very well. It was a touching story, set in a near future where a man falls in love with his computer operating system. The ultimate in First World Problems.

I also saw Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (DVD) and enjoyed it as well. Kenneth Branagh is growing in skills in the genre department. This is a reboot of the Tom Clancy character which explores his beginning, updating the character for the 21st Century.

My best friend Dave introduced me to two films “The Story of Luke” and “The Music Never Stopped”. I recommend you check them out. “The Story of Luke” is about a young autistic man having to deal with his grandmother’s recent death and having to integrate into his extended family. “The Music Never Stopped” is about a father and son who re-connect through music when cancer renders the son unable to create new memories but connects via the music he grew up with. Both star Lou Taylor Pucci who is very good in both. “The Story of Luke” is the more recent movie. Check them out.

I went and saw “The Godfather” as a re-screen in Evanston as part of their Classic Movie Series. This time I brought with me, Charlotte who had been trying to finish watching it on DVD but never could. She thoroughly enjoyed the movie. She understood the morality of a good man going bad and realized it was more that a “gangster movie” that everyone seems to think it is. We talked for hours about it and analyzed it. She even pointed out something I NEVER thought of. At the end when Michael finally confronts Carlo in his role in Sonny’s death, she realized how cruel and cold it was to give Carlo a taste of being in the family, being his right-hand man, then, taking that away from him. “Man, that was a cold thing to do,” Charlotte said, “Well, up until he killed him.”

I was pretty disappointed with Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor”. It is one of those movies where all the actors have to have cool monologues about nothing, but we see proven out later in the plot. Very contrived once you think about it. Sad, what a waste of a perfectly sexy opening scene.

Just finished “The LEGO Movie” just now. As much as I enjoyed it, especially Wil Arnett voicing The Batman, I saw the twist coming and was a little bothered by the “special message” – You got to have faith in made-up bullshit – which, if you think about it, is super sinister and to shove that into little kids’ soft spots in terribly evil. Plus, I also am disturbed that, while it does have a message against uniformity, everyone who has seen it will spout the movie's main song “Everything is Awesome” at the mention of someone else having stated they seen the movie. (i.e. you: "I just saw the LEGO MOVIE" reply: "Everything is awesome!") That’s creepy, it is like they are being conditioned as adults. Still. The animation was fantastic and it was a fun romp. Getting a little tired of the tiny, cute thing suddenly going ape shit insane troupe though.

+ I was able to hit up the Criterion 50% Off Sale and picked up two new disc, sight unseen: “Purple Noon” which is a 1960, French adaptation of “The Talented Mr. Ripley”, yeah, the Matt Damon movie. This is very good and a great example of the filmmaking of the era. I recommend this verily. The other DVD I got was Haskel Wexler’s “Medium Cool”. It is hard to describe, it mixed commentary on the times, with documentary filmmaking, and adding in fictional elements of a TV cameraman readying to capture the 1969 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Welxer managed to film right in the center of the real-live riot that happened. It also deals with how media is manipulated at all phases. It is a pretty great movie. Another recommendation, especially to teachers teaching media literacy.

Both are great examples of real filmmaking to me. They contain social relevance beyond the eras they depict and make me see how shallow filmmaking has become….


4:[ THIS ITEM OF “WISDOM OF THE SAGES” IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK


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

Adventures in the Coffee Shop and/or on the CTA!

Kids just Rock: You know why? They are simply NOT AFRAID TO BE WRONG! That is their advantage over us “Grown Ups” in every capacity. So, I was sitting on the train heading downtown for an ill-fated HAMLET meeting when this mother and her two daughters get on. One was about seven or eight, the other, five to six, a couple sweeties. The younger really wanted to sit by big sis. When a fellow left the end-car alcove, the younger girl jumped out of her seat and dashed to the alcove, saying, “there are two seats in there!”

She really wanted to sit by Big Sis. It was sweet. She tries to get big sis out of her seat, pleads and begs for her to come with and sit by her, and finally Big Sis acquiesces and they rush back there to find: no seats!

The little sister just LAUGHS because she was wrong! She laughed about it so much that her big sis had to chuckle and mom too. No, it was not a laugh out of embarrassment, it was a ‘man, this is the funniest thing ever, that I thought there were two seats there’ kind of laugh. It was genuine.

Every day, we “grown ups” do everything possible to protect our shitty, fragile egos. We start wars. Kids, don’t. (But don’t worry, our social structures, schools, and our competitive parenting will knock that shit right out of them, so don’t worry….) Kids do not have the judgmental egos that we instill in them just yet. They still see each other and everyone else as human beings. So, it was great to be reminded of how awesome kids can be while they still can be….


6:[ Derek Jeter gets a dude out: According to this Yahoo Sports article, NY Yankees’ shortstop finally earns the millions of dollars he is paid by finally doing his fucking job and getting a batter out. Now, we can forgive him all the stupid shit he’s done. Am I right? Ohhhhh, I get it now. He’s retiring, so it’s okay to pretend we liked him. Cool. As long I have it figured out….


7:[ And now Wisdom of the Sages presents:

An Ever-growing List of Things That MUST Stop!

+ There was a woman holding up the line at the Walgreens the other night trying to get a 25% discount off her purchase with all the sale items she had, though the coupon clearly stated “No applicable to Sale items”! The Shift Manager calmly explained this to her over and over, “It does not apply to Sale items. To which the woman kept saying, “Just give me the discount!”

The Manager calmly repeated it but the woman was not having it, and demands HOW she could get the discount. The Manager repeats, “It does not apply to Sale items”. Well, give me my discount! So it went: back and forth, back and forth. The Manager said she could not change the store’s policy at all to give her a discount. The woman demanded she talk to the “Real Manager”.

“The Store Manager is not here.”

“So you don’t have a manger in this store?”

“I’m the manger.”

“I want to talk to the REAL manager.”

“The Store Manger is not here, The Manager works from 8am to 5pm. You will have to wait until tomorrow. You can come in tomorrow and talk to the manager then.”

“I can’t wait. I need my prescriptions now. I’ll just call the Manager and report this.” Suddenly, when she saw that she was holding up the line, mentions her prescriptions.

“I’m sorry, I explained to you already. I cannot change the store policy just to give you a discount.”

“Well, what is your Store Manger’s name? I’ll just have a talk with HIM!”

Now, I would like to think that this whole affair was not about race. But the Shift Manager was a young African-American woman, and the customer an older white woman. I would LOVE to think that it was not about race. I really would have thought it was a stupid mix-up where the customer was too stupid to just simply drop it. Be wrong and move on. Sadly, no, because what happened next, while subtle, showed me that it was about race.

The Shift Manager replies, “Our Store Manager is a lady. And her name is Mrs. Gonzales.”

The angry face of the customer drops. She actually stops talking for a while. I would love to think this was not about race. The customer, “Oh, well, she’ll be in tomorrow then? I’ll just have to call then. I’ll pay for this then.”

People, when you are wrong about something, accept that. Be wrong and move on, learn from it. For all of us….

+ So, a brand new Jewel-Osco opened up in our neighborhood, now most, if not all, of the staff is brand new, no carryovers from the old Dominick’s. So, of course, some have to start complaining very loudly about how much they HATED the Dominick’s….

+ White dudes acting “ghetto” with their straight-billed caps at shitty angles trying to talk all “y’no watta meen?” at people, but bringing up the five motorcycles just sitting in your garage is not a good way to ingrain with the urban youth….

+ So, this wonder bread couple try to cross the street to the TASTE (Fuck the Taste of Chicago, can I say that too?) and a lady street cop prevents them because the couple did not see the HUGE, BRIGHT ORANGE barriers blocking the crosswalk. This was to keep pedestrian traffic out of the way of rush period traffic, practically saving lives. (Because most drivers are assholes. But NOT you!) So the guy (Of course it’s the guy) gets all mad “Why can’t we cross!” and forces his woman to walk back up the street to cross at the light on the other end of the block (just so they'd have to cross over ONCE!) when he could have just crossed right there in the other direction and cross again on the other side of the street! But no, he was prevented from doing his favorite thing! Righteous indignation needs to stop.

“But then, what would you write about?” you ask.

I reply, “Shut up.”

+ The show AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR must stop. I mean really? If they were supposed to all be ninja warriors, why do we still see them doing the obstacle course? Why do we see them AT ALL? If they were really ninjas, wouldn't they just suddenly appear at the finish line? Pfft. Ninjas, my ass....


8:[ Have you ever noticed people’s aversion to sharing a revolving door with other people? I have. Whenever people see that there are other people in the revolving door or are about to enter the revolving door, they stop dead until you exit the door completely. I thought this was funny when I saw these people just about to step into the door, saw me, looked me right in the eye and then completely step back and wait for me to go through. Weird, isn’t it?


9:[ From the “This Just In” Department: Wow, people are losing their shit over changes made by their Beloved Marvel Comics. You guys realize that they are just fucking comic book characters, right?


10:[ Last Item of the Month: Have you ever noticed that high amount of Friendly Drone Stories are happening on Yahoo News. Stories mainly about how much awesome photos of the Fourth of July fireworks and canyon expanse are only possible through the use of drones. They even highlight them during football games and other sports events to get the awesome overhead action! It reminds me of the commercial that was a series of “good events” that were caught on closed-circuit surveillance cameras. Turned out it was a Coca-cola commercial. But what it was really conditioning your mind for was the acceptance of Big Brother watching at all times and attaching a warm-and-fuzzy feeling with that. All these types of stories are doing is conditioning your mind to accept the use of drones in the US. Wake up suckas!


 That will do it for this month.

I hope every one is enjoying this mild summer. Just wait. August is not even HERE YET. Once again, feel free to comment, correct or contradict anything you read here on this page of AWESOME! I know you are too overwhelmed by the sheer amount of greatness that you are a'feared that you might not measure up. It's okay. You won't, but I encourage you to try. Mine should never be the last word on any topic I bring up. Go ahead. You have my blessing.


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



2014 Ernest M. Whiteman III