MAY - EPISODE V: SPRING 2018

WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE V: SPRING 2018

Hello People of the World;

Some rain and some heat and people lose their minds. “Wait, when did the weather get so unpredictable?” Since, ever.

 All right, let’s get going:

1:[ Opening thoughts: Sherman Alexie – Every time I read, or see, or hear, or watch a video of some Native man being outraged and shocked “But not surprised” at the sexual harassment claims against Sherman Alexie, (By no means do I feel the need to support Alexie further.), all that crosses my mind is “You fucking lying hypocrites!” All of them. Seriously….

2:[ I guess I have seen “Deadpool 2” without seeing it. I work as a DPA at a movie theater, basically, the booth person. (Not a “projectionist”), so I have to do constant theater checks for picture and sound. In doing so, I see a lot of movies in snippets. Sometimes, I will get spoiled about a twist ending if I walk in at the right time. Others, it makes me more interested in seeing the movie as its charm or quality wins me over.

I saw much of the plot and jokes and action set pieces from “Deadpool 2” already, including the ending. I cannot help but say I am a bit charmed by the sequel. I know, right? But I don’t think I will end up seeing this in the theater. I will wait for Redbox, if that. Bonnie says she has noticed that my eagerness, or passion for going to the movies has waned since I got this job. But, I think it’s just a matter of finding the time. However, to her point, I did see “Avengers: Infinity War” recently and was bored.

I did see much of “Infinity War” in much the same way I saw “Deadpool 2”. So, I saw much of it already. The only scene I did not see was the Edinbrugh scene with Scarlet Witch and Vision.

I don’t mind being spoiled with movies. Good movies stand up to spoilage. I was spoiled with every one of the Star Wars prequels and I still enjoyed them. I wsa spoiled with “The Dark Knight” Trilogy and still enjoyed them. I enjoyed many of the movies I do with being spoiled about the twist ends. A great story and how it is told will stand up to spoilage and be re-watchable. Movies should be able to stand up to being spoiled. If not, they are simply based on a premise and if the premise is too gimmicky, it’s only good for one watch. “Split” comes to mind. I was spoiled by the end twist and it did not turn out the way I thought. It was a cameo rather than a character moment and I found it disappointing. So, I have not watched it since. So, a really good movie can stand up to spoilers. Otherwise, why would we keep watching “Seven Samurai” and the like?

3:[ We still look at our phones…. As if we are that Important that we need to be staring at our phones to deal with things. This is why we made them, so we could do “Important business” on them. Yet, instead, we are playing games and watching videos on them, like we are owed entertainment because we “work so hard.” No, we don’t. Sitting and doing tasks is not working. Go pick someone else’s fucking vegetables for $2 an hour and get back to me about ho hard you work. We are not owed happiness, entertainment, or joy. That is because it’s fucking LIFE. It is supposed to be difficult and complicated.

If you think we are starlight owed happiness and positivity, you are denying yourself a full human experience, a full spectrum that includes hurt, sadness, love,

I mean, why just happiness? Isn’t that horrible that, that is our goal in life. Look at how many stupid “self help” books are devoted to that concept – that we are owed happiness. We have an industry making millions off of your low self esteem. Shit. Look at how we treat depressives. First thing: we want them to be “Happy” - forget their feelings, get them happy again. Don’t allow that depression is a facet of human experience, of their personality. Their depression is such an inconvenience to us, that we only want them to be happy again, and right away.

Look, if you want to pursue happiness in life, go for it. But if you cannot live with the depression and disappointment of NEVER GETTING that level of expected, entitled happiness, well, you might as well just look at your phone all day….

4:[ “A Quiet Place” Review…

Ha. Get it?

5:[ After the whole “Starbucks is Racist” debacle, they changed their rules where you do not have to be a customer now to sit at a table. Way to go you knuckleheads, “Table Vultures” got carte blanche to take up every seat while you wait in line to order, sucker. Way to go! Yay!

6:[ I finally saw “Avenger: Infinity War”. Frankly, being spoiled made it boring. I hate that so many films depend on non-spoiling. When “Star Wars” first came out, they where explaining every character to generate interest. But now, every goddamn character has to be held in secret. Which can be detrimental to the movie. Look at “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi”, where they kept every new damn character a secret and everyone was disappointed with them.

Anyways. I saw “Avengers: Infinity War” and found it “Meh”.

7:[ Been working to make some films but it is frustrating when you cannot get the kind of support everyone brags that they offer to Native filmmakers. I guess you need to put the beads and feathers in everything and pretend you are “deconstructing stereotypes” when in reality, you want money.

I have been at work on an article for my other blogspace titled “Mengde” after Cao Cao and it covers my work with the film festival I run and how I experience the perceptions of others and how they see me in that role of Director of a Film Festvial…

8:[ Remember when I used to write a humorous web log? Yeah, me neither…

That is it for this month.

As always, I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict anything I write here. I am open to a critical debate. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I write here and I will see you in a month.

Until next time, remember “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”

2018 Ernest M Whiteman III