after watching "the soloist"

i was kind of reluctant to watch this film as i was suspicious that it was a simple, heart-tugging film, but i found it to be grittily honest. furthermore it reminded me that life is fleeting, and we need to take advantage (in a positive way), learning, understanding, feeling. today's world is so full of distractions, be they digital or otherwise. it reminded me of a field interview that i performed in Brazil, which resulted as follows:

"- ...I believe, truthfully, I don’t know if you believe, but I believe that the Apocalypse is already the end of the times. It’s biblical.

But isn’t that the definition of the word? [laughs]
- I believe in the end of times. I believe that God exists and is arriving because there’s no repairing. Whatever repair… principally Brazil and the whole world, because it’s destroyed. Only God. Only someone very powerful, because men here on earth…

Would you say that you don’t think that humans can get themselves out of this situation?
- No. They can’t anymore.

Why not?
- Humans have no energy for this. No, sir. It’s over. It’s over. In my mind, I only believe in God. Invented planes, invented everything, now I want to see if they [humans] can conquer the violence in the world. No man has appeared to do so. So much sickness, violence, and they haven’t been able to do it. When a man has the knowledge of God. I believe and I trust."

after i turned the tape off, i turned to this woman, who had been generous enough to give me her time, sit with me in her home with her daughter to discuss goals for the future. i told her that i didn't believe in this, that humans are beyond the help of anything but God. this is why i search, this is why i learn, because i believe that the solution is within us. all of us. not some of us. for me, this doesn't write God, or whatever you may believe out of the equation, we are all part of the same thing.

in the tone of the last post, i feel like we need to be creating things, moving toward better understanding of others, as i feel that this, learning from others, appreciating others, family, friends, acquaintances; this is key in life. i feel like most of the time we're tempted to preach, tempted to urge others on in the way that we feel is best suited to them. life's too short to dictate passions, needs, etc (ironically, now i am being preachy here).

i find it humorous that many these days are so open, so frank with their lives to an audience unknown here on the web, and at the same time, are relatively invisible to their families, their friends. not to de-valorize the need to be connected online, but i think life's about disconnecting from the web, taking a walk, taking time for tea or coffee with a friend, sitting down with your wife, your girlfriend, your significant other to truly connect. i think that's about it for now.

need to create something

i desperately need to create something. lots of updates, long time passed, approximately a whole year since the last post. what this generally means is that i have been successful in re-tooling my professional direction. more to come later.

visual media

upon seeing a few things recently, i was provoked in the following ways:

after watching one episode of "mad men", which is apparently super-popular these days, i was disgusted. not that it's not interesting and catchy in a soap-opera way. my beef is that it's some wet-dream of the power that some men had in the past, the subjugation of women, the "magic" of marketing, having plenty of drinks with the good ol' boys, living the "dream". i care not that it may be engaging, what i take more issue with is that under all these difficult economic times, we yearn for the same system that we've been residing upon, the obsession and fetishism of marketing and commoditization. more so, after watching the movie below, makes me wonder, as my brother steve asked today, why would people produce this pap when they could be focusing on much more interesting issues.

after seeing "war, inc." by mr john cusack, i was really amazed in the beginning when looking at all the exaggerated ways that today's industrial military complex was depicted. it seemed completely surreal to me, until mid-way through the film, i believe when the tank delivers dry-cleaned shirts, and a soldier hopped up on dehydrated coffee is shooting his gun as if he were playing some game. from this point on, i saw that the exaggerations were simply extensions of what is already going on, how the United States has privatized industries to reap the "opportunities" that are created from the destruction of war, like halliburton and kellogg brown and root (whose logo seems to be ripped off as "tamerlane" in the film). the discrepancy of the "stable green zone" and the highly destroyed fringe areas, the inexperienced, eager contract soldiers, and many other features definitely reminded me of Iraq. even the fake country of "turaqistan" is a merge between Iraq and Afghanistan.

ahh.. that's about all i can handle for now.
abraços,

merry christmas!

hope everyone's having fantastic holidays and that the bleak travel infrastructure here in seattle as well as throughout the north of the US is not inhibiting people to visit with their families and friends. that's the best part of the holiday.

abraços,

snow, snow everywhere

well, my wife's finally back and i'm very happy!! finally ready for the season, i truly enjoy the thanksgiving/christmas/holidays portion of the year, really believe that it is the time where we appreciate those who really matter to us. despite the road conditions, i hope it continues to snow in seattle, it is beautiful, makes everything so serene and slightly fantastical.

while riding the bus to the airport to meet her, many people were on their ways to the airport as well, but the buses were terribly late today and made me ruminate on those heading home for the holidays. i hope that everyone's able to get to their families without many hitches, as although this part of the year sometimes is the more relaxed part, it's a big rush often and stressful as we enjoy so few holidays here in the US.

i hope that all those heading home for the holidays, or driving in such weather, reach their destinations not only safely but have a wonderful holiday full of cheer and love.

abraços,

reason for post about happiness

the reason for my pondering the "pursuit of happiness" question yesterday was the fact that i was thinking about my wife and how much she's changed my life for the better, because she supports my development, and makes me so much better of a person than i could ever aspire without her. so, at the risk of portraying myself as a sappy fellow, i'm posting this. and, i already miss her, as she's traveling for work, even though i last saw her about 24 hours ago.

happiness...

another thing that i was pondering: happiness. although many governments portray to have the best interests of people at their heart, i truly believe that the best that can be done for people is to provide them with the means to discover happiness. i wholeheartedly agree with our forefathers here in the US that "life, liberty and the persuit of happiness" are the basic rights.

i think many demand that everything be done for them, that the only thing that we have to do in life is to take the packaging off what we're given. but as trite as it sounds, i believe that the only way that we find happiness is by looking for it in the first place. there's not some vast checklist, containing items such as "buy a house", "travel once per year", "eat out once a week", "meet up with the family", etc. that can be prescibed to those wishing to be happy.

happiness is something that may change over time, maturing, or fluctuating. and it's something not to be left for the end, as there's no way to make up for lost time.

i was going to be apolitical for this time around, but this made me think of prop 8 in california, and while searching for "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" i stumbled across the following post which is far more eloquent than i could possibly be on this subject.

abraços,