Thursday, September 22, 2011

We're All In This Together.

I support Lady Gaga more than most people would expect of me, but I'm not sure what she's doing calling for a meeting with the President over bullying.  I understand its a problem because kids are killing themselves, but there's a lot going on right now, and I don't see it becoming a top tier topic right now.  Although, she did hold the press conference on Don't Ask Don't Tell, and its over now.  So maybe I'm wrong here.  Maybe she has more political power than I think.

"Bullying" has been a buzzword in the media for the past year, at least, maybe longer.  It has been around forever, though.  I'm not sure if its just becoming more popular due to media coverage or if kids are assholes more now or what.  It seems we hear about more kids who would prefer to die rather than put up with it until they can get away from the situation.

It Gets Better is a project to tell kids that things will get better, that no matter how bad things are now, they will improve.  If nothing else, they will have more important things to worry about.  I think this project is good and will hopefully influence young people who are miserable into not killing themselves or cutting or whatever they (plan to) do to themselves.

Lady Gaga has called to make bullying illegal.  This seems like a hard thing to do.  Some of it could definitely be prevented and and lessened, but some of it will happen anyway.  The Nation is dealing with a lot of different things right now, and while i'm in favor of preventing bullying, I also believe there are better ways to go about this without the government right now.

We as people, should start keeping an eye out for signs.  Parents and teachers could pay more attention.  I'm sure many do a fine job, but I'm also sure there are some slacking off and even probably just letting things happen because they don't want to deal with it.  We can all show a little compassion for our fellow man and be better role models for those who look up to us.  Whether we want to be or not, we're all role models.  There is someone who looks up to us and we affect them in one way or another.  We should show younger people to embrace differences and learn from each other instead of pushing others away and holding them down.  "I get by with a little help from my friends" is what the Beatles said.  We could all use some help from time to time, so we should be there for each other and not just expect people to be there for us when we need it.

All bullying does is push others away.  It should be stopped, but I feel our elected officials can deal with some other things right now.  Don't let your kids be assholes.  Help them to understand that we're all in this together.

And if you're being bullied, keep your head up.  Things will get better and you'll have more important things to worry about.  Just be yourself and try find ways to better your situation.  I understand involving adults may not always work and it may just complicate things, but tell someone about it.  Talking to others can help.  You may find someone going through similar experiences with some good advice.  We're all different so embrace it.


Stay fresh and Keep Calm,
KK

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Beaver with Mel Gibson.

Many of you who know me know I enjoy weird movies.  My favorites are movies with strange stories, most likely some mental illness, with comedy mixed in.  Laughing during bad times is something we should all be able to do.  If you take yourself too seriously you'll never be happy.  Movies like The Weather Man and Lars and the Real Girl.  I have a new film to add to this list of beautifully crazy movies.  The Beaver starring Mel Gibson, Anton Yelchin (Star Trek and Charlie Bartlett) and Jodie Foster (who also directed).

The movie is about a man (Gibson) who is depressed and burnt out on his life.  He came to his job by being his fathers son; a job he was under-qualified for and overwhelmed by.  He stops talking to anyone, and tries to kill himself, but then starts communicating to the world through a beaver puppet that he never takes off his hand, not even to shower.

This film has a great story, great acting and was well put together.  This was meant to be Mel Gibson's comeback after the drama with his ex (leaked phone messages, a battery lawsuit, etc) and alcohol ("sugar***s", rants against Jews).  It didn't work out, as no one saw the movie.  It didn't play in many theaters, and didn't make much money in the few it was in.

Anton Yelchin has quickly become one of my favorite actors.  I loved Charlie Bartlett and this movie is another amazing one.  His only big blockbuster so far was Star Trek but I urge you to check out some of his other work.

It's one of those movies, like The Weather Man and Lars and the Real Girl, that teach us that life isn't perfect, and we all have to deal with our share of things in life.  Some people probably don't like these movies.  They may even think these movies make people depressed.  This may be true for some, but these movies invigorate me.  I feel they teach us about life and a little of how to deal with it.  They teach us to be there for one another and to respect each other.  They have heart, humor and are realistic and artistic.

I know I have weird taste in things.  All of you may not feel the same about this type of film.  I hope you at least check them out, though.

Stay fresh and keep calm.






Also, if you haven't seen these, check them out.






Thursday, September 1, 2011

"I Can't Do One Thing, I'm Just Too Good."


In these times, some of us find ourselves waiting for everything to fall into place while we try our damnedest to make them.  We went to college and pursued our interests in the hope of making a living at them only to be released into the worst job market of our lifetime. This job market, as the years pass, seems to get more crowded with the new batch of graduates every semester.  Some drop their heads and hope for something to happen, others of us keep our heads high and smile in the face of the high school dropouts who started careers and are now living much more comfortably than we are.  

Is it a surprise our generation drinks cheap beer and isn't willing to drop 40-bones to watch one band play a few football fields away?  We were taught the value of the dollar and we learned that we aren't getting where we planned.  That's why we sip our PBR and prefer our entertainment to be on a large scale with general admission.  It's why we shop at thrift stores and it’s why we destroyed the music industry which is being reinvented on our terms.  

Every generation has been affected by the economic state it was brought up in, and by the economic state it comes to fruition in.  Notice the age of most of the people on Hoarders; they're older people who grew up during or in the aftermath of the Great Depression.  They didn't have anything growing up, so they keep everything they get.  This was also a time when many successful businesses and franchises were started.  People from the 80s, the decade of excess, worked their way to the top and got every ridiculous thing they could and threw it away as soon as they found something new.  The 90s had the internet's rapid growth with its share of both successes and failures.  Now, we're in the state we're in, the Great Recession as they call it, where it seems no one has money except the people who already had it.  

We were brought up by a generation of hardworking people who took pride in their work.  They instilled this in us, and told us repeatedly the importance of education and urged us to follow our passion to find our careers.  We followed our passions right into this recession. 

We still follow our passions, but we do it on our own time.

The positives show through the negatives if you look for the light.  We're learning lessons; lessons that have been learned before and are sure to be learned again.  We keep our heads high and keep trying for success, because failure only comes to fruition when we stop trying. 
We're finding our way.  We make mistakes, just like those before us did.  We're educated, but we don't have jobs to use our education on, so we use it on our hobbies and in our free time.  This is why it seems everyone is drawn to the arts.  We can't find the money to use our joy on materials, like the generation before; so we use our joys on expression, as the philosophers told us to.

Our generation seems to be learning how to get cheap thrills with cheap beers and entertainment, and making the most of what we have.  The newspaper, music and television industries have struggled greatly and have been forced to reinvent themselves (which they're still in the process of), because we realized we can get all of that content on the internet and don't need to waste time, energy and money on going around to find it all.  

Don't question it, we'll figure it out.  We're enjoying the journey, like you told us to.