I've already got two document pages opened to potential posts, one on the Dark Knight Rises, the other on the novel "A Drink Before the War". But I need to at least get this out of the way- I have a bunch of crumpled up newspaper stuff in my bag that I wanted to mention at least in passing (though I'll surely need to glance at them to remember why), and before I get to THAT there's a bunch of stuff just from todays paper. So let's whittle this stuff down and reduce the likely hood of me collecting obscure scraps of paper like some kind of crazy philatelist (sp?).
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A quick shout out goes to "Adam @ Home" in todays Toronto Star for something that I'm often praising it for in my head. The humour is mostly derived from the cheesy gags that any of the characters could spout. Despite the abundance of wit (and therefore the possible complaint that all the characters sound alike), it's all very understated and sweet. The main cast family are all people I would want to hang out with. No one is a charicature(sp?) of stupidty, arrogance, hyper-activity, or any trait jacked up to 11 for the sake of making things funny. For the sake of being laugh out loud funny it isn't the way to go, but everyone is so endearing I wouldn't want a thing changed. The strip could also potentially be criticized for these kids making Star Wars references that this newer generation probably wouldn't make, but I don't know how long the kids have been in the strip, maybe they've been 10 years old for the past 20 years like Bart Simpson! But who cares, those Star Wars references are another reason why I'd love to baby sit these fictional kids.
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This scrap from the celebrity obsessed entertainment section informed me that the too-cool-for-school Joseph Gordon-Levitt said "pretty girls aren't usually funny", with the suggestion that he'll soon regret those words because of the inevitable offended rebuttals (since those are always so hilarious). I'd love a three panel comic strip of:
Panel 1: Clear view of cartoon Gordon-Levitt's face, word balloon situated to the right of his head matter-of-factly states "Pretty girls aren't usually funny."
Panel 2: Gordon-Levitt looks to the side, embarrassed, realizing he may have said something that will be taken poorly, says "Um, I mean, uh..."
Panel 3: Reprise of Panel 1, but with the addition of a quick word balloon on the upper left of the panel saying "...whatever."
I just like picturing the cartoon Gordon-Levitt I'd draw, little black dots for eyes, pointed little ears, all on an over-sized head, with furrowed brows, the first and third panel displaying the height of a straight-serious face. Mock serious? Is this a situation that calls for the descriptor "mock serious"? My ignorance has once again embarrassed me.
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Okay, maybe this doesn't tie in together, but there's this great line that hit me from this Les Miserables book today. P. 67 has Inspecter Javert exclaim "Good God, it is easy to be kind, the difficulty is to be just."
This coming from what is an enemy to our protagonist, the disguised Jean Valjean, someone who held against Valjean the innumerable kindnesses he bestowed upon the village he'd taken to living in, whose unprejudiced generosity has been objectively the key factor in the villages new wealthy status, Javert's words should be wrong, right? (There is definitely a better way to phrase that sentence)
How much am I "loved" for the times when I let the rules slide for this or that person, compared to my intractable counterpart who asserts the rules even when they don't make sense? Scratch that- ESPECIALLY when they don't make sense. I'm not being kind to him in that case, he has to suffer through the unfavourable comparisons. Granted, I try to look at why a rule exists, to keep to the spirit of that rule if it makes any kind of sense at all. My counterpart refuses to engage in a case-by-case analysis. Fairness/justice on his part, or laziness?
You have to choose your battles though. What will it get anybody to argue over an extra ten minutes of parking time? A lot of energy has been wasted in such arguments when he could have been hakuna matata-ing.
In the end, I think he's the better employee on paper, but in any reality you'd want me instead. Though that could be a separate issue having to do with my ability to understand to do new things and whatnot.
Uh, anyways, ideally kindness and justice should be the same thing. I guess in the working world it's a question of "who's justice?"
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I really like this letter to the Star, the caption above it says "It's up to the people to solve this" let me try and get a decently succint excerpt to share (cross your fingers I don't just retype the whole thing):
"My brother and I were raised by a single mom in Scarborough. At no time have either of us sold drugs, been in jail, or carried a gun... My mother worked full-time and spent her free time with us... She wore the same crappy coat for years, not buying herself new clothes so she could afford our (sporting and other) activities. She kept us out of trouble... She parented us. The media are so quick to blame lack of 'free' community programs or 'absentee' fathers. What is really lacking is selfless, quality parenting. (Our mother) relied on herself and taught us to rely on ourselves and take responsiblity for our own actions. People have to step up. Support your children, be involved in their lives, know their friends, and sacrifice some designer clothes or the latest gadget to make things happen for them. Parent them! It's not up to the politicians to solve this problem; it's up to the people themselves." Tamara Caldwell, Whitby
Well, I cut it down some for you. This hit me because here I am, thinking about all the various social programs that should be instituted, the jobs and subsequent hopes for the future that just don't seem to be around anymore, basically I'm thinking "what should our politicians (calling them "leaders" would be a bit of a stretch, unfortunately) be doing to solve our problems?"
Make no mistake, I want there to be more, better funded social programs, but as a means to a more fair-minded, egalitarian society. (I better be using egalitarian correctly just now!!) IF we had parents teaching those values of personal responsibility then things would take care of themselves... but who parents the parents? Where do they get THEIR values? How far back must we travel to find that point where, okay, right, this is something that needs to be taught. "The parents need to do their job!" "Well, who taught them their job?" "Their parents?" "And who taught THEM?" "Their parents.." and on and on.
I think it's pretty obvious that self involved parents aren't going to change by themselves, and as a result their legacy of selfishness gets passed on.
I flipped from where I originally was on this, about how the government SHOULD just get out of the way on this (and most everything), and that we'll simply anarchicly intuit the best way forward. It bothers me how close in my head modern conservatism matches up with my ideal of anarchy. But then my brain matches up modern conservatism with a liberal (see what I did there?) dash of objectivism and I'm less worried.
I may have run through the totality (clearly a limited one) of my knowledge of political theory. More or less. It really is a good letter though!
I'm thus far failing at getting through all these bits of paper- I've now got the NEW newspaper in front of me, and there's another great letter this time from Deanna Churcher of Milton who says that, though her parents weren't around much and therefore weren't a positive influence on her, the fact that people, her teachers, cared at all, helping her match up with scholarships, loans, and new work, made all the difference- a difference found in various community and school social programs.
Really, there probably just aren't enough people making good faith actions towards helping others to a better life simply for the sake of giving someone a better life.
Okay, I'm out of it for the night. I made no dent in my pile of papers already in my bag... and have now added one more paper. Uuugh.
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