Happiness, THEORY

Something more to say on Happiness

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Happiness is a hard-sell because Happiness is a self-generated emotion.
It can’t be forced onto another person the way more negative traits like Fear, Sadness, Greed, Regret, Inadequacy, etc. can.
Everybody has their own ideas of Happiness -a roomful of books, lots of money, a large family, quiet time with nobody around, God, oblivion, job security, Summer holidays, etc.

But you only have to mention DEATH and your entire audience is united in Fear. Stick a few murders on the pot and you have a guaranteed audience of headlighted-rabbits.

Death, like Sex, is an easy sell. Too easy in my view.

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A Digression, fish, Food, Happiness, Shopping, THING

The Entire Life of A Happiness

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I think Happiness is mis-sold, overvalued and under-appreciated. I mean the emotion/ state-of-mind rather than the (excellent, though difficult-at-first) film by Todd Solodnz.

Happiness is difficult to do right -and almost impossible to maintain for very long. All’s it takes to rain on a day-long flotation of upbeat positivity is often a dismissive sigh, a shake of the head or an eyes-a-sky selfish shrug from a “friend” for it all to come crashing down.

I’ll give you an example of the birth and death of Happiness…

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Film

TheFilmTalk

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What’s that you say? You’ve been looking for a film site that actually discusses plots and characters and motives and reasons behind certain events and behind-the-scenes type stuff and debates opinions on movies in a mature & lighthearted way, without invoking Godard and Bunuel and DW Griffith, etc. too often (if at all)?

Well then I’m sure you’ve already come across TheFilmTalk.com, but if not here it is with my blessing and recommendation.

Podcasts ahoy. Jett Loe and Gareth Higgins are very listen-to-able. They don’t always get it right in my opinion (for instance they both seem to like Slumdog Millionaire, although I’m fairly sure at least one of them will come to his senses after the dizzying effects of the whilwind editing wears off), but in their favour they both know Ron Howard makes bland crowd-pleasing, childish movies at best -and is best ignored if at all possible.

Film, THING

Schindler’s List -Barney in longpants

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Stanley Kubrick once said

 

“The essence of dramatic form is to let an idea come over people without it being plainly stated. When you say something directly, it’s simply not as potent as it is when you allow people to discover it for themselves.”

 

The saddest moment in Schindler’s List (for me) is when people are being herded onto a train and told to leave their luggage -It’ll be sent on later. Then we see the luggage in a big heap being rifled-through/ burnt. That scene had me in tears -or as good as.

So is this the mark of a masterpiece? Something that can make a grown man cry? Onions do that to me all the time, but I still don’t stop chopping them to pieces and nobody thinks any less of me for doing so.

For me, Schindler’s List is like Barney.

barney

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Film, THING, Uncategorized

Slumdog Millionaire -cynical dreck

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Ok, I admit it -I read the book and this film has little resemblence to it, but I’m really not one of those people who go around complaining that the movie is not as good as the book. I knew going in that it was different to “Q and A“. That didn’t bother me. I was looking forward to seeing the story being fixed in fact. The book had its faults, but really the only problems were to do with the “last act”. Besides the ending, the book was great. If they had filmed the book and fixed the ending it would have been a slower film, but it would have had class and it would have been brilliant. They could have introduced some alternative plotlines to speed it up somewhat, which wouldn’t have changed the tone, if they really felt they needed to. They didn’t.

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A Digression, Eurovision, THING

The Hole Tooth

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Fluffy clouds and fuzzy bunnies joined me in song and merriment as I led the parade through thronged ticker-taped streets, when all at once I was violently awakened by little satnav shouting “Daddy wake up! Today is the day you’re getting your tooth out!”

I had forgotten about it. Young Lucy’s feminine senses in date-management have thankfully (or not as the case may be) kicked into full swing. Last Wednesday she told me “this time next week you’ll be having your tooth out.” I had forgotten then too.

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Film, THING

Ridley Scott -one man’s opinion

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There are a few untouchable givens in the world of film

1. Schindler’s List is a masterpiece (which I disagree with too, but that’s not the point I’m coming to so let’s not go there just now).

2. You can’t criticise dire movies by the likes of Michael (“Armageddon”) Bay and Roland (“Independence Day” -which was actually quite good for the first hour or so) Emmerich because you are told “it’s just a piece of bubblegum -not meant to be taken seriously -leave the brain at the door”. My point on that is, how can anyone say whether they’re any good if their brains had been checked-in at the desk like shoes at a bowling alley?

3. Ridley Scott is a great director.

It’s number three I’d like to address here.

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THING

Klingons on the starboard bow

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My daughter seems to have recently forged a kind of radar/ buffer/ flag-pole/ barometer/ warning salvo-maker role for herself.

A few days ago, as I dropped the kids to school (playschool in the boy’s case), she informed me “you might be bringing us to mommy’s workplace after school.”

“I might?” I enquired. “Nobody said anything to me about it.”

“Yes, mommy said so”.

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A Digression, Shopping, THING

Shoulda Coulda Woulda

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I was shopping again. I know, I know. I won’t keep going on about supermarkets, but let me relay this quickie…

I buy most of the shopping in this house -for 2 adults and 2 children. As I was finishing up, I passed by the drinks area and noticed some Polish beer I had bought previously. Knowing I had one bottle of same already at home I thought I might as well buy another. As Noah himself used to say, “Pair the beers”.

(Yes, I’m not sad enough to buy beer one bottle at a time thankyouverymuch. I do already have other types of beer in the house -not a vast selection or anything, but probably enough for a person or two to last a night if need be, if they didn’t mind mixing & matching & possibly swigging a can or two out of date towards the end of the evening. But this was a kind of ‘specialty beer’ and I only wanted one more).

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