Trouble Man
No, not the blaxpolitation movie...unfortunately

For those of you who don't know it, for a few minutes every day, people all over the country (in this case, the U.S.) regress into adolescence.

Seriously. Two questions: 1) 'Do you ever flip through and read random people's weblogs?', and 2) 'Did you ever keep a journal or read someone else's journal when you were in high school?'

Assuming you didn't say yes to both, I'll let you know a little fun fact: Not a lot has changed. If you said 'yes' to #1 and 'no' to #2, then you might still pick up on that fact, but you really are still missing something in a way. If you said 'no' to #1 and 'yes' to #2, then I suggest you go check some out. You're missing a beautifully sad thing. Go on. I'll be waiting here when you get back.

I mean it's sad enough that these people haven't grown up mentally or emotionally. What makes it worse is that they're broadcasting that fact. Then again, if everyone else out there seems to be on the same page....

And people wonder why I say that most people aren't emotionally mature to handle having kids.... I don't get it.

I'm certainly not claiming to be the most mature or grownup person on earth, and sometimes I get some of the same stupid impulses and immature fears that I did when I was a kid. Only difference is that I recognize them when they come, and I try not to act on them. It takes a little practice but trust me, you can get there.

My favorite is when the person claims to be a writer or an aspiring writer. These are usually the same people who read books with titles like The Writer's Quest or Journey on Paper. (I should look those up. Are they real titles?) Most real writers that I've met or read about did one thing: they wrote. They didn't spend all their time trying to pin down what it was that drove them to put pen to paper. Also, they seem to experience life, not over analyze it. Their journals, for those that kept them, set down their experiences, feelings and travels usually in a manner consistent with their fiction. I don't think I ever read one that said something along the lines of: "He was such a d!ck at the party, and I cried in front of him. My friends tried to cheer me up, but he was SOOO MEAN!! :( " Or anything like it....at least not past 21 or so.

In fact, I've come across a few writers who had more emotional weight, maturity, and a whole lot less pretension than some of the crap I've come across on-line.

Yes, in some respect, it's not fair to bash all over the little journal keepers' weblog; however, as I pointed out before: they broadcast it. Anyone can see it from anywhere in the world. Some of those people might look and say "Awww," or "How sad." Others look at it and go "Wow, they've officially wasted my time and theirs both."

That's why, other than opinions, you don't see anything personal from me here. I write would-be essays and reviews. It's full of 3/4's baked intellect and better than half-@$$ philosophy. I think in most cases, even at its best, it could still be blown full of intellectual holes, but that's what I like about. Besides, any over pouring of emotionality and you're going to end up sounding Goth anyhow. They've managed to ruin the words 'blood,' 'tears,' 'dark,' 'soul,' etc. Try using those in something heavily emotional without sounding like some angst ridden teenager.

It's also why I don't write poetry, but can be amazed by it. Well, nothing from the last 30 years or so. I wanna know how those old guys wrote all the wobegone stuff without sounding like pretentious teary-eyed sad sacks. There's a beauty in the language....a beauty that is largely missing from the weblog world (and the world in general now that I think about it).

Then again, it seems reflective of that whole thing that I've read several writers comment on recently about when novels turned from the third person to the first person. Song lyrics are often the same way. Call me old fashioned but I get tired of hearing 'I' all the time. Part of the journey is someone else going on the trip and you sit back and watch.

Maybe it's just my affinity for the movies.

Course I think they've gotten just as childish which they sort of were from the get-go.

Then again, so are the people making them. It USED to be professionals. Aren't enough of them left.

That's the funny thing about even this website. Not mine, but sites like Blogger in general. To me it's a total catch-22. It allows for more people who otherwise would never have access to some of the tools of publishing, or possibly expose them to audience who might be able to make use of their talent. It's possible. It's already happend (There are a slew of Korean movies that were based on popular weblogs, and several books have been published made up of nothing but blog entries). On the other hand, it also gives open court to wannabe's and those who just don't have any business cluttering up the information universe (Not to say they can't keep it in nice li'l notebooks at home).

Feel free to call me elitist. I'm merely speaking the truth. Not everyone gets to be creative in a professional capacity and not everyone needs to be published for all the world to see. I'd hate to think we missed a great author because some editor got tired of digging through rubbish to find a diamond.

I know, I know...it's not the popular view of the internet where everyone gets a voice.

At least I'm consistent, allow me to demonstrate: I think the same thing about video cameras.

While making movies is a ridiculously expensive venture that, for what you get out of it, shouldn't cost nearly as much, there's a reason in most cases that they are in the hands of professionals. If you ever peruse some of the better and funnier b-movie review sites, you're bound to have come across some of the distributors who truck in no-name made for video in podunk garbage. It's usually horror movies. It's often got some amount of amateur porn in it. It often lacks anything even resembling quality or intentional entertainment. (Call me crazy, but you usually have to have actors and a script for that.)

As those cameras become higher and higher in quality and become lower and lower in cost, then anyone can start making movies. Some might say that that's great. I disagree. Assuming that you made a really great movie that unfortunately had to come out in exactly the same way as a bunch of lesbian goth vampire movies, lemme ask you one question: Is anyone gonna take you seriously? You could have the Citizen Kane of straight to video movies, but because of the medium and all the other junk out there it'll be passed over. Unless maybe someone finds it...twenty years later.

Most people want to be discovered...not rediscovered. But, take what you can get.

Look at it this way: Communism was supposed to put everything in the hands of the people, right? Well look at how well that turned out.

Trust me. There comes a time when you just got to get elitist about it to some degree. I'm not saying that I'm the best, that's why I keep a real job that just happens to be in the industry. There's a lot of hopeful writers, actors, and directors out here in Hollywood who got no business doing any of the three. Sadly no one'll just tell them that it's time to quit pretending and to go home. No one'll convince them that it's terrific to have a dream, but here on planet Earth we also have to have real jobs. There are a lot of places where you could be doing a lot more for the world than waiting for calls and auditions that aren't coming.

Sorry. Had to say it. Now if only the message'll find the right people.

Cheers.