Post Modern Holiday

As i got my haircut on Sunday,
My youth sponsor who so generously cuts my hair said this:
"Halloween isn't much,
IF You don't make a big deal out of it."
She said a lot.
IF we don't experience Halloween, What's left?
Ironically, death (ironic because Halloween has routs in celebrating death).
October is buried along with nature.
It does not commemorate
a person (ie. Columbus Day, which also celebrates death).
or event (some would argue the end of summer,
but I'm not convinced because summer ends at the Autumnal Equinox
[September 23rd this year]. Notably, before October.)
or relationship.
It is simply,
your experience that makes this holiday.
Strip away:
the costumes, candy, pumpkins, and colors
and you are left baron of all but the birth of November.
But, because of it's postmodern aspect,
Halloween has its heyday.
Creating costumes, inventing identities,
We live in the experience of Halloween.
Why? because happiness is summer vacation
and change occurs with the New Year and October is the in between.
So, our malcontent lives on, yearning for another season of life
disguising itself in the dress of experience.
Halloween is what we want to experience.
Reality is what we do experience.
So, why celebrate a holiday about experience?
Instead, actually create an experience.

Avatar Review

Last night after the storm invaded the southwest Missouri sky,
I started the epic that caused a splash in the entertainment realm.
The movie that spent over $300 million,
but grossed more than $700 million.
The top box-office movie of all time.
The Best Picture Academy Award Snub.
Avatar.

And here are my reflections:

Avatar is an epic story of colliding cultures. On the planet Pangea, the Navi people, a humanoid race, are being exploited by a human invasion orbiting around a mineral that produces $20 million per kilo. Much like other Epics, Avatar focuses on the interaction of cultures and the affects that said interaction has on the individual experiencing a more "primitive" culture (see also Lawrence of Arabia). The ex-Marine main character, Jake Sully, incurs a paradigm shift involving the relationship between nature and money because of his involvement in the indigenous culture. His intrinsic values transform to reflect the values of the infiltrated culture. As the evolution proceeds, Jake Sully abandons his human tendencies, even "betraying his race" for the naturalistic Navi people.

I appreciate the experience focused transformation of Jake Sully that reflects our post-modern culture. Avatar is truly a post-modern movie, illustrating how truth can be blurred by perspective, producing the human perspective from a greedy, mineral hungry corporate exec, and a patriotic marine looking to defend human values. Such a presentation of relative truth encourages the audience to root against their own kind in favor of the more primitive Navi people without investigating the consequences of such an action.

If the human perspective were presented from an experience that would gain support, the audience would have rooted against the blood thirsty, poison arrow shooting Navi people in favor of the more likable characters. And thus is the beauty of post-modernism. Perspective changes truth. And thus is the danger of post-modernism.

There were many other things to appreciate about Avatar, such as its focus on Nature Preservation, Cultural Intolerance, and the Evolution of Man, but what was most striking was its proper presentation of current culture through a futuristic tale. I would give Avatar a solid 4 Stars out of 5.

A Converstation at Work

I have written about work before.
I remember making the statement "If you are going to come in near closing time, you should at least talk about something interesting as i clean around you.
The other day, someone did.

It was about 2:30 and i was gathering dishes from above the trash can.
I noticed a peculiar couple sitting at a table for two next to the pile of dirty dishes.
By "peculiar couple," i don't mean a married couple, or even a dating couple.
Rather, it was a couple of gentlemen --one Old and one Young.
They were not father and son.
I could tell by the conversation.
Not only that, but the stark difference in their appearance.

The Young man was in his mid to late 20s. Although he had a receding hair line, as he spoke you could hear disparity in his voice. His sandwich went untouched for several minutes, causing me to linger in gathering in the plates.

The Old man was worn. He had a long beard. Not the kind of beard that resembled Santa Claus, but rather that of a Z Z Top band member, or a sun-baked biker. His teeth were that of an Englishman and his clothes were that of a homeless man. He was the kind of man that you knew had experienced life, and could be seen in the wrinkles on his face.

I half expected this to be an act of pity from a well-to-do twenty something to an aged down-and-outer. Or maybe even a meeting in homeless ministry. But, this was not the case. Instead, the young man began to reveal his heart to the experienced elder, illuminating the issues in his life revolving around a woman.

This woman clearly owned the young man's heart because of the quiver in his voice as he vented to the apparently wise, Old man. The young man complained that the woman did not value his time. That no matter how much time he devoted to her, she was impossible to please. She always wanted more.
The Old man just sat and listened.
The young man continued and continued as i tried not to make my eaves dropping obvious.
The Old man continued to just sit and listen.
I had lingered long enough and had to return to my dish washing post.
When i returned for another sink full, the couple was gone.