I'm a hit! I'm a nerd...
Well, I'm overjoyed to see that the critics and cynics out there appreciate my pointless ramblings. As one of my many faithful pundits opined, I apparently have some kind of intrinsic ability to make the most banal, senseless things about my everyday life seem interesting. I guess that's a compliment? Hmm? Maybe, just maybe, I have a future in this playwrighting business, afterall.
Uh-huh. I said 'playwrighting'. It's another medium that I wouldn't mind pursuing after I tank out of Hollywood in the next three years. And ladies, really, which sounds sexier to you? Playwright? Or Screenwriter? Or maybe, freelance writer for Esquire? Or maybe, English Major: Will Work For Food?
I mean, one has the whole Hollywood ring to it.. but the other one, I mean, that one has the whole 'Shakespeare' connotation to it. It's romance versus glamour. I guess it depends on the individual, 'eh?
Speaking of which, remember that song? Mr.Vain? Didn't it used to have a pretty crazy music video with a woman walking around with fruit on her head? Yeah. I remember that for some reason. I think it's by La Bouche. Kazaa reports that there are versions by both Culture Beat and La Bouche, but I think the La Bouche version is better. You should check it out. Wow. What ever happened to THOSE guys?
I watched a lot of MTV growing up, which might help explain my unruly attention deficit disorder. All that cutting, cut cut cut. MTV ruined me at an early age. I don't watch it anymore, though. I watched it in the good 'ol days of Paulie Shore, Summer Sanders, Kennedy, Rock 'N Jock B-Ball Slam, and Kurt Loder when he wasn't grey. (Okay, fine.. when he wasn't SO grey..)
Hey, does anyone want to spot me some Aderol? I've always been curious to see how I'd react to it. It could really help around cramming-for-finals time.
My friend Josh and I had a discussion about a liberal arts education today and we both decided that it's for suckers. If you think about it, most students get their basic liberal arts background in highschool. And once you get to college, you're forced once again to re-take the same subjects to re-enforce the lessons you learned in highschool. Which is fine, of course, only I'd rather do some of that on my own time. I'd love to be able to focus on more Philosophy, Psychology, Theatre, Art, and so on. And to be able to focus on the areas within those subjects that I'm most interested in, but thanks to the scheduling process, this is ALSO impossible.
Now, don't think I hate Astronomy. It's a fascinating subject, gaining perspective on our place in the grand scheme of the universe. So, that's not to say it isn't interesting, enlightening, the works. I understand why we're taking it, to become well-rounded students and blah blah blah.
But, again, I'd rather do it on my own time, and not be graded so harshly for my efforts, and not have to purchase a mundane, poorly-written ninety-dollar text book that I'll promptly return for ten, when there are better, more practical, well-written guides at the library for free.
Or take Western Civ II: Sure, I'd love to learn more about Marxism, Socialism, Fascism, and the social policies that shape the society we live in today, but they account for a whole 10% of the class! I'll have to do that on my own time, while I could CARE LESS about random kings and queens of now-defunct nations from approximately 3 centuries ago!
Especially, when it's all being taught by an ancient, incompetent, monotone jackass who gets to keep on sucking the life from the textbook and spouting his incoherent bull every day because he has something called "tenure"!.
Does ANYONE see what I'm getting at? Alright, I'll shutup.
Today I finished a book by my favorite playwright, David Mamet. He's also written a couple of movies, including one called State and Main, which I still contend is an amazing flick, even though most my friends hated it. But he's known for his plays. I recommend you grab a play called 'Speed The Plow' from the library. Great, great stuff. But, he's given me the impression that I need to read much, much more than I am, which is fine. Writers like Mamet make everyone feel secure about their personal bibliographies because they've read, literally, EVERYTHING. Oh well, at least now I know what to get to play catch up. Mamet often quotes Stanislavski, who parted these little nuggets of wisdom as I finished one of his essays:
"Play well, or play badly, but play truly."
to which Mamet replied:
"Try as one might, one cannot escape the temporal exigencies; all the polish in the world will not mitigate the fact of Death or the reality of a mutable universe. You can't make it so pretty that it goes away, all you can do is live the moment fully and avow the finite and fleeting nature of consciousness. The theatre is not a place where one should go to forget, but rather a place where one should go to remember.
And that's all, folks...
Uh-huh. I said 'playwrighting'. It's another medium that I wouldn't mind pursuing after I tank out of Hollywood in the next three years. And ladies, really, which sounds sexier to you? Playwright? Or Screenwriter? Or maybe, freelance writer for Esquire? Or maybe, English Major: Will Work For Food?
I mean, one has the whole Hollywood ring to it.. but the other one, I mean, that one has the whole 'Shakespeare' connotation to it. It's romance versus glamour. I guess it depends on the individual, 'eh?
Speaking of which, remember that song? Mr.Vain? Didn't it used to have a pretty crazy music video with a woman walking around with fruit on her head? Yeah. I remember that for some reason. I think it's by La Bouche. Kazaa reports that there are versions by both Culture Beat and La Bouche, but I think the La Bouche version is better. You should check it out. Wow. What ever happened to THOSE guys?
I watched a lot of MTV growing up, which might help explain my unruly attention deficit disorder. All that cutting, cut cut cut. MTV ruined me at an early age. I don't watch it anymore, though. I watched it in the good 'ol days of Paulie Shore, Summer Sanders, Kennedy, Rock 'N Jock B-Ball Slam, and Kurt Loder when he wasn't grey. (Okay, fine.. when he wasn't SO grey..)
Hey, does anyone want to spot me some Aderol? I've always been curious to see how I'd react to it. It could really help around cramming-for-finals time.
My friend Josh and I had a discussion about a liberal arts education today and we both decided that it's for suckers. If you think about it, most students get their basic liberal arts background in highschool. And once you get to college, you're forced once again to re-take the same subjects to re-enforce the lessons you learned in highschool. Which is fine, of course, only I'd rather do some of that on my own time. I'd love to be able to focus on more Philosophy, Psychology, Theatre, Art, and so on. And to be able to focus on the areas within those subjects that I'm most interested in, but thanks to the scheduling process, this is ALSO impossible.
Now, don't think I hate Astronomy. It's a fascinating subject, gaining perspective on our place in the grand scheme of the universe. So, that's not to say it isn't interesting, enlightening, the works. I understand why we're taking it, to become well-rounded students and blah blah blah.
But, again, I'd rather do it on my own time, and not be graded so harshly for my efforts, and not have to purchase a mundane, poorly-written ninety-dollar text book that I'll promptly return for ten, when there are better, more practical, well-written guides at the library for free.
Or take Western Civ II: Sure, I'd love to learn more about Marxism, Socialism, Fascism, and the social policies that shape the society we live in today, but they account for a whole 10% of the class! I'll have to do that on my own time, while I could CARE LESS about random kings and queens of now-defunct nations from approximately 3 centuries ago!
Especially, when it's all being taught by an ancient, incompetent, monotone jackass who gets to keep on sucking the life from the textbook and spouting his incoherent bull every day because he has something called "tenure"!.
Does ANYONE see what I'm getting at? Alright, I'll shutup.
Today I finished a book by my favorite playwright, David Mamet. He's also written a couple of movies, including one called State and Main, which I still contend is an amazing flick, even though most my friends hated it. But he's known for his plays. I recommend you grab a play called 'Speed The Plow' from the library. Great, great stuff. But, he's given me the impression that I need to read much, much more than I am, which is fine. Writers like Mamet make everyone feel secure about their personal bibliographies because they've read, literally, EVERYTHING. Oh well, at least now I know what to get to play catch up. Mamet often quotes Stanislavski, who parted these little nuggets of wisdom as I finished one of his essays:
"Play well, or play badly, but play truly."
to which Mamet replied:
"Try as one might, one cannot escape the temporal exigencies; all the polish in the world will not mitigate the fact of Death or the reality of a mutable universe. You can't make it so pretty that it goes away, all you can do is live the moment fully and avow the finite and fleeting nature of consciousness. The theatre is not a place where one should go to forget, but rather a place where one should go to remember.
And that's all, folks...