Of lions, lambs, and preachy liberals...
It’s been a long, long while since my words last graced the hypertext pages of this blog, and yet for my grandiose return, I choose to expound not on the latest music, my latest exploits, or even my latest consumer quandary concerning dress shoes. No, friends, I’ve chosen my latest target, and it’s a real person this time: one Mr. Robert Redford, specifically his aim with the insanely banal and pretentious “Lions for Lambs”.
I first caught wind of Lions for Lambs whilst channel-surfing the other day through the 500-block of my DirecTV. Stopping on Starz, I saw Redford’s wrinkled mug forcefully stating that “Rome is burning”, along with some spiel about how the problem is with all of us who do nothing to put out the fire. I immediately changed the channel to the far more entertaining and considerably less preachy “Unbeatable Banzuke” on the G4 channel, where I spent a good half an hour watching Japanese people walk on stilts and ride on unicycles, all through cheaply made yet challenging obstacle courses. Before you call me a pothead, consider that this type of game show is all the rage in Japan, a country considerably lacking in weed smokers.
Oddly enough, however, Lions for Lambs caught my eye again this evening, this time in the form of a DVD cover on Amazon. Since I had nothing better to do at three in the morning, I surfed Rotten Tomatoes for some reviews. All agreed that the film was unbearably preachy, talky, and especially redundant, since all the points in the film could have been easily lifted from the last two years’ worth of episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher. I also found out some more about the reasons why Redford’s professor character was trying to get a point across to some frat boy sitting in his office. It seems that the character is an idealistic professor who, through his impassioned lectures about getting involved and trying to help the country, has convinced two of his students to enlist in the Army and go fight in Afghanistan. The frat boy is a bright but lazy student of his who simply does not give a shit, period. I wonder where I’ve seen that before? Hmm…
Anyhow, Redford’s point in his spiel to his student takes a massive swing at the apathy and cynicism of America, saying that it is better to get off our asses and go protest or go get involved in liberal politics than distance ourselves from them. Here’s where I get a bit annoyed, mainly because it reminds me of what I used to be. I was once a real idealist, thinking that things should be certain ways and forcefully and passionately fighting for my points. I never won, however, and it soon came to bear on me that all the passion in the world means nothing when you pretty much equate to a stick trying to hold back a massive, Mavericks-sized wave. I mean, I hate what conservatives are doing and getting away with, but let’s face it; oil companies have money to keep them in business for 50 years, even if they don’t get a cent in revenues from now on.
I can understand where the professor is coming from, since I used to be like him. But the key term there is “used to be”. I’ve learned harsh lessons about the nature of reality, such as how things don’t happen how you want them to, despite all of your efforts to make them so. I tried and tried to sell Bello on how it was more important to come to Spanish practice than track practice, considering that improvisational speaking would be much more beneficial to him in the future than throwing a steel disc 100 feet, and that drama is a much richer talent to learn and master than being able to throw a shot farther than the rest of the contestants at a meet. Did he listen to me? No. I was angry at this for the longest time, too. But now, I’m a smarter man, and I’ve learned that when people don’t want to be convinced of a certain point, they won’t be. Period. Just ask any of the people who shot down my attempts at trying to keep their subscriptions active at the Herald.
I learned that such passionate fighting leads to emotional exhaustion, and I definitely have had my fair share of depressive episodes as hangovers to bouts of idealism and fervor. To this day, really, I still try here and there to get people to change, knowing in my heart it would be to their benefit. But I honestly don’t think it’s a lack of sales skills that has caused me to fail; every time a telemarketer calls, I refuse to be sold on the product. Why, do you ask, when I can SO use an extended warranty on my Ranger, even if said warranty is not being offered by Ford? Because I simply cannot bring myself to care anymore. There IS shit going on all around us, gas prices ARE going up day by day. I didn’t suddenly plug all oil wells in Saudi Arabia to jack prices up like that, nor did I suddenly start using $100 in gas a week. And despite my own and others’ best efforts to cut back on oil usage, prices still rise. People ARE getting off their butts and doing something, and it doesn’t change a goddamn thing. What then is the purpose in writing letters to Congress, or protesting in front of City Hall, or trying to stir up a sixties-style student revolution when the goal of all those things cannot be achieved? To undertake all of those actions can lead only to frustration and disappointment, and in my case, disillusionment.
The fratboy can only end up thinking this: Rome may be burning, professor, but even after throwing buckets of water, it still burns strong. As such, I’d rather sit back, let it burn, and forget about the heat with a nice helping of Bud Light, “American Idol”, and Hungry Man frozen dinners. Better to die in a fire while happy and naïve than struggling and in pain.
In other quick news, my 21st birthday is just around the corner, on Monday to be precise, and for my part, I will NOT be drinking Bud Light. I’ve tasted that shit, and I firmly believe that the sweat running down the crack of my ass while I mow the lawn tastes better than that. I will thusly proceed to stick an empty bottle in my pants the next time I do mow the lawn. But since I’m too lazy to wait for it to chill in the fridge, I’ll just crack open a Yuengling instead.
Enjoy the summer, kids, and till next time,
Juan
I first caught wind of Lions for Lambs whilst channel-surfing the other day through the 500-block of my DirecTV. Stopping on Starz, I saw Redford’s wrinkled mug forcefully stating that “Rome is burning”, along with some spiel about how the problem is with all of us who do nothing to put out the fire. I immediately changed the channel to the far more entertaining and considerably less preachy “Unbeatable Banzuke” on the G4 channel, where I spent a good half an hour watching Japanese people walk on stilts and ride on unicycles, all through cheaply made yet challenging obstacle courses. Before you call me a pothead, consider that this type of game show is all the rage in Japan, a country considerably lacking in weed smokers.
Oddly enough, however, Lions for Lambs caught my eye again this evening, this time in the form of a DVD cover on Amazon. Since I had nothing better to do at three in the morning, I surfed Rotten Tomatoes for some reviews. All agreed that the film was unbearably preachy, talky, and especially redundant, since all the points in the film could have been easily lifted from the last two years’ worth of episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher. I also found out some more about the reasons why Redford’s professor character was trying to get a point across to some frat boy sitting in his office. It seems that the character is an idealistic professor who, through his impassioned lectures about getting involved and trying to help the country, has convinced two of his students to enlist in the Army and go fight in Afghanistan. The frat boy is a bright but lazy student of his who simply does not give a shit, period. I wonder where I’ve seen that before? Hmm…
Anyhow, Redford’s point in his spiel to his student takes a massive swing at the apathy and cynicism of America, saying that it is better to get off our asses and go protest or go get involved in liberal politics than distance ourselves from them. Here’s where I get a bit annoyed, mainly because it reminds me of what I used to be. I was once a real idealist, thinking that things should be certain ways and forcefully and passionately fighting for my points. I never won, however, and it soon came to bear on me that all the passion in the world means nothing when you pretty much equate to a stick trying to hold back a massive, Mavericks-sized wave. I mean, I hate what conservatives are doing and getting away with, but let’s face it; oil companies have money to keep them in business for 50 years, even if they don’t get a cent in revenues from now on.
I can understand where the professor is coming from, since I used to be like him. But the key term there is “used to be”. I’ve learned harsh lessons about the nature of reality, such as how things don’t happen how you want them to, despite all of your efforts to make them so. I tried and tried to sell Bello on how it was more important to come to Spanish practice than track practice, considering that improvisational speaking would be much more beneficial to him in the future than throwing a steel disc 100 feet, and that drama is a much richer talent to learn and master than being able to throw a shot farther than the rest of the contestants at a meet. Did he listen to me? No. I was angry at this for the longest time, too. But now, I’m a smarter man, and I’ve learned that when people don’t want to be convinced of a certain point, they won’t be. Period. Just ask any of the people who shot down my attempts at trying to keep their subscriptions active at the Herald.
I learned that such passionate fighting leads to emotional exhaustion, and I definitely have had my fair share of depressive episodes as hangovers to bouts of idealism and fervor. To this day, really, I still try here and there to get people to change, knowing in my heart it would be to their benefit. But I honestly don’t think it’s a lack of sales skills that has caused me to fail; every time a telemarketer calls, I refuse to be sold on the product. Why, do you ask, when I can SO use an extended warranty on my Ranger, even if said warranty is not being offered by Ford? Because I simply cannot bring myself to care anymore. There IS shit going on all around us, gas prices ARE going up day by day. I didn’t suddenly plug all oil wells in Saudi Arabia to jack prices up like that, nor did I suddenly start using $100 in gas a week. And despite my own and others’ best efforts to cut back on oil usage, prices still rise. People ARE getting off their butts and doing something, and it doesn’t change a goddamn thing. What then is the purpose in writing letters to Congress, or protesting in front of City Hall, or trying to stir up a sixties-style student revolution when the goal of all those things cannot be achieved? To undertake all of those actions can lead only to frustration and disappointment, and in my case, disillusionment.
The fratboy can only end up thinking this: Rome may be burning, professor, but even after throwing buckets of water, it still burns strong. As such, I’d rather sit back, let it burn, and forget about the heat with a nice helping of Bud Light, “American Idol”, and Hungry Man frozen dinners. Better to die in a fire while happy and naïve than struggling and in pain.
In other quick news, my 21st birthday is just around the corner, on Monday to be precise, and for my part, I will NOT be drinking Bud Light. I’ve tasted that shit, and I firmly believe that the sweat running down the crack of my ass while I mow the lawn tastes better than that. I will thusly proceed to stick an empty bottle in my pants the next time I do mow the lawn. But since I’m too lazy to wait for it to chill in the fridge, I’ll just crack open a Yuengling instead.
Enjoy the summer, kids, and till next time,
Juan