All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. It’s hard to imagine something so naive, so overly-simplistic could sum up modern democratic societies justly... But I digress.
Freedom, man's only wish, his greatest desire, yet it is the fundamental weakness which governs the world we live in today, as it has in the past. The fundamental of freedom is freedom of thought, free expression; the ability to forms one's own ideas, concepts and theories on things. It requires effort, willingness and some degree of intelligence or experience in the subject. This holds true ranging from what television channel to watch, to voting in an election, to if to kill or be killed.
A democracy assumes all is equal, and that everyone has that fundamental freedom... but do they really? Or have they given that right up? Groupthink and doublethink plagues modern society as man is lazy. Why make a choice when you can have someone make it for you? Why bother to see the contradictions and inefficiencies of governments and polices when you can sit and do nothing? Why? Because it is easy. Politicians, world leaders, even religious icons all know this, and exploit it well; to stay in power, to maintain control, alas, the opium of the people.
Consider this. Everyday we observe stupid people doing stupid things. Often you find yourself asking why would someone do that? Or, what were they thinking? And often you would try to explain your point to said individuals, or try to understand thier logic behind thier decision. 99% of the time they did not arrive at thier conclusion based in logic, thus you cannot alter their decision based in logic. The solution to this problem still eludes me.
The future of mankind will ultimately be determined by the true battle between good and evil, that is, ignorance vs. wisdom. It is the few and the proud which would have to steer mankind into something resembling a brighter tomorrow and hope for the best. Ignorance is my war, knowledge is my weapon, and wisdom is in self sacrifice.
I really hope the day I have a kid he/she doesn't turn out to be a spoilt brat. The only thing worse than a brat is a retard. I can't help but notice how sad and stupid many of these Americans are. I'm sitting outside of starbucks listening to the most vacuous conversation in history with the primary imbecile looking like Peter Griffen in his early 20s complete with the bird nest beard. Whats especially depressing is how loudly he speaks, making sure to draw lots of attention to himself. NY becomes a lonely place as you lay adrift confined by an air of mediocrity with kids that show little capability of reaching their potential. Its the international students that are saving the educational system in America.
Maybe one day these kids will grow up and look at the bigger picture. I'm sure its been argued that somewhere between bangbus and deuce biggalow we've lost many of our youth to mainstream zombie media. A book is so much harder to obsorb because you need to think. Do it long enough and it provokes thought and possibly even change. but I don't want them to hurt themselves. Wouldn't want them to overburden themselves by picking up a book.
I wish I was intelligent enough to induce some change. Be the spark that lights the fire, the ripple that starts the wave. Maybe I'm just a chameleon, simply wearing a cloak and executing the proverbial dagger for fear of coming to terms with my own intellectual short cumings. Oh yes, intellectual masterbation is as sad as it is temporally fulfilling.
Everyday, every waking hour, every moment of our meager existence we are trapped. Trapped by the walls that surround us, by the laws of physics that govern us, and ironically, the first question which comes to mind is what I think the least pertinent. why?
Why?... why do good things happen to good people, why do good things happen to bad people. and more importantly, why don't more good things happen to me? Its these questions which often drive man to the brink of insanity, which shows its head in many forms. The most widespread and dangerous form is religion, which offers answers without fact, guidance without knowledge resulting people seeing without looking, blinded by sounds of silence.
Yet through this mess, mankind, like a skipping stone, bounces along, never knowing when we will take the plunge into the unknown abyss. The question is never why. It is when. We were not the first to rule this planet, and we may not be the last. It doesn’t matter why we lived, but that we lived. And this brings me to my point. In this world there are hammers and there are nails. There are those who make the rules, and those who live by them. Those would be remembered, and those who never existed.
It's a harsh reality that many will never accept, but I assure you, you can never truly be happy, unconditionally happy, unless you see the world through the eyes of a child. No country, no religion, no heaven or hell. Choose freedom, the only true kind there is. The open road, the fresh air, the sultry feeling the fills you to a point where you feel like you're floating out of your body. The freedom to not know, to not care and just to be. The freedom to imagine, to imagine peace, love and respect. Open your eyes people. Freedom is not ignorance, ignorance is bliss. Freedom is in knowing who you are and what you are... seek fact not fiction. Be a hammer not a nail.
I told myself for a long time that I should see this movie, but never got around to it. While searching imdb for things I should download, I remembered LLV and I'm glad I didn't forget.
I don't think I can recall having ever watched a movie as paradoxical as this. It's so sad yet I'm fascinated by the idealistic conception of how two people can fall in love in a world of filth and shit. You can genuinely feel the intimate relation these two people had at a time when they hit rock bottom. It was plain to see the Cage's character was worse off that Shue, but God, I couldn't help but find it amazing that she could look past the alcoholism and see something good in him. I don't think women like her exist, and if they do it's only cuz they have hit rock bottom and a drop of love in an ocean of sadness is all they need.
It's ironic that society labels Shue's character (a prostitute) weak, a drain on all things productive and relevant to what is needed in a community. Yet prostitution is the worlds oldest profession, that in itself should tell people that as prideful as the middle class and elitists might be, they still cannot ignore their basic sexual needs. People treat a hooker like shit because they are insecure that they can't manage to get a woman in bed like "normal" people. In order to come to terms with their filth and lust they must seem more like a man by slapping her around or calling her names. It's often quite convenient to cast a label on someone when you are either insecure about yourself of not in a position to make an objective analysis of why it came to this.
It's beautiful to see them find solace in each other. To watch as Cage makes Shue feel like a person, a woman again. As Shue, accepts Cage for what he is and let's him drown his sorrows of the past in the way he has chosen. It's hurting her to see him throw his life away and the potential life they could have. You can't help but wonder why she doesn't pull the bottle away from him as he slips further and further into a comatose state. Man did he punish his liver. But then, she made that promise right...and the relationship is volatile. I say there's a beauty to this sorrow because even though you know it's going to end badly you can't help but think if these are the circumstances then live for the moment, savor it to the last drop.
You think of Cage in the bank recording a voice note of his dream fantasy with the hot teller. Of alcohol beading down her body as he fucks her. Yes, in every sense of the fantasy it is an alcoholic mans dream, but try to dig deeper. When Shue, unbeknownst to her, does this very thing at the pool side she's simply accepting a man for all his faults and short comings. She hopes that in so doing he will realize that she is accepting him for who he is, and that in itself will help him to wake up and realize that there is still a life waiting for him. This in of itself is very important. It shows the road less taken with relationships. Often when a couple is faced with an issue which involves personal change they will criticize their partner until they break down their self-esteem. Once this has been accomplished they will try to build them back up in the light they wish to see them.
This is the problem with many relationships, and women in particular. The see what they want their man to be, not what he is. Nothing is wrong with this, but they go about provoking change the wrong way. Instead of compromising and evolving change through time, love, and patience they take the easy route of breaking a mans spirit via arguments, cognitive games, sex deprivation and verbal abuse. Shue's character was the opposite, the more Cage faultered, the more she was there for him. Then again...it could be argued that this is an extremist approach...and I think this is the point the director/writer were trying to make.
Unfortunately, Cage can't seem to let go of the life he lost, the wife and child, the job...it's amazingly depressing to see him throw away this second chance at life and in the process see Shue's character disintegrate as well. Again...woulda, coulda shoulda. He keeps calling Sera his Angel throughout the movie because she represents the idealistic conception of what his dream woman is...a woman that doesn't leave him for his fuck-ups but takes the little good in him with all the bad...she's willing to make that sacrifice...which is part of what love is all about. I kept hoping that Cage would wake up and be a man, drop the bottle and pick up the pieces of his life. Maybe get a new job writing in Vegas, which would in turn allow Shue to stop hooking and so forth. The happy go lucky, rainbow care bear ending so to say.
But the movie is brutally honest and thus sincere. After all this is a movie about an alcoholic and a hooker in Vegas...I mean come on. That in itself is interesting, because as much as the director attempts to get your hopes up, it's like, at the end he's saying...keep it real. In real life this shit wouldn't happen and as much as we all want to go to Vegas and be movie stars, poker players, sex gods and millionaires there's really no happy ending...it's simply a means to an end. Instead I think the lesson is everything in moderation....balance....and in so making the sacrifice to limit one self, you will find true happiness.
Cage and Shue are like the many people who get caught in the trap of either living to work or working to live. Life is not black and white. Just because you live life by the standard that society tells you to doesn't mean you can make up for the time lost via a vacation of lust, greed and excess (everything Vegas represents at the end of the day). Working 20 hour days and trying to justify it to yourself through instant gratification will not bring you happiness. On the contrary, living on the edge via alcoholism, prostitution, gambling, drugs and so forth will only lead to depression.
In the end I think this is a movie about relationships. Relationships of how people in society view each other, of how men and women look at each other and the roles we play. In so doing we must face the harsh truth about who we are as men, women, and the community we form as a result of the relationships we build around us.
an old note..but one of my favs...enjoy ;)
Somewhere along the line, I've actually noticed I have a lot of single friends. Strangely enough, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Ever notice how sometimes u can really get along with some ppl and as soon as they get into a relationship, u hardly see them again? Not single friends.They're not bounded by a mate who wants to spend "quality time" with them conveniently on one of those rare occasions my social gland starts acting up and I'm actually in a liming mood.Nor are they caught up in the hype of this Valentine's Day nonsense when u have free reign of all the watering holes within (reasonable) driving distance since, on that day, all the other rummies are trying to get their liming visas stamped for the rest of the year.
Ah, yes...no liming Visa.
I think the main reason I really cherish my single friends is because as I settle onto each plateau in my life, everything eventually becomes constant and unchanging. Single friends are much more dynamic. U get to critique their latest passing fancy and thrash the old one. U get to say cool things like "he's not good enough for u babes" and "why are you selling yourself short for that bitch, man..fuck her sister and post it on youtube!" , which is slightly more entertaining than talking about whatever it is couples talk about with other couples...I wouldn't really know, I just zone out and txt a single bredrin to meet me there so I have a REAL drinking buddy besides that moustache sitting at my table who keeps his balls in his wife's purse.
Single friends fuckin' rule!
...class!
Plain and simple. U can roll in ur million dollar ride and still drive like an inconsiderate asshole. U can sport the latest brands or the best Armani suits and not know simple etiquette. U can have the cushiest job and keep ur corner office like a pig sty.
Class isn't ur status in life. It's not knowing the difference between a dessert spoon and a soup spoon. It's ur comportment, ur mannerisms, ur outlook..it's how u treat others. When will ppl understand this?
The measure of a man is by the virtue of his character, the goodness of his deeds and the size of his heart; and I'll admit, I'm no saint.I spurt the occasional cuss-word (and trust me, those occasions are pretty frequent). I pick my nose in traffic, fart when I think no one will hear it and occasionally take a quick sprint on the shoulder when I'm 30ft from the turning lane and the clown in front is too busy on his mobile to notice the lane is moving.
These things don't make me any less of a person. I give what I can, when I can. I take the time to greet the janitor or the doorman. I put my trash in my pocket 'till I get to a bin. I stop traffic for pedestrians to cross. I rescue baby seals from poachers and save dolphins from dragnets...okay, maybe not the last part, but u catch my drift, right?I'm no role model. I'm just ur average joe with an average flow, doing his part for the benefit of his fellow man. Are you doing yours?
Laundry is one of those things that you either get completely right or wrong. Nothing smells worse than wet laundry left overnight in the dryer. Then there's the ninja mission of trying to get to the basement without anyone seeing you in clothes you should've abandoned years ago. Stuck wearing that rainbow bright T-shirt you never quite knew how you got, luck always has it that you bounce into that chick you've been looking to bang.
Let's not forget the looks of disgust you get while transferring the rancid pile back to the wash. The ever pervasive scent diffusing throughout the room. Yes...laundry is truly delightful experience that I increasingly look forward to every week.
One day I will be a laundry pro, until then I'll keep a watchful eye on girls I catch seeking a peek through the crotch of my pj's.
P.S. ladies, I'm huge.