"Alliteration's Allegory" - A Poem in Hindsight of a Great and Terrible Year

“It is the task of the enlightened not only to ascend to learning and to see the good but to be willing to descend again to those prisoners and to share their troubles and their honors, whether they are worth having or not. And this they must do, even with the prospect of death.”
― Plato, The Allegory of the Cave

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Angel’s advocate -

Amidst best bets, crediting

Cool, calm, collected debts

Devil’s deal -

Digging dirty ditches

Entering exodus... emptiness

Embellishment-etched,

Embezzlement-esque

Fine fonts flaunting fairness,

Fronting for fostered,

Forceful face-fuck fests

Façade freedom gatherings

God’s gift -

Growing generational governance,

Garnering half-hating, half-hailing

Impressionistic Incessancy

In in-cre-ments,

Insisting it invites

Independence, isn’t its

Inside joblessness

Jesus’ jobe -

Jabbing, “just-joshing” jokes

Kinda kidding, kinda killing laughter

Listening less, lapsing life’s lessons

Letting love lose,

Leveraging loathsome laments

Mocking moments,

Missing memories

Making more

Mortal’s mission -

Noble’s Nemeses

Necromancing "new normals",

Neglecting old obligations, often

Offering opportunistic options -

Positions, power, protection, pardons... politics.

Prophecy's pressure -

Pro quids, questioning quos

Queued quests quoting qi - quitting quips

Queen's quarrel -

Remedies? Rest, reality, reflection, reset, retur...

Recess! Silly. Same swan song, shaking/still

Searching such selfish souls

Slaves shoveling shit superiors stole

Saint’s secret -

Some say, "So?", sometimes sans "sorry", so...

Time's tenet -

Truth trying to tell tall tales,

This then that,

Tit/tat, tisk tisk table-top taps,

"Touch This" traps, touchless

Tongue-tipped, though usually

Uttering undone “ummms” under voiceless

Vader-y ventilations, vibing via vindicated violence

Virgin's view -

Washed, wavelengths wishing without

Wondering, “Why?” Well, why would we?

Whatever.

Warrior’s womb -

Xenic xebecs xeriscaping

Xenophobic xenodiagnoses

Yielding, yet yearning, your yesterdays - yikes!

Yelling (yelping) your yesses - yawn

Zealous zen zones/zombie zoos - Zzz...

Zigzag zeitgesits zeroing zodiacs (zillions) - zing!

Zion’s zenith -

012620211932

A Thoughtful Discussion on the Best Movies of the Decade

Hey all - Hope you’re enjoying the Holidays!

With 2020 right around the corner, I thought I’d share a pretty solid read regarding some of the best movies of the soon-ending decade.

I’m so thankful for the friendship I’ve developed with these two Austinites, Adam and Sam (who “co-wrote” the below discussion with me). Not only do they appreciate cinema like I do, but they also happen to be very thoughtful, just genuinely awesome people. And they know a shit-ton about movies.

Anyway, as members of our long-running Movie Committee group, we tasked one another with each coming up with a ranked list of our own top ten films of the 2010s. We then shared our respective lists in a group chat, and discussed.

So, if you’re in the mood for a well-rounded, interesting deep-dive into some of the best flicks this decade had to offer, sit back and enjoy the following (well-written) conversation between Sam, Adam and myself. You got two options:

I’ll scroll for you (and provide a soundtrack!):

Discussion written by Samantha Deese, Adam Nevarez and Andrew Chase. Music: “Young” by Ian Ewing Ft. Flamingosis

Or scroll yourself:

View fullsize

Discussion written by Samantha Deese, Adam Nevarez and Andrew Chase

And there you have it. What are some of your favorite movies of the decade?

Stop Pursuing Happiness

Not too long ago, after a couple beers at the bar with a fellow patron, I brought up this familiar phrase, "The pursuit of happiness". Almost immediately, the gentleman I was sharing this conversation with myth-busted the happiness pursuit idea, and told me something that has stuck with me ever since:

"Sadness is just as important as happiness, and perhaps even more important. To me, life isn't about the pursuit of happiness. It's about the pursuit of experience."

He's right. I think the pursuit of happiness is a cheap trick. What about sadness, and all other emotions in between? Not to say that you should pursue sadness, but to choose only happiness - out the entire spectrum of emotion that we humans can experience - as the end-all-be-all in terms of life fulfillment, is stupid. I mean, how would you even know what happiness is, without taking the time to know sadness?

We're human. The fact that we can feel anything at all is a gift. Even if a feeling seems negative at the time, don't ignore it just because it isn't the feeling that you're after. Explore it. Appreciate it. Learn from it.

So, since I don't have a couple beers in me at this time, I'd like to improvise a bit on the thought that my fellow patron originally shared:

Pursue experiences that make you feel something, embrace and explore that something (even if it isn't happiness), and adjust your pursuits accordingly. 

15 (Really) Short Stories to Make You Think (and/or Softly Chuckle)

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What fun it is to doodle!

My Mom and Dad bought me a sketchbook as part of a large-scale project being produced by the Brooklyn Art Library. Appropriately titled "The Sketchbook Project", it allows for anyone to register and submit a 30-page sketchbook about anything, which would then be archived as part of their growing library in both hard copy and digital form. 

So, I decided to revisit my childish roots and create a series of one-page stories. Each is accompanied by an extremely amateur illustration, rendered by me via colored pencils (this is why I stick to writing).

Of course, this collection is dedicated to my parents, who continue to support my creativity, and who always inspire me to be thoughtful.

Enjoy!

"Love"

Giraffe: You're the reason I breathe!

Tree: I've fallen for you!

Giraffe: Wait I can't breathe now.

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"The Catstronauts"

Let's go be curious eight times.

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"Math is Hard"

Teacher: Can you solve this problem?

Student: Sure, why not?

Teacher: Oh.

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"Quantum Physics Explained in One Sentence"

The period located at the end of this sentence can be everything, nothing, everywhere and nowhere all at the same time, and is only a period located at the end of this sentence when you see it as such .

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"Finding the Right Balance"

Yes: Does this thing look balanced to you?

No: Maybe.

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"Pluto"

Pluto: Your honor, I believe that I'm a planet.

Judge: Well, then I guess you are.

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The Broken Record

Person 1: I can't figure out how to make this work.

Person 2: We'll just have to play it by ear.

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The Genie

Genie: I shall now grant you one wish!

Girl: I wish to feel like I never need to wish for things.

Genie: I'll just go back in my lamp.

Girl: Sounds good.

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"Locked Out"

Knight: I will tear down your walls!

Emperor: It'd probably be easier if you just convinced me to open up my doors.

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"Journey"

Co-pilot: Let's go there.

Pilot: No, let's be here.

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"States of Water"

River: I want to be cooler.

Icicle: I want to go with the flow more.

Cloud: I'm so confused, I think I just want to cry.

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"Best Friends"

Boy: Stay.

Dog: When have I ever left?

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"The Pillow"

Old Man 1: Do you remember what goes here?

Old Man 2: Not sure. Let's sleep on it and revisit tomorrow.

Old Man 1: I like that you're thinking ahead.

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"Change"

There is the decision to and the act of. But first, there is the knowing that you can.

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"The Alien"

Alien: Hey. I just came by to tell you that you're not alone.

The Moment or the Memory?

“Odd as it may seem, I am my remembering self, and the experiencing self, who does my living, is like a stranger to me.” ― Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow

What's more significant: the moment itself, or the memory you have of it?

Nobel Prize winner and psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, who has been widely recognized for his work in developing Prospect theory, presents an interesting perspective on the relationship between the experiencing self and the remembering self. As you can probably deduce, the experiencing self describes the version of you who is present during life's moments as they happen, while the remembering self is the version of you who reflects upon these moments, which would then exist as memories.

Consider Daniel Kahneman's example of a one-week vacation vs. a two-week vacation. To the experiencing self, assuming that the second week was just as good as the first, a two-week vacation would seem to be twice as good as a one-week vacation, right?

However, when asking the remembering self to compare these two scenarios and determine which is better, the factor of "time spent" seems to play much less of a role. According to Daniel Kahneman, the factors that are actually in play here, as with any memory, are the changes, the significant events and the ending. These are the elements that make up our memories, and determine how we feel when we reflect upon them. So in this sense, in terms of its contribution to overall happiness, the one-week vacation suddenly seems just as good as the two-week vacation, and perhaps more practical.

"Inspired by true events" is a preface you'll often see at the beginning of a movie or book. But this preface is just as appropriate for each and every memory we've stored. When we recall one of these memories, we are not reliving the experience as it happened, but rather assessing the critical moments within the experience, and building a compelling story around the overall sentiment that these moments produced. The remembering self is the storyteller, while the experiencing self is just one of the characters within the story.

So, what's more significant: the moment itself, or the memory you have of it?