What I watched: Solace, a 2016 film about a psychic consultant who helps the FBI track down serial killer Colin Farrell. It was…pretty good. It held my interest, which is rare, and the writing and acting is decent. Not a movie I think I would watch again, mostly because it’s kind of forgettable.
What I read: Bright Sided, by Barbara Ehrenreich. This is a great take-down of the positive thinking industry. She covers its birth which coincided with the dawn of the Christian Science movement, and takes us into the modern era with all of the scam artists who make tons of money telling desperate people all they need to do is visualize their success in order for it to happen. The problem, which she also points out, is that the culture of positive thinking has essentially embedded itself into everyone’s lives. So anyone, like me for example, who understands that just thinking good thoughts doesn’t actually do shit, gets a ration of crap from well-meaning people who don’t even know that they’ve been sucked into a societal mindset. For my part, whenever I hear someone talking about the need to think positively, it reminds me of this:
What I listened to: Tedeschi Trucks Band but out a great new album last year.
I figured a Negative Nancy like that sourpuss Ehrenreich would write a book like that. Someone give me some affirmation for having good instincts!
I saw an interesting No Reservations that went behind the scenes of Anthony Bourdain’s trip to Kerala India. It showed how an episode was put together, from planning to shooting, and of course all of those shots of him casually walking down a street and trying food from vendors is all staged as best they can, and then heavily edited.
But you also get the sense that the producers are still trying to be relatively honest as far as the world of TV, and not go too far in terms of staging and packaging. A lot of Bourdain on TV was an act, but you get a better sense from this what was real.
Fuck the ninnies. I’ve been constantly castigated for my “negative” waves.
When my friend was dying and everyone knew, I constantly heard that folks wanted him to think “positive”. If it was skin cancer or even leukemia then sure thinking positive helps as the chances of surviving are decent, but it was pancreatic where even if you end up surviving means a miserable life and knowing that you only delayed it, not stopped it.
I wasn’t trying to be negative, I was being realistic. At the time I wanted to punch those that kept trying to put a happy face on a terrible death and the only thing that stopped me was knowing they “meant” well and were naive as hell.
What I never get after watching management fail constantly is how they can be so positive that “it will work right THIS time” when they NEVER do the painful soul searching and learn/accept the lessons as to why their plans failed the 99 other fucking times! Ask them pointed questions and they end up trying to fire you or demote you (like that never happened to me.)
I think that the power of positive thinking is used by its practitioners to make excuses for obvious (to others) failings, feeds on self delusion of competency and ignores the issues that caused the failure (kinda like many born again Xtians.)
Toxic positivity is a real thing.
Too much of anything is toxic, I think. That’s why nature demands “balance.”
You can’t be too negative either… which sometimes has hampered me in the past. The thing about Western culture I don’t like is it doesn’t demand folks to look in the mirror at times and ask harsh questions about yourself.
I hated it when my parents were mad at me and put me thru their version of Communists “self criticism hour” because I wanted to be good and only “good.” However, I realize now that if you can’t face who you are (warts and all) then you’re never going to be your (starting to hate this phrase) “best” self. The best teacher is painful experience.
Started watching the last season of Sex Education, but didn’t get much farther than the recap of S3 as I’ve been busy.
I watched season 4 of Miracle Workers. Season 3 was so bad I almost didn’t bother. But while not as good as the first two seasons, it was a decent watch. The theme is End Times and imagines Daniel Radcliffe as Sid, a road warrior, Geraldine Viswanathan as warlord Freya, Steve Buscemi as a junk dealer, and Karan Soni as a terminator type robot. Jon Bass is a scene stealer as Sid and Freya’s war dog Scraps. Would recommend.
I read Miri Yu’s Tokyo Ueno Station. Narrated by Kazu, the ghost of an elderly homeless man, his life like many of the Japanese people who did not reap the benefits of the post-war economic boom was filled with hardship. And death offers no respite.
“I thought that once I was dead, I would be reunited with the dead,” he reflects. “I thought something would be resolved by death … But then I realized that I was back in the park. I was not going anywhere, I had not understood anything, I was still stunned by the same numberless doubts, only I was now outside life looking in, as someone who has lost the capacity to exist, now ceaselessly thinking, ceaselessly feeling –“
It’s a beautiful but heartbreaking book. I recommend it if you like poetic existential angst.
Listening to a singer-songwriter from Michigan that was recommended to me. It’s not groundbreaking but he has potential.
Matt Bliton – Solid Ground
I didn’t realize that Miracle Workers’ setting changes every season! I only vaguely knew about the Oregon Trail season and decided that it wasn’t for me even though I love Daniel Radcliffe. Thanks! I’m going to check it out.
The Oregon Trail season was awful! But the first season is charming, 2 and 4 are fun.
@Hannibal my brain runs on existential angst. We homegrow a ton of singer/songwriter, roots rock, and Americana bands around here. But metal band August Burns Red may be most famous? (Not counting Live which was from York, 30 minutes away.)
@Elliecoo Mine does too LOL. I will have to check out August Burns Red.
i still havent got around to watching much of anything….the all consuming hunt for musics and random crap on youtube ate my spare time again…
far as reading goes…..ive got the first 3 books of the housewitch sitting next to my bed but havent actually got around to starting them yet….
im really bad at going to bed on time
and listening to tangarine – the world we live in
i slow down sometimes….
@elliecoo does the writing get better in The House Witch series? I’m loving the cozy foodie side of it but oh my gosh the book would benefit greatly from the notes and tweaks of an editor. And the names! The author is terrible at naming the characters. @farscythe sorry if my comment makes you procrastinate further. When you do get around to reading it, lmk what you think.
oh no worries….i have the books now…they will be read
i was planning to give ellie a what i thunk about them anyways…no worries including you in the sitrep
tbh…all this witchy stuff is so far out of my normal reading zone im kinda just rolling with it now
always try new things 🙂
@HammerZeitgeist, yikes, I liked it quite a bit. It may have taken me a while to get used to their style?