I was at the gym this morning when Minority Report came on the TV. Aside from the fact that it is by far one of my favorite movies (the idea of preemptive crime prevention has always been a curious one to me), the film caught my attention for another reason: too many of the things taking place onscreen felt a little too familiar.
For a film created in 2002 as a futuristic projection of technologies to come, the screenplay was more fantasy than fact. Now, rewatching it, the possibility of a world wherein humans are scanned and tracked as entities is not far-fetched at all, and it's a little unsettling.
With the advancements of technology and social networking sites these days, I feel as though we've all given up such a huge chunk of the very things that humanize us; today's successful people are akin to today's successful businesses - they know how to brand themselves. How much this has to do with the actual integrity or quality of the brand is sometimes irrelevant.
Twitter, Facebook, reality TV, YouTube - it makes everyone and anyone accessible. Anyone with the right amount of determination can self-create their 15 minutes of fame via video (the "Forever" wedding dance that was seen around the world), stunt (the Heene's balloon boy became a best-selling Halloween costume) or words (alleged mistresses coming forward claiming they've had affairs with you-know-who).
And while this idea that "anyone can become a somebody" is something that is knowingly American (and not always in the best way...), I've come to realize that this voyeuristic culture is just cheapening our cultural society and is a serious cause of social decay (is that too harsh? Probably).
It used to be that "celebrity" meant something. There was a mystique surrounding figures like Gene Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and Gregory Peck. The public adored them and were fascinated by them because they were untouchable, these superhuman beings who could command attention on the red carpet and onscreen. Fame was granted to those who had the talents to be esteemed, and that was it.
Nowadays, pulling stunts and having many children seems to qualify anyone for the title of "celebrity." And since sites like Twitter have cropped up, these flashy names are even more accessible and humanized - to the point wherein people start to shift their focuses and morals and really believe that being "popular" and "well-known" is the end-all-be-all of their existence.
In the long list of things to strive for, I don't know if this is the best thing to base your standards of success upon.
And the irony of it all is that when people are caught in the public eye in a less-than-desirable position, the first response is always "I'm only human."
Only. Human.
Definition?
05 December 2009
28 November 2009
EATS, up!
After much delay, I've finally posted and will continue to regularly:
http://manhattaneater.wordpress.com/
Enjoy!
Also, if you're in the City and have a place you'd like to try out...let me know. (:
http://manhattaneater.wordpress.com/
Enjoy!
Also, if you're in the City and have a place you'd like to try out...let me know. (:
The Roaring 20s
The 20s aren't meant to be easy - but that fact gets buried fairly often. Nestled somewhere between the trying years of adolescence and the feared complacency of routine that characterize the teens and the 30s, respectively, the 20s are supposed to be "the best years of your life." Old enough to drink, young enough not to care about mortgages and "real" responsibilities. Idealistic enough to believe, pragmatic enough to execute.
Tacking on that label, however, can mean that those who aren't yet out of college, and those who are too far removed from the 20s, soon forget just what a weird and tumultuous time it is. Gone is the security of familiarity, with friends and family scattered throughout the state, country, world. Gone is the dependability of routine, of knowing that even the worst circumstances will come to an end coinciding with the end of a semester or school year. And most importantly, gone is the degree of certainty that there is a "correct" next step to take moving toward the next phase of life.
Being in your 20s means that, ultimately, for the first time in a long time, you really have to evaluate what it is you want, how you're going to get it, and why you want it. Prior to this vast slate known as "the real world," everything in life was comparatively neat.
Everything could be traced back to expectations. After elementary school, you moved on to junior high and high school. You worked hard in high school with the knowledge that your standardized test scores (ick) and grades would promise you success in the form of a college acceptance letter. You spend four years (or more or less) in college trying to solidify your beliefs, your thoughts, your goals as a genuinely active member of society. You expect that this, and all the things you have learned in and out of classes in your 20-something years of life, will also guarantee some form of social success. You have, after all, paid an arm and a leg for it. And then...you graduate.
Everything from there on out has absolutely nothing and everything to do with expectations. With the exception of going to grad school (this is still being in a system, in a more managed chaos), college grads are then really hit in the face with the question they should have been answering all those 20-something years ago: What do I want to do in life?
Short of hanging out with friends and exchanging woes and ideas about what it is that makes us happy, we are no longer armed with the leisurely time to really question things. There are no more classroom lessons, scheduled vacations, or discussion sections that will prompt us to think in these terms. Life after college can become pretty draining, pretty monotonous, pretty quickly.
But questioning...it's just something that needs to be done, else we toil mindlessly and just kind of drift into our 30s. And this is why the 20s are so tricky. Because the truth is, once you're out of a system, everything becomes a juggling act.
It's like piecing together a puzzle. All your years leading up to your 20s involved forming the pieces by means of learning about your likes, dislikes, interests and talents. Your 20s become, then, the years where you start to gather the disparate pieces and try to make out a discernable shape. You see what pieces you can use, which ones you can't, which ones are misshapen, and where they all fit together. But perhaps most importantly, you can, after attempting to mold all these bits together, see what is missing.
Living through the 20s is difficult because without the expectation that there is a correct route to take or a right way to piece together the puzzle, there is so much uncertainty. Life has given you enough experience and "wisdom" to recognize that you don't have all the answers and that you can't force things into place. But because the 20s involves honing and building and connecting, it's often difficult to take a step back and see that big picture.
And the missing pieces? They'll always be in the last place you look.
Tacking on that label, however, can mean that those who aren't yet out of college, and those who are too far removed from the 20s, soon forget just what a weird and tumultuous time it is. Gone is the security of familiarity, with friends and family scattered throughout the state, country, world. Gone is the dependability of routine, of knowing that even the worst circumstances will come to an end coinciding with the end of a semester or school year. And most importantly, gone is the degree of certainty that there is a "correct" next step to take moving toward the next phase of life.
Being in your 20s means that, ultimately, for the first time in a long time, you really have to evaluate what it is you want, how you're going to get it, and why you want it. Prior to this vast slate known as "the real world," everything in life was comparatively neat.
Everything could be traced back to expectations. After elementary school, you moved on to junior high and high school. You worked hard in high school with the knowledge that your standardized test scores (ick) and grades would promise you success in the form of a college acceptance letter. You spend four years (or more or less) in college trying to solidify your beliefs, your thoughts, your goals as a genuinely active member of society. You expect that this, and all the things you have learned in and out of classes in your 20-something years of life, will also guarantee some form of social success. You have, after all, paid an arm and a leg for it. And then...you graduate.
Everything from there on out has absolutely nothing and everything to do with expectations. With the exception of going to grad school (this is still being in a system, in a more managed chaos), college grads are then really hit in the face with the question they should have been answering all those 20-something years ago: What do I want to do in life?
Short of hanging out with friends and exchanging woes and ideas about what it is that makes us happy, we are no longer armed with the leisurely time to really question things. There are no more classroom lessons, scheduled vacations, or discussion sections that will prompt us to think in these terms. Life after college can become pretty draining, pretty monotonous, pretty quickly.
But questioning...it's just something that needs to be done, else we toil mindlessly and just kind of drift into our 30s. And this is why the 20s are so tricky. Because the truth is, once you're out of a system, everything becomes a juggling act.
It's like piecing together a puzzle. All your years leading up to your 20s involved forming the pieces by means of learning about your likes, dislikes, interests and talents. Your 20s become, then, the years where you start to gather the disparate pieces and try to make out a discernable shape. You see what pieces you can use, which ones you can't, which ones are misshapen, and where they all fit together. But perhaps most importantly, you can, after attempting to mold all these bits together, see what is missing.
Living through the 20s is difficult because without the expectation that there is a correct route to take or a right way to piece together the puzzle, there is so much uncertainty. Life has given you enough experience and "wisdom" to recognize that you don't have all the answers and that you can't force things into place. But because the 20s involves honing and building and connecting, it's often difficult to take a step back and see that big picture.
And the missing pieces? They'll always be in the last place you look.
24 November 2009
19 November 2009
18 November 2009
15 November 2009
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