Nothing
“We can’t be dead, we have cable!”
I watched an amusing movie last night called Nothing. It is, as you might guess, an existential film. What you might not guess is that it was made by Canadians. These are the same Canadians, in fact, who made Cube, which I find an engaging, although occasionally gross, low budget sci fi flick.
I liked this movie. It’s about two friends who enjoy a kind of symbiotic relationship. Andrew is utterly neurotic, in every sense of the word. Dave takes care of him, but is otherwise a complete loser. One day, their fragile little world comes crashing down, and they find themselves cowering in the corner of their kitchen, with policemen and construction workers swarming the house, wishing it would all go away.
It does.
Interesting concept for a movie. A good start, as it were. And the movie continues to be good, in a Waiting for Godot kind of way. Since I’m a huge fan of both existentialists and Canadians, I liked it immensely.
Incidentally, I was talking with one of my clients yesterday. She is a new client, and we don’t know each other very well. She was talking about how her business isn’t really going the way she expected and she’s kind of in a holding pattern. She concluded by saying, “So here I am, waiting for Godot.”
Me: “Oh. Well, that isn’t very good, is it?”
Her: “What do you mean?”
Me (tentatively, a little pedantically): “Well, um, Godot never actually shows up, does he?”
Her: “Well, in my world-view he does.”
I had no idea what to say next. Is this what the world is coming to? Can we have a world-view that flies in the face of the plot? Isn’t the plot a fact that can’t be cast aside in favor of a world-view that tells us otherwise? I mean, it’s the plot. I remain aghast.
Needless to say, I changed the subject.
There are more stories I could use to bolster the following point, but I won’t because this post has already gone on way too long. So, without further do, my most recent conclusion:
There is immense power in faith. You really can believe yourself into things. You can shape your world. In truth, you can achieve anything you decide to achieve.
However, (and this is the part that’s missing from most of today’s feel-good self help stuff), you have to start with where you are now. Those are the facts of your situation. FACT: Godot never shows up.
Cheer up. You can get there from here, but there are three steps to the process. 1. Know where you want to go. 2. Know where you are now. 3. Plot a course. You can’t just skip number 2 because it makes you uncomfortable. It’s called reality, folks. It doesn’t have to limit your path, but it is part of your path, and you have to accept it. I suggest that that’s your best defense against circling around to where you started.
And that happens to be an excellent, albeit unintentional, segue back to Nothing. Here’s to a world where the fact that we have cable is no longer the best available evidence of living.
I watched an amusing movie last night called Nothing. It is, as you might guess, an existential film. What you might not guess is that it was made by Canadians. These are the same Canadians, in fact, who made Cube, which I find an engaging, although occasionally gross, low budget sci fi flick.
I liked this movie. It’s about two friends who enjoy a kind of symbiotic relationship. Andrew is utterly neurotic, in every sense of the word. Dave takes care of him, but is otherwise a complete loser. One day, their fragile little world comes crashing down, and they find themselves cowering in the corner of their kitchen, with policemen and construction workers swarming the house, wishing it would all go away.
It does.
Interesting concept for a movie. A good start, as it were. And the movie continues to be good, in a Waiting for Godot kind of way. Since I’m a huge fan of both existentialists and Canadians, I liked it immensely.
Incidentally, I was talking with one of my clients yesterday. She is a new client, and we don’t know each other very well. She was talking about how her business isn’t really going the way she expected and she’s kind of in a holding pattern. She concluded by saying, “So here I am, waiting for Godot.”
Me: “Oh. Well, that isn’t very good, is it?”
Her: “What do you mean?”
Me (tentatively, a little pedantically): “Well, um, Godot never actually shows up, does he?”
Her: “Well, in my world-view he does.”
I had no idea what to say next. Is this what the world is coming to? Can we have a world-view that flies in the face of the plot? Isn’t the plot a fact that can’t be cast aside in favor of a world-view that tells us otherwise? I mean, it’s the plot. I remain aghast.
Needless to say, I changed the subject.
There are more stories I could use to bolster the following point, but I won’t because this post has already gone on way too long. So, without further do, my most recent conclusion:
There is immense power in faith. You really can believe yourself into things. You can shape your world. In truth, you can achieve anything you decide to achieve.
However, (and this is the part that’s missing from most of today’s feel-good self help stuff), you have to start with where you are now. Those are the facts of your situation. FACT: Godot never shows up.
Cheer up. You can get there from here, but there are three steps to the process. 1. Know where you want to go. 2. Know where you are now. 3. Plot a course. You can’t just skip number 2 because it makes you uncomfortable. It’s called reality, folks. It doesn’t have to limit your path, but it is part of your path, and you have to accept it. I suggest that that’s your best defense against circling around to where you started.
And that happens to be an excellent, albeit unintentional, segue back to Nothing. Here’s to a world where the fact that we have cable is no longer the best available evidence of living.
posted by babyoog at 5:50 PM
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1 Comments:
Very best site. Keep working. Will return in the near future.
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