Embracing a Hole in the Ground

The only person close to me that I've had pass away was Eric, who I wrote about earlier this month, on the fifth anniversary of his death. I'm not trying to pish-posh his death, but it's not the same as a parent or sibling or child dying, obviously. And I've never had someone with that sort of closeness, someone who was truly a part and parcel of who I was as a person, pass away.

I bring this up because I feel like it probably has some sort of influence on how I feel about death and how I view it.

See, I've always struggled to understand people who were profoundly affected by death. That probably comes off as cold and/or callous, but it's true.

Watch me try to justify this after the break.

Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms

At what point do we stop being afraid?

Wait, let me back up.

A few days ago, I posted that Bill Hicks video and, in it, he talked about the choice between Fear and Love. The choice between locking your door and helping a stranger. The choice between buying a gun and pulling over to help someone change their tire.

If you pay attention to the news-- local, national, or 24-hour-- fear is a pretty constant thing. Play this game some time: watch the local news and count the number of stories where the intent is not to make you afraid. If you get to over five, well you're in luck because you live in Canada.

Feel the love after the jump.

It's Just A Ride

Been listening to a lot of Bill Hicks lately.

Here's the thing about Bill Hicks that a lot of people know: Bill Hicks came off often as an angry individual. Here's a thing that may have been less obvious: Bill Hicks didn't want to be an angry individual.

Hicks saw a lot of beauty in the world, or at least he tried to. If his act is anything to go by, he found it hard to deal with the things he didn't find beautiful.

Now, see, that's a viewpoint that I can feel a kinship with.

There's a lot of wonderful stuff here in the world, but I've been having a rough time trying to engage with it.

So I watched the following clip. It's just a ride, folks.

My History With Final Fantasy/Fate as a Storytelling Device

The very first video game I fell in love with was Final Fantasy VII. It's one of the very vivid memories of my childhood. I was maybe twelve or thirteen, and I was over at a friend's house and he happened to be playing it. I had played video games before, had owned a NES and a Sega Genesis and played the basics: Sonic, Mario, Aladdin, Lion King, etc.

Now, see, I didn't have an SNES, and one of the things the video games of the Super Nintendo introduced was storytelling. Look at Star Fox, at Final Fantasy IV and VI, just for a trio of classic examples. These games brought plot into video games in a more real way and I had missed it. I was probably playing soccer.

More after the jump.

National Enormity, Actually Not About Fat People

I didn't post yesterday because I was traveling (I don't have an excuse for Monday other than bad memory).

I drove from Minnesota to Florida yesterday, a trip that took about 21 hours. Afterward I determined that I had traveled to or through 20 states in my life. A decent number for a person who has only lived in three.

It was about 70 degrees in Florida today, and I spent much of a day in early March laying on the beach, reading my Kindle next to a pool. For a kid who grew up used to seven foot piles of snow on his front lawn, this is kind of like a Big Deal. Capital letters intentional.

See what that got me thinking about after the jump.

The Blog as Masturbation

What do people want?

That's a question I've been thinking about lately, for a variety of reasons. Partially because I'm not gainfully employed in a full-time career, partially because I've always felt myself to be capable of creating praise-worthy content, and partially because I watched The Social Network again.

But no, this won't turn into another piece on that movie.

Hit the jump for more.

Taking Blame For a Shitty World

Courtesy a tweet from Patton Oswalt, I came across Buffalo Beast's Top 50 Most Loathsome People of 2010. You can check it out at the following link. It is one of the most scathing societal indictments I've encountered in a long time. It's unashamed and completely full-speed-ahead in its relentless fervor. It shred the likes of Glenn Beck, Jenny McCarthy, Barack Obama, and Kim Kardashian, rightfully placing them together in a world that too often disassociates the different aspects of their world.

The number one most loathsome person of 2010, according to the Buffalo Beast?

You.

The American Homosexual Regression

On a sunny day in San Francisco, California, a group of friends gathered in a small kitchen as two men, an interracial couple, exchanged vows and wedding rings, pledging their lives to each other. Despite the fact the ceremony was broadcast on television, there was no outrage from the religious public. There were no public protests. In fact, it seemed as though very few people cared beyond the fact they thought it was nice to see two people in love.

The year was 1994.