Mondo Odd-O

Presentism

AM Caro — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 21:46:16 GMT

Upon reading a copy of THE PATRIOT'S HISTORY TO THE UNITED STATES, I came across a mention of the term "presentism." What is this you ask? Presentism is the flawed logic approah to applying modern day morals and ideologies to the past and then criticizing those who lived in the past for not acting like people would in the present.

Quote

AM Caro — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 21:46:10 GMT

"One must humble oneself under enemy rule"

36th Chamber of Shaolin

Maturity from mundane sources

AM Caro — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:29:59 GMT

I almost dubbed this entry "maturity from unique sources" until I finally realized that maturity really comes from sources that are more mundane than spectacular. After all, w do not need a magical epiphany in order to develop a realistic and mature outlook on life. Nor do we need an epiphany in order to ACT mature and like an adult. Sometimes all it takes is changing a job, living on your own, managing a living expense budget, being patient with those around you, not being irresponsible, taking your job serious, biting your tongue, always staying honest and a host of other things a mature, responsible adult should embody. Yet, these very simple - yet mundane - things are what we ignore.

Stream of Semi-Consciousness Rants - For Publication and Profit

AM Caro — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:05:32 GMT

After reading the first thirds of Joe Bob Briggs' book length rant IRON JOE BOB, I started to think a little bit about other books that have been published over the years that are basically little more than loose rants where the author picks a subject then loosely ties things that have nothing to do with the original subject matter. They do this because no one cares about the 'secondary' subject matter so they have to be drawn in with a 'primary' subject matter. In other words, an article about football becomes the angle of squeezing in an article about men and their love for violent sports because no one would want to read about men and their love for violent sports. They want to read about football. But they don't really want to read about football. They don't even want to read about men and their love for violent sports. Here is what they want: they want to read an author who rips men and football and the love of violent sports completely apart. They want to read the writer's rants. Sometimes the author is pure parody (Hunter S. Thompson) or he is trying to be serious (Burroughs, to some extent). But, the author serves the purpose of a ranting loon and his readers dig him for it. But, he needs the cover of some sort of angle in order to make the whole thing semi-serious or socially conscious. Yes, it is a somewhat hollow point, but it is the driving force behind the reader believing he or she is taking part in something meaningful and will learn some great insight as a result.

This all sounds like a whole lot of nonsense, doesn't it? In a way it is. In a way it isn't.

Some authors are lucky. They can reach an audience the hard way, but build the audience up to the point NOT giving him a book deal would be foolish. The aforementioned Joe Bob had a column in a local newpaper and a newsletter which later expanded into bookdeals and TV gigs. Keep a one point in mind - Joe Bob was funny and he was talented and he was enjoyable to read. This made developing an audience an inevitability and his success somewhat ordained. (Granted, he never became a NY Times bestselling author like, well, a number of no talent authors...but that is another story...but he did reach a level of success most have not)

Regardless, people love reading ranting, stream of consciousness, humorous insights into pop culture and the world. Why? Because they are bombarded with serious reports of arsurdities everyday. They just feel pretty overjoyed when someone comes along and points out the absurdities to them that they already know. They just needed a little re-assurance.

Maybe I could write one of those books if I wasn't so damn serious all the time.

On NOT Being The Center of the Universe

AM Caro — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:38:36 GMT

Imagine watching an old episode of the Love Boat and special guest star Gabe Kaplan solves the problems of the crew members who are seemingly caught in a series of precarious positions. Now, that may work to a certain degree as something quite unexpected and as a departure from the formula of the show, but what if he totally made the crew look impotent in terms of their role in the program in the process? Or what if an episode of Columbo found the detective completely stumped and a faceless character from the police academy showed up and solved the crime making Columbo look impotent as well? It would be pretty bad, no? This is why you don't see peropheral characters making the decisions that lead characters would make. It'd kill the show.

If only life came with a head writer and director, we'd be able to avoid a number of problems would we not?

In our lives, we are the main and central character. We star in our own movie and everything rvolves around us. So, imagine this: as part of your movie you enroll in karate lessons and decide to ignore the instructor, go off and do your own thing, disrupt the class, bother other students? You would probably get thrown out and you'd get thrown out in a manner that would make you look bad and downright embarrassed. Nobody would script themselves in the main event of a film to be completely embarrassed, have no comeback and be rendered totally inept. Can you imagine Rambo tripping and falling on his face in the middle of the movie? Hardly. It would pretty much kill any chance at drama as the movie continues.

Here's the deal: the reason you would get tossed out of that karate class is because you wandered on the set of someone else's movie. You are, at best, a special guest star and, more likely, a mere peripheral walk on character or extra from central casting. It's not always you movie, dude.

While we do see ourselves often as the star of our own movie, we are also character actors getting work here and there as well. When we are in as support role, we shouldn't be trying to steal anything from the stars. If we do, we are asking for it. You'll end up one of those characters who the bad guys wipe out...savvy?

Walking Through The Bookstore

AM Caro — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 19:50:05 GMT

When taking a stroll through the local Barnes & Nobles, I performed my usual devious means of shopping. I stroll through the store and look for books of interest, memorize the name of the book that has piqued my interest and then go back home and see if I can get the same book online for a much cheaper price. Yes, I know...devious.

I must also admit, sadly, that my pattern for book shopping is routinely boring. I, like so many others, seemingly purchase the same books time and time again. I think what does separate me (slightly) from the crowd is the fact that I will sometimes go into 'trends' of reading up on topics that are usually a deviation from the norm.

It can be somewhat interesting to walk through the bookstore and come across old interests while, at the same time, looking for a new interest.

Does this sound mundane? Oh, bear with me friends...it is much more profound that you would imagine. You see, we are sums of our parts and individuals reveal themselves through our interests that make up our parts of the whole. When you see someone reading about surfing, it tells you that they surf and belong to a certain lifestyle. They might even own the old Rhino CD of famous surf songs of yesteryear.

Yes, you can tell alot about a person from the books they read, used to read and are looking forward to reading.

You can even learn alot about yourself.

Some people change. They develop different ideologies of perspectives based on the sum of their experience. When they change, in time they may even forget about the person they used to be. Or, maybe they might do something slightly less profound. Perhaps they might forgotten about the circumstances of the material they read. Perhaps an old three volume series that saw its final volume reading in a different location while holding a different job interacting and living with different people in a part of the world far removed from a previous life.

Yeah....walking through the bookstore can bring about some serious enlightenment.

Care for a Cigarette?

AM Caro — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 16:47:45 GMT

Don't ask me to name the title of the book because I can't. It was one of those really thick books. You know, the REALLY think books that sit on the shelves at the bookstore screaming "I AM THICK! HENCE! I AM DEFINITIVE!" Or something like that anyway. I do remember the price...$36...and that was enough to make me put the book right back on the shelf. Sorry Charlie, I ain't paying $36. I did read one other book on the subject of cigarettes. Oh boy, that book was boring as hell. Don't ask me the name of it either. I forget. I did purchase ($20) Something Weird Video's Classic Cigarette Commercials Compilation Tape and it was a BRILLIANT viewing experience. Don't ask me where the tape is though. It is buried in my closet somwhere. Hey. I bought the DVD in 2001 so don't think I have it by my nightstand...k?

Back to the subject at hand....cigarettes remain a weird item in our world of pop culture. Today, they are not considered 'mainstream' nor accepted. It isn't evn legal to smoke the damn things anywhere anymore. However, from the late 1800's to about 1990, cigarettes were almost synonymous with LIVING ITSELF. Look at any film from the time period of the 1920's to the 1990's. Look at television from the 50's and 60's. Everyone is smoking. Why? Because by 1962, nearly HALF of America's population was smoking HEAVILY. This is no joke folks....and it was all built on one huge, colossal LIE.

Novel - A Work of Fiction and Truth

AM Caro — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:46:00 GMT

I think I am going to start work on a novel. A work of fiction. Of course, the fiction will be based mostly on fact. Isn't that the case with most novels? I hope not. I really don't hope that the author's lives are as boring as some of the slop that they churn out. Oh, but I digress. No, what I am to speak about today (tonight actually) is that I think I need to bring the world of odd-ness and quirckiness to the realm of the fiction novel.

Who knows, daddy. Maybe I will just self-publish the damn thing online. Lord knows I have 'issues' with employers and would prefer to remain a self published reculsive. (Granted, I wouldn't want to turn the money down if offered) But, here we are talking (well, not so much we are talking as much as I am writing and you are reading) about crafting a novel. What would it be about? Who knows. I don't yet, although I am leaning towards an adventure tale.

Of course, the whole 'real' purpose would be to tell strange but true stories ripped from my own experiences. (The craziest of which are true) and then sling all that good stuff together within the framework of a narrative. Yes, you could call that tactic cheating. It is squeezing an autobiography into a cowboy on the wild frontier story. Cheating? Maybe. But it will be worth a read.

When You're Odd, Everyone is Normal No Matter How Crzy They May Be

AM Caro — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 19:47:00 GMT

While this humble blog is designed mostly to make sense (not really) of pop culture because pop culture is odd, it is also semi-important to look at odd in its abstractness. That is, we need to look at the veritable oddness that exists in the very fabric of human existence. How deep that oddness goes is interesting to thnk about. Mainly because the idea that oddness exists all the way down to the genetic level. Maybe it goes all the way back to evolution itself. Come on. Oddness couldn't jump appear circa 1921. There had to be the errant odd javaman of the prehistoric era.

When we do ponder on odd as an abstract, we fall into one of two categories: you are normal, they are odd or you are odd, how you wish you were normal. The first may be true. The second is categorically illogical to the extreme.

I'm sorry, but odd people have a tendency to really beat themselves up. They have this messed up idea that they are oddballs and can't fit in to normal society. Because of this, they feel guilty at being odd. They will beat themselves up alot.

Hey, amigo, take a darn old look around you. In case you haven't noticed, there are tons of folks out there who are SERIOUSLY screwed up. You went and loathed yourself so much, you have be-knighted these screw ups with normalcy with no purpose other than re-soldifying your own self loathing image of yourself.

Are you listening the the EASY RIDER soundtrack version of THE WEIGHT YET?

Mr. Bush - There is crazy and then there is CRAZY

AM Caro — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 07:06:00 GMT

If you want to find someone who is a completely delusional then you need not look no further than President Bush's desire to take the pleasant folk who comprise his 28% approval rating and completely drive them out of his life.

In New Brunswick, GA, the President's attempt to salvage a disaster of an immigration bill involved a speech where he blasted members of his grassroots, conservative base.

Let's jump ahead shall we?

Withing days of the speech, the Republican National Committee fires all 65 of its telephone solicitors because donations have dropped off 40%. (If they publically admit 40%, then the real figure must be shockingly hire)
Blast your base with a derogatory speech? And they say guys who push shopping carts filled with all manner of junk around while talking to themselves are crazy

It's a Dog's Life

AM Caro — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:52:00 GMT

A Dog's Life. That is the literal translation of the bizarre early 1960's documentary from Italy MONDO CANE