Mel Gibson's Movies

I watched Apocalypto. Hmmm. Okay, so Mayans are barbaric people. Oh, so conquistadors were a good thing. Well, it all makes sense now.
It was an interesting film. It takes itself seriously as an art-house film: subtitles in local dialect, all non-big-name actors. Long drawn out exposition. You want an art film that depicts Mayans? Watch the Fountain. That was crazy. This movie, Apocalypto was a joke. Mel Gibson is unable to make more than 2 dimensional characters. Braveheart - the English are so vile and evil. Tossing men out of towers. Raping brides on their wedding night. No depth. Just evil. His good guys are just really good men. No flaws. Wow, William Wallace isn't a brute. He knows French. Wow, Jaguar Paw is a good day. Playing with his kids. His only flaw is that he feels fear at the beginning of the film. If Gibson wants to be taken seriously he needs to make a movie with characters that have multiple dimensions. For instance.
Battlestar Galactica is pretty cool. The Cylons are mysterious. We find out that cylons are hidden on board the Galactica. But we feel for the characters. They don't know there potentially evil. And look at the main heroes. They all have real big flaws. Adama is too military. The president has her own problems, cancer. Apollo acts like a little adolescent that needs to be spanked. Starbuck is a cocky pilot that needs to be put in her place. Such is the characters of Season One.
Mel Gibson. You have potential, please make a movie that flows like a blockbuster but has characters that grip you.

Dress Shoes

Certain dress shoes should not be worn by men. This coming from a guy that routinely wears black dress shoes with brown tweed trousers, is sad. My excuse is that they are so covered in dirt they appear brown before the scrutiny. I wish to talk about shoes that make a sound. I wish to talk about soles. Some dress shoes make a dull thud. This is an onomatopœia that is desired. One can pretend he is manly and wearing boots. My shoes make a “thud.” I pretend they are the Sam Elliot of dress shoes.
Some people wear shoes that go, “click.” These sound like women’s shoes. If I hear these I expect to turn around and see a pair of pumps. Or stilettos depending on my mood. I turn around and instead see a full grown man. Does not matter how dapper you look, the click adds a touch of confusion. At the beginning of the conversion I am still lost thinking about your soles. Why did they click? Why not a thud? This momentary train wreck of thought is all I need, I am derailed.
And so, please wear soles befitting Sam Elliot.

Work Work Work.

I am enjoying work. It’s a different pace from usual. I lived in the bush. That was unpredictable. Sometimes fast – usually slow. I worked for the Peace Corps. I taught the technical aspect of our work, the HIV/AIDS. That was smooth with a few fast bits. But this is weird. It’s not that the pace is ungodly fast; I am in a completely new environment and have no confidence in what I’m doing. I haven’t played my strengths yet. Not that I should complain . . . I haven’t even finished an entire week yet. I’m still new. The paint hasn’t even dried. Once I get this funding thing under my belt I’ll feel more confident. At least the staff here is incredibly patient. They are the nicest people in Lusaka. I think I will do well here. And I want to do good here. I just feel that these co-workers of mine need to see me in my element. That means facilitating. I can teach with the greatest of ease. Unfortunately, I don’t know the ropes of this place yet.

Amsterdam, a layover.

On the way home, to Africa, I had a nice 12 hour layover in Amsterdam. What a gorgeous city. Giant brick buildings. Large canals surrounded by trees. Narrow buildings. Horse drawn carts delievering Heinekein to pubs. Tram cars. Bicycles galore. It was a wonderful city. But it had one noticable drawback. The incredible amount of young tourists wanting to get stoned. The city is filled with college aged people (typically males) looking for a coffee shop that has weed, mushrooms, and pictures of naked women. It was a weird vibe. I loved the architecture. The canals were gorgeous. The museums were amazing, but the droves of fratboys made a lasting impression. I could live there but the tourists would get to me. I wonder what other old European cities look like? Are they similar but without the boys looking for sin? I might have to check out these places at some point. The Balkans have always inspired me. I bet Sophia is nice or anywhere in Croatia. I might check those out at some time. At the end of my time in Amsterdam I got back on the train and headed back to Schiphol Airport. I bought a few magazines and readied myself for the long flight back to Africa it was a nice time in Amsterdam but I am ready to create new adventures in a new place.

Stories from the Past; Peace Corps Lessons Learned

1) I GOT ATTACKED BY A MONKEY. I was at the Waterfall Bar with fellow volunteers. At this place they had a little monkey. We would save a little of the end of our beers and give it to the said monkey. The monkey enjoyed the cervezas. It would spill the dregs of the beer on the ground and then lap it up. Me being the lover of animals and a capacity-builder by trade, I decided to have a one-on-one workshop with the monkey. How to drink from a bottle with optimum efficiency. But when I tried to grab the bottle to show it how it attacked me. Monkeys are cute little creatures but tend to look like a whirlwind of teeth and claws when provoked. I know now, not to ever take a beer from a monkey.

2) MY PIT LATRINE COLLAPSED. I was in my pit latrine near my hut. I needed to go. After dropping my trousers my floor decided to disintegrate into a much larger whole. The whole got much wider and I struggled to not land in a whole filled with my excrement. What saved me from a fate worse than death was the hours of quality time I had spent watching kung fu films with my roomate, Greg. Using my extensive knowledge of archaic martial art technique I shot my hands out at a lightning speed and grabbed the walls. It was fast. The floor continued to dissolved but I managed to grab the necessary anchors to prevent me from falling. I made it. I now know that something as simple as watching TV can save your life.

Running Scared.

I love certain types of punctuation. Maybe not spelling but definitely, I love semicolons and periods. Maybe the occasional comma. And this might eventually lead me to my next subject: Life. I'm supposed to know what I'm doing. I feel like I'm faking it. I think I'm doing a good job because I'm starting to believe it. I want to go to Graduate School. I want to work in International Development. I want to teach History in a university setting. I want to learn Spanish. The only thing I really want is to fall in love and stay in the Peace Corps until I'm sick and tired of helping people overseas. That's not too much to ask is it? Well, yeah, actually. Because half of it relies on other people. Darn it. I am some what of a fatalist, but I also believe in making one's on choices. I just wish you could choose which choices you could give to other people (or powers) to make for you. This is getting metaphysically difficult now. What a concept. I want to choose to have people to choose for me but only at the time I choose. Is that too much to ask for? I want my future to be planned for me. Maybe not planned but at least have a general outline. You will marry this girl, you will work this job at this place. Leave the "how you got there" to me. I could work better that way. I don't like all these choices sometimes. Also this love thing. Could someone else choose for me? I guess in a way my heart does all that but then couldn't I just bypass the whole dating process and go straight to, I don't know, having a girlfriend that I want to spend all my time with. That would be effortless and great. But I guess nothing comes for free. I guess if I want to respect love I have to work for it. Like working before breakfast. It makes the meal taste better. That's the ticket. I guess. Well, that was my stream of conscious rant. Enjoy Internet, enjoy.

Where I am at.

I have been back in the States for a short bit of time now. It's exciting. All these tasty beverages. I had an IBC cream soda in the detroit airport. I had a few good micro brews in Tennessee. I plan to have a root beer float pretty soon. I look foward to it. I also had a bagel with cream cheese. The bagel was slightly burnt but darn tasty.
My father's wedding was nice. It was short and quite entertaining. There were a bunch of old friends I had not seen in a long time. Dad bought a suit for me so my brother and I looked really sharp. There will be pictures. They will be priceless. More later.