(no subject)

[jianantonic]

This weekend I went to Charlottesville to caddy.
Originally, I typed, "I went home to Charlottesville..." but I took out the "home" part because after being there for three days, I'm realizing more and more that it really isn't home anymore. I maintained the same residence for almost 19 years, but I've been away for almost 2 years now and going back just feels awkward. I don't recognize half the shit in my parents' house, none of my stuff is there anymore (except the stuff I never really knew I owned when I was there) and only a very few of my friends remain in the area. The real kicker was this: I went into Bodo's twice, and neither time did I see one person I knew. It's usually like you go in there and if there aren't 20 people you know, the world must be coming to an end. I hate to say it but I really am starting to prefer Harrisonburg.
I hung out with Aaron and Elana last night, watching Fight Club and eating Chinese food. OK, Fight Club was not what I expected. Maybe it's just a guy thing, but it bored me. It was too much of the same crap over and over. Interesting plot twist, but when you project what you know after the twist over the earlier parts of the movie, it makes no sense. So, no stars for Fight Club. Sorry Stephen, I know it's like your favorite movie ever, but I'm just not into it.
I had lunch with Camm today. I love catching up with him because there's always something juicy on the horizon in his life. Adam stopped by and we talked baseball for a while. I miss the old Charlottesville crew we had summer after freshman year. Speed Humping was some of the best time in my life. I guess with my job and my apartment and my coming college degree, I'm starting to feel more like an adult and a lot less like a kid. This has its pros and cons, of course. It's like I miss the boredom of summers past...now there's just exhaustion. I'm only 20, I'm not supposed to think like this, I guess...but I'm taking a full load at school (and getting all A's so far, thankyouverymuch), working one full time job and three part time jobs. That's a lot of crap! Thank god for Sundays...the day of rest. Ahh.
Go Cubs. Go Sox. Yay Marlins for kicking Giant ass. Fuck the Yankees.
Peace.

Comments

[qparom.livejournal.com]

Fight Club sucks. Hardcore. People claim it's like "philosophical" and when I challenge them to explain to me how, they can't. They like quote the lines from the movie that are supposed to sound profound and I ask how the movie illustrates those quotes and they can't tell me. I hate the damn movie.

I am, however, glad that I always entertain you. Am I really like a little mini egocentric soap opera? I hope I at least appear to have a little stability! ;)

This is Alice's argument for why Fight Club is worth watching another time.

[sigmarotation.livejournal.com]

Fight Club isn't a philosophical movie, per se, in that it's a clear-cut philosophy that should be religiously studied and discoursed upon. It's philosophical, however, in that it takes a seemingly trite social doctrine and makes you think and apply it in a different, very skewed, way.

As a cinematic blockbuster, it's got all the makings of a "good movie": two acclaimed actors (I'm personally more of an Edward Norton fan, Brad Pitt's just not-my-type-eyecandy), male aggression channeled into physical violence (for those people hooked by the title), crazy plot twist (albeit predictable), flashback humor (conveniently handed to the viewer), nude Helena Bonham Carter, based on a book (by Chuck Palahniuk, so people could feel more literary?), mischief, mayhem, soap, all that good stuff.

As a reassess-your-whole-life movie, , it's got all the makings of a "pop culture paradigm." It's a movie you have to watch more than once to catch how the ends truly fits in with the mumbo-jumbo that came before. As with any other movie, you'd notice things that escaped the first time around.

The quotes in the movie pretty much define themselves: "The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything." In a selfish vein, live for yourself. Let go of the material world, just hit rock-bottom, and live richly. In an altruistic vein, live for yourself, cuz only after you take care of that, can you take care of others. They tell you on airplanes, to put on your oxygen mask before assisting others.

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need." Don't do something because it's expected. Do something for yourself, like when Tyler holds Raymond at gunpoint, coercing him to get enough schooling to become a vet.

"How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?" Not necessarily a physical fight but just a struggle, with yourself, families, strangers, friends, inanimate objects. Stick your neck out there and take a chance. Find out what you would do in the deepest pits of desperation. Adversity and heartbreak are welcome, when you know that, at least, you're alive.

"No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide." Stop worrying, because we're all going to die anyway. We might wake up as different people tomorrow. Learn to accept the consequences of your actions. We're not special.

It's a movie about self-actualization. Things you know, things you don't know. Strength, weakness. Compromise, surrender. Yes it's all very didactic and repetitive, but c'est la vie.

Fight Club may seem extremely unrealistic, displaced, and irrelevant, however, it's got everything to do with anything real. It's not just merely fantastic (fantasy) movie, it's truly ingrained in people's lives. How many times have you wished you could: be different from the way you are, stand up to somebody you were intimidated by, prove something to yourself, LOSE an argument, figure things out, reach a sensible medium, do something completely out of character, become that character, or just get some sleep?

I mean, I don't even know if I believe half of this myself. I couldn't live without materialism sometimes. Die-hard Fight Club fans would probably say I am enjoying this movie on a totally lower level than what it is at.

But not knowing, not comprehending, is key.

You're losing time, maybe time isn't important. Lose sensation, gain perspective. Everything and nothing is relative.

In the end, only when the world is crumbling down around him, is he completely at peace with his existence.

Meg's argument for why Fight Club is worth shelving for the rest of eternity.

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

All the quotes that you used are directly out of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' Communist Manifesto. No lie, I just read it for the third time last week. I will submit to the fact that it is a highly Marxist film. However, that does not make it deep. The ideas are borrowed from 100 year old philosophy that was mostly a failure anyway. It's still a boring film. The whole MPD thing, psychologically isn't the way I have understood the disease to work, so I can't respect that twist. Also there are parts of the movie that would make absolutely no sense if two characters did not exist independently of each other. People who have seen it many times can tell me that's not true and explain why and all, but really, I've thought about it, I've talked to other people, and I am still going to have problems with its presentation. So, even if it is philosophical, which I don't really buy, that doesn't make it worth seeing again. I read Plato's Republic, which is about the most influencial work of philosophy ever, and I respect its greatness, but I'm never going to read it again because it's boring and I disagree with most of it anyway. But people who like reading it are more than welcome to and that doesn't offend me. Same with Fight Club. Some people don't find it boring, which is fine, and I can kind of understand, but as a philosophy minor (oh yeah, I'm totally hardcore, right?), I really need something a little deeper and less boring to get my juices flowing.

Re: Meg's argument for why Fight Club is worth shelving for the rest of eternity.

[qparom.livejournal.com]

Bravo, Meg! (no offense, Alice - I'm glad you liked it!)

Wow I didn't know you were a philosophy minor! Obviously, I shouldn't be arguing phil with you!

[sigmarotation.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, none taken, Camm! That's interesting though, how the quotes are from the Communist Manifesto. However, I never said that Fight Club was conventionally philosophical or deep or made completely good sense (cuz it doesn't, but what majority of movies do?), I merely expressed that it could make people think philosophically, psychologically, or otherwise (through the quotes about communist philosophy and psychological concepts of dissociative identity disorder, even an extreme fictional variation of it) and in a way, reassess their life (if they choose to do so) in a deeper and meaningful/meaningless way.

Asides from that, it's really just a movie that has become a pop culture icon--a little bit of a love story, dark comedy, and the fight for life.