8.22.01

Holy crap! What a week it’s been. I started classes last Thursday and, of course, the one class I took just for shits and giggles, my ceramics class, ended up costing me like $75 for supplies. And, of course, none of the supplies were all in one place, they were scattered over the greater St. Louis metro area like scavenger hunt clues. “No, I’m sorry, we don’t have the soft kidney rib, but we do have the fettling knife. Try Krueger Pottery over on Big Bend.” Grrrr… But, after spending money I sure as hell didn’t have on supplies I’ll probably only use for the next four months of my life, I got everything I needed. Now if only I could make anything out of clay.

My GIS class is kicking all forms of major ass; by the way, that’s Geographic Information Systems for the 99.9% of the population that has no idea what that is. I could try to explain what exactly GIS is to you 99.9%, but you guys have already let me know that you don’t like really long entries, so I’ll just sum it up as: computer software + map + global positioning system + database = new career path for Space Monkey?

Tried to get my MO driver’s license and plates last Friday, but alas, my car failed the inspection process. I wasn’t surprised; I’d been meaning to get my mufflers replaced for months. However, those were my only flaws, so $312.46 later I am good to go – now I just need to find time to go take the written exam. Yuck.

Finally got to the Miles Davis exhibit last Saturday, too. Solidified my fanboy status now. As those wacky kids today would say, “Miles was ‘da bomb’”. Damn kids. Picked up a really cool t-shirt to commemorate the event.

My hard drive on my work computer decided to go bad on Sunday, so I lost a ton of data and have been struggling to get back up and running all week. Fun fun.

So, since I’ve had such a rough, hectic week thus far, I ran down to my local money pit, AKA Best Buy and bought myself a few DVD’s. I picked up one of the greatest, all-time classic ‘80’s flicks from my childhood, The Goonies. Ya gotta love that movie. I also got a movie that I’m sure many of you have heard of and, hopefully, some of you have seen called Dogma. Yes, the Kevin Smith flick. Although I would still rank it behind Chasing Amy and Clerks, but before Mallrats, any K Smith film is better than someone remaking Dawn of the Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre or M, all of which, sadly, are currently in production. If you haven’t seen Dogma, check it out. It has some normal Smith toilet humor, a very foul mouth, and a monster made of excrement, but it also has some pretty cool Space Monkey-esque questions and points about religion. This movie pissed off Catholics all over the world, granted that doesn’t take much, but still, it’s always nice to have the far right get their panties in a bunch from time to time.

Oh, wanted to mention something else, I’m working on revamping the entry structure some here. A programmer friend of mine has some scripts that would make life much, much easier. I just have to buy him enough beers to convince him to take the time to set them up for me. Hopefully I can get that going soon, so be on the look out.

On a similar note, t-shirts, hats, etc. are sort of on hold right now as my life is busy enough as it is. Maybe this weekend my broke, no social life-havin’ ass will find time to work on them again.

In case you didn’t notice, I added another archive – again, something I hope to revamp in the near future.

To follow up from last entry, no, I’m afraid I have not called my aunts or grandmother yet. It’s just been absolutely gonzo for me since last week. I swear I’ll do it this weekend. My friend who saw his long lost family, though, has reported back a very pleasant experience all around. He learned some things about his family, his history, and, most importantly, himself, so it was all good.

I was out doing some work today, driving around the suburbs and noticed something - Big Wheels. I'm sure you all remember the "big kid tricycles" we used to tear around our neighborhoods on, grabbing that hand brake, pulling up with all our might and sliding hard, throwing up gravel in our wake. Big Wheels ruled. Well, I saw three sitting in yards or in driveways today here in suburbia and got to thinking about how cool it was that kids today are playing with the same toys I was when I was young. However, this also got me thinking what's wrong with this picture? In the '80's we had Transformers, He-Man, G.I. Joe (not the big foot tall Joes my older cousins used to play with), Rainbow Brite and My Little Ponies for the girls. In case you didn't know, they're currently releasing new Tranformers, newly designed He-Man figures, G.I. Joe has hit Toys 'R Us again, and I've heard rumblings of My Little Pony making a comeback. Then I hear about all the remakes and "reimaginings" coming out of Hollywood - starting with the Planet of the Apes retread.

Why have we hit this writer's block on creativity? How many times do we have to have a sitcom with a wacky neighbor/brother/girlfriend character? I know there are good movie scripts out there that are going unproduced. I know there are people in the toy industry who are trying to make innovative playthings for kids. I know there are writers who have new ideas for television shows. Why do we keep seeing the same things over and over again?

It all comes down to the almighty dollar. The only way anything gets produced anymore is if it will be guaranteed to make money - generally as quickly as possible. I read an article the other day saying that movies this summer are showing huge drop-offs in box office the weekend after they're #1; some of these movies are losing 60 - 70% of their box office take in that second weekend. However, the studios don't care. They see a $70 million opening weekend and that's enough for them. Who cares if the movie stays in theaters for three weeks, we made back our investment, so we're satisfied. Oh, the critics hated it, it was universally panned by audiences worldwide, but those suckers paid their $8 on opening weekend propelling Tomb Raider to the number one spot so that's all we care about.

But why should this suprise me? That's all we look for anymore in anything we do - the fast buck. The whole internet stock market blast from the last few years was the same mentality - buy it, let it go up, watch it split two or three times, sell it. I don't care if the company is creating a new app that will revolutionize the e-commerce industry, hell, I don't even know what they do. I could give a shit how many employees they have or what charities or organizations they support. I just want my money, now gimme. And now look at us? We're pissed off because our stocks have dropped to nothing, companies are going out of business, forcing massive layoffs, interest rates are dropping, but no one is making enough to buy a home now anyway. We got our quick bucks while we could, spending it on new BMW's and million dollar homes, but now we can't afford to pay for our kids school supplies.

The same thing is going to happen to the entertainment industry. Low personal investment, big special effects and good marketing replace storytelling and acting, all in the race for that big opening weekend. And why not? Most people don't want to take the time to watch Lawrence of Arabia; most people couldn't sit there long enough. Most people don't want to read a 600 page novel - they'd rather wait for the movie. Most people don't want to listen to a ten minute song from Mozart or Bach, but will instead stick with the boy bands and generic, pissed off modern rock/rap mix. Why do anything well when you can do it half-assed and make just as much? It's the American way.

I'm not saying all generic, pissed off modern rock/rap mix is terrible. I'm not saying that there aren't some fine movie adaptations of novels. I'm not saying there aren't any good, mainstream Hollywood movies. Not every 600 page novel is worth a damn. And I thought Kramer was hilarious on Seinfeld. But when we as a society require so little from our entertainment dollar, we are essentially giving these "artists" the excuse they need to invest so little in their work. We give the studio execs a reason to make movies starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Although the masses will always stoop to the lowest level for entertainment, isn't it best not to follow the crowd sometimes? Especially on something so minor as entertainment? I mean, feel free to go see Tomb Raider or even a Kevin Smith film, but don't stop there for God sakes. Explore independent films. Go check out an unheard of, unsigned band in concert. Go to your local Waldenbooks and randomly pick up novels and read their story synopsis on the back cover and buy the first one that sounds interesting. Go hit MP3.com and check out some of the people trying to make their own music. Hell, get outside and take a walk in the park - you could use the sun anyway. Go search for websites on a topic you know nothing about or look for sites like Space Monkey X where people are pouring their hearts and minds out on the screen, exposing themselves for your scruitny.

There has to be something better out there than what's on TV tonight.

Space Monkey X