At some point I must have at least met the other 641-646 people on here whether they’re: old friends, classmates, coworkers, bosses, exes, fans, stalkers, stalkees, or even people whose only connection to me is a mutual friend. The fact remains that, once becoming FB friends with a person, you can remain completely caught up to date with the activities of that person regardless of whether or not you are friends with them in real life or if you have ever met that person to begin with. Additionally, we can thank FB for taking the excitement out of going to high school reunions. The purpose of going to a reunion is to catch up with people and find out what they have been doing with their lives since graduation, now with FB all you have to do is look at your News Feed and there… your caught up.

For much of today’s youth (sadly, including myself) Facebook provides an automatic and life consuming way for us have “friends” and keep in touch with people for a virtually unlimited amount of time, completely bypassing the kind of effort that would be required for any two people in the real world to connect and maintain a relationship of any kind. It even changes the way we interact with each other, it makes everything much less personal and detached. Instead of saying “Call me later,” we say, “Facebook me,” almost as if we can’t be friends with them in real life unless we are also friends with them on Facebook. What really got me thinking about this was the realization that as of right now, out of every true friend that I’m lucky enough to have, ONE and ONLY ONE of those people does not have a facebook.

Eventually, there will be a time where people from every living generation actively use Facebook and for many it will be the be all and end all of their online existence. This would elevate Facebook above being merely an online representation of human culture and society– millions or billions of users constantly updating their statuses, chatting with friends, commenting and tagging photos, stalking, being stalked, checking in, liking, getting into/out of relationships, and anything else FB will be able to do in the future– FB will be it’s own culture and it’s own society. Humans will no longer communicate with each other in reality, instead our FB profiles will be avatars in a virtual world that (poorly) simulates human interaction with no hope of ever living up to the elements that make our existence meaningful.

The painfully complicated existence that we call “life” exists in varying shades of grey because as humans we are forced to perceive and experience our existence through the prism of our past experiences… our failures, successes, good/bad deeds, mistakes, tragedies, triumphs, and all the other factors that make up the fabric of who we are. FB takes those shades of grey and attempts to simplify it down to black and white and for everything in between you have only one option to choose: “it’s complicated.” If only life were that simple where we could encapsulate an entire spectrum of humanity with those two simple words. FB was never meant to be a substitute for real world interactions but people are using it in exactly that way, whether they realize it or not and more people do it each day.

We have already let facebook render HS reunions obsolete… It’s only a matter of time until we allow Facebook to go SkyNet on us, concluding that it’s complexly coded, unrealistically streamlined, and frighteningly voyeuristic virtual existence is superior to that of the one us humans live in… it’s only option: to destroy us all. The scariest part of all is that in all likelihood, it wont reach the point where Facebook becomes self aware and takes us down because if things keep going the way they’re going, then we will choose to leave the real world behind and interact only as avatars in a world that can only be as complex as the code used to build it. Then the society of FB profiles left behind will continue to exist and interact with each other… no longer will we be burdened by life’s difficult emotions: discontent, pain, sadness, personal loss, embarrassment, shame, and worst of all… hate, but, without those exact feelings, we would never be able to realize the meaning and reward of: contentment, happiness, personal gain, comfort, pride, and the most important of all… love.

Now if you’ll excuse me, time to look at hot bikini pics of my FB friends on summer vacations. I don’t wanna hear it… if you didnt want me to look at (all of) them then you wouldn’t put em up.

I will start with an example.  The show Rocko’s Modern Life was on Nickelodeon in the mid nineties.  There was a character on that show named Really Really Big Man.  One of Really Really Big Man’s powers was he had the ability to shoot his nipples off of his body, they would then attach themselves to his target’s eyes to show them the future.  I don’t care who you are, you can’t tell me that someone saying, “Gaze into my nipples of the future” then shooting his nipples at your eyes isn’t the most fucked up hilarious thing ever.  You know that in kids programming these days you would never see anything even remotely as edgy as that.  Hell, you’d be lucky to see a childrens program that even acknowledged that nipples even existed.  It’s hard to deny that the kids shows of my generation were the best ever.  They were so integral in our lives that we look back to them as one of the best parts of our childhoods.  Simply mention the shows, “Ren & Stimpy, Ahhh! Real Monsters, Doug, Salute Your Shorts, The Angry Beavers, CatDog” you will defiantly hear about them.  The only thing we can say about the cartoons of today is how much we can’t stand how stupidly dull and not funny they are (except for Spongebob haha).

The whole point is within my lifetime, a fairly short 20 years, I look back and it is very easy to see how much society has changed since the mid-nineties.  I wouldn’t say it’s a good change but at the same time it’s hard to say whether or not the change will be bad.  All I know is the kids watching what’s on Nickelodeon today won’t feel the same way about their childhood shows that my generation did and still does to this day.

That’s a pretty accurate definition of what a politician is.  They’re leaders who are engaged in civil administration.  Leaders, however, are not required to be good at leading.  The next time you’re with a group of friends, tell them to follow you somewhere, anywhere… make up any reason you want.  If they listen to you and follow you that makes you a leader.  However, the people who are following you will probably think you’re an asshole when they find out that you weren’t going anywhere and you had no reason to go there.  You have just done something that politicians are really good at… convincing people to follow them.  Also, just like a politician, you’ve succeeded in making no progress what-so-ever and wasting everyone’s time, which not only makes you a bad leader… it also makes you an asshole (and that’s not the only correct judgement of you you’re “friends” make when talking about you behind your back either).

All politicians are assholes.  Now, just because that sounds like an “unfair generalization” doesn’t mean that it is one.  The vast majority of Americans belong to either the lower class, working class, or the lower to upper middle class.  The politicians that represent them don’t belong to any of those classes.  The upper class is reserved for the mere 1% of Americans who act as the “grand conceptulizers,” those who have great influence over the nations institutions.  Politicians would fall in that category.  It doesn’t matter how much money they make or how much they’re worth.  The mere fact that they are politicians puts them in the upper class.

The upper class is the one that likes to be viewed as not only above everyone else, but separated from everyone else.  We’re like the psychologically disturbed family member who makes everyone feel uncomfortable at Thanksgiving dinner but they keep shoveling turkey on our plate praying that the Tryptophan in the turkey meat will put us in a coma.  At least then we could still be in the family and no one would have to deal with our tediously repetitive yet lawfully acceptable outbursts where we tell them how much we don’t approve of them.  The only difference between that situation and this situation is that we’re not in a coma and we’re forced to suffer through the endless supply of bull shit while our vocal displays of disapproval fall on deaf ears.

The most annoying thing about politicians is that they pretend to care about our problems when they really don’t give a shit.  It’s easy to pretend to give a shit when you’re so full of shit.  It’s gotten out of control.  This is the only country on Earth where a candidate can run for president and win their parties nomination based solely on the platform of change…..

………

……. still waiting…..

Oh, that’s it?  See, cuz I kinda thought I would be told not just what needs to be changed, but how exactly it’s going to be changed.  The idea of “change” is abstract, therefore, not a single fucking person knows what it means.  I don’t care how much you think you know what it means, you don’t.  The idea of change is no more or less abstract then the idea of love, luck, hate, etc.  No candidate would ever be taken seriously if they ran for president under the idea of bringing love to everyone.  What kind of love is it?  You don’t know either, that could be because the word love has no concrete meaning.  Maybe he’s bringing the love of shaking babies, or autoerotic asphyxiation to Americas’ Executive branch.  God knows the Legislative branch has the largest concentration of people who jerk off with belts around their necks… maybe it takes the edge off… sitting around saying “yea” and “nay” all day must be exhausting.

The supporters of that candidate are completely incapable of understanding this but I will tell you what’s going to change if that person gets elected.  Absolutly fucking nothing.  Terrorists are still going to hate us and try to kill us, the KKK will continue to be ignorant racists, gas prices will continue to go up along with the prices of back-alley blow jobs, crime and drugs will continue to rule the inner cities, and the population of fat people in America will continue to have greater numbers then the total population of America itself (special thanks to Little Britain USA).  I should add that his opposition won’t fix any of those problems either, but keep in mind, he never really promised his supporters that things would “change” should he be elected.

The only thing they want is power.  Power is a very valuable thing… it’s even more valuable then money and respect (which politicians certainly don’t deserve).  The most powerful man in America is the president.  The most powerful nation on Earth is America.  Therefore, the President of the United States is the most powerful man in the world, but, that doesn’t mean anyone likes him.

I feel more comfortable supporting the guy from the Dos Equis commercials.  He may not be the most powerful man in the world, but he’s definately the most interesting man in the world.

I learned this lesson myself.  As recently as last year I had no goals or aspirations.  I hated my job; I hated going to school.  I had absolutly no idea what I wanted to do with my life and I was getting nervous about what my future would be.  I decided that I didn’t want to be nervous about my future anymore, so I sat down and contemplated.  I thought about the things that I love to do most in this world and directly at the top of the list… watch movies.  I made the decision… I am going to be a filmmaker.  It doesn’t matter whether I make it big and get rich, or whether I have to live in a car.  I will make movies, period.

Fast forward to this past June and my first film crew job.  I was a Grip/Production Assistant on an ultra low budget film called “Where the Cypress Grows.”  I learned a lot and realized that it’s really fuckin fun to make movies.  That job ended and I already had another one lined up.

My last day on this job is tomorrow (Oct. 13, 2008).  I am a Production Assistant on an independent film called “Respire.”  A production assistant is basically the film crew’s bitch.  We have to be available to assist any department (whether it be: makeup, wardrobe, grip, electrical, lighting, or camera departments) whenever they need help.  The coolest thing about it is the networking I was able to do.  I’m working with the grip crew that worked on Eagle Eye, Body of Lies, Night at the Museum II and The Wire, the Director of Photography who filmed a season or two of The Wire and was camera operator on Live Free or Die Hard, and the Prop Master who did props for: Major Payne, Mars Attacks!, Red Dragon, Wedding Crashers, and Transformers 2 (among others).  The point I’m trying to make is that I was lucky enough to land this gig where the crew possesses a wealth of knowledge that is easy to tap into by simply working with them. I can say with conviction that I have learned more about making movies by working with all these guys over the past month then I’ve learned in my whole life.

I guess the biggest revelation for me is that this is without a doubt the most fun and exciting job I’ve ever had.  It boggles my mind that people actually do this for a living and are able to live a very healthy lifestyle doing it.  I would never have imagined that a job of any kind would be as fun, challenging, and interesting as this was.  Watching movies has been my number one favorite activity for as long as I can remember, but making movies is quite an amazing experience.  I was struck when I realized my primary goal in life… to one day be able to entertain a movie going audience with my movies as much as other peoples movies entertain me.

Anyway, if you don’t know what you want to do with your career, just figure out something that brings you complete joy and chase that.  I don’t know about you but I’d much rather do what I love and be poor then be rich and miserable. So, 40 years from now, when you’re working the drive thru at McDonalds (or God forbid, Taco Bell) you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.

Everyone has dreams, but not everyone chases them.

It’s pretty cool I guess.  If you want to read my old blog CLICK HERE.  Doesn’t really matter I guess since no one will read this anyway.  I mean I’ll try to have people read it but, I mean honestly, I don’t think many people will.

But anyway, for those of you who ARE reading it….

I’m going to assume that we’ve all heard the tired cliche, “There’s no “me” in team.”  Let’s de-construct that phrase, shall we?

I suppose that technically there is “me” in team, in the literal sense.  There is an “m” and an “e.”  They’re not in an order that spells “me” but they’re in there so I guess one could say that there is me in team.  You know what I say to them… FUCK YOU YOU’RE WRONG.

Others say, “There’s no “I” in team.”

That’s indisputable.  Spell “team,” T.E.A.M.  I don’t see a fucking “I.”

In conclusion:

There’s no “me” in team.  Nor is there an “I” in team.  That’s why it’s a team.  A TEAM: a number of persons associated in one joint action.  Some people in teams like to act like they’re not in a team.  But they’re wrong, you’re in a fucking team asshole.  The only way those phrases could be changed would be to either say, “‘I’ am not in a Team,” or “The Team does not have ‘me’ in it.”  If either of those two phrases applies to you, you’re a loser.  If you’re one of those people who are in a team but don’t act like it, you’re an asshole.