Author: Cubilone

Χάλογουιν

Δεν είναι ότι το μισώ. Έχει την πλάκα του. Γίνονται πάρτι, οι άνθρωποι ντύνονται και κάνουν πάρτι (όσο περισσότερα, τόσο το καλύτερο!) και είναι μια ευκαιρία να κάνεις μαραθωνίους με τρομακτικές ταινίες που δεν θα έβλεπες καμιά άλλη μέρα του χρόνο, όπως τον επικό μαραθώνιο στο campus στο Aarhus που είχε Dawn of the Dead (το παλιό, το αστείο!), το Ôdishon και άλλα που δεν θυμάμαι. Πριν τρία χρόνια είχα περάσει καταπληκτικά με τη Shae και τη Whitney και με τους αυτοσχεδιασμούς μας.

Χρόνο με τον χρόνο όμως το βρίσκω όλο και πιο δύσκολο να καταλάβω τι ακριβώς γιορτάζουμε με το Halloween. Έστω να δεχτώ ότι δεν είναι απλά μια αμερικανιά και ότι πλέον έχεις το δικαίωμα να γιορτάζεις ό,τι γουστάρεις από το μεταμοντέρνο ρεπερτόριο της παγκόσμιας πολιτιστικής κληρονομιάς θρησκευτικών γιορτών. Έστω επίσης να δεχτώ ότι όσο ισχύει αυτό το μεταμοντέρνο pick ‘n’ mix κουλτούρας (το οποίο ο Idea Channel είπε, και σωστά, ότι είναι η πεμπτουσία του hipsterισμού), δεν έχει σημασία αν ακολουθείς την παράδοση ή δημιουργείς την δική σου ερμηνεία της παράδοσης και άρα όσο μπορείς να γιορτάζεις τα Χριστούγεννα χωρίς να είσαι χριστιανός, μπορείς να ντύνεσαι και το Halloween χωρίς να σε νοιάζουν οι νεκροί ή το πραγματικά μυστικιστικό και μεταφυσικό.

Όμως όλες αυτές οι γιορτές μέσα από αυτή τη διασικασία εκφυλίζονται. Ειδικά το Halloween, και ειδικά όπως το βιώνω εγώ, δεν έχει καμία σχέση με το τι υποτίθεται πως συμβολίζει. Είναι η μέρα στην οποία το κενό μεταξύ του κόσμου των ζωντανών και των νεκρών είναι στο ετήσιο ναδίρ του, η μέρα που τα φαντάσματα βγαίνουν παγανιά και η μέρα που οι ζωντανοί τιμούν τον άλλο κόσμο. Εγώ όμως δεν βλέπω τίποτα από αυτά. Βλέπω κολοκύθες, πλαστικούς σκελετούς, προσφορές σε παιχνίδια τρόμου στο Steam, αφιερώματα σε θρίλερ (όπως προανέφερα) και ταινίες φρίκης, halloween parties που είναι σαν δεύτερες Απόκριες που οι άντρες ντύνονται ζόμπια και οι γυναίκες σέξι βρικολακίνες (ακριβώς σαν τις Απόκριες δηλαδή)… Υπάρχει γενικά μια έμφαση στο πώς θα φανούμε/ντυθούμε, στην εικόνα, στην αισθητική, αλλά δεν υπάρχει καμιά πνευματική υπόσταση πλέον σε αυτή τη γιορτή. Είναι ένα κενό καταναλωτικό κουφάρι, ακριβώς όπως τα Χριστούγεννα. Υπάρχει το σύμβολο, αλλά το σύμβολο δεν συμβολίζει τίποτα, υπάρχει μόνο ως εικόνα. To Halloween είναι, όπως θα έλεγε και ο Baudrillard, ένα simulacrum.

Όταν το Halloween καθιερώθηκε, οι άνθρωποι όντως πίστευαν σε φαντάσματα, πνεύματα και μάγισσες. Υπήρχε μια ουσία στο να γιορτάζεις κάτι στο οποίο πιστεύεις. Τώρα γιορτάζουμε το scary-cool, τις έξυπνες στολές, το σύμπαν του Nightmare Before Christmas και τις ψαγμένες ταινίες. Είναι μια πλούσια γαρνιτούρα χωρίς ουσία. Λίγο σαν τα Κάλαντα, όμως και σε αυτή την περίπτωση, η τοπική παράδοση χάνεται και κυριαρχεί αυτό που αναγνωρίζεται ως Χριστουγεννιάτικο σχεδόν σε κάθε χώρα του κόσμου.

Αντίθετα, μια καλή περίπτωση γιορτής των νεκρών που για μένα έχει κάποιο νόημα είναι το Día de los Muertos. Εκτός απ’το ότι μου αρέσει η αισθητική του, νιώθω ότι οι Μεξικάνοι όντως εκφράζουν κάτι πνευματικό μέσα από τις γιορτές τους, όντως θυμούνται πως οι νεκροί είναι μάλλον χαρούμενοι και γιορτάζουν στο όνομα τους αναλόγως. Δεν είμαι σε θέση να ξέρω τι πανικός γίνεται στο Μεξικό τις ίδιες αυτές μέρες και αν θα είχα την ίδια εντύπωση ότι όλο αυτό δεν έχει ουσία, πάντως από εδώ που βρίσκομαι, στην Ελλάδα με παραδόσεις που πεθαίνουν, σαν γιορτή μου φαίνεται πως έχει περισσότερο νόημα μέσα της, ακόμα κι αν στο βάθος της ουσίας, το Halloween και το Día de los Muertos γιορτάζουν το ίδιο πράγμα.

Αυτό που θέλω να πω είναι πως οι γιορτές μας έχουν καταστραφεί, γιατί πλέον δεν έχουμε λόγο να γιορτάζουμε. Σαν να ήταν όλοι οι άνθρωποι αθάνατοι και να συνέχιζαν να γιορτάζουν τα γενέθλια τους, σαν να ήταν όλοι ευνούχοι και στείρες και πάλι να είχαν γιορτές γονιμότητας. Στηρίζω νέες γιορτές με νέους συμβολισμούς που θα μπορούσαν να αναδείξουν νέες παραδόσεις, προς το παρόν όμως δεν βλέπω αυτόν τον παγκόσμιο πολιτισμό να έχει όρεξη να παράξει κάτι νέο, παρα μόνο να λιμαίνεται, να ξαναζεσταίνει και να διαστρευλώνει το παλιό και να το παρουσιάζει ρεμιξαρισμένο. Δεν έχω κάτι με όλη αυτή τη διαδικασία, απλά αν θέλουμε ο πολιτισμός μας να έχει κάποια ουσία, θα πρέπει να τη δημιουργήσουμε, και όχι να τη βρούμε ψάχνοντας προς τα πίσω.

Μερικές ιδέες για νέες γιορτές:

Εορτασμοί των ηλιοστασίων (ήδη γίνεται απλά το έχουμε ψιλοξεχάσει ή το χειμερινό ηλιοστάσιο μεταμορφωθήκε στα Χριστούγεννα και η μπάλα χάθηκε). Καλοκαίρι στους λόφους (Midsummer) και χειμώνα ωραία στη ζεστασιά του σπιτιού (η γιορτή που ούτως ή άλλως αντικαταστάθηκε από τα Χριστούγεννα).

Οι πανσέληνοι είναι αργίες.

Μέρες των νεκρών με πραγματικές τιμές στους νεκρούς, χωρίς να λείπουν και τα αντίστοιχα πάρτι· λίγο όπως στο Μεξικό, όχι απλά να ντύνεσαι ζόμπι επειδή όλη η βιομηχανία του Hollywood σε έχει κάνει να σου αρέσουν τα ζόμπι.

Εβδομάδα χωρίς internet! Η εβδομάδα της Επιστροφής – λίγο σαν τα Χριστούγεννα, οι οικογένεις και φίλοι βρίσκονται μαζί χωρίς κινητά και χωρίς facebook. Για τους πιο φανατικούς θα υπάρχει και η Σαρακοστή χωρίς ρεύμα.

Τριήμερο gaming – κάτι σαν το Wintereenmas.

Γενέθλια σε κύκλους των 1000 ημερών – θα γράψω κάτι γι’αυτό σύντομα!

Review: The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made

The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever MadeThe Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made by Greg Sestero

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now would be a perfect time for anyone who hasn’t watched The Room (2003) by Tommy Wiseau to watch it. Guys, this movie has been called “the Citizen Kane of bad movies”. There’s a game made based on the story, the following for this cult classic has been going strong for years -it’s still not very famous in Greece but I’m working to change that- and, obviously, a book about it just came out.

A book written by Mark (Greg Sestero) of “Oh, hi Mark!” fame and co-written by Tom Bissell, a person for whom my respect increases by the day. A book I could hardly put down and kept reading it standing up in the metro and in the bus and which I finished in just 3 days. I usually take long with books – sometimes because I force myself to read them rather than enjoying them. This one was different.

The Room is a special case of “WTF, how does this thing exist?!” and a lot of its charm lies on precisely that inexplicability. Who is Tommy Wiseau? Where did he find the film’s $6m budget? Why did he become the unique, strange character he is? Greg Sestero divulges a lot on how he met Tommy Wiseau, what made their relationship special, disastrous and in a way admirable, all the way up to the making of The Room, but those fundamental questions on the very essence The Room are never answered directly. He gave away enough to make me even more interested in Tommy Wiseau as a personality and what he and his ways might have to teach me (I didn’t believe there was anything I could learn from him before I read this book) but not too much, which would ruin everything. At the same time, The Disaster Artist has a certain kind of flow and style that it, as is correctly advertised on the cover, reads more like a novel – and you have to remind yourself that not only is it real life you’re reading about, but also it’s about The Room. The freakin’ ROOM!

Another reason I connected very well with the book was that Greg Sestero’s way of thinking, his reaction to some things, his relationship with Tommy and his whole demeanour reminded me of myself. I could almost imagine myself in a parallel universe in all the situations retold in the book, and that helped a great deal with my immersion in this tragicomic story.

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Review: The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher CreativityThe Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Artist’s Way is one of those books that change you – one of those that are made to change you, and you buy them because you yourself want to change. It’s a course in self-discovery, acceptance and creative birth.

These are the basics: for every morning of every week for the 12-week duration of the course -one chapter for each week-, the blocked artists choosing to follow the Way have to:

1)Do three pages of free writing every morning, a daily ceremony known as the Morning Pages. This acts as a mind-clearing meditation routine, a brainstorming machine and a way of spotting trends: weeks after writing the pages the artist on the Way may analyse his or her morning pages and notice trends in his or her daily writings: unfulfilled artistic urges, changes that need to be made for the person to reach harmony and happiness, sudden ideas and other great things.

2) Take themselves out to at least one Artist’s date per week, in which they have to indulge in whatever it is they love doing but would not normally allow themselves to be lost in (remember, this book is meant for blocked artists -read: most of us-).

3) Complete tasks in personal archaeology and self-discovery, wherein they have to dig up favourite creative childhood pass-times they gave up because of humiliation, “growing up” or other creativity-killing reasons.

I completed my 12(+1 lazy one) weeks a few days ago. I can safely say that it had great effects on me. Doing morning pages has now become more of a good habit of mine, and even if I didn’t do all of the tasks, it’s one of the books you have to go through at some point again for inspiration. It says so in the end, too.

If you’re a blocked artist, believe you can’t do art because you think you’re too old to start or “can’t draw” (or are “tonedeaf” or “terrible at writing” or “have no ideas” ad nauseam), think whatever you do needs to be perfect from the beginning or don’t bother because what you would create wouldn’t appeal to the masses, you should really try following The Artist’s Way.

The only thing I would add to the course itself would be a special NoSurf task or, even better, a complete revisit to the book that takes what the world looks like in 2013 into account; I strongly feel the internet is becoming, at the same time, the most important invention and the single strongest creativity and motivation killer mankind has ever known. I mean, in the 1993 edition that I have, there’s already a no-reading week included in the course for eliminating distractions and for focusing time and energy on the creative juices within, but the internet is proving to be a distraction magnitudes greater than reading the paper or a book could ever be. We come in contact with the works of the world’s most talented and creative on a basis of addiction, almost.

What I really mean is that I’ve grown tired of and alarmed at the great artists I personally know who keep getting demotivated by seeing someone else’s graphic, photo or drawing on Tumblr or listening to that fantastic song or watching that clever video on Youtube, instead of getting inspired, as they claim they should be. It’s more “look how much others have progressed instead of me” and much less “this is possible and I could do it too.”

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Living Life on the Small Screen and The First Steps of Combatting Internet Addiction

Or on any screen, I might add. I’m putting this HighExistence post right here to remind me in the coming days of my resolution to fight my internet addiction, and at the same time help you, dear reader, ask yourself whether you’re rockin’ in the same old boat. We have to do this together.

Because infinite novelty is becoming a real problem, you know.

Have I been turning my back to life? Imagining how many hours Daphne must have witnessed the above is discomforting.
Have I been turning my back to life? The number of hours Daphne must have witnessed the above is discomforting.

 

I have been counting my growth-killers and the distraction brought about from the internet has definitely been my No. 1 for months now, if not years – if not for far more than I dare to admit. I’ve been more than reluctant to do anything long-term to try to stop it, which proves that I really am addicted to the internet. Remember The Shallows? It’s no accident I pursued to read that book and praised it so much in my review.

A few resources in case you’re about to take this as seriously as I am:

Step 1: Do some reading: NoSurf, in the vain of NoPoo or NoFap. Will help motivate you and make you see that it’s not just you…
Step 2: Treat it like a real addiction.You have to take measures to distance yourself from your poison. HabitRPG (I’m a sucker for gamification, baby), Chains.cc, Freedom, Leechblock, RescueTime are good starting points.

Note that I haven’t implemented all the above yet but I’m making this open call for everyone interested to start together, inspired by some people who opted to stay away from the internet for 30 days and one who even made a blog to document the process.

On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs

Bullshit Jobs Rage

In the year 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that, by century’s end, technology would have advanced sufficiently that countries like Great Britain or the United States would have achieved a 15-hour work week. There’s every reason to believe he was right. In technological terms, we are quite capable of this. And yet it didn’t happen. Instead, technology has been marshaled, if anything, to figure out ways to make us all work more. In order to achieve this, jobs have had to be created that are, effectively, pointless. Huge swathes of people, in Europe and North America in particular, spend their entire working lives performing tasks they secretly believe do not really need to be performed. The moral and spiritual damage that comes from this situation is profound. It is a scar across our collective soul. Yet virtually no one talks about it…

Excellent article by David Graeber that had been sitting on my tab stack for a few months now waiting for me to post it here. It confirms my suspicion that we don’t need to work as much as we do and that much of what people are paid to do is purposefully not useful.

Of course, it could also be that I’m looking for further evidence and support to ground my avoidance of these bullshit jobs, what has made me prefer unemployment to -in my idealistic, INFP eyes- ridding my life of meaning. Some people would call such behaviour laziness, but I suspect those people probably wouldn’t agree with the article anyway.

Review: The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language

The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English LanguageThe Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language by Mark Forsyth

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I could quote almost any page of this book to demonstrate its awesomeness and healthy doses of “aha!” it can induce on the reader but that wouldn’t do The Etymologicon justice; Mark Forsyth does such an awesome job of linking one word to the next with such -delighfully British- humorous descriptions and eloquence that simply picking and choosing doesn’t feel right.

This book is an ode to the history and connectedness of languages, one delicious word -or group of words- after the other. You can get a taste of Forsyth’s etymology- and origin-of-language-related work in his blog Inky Fool, which worked as his groundwork for The Etymologicon. If you find any of it interesting at all, chances are you’ll fall in love with this book just like Daphne and I both did.

On an unrelated note, I think it’d be interesting to share with you that the previous owner of my copy felt the need to correct grammar and syntax mistakes, such as having “But” and “And” at the beginning of sentences, with her (I’m assuming it’s a bitchy, uptight, female 60 -year-old-virgin English teacher) black marker; at other places she noted “Daft!” or underlined mistakes obviously intended for humour. To give you a little example at some point the book reads: “What the proofreader gets is a proof copy, which he pores over trying to fnid misspellings and unnecessary apostrophe’s.” She went ahead and deleted that last apostrophe. She really did. “…they who are so exact for the letter shall be dealty with by the Lexicon, and the Etymologicon too if they please…” The book begins with this quote by the apparently very prolific John Milton; the lady would have done well to have taken this piece of advice to heart.

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Archive – You Make Me Feel

This has been my on-and-off earworm for months now… Real surprise it turned up in a Garnier advertisement (thank you Youtube for forcing ads down my throat… On that account, I think this is the best short ad for the watch-this-before-you-watch-what-you-really-wanna-watch format).

Tom Bissell

tom-bissell-1

During one of my latest web strolls I stumbled upon (not using StumbleUpon but doing it the old-fashioned way, you know, by actual chance) Tom Bissell. He’s an author and columnist who writes, among other things, for and about video games. I thought his style and content was heartfelt and had something genuine and important to say. Here’s what made me instantly interested in his work:

Video games: the addiction (his story of being simultaneously a GTA4 and a cocaine addict and how he reminisces both experiences)Poison tree: a letter to Niko Belic about GTA5 (the way I see it, a spiritual successor to the above article. Includes big realisations and critiques on the industry with which I completely agree)

I’ll leave the rest of the reading to you. Now I’m waiting for a couple of books he wrote to arrive in the mail, one on video games (Extra Lives) and another (The Disaster Artist) he co-authored with Greg Sestero -that is Mark from the legendary movie The Room (!)- on the story of the film and that of Tommy Wiseau. Can’t wait!