inherently different

Archive for January, 2005

With the help of The Defective Yeti, it’s time again to pick your 2004 film favorites. Who you got?

If for some reason that doesn’t work for ya, you can also go to: The Defective Yeti’s Oscars Page and enter this ten-digit number:

4321053817

NOTE: The winner of my pool will win something… not sure what yet, but it will be something either really tasty or cool… possibly even both. So enter now or miss out.

In case you’re wondering, here are my pics:
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Man, I am really lacking in focus today. I have an two articles due on monday and I should be cranking them out right now, but what am I doing? Going on a hike on the Waihe Valley trail. It’s a relatively short hike (2 miles each way) and only moderately difficult (uphill most of the first half-mile or so), but it will probably take about 3 hours total. That’s what I’d rather be doing, but not what I should be doing. Pics later. Enjoy your saturday.

I gained a great deal of weight after my move here and found myself with very little motivation to exercise regularly. Of course, once I started to see myself in the mirror, I knew it was time to do something. I’ve lost a few pounds in the last few months and I didn’t really do much more than change my diet. Did I eliminate meat and saturated fat? Nope. I just ate less and cut out fried food. That was all it took to drop almost 15 lbs now.

Once, a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, told me that I should become a vegetarian. “Vegetarian’s are much healthier than carnivores,” she said matter of factly. “Look at me, I’m healthier than most people I know.”

I looked at her. All 5 feet, seven inches & 98 lbs of her, standing on the street, fighting a stiff wind by holding onto a stop sign. I imagine her “friends” whom I’ve met a few times. They’re all emaciated, really slow-witted, and tend to sleep a lot. They are the least healthy people I’ve ever met and I spent some time in third-world countries. One of her roommates (his name is Charles but goes by Che, like the revolutionary) even has vitamin D deficiency disease).

“Aren’t I the only person you know who still eats meat?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she mumbled as she averted my gaze.

“Well, then aren’t all the rest of your friends and co-workers either vegetarian or vegan?” I continued. She was just out of college and had recently taken a job at a Whole Foods.

“So?” she defended.

“So, then what you’re saying is that you’re healthiest person among a bunch of other vegetarians.”

She’s been a vegan for about 12 years or two years less than we’ve been friends. When we met she weighed about 135 lbs, had bad skin, and would have to stop and rest climbing halfway up one flight of stairs. She attributed her weight, skin and physical fitness to her steady diet of meat. I might not have been the only one who counseled her to cut out the fast food, eat less and exercise more, but she didn’t listen to me either. Prefering to jump into a vegetarian diet her roommate suggested.

Over the years, she’s tried to convince me that being a vegetarian is far healthier than being a carnivore. She has also told me stories about how inhumane animal farming is and how pesticides are killing us slowly. She might have once told me that wearing a tin hat prevented the CIA from tuning into your thoughts, but I could be imagining that. Either way, she’s one of those people who always has a stat or figure, wholly unsupported by medical science, about how much healthier vegetarians are. Mostly I just nod my head benignly and politely ask her to pass me the A-1 sauce. The few times I’ve tried to talk to her about why I choose to eat meat, the discussion invariably sinks into an argument about evolution, famine cycles, overpopulation, and animal cruelty. All of which are valid concerns, but aren’t going to convince me to stop eating bambi if the mood for a lean steak strikes me.

When it comes to healthy diets, there is very little medical evidence to suggest that cutting meat out of your diet completely will make you healthier. You know the food pyramid we all saw back in gradeschool? It is still true today. A balanced diet consisting of vegetables, grains, dairy products and meat in moderation, will do wonders for your physical, emotional and mental well-being.

These days when she sends me a link from some meat-is-murder website or a piece of pro-animal propaganda from some patchoulli sniffing hippie, I just respond by sending this link which has some good information about vegetarian myths. Of course, there are rebuttals and in the interest of fairness, here’s a link that refutes the previous link’s findings.

I think really it all boils down to common sense. Eating a Carl’s Jr. Double Star, super-sized fries, and a 32-oz coke every day is going to kill you. Not because of how much meat you’re eating, but what and how much your eating.

Moderation in all things, yeah?

The ever lovely Ursula of Ursala’s Not So Secret History pointed out that the IRS is offering tax payers a bevy of FREE tax preparation and filing options. There are a number of companies (from H&R Block to TurboTax) offering free online tax preparation and filing based on income (more than $X, less than $X) and some that have no restrictions whatsoever. Well, there is one restriction and that is that you must access the tax preparation company through the IRS.gov website.

Who said nothing is free?

There really are only two kinds of people in this world. Predators and prey. You can live in a blind panic all you want, but it won’t change the fact that you’re either eating or being eaten.

Me? I’d rather partake of the feast than be the main course. I’m too fatty anyway and since people started cutting down on carbs, any chance that they’d want to take a bite of my tasty bits pretty much flew out the window. Perhaps it took wing with my compassion, which seems to have left me for greener (and more hospitable) pastures.

Yeah, I know. I’m an asshole, but at least I’m an honest asshole which is more than you can say about the current leader of the free world.

On a completely different tangent, the Red Queen and I went for a hike with our friend Rachel. We went to a place called Fishbowl, which a protected little cove that is loaded with various creatures in various levels of predation. Some eat, those that don’t are eaten. Which brings me back to my original point: Predators and prey. Which one are you?

Lest you get the impression that I’ve gotten all soft on you, the last post was just something I started writing and, after a few minutes wondering if I should or shouldn’t, posted. I struggle often with what should and shouldn’t see the light of day lest I get more hate mail than I usually do.

That happens on occasion. Like last night, I was over at Wetwired just doing my nightly perusal when I caught py’s post about Tsunami Relief. Now, I’m just as heartless as the next guy, but when it comes to feigned compassion, I draw the line. I wrote the following:

Py and his cohorts over at wetwired are a good bunch and I’m sure their concern is legitimate, but enough with the Tsunami Relief effort!

So a fucking wave obliterated substantial portions of southeast asia, india and northwest africa. Call it God’s will if you’re a Christian or Allah cleansing the Earth of infidels of you’re a Muslim. Either way, the end result is that the Earth’s population got a tiny bit more managable. Before you comment, know that there are few causes I believe in as strongly as I believe in perils of overpopulation and the idea that only the fittest should survive. Is it sad that hundreds of thousands were displaced, killed or injured by the tsunami?

Is that any worse than the substantial number of homeless and unemployed that can’t seem to get back on track in the US? The thousands of women who succumb to breast cancer each year? Or the numbers of people who die of HIV/AIDS worldwide every day? Where is the great outpouring of concern for these people? Are they any less worthy of your compassion? Why isn’t there a telethon for these people? Hell, most of the areas affected by the Tsunami are playgrounds of the rich. That’s why you see so many people giving to this particular cause. Once one movie star decided to give, it was just a matter of keeping up with the Jones’ or more appropriately, the Clooney’s and Bullockses. Phuket? Hell, that area has needed a good hosing for some time now. I’ve been to Phuket and believe me, it needed to be rinsed off like a $2 hooker the morning after a particularly busy evening.

I guess the biggest reason why I’m so pissed by the whole Tsunami Relief effort is because it is just so fucking fake. I’m sure millions of tiny violins are playing for the dead, but c’mon! A vast majority of these people are the kinds of people you wouldn’t allow your children to play with if you met them on a vacation! They’re poor, disabled, aged, retarded, unemployed, unhealthy or of a lower economic class. Honestly, if you were on vacation in Sri Lanka and one of these people walked up to you on the street and begged you for a few rupees, you’d tell them to fuck off, or at the mimimum pretend that you don’t see them! If you’re going to tell me I’m wrong, I’ll call you a liar. The fact that many people in the US (arguably the richest, most indifferent, culturally myopic country on the planet thanks to GW Bush and his fanatical Christian support base) are suddenly caring about the welfare of foreigners is fucking ridiculous in the extreme. Perhaps they should care more for the welfare of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the innocent citizens in those countries that are being killed every day as Bush tries to hunt down the terrorists responsible for 9/11.

Where is the fucking rock concert for the innocent Iraqis? The Star Studded Telethon for Afghanistan? Want to save the world? Why not start in your own backyard. Go out, find a homeless person and buy them a warm winter jacket, spare some time to work in a hospice caring for the sick, or join Habitat for Humanity and build something. Giving money to a cause is all well and good, but only action truly shows your commitment to helping others.

“Life doesn’t always work out the way we want.”

In the big book of truth, that statement should be listed first, followed closely by, �We always hurt the one�s we love.�

Of course, it is the very unpredictability of human nature that makes life interesting if not exciting. The real problem with most things in life is keeping perspective from ruining the moment.

Take, for example, the idea of love. While you�re held within love�s fragile grasp, the future makes sense, your decisions are easy and the past is always seen through rose-colored glass. The moment you fall out of love though, nothing is easy, the future is suspect and everything looks dark.

I know that this analysis might seem pessimistic, but it is honest for better or worse. And in that way, I think I�m healthier than your average romantic. I know that barring death, love ends eventually. The phrase, �Til Death Do We Part,� in the standard marriage vow was created because of the relatively temporary lifespan of love. The phrase isn�t, �Eternally Yours,� because love has a life cycle of its own that can�t be controlled or anticipated.

But love is much more than an ethereal benchmark of longevity. It is also an exhibition of control or more appropriately, the complete loss of it. It is that freefall of emotion, that undeniable sense of chaos, that makes loving someone the scariest undertaking known to human kind.

The pursuit of love is the only reason we still exist as a species. If it weren�t for love, nothing on this planet would exist. Love is the great motivator. Men, and some women, have been pushed to do incredible things, all in the name of love. Of course, not all that love has wrought has been good. Wars have been waged, civilizations changed, and lives ruined in every imaginable way, all for love. Is there any question then that love is the currency that makes the world go round?

Yes, love does make the world go round. Love, and the pursuit of it, forces us to wake up in the morning. Among us, the hardworking might think money is truly the reason why you get up and go to work, but what is that money for? If not to buy some bauble, clothes, a car, a home, all in the pursuit of love is it not? Even those who can’t be bothered to love someone else surely love themselves enough to work hard to get the things that please them. No one works purely to survive these days, so what do they really use the money for? My guess, if I spent any real thought on the subject, is that they use it to grease the wheels of attraction.

While money can make someone attractive, only love can keep that attraction from fading once the money is gone. Am I a romantic? Well, some might disagree, but in my own rational and pragmatic way, yes. Of course, your mileage may vary.

“Winning isn’t everything… it is the only thing!”

Vince Lombardi built a legacy of excellence with that quote. In case you’re not a sportsfan, Vince was the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers in the 60s. I bring this up because I like winning and I think second place is really just “first loser.” No throws a parade for second place. Third place won’t get you on a box of Wheaties. In fact, anyone who says that trying is as good as winning never won a goddamned thing in their lives. Poor saps. So, yeah, “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Sure, bumper sticker philosophy isn’t deep, but quite often it is infuriatingly correct. I’ve got one screenplay in a contest and while I haven’t heard anything yet, no news is good news. I have been working on another one, a comedy in fact, that I’ll be submitting to another contest in March. I’m doing this even if my first submission doesn’t yield the desired result and not because I have delusions of my screenwriting ability. I do it because I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that comes when you finish a screenplay and submit it for professional consideration. If you’re not impressed, try writing something of any length outside of a typical blog post. Heck, write a 1200 word article on hair replacement strategies and then tell me it was easy.

For me, a 1200 word article IS easy, but a full-length screenplay is an uncomfortable experience. Showing a completed screenplay to someone else is downright painful. Having never given birth and quite honestly having no intention of being present during a birth in my lifetime, I can’t quite say that writing, finishing, and submitting a screenplay is akin to giving birth. But if by that analogy you mean that you grunt, bleed and suffer to squeeze out something you created out of whole cloth, then yes, I’ve given birth on two separate occasions. Perhaps passing a stone through my urinary tract would be more appropo, but birth it is until a female screenwriter corrects me.

I do most of my best work late at night while the red queen is asleep. I think it might be because I get easily distracted, which is also why writing a complete screenplay is rather difficult for anyone, including me.

Do me a favor, write 10 pages of a screenplay. That’s 10 minutes of screen time. It doesn’t matter where in the screenplay those ten pages are or that they’re out of context. Just write the ten pages. When you’re through, if you have it in you, write ten more only this time, they should be the ten pages directly before what you have written or the ten pages after what you have written. Then, keep going in a similar vein. Before you know it, you’ll have 120 pages, which is the standard number of pages in a full-length script. The things you’ll go through in the process of producing those 12 ten-page increments will give you an idea of what I go through. Of course, your exercise doesn’t have to yield anything worthwhile. My efforts are aimed at becoming a represented screenwriter with at least one screenplay being optioned.

With that, I’m back at it.

Daxahol, requested an image of Molokai Hot Sauce and I diligently oblige. This stuff looks volcanic even with the curry, coconut and other flavors cutting it down. They have about 80 different ones from what the Red Queen told me.

And here is the daytime view Meimur requested (I live in the green garbage recipticle in the back there):

6, of 6togo fame, requests a picture of the Malasadas and Mochi from the Homemaid bakery in Wailuku… I’ll have to hump over to the otherside of the island, but having these tasty treats in hand is truly worth the trip. Hang tight for that one.

To put in your request for a custom photo, leave a comment in The One Where You Control The Vertical.

Meimur, the lovely host of Socially Inept, asked me to provide an image of my view. Here it is:

Okay. I’m kidding. That’s the Iao Needle. I have to admit that I haven’t checked my blog all day so I just got this request. It’s a little before 7 pm here so the view isn’t all that spectacular. For what it is worth, here is what it looks outside right now:

I’ll take another image tomorrow when the sun is out (provided it isn’t raining like it was off and on today).

Another request, from Daxahol, is for an image of a specific hot sauce that is popular here on Maui. That image is forthcoming.

To put in your request for a custom photo, leave a comment in The One Where You Control The Vertical.