Post-Goth

Emerging from the catacombs, it takes a great deal of self-constraint to not screech as if full of the power of the undead.

The time for nightly rounds is over. Now, the time to roam with owls and cats, mice and bats, has ended. It’s a new day, enjoy the light. Take joy in the sun.

Get up and run with legs gone weak from disuse. Being buried as if dead, there was no reason nor room to stretch and flex the limbs. Only the mouth was stretched in the motions of consumption.

Get out of the dark and cease the wasteful carnality.

Yes!

No longer does the beast within make commands. True freedom has been renewed as an essential drive of one’s nature.

Even the image will change eventually. The core of light will overcome the cinder-tinted shroud. The heart of darkness has broken free of the chains of night. The heart now glows with the greater power—the power to make choices beyond the code of substandards, undertones, netherworlds.

The power of the undead has no weapon nor defense to counter the power of choice. Choice to wear a white shirt, for instance, is beyond the comprehension of the denizens of the night.

Certain choices, once made, lead to other grand freedoms. Choosing to enjoy the sun, daylight, even daytime activities, may be difficult at first to previous night-wanderers, but it becomes easier the more often it is chosen. Freedom here, is seen in the ability to move about in both day- and night-time hours. Converting to diurnal modes does not create limits toward the nocturnal, though the reverse often does.

So, now, it is time to emerge from the dungeons, rise up from the grave, shoot forth from the catacombs like a beam of light—quick, powerful, and lively.

Head On

At some point in your life you may realize it’s best for you to meet life head-on. Waiting for things to happen can be a sure way to let someone else decide all the important things for you.

If you’re concerned about your own best case scenarios, you’ll make the important decisions yourself.

One interesting fact of life is that the greatest challenges also generate the most difficult decisions—and the most rewarding outcomes. This is not to say if you encourage challenges in your life you’ll have better rewards. For instance, someone who chops their own leg off may have made a difficult decision, but they maybe didn’t necessarily make the best decision.

Meeting life head-on doesn’t mean making idiotic (or psychotic) decisions, though it may mean being a bit bull-headed; “stubborn”, if you prefer the word.

To do this, you charge forward, hesitate less, make decisions within a few seconds, and seldom look back.

Determined is another word we might attach to someone who meets life head-on, because they act with determination. “Determined” is what we would call the person who exercises their ability to break through the stalling moments which might trip up or ensnare someone who is less than determined.

Course corrections are frequent when you make quick decisions and plow through life. Then again, who’s to say there are more or less requirements to change direction when you meet life head-on than when you don’t? The only thing that’s sure is that the person who meets life head-on will make the corrections faster. If life promises the same amount of learning for everyone, then the person who corrects their course faster will also get there faster.

Where is “there”?

It’s different for us all. It’s our goal. It’s our purpose. Why we make any decision at all, ever, will be because of what our goal is. If your goal is to find adventure, you’ll make decisions to take you toward adventure. If your goal is to only find adventure on the weekends, you’ll find something else to do on the weekdays. However, if you’re determined to find adventure on the weekends, you’ll be steering yourself toward it during the weekdays.

If your purpose is to make life better for others, but you’re not available most of the time, you’ll show your determination to help others when you free up some time.

Waiting for someone else to free up your time would be like expecting the bull to respect your personal space.

Don’t let it happen. Take life

Head

On.

Music on the Mind

Every mind holds a different set of information. This is the beauty of diversity. If we all thought the same, retained the same factoids, collected homogeneous knowledge, or “danced to the same drum”, would life be worth living?

The question is required because we’re not there. We don’t live in such a society. I can only imagine a hive-mind existence being dull, tuneless, worthless.

Recently, I took a break from music. Not that I was there in the collective brain. . .but it was an odd way to live, for sure. Actively trying to avoid music is like denying yourself flights of the imagination.

On the third day I had visions of Spiritus Mundi. No, not really. What really happened was more like the image above: music was flying out of my mind. It was great. There were songs in there, which I hadn’t heard in a long time, that popped up in the middle of common conversations or during the slower moments of a normal day. I experienced an outward flow of remembered songs, and even started to daydream new songs.

It’s possible this is how musicians’ brains work. If you write or perform music, do you find yourself being more creative when the music is playing, or when the music’s over?

By the way, if you read that last line and heard The Doors, then you have an idea how songs might jump out during conversations.

It only takes one word. . .

and an individual mind.

This is the beauty of diversity: to have music on the mind—your music, your mind. If it was someone else’s choice of music, would life be worth anything? Would life be the same? Would your mind be the same?

State of Mind Control

All you see and hear…

One great aspect of life is opportunity to learn.

We learn from our mistakes. We learn from others’ mistakes. We learn from books and movies and teachers and parents. We learn from successes and victories.

Not much can get in the way of us learning, unless we allow it. In fact, the greatest obstacle we face is often ourselves.

Case in point: Florida schools recently ranked third in American national comparisons, according to USNews. This is superb! So why are there so many stories of Florida men doing weird and bizarre things?

“Florida man arrested for handing out marijuana to strangers for Christmas.”

“Florida man climbs into 30-foot well, gets stuck.”

“Florida man claims the wind blew cocaine residue into his car.”

“Florida man, naked, carrying a crossbow, claims aliens are out to get him.”

“Florida man arrested for smuggling Australian cockatoo eggs into the U.S.”

Not all men in Florida are loosely organized. The majority just get a bad reputation because of the few who get themselves in the news because of odd behavior. Still, if the education system is doing so well, why aren’t the residents? Could it be that these few oddballs are ignoring the opportunity to learn?

If the above headlines had your state name in place of Florida, how would it rate?

How long is too long?

Peter Cushing played the original Grand Moff Tarkin. He had a presence in the first Star Wars films powerful enough to warrant his return in more films. The actor’s death in ‘94 prevented his return. You might think that last phrase goes without saying—it is so obvious, it doesn’t need to be written, spoken, or even given a moment’s thought.

And yet…

Grand Moff Tarkin did return in subsequent films—in Peter Cushing’s image.

So, this begs the question: How long can an actor’s image be used in films, even after they’ve passed on, before it’s too much?

Peter Cushing isn’t the only actor to have his image digitally preserved. He isn’t even the only one in the Star Wars film empire. Carrie Fisher had her image used as well, so Princess Leia could continue for a time.

Another example is of Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn in Tron: Legacy. Although Jeff was alive and well, and reprised his role as an older Flynn, the movie required a younger Flynn to react with his son, Sam. Jeff Bridges allowed his face to be “digitally remastered”, so to speak. Though it was easy to see the younger face was computer generated, the human element was captured well. In a movie about a world inside a computer, the digitally enhanced images didn’t need to be too well hidden. The question remains, if future Tron movies are made, will the digital Kevin Flynn make an appearance?

In the Ant Man and the Wasp movie, a digitally rendered younger Michael Douglas as Hank Pym is used to show scenes of an “earlier” time.

Also in Marvel, in the Captain Marvel movie, a younger Nick Fury, played by Samuel Jackson, steals the show in more than a few scenes.

How long will Hank Pym and Nick Fury live on in the Marvel Universe? Does it matter? Is it entirely up to the individual actors? Can the movie-makers own someone’s image? Is it a real ego-boost for the actor’s to know they could live on digitally forever? And lastly: will the fans ever get tired of seeing them?

How long is too long?