This movie put me in a very contemplative mood. That’s a good thing–it’s something I enjoy. I can’t really put my finger on just what makes me feel this way, or even describe too well the feeling itself. It comes from considering questions of life and death, right and wrong, love and all that other stuff. You know, the little things. It’s a mood where things like traffic and dishes suddenly become unimportant. But about the movie…

The movie presents you with a situation; you observe it, try and understand it, and inevitably come to a number of conclusions about it. We judge the actions and the characters involved. But then you are presented with a new situation, which forces you to reevaluate your previous conclusions. This happens a number of times throughout the film as it weaves together quite a variety of personalities and walks of life.

The parallels between events unfolding at the same time in different locations–such as one eye closing while another eye opens–was pretty neat, if sometimes a bit forced.

And of course there was a moral–and a good moral at that. “You don’t have to die for your own sins. I think someone else has already done that.” Well done. The moral was, if not seamlessly, at least skillfully woven through the lives of the different characters and into the fabric of twenty-first century Santa Monica.

There was so much unfolding of the story (with quite a few surprises) that I would like to see this movie again, knowing now what’s going to happen, to watch more for the parallels, the meanings, and the implications of the events. And there are quite a few–you know, life and death, right and…

I started reading Catch-22, but only made it about half-way through the book. I just couldn’t finish. So when the play came along I was excited to approach the quasi-classic work in a different medium.

I wouldn’t describe this show as enjoyable. Not that there aren’t things to like it, or that it was directly enjoyable, but it certainly didn’t make “enjoyable”. The experience is worthwhile from a more intellectual approach. The story reminds me of one of those puzzles where triangles are nested in triangles and they ask: how many triangles are in this picture? The plot is full of allusions and interconnections, I’m sure much more than even those I did catch.

Catch 22 doesn’t have any directly traditional plot progression, but is more like a series of observations, presented for exploration. Catch 22 presents many of the absurdities of life. It’s almost a study in contradiction.

Set at a WWII airbase, Yossarian doesn’t want fly any more bombing missions, because he’s afraid he might be killed. He tries to get the doctor to send him home on a rule which says that crazy people must be sent home.
However, by recognizing his inherent danger and wanting to go be sent home, he proves his sanity and must stay. This is a catch-22, and the play is full of them.

As far as Theater Schemeter was involved, they did a great job. I love their theater–it’s a small, intimate space, with seating around the edge of the room level with the actors. Everyone has first or second row seats. The actors did subtle a number of times on lines which required fast delivery for effect, lessening the impact. At times in the play I felt lost, like we had lost too much in the editing from book to script and were missing something. They used the space well, and the actors did an excellent job of switching between their often multiple roles.

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where some parts were so good and the rest was so bad. I had read excerpts of Walden as part of an English class in school, but must have read with a school-assignment mentality, as nothing really stuck with me. A couple years later I came across a quote from the book, which quote I absolutely adore(d). This single paragraph inspired me to pick up the book and read the entire thing. I have included this section, as well as a few other highlights, below.

Sure enough, parts of the book, where Thoreau waxes philosophical (or extensional), are absolutely amazing. The rest of the book… it’s pretty boring. True to subtitle, Walden is an account of Thoreau’s two years living in the woods by Walden pond. He takes an encyclopedic approach to journaling his experiences. The chapter titles often describe exactly the topic he is relating at the moment: “Visitors,” “The Bean-Fields,” “The Pond in Winter.” He spends pages and pages describing in excruciating detail the travelers who stopped to visit him, accounting for every half-penny he spent in cultivating his crops, and the nature of the bubbles in the ice covering the pond.

I recommend only a few chapters from Walden, “Economy,” “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” “Higher Laws,” and the “Conclusion.” The rest of the chapters are nearly identical in their mundaneness.

At the beginning of the book I made some assumptions about how the story ended, witch thankfully turned out to be wrong. By no means was Thoreau’s return to civilization related to, or indication of, any sort of failure in his experiment. In keeping with his goals, he writes “I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one.”

Included in my copy of Walden was Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience.” Thoreau is thrown in jail for tax evasion, and writes about his experiences. This is an excellent piece, challenging all traditional points of view. It opens the mind to new ways of thinking and an entirely new worldview.

The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor. It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour. If we refused, or rather used up, such paltry information as we get, the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.

(Thoreau, Henry David. Walden.)

I was a little apprehensive going to this show; after all it is ballet. Over the years I was at BYU the ballet numbers at world of Dance did grow on me, but not tons. I didn’t know how well I would do with a full length production. The program description I saw on the Seattle Center website sounded interesting, however; suspended areal dancers and electric violins didn’t sound like your typical Swan Lake. And I wasn’t disappointed. This was a repertory piece, rather than a full-length, which means the show is comprised of a number of shorter performances, rather than the entire evening showcasing one piece. I was surprised to read in the program notes:

“These four exciting works make up what is known as a mixed repertory program. A ballet such as The Sleeping Beauty is known as a full-length. Full-length productions make money at the box office and mixed repertory programs do not. Why? Name recognition: Swan Lake, Cinderella, Coppelia, Nutcracker. Compare those names with the names of the four works you are seeing in this program. Swan Lake versus “Four Ballets You’ve Never Herd Of.” (Peter Boal, Artistic Director)

I’m just the opposite. I prefer a variety of shorter pieces over just one long one. You get to see and experience more. Huh.

All four pieces performed were contemporary, as opposed to classical, which I think helped me relate. They all showed influences of modern and other styles of dance.

Ancient Airs and Dances was the work closest to traditional ballet; it was fun noticing the contemporary influences and seeing how they blended.

Sure enough, Kiss was performed by two dancers suspended by 45 foot ropes. They could touch the ground, but the harnesses allowed a different type of movement than can normally be experienced. It sounds like a cool idea, and it is. I can just imagine how fun it would be experimenting with the concept during the original choreographic process, and accolades to all who try new things. Interestingly enough, the setup also limits what a dancer can do.

Red Angels was a nice combination of modern and ballet. It’s fun seeing what ballet training can do.

Nine Sinatra Songs showcased seven couples dancing to different Frank Sinatra songs. Each accentuated a different attitude and emotion, from classy to comic. It was neat experiencing the contrasting, accentuated, personalities of the dancers and the songs.

For those who doesn’t know, all PNB shows are preceded by a lecture which introduces and gives some background for the evenings performance, and followed by a question and answer session with the director and some of the dancers. Both are free with your ticket, and give additional substance and meaning to the evening. I recommend them both.

One of the things I like about Heinlein is his ability to make a good point within a good story. The intergalactic setting of Citizen of the Galaxy provides a plausible backdrop for the issues Heinlein addresses, which are then easily transferred to life on our little earth. The story takes us with Thorby through five completely different settings as he lives and travels with different groups. He literally goes from being a beggar slave to rich and famous. While such luck is extraordinary even in science fiction, Thorby’s movement between such diverse social circles provides a nice set of contrasts. Most of us spend our entire lives within only one such sphere, oblivious to the existence of others. Each situation casts “freedom” in a different light, with unexpected results.

Typical Hollywood Money

This is your typical Hollywood big money action movie. I was looking forward to seeing the Fantastic Four in action, but alas, this is relegated to just the last 10 minutes of the film. I thought the film was slow to get started; it felt like they took a long time setting up the accident, and another long time discovering what each of their symptoms were. I was disappointed with the amount of bickering between the members of the Fantastic Four–about half the film was devoted to the petty quarrels amongst the Four. Neither was I pleased by the way Ben was so broken up about the rejection of his wife, but by the end of the movie is partying with his arm around the first girl who’ll give him the time of day. To the films credit, the special effects were nice.

Pretty pointless. The entire premise of the film is based on lies, deceit and abuse of friendship, all just to get a night with a girl. Much of what was apparently supposed to be funny just wasn’t. I wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone.

Truly a classic in of Science Fiction. I have encountered the Three Laws of Robotics many times in other settings, but this was my first time going to the source. The Laws are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Sounds pretty good, right? I thought so too, but most of the stories comprising the book are cases where these simple rules produce unexpected emergent behavior. Then the people have to figure out what’s going on, which usually involves determining how the robot is experiencing the situation to produce the unexpected behaviors within some interpretation of the Laws. This leads to a number of surprises.

Written during the 1940s, I, Robot is in many ways still relevant to a world which is slowly becoming increasingly more populated by robots. To the other extreme, on the other hand, reading about the gear-powered internals of Asimov’s robots was somewhat amusing. How far we’ve come, and inconceivable many aspects of today’s technology were back then. It makes you wonder what the future holds, and how the Laws of Robotics will play a role.

What if you loved someone, and did things to express your love for them, but they were looking for signs of your love in ways different than those you were offering? You miss each other, and the other person does not feel your loved. Every day there are loved people who don’t feel loved because the expressions of love they’re getting aren’t the expressions of love they’re looking for. This is because we all speak different love language. Love means different things to different people; each person experiences love, or prefers to be loved, in different ways. What complicates matters is that we tend to express love in the ways we like to receive love, which may not be the ways other people best receive love. And everybody enjoys receiving love. This is the problem The Five Love Languages seeks to solve. The most common love languages are:

1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Receiving Gifts
4. Acts of Service
5. Physical Touch

Dr. Chapman describes each of the languages, as well as a number of “dialects,” giving examples on both how to identify and satiate each of the preferred love languages. I enjoyed this read because it is not only theoretical, but practical as well. The book is sort and simple, keeping to the point, and making for an enjoyable read. This is an approach to love that I have never seen addressed anywhere else, but seems to be an integral part of effective loving. Dr. Chapman presents a strong case for learning the love languages of those you love, and definitely contributes being a better lover.

I ended up very impressed with Peck and The Road Less Traveled. I’ve never read anything quite like it. Some style this as a ‘self-help’ book, but I didn’t experience it that way. It is a book about Life and Truth.

The book is divided into four main topics: Discipline, Love, Growth and Religion, and Grace.
Peck begins by accepting that life is difficult, and then immediately move beyond this.

The section on Discipline expounds on a topic which is effectively carried throughout the book–there is no easy road to happiness; the path includes suffering, discipline, and hard work. The journey is, however, will worth the effort.

The second section of the book is the most beautiful and complete treatise on love I have ever read.

Growth and Religion contains a wonderful critique of religion, pointing out how some religious mindsets do more harm than good.

In the end, however, Peck acknowledges the need for and role of correct religion in our lives.

Reading this book was like going on a journey. When I started, there were times I didn’t know if I was going to finish. The book starts with some rather basic principles, and one must resist the temptation to believe that this journey offers nothing new. Even though many of the truths presented here are timeless, their delivery, along with our general inability or unwillingness to do what is right, make this a journey worth taking. Admittedly, there are details presented that I do not agree with. Sometimes Peck even comes across as arrogant or conceited. Nevertheless, his comments ring with truth and timelessness.

One other lesson I gleaned from this book is that mental health is not a Boolean have or have not. Mental health is just as volatile as physical health–a delicate balance where a little too far to one side isn’t fatal, it just isn’t as good as it could be.

Peck is goal with this book is to help us become our best selves. His message is full love while recognizing the effort required to find true joy. It is indeed a road few travel.