Two Minutes Hate

Let's be clear on this: George Orwell is not only a visionary, but a freaking prophet.  I'm currently playing the part of Winston Smith in the stage adaptation of Orwell's, "1984."  I really didn't have time for this show, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to participate in this iconic show. After having rehearsed multiple times and thought through my character, I've been moved to consider some of the ideas presented in the show.  For instance, one of my lines includes a partial reading of a book called, "The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism," which is a book written by the strawman antagonist, Emmanuel Goldstein.  The line I read from the book deals with a daily event in the lives of those in 1984 which is called the Two Minutes Hate.  According to the book, people are living in a world in which everything is controlled and the result of which is a discontent and unsatisfied life. As you may have experienced, when you have prolonged discontent, eventually it becomes a manifested emotion or action.  Left unchecked, this discontent would typically be directed at the very entity that caused such discontent. In the case of, "1984,", it would be the political system; the Party and Big Brother.  However, in order to avoid being the target of such discontent, the Party created another focal point for hate. This focal point is the Brotherhood, which is supposedly the group working against the Party. The Brotherhood is led by Emmanuel Goldstein, another focal point for the hate. The Party has also made it a crime to not focus your hate on that to which they are directing you.  The purpose is to exhaust your hate and discontent such that it gets it out of your system. Once out of your system, you no longer feel the internal pressure to manifest a hate towards the Party.

Romance Wanted: Dead or Alive

So, I've been talking with several people lately, some friends, some class mates, and from what I hear, romance is dead. And it's always women I hear say that.  Some say that it never existed and is just something for the books, some have said that it's something of the past.  Although, the people I've heard say it are usually in a long-term relationship who seem to have resigned themselves to the fact that THEY will never get romance in their relationship but are not going to be ending their relationship.  They've convinced themselves that romance is a pipe-dream and doesn't really exist because it doesn't, and will never, exist for them.  If romance truly existed, but doesn't for them, then they feel bad about their relationship.  If romance doesn't exist for anyone, then it's not bad that they don't have it in their relationship.

Did that sum it up?

Well, to those women who believe that romance is dead, you're right!  And to those who feel that romance is NOT dead, you're right!

But I'm going to say that it's only partially your fault.  But not in the same way as it is ours.

Crunching butterflies

I've always been a fan of the amateur study of people.  Really, not many things are more fun for me that I can do in public.  I love watching the cause and effect and how they interact. And with each person being completely different, the interactions are almost NEVER similar. How one person reacts to a good joke may be the complete opposite of how another person reacts, or even the original depending on the lunar cycle, what they ate that morning, who they came in contact with, what their routine for keeping their energy level up is, etc. I bet you could probably add a couple things to that.  Many many more things.  What affects your mood? Is it an outfit that just doesn't fit right? A nostalgic thought you had this morning after hearing your highschool sweetheart's song on the radio? If you woke up refreshed? How about 5 minutes earlier than you expected? Ever have those days where you wake up an hour early, refreshed, and you have all this time to kickstart the day?  What about the opposite? What if the line at Starbucks is 2 cars more than normal and you know that might make you late for work?