Performing Arts

Ayn Rand has a great respect for the Performing Arts. She shares my belief that it takes an extremely talented individual to be able to co-create a story and person with his/her own body only. "In an almost literal sense, he has to embody the soul created by the author of the work; a special kind of creativeness is required to bring that soul into full physical reality" (Rand). The performer puts their entire soul into each performance in order to give the audience an unforgettable experience. A great understanding and an open mindedness is needed in order to truly appreciate their work.

In her short Novel Anthem, she portrays the human as being closed minded, and very ignorant to anything but their present. Obviously for her to write a warning against this kind of behavior, she must have had witnessed it in people of her time. This made me suspect that she would highly regard performers, because they need to be open minded in order to capture the character they are creating, and create the magic of another life through their own. In short, I am not surprised about the way Ayn Rand feels about the Performing Arts.

1984- When has the government gone too far?

"Whichever way you turned, the telescreen faced you." (Orwell 110) They were everywhere, watching your every move and listening for signs of treason and treachery, however minor it was. If the police caught wind of anything, you could be arrested within the hour. Out of the ordinary right? This is the George Orwell's world of 1984. Or is it our Present Day world? A law passed in Israel and which the US is also considering allows police to invade and search the houses of any citizen suspected of minor crimes. These people wouldn't even know that their privacy had been invaded.

What we thought was just a fictitious dreamworld of deception may become our perceptive reality before long. "Knesset passed this invasive and sensitive law with no trouble... From now on, police will be able to obtain information from the telephone, cell phone and Internet companies with virtually no restrictions and with no connection to the severity of the crime under investigation." (Haaretz 2) I find it this to be unsettling and preposterous. If we allow them to take our right to solitude, we allow them to disfigure our human nature. "Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your skull" (Orwell 27) Freedom is the ability to live without intrusion from the government.

Utopia, Friend or Foe?

Love, poetry, goodness, sin, freedom, real danger, God, dirt, earth, pizza plants, life. What would you risk in order to have all these things that we are entitled to in our society and we take for granted? I believe that Aldous Huxley would risk anything for it, and i would like to believe that I would too. In Huxley's Brave New World, Society and civilization as we know it had been changed into a hideous world where babies are manufactured and conditioned to be "happy" and have no other feelings and be drug-happy and promiscuous. John could not take this "happiness" and so he renounced it all to live a simple, free life. It's satirical to think that he was called "savage". Through this book, Huxley was trying to warn us about where we were heading with our constantly changing morals and laws, but especially our perception of what is right and what is wrong.

There have been many similar warnings through literature and even film. One such film is the Disney Original Movie: WALL-E. WALL-E is a film that can touch your heart, make you laugh, and teach you many lessons all in 98 minutes of nonstop fun. It is the story of a robot named Wall-E whose directive is to pick up trash off the earth and then compact it. While doing so, a star ship lands on the earth and releases EVE, who eventually falls "in love" (I put this in quotes because we must remember that they are both robots and are technically incapable of human emotion, so we must assume that they are artificial intelligence) with Wall-E, while Wall-E falls in love with her. They are launched back into space after EVE finds what she is looking for on Earth (a plant with active photosynthesis) and they arrive on an even bigger star ship which holds all remaining human life. What is left of the human race, however, is a pathetic bunch of obese, "happy" people who can't walk or do anything because they are attached to their "hover chairs" due to laziness. EVE and Wall-E take the plant life to the captain of the ship, who is at first skeptical and doesn't want to return to Earth due to the fact that he is so used to life as it is now. When at last he agrees, EVE opens her compartment to find that the plant had been stolen, and the captain is relieved and sends EVE down to repairs. With Wall-E's help, EVE finds out that the Autopilot had stolen and tried to destroy the plant life in order to prevent the humans from returning to Earth. EVE and Wall-E get the plant back and take it back up to the newly encouraged Captain (due to his research on everything Earth once was) who is overjoyed to see it and follows by attempting to use it to return to Earth. Autopilot stops him, however, and then they begin to have their finale showdown fight while EVE and Wall-E attempt to take the plant to the beacon that it needs to be placed in order for them to return to Earth. It is during this sequence that the captain says the most powerful line of the entire movie and is a major reason why I believe Huxley would love this movie:
"Captain: That's all I've ever done! That's all anyone on this blasted ship has ever done. Nothing!
AUTO: On the Axiom, you will survive.
Captain: I don't want to survive. I want to live!" (WALL-E)
The Captain realized that something was missing in their "perfect" lives. And that something is exactly what you wouldn't expect it to be. The fact that their lives are "perfect" is the reason that it is so imperfect. Dictionary.com defines living as " to experience or enjoy life to the full". How can one enjoy life to the full if they are trapped on a star ship and forced to live the way they are told to by artificial intelligence. In short, they can't. In order to live, you must have danger, and stress, and love, and joy, and hurt, and anxieties, and all those little emotions or pangs of pain you hate dealing with during the day. They all contribute to your own life and experiences. Huxley wanted us to realize all of this, and he would say that this movie, WALL-E, portrays the man's struggle to live very well and that it in itself could teach to a broader audience of all ages what he tried to teach with his Brave New World.

Carelessness... (I hope thats a real word!)

The thing that I believe is most disturbing in Huxley's Brave New World is everyone's nonchalant attitude towards sex and they're disgust for love. "...everyone belongs to everyone else." (Huxley 43) What is one of the biggest things that Society in general searches for in their lives? Love. It is shown through the movies, the radio, literature, and even family stories. The ability to love is, in my eyes, humanities greatest achievement. It surpasses any technological breakthrough or great display of power. It is more than just a feeling, it is the connection to another person that gives you reason for anything, to get out of bed in the morning, go to work, or even eat and breathe. It is the very essence of your soul being passed to a willing receiver who will make it his/her job to take care of it every second they are living. So what is so disturbing with Brave New World? The people in Huxley's book believe love to be ridiculous and stupid, a unnecessary attachment to someone who will just get in your way of being "truly happy". This and the fact that they would have sex with anyone they please whenever they feel like it and if the other didn't feel like it they would report him/her for not obeying the laws that are instilled in them as a child. " 'I love you more than anything in the world,' he said. 'Then why on earth didn't you say so?'... 'Put your arms round me,' she commanded. ' Hug me till you drug me, honey.' " (Huxley 192-193) I believe that this here should be called attempted rape. Lenina took advantage of John's hopeless devotion and love to her and tried to use it to satisfy her lust for him. It is a horrible thing to think of, a life without emotions and love and happiness. But this is the world that Huxley has created for us. I believe, however, that Huxley created this world for good reason, and that reason is to show the real world what we will become if we don't change the path we're currently sprinting down as fast as we can. He's warning us before his Brave New World becomes our nightmare.

Sex all the time? I think not...

Does sex with many partners really provide world stability? Or does it just drain us of our drive to find the perfect significant other so that love does not influence our decisions? It is true, people in love definitely do things they wouldn't do if they were in their "right" mind. I'm not saying that being in love is wrong, but I am saying that it is undeniable that love does influence many of our major decisions in good or bad ways. Could this be a reason to delete love from our existence completely? No. Love keeps us pure. It is there for us when nothing else is. Love takes many shapes and forms. Whether it is a rose, a dog, and friend, a brother, or even God. Love is omnipotent, it is inevitable, and to try to take it away is a greater sin than anything else. "Love is like oxygen; Love is a many splendid thing; Love lifts us up where we belong; All we need is Love!" (Luhrmann) Should sex be a pastime and just something to do to do it? No. Sex is not just something that two people do to feel good. It is the time in which both people are most innocent, passionate, vulnerable, and in love. Together, they should both feel just a pure bliss.

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away!

Wishful Drinking is a beautiful memoir that blends celebrity life with the life of someone who has one of if not the most troubling mental disorders known to man. Carrie Fisher is not only telling you the story of her life, but she is also having a very revealing conversation with you. She gives you her personal description of everything that happened to her from Star Wars to her disturbing marriage to the man who died in her bed during the night and every dirty detail in between. She is hilarious and very good at connecting with the reader (maybe it was all the republican jokes) as well as very blunt. "But back to the first film. Shortly after I arrived, George gave me this unbelievable idiotic hairstyle, and I'm brought before him like some sacrificial asshole and he says in his little voice, 'Well, what do you think of it?' And I say--because I'm terrified I'm going to be fired for being too fat--I say, 'I love it.' Yeah, and the check's in the mail and one size fits all and I'll only put it in a little bit!" (Fisher 82)

It's really her storytelling technique though that gets me every time. She would start off a chapter with a beautiful quote: "I have to start by telling you that my entire existence could be summed up in one phrase. And that is: If my life wasn't funny it would just be true, and that is unacceptable." (Fisher 17) Genius right? I feel as though almost every memoir could say the same statement if only funny was replaced with sad or disturbing or some other sadistic tone. Not only are you dragged into her story with statements like that which makes the reader feel like he can relate, but then she would continue with the stunner: "An example of the tragic and shocking might be: A few years ago a friend of mine died in my house, but not content to simply die in my house, he also died in my bed. So he didn't just die in his sleep, he died in mine." (Fisher 18) As you can see, its almost as though shes sitting with you telling you the whole story truth with no editing, which makes it all the more real for the reader. All in all, a very good read which I enjoyed very much so and love pulling random hilarious quotes from.

Wishful Drinking, starring Princess Leia Organa, born in space and raised on Alderaan

What is it like to live after electroconvulsive therapy, AKA ECT, or electroshock therapy for those who are not familiar with it? The answer lies within Carrie Fisher's (more commonly known as Princess Leia) mind. She was born into a warped sense of reality to two superstars: the singer, Eddie Fisher; and the iconic moviestar, Debbie Reynolds. She never really formed a correct sense of reality, as she grew up with hollywood, movies, actors, and actresses. Her father left her mother at the age of very very young. Eddie Fisher actually just went to console his best friend's (who had just died in a tragic plane crash) widow wife. "He first dried her eyes with his handkerchief, then he consoled her with flowers, and he ultimately consoled her with his penis." (Fisher 34) Her reality would definitely be much different from the average Joe's. On top of all this, she was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder, formerly known as Manic Depression, at the young age of 24, which consequently warped her sense of reality even more. "I emerge from my three-week-long ECT treatment to discover that I am not only this Princess Leia creature but also several-sized dolls, various T-shirts and posters, some cleansing items, and a bunch of other merchandise." (Fisher 9) Her view on the world after her treatment is very intriguing and drives me onward through the depths of her mind.