Dear Readers. I'm glad to see that there are more of you who are discovering the Robot Shlomo Experience. I'm seeing viewers from India (Namaste), Finland, Turkey, and even Germany and the UK. To all of you, I know you have a lot of things on the internet to invest your time into, so I say thank you for your viewing. Also, it's race day weekend in Monaco. So to the F1 fans around the world, enjoy the race and I hope your team takes the podium! And to all the veterans this Memorial Day weekend, thank you for your service.
Well, there's been a few things happening in the world of Robot Shlomo. Before I move on to entries about student debt in the United States (I have very strong feelings about this subject) and corporate greed (a topic that I'm having some first hand experience with recently), but today I want to talk to you about something I came across on the net.
As some of you may know, and as most of you don't know, I am a single gentleman. Nothing that unusual. Well, I was having a good day, and then I saw this;
Kiplinger's: New Haven, CT Fourth Best City to be Single
Naturally, my reaction wasn't shall we say... ahem, "restrained". For you see, I've always said that dating in my little slice of Mordor was akin to having a root canal, performed with no anesthesia, by a blind dentist... with Parkinson's. I've always thought it was bizarre that whenever I travel I was always very much the "cool guy", and then when I came home, I returned to being a nobody. I eventually had to face a stark reality; I couldn't permanently stay on vacation, and there was no way to import 50,000 "cool to awesome" people into Buttcrack, Connecticut.
In a town this small, you have a lot of I call "in-dating". Now before you think that's something blasphemous and potentially illeagal, let me explain further;
Let's say you have a peer group of about six people. Three male, and three female. There's nothing unusual about that, and ordinarily it wouldn't be a problem, unless you're deciding to start in a reboot of the sitcom Friends. If you were, then we need to have a little chat about that. Anyway, normally these men and women find others from outside the group to pair bond with. It seem however, what's been happening of late is that you have some who are forming relationships exclusively within the peer group. As if it were a pick up game of basketball, and they were playing man-to-man on defense, occasionally making a rotation to different "defenders".
Now you may be saying "well so what?" It's their business". Well here's the inherent problem, often times it becomes other people's business as well. Let me expound upon this. I understand why this happens. You already know someone, so there's no chance of being rejected. You know their likes and dislikes. You don't have to search for someone outside the group, and there's no fear of the group rejecting them as well. Those may seem like positives, but the negatives are lurking just below the creamy center. Within social peer groups there are members who I've always thought have roles. The comedy relief. The responsible one. Etc. If two members of the peer group get together that the rest don't approve of, it can create tension.
"Her and him? That's not supposed to happen", and it also can create jealously. And when you break up, often times there awkwardness, and a rift will form from having to choose sides.
So once again, you may be thinking "so what?". Well I'll tell you "so this". What this does is it limits you, and keeps you in your safe little bubble. When you make excuses about someone being too this, or too that (I have another blog I'll post about the worst excuses I've ever hear in the near future), you're essentially sabotaging yourself. Now that's not to say that a relationship with someone you already know can't work. There are people I know who have done just that, and they are happy. However, if you're deliberately engaging in dating within your peer group, it becomes counter productive.
I imagine what is at the root of this is fear. Fear of being alone. Fear of rejection. Yes, it is a scary thing to go out and meet people. It is far more rewarding when you do. Everyone brings something new to the table. Different food. Music. Film. Art. Travel. Even language and personality. If we confine ourselves to the familiar, we repeat the same mistakes, and our lives really do become one dimensional. So what do we do? I challenge you Fart Town! Get out and meet some people. Trivia nights. Bookstores. Hockey games. Strike up a conversation. But for god's sake don't do anything dangerous. Yes, you might not hit it off with someone, but it's all about the effort.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Hollywood, you're out of ideas. We're sick of it now. Now just admit it!
As I sit here, my dear reader, Iron Man 3 is cleaning up at the box office. However, the movie didn't premeire in the U.S. until this past Friday. It seems that the U.S. box office is now second to the "worldwide" money that a film can bring in. There are many reasons for this, new theaters being built overseas, China and Russia now being bigger markets for films, but there's one glaring reason that everyone seems to be dancing around, and nobody has the courage (or audacity) in the industry to mention. It's the truth that dare not speak it's name in Hollywood and the film industry; WE'RE SICK OF YOUR S$%T!!!
Now that's not to say we're sick of movies completely, no siree bob! If given a decent film, we'll see it. Lord of the Rings still does well, as does Iron Man. Star Trek, James Bond, Batman, Disney, etc. The "summer blockbuster" will do well in the U.S., it's what comes BETWEEN the blockbusters (okay, even some of the blockbusters themselves, and I'll get to that in a minute) that's the problem. Since the advent of computers and CGI we were all led to believe that movies were going to now give us these fantastic experiences. We'd see things we never saw before, and go to worlds that we had never imagined. What have we gotten? Jennifer Aniston pining for love, Seth Rogen as the lovable stoner, and studios figuring out if they added 3D to everything (I'm looking at you Great Gatsby!) they could charge you an extra six bucks.
It's only the beginning of May, and we have been assaulted by no less than eight "romantic comedies" thus far, and it seems like they were all directed by Judd Apatow and starred Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. Last year there were a dozen released in the entire year. Yes, I've always thought Jennifer Aniston was an attractive woman, however there's only so much I can stand of her Rachel character from Friends trying to get the man of her dreams to like her.
Now anyone who used to listen to the former podcast Reality Wasted, will tell you that Donny, Dave, Greg, and I used to say on a regular basis that Hollywood was "out of ideas". No sooner did I say that, did we get news of the latest Superman "reboot". I'm not adverse to another Superman movie, but how many times do we have to sit through the origin story? Yes, Jorel puts his only son into a rocket and sends him to Earth, WE KNOW ALREADY! It doesn't matter if you cast a pretty boy Brit to play Clark Kent this time around to draw in the Twilight crowd. To compound this disaster waiting to happen, the movie doesn't even have a distinctive look to it. I ask you, is this Superman or Star Trek?
This is the result of unoriginal thinking and the handywork of one of the biggest hack directors in Hollywood, Zack Snyder. We've also gotten word that The Crow reboot is in the works, and Men In Black 4 is on the way. Just keep giving me more evidence the well has run dry.
Now one of the other major problems is that actually GOING to the movies has become a major drag. The scourge of cell phones has largely contributed to this, as well as high prices, and the only new technology that the film industry has come up with, the advent of 3D, they created in the 1950's. Movies used to be a fairly cheap date, and you used to go see a lot of them, sometimes one or two a week. Now at $12-$15, taking two kids to the movies will run you over $50. And what are we paying for? Teenage vampires? There's also more ways to see movies. The days of the neighborhood movie theater and movies playing for a year, are long gone. With the internet and things like On Demand and Netflix, why put up with the hassle of going to a movie and having to deal with the expense and knuckleheads texting on there iPhones "OMG!! TIS MUVEE IZ SO BD!!".
I have no doubt in my mind that of all the Summer movies, Star Trek into Darkness will be the big winner. Now after decrying how Hollywood is out of ideas, why would I say that? Because it's probably the one movie that appeals to a widest audience possible. Also it's smartly cast, and Star Trek has been rediscovered and revitalized for an entire new generation. People are actually EXCITED to see it. I don't think it will be enough to see the U.S. box office turn around for the year. The domestic box office has been in decline for a number of years now. There are those who will say "isn't it nice to see that America isn't the center of the world", and to them I say this; Just you wait, you'll get just as sick of Jennifer Aniston, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Adam Sandler, just like we are.
Now that's not to say we're sick of movies completely, no siree bob! If given a decent film, we'll see it. Lord of the Rings still does well, as does Iron Man. Star Trek, James Bond, Batman, Disney, etc. The "summer blockbuster" will do well in the U.S., it's what comes BETWEEN the blockbusters (okay, even some of the blockbusters themselves, and I'll get to that in a minute) that's the problem. Since the advent of computers and CGI we were all led to believe that movies were going to now give us these fantastic experiences. We'd see things we never saw before, and go to worlds that we had never imagined. What have we gotten? Jennifer Aniston pining for love, Seth Rogen as the lovable stoner, and studios figuring out if they added 3D to everything (I'm looking at you Great Gatsby!) they could charge you an extra six bucks.
It's only the beginning of May, and we have been assaulted by no less than eight "romantic comedies" thus far, and it seems like they were all directed by Judd Apatow and starred Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston. Last year there were a dozen released in the entire year. Yes, I've always thought Jennifer Aniston was an attractive woman, however there's only so much I can stand of her Rachel character from Friends trying to get the man of her dreams to like her.
Now anyone who used to listen to the former podcast Reality Wasted, will tell you that Donny, Dave, Greg, and I used to say on a regular basis that Hollywood was "out of ideas". No sooner did I say that, did we get news of the latest Superman "reboot". I'm not adverse to another Superman movie, but how many times do we have to sit through the origin story? Yes, Jorel puts his only son into a rocket and sends him to Earth, WE KNOW ALREADY! It doesn't matter if you cast a pretty boy Brit to play Clark Kent this time around to draw in the Twilight crowd. To compound this disaster waiting to happen, the movie doesn't even have a distinctive look to it. I ask you, is this Superman or Star Trek?
This is the result of unoriginal thinking and the handywork of one of the biggest hack directors in Hollywood, Zack Snyder. We've also gotten word that The Crow reboot is in the works, and Men In Black 4 is on the way. Just keep giving me more evidence the well has run dry.
Now one of the other major problems is that actually GOING to the movies has become a major drag. The scourge of cell phones has largely contributed to this, as well as high prices, and the only new technology that the film industry has come up with, the advent of 3D, they created in the 1950's. Movies used to be a fairly cheap date, and you used to go see a lot of them, sometimes one or two a week. Now at $12-$15, taking two kids to the movies will run you over $50. And what are we paying for? Teenage vampires? There's also more ways to see movies. The days of the neighborhood movie theater and movies playing for a year, are long gone. With the internet and things like On Demand and Netflix, why put up with the hassle of going to a movie and having to deal with the expense and knuckleheads texting on there iPhones "OMG!! TIS MUVEE IZ SO BD!!".
I have no doubt in my mind that of all the Summer movies, Star Trek into Darkness will be the big winner. Now after decrying how Hollywood is out of ideas, why would I say that? Because it's probably the one movie that appeals to a widest audience possible. Also it's smartly cast, and Star Trek has been rediscovered and revitalized for an entire new generation. People are actually EXCITED to see it. I don't think it will be enough to see the U.S. box office turn around for the year. The domestic box office has been in decline for a number of years now. There are those who will say "isn't it nice to see that America isn't the center of the world", and to them I say this; Just you wait, you'll get just as sick of Jennifer Aniston, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Adam Sandler, just like we are.
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