Euphoria

When you think about it, there really is no such thing as a "perfect world". Maybe if one day humans learnt NOT to be the ungrateful little ingrates that we are, we MIGHT just have a chance at it. But thanks to us, the dream of a "perfect world" is yet to be seen.

To help back up my theory, let's start with this one: Humans (most of them, at least) are used to taking everything they have for granted (I said MOST humans, OK? Please don't hate me for this). Let's take a quick example. Guy A is a billionaire playboy (think Bruce Wayne, but probably without all the philanthropic behavior and having a cave under his mansion that fuels his secret life as a superhero), living the grand life of luxury in his giant, cozy-ass mansion in some rich area somewhere in the world with access to whatever the hell money can buy for him. Everyday he splurges his money on food, taking care of his massive house, expensive clothes, and other things that one would need to fuel his lifestyle.

Let's move to Guy B. Unlike Guy A, B is not rolling in an enormously huge stash of cash and luxury, but rather in the fact that he is just another tiny man in this great, big, unforgiving world. Sure, he may not a lowly miser who can't afford $#!+, but he sure isn't some spendthrift celebrity who can buy whatever the hell he wants. Instead, he's just a single man in a normal house with a job in the office that keeps his boat adrift on the waters of life (I guess you could say that while Guy B is in a puny boat in the sea of life, Guy A is busy chillin' on his huge f***ing cruise ship). Guy B has a regular house that you expect of a regular citizen, but it is no mansion (I think that you guys are smart enough to figure out what the typical house looks like, so I'm gonna save myself a bit of trouble and NOT spend the next few paragraphs trying to explain what a regular house looks like, if you don't mind).

So, given both of their predicaments, logically, Guy A should be happier, right? I mean, c'mon. He's living the high life in that giant building that he calls his house, he's got no financial problems whatsoever, and he can do whatever the absolute f*** he wants to do, whenever he wants to do it. What chance has Guy B got? He's just got this puny little house that only has a TV and a few other electronics and eats the food of the regular folk (as opposed to Guy A, who's probably enjoying his giant stockpile of caviar and Kopi Luwak back at his house).

Actually, that's all just a matter of perspective. Happiness, as I probably may have mentioned several gajillion times now, is a state of mind, not something that you must achieve using worldly means. Dude, if you gave me an Animus (an Animus is a machine from the Assassin's Creed series that can be used to travel back in time to literally replay (or at least that's what I think you do in an Animus) the memories of the past like in a video game. I'm not going to post a link to the webpage on the Web because I fear that might be the cause behind this warning I got in my blog a few weeks ago. Sorry, can't take any chances) that could entertain me for the rest of my life, then I really couldn't care about much else in my life (unless, of course, my dominant human nature will express ungratefulness and screw me over again. We'll get to that when it happens, IF I ever manage to get an Animus one day, whcih I probably won't).

We'll talk more of this later, in another post. Until then, as usual, I'll see you in the next post. Jason out. Peace!

Ye Old Days

I still remember the days that I wrote essays, answered tests and made speeches in front of the class. One of these days I just wanna show what I did to you guys. So I present to you, one of my English essays about a movie called "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" (WARNING: the review may be a little biased, but it's not a serious review, so chill out). Here it is...

“Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” is a movie concerning racism and racial problems that used to haunt America in the 19^th century. It was a movie made quite a long time ago (think a few years ago, when Morgan Freeman didn't look as old as he is now), and is derived from a novel of the same name. For the most part I enjoyed the movie. Here's my review of it...

The movie is about a black family living in 19^th century Mississippi, when racial bias and injustice to black people were still haunting the country. The story follows a black family called “the Logans”, who were one of the many harassed black families living in the country and were struggling to take a stand against the injustice and bias that was being done to them. To this end the family has participated in many brave (and occasionally suicidal) acts in an attempt to show that all races are equal such as offering credit to the black people in the area so they would be able to spend less money in stores (something that the whites would never allow and will try their best to put a stop to). Even the main protagonist (a young black fourth grader) beat another white kid up for disrespecting her (again, another thing that is frowned upon within the white community).

I personally enjoyed the actors and actresses in the movie; they all put up a pretty amazing performance in the movie. But out of all the actors and actresses that played a role in the movie, the actor I enjoyed the most was Morgan Freeman, also known as “Uncle Hammer” in the movie. What astounded me the most about Freeman's performance was that I was normally used to him being the wise, understanding person in the movies he normally plays. But in this movie, he plays Uncle Hammer, a hotheaded, foul-tempered black man who will jump at the smallest chance to mess up a white person's face. Amazingly, Mr. Freeman dramatically changed from the wise, old man that we normally see him play as and see him as a darker (in both the literal and metaphorical sense of the word), more violent character. I loved it.

I liked the fighting scenes in the movie, namely one scene in the movie when someone gets his leg run over by a cart (there was no blood and gore in that part, don't worry. To be honest though, I was rather disappointed). I also enjoyed the parts in the movie that involved guns and standoffs, even if they don't involve any shooting (I've always been one for the more sadistic movies), mainly because these scenes are very intense and really brings back the difficulty and the atmosphere of living as a black person back in the 19^th century.

However, I didn't like that there were certain parts of the book that the movie skipped out, and while I can completely understand that you can't fit EVERY SINGLE event into the book, there were some crucial events that the movie missed out, and some of the events that took place in the book didn't take place in order in the movie. So if any of you guys reading this out there read the book before planning to watch the movie, prepare to see some parts of the book taken out of the movie, some of them very important.

If there was a moral to learn from this story, the movie states it loud and clear: “Don't grow up to be a racist jerk when you grow up, because we have learned how difficult it was to live back in the racist, unjust 19^th century America, where all black families lived unjustly, looking up to the whites when in reality, they were all equal and all deserve the same rights”.

Yeah, that must be it. If there's one message to be learned from the story, it's got to be that.

Movie Details

I'd rate the movie a 4 out of 5, mostly because of its accurate representation of the difficulty of living the life of a black family back in 19^th century America. I would originally rate it a 3 out of 5, but Morgan Freeman's stellar performance as a supporting character adds one more point to the movie. His presence alone would give the movie a +0.5, but his presence as a talking, walking character makes me rate it a 4. Yes, that's just how much I admire the guy.

As for the MPAA rating of the movie, I'd say it is a PG-13 movie. While there are very cheerful moments in the movie, there are also dark moment s of racial bias and a decent amount of swearing (namely the many uses of the word “n***er”). Other than that it doesn't sport much controversial content, except for the racism. In conclusion, it is a rather good movie.

About Jason

 Jason is a quiet teenager who resides in Jakarta, Indonesia. He goes to school in Global Jaya International School, along with his fellow classmates and friends (he would provide the details of his house address, but then he'd be afraid he'd have to kill you). When he's not working his butt off doing various assignments given to him by the school, he's either busy chatting with his friends on social media, watching videos on YouTube, or playing video games on his computer (sometimes all of them at the same time). He is currently unemployed (and does not plan to be employed anytime soon). He is an eighth grader who is struggling to maintain the balance of work and fun in his life, and is still struggling to do so.

Adaptation

So it's about time that we talked about what we were gonna do (actually, what I'M gonna do) when I get back to school. As I may have mentioned a few posts ago, it's only a few weeks' time until I'm gonna have to get back to a life of difficulty, routine, and stress (plus, it's inevitable too. Unless I... nah, screw that thought. That's too dark. And besides, I'm still working on reducing my negative thinking. Gotta improve your mindset, J, gotta improve...).

On the bright side however, I do get to get back with my friends and hang out with 'em which I have never actually managed to find time for over the holidays (I was too occupied by the fact that my everyday “disturbances” (AKA video games and video streaming) were more entertaining than my friends) to speak to. Which is something I must fix. I know that said activities make me happier than hanging out with my friends, but so does marijuana. And coke. And so does... (dammit J, we're getting distracted here) you know what, never mind. My point is, I must hang out again. Not only is it good for my social skills, but I also must try to NOT be an unsociable son of a b****.

Ever wondered how fast the weeks pass during the holidays? (or whenever you're doing anything fun, on that matter) Hence the saying, “time flies when you're having fun”. When you're NOT having fun, on the other hand, time suddenly runs into a traffic jam (of course, this doesn't apply to EVERY time, but it damn sure applies to a HUGE portion of life. Yeah, I know. Life can be a d*** sometimes). I noticed this pattern when I was doing a series of activities, starting from doing schoolwork to watching YouTubers play Mortal Kombat X on the Web (among the many other videos that I watch). You can imagine which activity made time go as fast as an Alcatraz escapee on speeds (if you get the joke) and which activity slowed it the f*** down.

But as I have said previously, school ain't all torture either (then again, it ain't exactly paradise, but sure, it has its perks). I have my friends, I have games, I have many things to entertain me during my time in the area (I COULD lisst them all down, but I don't feel like doing it now. Sorry). I'll be looking forward to it. It's nice to have a good challenge in life once in a while, no? (in fact, I challenged myself to write this down in my laptop, in an environment that I'm not entirely comfortable with (it's hard to keep the place anonymous, but I'll try my best to be at my best behavior and describe the place I'm writing at at the same time), with no adaptor and limited battery power. Challenge accepted)

On that note, I should probably leave now. Someone very important (especially if I don't follow said person's orders, that is) is gonna tell me to pack up in a bit. On that note, goodbye and thank you guys for listening. See ya 'til next time!