Bogdan Coman’s blog | Given by God | Sopra Tutti

The 2010 Academy Awards (Oscars) ceremony just finished. I knew it is political, but not as much. I understood why the movies about the WWII are making it to the Oscars, but this time it wasn’t about WWII, but about looking at us in the mirror. We sure don’t like what we see in the mirror, don’t we?

My opinion is that The Hurt Locker got the Oscar statuette for the best picture because of the message it sends across: ‘our war needs you, you are not as useful to your family as you can be to your country… take the blue pill‘… a twenty million dollars message from what the box office says.

On the other hand, Avatar has a totally different message, a powerful message of what should be our connectedness with the nature, the nature we are no longer part of, but its parasites, it shows how poisonous the blue pill is… a three billion dollars message, as the same box office says.

For each person that watched The Hurt Locker, 150 people watched Avatar. And you know what? They paid more for a ticket, as Avatar is 3D.

Last month I went to see a different movie with the same sick message, Dear John. For some reason going to fight a war should be more important for you than you achieving happiness… just like in the “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country” message.

I surely can see a value in the way a movie has been made, but I too find the messages the movies send along as very important for the mood I have after watching them.

I remember now about those moralistic movies like “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (2008) or “Law Abiding Citizen” (2009). Good movies, but they left me a bad taste because after setting some high expectations… they left them unfinished. Just like talking a girl into how a ‘big horse pleasure guarantee‘ you are, and when the moment of proof arrives, you fall asleep… and imagine the girl paid you money for your promised potential.

On the other hand I know I shouldn’t care about it, as this same scenario, with unforgettable Sci-Fi movies not getting the award, happened in the past, when the “Star Wars” ‘lost’ the best picture award to “Annie Hall” in ‘77, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” to “Gandhi” in ‘82 and “The Matrix” to “American Beauty” in ‘99.

Steve Martin ended the Oscars ceremony by making a joke out of place. He said that because the show lasted for so long, “Avatar is now in the past“. Of course, because of their horse blinders some can’t see the present and analyze the causes from the past, but they can only look to the future and… hope. Unfortunately for them, the future will be delivered by the past and present, this is why movies like Avatar are never going to be in the past, not now, not ever. And you know why? Because they speak the truth.

New exercises on understanding some limitations:

First
Question: One either get it or doesn’t. What should I do when I do get it but most don’t?

Second
Question: Anyone wishes what’s best for himself. Do I think that I can* decide what’s best for myself?

If ‘Yes’: Why would I allow/let/support someone else to decide what’s best for me? Why would I want/wish/desire to decide for someone else?
If ‘No’: What makes me think that someone else is going to decide what’s best for myself?

*Replace I can* with ‘someone else should‘ and try to answer the new question by providing a justification if your answer is positive.
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I grew up in a country where child abuse can be encountered almost everywhere. I’ve been abused by my parents, by some of my teachers and coaches, there’s no question about it. I grew up in a country where this winter, 10 days after the televisions broadcast images with the president hitting a child, the president got reelected (see video bellow).

I think I pretty much felt the abuse and I realize now that I took all the actions I could to limit the effects and I tried to isolate myself as much as I could from people with violent behavior from both points of view, physical and psychological/emotional. Starting with 13 years old I got lucky because I grew up 24 cm in one year, which got me to 194 cm (6′ 4″). Suddenly things changed, the physical abuse vanished and the psychological one diminished and changed up to a point that it became hilarious and easy for me to defeat.

Spanking can easily escalate into a 3 hours beating. Spanked children are usually too confused to learn any lesson, other than they should obey the spanker, as the spanker is more powerful and dangerous. This is terror, not education. Hate, not love. Stupidity, not wisdom. And when the spankers are the ones that should provide you with care, food and education, it becomes tragic.

Now, here is a test the parents may want to have in mind when raising children. When the child will leave home (at 20… 25 years old?), the parents can ask their child to take the following test: ACE Score Calculator. If the child scores 1 or more, they failed as parents. The bigger the score, the bigger failure they are.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t have to have children. No kids means a higher personal success and probably a more enjoyable life, however, it means a failure of our genes, which may be very important, for reasons that I will not discuss here (hint - the movie Idiocracy (2006)).

Think to your childhood for a second. Were you spanked? Did you like it? Do you think violence taught you anything else but violence? Do you think you were such a fool that you couldn’t “learn” in any other way?

Now, moving to my adoptive country… I was surprised to read the comments from the To spank or not to spank? article. The comments can be rated and to my surprise, pro children spanking/beating comments have a 5:1 ratio of positive votes to negative votes, while the rating of the anti spanking comments is the other way around. This says a lot about the state-sponsored propaganda and the brainwashing levels our society reached. I will post at the end of the article some of the comments and their current ratings.

If you don’t have kids yet, or you have and so far you didn’t choose the easy way for yourself, here is a good website one can learn from: Project NoSpank

I hate to sound moralistic, but I can’t help myself after I read those comments and since I understood that child abuse is a very important issue for each of us to fight against.

Now, let me finish in a more optimistic and enjoyable light, by posting a video on what Russell Peters (an amazing Canadian stand-up comic) thinks about beating the kids:

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C’mon, seriously?! … Not as serious as this guys though

Looking at them I see myself 10 years ago… what a journey it was.

This gets better and better. Going forward, having fun, enjoying life…

Thanks Honey! Love You Too!

There are three main categories I use to classify the movies I like:
(M) Mood-Changing Movies - Few are the movies that can shift your mood when you see them. Doesn’t really matter if it makes me feel happy, upset, angry, revenged, etc… once a movie can change my state of mine… I like it.
(E) Entertaining Movies - Go figure… usually high budget movies.
(A) Art Movies - Since filmmaking is an art, some movies can show a great video editing, sound editing, costumes, have philosophical touches, etc.

Before going over what I think are the best movies of 2009, I would first suggest “Michael Jackson’s This Is It“. As I said last year, the order is not random:

Watchmen (M&E&A) - This is the movie I like the most, not just because it’s a great one, but because I saw it when I needed the most.
Avatar (M&E&A) - If Star Wars revolutionized the film industry three decades ago and Matrix did it a decade ago, I think Avatar did it this time.
The Boat That Rocked (M&E) - Sex. Hot and passionate sex.
Invictus (M&A) - This is just another made for Oscar movie. I couldn’t help myself to notice that in South Africa they were having CRT flat screen TVs back in 1995. Probably it was just a technical issue to use old TVs, as they needed a refresh rate higher than 60hz to look good. The movie is about true leadership, uniting people and the 1995 Rugby World Cup that I had the chance to see on TV, not on a flat one, though.
The Hurt Locker (M&E) - Nicely made. If it would not be for the propagandistic idea in the end, the movie would be even better.
I love you man (M&E) - there were -5°C when we got out from this movie, but I was feeling it like +40°C
Star Trek (M&E) - Awesome job in reinventing Star Trek.
Fantastic Mr. Fox(A) - Art. Pure art.
Angels & Demons (E&A)
Everybody’s Fine (M) - Very well done. I have no idea why some people were laughing during the movie…
Paranormal Activity (M) - Brilliant! Probably the biggest ROI a movie can bring.
Nine (M&A)
Up (A)
The Blind Side (M) - when it’s about him/her, it doesn’t really matter what you think is better, but whether if he/she care about your opinion or not.
Sherlock Holmes (E&A)

Other good movies of 2009, this time in the order I watched them: The International (E), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (E), Knowing (E), State of Play(E&A), The Proposal (E), Flash of Genius (A), The Soloist (A), Public Enemies(E&A), The Hangover (E), The Ugly Truth (E), (500) Days of Summer (M&A), District 9 (M&E&A), Inglourious Basterds(E), Julie & Julia (A), Mr. Nobody (A), Moon (M), The Informant (E), Coco avant Chanel (A), Couples Retreat (E), Law Abiding Citizen (M&E), The Men Who Stare At Goats (E), Disney’s A Christmas Carol (E&A), The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (M&E), 2012 (M&E), Ninja Assassin (E), The Road (M), All About Steve (M), Armored (E), Up In The Air (M), Precious (M), The Young Victoria (A), The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (E).

What can I say, it was a great year to go to the theater. If my math is correct, 4 movies from the above I watched at home. In total I watched just above a hundred in the cinema room.

Again, shame on me, I’ve fallen asleep during two movies in the cinema room, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus. However, during one of them I was not the only one to do it, a friend of mine slept too, probably because of the night before

There is a reason why I don’t miss any of Alfredo James “Al” Pacino’s new movies… the guy is amazing! I present bellow movie fragments with some of his speeches, which, each of them, I see as a masterpiece.

Al Pacino’s speech - Any Given Sunday

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Tonight we went with Miorlau (our 7 years old cat) to the animal clinic, as he was showing the symptoms of an urinary obstruction. When I called the clinic to book for an appointment, they said: “You know we have to see Miorlau today, right?”… thing that I was hoping to hear, as we knew a cat can’t live more than 48 hours like this, as essentially it will be poisoned to death.

Once there, after the consultation the doctor said that he’s going to put Miorlau under the worst case scenario and follow all the necessary steps to make him well, which usually means 3 days in the hospital.

What we did next was to ask for a cost estimation, which they provide us with. The total cost was of $2193, which could go higher in case there are complications! We asked for two minutes to discuss about it, as tonight we were having serious problems to pay the required 50% down payment in advance, in order for the clinic to start the treatment… the second day it could be too late.

Pretty much sucks to see that someone close to you depends on how much you afford to pay to fix the problem, but it can happen, this is why psychologically (and not only) you’ll have to be prepared all the time for cases like this. Once you are prepared, you’ll be able to take the best decision.

We managed to pay for the treatment and left the cat there. Two hours ago we got a call from the doctor, Miorlau is fine, he peed a lot in the doctor’s hand (no blood in the urine) after some injections and some pills. They found out what the problem is, are taking care of it and they said that tomorrow we will probably be able to take him back home.

For Miorlau, we (me, Cata and Deb) were the Gods tonight, and his Gods decided he’s going to live, lucky guy
What about you reader? Do you have any Gods around you? In case you’ll need it, can you be your own God?

Am aflat ca acum cateva zile, la confruntarea finala pentru presedentia Romaniei, cei trei principali candidati au fost rugati sa numeasca un personaj public al zilelor noastre pe care il considera un reper de moralitate. Basescu a raspuns “Sotia mea”… de parca sotia dumnealui este publica sau de parca toata lumea ar locui cu dumneaei in casa pentru a sti cat de morala e. ProstanacuGeoana a raspuns “Parintele Patriarh Daniel”, raspuns cu care a marcat direct in testicolele taranilor carora le e frica de preotul satului si care, probabil, in ziua votului, cu frica de cel de sus, vor pune stampila unde trebuie. Pe Antonescu, infantil ca intotdeauna, l-a apucat sinceritatea si a raspuns “Tudor Chirila”, dupa parerea mea de departe cel mai sanatos raspuns dintre cele trei.

Cum am spus intr-un articol anterior, as vrea sa-i mentionez pe acei care, dupa parerea mea, au ajutat la ideea de ‘roman’. Pentru ca istoria invatata de mine in scoala era pura propaganda, ma voi limita la a-i nominaliza doar pe acei mari romani care au trait incepand cu 1900 si pana in prezent, 2009.

Voi incepe cu personaje in viata si voi continua cu cei care nu mai sunt, a caror ordine va fi alfabetica.

As vrea sa adaug aici faptul ca personal ii apreciez mai mult pe cei care, vazand ca altfel nu se poate, au reusit sa plece din tara si sa isi strige durerea din afara, participand astfel la un alt tip de revolta, decat pe cei care au ramas in speranta ca se va schimba ceva. In naivitatea mea am crezut si eu ca ceva trebuie sa se schimbe, ca lumea nu e chiar asa usor de manipulat, dar cum acest lucru nu se poate intampla intr-o societate crescuta sub teroare si violenta, am ales sa ma revolt la randul meu si sa particip la ‘revolutia’ celor peste 10 milioane de romani care au plecat din tara dupa caderea comunismului… si i-au lasat pe comunistii din randul doi, pe mana carora au incaput toate resursele Romaniei, sa se chinuie cu “pulimea” sa faca bani, dupa ce termina tot ce e de furat.

Daca vreunul din numele urmatoare nu iti spune nimic, ar trebui ori sa-ti fie rusine, ori sa-ti aloci macar 5 min sa afli cine a fost si ce a facut. In mare, cei din lista se pot imparti in doua categorii. Prima categorie este formata din cei care au contribuit la crearea Romaniei din perioada interbelica, pe care o consider ca punctul de varf al existentei tarii. Ce-a de-a doua categorie este dedicata dizidentilor anticomunisti. Asadar:

Paul Goma
Vasile Paraschiv
Doina Cornea
Radu Filipescu
Radu Negrescu-Sutu
Gheorghe Hagi
Nadia Comaneci

Constantin Noica
Corneliu Coposu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Dan Iosif Nita
Elisabeta Rizea
Emil Cioran
Eugen Ionescu
Ion I.C. Bratianu
Iuliu Maniu
Lucian Blaga
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Vulcanescu
Nae Ionescu
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Titulescu
Nicolae Windisch
Noel Bernard
Petre Tutea
Raymond Paunescu
Take Ionescu
Vali Sterian
Victor Frunza
Vlad Georgescu

Romani, gasiti-va busola morala, altfel v-ati cam dus in pizda ma-sii.

PS: Lista este inca in lucru, este posibil sa mai adaug nume celor de mai sus. Pe de alta parte, se poate intampla sa sterg din personajele care sunt inca in viata (asa cum am facut cu Florin Chilian, dupa ce am aflat de implicarea sa in campania electorala din 2009…), pentru ca atata vreme cat omul traieste, este supus greselii. Cei de sus au fost corecti pana la capat, motiv pentru care nu i-am amintit, de exemplu, pe Virgil Ierunca si Monica Lovinescu. Inca incerc sa-mi dau seama daca batranetea tampeste si daca greselile facute de om dupa ~70 de ani, sunt de scuzat au ba. Deocamdata-i ba.