Full Metal Jacket

Years ago, I was reading my favorite movie magazine and I came across an article about this movie. That magazine had a fine print and a lot of text, there was only this picture from the film.
I read the article completely and it got into my skin so deeply. I was so touched by the movie that I read (better to say "ate up") that article several times and, needless to say, watched the movie many many times!

Now, I will not try to analyze that movie here as I know there are billions of better critiques out there about this masterpiece so I save my breath. One thing though, if you have not seen this film yet, go and see it! If you have already seen it, well here's a few fine quotes from that movie which not only refreshes your memory but it will make you think again...the same way the film makes me ponder every time I watch it.

Enjoy!

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(From movie poster): In Vietnam, the wind doesn't blow, it sucks.
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Private Joker: The dead only know one thing: it is better to be alive.
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Crazy Earl: These are great days we're living bros. We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns. These people we wasted here today are the fines human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting.
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Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: How tall are you, private?
Private Cowboy: Sir, 5-foot-9, sir.
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: 5-foot-9?, I didn't know they stacked s--t that high.
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Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: The deadliest weapon in the world is a marine and his rifle. It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If you killer instincts are not clean and strong, you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill. You will become dead marines and then you will be in a world of s--t because marines are not allowed die without permission. Do you maggots understand?
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Private Cowboy: You know there's not a single horse in the entire country of Vietnam? There's definitely something wrong with that.
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Pogue Colonel: Son, all I've ever asked of my marines is that they obey my orders as they would the word of God. We are here to help the Vietnamese, because inside every gook there is an American trying to get out. It's hardball world, son. We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over.
Private Joker: Aye-aye, sir.
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Private Joker: I wanted to see exotic Vietnam...the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture...and kill them. I wanted to be the first kid on my block to get a confirmed kill!
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Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Holy dog s--t, Texas? Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy. And you don't look much like a steer to me so that kinda narrows it down. Do you suck d---s?

Angry me behind loudspeaker

"You can't fight city hall, death and taxes. Don't talk about politics or religion. This is all the equivalent of enemy propaganda rolling across the picket line. "Lay down, G.I. Lay down, G.I." We saw it all through the 20th Century. And now in the 21st Century, it's time to stand up and realize that we should not allow ourselves to be crammed into this rat maze. We should not submit to dehumanization.

I don't know about you, but I'm concerned with what's happening in this world. I'm concerned with the structure. I'm concerned with the systems of control, those that control my life and those that seek to control it even more! I want freedom! That's what I want! And that's what you should want!

It's up to each and every one of us to turn loose and show them the greed, the hatred, the envy, and yes, the insecurities because that is the central mode of control - make us feel pathetic, small so we'll willingly give up our sovereignty, our liberty, our destiny. We have got to realize that we're being conditioned on a mass scale. Start challenging this corporate slave state! The 21st Century is going to be a new century, not the century of slavery, not the century of lies and issues of no significance and classism and statism and all the rest of the modes of control! It's going to be the age of humankind standing up for something pure and something right!

What a bunch of garbage - liberal Democrat, conservative Republican. It's all there to control you. Two sides of the same coin. Two management teams bidding for control! The C.E.O. job of Slavery, Incorporated! The truth is out there in front of you, but they lay out this buffet of lies. I'm sick of it, and I'm not going to take a bite out of it! Do you got me?

Resistance is not futile. We're gonna win this thing. Humankind is too good! We're not a bunch of underachievers! We're gonna stand up and we're gonna be human beings! We're gonna get fired up about the real things, the things that matter: creativity and dynamic human spirit that refuses to submit! Well that's it! That's all I got to say!

It's your court."


Many thanks to Alex Jones for words and the performance

The lost love

Where did that love go? That passion, that urge, that need that I could barely live without? I am talking about my love to the game of basketball...I fell in love with this game quite late, that is to say I started playing this game much later that other boys, at the age of 14 when I was in my first grade in high school...I remember that day so clearly...the day that I tried it and loved it so much...I remember every fine detail. During about 16 years of playing this game, I have had a lot of ups and downs in my game...many injuries and many glories...many memorable and unexplainable moments and of course many fights and many lows.

About 2 years ago, my chronic ankle injury got worse as I sprained my ankle several times in a row, mostly on stupid occasions and that caused me to stop playing for a while. There was also a really strange injury that happened to a close friend of mine which made me committed to not playing for a while. I thought if I just chill and rest it for a while it gets better. Well, it didn’t and I started with some regular rehab training every now and then which obviously didn’t help much neither. I went as far as doing an operation on my foot but I backed off (read chickened off!) in the last second. Now it has gone about 2.5 years and the thing that amazes me the most is that in this period, I have not been missing the game at all and the love is completely gone! I remember that in of my worst moments life, my only concern was will I be able to play this game again and now, I have gone cold turkey without even being bothered at all!

How?

I have been trying to figure out why and I think I’ve got some explanations at the moment; please feel free to let me know if YOU can be of any help in this matter:

1. I have replaced that with baseball (well not exactly...anyway), but you see, I am quite novice in this game and I can not perform as well as I want to so that doesn’t quench my thirst as much as I want it to. In other words it is not really a replacement plus the fact that unfortunately, I received an immense injury in baseball in my early days which had a destructive effect on me

2. My subconscious has accepted this damn injury and has accepted that I can not perform as well as before; therefore it doesn’t push much on my ego

3. Maybe I am somehow fed up with this and I feel that I have accomplished whatever there was to accomplish (yeah right!) and now it is just over...and I have an incurable injury as well

4. Environment: this is one the most probable reasons as I live in a neutral environment now when it comes to basketball. Back then, everyone and everything was into basketball or had something to do with it and we all enjoyed it to death. It is different now...very different

Having said all these, I still believe that these can not be true; I am always in a constant sense of denial because “Il n’existe jamais rien!” In addition to that, I strongly believe that a true love never dies...NEVER!

The search for an answer continues, I am going to give this lost love a try tonight and we’ll see how things go...

"Il n’existe jamais rien!"

Thèse

My ultimate philosophy...this simple sentence governs all aspects of everybody's life i.e. there is never nothing, there is nothing in this life and has never been. Nothing is immortal, nothing lasts forever and nothing (and I repeat nothing) is eternal and worth being tied to. This life that we all cherish so dearly and happen to be our most precious thing is going to end one day. Everything and everyone that you love so much is going to leave you one day and so are you.

There are more to this: there is never anything, everything in this world is nothing, nothing is worthy, think about it! Look around yourself, what do you see? Nothing! There is absolutely nothing out there!

Yes it does sound Über-nihilistic but it is the truth and nothing but the truth...trust me! You just have to think about it deeply...very deeply and if you don't trust me, do get acquainted with all the great thinkers of the world, the philosophers, scientists, mathematicians and etc. Bottom line, they are saying the same and can't agree with above more.

This way of thinking does help you t remind yourself of the fact that this is not going to last very much so stop wasting time and caring about it so much. Get a new perspective and lower your expectations of this hopeless hole called life. It can eventually make you feel a bit happy and joyful AFTER you have come into terms with yourself and have swallowed this bitter truth. Then the tough gets going whenever the going gets tough, you do take it a bit easier and hell, you may start having fun! Since "Il n'existe jamais rien!" so why bother, huh?

Why this name?

"Yeah then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Was just a freight train coming your way..."

Dick Cheney

I just listened to one of my favorite flamboyant political characters Michael Moore commenting on the Republicans' convention which took place a while ago, he was asked how come his name was mentioned during the convention and not Dick Cheney's...he said that he seems to be that "crazy old uncle that they have hidden in the closet in the basement" and they don't want to talk about him anymore and etc.

Just imagining that....that there's this house that all Republicans live in and they've got an uncle who is old and crazy (probably with long white hair) and is kept in the basement, in the closet and they don't show him to neighbors or guest cuz he might scare them off and so on....that thought made me laugh pretty good!

Preaching the end of the world

I thought that I might as well kick things off with a little preach...my sincere thanks to Chris Cornell for the words

Hello, I know there's someone out there
Who can understand
And who's feeling the same way as me
I'm [thirty-four (almost!)] and I've got everything to live for
But I know now that it wasn't meant to be
'Cause all has been lost and all has been won
And there's nothing left for us to save
But now I know that I don't want to be alone today
So if you find that you've been feeling just the same
Call me now it's alright
It's just the end of the world
You need a friend in the world
'Cause you can't hide
So call and I'll get right back
If your intentions are pure
I'm seeking a friend for the end of the world
I've got a photograph, I'll send it off today
And you will see that I am perfectly sane
Not for a lifetime or forever and a day
'Cause we know now that just won't be the case
There will be no commitment and no confessions
And no little secrets to keep
No little children or houses with roses
Just the end of the world and me
'Cause all has been gone and all has been done
And there's nothing left for us to say
But we could be together as they blow it all away
And we can share in every moment as it breaks
Call me now it's alright
It's just the end of the world
You need a friend in the world
'Cause you can't hide
So call and I'll get right back
If your intentions are pure
I'm seeking a friend for the end of the world

The first post

ehum....hello?
Can you hear me?

Yeah....after a long period of resistance against the "new" trend of blogging, the siege of Leningrad was broken (in contrast to what history has suggested!) and I finally decided to jump into this pool...like billions of bloggers who are out there writing about I don't know what!Why I did it and why I was hesitant to resist this trend will hopefully be discussed in the future. In other words, let me save a few words for later as well!

At the moment, I feel like standing on the stage of a dark and large theater hall and I am not sure if there's anybody out there who can hear me or is listening to me...it might easily be that there are billions and billions of people are standing at the same stage trying to make their voice be heard by an audience who expands to infinity. In any case, it feels cold and lonely for the time being but hey, I am at least standing on the stage...