verisimilitude

ok, so last night i decided to rent i am legend, with a salt & pepper haired will smith (which by the way, now i see how salt & pepper hair can make someone look extremely good, or extremely old)...what a piece of work, although it was hardly anything like the novel by richard matheson, i can see how the whole craving blood and sensitive to uv light gave it some similarities...ok, so we are all made up of cells, cells which if damaged beyond repair for whatever reason are typically removed from the body by apoptosis, unfortunately because of what mankind has become through evolution (evolution = tobacco, chemicals, radiation, bottled drinks, pesticides, etc etc) there are now cells that avoid apoptosis all together and even begin to multiply and grow beyond control sometimes invading other parts of our body's and eventually killing us all together...CANCER...although in the movie we found a cure, the cure injection was so lethal it eventually started killing off all humans and led to a near demise of our being here on earth...after watching the movie and giving it much thought, i don't think we will ever find a cure for cancer, and as we continue to evolve as we have been, i think watching this movie is not too far from what could be in our not too distant future

assisted living

Over the weekend i decided to run to the bijou theater to watch The Savages...ok, so i know that everyone has had at least one encounter/visit with an assisted living/nursing home so ill spare you the vivid description on how they make you feel or what they look like or how they smell...The Savages is an awesome movie that will make you laugh off your seat while trying to wipe the tears out of your eyes to make sure you don't miss another scene. The black comedy helped me realize how selfish we can become as adult beings and lie to ourselves at times in order to make ourselves fell better about something we have done...The actors (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney) are brilliant in this feature and although the movie was centered around their father who was suffering from dementia and the dilemma of putting him in a "home" the writing/acting was so brilliantly done that you couldn't help but laugh and cry with the siblings and put yourself in their position...I don't think i ever thought of putting my grandparents in a "home" nor do i think i would consider putting my parents in such a place...I think that we as humans need to understand that aging is an ultimate part of life and accepting it is the first step...I think this movie was a true inspiration and helps you see how to put together pieces to an uncomfortable/dysfunctional family situation & make it work gracefully.

a matter of life or death?

After witnessing with the world the horrific tragedy of 911 & mourning the tragedy I felt like I was somehow engaged with the human race and desperately wanted to know who & why? I became a member of several organizations online, some political, some just to participate in conversation about what had happened & why, I started watching CNN, hell I even registered to vote for the first time (i was 22). Not long after, Micheal Moore was working on a documentary about the tragedy, the facts behind it and why we had at that time just invaded Iraq (for the second time). Considering Moore was behind Bowling for Columbine, I knew the movie would clear up some questions everyone in the world was asking or talking about, although he did, it seemed not enough listened. Recently Moore released SICKO a new documentary targeting the 250 million insured Americans & thought to myself why is he not talking about me, and the almost 55 million working Americans that don't have health care? But figured I would wait before jumping to any conclusions & go watch the flick as soon as it came out. As I left the theater gasping for air, wiping tears from my cheeks, feeling angry, betrayed and for the first time completely frightened that i lived in America. This issue hit home like no other issue in the world. Sicko by far is one of his most impressive, provocative, and would go so far as to say his most important film to date. Although some of my anger was toward Moore, I felt a sigh of relief that someone finally said something allot of us were already thinking. I mean, why are we the most powerful country in the world yet can rarely accomplish much of anything? I cant remember the last thing America did that actually benefited EVERYONE in the country, and not just the fortunate that rarely starve for the things needed in order to just survive? I realized after the film that the world I once was raised to love and cherish was not living up to all the standards it once valued and held above all others in the world. Sicko examines the realities of the American dream we all grew up to believe in...the ability to grow, thrive, work, and advance & not ever have to choose between life and death merely because we couldn't financially afford to live...isn't the right to live or die dictated by someone more powerful than any of us or has GOD relinquished his duties and put them in the hands of the health care system? Persuaded by everyone growing up that in order to live the American dream you must work hard and never believe something will just be given to you . As I grew older I saw this first hand when I started to work for a local restaurant as a bus boy at at 16, it was an eye opener to say the least, it seemed the more I made the more I fell behind, therefore the more I wanted to work, or somehow work less and make more...almost 15 years have passed by and although I work everyday it seems the past 15 years I have never been able to just look back, exhale and think of how far ive come...I know this is true with millions of people around the country but why? Why do we work and work and always seem to get behind? I have several thousands of dollars of student loans, well actually I have a few thousand dollars of student loans and several thousand dollars of INTEREST...and considering I have no health insurance im praying that I don't fall ill for the fact that considering I can not even afford a monthly interest payment how in the world will I be able to afford medical care weather catastrophic or merely preventative? If you have ever had to deal with a sick parent fighting cancer and their HMO at the same time for about 3 years, or had to bury both grandparents within the past two years prematurely because Medicare & Medicaid didn't do enough preventative care and would rather have the elder die on an operating table so that they don't withdraw anymore medical funds...Sicko will shock and awe you unlike anything you have ever experienced. I breathed a sigh of relief along with anger and wiping tears from my face that although I don't have my grandparents anymore, I thank GOD, they never gave in to the healthcare system and caved, that although they fought with social security, medicare, and medicaid for YEARS before their deaths, not once did they ever consider selling their home, land or any of their personal possessions, they died with dignity and all their possessions and they lived the American Dream as much as they possibly could. But what about me the costs are now surpassing anything my grandparents could have ever imagined, the profits are soaring The American health care system is SICK and BROKEN, it is geared towards obscene profits and Sicko gives you a birds-eye view of why we as Americans should revolt and demand it be fixed for everyone with health care and those of us who are uninsured and pray that if we had to choose between life and death because of an accident that we don't have to also choose between foreclosure & bankruptcy.