Commas and Ellipsis...

An excellent point was made today in a movie I was watching (Garden State, if you haven't seen it, you should.) that there are no real beginnings or endings in life...that is until the very end where there is an ending, but nobody is really sure about that one yet. Put into punctuational terms the theory is that no matter what happens until the big final "?" there are only commas and ellipsis in our lives that are bridges to other eras in our time here on earth. A very interesting idea to ponder. Especially since I am generally of the belief that life might just be a series of disappointments. But is it really, or are people--me in particular--looking at the wrong part of their situation. Of course there has always been the phrase "When one door closes, another door opens", but that's bollocks and so cliche that it kind of hurts my head a little bit. The truth, however, is that there is a lot of opportunity to be had in everyday life if you just have the proper perspective on things. Paying close attention, like close listening or reading, often produces some of the most staggering possibilities where there once were none.

Without the lows in life could we really enjoy the highs? Having often been told that the music I listen to is "depressing" and "too angry" I cannot be bothered because to me the music is hopeful in that there is always the underlying opposite amplitude of the wave that is implied but not expressed by many singer/songwriters. So yeah, I listen to whiny emo rock sometimes, because the implication is that before the times being whined about there were good times and smiles and something that felt so good that it couldn't possibly end...but it did end, and when it ended it hurt all the more. So the downs correspond to the ups. That IS life, and that is what makes life good.

Okay, I know this entry is getting clogged up with quotes (especially since I have just recently been accused of singing to myself too much) but the next two are from the same band and just might be pertinent to the topic at hand: The dillinger 4, a lovely little rock outfit out of Minnesota with a lot of sage advice/thoughts on the world around have quipped "thousands of us dead today, thousands went unfed today, and all we talk about's the fucking weather." and they also asked us to take head of windy city author Nelson Algren and "celebrate the ugly things." I would like to ask everyone who reads this, and I know it might not ever be many, but take time out of your day to think about both of those statements. First, take notice of the content of your everyday conversations, does it really ever mean anything, does it get us anywhere, or does it just distract us from the ills of the world. Second, having looked at what we talk about and why can't we then find the beauty in all the things that we have not been talking about all this while. Not so much beauty in the sense that it is right or good, but beauty in the sense that it gives us understanding of the world and, more importantly, the people around us. Can we really understand the pain and joy of the world if we consistently ignore it because it would disrupt our bubble?

Since we're already here and busy doing it just two more quotes before I'm done and sleeping:
"Is it really worth talking when everything goes left unsaid?" -The Lawrence Arms
"Do we ever take the time to really discover how little we know about each other?" -Less Than Jake

-A. Leith

p.s.- check out Timberlake's page at www.larakin.blogspot.com he has lots of pictures and such, where I have none. I'm not good with pictures.