I just finished watching the 1990 Christian Slater movie “Pump Up The Volume“. When I was an undergrad student, I went out with this chick who was obsessed with Christian Slater. I mean, posters for every Christian Slater movie were all over the walls of her bedroom. Her bedroom. Christian Slater staring at me constantly. That’s kind of unnerving, if you catch my drift. Since then (the mid to late 90s), everyone who’s familiar with that movie’s told me I’m just like Christian Slater’s character in that movie. I always used to think I was Anthony Michael Hall, but maybe not, since there’s no single Anthony Michael Hall movie that comes as close as “Pump Up The Volume” does. All of these things, and my recent opportunity to view another Slater movie called “Heathers“, led me to request a copy through Netflix.

I can definitely see a similarity with my rants and criticism of society and authority and stuff. Also, most people who “know” me during the day say I’m too quiet and shy, even though I’m not usually like that in the later evening hours. I’m dissatisfied with the state of things, even more than usual as of late, particularly on the job front. I’m finding that nobody wants an outside of the box thinker. That’s just bullshit they feed you in graduate school. They all want a Yes-Man, or in order to comply with EOE regulations, a Yes-Chick, a Yes-Black, or a Yes-Cripple. And yeah, they don’t want individuality or freedom of speech or freedom of thought. Their “diversity” is all about putting people in pretty little colored boxes. They can do an activity that a five year old can do so they can feel good about helping the less fortunate, but as we’ve already discussed, they’re not concerned about actually dealing with the problems of individuals, just about classifying people. Genetically speaking, organisms with closely similar DNA are most susceptible to being wiped out en masse by disease. That’s a holocaust just waiting to happen. Passing me up is the worst mistake they could make if they want to continue their line. Anyway, the FCC wanted to lock Slater up in the movie for speaking about what’s really going on in the culture on a pirate radio station. Blogging is today’s equivalent of pirate radio stations. When they make blogging illegal, only criminals will blog. So be it.

While there’s some strong differences between Christian Slater’s character in this movie and myself. I’m not as eloquent. I don’t command the kind of following that he got. That much is obvious. All-in-all I think it’s a good movie to see if you want an insight into my view of the world. It’s called REALITY. Contrary to FCC-controlled airwaves, reality will not be televised.

I had hoped to never be forced to watch Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” by a well-meaning believer. Tonight my luck ran out on me. Well, sort of. I left the room within the first half-hour or so. As a person of faith (that’s Christianity, not whatever bizarre S&M-based religion Mel Gibson apparently practices), I don’t blame anyone for watching the film. I will blame people for failing to remember the cardinal rule of movie watching — if it’s a story based on a book, read the book — it’s always much better. That’s definitely true in this case. Specifically there’s a lot of dramatic representation that rubs non-Catholics the wrong way. For the record, I’m not saying that this is wrong or not (although I definitely have my opinions). Biblical literacy being what it is now-a-days, though, I suspect most people will have accepted the dramatic license as being accurate Scripturally-speaking.

Additionally, many have claimed (and will continue to claim) that the violent depiction of Jesus’ torture and crucifixion has strengthened their personal faith and commitment in being a Christian. Without appearing to support “the ends justify the means” ideology, this is a good thing. However, the real peril is that such thinking places too much emphasis on the bizarre way Jesus died (to us in this place and time, since crucifixion was quite common in those times). In reality, that was just a brief snapshot of the amazing thirty-three years of this man’s life. In his life, he did things that we all do — loved, laughed, feared, and cried. He also taught some of the simplest, yet right-to-the-point teachings the world has ever heard. Focusing too much on scourging, pools of blood, and crowns of thorns causes us to miss the final lesson going on right in front of our eyes — the conquest of death, the powers of this world, and any piss-ant trouble life can throw at you.

A couple hours after leaving the room, I came back to find out well the rest of the movie was received. Hope said it was only two stars. I questioningly joked, “You didn’t like ‘The Passion’?” like so many people have done as if not liking a movie was a problem associated with a person’s level of faith (particularly as in South Park’s parody of people’s reaction to this movie). As long as we remember that transient things like film and fashion do not indicate faith in those things that are permanent and ultimate, we can surely feel free to disagree on Mel Gibson’s vision and interpretation of Jesus’ message and still explore and experience the deep meaning of the Christian faith. Not only is that a five star rating, but that’s a free drink and up-size on the tub of popcorn.

This is the post where I go into depth about tonight’s strategic management class — and the bizarre train of thought that my mind boarded during the discussion of tonight’s case. Well, guess what — it’s not happening. Tonight’s case was about Disney and its corporate diversification strategy. Unfortunately, our professor asked us what we thought of Disney films. Nope. Not going there! Unfortunately, I do not have a single story associated with Disney movies that are suitable for general audiences. Most of these stories are associated with a movie called “The Little Mermaid“. For whatever reason, I was forced to watch this movie numerous times during my high school and undergraduate years. I’m not even going to go into some examples of these stories. If Disney movies (and musical sequences) were more like the following, I could probably be a bit cooler with spending so much time watching cartoons:

Yeah, I do question some of the strange emphasis on collectivism and schizophrenic values espoused by some Disney programming (particularly in the form of Saturday morning cartoons), but I think way too much. While I am also big into conspiracy theories, I’m definitely *NOT* one of those people seeing “subliminal going-ons” in cartoons like Aladdin or the Lion King. I definitely never saw this (*WARNING* this next one is in bad taste and most definitely R-rated):

In summary: No, I will not discuss all of the odd occurrences associated with every Disney movie I’ve watched. There are way too many to adequately describe in the necessary situational context. Besides, they make me look guilty of something, but only due to association. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to the wholesome family values it expresses. Trust me, no person or animal was harmed in any of these incidents and most local, state, and federal laws were followed to the spirit and letter.