Revision: Sad movies Part I of II

After some philosophical discussions about Sad movies as opposed to tear jerking movies with a friend of mine I began to realize that these two types of movies are not synonymous. So after some thought and more deep platonic discussion I decided some revision was in order. I realized that I need a list of movies that have made me (almost) cry because I am a man, and I do not cry. BOOM! So this first list is that of films that are tear jerking.

1. Rams vs. Titans Superbowl recap. It was so beautiful and awesome. Made me well up with tears. And yes, to all the haters out there, YOU know who you are. This film counts. Boom.

2. King's Speech. That last speech where Beethoven's Symphony #7 In A, Op. 92 - 2. Allegretto is playing was not describable in words. The whole idea that the king who has a speech problem has to deliver this speech to all of England to tell them that it is going to suck, but we are awesome, and we are gonna make it through this in a little more eloquent words. Plus when hearing the speech it made me think of my interview of my Grandfather who fought in the Canadian army during WWII and told me how terrible death was, AND how people were murdered by the Nazi regime which are two incredibly sad things to remind us how messed up this world is, and I am surprised no tears were flowing out of my face.

So these are really the only two films I can think of that made me almost cry. Hear are some more suggestions by women folk.

3. Notebook. yeah, I've seen it, but to me it still ended kinda happy. I wasn't almost crying though, not even almost almost crying. Sorry.

4. Titanic. Come on, you are telling me Jack couldn't find anything else to float on. They knew each other for like what 3 days? And people are upset about that. The notebook has a better case to be tear jerking because that movie had a life time of love ripped away from Alzheimer's. However, I guess it was sad because the ship did sink. I'm still waiting for Titanic II!

Honorable mention:

Rabbit Hole. I only saw the trailer and it was about a family who lost their child. It looks super sad. I bet there are some good crying scenes are in there.

So I can only realistically think of 4, maybe 5 movies that would make a person cry.

Sad Movies :(

I wanted to make a list of the saddest films I have ever seen. I mean films that are real tear jerkers. Films that you had better bring a box of tissues if you are going to watch it. The problem is I have not seen that many tear jerking, tissue box needing, very sad films. I say film because not all of the items on my list are movies as you will see in number one. So without further adieu here is my list (with explanations).

1. Rams vs. Titans Superbowl recap. Yes, a few weeks ago when the Superbowl was upon us they were showing films of past Superbowls. I know how this game turns out, but that doesn't account for the dramatic retelling of how the Rams despite being a super offensive team all season were struggling to score touchdowns. The game came down to the wire, and Mike Jones tackled Kevin Dyson with no time left to secure the Rams' first Superbowl. I literally had tears in my eyes as I watched this "film".

2. The Notebook. Ok, I did not cry, nor did I have tears. And in fact I saw this movie a half and one times. Yes, I said that correctly. I watched the second half of the movie first then the whole movie. The story goes: I was at camp, and my friend, Mike, was in our staff lounge watching the Notebook by himself and I came half way in. I enjoyed the second half so I wanted to see how it got there. We then watched the movie again in its entirety. Everyone says this is a super sad movie so I put it on my list, and I think it was sad.

3. UP. The sadness in the beginning of the movie far overshadows the happiness achieved at the end. It was good, but sad.

4. Ok, I can only think of three. I know it is lame. What can I say? I like action, thrillers, comedies.

Maybe, I should see more sad films and really expand my experiences in film. I do not want to take the blame for this one though. I want to displace blame on all the people (read women) who are in my life for not taking me to task by making me watch sad movies. When the reason I have seen The Notebook is because my bro was watching it, well, I think all women should take that gauntlet up.

Welp, that's it.

I wish my energy came from the sun

If you know Melissa Wren, and you asked her what kind of person I was she might have a beaming review of how awesome I am...or at least I would hope. However, if you got to talking to her enough she might tell you I have a lot of pride. Now, me saying someone else says I have a lot of pride and me saying I have pride are two different things. A long time I have said I do not have as much pride as I perceive to give off. Tonight, however, at dinner I was talking to my parents and I was relating to them the story of how I burned my finger. I had just learned how to use a soldering iron and I had put using a soldering iron into my using oxy/acetylene for welding schema. This meant I was now thinking I could easily pass the iron from hand to hand, but you cannot. You see a soldering iron only has one small place to grip that does not get very hot, and when I passed the soldering iron from my left hand to my right hand I grabbed the iron on a very hot spot. We were told to make sure we pay attention to what we do in order to not burn ourselves THAT night.

I felt like an idiot. I therefore proceeded to tell everyone I had made a rookie mistake and burned myself and then proceeded to the water fountain to get my burn washed...wait, no that is not what I did. I told no one. I looked at it, and I assessed it was not a life threatening injury. I decided I did not want to look like an idiot, and I waited till later to run some cold water on my burn.

Tonight, I told my parents I have a lot of pride. I do not like looking like an idiot, and I do not want to be perceived as an idiot. This is from my prideful nature. I had for a long time I thought I was different from most people or men. I am not sure which group I should put pride into since I cannot speak for women. Anyway I said to myself I am different. I am not prideful, but humble. I am not like most men in a lot of ways, but the more I grow older the more I realize I am. I may have four sisters, but I still have a y chromosome.

I now stand (or type) before my peers on the internet as someone who admits he is prideful. He has too much pride sometimes. I do not like being wrong or worse being proven wrong. I do not like to admit I made a wrong decision. I do not want to be in the wrong. I want to be perceived as being right. I want people to think I have the answers. I get my energy from the sun, I am superman. Flawless. Or I want to appear nearly flawless. Somehow I think that I will be appealing as a person to more people. This is not the time to drag out my skeletons (nor will I ever do that on the internet, remember that pride thing), but i will admit one of my attributes which manifests itself as a flaw sometimes.

The finger burning thing is a small example, but I could bring up how in past relationships I would not have admitted to having any blame or fault for as why they did not work out. Pride. I sometimes did and still do I guess have a hard time admitting if my project or artwork is not the best in a group when it was clear it was not. Pride. I do not like working in groups with people who I do not know very well. Pride. The list goes on. I am prideful.

I ask for your forgiveness because a small part of me knows I should be more humble. I should not be caught up in how cool I am perceived or this or that. However, you can feel assured that if I do seem arrogant and very bravado around you I am probably very comfortable with you as my friend. Although, I tell myself I don't truly believe the things I boast about I like to say them for (hopeful) comedic affect. Unless you talk to Melissa. In which case I do believe every egotistic thing that comes out of my mouth. I hope the truth is somewhere in the middle.

So long and farewell

Most Beautiful Thing You Have Ever Seen

Take a moment and try to think of the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. However, try to go deeper than say children, nieces or nephews, loved ones, etc. Now, go ahead take a moment and try and come up with it. Tough right? I remember way back four years ago a professor of mine, Strand, once told me while he was working an apprenticeship in England the master posed this question to him with those stipulations. He said his answer (after some thought) then was he had seen a wooden table which had an arc carved in its leg from a lamp or something from being out at sea for many years.

Yesterday, this conversation came up with a friend of mine, Abby, and because I had been previously talking to another friend, Todd, I finally knew what my answer was after four years of searching. My personal journey for the most beautiful thing I have ever seen has not been an easy one. Many times I had seen a landscape so wonderful like Nebraska sunsets in our backyard, Niagara falls, a weeping willow drooping over onto a river in my Mother's hometown of Stratford, Canada. But I determined that landscapes are all so very beautiful for their own qualities they negate each other. I have seen a few pieces of famous artworks in person, and they are beautiful, yes, but something about how I felt lame saying a particular piece of art would be "it". And you know what, I have been to the Hagia Sophia, and I tell you it is one of the most beautiful structures, if not the, most beautiful structure I have ever been in. To me though, it isn't my culture and that rules it out to me, but boy is it beautiful-even with the scaffolding in there to keep up the dome...and the wonderful mosaics covered with gaudy paintings of less quality. I could make a whole blog entry about the Hagia Sophia. But still it is not what I determined the most beautiful thing I have ever seen is. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen is clean, impossibly rhythmic, entrancing, space enhancing, and yet simple.

The most beautiful thing I have ever seen is something people see a lot. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen are the the wind power generators. Yes, it may seem odd to say those are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, but they are. When you see them in the green fields spinning each blade seems to go slower on the up turn and faster on the down giving a rhythm to the spin, but they are all turning at the same time evenly. The clean white structure is echoed by the wonderful clouds and imposed on the bright green of fields and the sky blue of our sky. How many structures has man made that seem to enhance the look of nature? Somehow these things do. The idea and purpose is so simple, but the whole is beautiful and entrancing to see a whole field of these things recording each gust of wind. These structures are giving people reasons to drive through Iowa. Sorry to everyone from Iowa. Honestly though, how boring is driving through the MidWest? Pretty boring. When you have these clean simple structures nearly acting as sirens of sight of the fields the drive becomes much more visually wholesome. I simply find these structures to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. One more thing, they are huge. I have never personally been next to one, but I have seen the blades on trucks on the Interstate, and they are huge!

Now, take some time and come to your own conclusion. Who knows what I may find to be the most beautiful thing in the future, but for now it is wind power generators.