The Love That Remains
Dear other people: If you ever say something which confuses me I promise to tell you that I don’t know what you mean. Therefore, you no longer have to insert: “ya know what I mean?” into our conversations. Thank you. By the way, while I have your attention, please omit “ya know” from any chats we have. Also the vast majority of the times that you say “sort of” it is completely unnecessary. Why not dispense with it. Also, as a time saver, please say: “right now” as opposed to “at this point in time.” (I have no idea who came up with “at this point in time” but it needs to leave the vernacular). One more thing, let’s be careful with the use of “particular.” Can anyone explain to me the difference between “this particular house” and “this house”? I thought not. I thought it worth pointing out in this particular blog post — excuse me, I mean, this blog post.
Can I tell you something really nasty about depression. I can? Thanks! It tells you to be wary of happiness, it actually suggests that feeling good is not all it’s cracked up to be and more than that it’s not something you should experience. Depression tries to convince you that your natural state is one of sadness. Then when you are feeling good you’ll often sense it lurking there telling you it’s coming back. The worst part of that is that you know it’s right. What a bastard it is.
Administrators and bosses. I’ve concluded it’s unnatural for humans to be in a supervisory position over other people. My evidence is how bad people are at it. I first started working fifty-seven years ago. Do you realize how many bosses I’ve had? I’m not going to count. The sad thing is I could easily count how many bosses I’ve had who were really good at managing people. The number who were competent isn’t a whole lot more. The number who sucked in one way or another is legion. It’s amazing how often people you work for will tell you bald-faced lies. Not little white ones, not innocent ones, but ones that directly contradict known facts and they negatively impact you. There’s bending the truth then there’s breaking it into little pieces. They will lie to your face, they will lie in emails, letters, smoke signals, any form of communication known to humankind. Mostly they lie to protect their own asses which is the priority of administrators. My bosses have always had bosses that they’ve been answerable to. Their priority is to please those higher ups, you can fuck all the way off. Many administrators are spineless worms. To get to their exalted middle management position they have their backbones removed. They’d no sooner stand up to their superiors than fight a hurricane. They have absolutely no loyalty to you, the hard working drone who makes them look good. Another characteristic of administrators is incompetence. Many of them suck at their jobs while they’re trying to tell you yours. Their inability to make two and two add up to four directly effects you — not that they gave two shits. Having been in education for nearly forty years I’m speaking mostly of school administrators. And I’m speaking of both public schools and the international language schools owned by corporations. Talk about depression, there’s one big fat cause.
The Odyssey is bloody well everywhere. I can’t remember a film that has been so hyped, so analyzed, so thorough dissected. The New York Times has had something about it everyday since before it hit theaters. It’s dominating the culture in a way that is bizarre. Our culture loves the next big thing and when that thing is especially BIG and when it’s universally praised and makes tons of money, well, brother, you’re not going to hear the end of it. It’s a shame that so many terrific films go way, way, way under the radar and barely get a mention while one damn movie dominates the discourse. Of course the question is: did you Mr. Blogger, see it? Yes I did. Last Monday the missus and I joined the hordes. Here’s my experience: It was the scene where Odysseus and his men are trapped in a cave with a giant cyclops. There was a medium shot of the cyclops sitting looking at his captives when I wondered: “What the hell am I doing watching this movie? This is not my thing.” I love films like Winter Light, L’Eclisse and the Last Picture Show. It reminded me of when someone convinced me to see Iron Man in 2008, what a stupid waste of time that was. However The Odyssey was not a stupid, waste of time. It kept me engaged for the entire eleven hour running time and I was impressed by certain aspects of it. That is until the big fight scene at the end. Every blockbuster fight scene cliche was in it which is to say it was badly overdone. No, seeing The Odyssey was not a waste of time. But I’ll tell you what, I saw a new Icelandic film called The Love That Remains (2025) Pálmason, via the Criterion Channel the other night. That was a great film worthy of at least ten percent of the hype being given Nolan’s epic. As if….
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