Blog: Ramblings and Rants

week

30

year

3

Super Heroes

Batman began. Spider-Man swung in twice. The Hulk wasn’t that incredible. Catwoman barely scratched up a nod. DareDevil dared, then stumbled blindly into the Elektra spinoff. HellBoy, Constantine, and Blade Frankensteined horrorific comic book ink into blockbuster celluloid. This month the Fantastic Four came flamed back to earth after an 11 year stretch.

Super hero movies are all the rage. More are on the horizon. The super hero sub-genre of films is enjoying huge box office draw even among non-comic book readers because of the super hero archetype. We all need heros, even—and perhaps especially—larger than life icons. Super heroes are surrogates, acting out our secret desires and calibrating our collective moral compass in a world appealingly more simple and black and white than reality. We need real life heroes, and, in a time when they are few and far between, super heroes step in to give hope that real heroes will one day return.

For such characters to fulfill their role as icons of hope and promise, they must contain qualities with which the audience can identify. Few can’t identify with the constant real-life troubles and moral dilemnas of Spider-Man. In Batman, a non-super-powered man pushed to the limits of his body and psyche, is an almost realistic potential for everyone faced with trajedy. We may even see ourselves in the Hulk, who is a metaphor for passion stripped of the restraints of civilization—an alterego for us all.

Which super hero or heroine do you identify with most? Who would you most like to see leap from the comic book pages to the silver screen? Why that character? How do you identify with him or her? And, lastly, how would you like to see that character treated in film?

week

22

year

3

Targeted!

Ever been targeted by someone—maybe an enemy you didn’t know existed? Or maybe it was friend soured. It could even have been by a total stranger, cruel or vindictive, picking you at random or making you pay for an imagined slight. Because you threaten someone in some way, for revenge, or for a hundred other reasons you may have been targeted and the victim of some form of attack. In one way or another, at one time or another, we have all be targeted by someone, whether or not we ever knew the reason.

Who targeted you? What happened? How did you react? Do you know the reasons why?

week

21

year

3

Defining Childhood Event

If asked to pick just one, what event of your childhood most shaped the person you are now? We are all the sum of our laughter and tears. As children, events occur in and around our lives that shape our world forever more. Which one event—for better or for worse—might you say shaped you? Why was it significant? How do you feel about it? How does the effect of that event reach across the years to influence your adult life now?

week

18

year

3

Daydreaming

Standing in line. Waiting for that download. Sitting in traffic. Ignoring the commercials.

At such cerebrally relaxed moments, fertile imaginations may wander into worlds separated from this by a gentle nudge or a violent shove. Daydreaming is a human predaliction, as natural as speech. Our daydreams are formed from threads spun in our hearts and patches of life knitted by our life experiences.

When your imagination begins to knit, what quilt unfolds? Of what do you typically daydream?

This week’s Slant is inspired by my friend’s confession that she often daydreams of being a heroine, of exhibiting incredible bravery by saving someone from impending doom.

week

17

year

3

I Don’t Like To Talk About…

This Slant can be glibly answered with a trite response about a phobia or dislike (e.g. “I don’t like to talk about about spiders or politics”), but I entreat you to search your soul. Tell your readers about one topic that makes you uncomfortable to discuss—and why it makes you uncomfortable. Open your ID and tell a fear or pain; open your heart and trust your readers.

If, in blogging your Slant, there isn’t a lump in your throat the whole time, you aren’t being honest enough with yourself.

week

16

year

3

I Wish I Was…

Somewhere? Someone? With…? Without…? More…? Less…?

No matter how self-aware, how happy you are with your life, locale, and person, there is always room for improvement. What do you want to change? What, who, where, when, or how do you wish you were…?

week

15

year

3

Enough Is Enough

Pushed far enough, everyone will eventually push back. Where lies the line between taking it, rolling with it, or sucking it up, and snapping, pushing back, or giving as good is different with each person, in each situation. Eventually, though, even the meekest of us can be pushed so far that she has no recourse but to push back.

I don’t mean the first time you gentley say no to yet another project being piled on you at work. The kind of push back I’m talking about is when you storm into your boss’s office and start laying down demands backed by a firm ultimatim. It’s the kind fed by constant frustration, a little at a time, until one day you find yourself standing on the wrong side of a line you didn’t even know you’d drawn in the sand.

When have you been in a situation where you’ve said to yourself, “enough is enough!” What caused you to break character, your breast suddenly hardening into unstoppable resolve? What person, group of people, or situation pushed and pushed and pushed you until you dug your heels deep and shoved back?

When was enough, enough?

week

14

year

3

Recent Scare

In the last two years, what was the scariest moment you recall? It’s a simple question, loaded with implications. I won’t contaminate the results by providing examples. Be as honest as your conscience (and readership) warrants.

Aside: I would like to thank those who participated in last week’s Saturday Slant, entitled “A Different Kind of Question.” Hundreds of people read that particular post (I look at my server logs), and three people gave their Slants. I thank and appreciate those who had the courage to face a difficult and serious question head-on.

week

13

year

3

A Different Kind of Question

I nearly didn’t post a Saturday Slant this week. I wasn’t feeling much like coming up with a whimsical diversionary query.

The Saturday Slant began as a means of exploring deeper thought and genuine emotion. The concept was that I would pose a provocative or meaningful question or statement, that other bloggers might choose to give their thoughts and opinions upon—colloquially, giving their slant on a topic. More people responded to the lighter, less intense questions about pet peeves, first kisses, and alignment with faery tale characters.

These are all great questions, they have received wonderful response the last two-plus years, and they are fun to write and, more so, to read the responses to. I’m not complaining.

This is the nature of the blogosphere. Most blogs are written for fun; they are the modern equivolant of chatting on a small town back porch in the summer. Most meme questions, from the Saturday Slant or anything else on the Memes List, are as ephemeral as yesterday’s lunch. They are a nightclub’s house band, their names and playlist forgotten even before the house lights come up. This is their purpose, memes, to be quick, easy to answer questions that entail light, fun thoughts. Memes are not bad or wrong or useless because of this; they are created, week after week, for this specific purpose, and they serve that purpose well.

I, for one, enjoy posing the questions about pet peeves, first kisses, and faery tale characters. More so I enjoy reading your responses, learning about your pet peeves, your blushing recollections, and fantastical thoughts.

Today, however, is different. Today is the day after a man died.

To some, he was the most important man in the world; to others, merely the world’s most politically powerful man. His passing, in and of itself, affects me no more than would the passing of my neighbor—which is more deeply than it should, but this is not about me. Though Pope John Paul II was not my personal conduit to higher powers, he was a man whose office and personage I greatly respect. He was a great man, who did many good things for his fellows. He was a man who did not, in some areas, do as much as he should have. At the moment, his record of service in the world’s highest office does not concern me.

I weep for the pain his passing has caused my fellow souls. The Pontiff held tremendous power in his ability to sway roughly 80% of the earth’s population, and he was, for the majority of the planet’s people, the voice of God. This is all impersonal and nigh trivial because these are the robes of the office he attained. John Paul II’s greatest power, his most enduring tribute, is the love he earned in the hearts of millions of my fellow human beings. It is that love that now causes their hearts to ache, and it is for this great ache I weep.

Today’s Saturday Slant is a momentary return to the original intent of this meme, this question of opinions, ethics, and feelings.

What does the passing of Pope John Paul II mean to you?

I don’t expect many—if any—responses, because this is not a question that one easily forgets. Long after my name and the location of where this question was raised has slipped from your mind, you will remember the question and its answer. It is not a nightclub house band. And questions of this sort are not often addressed on personal blogs.

What does the passing of Pope John Paul II mean to you?

week

11

year

3

World’s Worst Boss

If you’ve been in the labor force for a few years, you have had the misfortune of working for a bad boss at one time or another. What was he like? What made him a bad boss? Was he the egotist who could never be wrong? Was he infallable despite the fact that his unchallengeable ideas often failed? Was he the micro-manager who scrutinized employees’ every activity and logged frequency of bathroom breaks? Did he harrass you or other employees? Did your worst boss demand more and more effort from his subordiantes without so much as a thank you?

In your career, who was your worst boss? What was s/he like? What did he do (or not do) that earns him your nomination for World’s Worst Boss? Don’t name him—we wouldn’t want it coming back on you, especially if he’s still your current boss!

week

10

year

3

Statuesque

The town council has announced its intent to erect a new statue in front of the town hall. Since there are enough statues about town of the founder, explorers, and other long-dead figures, the council has decided to allow the citizens to nominate someone to honor with the statue. Entries are open to anyone, living or dead.

Who do you think deserves to have a statue erected of him/her in your town? The town council wants justification for the nomination, so why should this person be honored with a statue? Speak from your heart.

week

9

year

3

The Best Decision I Ever Made Was…

What? Choosing to marry your someone special? Having a child? Making a career change? Divorcing that someone who wasn’t as special as s/he used to be? Going back to school?

Of all thousands of decisions you make daily, which stands out to you today as the best decision you ever made? Tell your readers what it was, the circumstances surrounding the decision, and how it has come to present to you the best decision you ever made.

week

8

year

3

Urgent Spring

Though only late February, Spring is in the air. Crocus have blossomed alongside the daffodils, and the sunlight clings to day just a little bit longer. About this time of year Spring urges grip our hearts and minds. What are your urges?

Do your thoughts turn to romance and affairs of the heart? Do you begin to long for the beach, bicycle path, or swingsets? Do you dive into your closets, shelves and cubes dancing through your mind as holy crusade of organization begins to coalesce in your thoughts?

What does Spring do to you? In what mind does the warming, brightening days and greening trees place you? What are your Spring urges?

[Thanks to Strawberry Blonde for today’s Saturday Slant]

week

7

year

3

If I Were Paris Hilton…

That’s it. No exposition this time because I don’t want to bias your response. If you were Paris Hilton…what?

week

5

year

3

Banished Into A Faery Tale

If you were banished from reality into a faery tale of your choice, which would it be, which character would you choose to become, and why?

Would you be Snow White, destined to be rescued by, and live happily ever after with, Prince Charming? Or would you choose someone who’s entire fate is not yet written, one of the Seven Dwarves, for example, so that you might reap the benefits of choosing your own path? There are easy, glib answers; and then there are deeper, more meaningful answers waiting within your heart and mind. Which will you choose?

week

4

year

3

Sweetheart Re-Met

Think back through the warmer side of your love life, the relationships you’ve been party to. Remember your sweethearts’ faces, the scents of their hair, that little something each did that turned up the corners of your mouth. Think of the ones whom you haven’t seen in a while.

Now consider, just for a moment or two, running into one of these out-of-touch former sweethearts in the park, at the market, on the street.

Which of your former sweethearts would you most like to run into now? Who do you want to see again? Describe this person, as you imagine her or him to be now. In your mind’s eye, look into this person’s soul. Then tell your readers about her or him, how you would like to meet again, what you might say to one another.

Perhaps Fate is eavesdropping at this very moment, listening for the energy directed by your thoughts and by the conscious act of blogging about meeting up with this long lost soul. Focus on the details of this person; imagine what she or he may be like now, on this day. If you think hard enough, perhaps Fate might arrange the meeting for you.

week

3

year

3

Going Back To High School

Peggy Sue wake up. One ordinary night you rest your head upon the pillow and slip gently into the Sandman’s embrace, but he releases you back into your teenage self. Back in 16 year-old genes and snickers, your post-matriculated adult mind has the unprecedented opportunity to do-over three months of your youth—beginning with the first day of school after the summer break.

Armed with your greater experience, sagacious maturity, a mental trunk full of memories, and better nurtured inner child, how would you take on high school the second time around? In what ways would it be different than the first run?

Give your blog readers the Slant on how you would go back to high school!

week

2

year

3

I’ve always wanted but been afraid to…

We all have a desire to do, say, experience, be something, but have never acted upon that desire due to fear. It’s a new year, a new Slanted year. Carpe annum! Seize the year! Don’t let fear stop you from fulfilling your desires.

Or, maybe, you’ve always wanted something that you shouldn’t…

What is one thing you’ve always wanted to do, say, experience, or be, but have always been afraid to?

week

1

year

3

If I were King (or Queen) of the World…

A very simple question, loaded with untold possibility. Apropos for the first question of this, the third year of the Saturday Slant. If you were suddenly elected King or Queen of the World, what would you do?

week

33

year

2

Naughty Little Impulse

What is your naughty little impulse never acted upon? Ever wanted to kiss your boss? Do you often feel like telling your mother-in-law that she’s a self-centered, controlling witch—over Thanksgiving Dinner? Do you sometimes feel the compulsion to pick up your man’s dirty socks, which are constantly strewn about the floor irresponsibly, and ball it into his sleeping, snore-opened mouth? Ever wanted to steal something just for the thrill of it? Or is your impulse more along the lines of seducing that hunk from the mail room? Tell us about some naughty impulse you’ve had—or have frequently—and the circumstances surrounding it. This is a classic Saturday Slant revisited from 42 weeks ago.