Small Doses of Good

I was talking with a good friend about TV shows we watched growing up. And being who I am, the conversation lead to several other tangent thought processes in my head. The first is the realization that growing up I didn't have any real male role models. All the men that inspired me and taught me what it is to be a good man and a good person were all fictional. I learned a great many things from men like Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Jean Luc Picard, MacGyver, and Quantum Leap's Sam Beckett. 

One of the things I learned from Sam Beckett is that you can do an unimaginable amount of good in small doses and those doses ripple out and cause even more good. You may not see those ripples, or the effects they have, but that good is out there. And, it's out there because of you.

Re-evaluating Where I Stand With Myself

Ever since I understood what psychological issues were and that I had a great many, I knew that my demons were smarter than me. They know exactly what to whisper in my head to crack and collapse any feelings of light, warmth or love in me. And they have been working in my head long before I knew they were there and knew enough to combat them in any meaningful way. Every once in awhile, I come across a long standing source of pain. And recent events in my life have uncovered one.

I have been going through a lot recently. The events themselves don't really need to be discussed here, but they have prompted me to re-evaluate a great many widely held ideas. You know, clear out all the unimportant clutter in my head and really get down to the core ideals that I really take to heart. Without all the complications that corrupt and corrode those ideals. Given the time of year, a lot of these thoughts have to do with romantic ideals.

Top 5... Favorite Movie Directors

The problem with having friends who are movie buffs is when I get questions like, "Who are your top 5 favorite movie directors?" The question itself doesn't really pose a problem per se. No, the problem comes from my obsessive nature not being able to let go of the question until I answer it. No matter WHAT it is that I am doing.

The other concern is that there are many ways to analyze movie directors. But rather than go down the rabbit hole of which director has better shot composition or is a better visual storyteller, I decided to look at it by what "favorite" means. For me, favorite means movies I enjoyed and would re-watch as opposed to technically superior movies.  So, while there are directors outside my list that have made fantastic, and critically acclaimed movies, these directors have made the movies that have connected with me.