TV and Violence

Tags

bill watterson, CINEMA, Comedy Central, entertainment, film, Jack, Media violence research, MIND THE GAP, Murder, Ripper, Television, United States, Universal Press Syndicate, videogames, Violence, Violence and Abuse, WRITING CHALLENGE

Fictionalized violence. Does it cause violence in the real world? Hardly.  Does watching Comedy Central make one funny?  Of course not.  Does watching The Natural make one a star baseball player?  Don’t be ridiculous.

In my experience, violence is either a learned or innate behavior.  People are either born violent or raised in a violent home.  I was raised in a home with no violence.  I’ve seen hundreds of violent movies.  I’ve played thousands of hours of violent video games.  I’ve read hundreds of books containing violence.  Despite all of that, the last time I was in a fight was in elementary school.  I despise real life violence.  It’s pointless.  It’s barbaric.  It’s animalistic.  I do not find  entertainment in the likes of UFC, MMA, boxing, or hockey as a lot of people seem to.  They love watching violence.  They love watching people beat the crap out of each other.  I honestly get a little nauseous when I see a fight.  I don’t understand how it can ever come to that.  I loathe confrontation.  Sometimes, though, I understand that it’s unavoidable, but it hasn’t been for me for my entire adult life.  To date, anyhow.

And the Season Turns – What’s Your Favorite Season?

Tags

autumn, blog, blogging, daily prompt, Hoodie, Humor, humour, Independence Day (United States), INSPIRATION, Life, Mother Nature, POST IDEAS, postaday, Rain, seasons, spicy chili, spring, summer, Turn! Turn! Turn!, United States, Wikipedia, winter, WRITING PROMPTS

Even though the calendar told us it was spring a couple of weeks ago (well, for those of us in the northern hemisphere, anyhow), Mother Nature didn’t grace us with Spring-like weather until this past weekend.  I was able to open my windows and let the damp, cool breeze permeate my home and listen to the calming sound of raindrops gently striking the ground.  I was able to roll down my windows when I went to the store this weekend and it was warm enough to wear a pair of shorts and some flip-flops.  It felt good to be outside for a change.  It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold.  Like that third bowl of porridge, it was just right.

English: Spring Rain, 1912 John Sloan (1871–1951) Oil on canvas, 20 ¼ x 26 inches Delaware Art Museum, Gift of the John Sloan Memorial Foundation, 1986 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People Who Live in Glass Houses (with a rant at the end)

Tags

Addiction, Health, Life, Mental health, Patient, ramblings and rantings, Ranting, Substance Abuse, Substance dependence, thought, United States, Writing

Hi again.  I normally don’t do the daily prompt as I like to think I can pull something creative from the part of my brain that isn’t filled with fog.  Snobby?  Not really, considering I managed to insult myself in the same sentence.  Anyway, it was more work than I planned to do.  I clicked into my reader, then the third post which only had two sentences (thanks Alastair ), and finally the link to the blog of sharing me myself and I.  The gem I found was worth the effort.

Happy PI Day!

Tags

Albert Einstein, Exploratorium, Geeks and Nerds, Pi, Pi Day, Subcultures, Television, United States

Hi there, everyone.  I just wanted to say happy Pi Day.  I’m a geek and the day snuck up on me.  Til a friend reminded me, I forgot that I planned on staying up til 1:59…happy 3.14159 Day!

1j1.

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Blunt Life Coach™: 2/2/2013

Tags

Advice, advise, blog, blogging, comedy, Fuck, Hokey Pokey, Humor, humour, Kim Kardashian, Life, Pat Robertson, Rosie O'Donnell, rush limbaugh, satire, Tylenol, United States

It’s that special time of week when I let Blunt Life Coach™ take the reigns and answer your well-conceived questions.  Or horribly abnormal questions.  Even though he’s made a couple of appearances in the last week, including giving my eulogy, the questions don’t get answered without him. So without further ado (I need to find out how to get more ado), I present to you…Blunt Life Coach™!

It’s me, bitches!

The Return of Blunt Life Coach™

Tags

Advice, advise, blog, blogging, blunt life coach, Coaching, comedy, Dear Abby, Fuck, Girls Gone Wild, Health, Humor, humour, Life, life coach, Peru, Ranting, satire, Stuph, Stupid People, Stupidity, Twindaddy, United States

It is time.  The moment has arrived.  The most anticipated event since the last most anticipated event is finally here.  Yes, dearest reader, it is the return of Blunt Life Coach™.

It’s ME, bitches!

Daily Prompt: Polite Company

Tags

Chats and Forums, Debate, Faith, INSPIRATION, Opinion, Politics, POST IDEAS, postaday, Religion, society, United States, WRITING PROMPTS

“It’s never a good idea to discuss religion or politics with people you don’t really know.” Agree or disagree?

It’s been a while since a participated in the Daily Prompt.  Although I’m sure you’ve all had withdrawals, I commend you for your perseverance for, uh, persevering through those tough times.  But I’m back, and I’m here to alleviate your pain.  Or add to it, depending on your point of view.  Eh, fuck it.

Here goes nothing.

"This Gun Killed Someone"

Tags

Editorials, England, Gun, Gun Control, Health, Mental disorder, Mental health, Opinion, Sandy Hook, United States

Reblogged from littlemisswordy:

The instructions read: Connect the dots to see the picture, then draw something you might see in it. He drew a picture of a gun floating in white space, with the word "News" above it. When asked to explain his picture he said, "The news is on TV, and this is a picture of a gun." As his homeschooling teacher and more importantly his mom, I asked him to elaborate.

Read more… 926 more words

This sums it up nicely. Gun control is a noble idea, but guns aren't killing people. People are killing people. Do we have a responsibility to do our best to keep guns out of the hands of people who would use them for ill? Absolutely. Is banning guns going to stop crimes like Sandy Hook from happening? No. It hasn't in England and it hasn't elsewhere. Guns are not the problem, people are. As my buddy Elyse has pointed out to me, you can get rid of guns, but you can't rid of people. This, unfortunately, is true, but we can choose as a society to pay more attention to mental illness; the diagnosis, the treatment, and the symptoms. I can tell you for a fact that society as a whole does not take mental illness seriously and most people do not get treated properly for it, and up until recently I was included in that group. So, let's put the focus and keep the focus where it belongs. On people. On mental illness. And on finding ways to diagnose and treat people with mental illness. *steps off soapbox* There, I feel better now.

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Parenting Fail

Tags

Charlie, Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown Christmas, Children, Christmas, Fail, fails, failure, Google, Humor, humour, Kids, Life, Parent, Parenting, United States, YouTube

I’ve used this here space to address parenting fails many times before, but never my own.  *gasp*  Twindaddy, you have failed as a parent?  Well, not entirely, but nobody’s perfect.

Wrote a blog ’bout it, like da here, here goes!

During my morning commute this morning – is that too redundant?  I can never tell – I was messing with Baby B because, hey, he was dumb enough to sit in the front seat next to me.  And if I keep doing it maybe they’ll stop fighting over who gets to sit in the front seat.  Anyhow, I was randomly pinching his leg and slapping him upside the head – I see you staring accusingly at me through this blog.  They were love taps, dammit.  Love taps I say! – and then yelling “No touchy!”

Silly?  Absolutely.  Fun?  You bet your ass it was.

Eventually, he started whining – through his contagious laughter – “You’re touching me!” and other inane things I don’t remember.

I countered with my rendition of Charlie Brown’s teacher.  ”Wa wa wa waaaa wa wa.”

He then cleverly (term used loosely) retorted, “Duh duh duh dah duh.”  He truly gets his wit honestly.  From his mother.  Poor child.

“Do you even know what that’s from?” I inquired.

“No.”

And there it was.  My failure in all its blasphemous glory.  My children didn’t know who Charlie Brown’s teacher was.  It hit me in the gut like Buster Douglas.  I felt the burn of this failure deep within my core.  How could I have two 13-year old boys who have no idea who Charlie Brown is?  Shame coursed through my veins.  My head hung low, but not too low, I was still driving after all.  I vowed right then and there to right this heinous wrong.

I, undaunted by my failure and unwilling to show any weakness in front of my children, continued my banter with him.  ”You uncultured swine!”

He was unfazed by my very uncomplimentary insult.  ”Whatever that means…”

“Google it.”

“I don’t want to.”

I loathe willful ignorance.  ”Well, you’ll be writing a report on it tonight then,” I told him.

“But, but…”

Another “love tap” ended our repartee.

There will be no report, but there will be homework.  We will be searching for Charlie Brown videos on YouTube tonight so I can culture these ignorant children.

Charlie is rolling his eyes at me. I’m sorry, Charlie. I won’t fail you again.

That at least gives me a nice segue into YouTube Tuesday tomorrow.  So there’s that.

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Daily Prompt: Immortalized in Stone

Tags

Arts, blog, blogging, Children, Coaching, Daily Post, Health, INSPIRATION, Kids, Life, marriage, medicine, Mental health, Parenting, POST IDEAS, postaday, Relationships, Sculptors, Sculpture, Statue, United States, Visual Arts, WRITING PROMPTS

Your personal sculptor is carving a person, thing or event from the last year of your life. What’s the statue of and what makes it so significant?

2012 was a turbulent year for me, and has been since the beginning of August when my wife left me.  So when my personal sculptor arrives, his instructions will be to capture the anguish which crushed me when she walked out the door and shattered my heart into thousands of pieces the size of a granule of sand.

This statue will be significant to me because it was a defining moment in my life.  I realized who I was.  I realized that what my wife had been telling me was true.  I realized that I took her for granted.  I realized that I had been treating her like shit.

This realization, along with being alone and broken-hearted, sent me plummeting straight towards rock bottom.  And I hit it hard.  I was a disaster.  I couldn’t concentrate at work.  I was barely able to keep my composure when the kids were around.  When they weren’t around I was drowning my sorrows in alcohol.  I lost all desire to do anything.  I quit reading.  I quit writing.  I quit playing video games.  I quit doing everything that I enjoyed.  I couldn’t eat.  I lost over 30 pounds in about a month’s time.  I was a complete clusterfuck.

I was able to pull myself together and get myself to a doctor who prescribed me some medication, and I eventually evened out.  I started eating again.  I was able to function again.

This moment needs to be memorialized, because it’s also the moment I realized that I didn’t like who I was.  I didn’t like how I treated my wife or my children.  It was at that moment that I resolved to become a better person, a nicer person, so that I could keep those I love in my life and so that those people wouldn’t resent me.  Or even hate me.  I needed to become a person that I could be proud of.  That my mother could be proud of.  That my children would be proud of.

The statue will depict me fallen to my knees, but looking up with a hopeful look upon my face and eyes filled with resolve.

I will do better. I MUST do better.

Check out these other great Daily Prompt posts:

• Daily Prompt: Immortalized in Stone
• Daily Prompt: Immortalized In Stone
• Daily Prompt: Immortalized in Stone
• Daily Prompt Immortalized In Stone
• TDP: Immortalized in Stone
• The Death of Depression
• My Personal Sculptor
• The Sculptor
• Daily Post: My Personal Sculptor
• Daily Prompt: Immortalised in Stone