I just watched a documentary on the Sherman Brothers who penned some of the best known songs of all times. It's on Netflix play it now and anyone interested in classic Hollywood or Disney should watch it. It's called “The Boys: The Sherman Brother's Story”. While the movie hits on a lot of interesting aspects to the Sherman brother's lives (they both cried when remembering how Walt Disney offered to put them on staff), the thing that struck me is this: Though they worked mainly on children's films, they never condescended to kids and they were always honest.
The film gives some of the backstories to some of the songs and they all come from a real place. The song “Let's Go Fly a Kite”, for example, came from the fact that their father took them kite flying every chance he got. “A Spoonful of Sugar” came from one of their sons coming home from school after getting an oral vaccine and saying it wasn't that bad because they put the medicine on a spoonful of sugar.
I think the real difference between an artist (or entertainer) and other people is that an artist is able to take these small slices of real life and change them into something more. Because these things come from real life, other people relate to them. I don't think it even matters if the inspiration source is familiar to the audience, so long as it is presented in a way that is honest to the artist. Life in post WWI France is as foreign to me as a Martian Brothel, but the paintings of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec speak to me because they are so very honest.
This brings me to my second point and it's about video games.
Recently a promotional video came out for a video game called “Dead Island”. The video shows a family being terrorized by zombies, which is cliché video game fodder. The difference is the tragic reverence it gives to it. Nothing about the video is cool or awesome, but it is very appealing as it digs into emotions not often found in video games.
The video became a huge sensation on the internet as people contemplated what sort of game could follow such a somber and amazing promo. In my opinion, it's the second best video game promotional video I've ever seen (the first being from The Beatles: Rock Band).
Of course the publishers of the game weren't prepared for the sensation the video would cause and find themselves in a bad situation as they try and justify how their game (which will most likely turn out to be just another zombie game) will still be good even though it doesn't hold to the emotional drama of the video.
Watch it here
And I ask myself, “Why not?”
I started playing “Heavy Rain”. So far the game has me play as a father of two kids. I wake up, brush my teeth, and work while I wait for the wife and kids to get home. When they get home I can choose to ignore them or go outside to play with them.
I take them to the mall and lose track of one of them, the older son named Jason. The only thing the game lets me do is try and navigate through a crowded mall while shouting Jason's name over and over. Jason has a balloon and I try and follow that while pushing through the crowds.
When I finally find the kid he has wandered outside and is across the street. As he runs to his dad, his is hit by a car.
Holy cow. I have NEVER been effected so much by a video game. I'm not a parent yet, but that moment struck me to the bone as it is a very close recreation to a time when I saw my grandfathers dog Lady, whom I loved like she was my own, get hit by a semi as she ran across the highway to my calling.
Video games can be honest and interesting. This scene proves that. Also, people WANT video games to be honest and interesting, the huge popularity for the Dead Island trailer proves that. Why don't more video game companies give us honest, compelling, stories? Are they afraid of the emotional nakedness that comes with true art or are they afraid of all the money they would make from it?
I don't know. I wish there were more truly interesting video game stories out there.
My third point has nothing to do with the first two.
A recent youtube video shows an Australian school kid finally fight back to bullies. The story is pretty cool. The kid, apparently, has been picked on for years and this is the first time he fought back. Kudos to him. I was a huge target for bullies for years and years in school and it warms the heart to see a spiritual brother defend himself.
And I ask myself, “Why not?”
I started playing “Heavy Rain”. So far the game has me play as a father of two kids. I wake up, brush my teeth, and work while I wait for the wife and kids to get home. When they get home I can choose to ignore them or go outside to play with them.
I take them to the mall and lose track of one of them, the older son named Jason. The only thing the game lets me do is try and navigate through a crowded mall while shouting Jason's name over and over. Jason has a balloon and I try and follow that while pushing through the crowds.
When I finally find the kid he has wandered outside and is across the street. As he runs to his dad, his is hit by a car.
Holy cow. I have NEVER been effected so much by a video game. I'm not a parent yet, but that moment struck me to the bone as it is a very close recreation to a time when I saw my grandfathers dog Lady, whom I loved like she was my own, get hit by a semi as she ran across the highway to my calling.
Video games can be honest and interesting. This scene proves that. Also, people WANT video games to be honest and interesting, the huge popularity for the Dead Island trailer proves that. Why don't more video game companies give us honest, compelling, stories? Are they afraid of the emotional nakedness that comes with true art or are they afraid of all the money they would make from it?
I don't know. I wish there were more truly interesting video game stories out there.
My third point has nothing to do with the first two.
A recent youtube video shows an Australian school kid finally fight back to bullies. The story is pretty cool. The kid, apparently, has been picked on for years and this is the first time he fought back. Kudos to him. I was a huge target for bullies for years and years in school and it warms the heart to see a spiritual brother defend himself.
watch it here
Of course I had my family to back me up, in elementary school especially, but still, being the target of a bully is hell on earth. I won't get into the physical, mental, and emotional torture bully victims go though, this isn't the time for that.
I do what to talk about the “Zero Tolerance” most schools have when it comes to violence. To put it simply, it's a load of crap. Because of this policy, the kid who stood up for himself was punished right along with his tormentors.
This is what happens. A group of kids bully one kid. They push him over, trip him, torment him in class, punch him and then walk away, beat him up during lunch, whatever. If the kid being bullied tells a teacher he makes it worse on himself and the teacher usually doesn't do anything because they knew it was going on in the first place.
This is a huge truth that people don't like to admit. Teachers know that bullying goes on. They know who the bullies are and they know who is being bullied. They may not see the actual events go down, but they see the practical outcome in their class.
So this goes on. Finally, one day, the bullied kid loses it, or gets fed up, or whatever, and fights back. Once the one-sided bullying becomes an actual two-sided fight then people HAVE to notice. And what happens then? Because of the Zero Tolerance policy, both kids, the bully and the bullied, are punished. One for being a royal dick, and the other for finally having the courage to stand up for themselves.
The only time I got in any real trouble at school was when I stood up for myself against the bullies.
This is stupid and lazy on the part of schools. Why not actually take a look at the situation before hiding behind some half-assed policy to dollop out some cookie-cutter punishment. Schools can feel warm and fuzzy with such a policy in place, but the actuality of it only punishes the bullied when they stand up for themselves.
It's been years since high school and I still bristle up when topics like this come up. But since the school system is nestled sweetly in itself and bad teachers are protected by their union and tenure, nothing will happen to change it.
Blah. Now I'm in a bad mood. I'll finish this post with a warm story that the Sherman Brothers documentary reminded me of, though it isn't about Sherman Brothers music.
It's about John Lennon's music.
When I was a senior in high school, my dad and I couldn't really communicate anymore. I hated the farm and he loved it. Neither one of us could see the others point of view and the end result was one huge fight after another. It was that stupid high school time where I didn't really know what I wanted out of life, but I knew I didn't want what my father had.
Anyway, like I said, we couldn't talk.
We went to see the movie “Mr. Holland's Opus” with the family. In one scene they play John Lennon's “Beautiful Boy” Some of the words go:
“I can hardly wait to see you come of age,
But until then I guess we'll both just have to be patient.”
watch it here
Again, this song came from a real place for Lennon who wrote it for his own son.
My dad, who was sitting next to me, put his hand on my knee and patted me twice. To this day I remember that and know that I always had a dad that was on my side, even if he didn't know what my side was. Thanks dad. Also, thanks John Lennon for giving my confused dad a vehicle to show a confounding son that he loved him.
Of course I had my family to back me up, in elementary school especially, but still, being the target of a bully is hell on earth. I won't get into the physical, mental, and emotional torture bully victims go though, this isn't the time for that.
I do what to talk about the “Zero Tolerance” most schools have when it comes to violence. To put it simply, it's a load of crap. Because of this policy, the kid who stood up for himself was punished right along with his tormentors.
This is what happens. A group of kids bully one kid. They push him over, trip him, torment him in class, punch him and then walk away, beat him up during lunch, whatever. If the kid being bullied tells a teacher he makes it worse on himself and the teacher usually doesn't do anything because they knew it was going on in the first place.
This is a huge truth that people don't like to admit. Teachers know that bullying goes on. They know who the bullies are and they know who is being bullied. They may not see the actual events go down, but they see the practical outcome in their class.
So this goes on. Finally, one day, the bullied kid loses it, or gets fed up, or whatever, and fights back. Once the one-sided bullying becomes an actual two-sided fight then people HAVE to notice. And what happens then? Because of the Zero Tolerance policy, both kids, the bully and the bullied, are punished. One for being a royal dick, and the other for finally having the courage to stand up for themselves.
The only time I got in any real trouble at school was when I stood up for myself against the bullies.
This is stupid and lazy on the part of schools. Why not actually take a look at the situation before hiding behind some half-assed policy to dollop out some cookie-cutter punishment. Schools can feel warm and fuzzy with such a policy in place, but the actuality of it only punishes the bullied when they stand up for themselves.
It's been years since high school and I still bristle up when topics like this come up. But since the school system is nestled sweetly in itself and bad teachers are protected by their union and tenure, nothing will happen to change it.
Blah. Now I'm in a bad mood. I'll finish this post with a warm story that the Sherman Brothers documentary reminded me of, though it isn't about Sherman Brothers music.
It's about John Lennon's music.
When I was a senior in high school, my dad and I couldn't really communicate anymore. I hated the farm and he loved it. Neither one of us could see the others point of view and the end result was one huge fight after another. It was that stupid high school time where I didn't really know what I wanted out of life, but I knew I didn't want what my father had.
Anyway, like I said, we couldn't talk.
We went to see the movie “Mr. Holland's Opus” with the family. In one scene they play John Lennon's “Beautiful Boy” Some of the words go:
“I can hardly wait to see you come of age,
But until then I guess we'll both just have to be patient.”
watch it here
Again, this song came from a real place for Lennon who wrote it for his own son.
My dad, who was sitting next to me, put his hand on my knee and patted me twice. To this day I remember that and know that I always had a dad that was on my side, even if he didn't know what my side was. Thanks dad. Also, thanks John Lennon for giving my confused dad a vehicle to show a confounding son that he loved him.
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