The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I was between 8 and 12 years old when George H.W. Bush was president. At that time, I followed politics about as closely as a meteorologist follows flurries in Buffalo. Pretty much all I remember about him during that time are: 1) His rather distinct voice; 2) "Read my lips - no new taxes;" 3) Desert Storm; and 4) That he was a Republican; and 5) Dana Carvey doing a spot-on impression of him on Saturday Night Live . So, safe to say, 99% of what I've learned about the man have come in the years after his presidency. It's pretty amazing, in this day and age, to stand back and look at how the Republican Party has changed over the past several decades. Look at where they are today. Whether they like to admit it or not, Donald Trump has become the face of the party. His ideology now coincides with that of the GOP. While the party was shifting rightward during the late Bush's years as president, it was still in that transition stage between moderate, civil, respectabl...

As I've stated before, "cheating" is often times a shades-of-grey kind of issue, and the definition often times differs from person to person. Due to that, I've always said it's probably a good idea to date a person with whom you agree on the matter, in order to limit the potential misunderstandings regarding it. This especially seems to be the case when it comes to non-physical forms of cheating. While most everyone feels that participating in anything sexual with a person outside of a relationship is cheating, approximately 55% of women and 40% of men feel that passionately kissing someone outside of a relationship constitutes as cheating, and far fewer men than women feel that sexting with another can be viewed as cheating. Women also tend to believe in such a thing called emotional cheating much more so than men do. But what about mental cheating? Is there even such a thing? If so, what is it exactly, and how could we be certain that the person we're with ...

Those were the exact words I heard today when discussing movies with someone. He brought up some films in which he felt there was ultimately no point, such as: "Lost in Translation," "The Life Aquatic" and "The Royal Tennenbaums". I was going to explain the "points," but he was reluctant on listening. What's the point of any movie or work of art? To entertain, to bring about emotions, to provoke thought, open minds, bring about laughter and tears, to teach, to inspire, to let one escape, to provide a cathartic release, I could go on and on. Now, after viewing a film so awful that it made your parents' home movies look like Oscar-contenders, is it logical to then ask the question, "What was the point in the making of that film?" Yes. But, is it logical to ask, "What was the point?" As in, what message is the movie trying to relay onto its viewers? No. Because, sadly enough, even the worst of films probably have some...