Stupid

I should have known it before I left my home this morning. I should have seen the warning signs, but I didn't. I had gone and made myself stupid.

I am not sure how it happened, or when exactly it happened, but it happened. The day started normally enough, I woke up, read in bed for a while (though I had trouble focusing on what I was reading), got up and made breakfast. Sometime between waking up and leaving home a few hours later, my transformation became complete: I have become a complete and total, mouth-breathing idiot.

After breakfast, I lounged in front of the TV, watching reruns of "Firefly" a series that I only partially liked, and one I could borrow to watch anytime I wanted (note: my friend Amy loaned me "Firefly" and the movie "Serenity" and I had them at home for over a year, before I watched either one. So yes, when I say I was only mildly interested in watching it, I really mean it). But, as lukewarm as I was to the series originally, it was on TV now, which meant I didn't have to choose. Plus, since I had seen the whole series, that meant I didn't need to think about a new plot (warning sign #1).

Worse, I was not really watching, but kinda listening. I will turn on the TV for some background noise, especially if I have a task to do. However, today's "task" was playing games on the iPad. Not a thinking game, like "Scrabble" (d@mn all my opponents - I have been waiting for your move since last night. you could have helped save me by making me think!). No, I played, Solitaire, one of the more mindless games out there. Yes, there is some thinking and strategy, but not much. On the scale of intellectual ability, playing Solitaire is the equivalent of Patrick the Starfish. At this point, I was basically at the level of a mouth breather (warning sign #2).

The real coup de grace, was when I decided to finally leave home to run some errands. I managed to shower and dress myself relatively easily, but when it came to locking up, that is where the problems really started: I forgot how to lock my door.

I knew the key went into the funny hole, that has groves, but I forgot which way to turn it to lock the door. Odd. It has been the same door I have lived in for 11 years. Same key, too. It is something I do at least once a day (usually more), so I have gone through this same process over 4000 times on this door alone. Even more times if you count other locks I have encountered. Still, I was mystified about how to turn the key to lock the door. This is made even sadder in that even if I didn't know, there was still a 50-50 chance I would get it right.

What is the cause? Not sure. I have had spontaneous bouts of stupidity before (once I forgot how to turn on the washing machine. honestly. I stared at the controls and I could not remember which one made the water flow and the thing with the things move quickly). Sometimes it is caused by a cold; I did have a bit of a snot buildup, but nothing bad. Sometimes work: I was a busy week and I did work late last night, but I got to the gym and had a great workout. Personally, I do have a lot of things going on today, and that I need to do this weekend, that have been top of mind. It is one of the reasons I don't like to plan my weekends; I need time to rest the brain cells.

Whatever it is, I don't like it. There is a lot to do, that I need to get done, but all my mind can do right now is think about, um, .... well, the fact that I really shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car. Hopefully this will pass but in case it doesn't, my apologies to anyone I interact with over the next few days. I will do my best to control my mouth breathing.

Happy thinking.

Michael Moore Hates America

This morning I watched "Michael Moore Hates America", a movie that came out in 2004. It is a film by Michael Wilson, who takes a page from "Roger and Me", and spends the movie tracking down Michael Moore for an interview. Along the way, meeting up with folks who appeared in his earlier films "Roger and Me", "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11".

My feelings on Michael Moore have changed over the years. I liked "Roger and Me" when it came out. I never saw "Bowling for Columbine" for the simple reason that watching a movie about guns and dead high school students didn't seem like a fun way to spend a Friday night. I did see "Fahrenheit 9/11" and I hated it so much, I have never gone back to see one of his movies again.

I never voted for George W. Bush (I have a long standing track record of always voting for the losing candidate). I walked out of "Fahrenheit 9/11" thinking three things:

1. This was not a documentary

2. There are inconsistencies in this movie that contradict itself

3. Why are people standing and applauding?

Documentaries by definition are objective representations of the facts. There was very little objective commentary in "Fahrenheit 9/11". I had spend enough time studying to be a failed film-maker to understand how he framed his opinions, to give the appearance of honesty, while promoting his position, and most importantly, while not saying anything personally. It can be argued that every movie or story has a bias, making it impossible to be truly objective. It is impossible to represent all the facts in any movie, or newspaper story; the act of editing inherently creates a bias (which is why I have intentionally calling "Michael Moore Hates America" a movie, and not a documentary.)

What was more disturbing about "Fahrenheit 9/11" was the contradictions. Michael Moore's strategy on the film was to throw as many insinuations on the screen, seeing which ones stuck. When I spoke with friends (the Michael Moore leaning ones) about the contradictions Moore makes within his own film, the arguments were dismissed with a "everyone lies" comment, so its okay.

That makes no sense to me. The ends never justify the means.

That led me to the part that I never understood: people standing and applauding at the end of "Fahrenheit 9/11". It didn't make sense to me until I saw "Michael Moore Hates America". The film has a lot of interviews with film makers, lawyers, and Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller fame). One of the people interviewed says it best: If you are a passionate fan of Michael Moore, you are willing to accept his lies, because it supports your views. If you are not a fan, then no matter what he says, no matter if it is true, you will hate his movies. He can not change your opinion. All he can do is stir up rhetoric.

And he is right. Wilson interviewed people on the street, who saw "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11". He asked them what they thought of these Michael Moore. If they had a favorable opinion of him, he asked what would you think of Michael Moore if you found out he fabricated his movies, or used deceptive methods to get his point across. Turned out, it didn't matter to these people because they agreed with Moore's views. It doesn't matter that he lied; he shared their opinions, so it made it all okay. Of course, this could all be another film trick by Michael Wilson. We only saw a few Moore loyalists interviewed. He could have interviewed 100 of them, and only the handful we saw on film were willing to ignore the lies.

I would suggest seeing the movie, but if you know Michael Moore, I doubt it will change your mind one way or the other. Voters on IMDB agree. Overall the movie gets a 5, but if you look at the breakdown of the votes, you get a different picture. Of the 2623 user votes, 28% voted it a 10 (Excellent) while 31% gave it a 1 (Horrible). None of the other ratings got even 7% of the vote.

You either love Michael Moore or you hate him; this post won't change your mind.