10,000 Hours

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

The past few days have been pretty average… seen a few movies… worked on my comic a bit… stuff like that. The big thing has just been thinking about the Future & what it holds… and what I’m doing to make it great for myself & my kin. A thing that’s been coming up recently is the whole theory of spending 10,000 hours to become a Master at something. I think it originally came up with some athlete saying something about it on a news clip & it just kinda stuck. Well, I got to thinking… what am I a Master of based on that theory? I’ve come up with a few things that I believe meet the criteria:

• My Job – I’ve been in basically the same profession with varying degrees of salary & responsibility for the past 13+ years. Damn, first off that make me feel old. Then again, even though the job has changed over the years, locations have changes, markets, personnel around me, all of that… I’m pretty sure there’s nobody out there who would argue that I’m NOT a Master at this Game. Period.
• Basketball – Though I’ve definitely played more than 10,000 hours over the course of 15 years where I did it 30-40 hours a week, I wasn’t always surrounded by teachers & mentors so I relied more on my own observations and of course, practice. Perhaps that’s why it’s not my job… because you can do just about anything for 10,000 hours… but unless you’re focused & constantly pushing & striving… then you may not get the desired results. Also, your size & nationality may play key components too. Don’t hate. I’m only being real.
• Sleeping – I think we’ve all done our fair share of this “activity” so hopefully you’ve all got it mastered… or at least under control.
• Movies – This is about the only other thing that I’m guessing may crack that hour barrier. Combined over the years, that’s about 5,000 movies… 150 per year… one every other day… yeah, easy. Have I mastered movies? I’d like to think so… but just the watching part. I’m not expecting to jump into the director’s chair & produce an Academy Award winning flick.

With that in mind, I’ll have to look to start venturing out into mastering other things… but in the meantime, all me to share with you some of mastery… Movie Viewing… especially bad ones…

First up was from a few weeks ago that I just forgot to comment on. On Netflix, I stumbled upon “Zombie Lake” which is a French film from the early eighties. Shot on a budget of about 500 francs give or take (before the Euro & I honestly think they spent all of the money of the climax… you’ll see), this movie is about true love… and the bonds of love & family that cannot be separated… even if one is a blood thirsty zombie. Okay, so… there’s a small French town with a lake… and basically beautiful naked big tittied women are disappeared… and because it’s France, nobody is doing anything about it (plenty more where they came from?). Then the truth comes out… back in WWII (forty years earlier at this point), some Nazis were pinned back & killed by the villagers… and their bodies dumped into the lake… but they came back as zombies. Yes, Nazi zombies… still in surprisingly dapper uniform too. So what does this have to do about love & family? Well, one of the Nazis apparently had a loving (and kinda drawn out) “roll in ze hay” with a French girl shortly before being executed & dumped in the lake… and ta daaaa… forty years later, he has a 12 year old daughter. I kinda like to think that maybe it’s his granddaughter so I can kind of think FOR the writer… but yeah, probably not the case. So yeah, then the climax comes… and I don’t want to spoil it… oh hell, you’re not going to watch it (unless you like boobs, lots of them). Basically Nazi zombie dad saves his daughter from some of the other zombies… and just when all hope seems lost for the villagers… enter a flamethrower (see? Budget blown). Fin. You’re welcome. Pretty horrible flick unless you’re laughing with others.

Next we move to the mid-eighties with “Transylvania 6-5000” starring Ed Begley jr, Jeff Goldblum & Jeffrey Jones among others. It’s the story of two reporters (Begley & Goldblum) and their crazy hijinx as they are sent to Transylvania to investigate werewolves. What? Oh, going to Transylvania doesn’t make sense for werewolves because that’s the home of Dracula? Weird… yeah… it’s basically trying to bring a Looney Tunes cartoon to life… but forgetting that Jeff Goldblum & Ed Begley aren’t exactly Abbott & Costello. I found it pretty hard to watch actually… but hey, that’s just me. It’s good to see Jeff Goldblum thirty years ago… we tall guys need to stick together. Also, you get to see a lot of Geena Davis cleavage back when she was young.

Next up was “Get the Gringo” starring Mel Gibson in the directorial debut of Adrian Grunberg, the 2^nd unit director of movies like “Traffic”, “Apocolypto”, “Master & Commander” and a few others. It’s the story an American criminal (Gibson) who just makes it across the border into Mexican with a few million in cash… but is then caught by the federales and taken to… a unique Mexican prison, that’s more like a horrible Mexican town with armed guards in crow’s nests. There, this American befriends a small boy (because families are there too) and his mother… while trying to figure a way to get out of jail, get his money & get revenge… while also trying to save this mother & child… and not dying. It’s actually a pretty good flick if you like movies like “Payback” and those with an anti-hero figure in the lead… one liners… action… violence… come-up’ns… it’s got it all. I highly recommend it.

 

There was also an interesting Hulu series called "Booth at the End" that was shot on a budget of $20 for coffee, I think... but it's basically a series of individuals meeting up with a mysterious man at a diner booth... and basically, they get something if they do something. Simple as that. Is he God? The Devil? Simply a messenger? Some sort of wizard? Who cares? The point of it is... if you want something, he looks into a book, and if you complete the task given to you, you get it. Simple... yet the stories are interwoven. I suggest checking it out. Great concept.

 

Lastly tonight is “Bad Ass” starring Danny Trejo, which is a fairly new movie that I’m pretty sure went straight to DVD (or Netflix). It’s the story of a Vietnam vet (Trejo) who has been selling hot dogs for forty years in the Barrio... until one day on the bus, some Aryan brotherhood guys start up some sh*t… and he knocks them the f**k out. Of course, he becomes an internet sensation… and shortly after, his vet buddy is murdered & the cops won’t do anything about it… so he starts looking for answer… vigilante style. Do you like Trejo being badass? Like he knows any other way to be? Can’t wait for “Machete Kills” or “Machete Kills Again… In Space”? How about some cameos from Roc (Charles S. Dutton) and Mr. Potato Head (Ron Perlman)? Well then, I suggest that you check this flick out. I liked it. It’s an action flick… with old people… kind of like Expendables.

 

Anyway, that’ll do it for tonight… better get some plans for the weekend before it’s too late. Have a great weekend everybody!!!