Your Job Is To Create A Love Story

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The Place Between The Pines Dir. Derek Cianfrance

I create stories for a living. I went to school for four years to study storytelling in film and animation, but I am not interested in just creating fictional stories. I am interested in the stories we tell ourselves (am I weak or dumb), the stories we create daily (am I creating a tragedy or an epic adventure), and the love stories that we accumulate over our lifetime.

Of all these stories the most obsessed over is the Love Story.  The guy has his role and the girl has hers.  If you don’t know what part you’re playing you get dumped. The story is for the girl, and of the many reasons guys get dumped is because they want the love story to be about them.  They want to be the chasers, the captors, the ones that fall and open their hearts to her.

Most men are worried about capturing a girl, that they don’t even pay attention if she is in love with them.  Some girls go along with this and after 10 years that woman has never known what true love is until another guy comes along and steals her away because she got bored.

This is a failure of storytelling from the first guy.

It’s the duty of the guy to create the Love Story.  He must be aware that a successful story has mystery, anticipation, and a climax.

A girl wants to chase the guy, to go through the highs and lows of missing him and then getting back together. She wants to feel as if she can to tame this wild and crazy beast.

But a man must be strong enough to carry her when she does fall.  His love for her comes in his non-attachment. His ability to open space between them when she does get bored, to create doubt in her mind that this man can turn wild any moment again.

Her love story is taming the wild beast. A man’s part is to carry her through her emotions without giving up his wild nature. If you’re a good storyteller, they’re always going to be wondering, “What is going to happen next?”

 

 

 

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I Need Help Being Happy

I’m the type of guy that needs a cheerleader so I can play at my best, or at least the guitar guy from Mad Max to pump me up.  I need to be constantly programming myself on a daily basis to be productive and to have a positive, happy attitude.  I easily get distracted and easily fall into pessimistic, lazy behavior which is why I have to surround myself with books, quotes, videos that remind me that my time is finite, that if I don’t step my game up in no time will I be forty and fat.

I put the same quote on all my red moleskin journals, “Be Happy and Grateful today because you will be wishing for it tomorrow.”

I have that quote because I have fallen in times where I go into the mentality that my life sucks. Days where I have low energy and I tell myself you deserve to take the day off which can turn into two weeks that can go as long as 6 months.

Somebody joked that we spend our 20’s depressed and then become depressed at 30 because we wasted our 20’s depressed.  I don’t want to look back and see that I was a lazy pussy feeling sorry for myself.

Most people see life as a waiting game until they hit the jackpot. When I get that new job, new car, a girlfriend I’ll be happy.

We think particular moments will define us, but those moments will never come.  The future is already here, the moment that will define is right now.  Someone said that you have to believe that the next great moment will happen in the next 5 minutes. If you make it a habit to see every minute with importance, and not just another hour that needs to pass by until you go to sleep then you preparing yourself to be happy, strong and productive.  How you do something is how you do everything.

Most people who wait will miss the chances they get because they can’t go from a state of weakness to strength without doing it day in and day out.  Treat every day with importance.  If you can’t practice happiness and strength right now, chances are you won’t cultivate those habits for the future when the moment arises.

 

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Notebooks for the Lost

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Austin Kleon says, “Here is where your diary comes in hand. You keep track of what’s happening, write your own history book, consult it when you feel like you’re going crazy.”

He says sailors use this method of a logbook to see how far they have traveled at sea. If they don’t see progress they go mad.

It is very easy to get lost in pointless activity so I use two methods to not go crazy. I have a horizontal calendar and a notebook where I write my goals down.

The importance of my calendar is marking down things that I have completed.  This can be books and audiobooks I have read, posts I created, or things like washing the car or what date I cut my hair. It’s a good feeling to see all the things you did when the month is finished.  It can also be a jolt to your laziness when you see a blank calendar.  You get motivated to start filling it up with things.

The second method I use to fight unproductivity is write in my notebook.  I write my goals down; go to work, call the insurance, or make a post, but the real power of a notebook comes in reviewing what you did and didn’t do each night.

Austin Kleon says that our notebooks are the best place to experiment because no one will ever see us fail. The power is in the lessons we give ourselves when we go through a check of our day.  These lessons help us move forward when we are stuck.  Some lessons I give myself for the next day after I checked how productive I was and even how happy I felt are; smile more, no watching Youtube in the morning, leave your room to write, and meditate from 10 to 15 minutes.

The notebook helps me move when the anchor is down and I’m stuck.

If I know I am moving (the daily tips on where I can improve) and have a map of the landmarks I have passed (calendar) then I must be getting closer to something.

 

 

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How A Women Traps A Man

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I spent last night and this morning watching Ali Wong’s two Netflix specials.  And she is good.  I like raunchy, sexual jokes and she has plenty of that. What I like the most about Ali Wong’s specials is she goes deep into a woman’s psychology to get a man.  The strategies women use to trap a man like not sleeping with him until the third or fifth date, making a sandwich for him so he can become dependent on her, or bringing him down on occasion so he won’t have the ego to go with a younger woman.

Comedians are gold mines for relationships.  They are not scared to go into detail about the boring aspects that make a relationship hard.  To sum up Chris Rock you are either single and lonely or married and bored.

I laughed throughout the entire show, but then you start thinking about what she is saying. And then you go wait one minute, she just told you how to make a man a putz.

I’m always concerned when a girl says, “Me and my Boo are best friends.”  They do everything together, go everywhere together, there is no separation.  You want to take the guy to a quiet corner and ask him, “Do you guys still fuck.”

Women’s game is simple, take a man’s balls so he won’t be going anywhere. That is why women put on the little cute outfits and “act” like little hoes to lower your defenses. But once she knows she’s got you, her sexy outfits, her submissive temperament, and sexual cravings disappear like your balls.

I like Ali Wong because she tells you about women’s dual nature when she has no guy and when she has one locked in.  In her twenties, she is sucking dick at the park and under bridges, but once she’s got you completely for herself, NO more blowjobs for you.  If she’s not too tired she might give you a handjob.

This is my biggest fear.  Getting a girl who used to be that free loving girl, but once she is with you she doesn’t want to do that sexy, kinky stuff no more.

So how do you not lose your balls to a woman? You go to another comedian Patrice O’Neal to learn about men’s game.  He says you can never love a woman a hundred percent.  You can love her ninety percent, but she has to know that if she stops putting her best foot forward, cheats on you that you are going to leave.

Patrice O’Neal says, “Just because you caught a gorgeous fish does not mean you put away your pole and boat and jump into the water with her. That fish might ask “Why do you still have your fishing pole out and boat if you have me.  Patrice answers that a man needs to do what he did to capture that girl’s heart today and the next 50 years.

A man need’s to keep fishing for her heart every day and if need be he hasn’t lost practice to go out and catch another fish.

Keeping your pole is maintaining that fun, energetic, growing part of yourself. A girl wants you to get fat and lazy so she won’t have to worry about another girl getting you. If you aren’t appetizing to other fish why does she have to still give you that blowjob? So if she has doubt, she puts out.

That’s why it’s important to have a separation between a man and a girl. You do your thing and she does her thing.  It keeps mystery between you.  That’s why I don’t take girls to the gym with me.  That’s my place, that’s where I go practice my fishing.  But I know that if I am still with her 20 years after it would probably get boring and she won’t be amazed by my strong arms and six-pack.

I want to be funny but not a putz.  If you have Netflix watch her specials and some Dave Chappelle too. He also has some thoughts on marriage too.

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Story is Rituals

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I recently discovered Jim Greco‘s short films.  They are a collection of visual narratives of him skateboarding from one street to another on a mixture of 16 and 35 mm film stock.  Not much is happening,  just him paddling his skateboard down a sidewalk or going up ramps.  But as the film progresses and the music turns up you get a sense of connection with this mafioso looking character. He shares a focus in his eyes like he is getting closer to some destination.

This led me back to what Quentin Tarantino said in reference to why he puts importance on having characters in restaurants and eating. He says, “I have rituals play out.”

In the olden days, rituals were used to make rain fall from the heavens and fire pour over your enemies.

Now in storytelling, they are used to connect the audience with the character. It tells the audience that we share the same gods with the hero on the screen.  That is why the movie Friday has a giant following.  Many of us share the ritual of passing around the blunt while we are having a good time.  Movies make this connection by making simple rituals into important character actions.

It’s the simple act of Baby making a music playlist in Baby Driver, its the dullness of working at a convenience store like in Clerks, or forgetting where you park your car in that Ashton Kutcher movie.

Rituals may not always move the plot, but it helps move the audience towards caring for the main character.  And if they care for the character they will follow him till the end. They won’t care if the plot goes backward then forward, or from one dream to another.

In my head, if I follow the rituals of the hero, then I might be able to reach my destination as well.

 

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The Protective Mother – Archetype

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My mom was always on me for playing too rough, getting in trouble, and getting hurt.  I would come home with a stitched up head from striking it on a post, a bloodied face from boxing, or a dislocated finger from playing soccer.

If my mom could have it she would be perfectly fine with me never moving out of the house and being at my side to always take care of me.  I can’t see myself as a 40-year-old man living with my mom and still washing my clothes, but mothers are protective creatures.  As long as we are alive they are doing their biological duty.

The dynamic between mother and son presented in mythology, fairy tales, and movies has always shown the necessity of a tearing apart from the umbilical cord for one to become an independent human being.

In her Article Esther Perel, relationship expert, psychologist and speaker of a popular Ted Talk explores how one can create a boy into a modern masculine man.  She say’s,

“Only with thoughtful support will our boys have a chance to break out of the outdated gender norms that cause so much trouble today by demanding stoicism, fearlessness, competition, invulnerability, and aggression.”

Esther Perel’s article and my mom seem to be bouncing off the same maternal instincts.  Don’t play too rough, be nice to others, stay inside or you are going to get sick.  In Fairy Tales, the mother traps the princess in the highest tower, puts them to sleep, or prevents them from going to the ball.  The hero is put into a passive state for fear that if they go after their goal or highest potential they risk getting hurt.

In Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent traps the prince in a cell to prevent him his goal of rescuing Aurora. Robert Bly author of Iron John says the way to escape this cell our mothers put us in is by stealing the key under her pillow.  Only by disobeying the mother can we set free the Wild Man (Masculine Energy) and pursue difficult challenges.

This can be seen with boys with skateboards risking injury and embarrassment so they can learn a new trick, boys joining the military so they can discover more about themselves and become disciplined or a boy joining football to practice fearlessness and see what he is capable of.  Only by being brave will we escape the comforts of our cell for the suffering to grow stronger and the joy to know we can overcome it.

For my experience, if I listened to my mom I would have never left my home to venture out into the unknown. But as I have gotten older, made closer ties to my dad and made more male friends I feel more happy and supported.  But what makes me the happiest is having the bravery to take on difficult tasks other men might not do.  Only with goals and a sense of recklessness can we do what so many other rebels have been able to accomplish. Because no good boy has ever accomplished something worthwhile.

 

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Phrases that Inhibit Us Pt. 1

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Tom Brady is constantly practicing the fundamentals, doing every day what we think should come easy to him. Practicing catching with the other players and working on player positioning.  Even Michael Jordan, the best of the best at basketball spent the first parts of practice doing bounce passes with the other players.  Those who practice greatness know that there is still so much to know, there is no ceiling on their skill level and it begins with relearning the basics every practice and every game.

For myself and for many others, we fall into the trap that the basics of a game, a hobby, or a job should be easy. We think that when it is easy there is not that much more to understand and should be done with perfection each time.  This leads to a sinister way of thinking that our skills are finite, a mindset that says “I should know how to do this already.”

Photo from Starz News. I got a little famous.

When this phrase pops up in my head it tells me that I need to be perfect and do with no effort simple things I have done a thousand times. In my case as a soccer goalie, this phrase would pop up when I was having difficulty positioning myself in the goalie box to make a stop, or when a corner kick happened and I needed to decide if I should go out for the ball or stay on my line.

The phrase is cunning because it boosts your ego up.  It makes you rationalize that because you don’t need to look at the small things that you must be really good.  But what happens when you mess up at the things you see as simple? You begin to question if you are good or not.

“If I am not good at the little things then I must be dumb, worthless, incapable of growth, “I should know how to do this already, why did I mess up then.”

Even the greats mess up. MJ and Tom Brady have thrown bad passes but their mentality does not tell them, “Hey you messed up on the easiest thing you must suck then.” No, their mentality tells them I just messed up, good there is something new I can learn from this mistake.

Your mentality should not keep you on the floor, a strong mentality should bounce you back up to play with a looseness and freeness so you are not scared to mess up again. Because there is no cap on your growth, if I mess up it means there are new things I can learn to overcome.

We fall into these hindering mindsets because we think our ego is trying to help, but our vulnerabilities come to light when we read and examine the lives and mentalities of other great humans.  The article I was reading was about how goalies are evolving to be at a professional level. In the article it went in to explore that even the goalies at the very top are always learning new ways to position themselves when an opponent is attacking with the ball, practicing their footwork to go out and retrieve the ball, and even just passing the ball with other players. Where one player sees things as simple and easy, another player sees them as fundamentals to keep practicing and improving.

Someone with a great mentality does not lock himself up with thinking that things should be easy and perfect. But he makes it a habit at seeing everything with the possibility of learning new things.  It’s easy to see the simple things such as a job or a competitive sport as not meaning that much, but it’s only when we treat the small things with curiosity and an eagerness to keep learning that we can tackle the big things and be mentally ready for the pressure they will bring on us.

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