Sometimes, We're All Hypocrites

If you have never seen the excellent show The Sopranos you are really missing out. 

I didn't think I'd like a television drama centred around the mob so I never paid any attention to it when it was on the air. However, I recently discovered it on DVD and have become a fan. It is a really well written show with some amazing characters and performances.

This scene is from a second season episode. Tony is the mob boss and has had a bad day. His teenage daughter seems to have withdrawn from him a bit. He's upset about it as well as a few other things. 

This scene is rather poignant and I like how it ends.  It's a great exchange between a father and a daughter. 

Tony: "Everything I do, and everything I've done, and everything I will do, it's all for you and your mother. You know that?"

Meadow: "I think you should go to bed."

Tony: "I tell people you're like your mother but you're all me. Nothing gets by you. And I know you think I'm a hypocrite-"

Meadow: "I'm going to bed." (leaves table)

Tony: "Yeah alright. Go ahead." (plays with his glass)

Meadow: "Dad, why don't you go to bed?"

Tony: "I'm gonna finish my drink."

Meadow: "Good night."

Tony: "Good night baby."

Meadow: "Sometimes, we're all hypocrites."

- Sopranos Season 2: Episode 10

I like how the daughter says the exact right thing here. She doesn't have to agree with her dad or what he does but she shows him that she understands.  It's exactly what he needed at that moment. 

That is why I love that scene and this series. 

So far I've only seen the first two seasons. I've borrowed them from the public library. I can't wait to make my way through all of the episodes. Great television!

Don't Reserve Your Best!

"Don't reserve your best behavior for special occasions. You can't have two sets of manners, two social codes - one for those you admire and want to impress, another for those whom you consider unimportant. You must be the same to all people."

- Lillian Eichler Watson

Words to live by that is for sure.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Blog Birthday

Silent Cacophony turns two today. Happy Birthday!

It’s almost hard to believe that it has been two years since I made my first post on my original blog.

Since then, a lot has happened. Please head over there to read a recap of my blogging journey so far.

I started Thoughtful Cacophony as a way to organize the vast collection of quotations I have been collecting over the past few years. I am enjoying running both blogs.

I want to thank everyone who has ever supported me or left a comment. I don’t think I would be doing this still without all of you.

And to the other readers who never leave a comment but continue to show up and read, Thanks.

Thanks to all the great blog writers who I have visited and commented on your blogs. Blogging has been a great experience that I plan to continue for quite some time.

Happy Birthday Silent Cacophony!

Everything is Story

"One thing that I think everyone can understand in story. Everyone knows what a story is. We listen to them and tell them every single day. TV, movies, video games, conversations; they are all stories. Everything is story.

If everything is story perhaps studying story will help us to come to the ultimate answers for which everyone seeks. Science has tried to come up some answers, as have the arts and religion. So far, not one discipline has all the answers. One thing all three of these disciplines have in common however, is story.

Everything is story, and I will attempt to prove this with examples from science, religion, and the humanities. This new series on Silent Cacophony is long overdue. This theory has been with me for years, it is now time to explore it. I hope you will join me on this journey."

- Chase March "Everything is Story" from Silent Cacophony, originally posted on March 10, 2008

This is part of a longer series on both of my blogs about Story. Please check the sidebar to read all the chapters (blog posts) on this topic.

God Bless Da Child

"Nobody said a thing about the kids in Iraq
Nobody said a thing about them babies being born addicted to crack
It’s crazy what we spitting on wax
But God gave us a gift, MCs we gotta do better than that
Hip hop saved me
But it's funny to see that what made me
is the same thing that plagues me
It’s crazy, mental slavery
We ain't going forward or backward in time
Seven ounces of brain matter
Using a fraction of the mind is blind
Behind every no good woman's a no good man
Understand; let your wis know the laws of the land
Put a palm in your hand
We should be proud of the earth
Providing, multiplying through birth
The devil is out to deny you, to divide you and it hurts
We should seize who fell victim
Angels sent from heaven
This hell stricken health system is crippling
Ayo daddy dad running with toast
Mommy dead: drug overdose
It’s the kids who suffer the most
Give them a chance to say,

Hey hey
Back in the day
We used run out and play
Back in the day
Back in the day
Back in the day"

Maestro Fresh Wes "God Bless Da Child"

Doesn't Cost You Anything

"There are libraries, the Internet. It doesn't cost you anything to educate yourself."

- Joe Peterson, character on Little Mosque on the Prairie

This what Joe said to his friend who was surprised to hear that Joe had the answer to a question he asked.

This is a great quote for a few reasons.

# 1 - the character who spoke it seems to be a bit of airhead.
# 2 - we should remember not to judge people
# 3 - it is amazing what people really know
# 4 - we can all educate ourselves at no cost

Distance Between Said and Done

"There is a great distance between said and done."

- Puerto Rican Proverb

Happy Monday Everyone!

The Past Can Change

"The idea that the past is unchangeable is a myth . .(It) may not change in its details, but the meaning, the understanding, the interpretation of them as part of a larger life can change."

- Joseph Gold. Read for Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 86

We Name Each Other

"We need a story that tells us with whom we wrestle. . .

We need a name, a formal introduction. . . 

We name each other. The name of course, in its original sense, is story."

- Stephenson D. Bond. Living Myth: Personal Meaning as a Way Of Life. pg 25

Trapped

"You know they got me trapped in this prison of seclusion
Happiness, living on the streets is a delusion
Even a smooth criminal one day must get caught
Shot up or shot down with the bullet that he bought
Nine millimeter kicking' thinking about what the streets do to me
Cause they never talk peace in the black community
All we know is violence, do the job in silence
Walk the city streets like a rat pack of tyrants
Too many brothers daily heading for the big pen
Niggas coming out worse off than when they went in
Over the years I done a lot of growing up
Getting drunk throwing up, cuffed up
Then I said I had enough
There must be another route,
way out to money and fame,
I changed my name and played a different game
Tired of being trapped in this vicious cycle
If one more cop harasses me I just might go psycho
And when I get 'em, I'll hit 'em with the bum rush
Only a lunatic would like to see his skull crushed
Yo, if you're smart you'll really let me go 'G'
But keep me cooped up in this ghetto and catch the uzi
They got me trapped...."

- 2Pac "Trapped" from the album 2Pacalypse Now

2Pac is a brilliant lyricist. He is one of the best emcees to ever touch a mic.

This song is off his first solo album and it was released in 1991.

Just check out the multi-syllabic rhymes.

"do to me" - "community"

"concrete" - "wrong street"

"irrelevant" - "devil's friend"

There are a lot more in this song too. See if you can pick them up in this video. This is his first song but remains his best in my humble opinion. Check out the album spotlight I did on Silent Cacophony as well.  Enjoy!

Doc Brown's Advice

"You can't stop people from talking. But you don't have to care. And the only reason you would is, if, deep down, you agree with them."

- Andy Brown from Everwood Season 4 Episode 13

Can't Stop It!

"Virtually nothing on earth can stop a person with a positive attitude who has his goal clearly in sight."

- Denis Waitley

Remember this advice and you will be unstoppable.

Happy Monday everyone.

Give Rap a Face Lift

This is one of my favorite parts of the interview I did with the rap group Animal Farm.



Chase: “That was ‘Move It’ from the album ‘The Unknown’ by Animal Farm. I like the line where you say ‘give rap a face life back to its true roots.’ So, how ya gonna give rap a face lift?”

Animal Farm: “We give it a face lift back to when it meant something. Ya know, knock of some years past all this plastic crap that’s going on now, ya know what I’m saying? Ya know when I say back to its roots, that’s what I’m saying. Back to when people were trying to mean something with their lyrics. Nowadays you turn on most radio stations, somebody has a speech impediment sounding like mush mouth stuff with some garbage rhymes, ya know? We’re just trying to throw some heat.”

If you want to hear the whole thing you can get it for free at the Dope FM page. You can also read the transcript on my other blog Silent Cacophony.

Literature Irrigates the Deserts

“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.”

- C.S. Lewis

Peace

"Passing up the times on the remote control button
Civil disobedience of which we know absolutely nothing
History paraphrased and stuffed in a tomb
Antidepressants prescribed to adjust the attitude
Sleepwalking through the mirror slicing toes on the glass
Who knows how long this little peace is gonna last
Cause for every piece lost there is another one to find
Sacrificing on the grind obtaining that peace of mind
I don’t need my piece of the pie
What’s a monopoly, my philosophy
KRS-one combine with Socrates’
Unlawfully we profit, of course conflicted prophecies
Little kids are killed all in the name of democracy
no abolishing the search
look for peace in heaven but it's full with same fools from Earth
cursed in my rebirth I cry for redemption
another attempt to disperse my resurrection."

"Peace" from the album "The Unknown" by Portland Oregon's rap group Animal Farm

If you like what you hear, slide on over to my main blog for the interview I did with Animal Farm on Dope FM. The podcast is available for download and the text version is available on Silent Cacophony. I have embedded more videos over there as well.

Enjoy!

Worse than Losing

"The only thing worse than losing the love of your life is having her find the love of hers."

- Matt from the television series Eli Stone

Remarkable Teacher

"I'll tell you something, it's the teachers that get you who are good. It's the teachers who understand and recognize you as an individual and say, 'I understand how this kid's working and this is how he needs to be spoken to.' It doesn't work when they clump you together and try to make it formulaic. That's not how the world works."

- Russell Peters. comedian from the article "Remarkable Teacher Fred Kolar is still an important person for Russell Peters." from the magazine Professionally Speaking.

Happy Monday everyone!

This one is for the teachers out there and the students who appreciate all that they do.

Third World is Right Here

"There are forgotten people and towns in Canada that are forced to live in Third World conditions. I never would of thought anything like this could happen in the rich and abundant country we live in, but it does."

This is taken from my main blog Silent Cacophony.

I wrote this entry about this time last year. I like looking back at my past entries. Normally, I just share my collection of quotations here but a friend suggested that I share some of my own words here. What better way to do that than to highlight a quote from a old post?

Hopefully this quotation and particular entry help call attention to this delicate situation.

Story = Life, Life = Story

"the idea of "one's own story" is so powerful, so native, that I hardly consider it a metaphor, as if it's some new lens through which to look at life.

Your life is story.

Your story is your life."

- Jim Loehr "The Power of Story" Free Press, 2007. pg 4

Draw a Circle Around Yourself

"A good man draws a circle around himself and cares for those within - his woman, his children.

Other men, draw larger circle and bring with them their brothers and sisters.

But some men have a greater destiny.  They must draw around themselves a circle that includes many, many more.  Your father was one of those men.  

You must decide for yourself whether you are as well."

- 10,000 BC movie

Be Happy

"Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities."

- Aldous Huxley.

Happy Monday Everyone!