“
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands - literally thousands - of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss.
”
”
Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
“
He found it both sad and fascinating that only through an artificial universe of video images could she establish contact with the real world.
”
”
Arthur C. Clarke (2061: Odyssey Three (Space Odyssey, #3))
“
Standing there, under the bleak fluorescents of my tiny one-room
apartment, there was no escaping the truth. In real life, I was nothing
but an antisocial hermit. A recluse. A pale-skinned pop culture–obsessed
geek. An agoraphobic shut-in, with no real friends, family, or genuine
human contact. I was just another sad, lost, lonely soul, wasting his life on
a glorified video game.
”
”
Ernest Cline (Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1))
“
What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands - literally thousands - of songs about broken hearts and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don't know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they've been listening to the sad songs longer than they've been living the unhappy lives.
”
”
Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
“
10 ways to raise a wild child. Not everyone wants to raise wild, free thinking children. But for those of you who do, here's my tips:
1. Create safe space for them to be outside for a least an hour a day. Preferable barefoot & muddy.
2. Provide them with toys made of natural materials. Silks, wood, wool, etc...Toys that encourage them to use their imagination. If you're looking for ideas, Google: 'Waldorf Toys'. Avoid noisy plastic toys. Yea, maybe they'll learn their alphabet from the talking toys, but at the expense of their own unique thoughts. Plastic toys that talk and iPads in cribs should be illegal. Seriously!
3. Limit screen time. If you think you can manage video game time and your kids will be the rare ones that don't get addicted, then go for it. I'm not that good so we just avoid them completely. There's no cable in our house and no video games. The result is that my kids like being outside cause it's boring inside...hah! Best plan ever! No kid is going to remember that great day of video games or TV. Send them outside!
4. Feed them foods that support life. Fluoride free water, GMO free organic foods, snacks free of harsh preservatives and refined sugars. Good oils that support healthy brain development. Eat to live!
5. Don't helicopter parent. Stay connected and tuned into their needs and safety, but don't hover. Kids like adults need space to roam and explore without the constant voice of an adult telling them what to do. Give them freedom!
6. Read to them. Kids don't do what they are told, they do what they see. If you're on your phone all the time, they will likely be doing the same thing some day. If you're reading, writing and creating your art (painting, cooking...whatever your art is) they will likely want to join you. It's like Emilie Buchwald said, "Children become readers in the laps of their parents (or guardians)." - it's so true!
7. Let them speak their truth. Don't assume that because they are young that you know more than them. They were born into a different time than you. Give them room to respectfully speak their mind and not feel like you're going to attack them. You'll be surprised what you might learn.
8. Freedom to learn. I realize that not everyone can homeschool, but damn, if you can, do it! Our current schools system is far from the best ever. Our kids deserve better. We simply can't expect our children to all learn the same things in the same way. Not every kid is the same. The current system does not support the unique gifts of our children. How can they with so many kids in one classroom. It's no fault of the teachers, they are doing the best they can. Too many kids and not enough parent involvement. If you send your kids to school and expect they are getting all they need, you are sadly mistaken. Don't let the public school system raise your kids, it's not their job, it's yours!
9. Skip the fear based parenting tactics. It may work short term. But the long term results will be devastating to the child's ability to be open and truthful with you. Children need guidance, but scaring them into listening is just lazy. Find new ways to get through to your kids. Be creative!
10. There's no perfect way to be a parent, but there's a million ways to be a good one. Just because every other parent is doing it, doesn't mean it's right for you and your child. Don't let other people's opinions and judgments influence how you're going to treat your kid. Be brave enough to question everything until you find what works for you. Don't be lazy! Fight your urge to be passive about the things that matter. Don't give up on your kid. This is the most important work you'll ever do. Give it everything you have.
”
”
Brooke Hampton
“
Kad sam je drugi put video rekao sam:
"Eno Moje Poezije kako prelazi ulicu."
Obećala je da će doći ako bude lepo vreme.
Brinuo sam o vremenu, pisao svim meteorološkim stanicama.
Svim poštarima svim pesnicima a naročito sebi.
Da se kiše zadrže u zabačenim krajevima.
Bojao sam se da preko noći ne izbije rat,
Jer na svašta su spremni oni koji hoće da ometu naš sastanak
Sastanak na koji već kasni čitavu moju mladost.
Te noći sam nekoliko vekova strepeo za tu ženu
Tu ženu sa dve senke,
Od kojih je jedna mračnija i nosi moje ime.
Sad se čitav grad okreće za Mojom Poezijom
Koju sam davno sreo na ulici i pitao:
"Gospodjice osećam se kao stvar koju ste izgubili
Da nisam možda ispao iz vaše tašne?"
Ja sam njen lični pesnik kao što ona ima i lične ljubavnike.
Volim je više no što mogu da izdržim,
Više od mojih raširenih ruku,
Mojih ljubavnih ruku punih žara punih magneta i ludila.
Moj snu, kao asfalt izbušen njenim štiklama,
Noći, za mene sve duža bačena izmedju nas,
Ona mi celu krv nesrećnom ljubavlju zamenjuje.
Moje su uši pune njenog karmina,
Te providne te hladne uši to slatko u njima
Kad se kao prozori zamagle od njenog daha.
Kako je ona putovala pomerao se i centar sveta.
Pomerala se njena soba koja ne izlazi iz moje glave
Sumo vremena, sumo ničega, ljubavna sumo,
Još ne prestaje da me boli uvo
Koje mi je pre rodjenja otkinuo Van Gog
To uvo što krvari putujući u ljubavnim kovertama.
U staklenu zoru palu u prašinu,
Plivao sam što dalje ka pustim mestima da bih slobodno jaukao.
Ptico nataložena u grudima što ti ponestaje vazduha,
Radnice popodne na tudjem balkonu,
Već dvadeset godina moj pokojni otac ne popravlja telefon,
Već dvadeset godina on je mrtav bez ikakvih isprava.
O koliko ćemo užasno biti razdvojeni i paralelni,
O koliko ćemo biti sami u svojim grobovima.
Još oko nje oblećem kao noćni leptir oko sveće
I visoke prozore spuštam pred njene noge.
Moje srce me drži u zatvoru i vodi pred njenu kuću
Gde su spuštene zavese nad mojom ljubavlju.
Ta žena puna malih časovnika sa očima u mojoj glavi,
Taj andjeo, isprljan suncem list vode, list vazduha,
Ljubomorne zveri oru zemlju i same se zakopavaju.
O sunce nadjeno medju otpacima...
Zuje uporednici kao telegrafske žice,
Prevrću se golubovi kao beli plakati u vazduhu,
I mrtve ih krila godinama zadržavaju u visinama
Kao što mene njena obećanja održavaju u životu.
O siroče u srcu što ti brišem suze
Moja nesrećna ljubavi razmeno djubreta
Stidim se dok je ljubim kao da sam sve to izmislio.
Kuća, ništavilo na svim prozorima,
Sve je dignuto u vazduh.
Samo se još nesrećni pesnici kurvinski bave nadom.
”
”
Matija Bećković
“
Once I was old enough to understand it, the Swedish birthday song always made me sad. I didn't know anybody who had lived to one hundred, and I didn't think I would live to one hundred either. So, every year when my parents and friends sang to me, I felt this sadness that they were celebrating something that wouldn't actually happen. They were hoping for the impossible. I would let them down.
In the video, having just blown out my first birthday candle and been fed some icing on a spoon by my father, I have no idea what the song means and I look so happy.
”
”
Marianne Cronin (The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot)
“
I return my attention to the video, his voice blasting in my ears.
I cross the street without an arm to hold me back.
”
”
Adam Silvera (They Both Die at the End (Death-Cast, #1))
“
The truth is, there are plenty of negative sentiments all around and within us - anger, fear, discontent, distrust, sadness, suspicion, constant self-doubt...but perhaps more than anything, an ongoing apprehension. And existential angst. All these emotions are very much a part of our lives now. Even digital spaces have become primarily emotional spaces. The posts that go viral or the videos that are watched most widely are freighted with emotions. What is equally significant is how this creates a tendency, a habit of mind, that perpetuates itself through space and time.
”
”
Elif Shafak (How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division)
“
But I couldn’t block out the sound of his voice. “Hayden wasn’t the son I expected to have,” he said. “I’d imagined playing catch in the yard, watching football on the weekends, going fishing. The things I’d done with my dad; the things I do with Ryan. It was the only kind of relationship I knew how to have with a son.” His voice cracked. “But my second son didn’t enjoy any of those things. He loved music and video games and computers. I didn’t know how to talk to him. And now I’ll spend the rest of my life wishing I’d learned how.” He lowered his head, as if he were trying to hide the fact that he was crying.
”
”
Michelle Falkoff (Playlist for the Dead)
“
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands - literally thousands - of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don't know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they've been listening to the sad songs longer than they've been living the unhappy lives.
”
”
Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
“
Some of my favorite songs: 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' by Neil Young; 'Last Night I Dreamed That Somebody Loved Me' by the Smiths; 'Call Me' by Aretha Franklin; 'I Don't Want to Talk About It' by anybody. And then there's 'Love Hurts' and 'When Love Breaks Down' and 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart' and 'The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness' and 'She's Gone' and 'I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself 'and . . . some of these songs I have listened to around once a week, on average (three hundred times in the first month, every now and again thereafter), since I was sixteen or nineteen or twenty-one. How can that not leave you bruised somewhere? How can that not turn you into the sort of person liable to break into little bits when your first love goes all wrong? What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands, of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don't know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they've been listening to the sad songs longer than they've been living the unhappy lives.
”
”
Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
“
Fairy tales are much more than silly bedtime stories. The solution to almost any problem imaginable can be found in the outcome of a fairy tale. Sadly, these timeless tales are no longer relevant in our society. We have traded their brilliant teachings for small-minded entertainment like television and video games. The only exposure to the tales some children acquire are versions bastardised by film companies. These ‘adaptations’ are usually stripped of every moral and lesson these stories were intended to teach. I(Mrs.Peters) recently read that films were being created depicting Cinderella as a struggling hip hop singer and Sleeping Beauty as a warrior princess battling zombies!
”
”
Chris Colfer (The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories, #1))
“
continued. “The solution to almost every problem imaginable can be found in the outcome of a fairy tale. Fairy tales are life lessons disguised with colorful characters and situations. “‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf ’ teaches us the value of a good reputation and the power of honesty. ‘Cinderella’ shows us the rewards of having a good heart. ‘The Ugly Duckling’ teaches us the meaning of inner beauty.” Alex’s eyes were wide, and she nodded in agreement. She was a pretty girl with bright blue eyes and short strawberry-blonde hair that was always kept neatly out of her face with a headband. The way the other students stared at their teacher, as if the lesson being taught were in another language, was something Mrs. Peters had never grown accustomed to. So, Mrs. Peters would often direct entire lessons to the front row, where Alex sat. Mrs. Peters was a tall, thin woman who always wore dresses that resembled old, patterned sofas. Her hair was dark and curly and sat perfectly on the top of her head like a hat (and her students often thought it was). Through a pair of thick glasses, her eyes were permanently squinted from all the judgmental looks she had given her classes over the years. “Sadly, these timeless tales are no longer relevant in our society,” Mrs. Peters said. “We have traded their brilliant teachings for small-minded entertainment like television and video games. Parents now let obnoxious cartoons and violent movies influence their children. “The only exposure to the tales some children acquire are versions bastardized by film companies. Fairy
”
”
Chris Colfer (The Wishing Spell (The Land of Stories, #1))
“
My Mother
They are killing her again.
She said she did it
One year in every ten,
But they do it annually, or weekly,
Some even do it daily,
Carrying her death around in their heads
And practicing it. She saves them
The trouble of their own;
They can die through her
Without ever making
The decision. My buried mother
Is up-dug for repeat performances.
Now they want to make a film
For anyone lacking the ability
To imagine the body, head in oven,
Orphaning children. Then
It can be rewound
So they can watch her die
Right from the beginning again.
The peanut eaters, entertained
At my mother’s death, will go home,
Each carrying their memory of her,
Lifeless – a souvenir.
Maybe they’ll buy the video.
Watching someone on TV
Means all they have to do
Is press ‘pause’
If they want to boil a kettle,
While my mother holds her breath on screen
To finish dying after tea.
The filmmakers have collected
The body parts,
They want me to see.
They require dressings to cover the joins
And disguise the prosthetics
In their remake of my mother;
They want to use her poetry
As stitching and sutures
To give it credibility.
They think I should love it –
Having her back again, they think
I should give them my mother’s words
To fill the mouth of their monster,
Their Sylvia Suicide Doll,
Who will walk and talk
And die at will,
And die, and die
And forever be dying.
”
”
Frieda Hughes (The Book of Mirrors)
“
What does the negative libertarian escape to? Normally, it’s pure self-indulgence, hedonism, the pursuit of instant gratification. His life outside work is about dumbed-down entertainment, video games, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, alcohol, fantasy, escapism, relaxation, laziness, food and drink, chillaxing and “downtime”. But none of these things are enduringly satisfying. They are not sacred causes. They are not the meaning of life. That’s why all negative libertarians are sad, depressed, anxious, tormented individuals, crushingly alone and fearful. They are desperate to distract themselves from their lives because their lives are so miserable. Self-indulgence – the cult of yourself and your own pleasure and self-obsession – is never satisfying. You always need something higher than yourself, bigger than yourself, something for which you will sacrifice yourself, something that will curb your insatiable Id.
”
”
Joe Dixon (The Liberty Wars: The Trump Time Bomb)
“
Once I was old enough to understand it, the Swedish birthday song always made me sad. I didn't know anybody who had lived to one hundred, and I didn't think I would live to one hundred either. So, every year when my parents and friends sang to me, I felt this sadness that they were celebrating something that wouldn't actually happen. They were hoping for the impossible. I would let them down.
In the video, having just blown out my first birthday candle and been fed some icing on a spoon by my father, I have no idea what the song means and I look so happy.
”
”
Marianne Cronin
“
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands—literally thousands—of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don’t know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they’ve been listening to the sad songs longer than they’ve been living the unhappy lives.
”
”
Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
“
Once an opportunist like Mickey, who took the argument when she jumped on some devastated wretch's machine and jackpotted that it was the "cash-ino's money" she was winning, Moon returned after her six month break with the view that the separation had somehow sweetened the honeypot. The sad reality, she quickly learned, was that she was not irreplaceable; as such, the Casino felt no compunction to welcome her back with multi-jackpots. Instead, it took her money everyday and did not once give her a jackpot so that she could say, "Ah. They missed me." Instead, all she could keep saying was, "Verr-y bed. Verr-y bed. Suck-ah all my money!
”
”
Hope Barrett (Somebody Get Me A Hammer!!)
“
It’s funny, really, all the ways we tell ourselves every day that things are going to be okay. That things are going to get better, or that things can’t possibly get any worse. We all have these elaborate mechanisms to take care of our disappointments, our sadness, our pain. We build these walls around ourselves, placing bricks between us and everyone else, telling ourselves that we’re just protecting ourselves, just staying safe. Sometimes the bricks are easy to see, hard things that you bump up against when you try to touch someone. Sometimes they’re subtle. A slight turn of the head, a fast good-bye, a faraway look in the eyes. Sometimes I wonder why Disney never took to Rapunzel, why they never tried to take that story and put it on lunch boxes and in video stores and on pink sweatshirts. Maybe it’s that some fairy tales don’t need to be computer animated. Maybe Randy New-man doesn’t need to sing their songs. Maybe some fairy tales don’t even really need to be told, because they live inside of us, scaring us with their witches and their evil spells, making us wonder if maybe this time the prince won’t come in time, the princess won’t wake up, and maybe for once there won’t be any happily ever after. Maybe some fairy tales are just too scary to even think about.
”
”
Brad Barkley (Dream Factory)
“
When Harville awakened, he looked at the same scene with a loud and appreciative exclamation. I was tempted to explain to him that I had already seen the beautiful view and was now working on an important email. But I recalled the “Still Face” video and moved to the window to join Harville’s enthusiasm for the rising sun and shining beach, rather than be a still face. If I had not joined him, his excitement would have had no echo. The power of this experience led us to include it as a technique we recommend to couples in our workshops and therapy, to cultivate curiosity and wonder by echoing the joy (or the sadness) in their partners. THE
”
”
Harville Hendrix (Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples)
“
I always loved Woolworth’s because of the pick ’n’ mix; the memory of all those cola bottles, cherry lips, and flying saucers still makes me smile. Lily’s favorite shops were Our Price, where she went to buy the latest cassettes and music posters, and Tammy Girl and C&A, where she and Rose shopped for clothes. I always enjoyed our trips to Blockbuster Video—even if I was rarely allowed to choose which film we would rent—and visits to the little independent bookshop with Nana were my favorite outings. Buying books was the only form of shopping she ever enjoyed. It makes me sad to realize that none of those shops exist now. So many high streets are more like ghost towns these days.
”
”
Alice Feeney (Daisy Darker)
“
What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person? People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands – literally thousands – of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don’t know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they’ve been listening to the sad songs longer than they’ve been living the unhappy lives. Anyway.
”
”
Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
“
Some of my favorite songs: 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' by Neil Young; 'Last Night I Dreamed That Somebody Loved Me' by the Smiths; 'Call Me' by Aretha Franklin; 'I Don't Want to Talk About It' by anybody. And then there's 'Love Hurts' and 'When Love Breaks Down' and 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart' and 'The Speed of the Sound of Loneliness' and 'She's Gone' and 'I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself 'and . . . some of these songs I have listened to around once a week, on average (three hundred times in the first month, every now and again thereafter), since I was sixteen or nineteen or twenty-one. How can that not leave you bruised somewhere? How can that not turn you into the sort of person liable to break into little bits when your first love goes all wrong? What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?
People worry about kids playing with guns, and teenagers watching violent videos; we are scared that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands, of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss. The unhappiest people I know, romantically speaking, are the ones who like pop music the most; and I don't know whether pop music has caused this unhappiness, but I do know that they've been listening to the sad songs longer than they've been living the unhappy lives.
”
”
Nick Hornby (High Fidelity)
“
- Srećna sam!
Stojao sam i gledao je. Bila je to samo jedna reč, ali reč koju još nikada nisam ovako čuo. Poznavao sam žene, ali su to uvek bili prolazni susreti i doživljaji... Jedan čas zbunjenosti, jedan čas samoće, bekstvo od sebe sama, od očajanja, od praznine. Ništa drugo nisam ni želeo, jer sam naučio da se čovek ni na šta ne može osloniti, nego samo na sebe i jedino na ponekog druga. Sad sam najednom video da nešto predstavljam jednom biću, prosto zato što sam tu, da je ono srećno što sam uz njega. Kada se to kaže, izgleda sasvim jednostavno; ali kad se o tome razmisli, onda je nešto zaista beskrajno. To čoveka može sasvim da izmeni. To je ljubav, pa ipak nešto drugo. Nešto zašta vredi živeti. Muškarac ne može da živi za ljubav. Ali za ljudsko biće može.
”
”
Erich Maria Remarque (Three Comrades)
“
Jednostavno, ideš napred, dani prolaze, baviš se svojim stvarima, svojim svakodnevnim životom, a vreme, a da toga nisi svestan, ispunjava te iznutra. Dani, sa svojim rutinama i novostima, nižu se stvarajući nove obrasce u tvojoj ličnosti i odjednom, pre nego što shvatiš, preobraćen si u novu osobu, koja sačinjava sve ono što si ti sam stvorio samim tim što si živ.
Video sam u nekom dokumentarcu da se ljudska koža menja svakih sedam godina, što će reći, koža koju sad imamo nema ništa zajedničko, nijednu ćeliju, s kožom koju smo imali prije sedam godina. E pa ja o tome govorim: jedno postojanje zamenjuje drugo, jedna misao zamenjuje drugu, sadašnje emocije kamufliraju prošle, i čak i bez truda, naša inteligencija nauči da zaboravi ono što ju je nekad najviše opterećivalo.
”
”
Rodrigo Muñoz Avia (Psiquiatras, psicólogos y otros enfermos)
“
So when you guys get married and she squeezes out a litter of brats for you, you're going to have to come up with a better meet-cute than that. I don't think the kids will want to hear that you held mommy's hair while she puked up pills. I'm no expert but I could see that scarring a kid. You know, maybe pep it up. You two locked eyes at a Blockbuster video and you were fucking done for. Then they'll ask what the fuck a Blockbuster is and you can move on to other subjects."
"Frate," Edison said, brows raised like he thought the man was out of his fucking mind. Which he was, so it was a valid thought. "Who the fuck did you trade your balls into for the information about what a meet-cute is? First fucking Cyrus with his Michael Bublé, now this fuck with his rom-com comments? We're a sad excuse for bikers at this point.
”
”
Jessica Gadziala (Lazarus (Navesink Bank Henchmen MC, #7))
“
I should have felt something—a pang of sadness, a twinge of nostalgia. I did feel a peculiar sensation, like oceanic despair that—if I were in a movie—would be depicted superficially as me shaking my head slowly and shedding a tear. Zoom in on my sad, pretty, orphan face. Smash cut to a montage of my life's most meaningful moments: my first steps; Dad pushing me on a swing at sunset; Mom bathing me in the tub; grainy, swirling home video of my sixth birthday in the backyard garden, me blindfolded and twirling to pin the tail on the donkey. But the nostalgia didn't hit. These weren't my memories. I just felt a tingling in my hands, an eerie tingle, like when you nearly drop something precious off a balcony, but don't. My heart bumped up a little. I could drop it, I told myself—the house, this feeling. I had nothing left to lose.
”
”
Ottessa Moshfegh (My Year of Rest and Relaxation)
“
What did Kavinsky say about it?” Chris asks me.
“Nothing yet. He’s still at lacrosse practice.”
My phone immediately starts to buzz, and the three of us look at each other, wide-eyed. Margot picks it up and looks at it. “It’s Peter!” She hot-potatoes the phone to me. “Let’s give them some privacy,” she says, nudging Chris. Chris shrugs her off.
I ignore both of them and answer the phone. “Hello.” My voice comes out thin as a reed.
Peter starts talking fast. “Okay, I’ve seen the video, and the first thing I’m going to say to you is don’t freak out.” He’s breathing hard; it sounds like he’s running.
“Don’t freak out? How can I not? This is terrible. Do you know what they’re all saying about me in the comments? That I’m a slut. They think we’re having sex in that video, Peter.”
“Never read the comments, Covey! That’s the first rule of--”
“If you say ‘Fight Club’ to me right now, I will hang up on you.”
“Sorry. Okay, I know it sucks but--”
“It doesn’t ‘suck.’ It’s a literal nightmare. My most private moment, for everybody to see. I’m completely humiliated. The things people are saying--” My voice breaks. Kitty and Margot and Chris are all looking at me with sad eyes, which makes me feel even sadder.
“Don’t cry, Lara Jean. Please don’t cry. I promise you I’m going to fix this. I’m going to get whoever runs Anonybitch to take it down.”
“How? We don’t even know who they are! And besides, I bet our whole school’s seen it by now. Teachers, too. I know for a fact that teachers look at Anonybitch. I was in the faculty lounge once and I overheard Mr. Filipe and Ms. Ryan saying how bad it makes our school look. And what about college admission boards and our future employers?”
Peter guffaws. “Future employers? Covey, I’ve seen much worse. Hell, I’ve seen worse pictures of me on here. Remember that picture of me with my head in a toilet bowl, and I’m naked?”
I shudder. “I never saw that picture. Besides, that’s you; that’s not me. I don’t do that kind of stuff.”
“Just trust me, okay? I promise I’ll take care of it.”
I nod, even though I know he can’t see me. Peter is powerful. If anyone could fix such a thing, it would be him.
“Listen, I’ve gotta go. Coach is gonna kick my ass if he sees me on the phone. I’ll call you tonight, okay? Don’t go to sleep.”
I don’t want to hang up. I wish we could talk longer. “Okay,” I whisper.
When I hang up, Margot, Chris, and Kitty are all three staring at me.
“Well?” Chris says.
“He says he’ll take care of it.”
Smugly Kitty says, “I told you so.”
“What does that even mean, ‘he’ll take care of it’?” Margot asks. “He hasn’t exactly proven himself to be responsible.”
“It’s not his fault,” Kitty and I say at the same time.
”
”
Jenny Han (P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #2))
“
The attachment voids experienced by immigrant children are profound. The hardworking parents are focused on supporting their families economically and, unfamiliar with the language and customs of their new society, they are not able to orient their children with authority or confidence. Peers are often the only people available for such children to latch on to. Thrust into a peer-oriented culture, immigrant families may quickly disintegrate. The gulf between child and parent can widen to the point that becomes unbridgeable. Parents of these children lose their dignity, their power, and their lead.
Peers ultimately replace parents and gangs increasingly replace families. Again, immigration or the necessary relocation of people displaced by war or economic misery is not the problem. Transplanted to peer-driven North American society, traditional cultures succumb. We fail our immigrants because
of our own societal failure to preserve the child-parent relationship. In some parts of the country one still sees families, often from Asia, join together in multigenerational groups for outings. Parents, grandparents, and even frail great-grandparents mingle, laugh, and socialize with their children and their
children's offspring. Sadly, one sees this only among relatively recent immigrants.
As youth become incorporated into North American society, their connections with their elders fade. They distance themselves from their families. Their icons become the artificially created and hypersexualized figures mass-marketed by Hollywood and the U.S. music industry. They rapidly become alienated from the cultures that have sustained their ancestors for generation after generation. As we observe the rapid dissolution of immigrant families under the influence of the peer-oriented society, we witness, as if on fast-forward video, the cultural meltdown we ourselves have suffered in the past half century. It would be encouraging to believe that other parts of the world will successfully resist the trend toward peer orientation. The opposite is likely to be the case as the global economy exerts its corrosive influences on traditional cultures on other continents.
Problems of teenage alienation are now widely encountered in countries that have most closely followed upon the American model — Britain, Australia, and Japan. We may predict similar patterns elsewhere to result from economic changes and massive population shifts. For example, stress-related disorders are proliferating among Russian children. According to a report in the New York Times, since the collapse of the Soviet Union a little over a decade ago, nearly a third of Russia's estimated 143 million people — about 45 million — have changed residences. Peer orientation threatens to become one of the least welcome of all American cultural exports.
”
”
Gabor Maté (Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers)
“
Years later I saw a film - poignantly sad, and for me unbearably so - about a scientist who had invented a kind of total sense recorder, not just video but audio and smellio and touchio and the rest, which he set to play every afternoon in a given place a given time, for as long as the mechanism lasted. The scene he projected was that of a dozen or so young couples dancing on a terrace in the same holiday house, on the same island, where the recorder itself was kept. Then this young man comes across it while it is playing and at first is convinced he is watching a real occurrence: he sees this beautiful girl, in her slinky 1930s outfit, dancing and laughing and chattering with her friends, and he falls in love with her on the spot. Second day, same time around, he comes to the island at a slightly different time so he sees a slightly different excerpt, and still doesn't twig and falls deeper in love. And so on and so forth for various days until he happens on a duplicate bit and realises something is wrong. But by then, of course, he is irretrievably hooked. So what does he do? He digs out the machine, fiddles with its insides until he has grasped its workings, and then sets it up in recording mode and records himself into the scene in a desperate last-ditch attempt to join the dancers. Which works, and there he stays: trapped there amongst them in a virtual dimension, forever young, forever re-enacting the same little loop of life, over and over.
”
”
A.P. . (Sabine)
“
My greatest desire is to be human.
In Islam, it is taught we are born man but we must evolve to be Human. To be human is to know compassion for others. to understand Ethics and morality, all of which we are born with but still must learn in practice.Our intellect does not make us human. Intelligence as shown that we separate ourselves more from humanity through our evolution of inventiveness than we have ever before. We depend on our gadgets to tell us to think and what to think. We have become servants of I-Phones and pads and computers and slaves to clocks that have now become our task master. We answer to alarms and "Tweets" and " FB Notifications like pavlovian dogs wagging our tails at each blip of a cybernetic announcement. We are further losing ourselves to technology that we thought would make our lives easier but has simply made it more complicated and filled it with less time for interaction with our fellow man because we have lost sight of verbal communication. Of being in eye contact with each other because our heads are leaning down into video screens and our ears are covered with sound buds.. We have become an extension of our devises when we should be an extension of each other in a real physical world and not the matrix of AI and computer stimuli we have become sadly slaves to. I want to be human and see the true smile of my friends and hear the real voice of their ideas and not typed words of color on a screen. I want to experience the knowledge of seeing my fellow men and woman talking verbally to each other and espousing real IDEAS and not merely replaying sound bytes hey have heard from the latest PROGRAMMING. I want to be HUMAN and know the Humanity of my brotherhood of HUMANS!
”
”
Levon Peter Poe
“
Wait a second,” said Ash. “How is there a ‘moon in springtime before the start of the new year’? I think it’s a riddle. It makes no sense.”
“Yes, it does,” said Jared. “The new year was in March in England until the 1700s, when the pope introduced a new calendar.”
Everyone stared at him. Jared flushed slightly, scar thrown into relief, and muttered, “I read a lot of old books.”
“Well done,” said Jon. “See where learning gets you, lads? So much better than messing around with girls or playing those video games which one hears are full of violence.”
Kami, as a witness to many of her father’s video game marathons, gave him a long judgmental stare. “You total hypocrite.”
“Hypocrisy is what being a parent is all about,” Jon said. “Well done for cracking the books, Jared and Holly. You see how it pays off.”
Holly smiled and the light of her smile seemed to spill all over the room, reflections of light refracted all over everywhere.
“It’s true reading is a wonderful thing,” Rusty observed. “I read a Cosmo a year ago, and I still remember how to keep my nails in perfect condition and also ten top tips on how to dress to accentuate my ass.”
Now everybody was staring at Rusty. Unlike Jared, he did not blush.
“Those tips are working,” he said. “Don’t pretend you haven’t all noticed. I know the truth.”
Kami rolled up a magazine on the table—sadly, for the sake of dramatic irony, not a Cosmo—and hit Rusty over the head with it. “Does anybody have anything else to say—I can’t stress this enough—specifically about Elinor Lynburn and medieval New Year?”
“Want to know what it was called? You’ll like this,” Jared added, and he looked at Kami. It was a simple glance from his gray eyes, but it felt like being put in a room that was just the two of them. “Lady Day.”
Kami beamed at him. “You know what I like, sugarprune
”
”
Sarah Rees Brennan (Unmade (The Lynburn Legacy, #3))
“
In America a child can no longer
visit the place where she was born
a shopping mall
stands there instead.
In America a grownup can no longer see the school
where she learned the art of growing sad
a freeway goes through there now an overpass
her memories of brick turn to glass
the suburb goes from white to black
and time speeds up so much she has
to stay young forever and reset the clock
every five minutes just to know where is there
and there is everywhere
because she lives in time and not in any space!
In our country here
the future is in ruins before it is built
a fact recognized by postmodern architecture
that grins at us shyly or demonically as it quoted
ruins from other times and places!
There are no buildings in America only passageways
that connect migratory floods
the most permanent architecture being
precisely that which moves these floods
from one future ruin to another
that is to say freeways and skyways
and the car is our only shelter
the architecture of desire reduced to the womb
a womb in transit from one nowhere to another!”
Saddened by his own vision and sensing smugness in the audience, Wakefield is revolted by his desire to please the foreigners. He coughs. He is portraying his own country now for the sake of… what? Applause? There isn't any. He veers down another path.
“The miracle of America is of motion not regret
in New Mexico the has face of Jesus jumped on a tortilla
in Plaquermine a Virgin appeared in a tree
In Santuari de Chimayo the dirt turned healer
a guy in Texas crasahed into a wall when God said
Let me take the wheel!
And others hear voice all the time
telling them to sit under a tree or jump from a cliff
or take large baskets of eggs into Blockbuster
to throw at the videos
the voices of God are everywhere heard loud
and clear under the hum of the tickertape
and all these miracle and speaking gods
are the mysteries left homeless by the Architecture
of speed and moving forward onward and ahead!”
Wakefield throws his hands into the air as if to sprinkle fairy dust on the room; he is evoking the richness of a place always ready for miracles.
”
”
Andrei Codrescu (Wakefield)
“
I DON'T WANT to talk about me, of course, but it seems as though far too much attention has been lavished on you lately-that your greed and vanities and quest for self-fulfillment have been catered to far too much. You just want and want and want. You believe in yourself excessively. You don't believe in Nature anymore. It's too isolated from you. You've abstracted it. It's so messy and damaged and sad. Your eyes glaze as you travel life's highway past all the crushed animals and the Big Gulp cups. You don't even take pleasure in looking at nature photographs these days. Oh, they can be just as pretty as always, but don't they make you feel increasingly ... anxious? Filled with more trepidation than peace? So what's the point? You see the picture of the baby condor or the panda munching on a bamboo shoot, and your heart just sinks, doesn't it? A picture of a poor old sea turtle with barnacles on her back, all ancient and exhausted, depositing her five gallons of doomed eggs in the sand hardly fills you with joy, because you realize, quite rightly, that just outside the frame falls the shadow of the condo. What's cropped from the shot of ocean waves crashing on a pristine shore is the plastics plant, and just beyond the dunes lies a parking lot. Hidden from immediate view in the butterfly-bright meadow, in the dusky thicket, in the oak and holly wood, are the surveyors' stakes, for someone wants to build a mall exactly there-some gas stations and supermarkets, some pizza and video shops, a health club, maybe a bulimia treatment center.
Those lovely pictures of leopards and herons and wild rivers-well, you just know they're going to be accompanied by a text that will serve only to bring you down. You don't want to think about it! It's all so uncool. And you don't want to feel guilty either. Guilt is uncool. Regret maybe you'll consider. Maybe. Regret is a possibility, but don't push me, you say. Nature photographs have become something of a problem, along with almost everything else. Even though they leave the bad stuff out-maybe because you know they're leaving all the bad stuff out-such pictures are making you increasingly aware that you're a little too late for Nature. Do you feel that? Twenty years too late? Maybe only ten? Not way too late, just a little too late? Well, it appears that you are. And since you are, you've decided you're just not going to attend this particular party.
”
”
Joy Williams (Ill Nature: Rants and Reflections on Humanity and Other Animals)
“
So how are things going with Kavinsky?”
Funny you should bring that up, Josh. ’Cause I’ve got my story locked and loaded. Peter and I had a fight via video chat this morning (in case Josh has noticed I haven’t left the house all weekend), and we broke up, and I’m devastated about the whole thing, because I’ve been in constant love with Peter Kavinsky since the seventh grade, but c’est la vie.
“Actually, Peter and I broke up this morning.” I bite my lip and try to look sad. “It’s just, really hard, you know? After I liked him for so long and then finally he likes me back. But it’s just not meant to be. I don’t think he’s over his breakup yet. I think maybe Genevieve still has too strong a hold on him, so there’s no room in his heart for me.”
Josh gives me a funny look. “That’s not what he was saying today at McCalls.”
What in the world was Peter K. doing at a bookstore? He’s not the bookstore type. “What did he say?” I try to sound casual, but my heart is pounding so loudly I’m pretty sure Sadie can hear it.
Josh keeps petting Sadie.
“What did he say?” Now I’m just trying not to sound shrill. “Like, what was said exactly?”
“When I was ringing him up, I asked him when you guys started going out, and he said recently. He said he really liked you.”
What…
I must look as shocked as I feel, because Josh straightens up and says, “Yeah, I was kind of surprised too.”
“You were surprised that he would like me?”
“Well, kind of. Kavinsky just isn’t the kind of guy who would date a girl like you.” When I stare back at him, sour and unsmiling, he quickly tries to backtrack. “I mean, because you’re not, you know…”
“I’m not what? As pretty as Genevieve?”
“No! That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m trying to say is, you’re like this sweet, innocent girl who likes to be at home with her family, and I don’t know, I guess Kavinsky doesn’t strike me as someone who would be into that.”
Before he can say another word, I grab my phone out of my jacket pocket and say, “That’s Peter calling me right now, so I guess he does like homely girls.”
“I didn’t say homely! I said you like to be at home!”
“Later, Josh.” I speed walk away, dragging Sadie with me. Into my phone I say, “Oh hey, Peter.
”
”
Jenny Han (To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #1))
“
People are free to write what they want to write about. But the thing that bothers me is, what if the person who writes it doesn’t want to relive it? What if a dude performs a slam about a bad breakup, but then he gets over it and moves on? He falls in love with some other chick, but now there’s probably this YouTube video floating around on the Internet of him talking all sad about how his heart got broke. That sucks. If you perform it, or even write it down, someday you’ll have to relive it.
”
”
Colleen Hoover (Slammed (Slammed, #1))
“
Andrei avoided the internet as well and this evasion only added to his gloom. He loved music, especially old songs, and he loved movies, of all sorts. If he had the patience, sometimes he would read. While most of the pages he turned bored him to sleep, certain books with certain lines disarranged him. Some literature brought him to his feet, laughing and howling in his room. When the book was right, it was bliss and he wept. His room hushed with serenity and indebtedness. When he turned to his computer, however, or took out his phone, he would inevitably come across a viral trend or video that took the art he loved and turned it into a joke. The internet, in Andrei’s desperate eyes, managed to make fun of everything serious. And if one did not laugh, they were not intelligent. The internet could not be slowed and no protest to criticize its exploitation of art could be made because recreations of art hid perfectly under the veneer of mockery and was thus, impenetrable. It was easy to use Chopin’s ‘Sonata No. 2’ for a quick laugh, to reduce the ‘Funeral March’ to background music. It was a sneaky way for a digital creator to be considered an artist—and parodying the classics made them appear cleverer than the original artist. Meanwhile, Andrei’s body had healed playing Chopin alone in his apartment. He would frailly replay movie moments, too, that he later found the world edited and ripped apart with its cheap teeth. And everyone ate the internet’s crumbs. This cruel derision was impossible to escape. But enough jokes, memes, and glam over someone’s precious source of life would eventually make a sensitive body numb. And Andrei was afraid of that. He needed his fountain of hope unblemished. For this reason, he escaped the internet’s claws and only surrendered to it for e-mails, navigation, and the weather.
”
”
Kristian Ventura (A Happy Ghost)
“
Pornography did not serve him either. Andrei used to have his personal kinks and fetishes, but after a while, nothing could get him off. For a long time, the only videos he would search were the ones titled: “Who is she?” The only thing that vitalized his self-play was the prospect of some woman on the earth no one knew of and could not find. There was something infinite to these tapes, not the appearance of the girls, but the agitating dissatisfaction and momentary access of a not-so-innocent stranger who men innocently lost forever. It consisted of poorly recorded videos, posted from a smartphone or webcam, and a desperate number of melancholy comments trying to search for the mystery woman. There were plenty of these recordings. But it broke Andrei even more when eventually he knew all the girls no one knew.
”
”
Kristian Ventura (A Happy Ghost)
“
Sitting in the Jacuzzi is where I got the idea for my speech to the American people after the events of January 6, 2021. Like most people, I watched the riots unfold at the US Capitol on television and then in great depth on social media. And like most people, I went through a range of emotions. Disbelief. Frustration. Confusion. Anger. Then, finally, sadness. I was sad for our country, because this was a dark day. But I also felt bad for all the men and women, young and old, whom the cameras found, as television networks covered the historic moment and broadcast their angry, desperate, alienated faces across the planet. Whether they liked it or not, this was going to be the mark those people left on the world. This would be their legacy. I thought about them a lot that night as I sat in the Jacuzzi letting the jets loosen up my neck and shoulder muscles, which were tense from the stress of the day. I slowly came to the conclusion that what we all watched that day wasn’t the exercise of political speech, it wasn’t an attempt to refresh the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants, as Thomas Jefferson might say . . . it was a cry for help. And I wanted to help them. Since 2003, that has been my life’s focus. Helping people. Public service. Using the power that comes with fame and with political office to make a difference in the lives of as many people as possible. That was the direction my vision took for the third act in the movie of my life. But this was something different. Something more. I was watching all these videos and reading real-time updates on Twitter and Instagram from people who were there. Protesters. Police. Bystanders. Reporters. If they could reach me through social media, I thought, then I could reach them.
”
”
Arnold Schwarzenegger (Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life)
“
In THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MOMENT IN LIFE PT.2's first half, while "INTRO: Never Mind" deals with BTS's attitude in changing circumstances, "RUN" deals with how this attitude would be put into practice, and "Butterfly" is about BTS's internal anxiety and sadness, which existed both in the real world and within their music videos.
”
”
BTS (Beyond The Story: 10-Year Record of BTS)
“
Whenever I talk with fellow Christians about the necessity of an intellectually responsible faith, I often receive a response that is a mixture of agreement and anxiety. Most Christians would agree that our belief system should not look like the secular caricature–a blind leap past the cliff edge of rationality. However, in some important respects, many believers are at a loss for how to improve upon loving God with their minds. The vast number of books, journals, articles, video lectures, online courses, and formal degree programs overwhelms them, and sadly, many never begin at all, choosing instead to continue through life with an intellectually shallow, emotions-driven faith. Others do just enough studying to make them dangerous.
In this post, I’d like to offer a short set of guidelines for Christians who wish to be obedient to the command to worship God with their minds while avoiding the common pitfalls that, quite frankly, produce more stumbling blocks for unbelievers than they remove.
”
”
Melissa Cain Travis
“
Whenever I talk with fellow Christians about the necessity of an intellectually responsible faith, I often receive a response that is a mixture of agreement and anxiety. Most Christians would agree that our belief system should not look like the secular caricature–a blind leap past the cliff edge of rationality. However, in some important respects, many believers are at a loss for how to improve upon loving God with their minds. The vast number of books, journals, articles, video lectures, online courses, and formal degree programs overwhelms them, and sadly, many never begin at all, choosing instead to continue through life with an intellectually shallow, emotions-driven faith. Others do just enough studying to make them dangerous.
”
”
Melissa Cain Travis
“
STANICA U PUSTINJI
Tako malo Grka u Lenjingradu je sada,
da smo porušili grčku crkvu
kako bismo na praznom mestu sazidali
koncertnu salu. U takvoj arhitekturi
ima nečeg beznadežnog. Uostalom,
koncertna dvorana sa hiljadu i više mesta
nije baš tako beznadežna: to je hram,
i to hram umetnosti. Ko je kriv
što vokalna umetnost okuplja
više ljudi no što mogu znamenja vere?
Šteta je jedino što sada nećemo
izdaleka videti uobičajenu kupolu,
već rugobno ravnu crtu.
Al što se rugobe proporcija tiče,
čovek ne zavisi od njih,
već češće od proporcija rugobnosti.
Odlično se sećam kako su je rušili.
Bilo je proleće, a ja sam
išao u goste jednoj tatarskoj porodici
koja je stanovala u blizini – kroz prozor
pogledavši, grčku sam crkvu video.
Sve je počelo od tatarskih razgovora,
a posle su se upleli zvuci,
koji su se prvo stapali s govorom,
a zatim ga ubrzo zaglušili.
U crkvenu baštu ušao je buldožer
sa tegom za vrh obešenim
i zidovi su počeli brzo da se predaju.
Smešno bi bilo ne predati se kad si
zid a pred tobom stoji rušilac.
Osim toga, buldožer ju je mogao smatrati
neživim predmetom
i, u izvesnom smislu, sebi
sličnim. A u neživom svetu
nije uobičajeno vraćanje udaraca.
Onda su doterali kamione,
i dizalice. Zatim sam kasno uveče
sedeo na ruševinama apside,
u rupama oltara zjapila je noć.
Tako sam kroz te rupe na oltaru
gledao zahuktale tramvaje
i niz mutnjikavih fenjera.
I tako sam kroz prizmu crkve video
ono što se u crkvi uopšte ne može sresti.
Jednom će, kad nas nestane,
tačnije – posle nas, na našem mestu
naći isto tako nešto
na šta će se užasnuti svako ko nas je znao.
Al neće biti mnogo onih koji su nas znali.
Tako, po navici, psi
dižu šapu na starom mestu;
ograda je davno srušena,
al njima se, verovatno, ona u snu pričinja.
Njihovi snovi javu potiru.
Il zemlja možda miris onaj čuva.
Šta li će im kuća nakazna!
Za njih je tu baštica, lepo vam kažem – baštica.
A ono što je očigledno za ljude,
potpuno je svejedno psima.
To se zove „pseća vernost“,
i ako se već dogodilo da govorim
ozbiljno o štafeti pokolenja,
onda verujem samo u tu štafetu;
tačnije, u one koji osećaju miris.
Tako je malo Grka sada u Lenjingradu,
i, uopšte, nema ih mnogo van Grčke.
Ili ih je, barem, premalo
da bi se sačuvala zdanja vere.
Od njih niko ne traži da veruju
da mi gradimo. Jedna je,
verovatno, stvar krstiti naciju,
dok je nositi krst već sasvim nešto drugo.
Oni su imali samo jednu dužnost.
Nisu umeli da je izvrše.
„Ti, sejaču, ralo svoje čuvaj,
a vreme za klasanje mi ćemo odraditi.“
Oni svoje ralo nisu sačuvali.
Noćas gledam kroz prozor
i mislim o tome gde smo došli.
I od čega smo dalje:
od pravoslavlja ili od helenizma?
Šta nam je blisko? I šta je pred nama?
Ne očekuje li nas druga sad era?
I ako je tako, šta nam je zajednička dužnost?
I šta treba da joj prinesemo na žrtvu?
”
”
Joseph Brodsky (Остановка в пустыне)
“
U Nacionalnoj galeriji bogato je holandsko slikarstvo, tu su pre-rafaeliti, dosta majstora Renesanse, puno Van Dajka, Hogarta, sasvim malo impresionizma. Rembrantova dvorana je impozantna: 19 slika. Dva autoportreta njegova, jedan kad mu je bilo 34 godine a drugi kada je već starac, sličan onom u Luvru. Pomno ga razgledamo.
Kod onog starog Rembranta čujem Crnjanskov monolog:
— Dolazi starost, takav sam već ja. Kud ići dalje ? Povući se u sebe samog... Mnogo još nema putovanja... Tu primeti da ga slušam. Okrenu se:
— Vidite li kako je odbacio sa sebe taštinu, kako se uvlači u svoju ljušturu, sav je duša... stari Rembrant...
Drhtim dok slušam Crnjanskog. Jasno mi je da on govori najiskrenije što može, suočen s prikazom starosti kakva ga čeka, u koju ulazi a zna kakva je bila Rembrantova. Rubens-ambasador, kao Ivo-nobelovac. Doduše Crnjanski nema poverioce kao Rembrant, ali ni imanja. Slušam ovaj monolog i pravim se da ne čujem; gledam starog Rembranta koji nas skrozira svojim tavnim pogledom, a istovremeno gleda u sebe. Tonovi slike su zagasiti, senke na periferiji prelaze u svetle tonove što su bliže licu Rembrantovom. A ono rembrantovskom svetlošću osvetljeno, vide se bore na odebljaloj koži, jadne dlake, sede, na brkovima, na bradici ispod donje usne, a oči krupne. Kao da umetnik veli : “Sve sam video, čuo, okusio, sad mogu da idem...”
Crnjanski nas vraća u stvarnost.
— U Amsterdamu ima 16 Rembranta, u Berlinu 27, u Minhenu 10, u Luvru, kažu, 29 ali izloženo je samo pet-šest... Ja sam video sve Rembrantove slike u Evropi. Jednom smo se, Slobodan i ja, naticali ko ih je više video. On ih je sve video, izuzev jedne u Darmštatu. Tamo sam išao samo da vidim Rembranta.
— E, tu vam skidam kapu, gospodine Crnjanski, rekao mu Slobodan.
Proveli smo celo popodne u Galeriji. O njoj bi se imalo još mnogo pisati, ali to nije svrha ovih zapisa. Priznajem teško mi je bilo odvojiti se od ove riznice. U Rimu, Parizu, Bolonji, Veneciji imao sam više vremena. Tako se sve vidi i dobro upamti. Ali od ove najviše će ostati Rembrant i Crnjanski pred njim.
”
”
Dragan R. Aćimović
“
How do these online distraction systems work? They start with an external trigger or notification. You may visit a Website or sign up for a service. They will then send you an email, follow you on the Internet with ads, or send you a push notification with very specific language that has been tested to get you to click on it. You click on the link and your attachment or connection to that distraction system gets a little bit stronger. You, unintentionally, provide that system with more information when you read an article, add a friend, or comment on a photo. Without realizing it, and behind the scenes, the machinery of distraction is starting to turn. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being completely attached, you are a 2 at this point. These companies know that you don’t really care about the company itself, but you do care about your friends, family, and co-workers. They leverage these relationships by showing your profile to these contacts. These people are then asked to add you as a contact, friend, or to comment on your photo. Guess what this does? It brings you back to the site and increases the attachment. Think about this just for a second. If a company wants me to come back to their site, then they have a much higher chance of getting me back if they tell me my nephew added me as a friend, or posted a new pic. I care about my nephew. I don’t care about the company. This happens a few times and the attachment goes from a 2 to a 5. Soon, you have more and more connections on the site. Many of these sites have a magic number. Once you cross that threshold they know they really have you. Let’s say it is 10 connections. Once you have 10 connections they know with a level of statistical certainty that they can get you coming back to the site several times a week. Your attachment then goes from a 5 to a 7. All this time they are still pinging you via email, ads or push notifications to get you back to the site. The prompts or triggers to get you back are all external. You may be experiencing uncomfortable emotions like anxiety, sadness, or boredom, but you are not yet feeling these as triggers to go to the site and escape these feelings. Instead, what happens gradually, is that the trigger moves from being external like an email prompt and moves internal. Soon, they do not have to remind you or leverage your relationships to go back to the site. You are now doing it on your own. You are checking it regularly on your own. Your attachment has moved from a 7 to an 8. They’ve got you now, but they don’t completely have you. The tendrils are not yet deep into your brain and that is really where they want to go. They want to get as wrapped around your brain as possible, because the deeper they are - the more unconscious this behavior of checking the site - the more time you spend on the site and the more money they make. When you start living your life, not for what you are actually experiencing at the moment, but instead for how you imagine it will look to other people on these sites, then they really have you. When the experience itself is less meaningful than the image of you on the site and the number of likes it gets, then they are getting really deep. They have moved the center of your self from your actual life and transferred it to the perception of your life on their site. You now mostly live for reactions from other people on these company’s sites. By this time, you are likely refreshing the page, habitually looking at your phone, and wondering why your pic or video has not received more comments or likes. By this time you are fully hooked, as my good friend Nir Eyal would say, and your attachment has gone from an 8 to a full 10. They’ve got you hook, line, and sinker. Scary
”
”
7Cups (7 Cups for the Searching Soul)
“
Even in okay times, there is a subterranean river of melancholy in me, and sometimes a productive afternoon is comprised of using YouTube videos of varying qualities like divining rods. I watch these videos, some of which I could recite by heart, and I find the mouth of the river and I stoop down and place my hands in the sadness and it feels like, God, it feels like the truth. It feels like finally. It feels like for a moment I don’t have to walk around this world all neutral. Because as much as I was struggling, I didn’t look any different to the world. And sometimes when you don’t look different, you start to think maybe it’s not real. Maybe you’re faking it or deceiving yourself. Maybe this is just what neutral feels like.
”
”
R. Eric Thomas (Congratulations, the Best is Over!)
“
This is the prerogative of the famous. Joe walked off without thinking he’d been rude to Bone. His thoughts were already elsewhere: on the prize he’d be receiving tomorrow night at the Opera House, and the banquet that would follow, and the swoon of attention that is everyone’s dream throughout life, though most of us never achieve it, never even come close, and we feel a surge of giddiness when we so much as glimpse our own grainy image on a closed-circuit video screen in a Duane Reade drugstore. That’s me up there, we think with a sad puff of pride.
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”
Meg Wolitzer (The Wife)
“
Book Review for Where's Grandma?
"Jordyn looks for her grandma, but cannot find her anywhere. Her bed is empty, her wheelchair is abandoned, and her place at the table unoccupied. Jordyn’s mommy tells her that her grandma has ‘transitioned’, but Jordyn does not know what that means. Her mommy explains that Grandma is now in heaven with other family members. Jordyn misses her grandma and remembers good times spent with her, singing and dancing for her, watching movies together, and playing games. She remembers how her grandma like to spend time with the family, and cook big family dinners. Jordyn’s mommy encourages her to focus on happy memories of her grandma and turn tears of sadness into tears of joy. Jordyn knows that whenever she misses her grandma, she can look back at old pictures and videos, and remember the fun times they spent together."
"Where's Grandma? A Child's View on Loss, Grief and Bereavement is a heartfelt and touching picture book by Tracey Smith about a little girl named Jordyn who faces the loss of her beloved grandma. Struggling with sadness, Jordyn finds it difficult to understand where her grandma has gone. Her mom helps her to cope by gently remembering the happy times they shared. Through these memories, Jordyn discovers that although grandma is no longer there, her love will remain in her heart forever. The author handles the subject of death in a sensitive way that is suitable for young readers. The book includes helpful notes to help parents talk to children about their grief."
Star rating: 5 Stars
Summary: A heartfelt and touching story about grief, and a valuable resource for families who may have experienced the death of a loved one.
--Reader's Choice Book Awards
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”
Reader"s Choice
“
I had to watch a YouTube video multiple times to figure it out and it still looks lopsided and sad.
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Jenny Han (P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before, #2))
“
...and it just pisses me off more. Like yeah, I cry when I watch those sad puppy videos too, but Gabriel's not actually a puppy abandoned by his owner. He's an upper middle-class Vermont kid who's parents business beats ours like ten months out of twelve. It's not my fault that emotionally, his about as stable as a cheap styrofoam cup.
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Emery Lee
“
We can’t have any crying fucking orphans or sad old people in the background. War has to look clean for the people at home. If there’s so much as litter in your video, you put it in the vault, got it?
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Elliott Kay (No Man's Land (Poor Man's Fight, #6))
“
Me Time Zone It’s okay to be a “me-time mom.” ~Author Unknown The day has ended yet only just begun for I have two lives — one that hides behind the sun You may not see my secret life — the one lurking in the dark, the one that eagerly awaits its time to spark Daytime me puts the other me aside Daytime me doesn’t get to hide Daytime me washes all the clothes Daytime me kisses the injured toes I am a teacher, a maid and a cook I hand out the cuddles and the disconcerting looks I referee the arguments, the teasing and the fights I fasten the helmets to go ride the bikes Nighttime me relaxes in the chair Nighttime me reads books without a care Nighttime me watches comedy shows Nighttime me eats the treats that I chose I sometimes wonder whether I used to be bored when I had just one life and hardly any chores I want to do all the things that I did before but how do I fit them in now there’s so much more? I read books, played piano and swam I cycled and socialised and ran I wrote poetry, played video games and went to bars I knew popular culture and all the famous stars Now my me time has become so small sometimes I feel it’s hardly there at all When the children will not settle but the sun has gone away I throw my arms in the air, for daytime me has to stay. I count to ten and breathe in deep Why oh why won’t they go to sleep? Me time is a ship that has sailed past How could I be so foolish to think that it would last I tuck their hair behind their ears and then I begin to feel the tears Am I crying for my me time? That seems a little mad Surely it’s something else that’s making me sad Crying for my me time does seem a little daft As I leave the children’s room I begin to laugh. I’m trying to put me time into a time slot I precariously balance it on the top. But I realise my me time comes in different forms to be enjoyed even while daytime storms I read a book whilst I make the tea I play ukulele whilst the children dance with me I swim in the sea with the children under my wings I run around the park between pushing them on swings And there are famous stars that I know, even if they come from the children’s favourite show Yes the ultimate me time is when I’m on my own but me time can also be enjoyed when you’re not alone My me time is a state of mind When I’m in the me time zone who knows what I’ll find? — Anneliese Rose Beeson —
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”
Amy Newmark (Chicken Soup for the Soul: Making Me Time: 101 Stories About Self-Care and Balance)
“
I’ve written at length about Trump’s racial history, and the picture is hideously below the mark of what America deserves in a president; he’s an awful, dark stain on our history. What the first term makes abundantly clear is that it’s not an act, it’s not a strategy, and it’s not something the American people can bear. It is exactly who he is: a fucking racist. The referendum on Trump’s racism will play out in 2020, and well beyond, costing the GOP seats, status, and support for generations. They have no one to blame but themselves. IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE Which leads us to what he looks like in a second term. Cognitive decline is an ugly, hard reality for millions of Americans. As the Silent Generation slips into their final years, and the oldest Boomers join them, families all over America confront Alzheimer’s and many other tolls of aging. For many afflicted with a loss of memory and ability, this decline is a sad, steady reduction in the joys of life. For Trump, it’s part of the reality show, though not one he wants to focus on. Comparing Trump now with video clips from a decade ago is chilling. The slippage in his verbal acuity is marked. His rages and explosions of temper aren’t part of an act; they’re no longer controlled or controllable. The nearest contemporary parallel was the second-term decline of Ronald Reagan. Americans sensed the terrible gravity of Alzheimer’s pulling at him, but he was still surrounded by largely competent people and was, on the whole, a healthy man. For all the disagreements Democrats had with him, Reagan could never be considered an impulsive narcissist with a hair-trigger temper and no concern for others. Reagan actually bothered to understand nuclear weapons and the risks they posed, unlike President Missile Parade. Trump’s lack of knowledge should terrify you as much as it does me, especially as his cognitive decline continues apace. Given his hold over the cabinet, there’s no workable solution for this president’s combination of apparent mental infirmities and uncontrolled urges and racist fuckery, suggesting a second term will be more dangerous than the first.
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Rick Wilson (Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump--and Democrats from Themselves)
“
Is this what you want to have written on your gravestone? - "I watched all the top-trending YouTube videos." Well done. Gold Star. Sad.
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Steve Madison (The Story of Your Life)
“
Is this what you want to have written on your gravestone? - "I watched all the top-trending YouTube videos." Well done. Gold Star. Sad.
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Steve Madison (The Story of Your Life)
“
K began to fume with anger every time he had to repeat the bland routine of special offers and efficacies of products. The back-of-the-mind scenarios of applying napkins began to be replaced with violent sexual acts - sadomasochistic, brutal and twisted. Instead of being cosseted in a woman's hot embrace, he now imagined ripping her clothes off, biting at the very tits that he had once coveted until he drew blood, fisting their pussies wearing barbed gloves, kicking them in the teeth, watching the gore drip down their proud queenly chins and putting an end to their teasing, access-denying smiles. It fetched him more story-ideas but for how long? The anguish that burgeoned during the day could not be watered down by the porn videos he had committed to memory with repeated viewing; it couldn't be flushed out with the joy of literary creation that had, till now, been feeding equally upon his happiness, sadness and neutrality. The tipping point had arrived, the moment when the grimy tar of impatience would boil over, flooding everything - pen, paper, keypad, life itself.
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Rajeev Singh (The Erotic Muse)
“
Linus: Okay sorry, what is this called ? Scotty: "Huaqiangbei" *laughs* Linus: fantastic, alright so i'm here at Scotty: "Huaqiangbei" Linus: yeah perfect thank you, with Scotty From 'Strange Parts', so I'm "getting me some strange parts" In China Which is actually exactly what we're doing So, in this, like, gigantic tech mall-thing They have everything from components like switches To.. Computer parts, to drones, to cryptocurrency-crap Mobile phones.. Pretty much you name it, they got it here. So I don't really have any objective, other than go shopping and see exactly what it is That I can buy with my little stack of 'Canadian Rubles' here. So, uhh.. Wish me luck. And hopefully that's not for me. Scotty: No, I think we're good. [chuckles] [Intro music: Laszlo - Supernova] Linus: This video is brought to you by Corsair's Obsidian 500D It's a mid-tower gaming case, featuring: Premium tempered glass an aluminium construction Removable top fan trays and more! Check it out at the link below. Scotty: I think this is going to be an uphill battle, To get them to even recognize what those are, let alone know the value of them. Linus: They are gonna be like "what is this $H!T?!" Yeah, no, it's okay; there's an ATM. This is the world's most helpful error message: "Transaction is cancelled for some reason" "Operation Timeout" "Thank you!" Okay.. So like this is the kind of stuff that I wish we had a shop like this. We were trying to do a piece a little while ago Where we wanted lit.. Uhh.. Buttons! Or like.. Like.. Big fun buttons we could press And if we could have just walked into a mall and bought them That would have made my Christmas. Scotty: The cool thing about here, particularly for buttons, is you can actually come in and touch them, right. So, like, the button-feel is super important Linus: Oh my god, I already found something I need. Entire bags of like, motherboard standoffs. I was trying to buy just a bag of computer screws Only place I could find for it was eBay Pricing was just totally unreasonable. Scotty: Yeah and it will be very reasonable here. Linus: Smartwatches, totally 100% real Beats. Scotty: These are probably, like, semi-real Linus: Semi-real? Scotty: Yeah, like refurb-ed type. Linus: Right, okay. Wow. This place is enormous. Scotty: It's crazy, right? This is probably one of twenty buildings Linus: Honestly, it's overwhelming. Scotty: Yeah. Linus: Okay, so here's stuff I mostly recognize. Scotty: "Right!" Linus: There's like A bunch of mining gear.. Like Antminers and.. What else do they got? Mining Power supplies ROG.. Something something Looks like Very similar SKU's Linus: I'm just looking. Linus: just looking Linus: Uhh.. Linus: No, I don't.. Necessarily wanna get lead in here. Linus: Hi! Nah, I'm just looking around, it's okay. Linus: Thank you. [Sad Music] I mean this is the kind of thing you would never find in a retail store back home This is like, dual socket, like server boards and stuff like that. Can you ask how much this 1800W Xfurbish
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Vinay 2.O
“
This makes me very sad. All of this time I have been griping
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Robert Leroy (Escape From a Video Game: (Book 2) (Lost Inside a Video Game Series))
“
In a highly mobile world such as ours, travel is one of those luxurious necessities we often take for granted. We instantly communicate, whether by voice, text, or video chat, with someone from across the world. This is a reality those in my generation have always known. But we also take for granted other things as well—like our health. Or that the sun will faithfully show up every morning, and that the constant and calm sky above will always be there to greet us. Sadly, these expected things are not guaranteed, are they? And when one is deprived of said comforts, we feel a tangible and personal loss. Even more so, when such things are taken from us on a global scale, the mass of humanity, and even the earth itself, groans and suffers.
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Jeff Kinley (Interview with the Antichrist)
“
Ima u meni
ima tako nešto
Ne mogu
da opišem
ima u meni nešto
čega nije bilo
i raste
ne ne raste
penje se u grlo Ne
penje se nepomično je
ispunjava me Ne
ne znam tačno
dobro je što zaboravljam
ali šta je to
govori ljudski
je li to ljubav
ne to nije strah
ili je mržnja
ideja da je to prazno
Ne nije ideja
to je već gotovo svuda
da li se to prikrada
ili ide otvoreno
da li ćuti ili je govorljivo
da li je daleko viče
o još je daleko
da da
još je vrlo daleko
zaista reci mi
da je još daleko
ali šta kaži šta
već je u meni
ovde i ovde
i tamo
ali toga nije bilo u meni
znam da nije bilo
znam da nije bilo
a sad je već u tebi
penje ti se u grlo
ništa ne osećaš
kaži mi brzo
kakvo je to u tebi
crno ili belo
nevidljivo ili sunce
nemo ili viče
ništa ne govoriš
reci mi da je daleko
Ne
govoriš da će pobeći
ništa ne govoriš
kaži
ne možeš da govoriš
ne ne bojim se jer nikad
to nisam video
možda ćemo se preseliti
dobro odmah
na drugo mesto
videćeš da će sve
biti dobro Ne
govoriš da nema drugog
mesta da se ne možemo preseliti
ništa ne govoriš
govorim da je ništa u nama
1959-1960.
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Tadeusz Różewicz
“
When I was a kid, I watched a lot of TV. And I played even more video games. So much so that around the time when I was ten years old, my dad told he would pay me $500 not to watch TV for a year…I remember the feeling while at our grandma’s house that I had to go play outside instead of watching Nickelodeon. I remember getting home from school and having to wrestle with boredom and sort it out in the woods instead of in front of the screen. I remember missing video games and being sad when a friend went inside to watch TV and I couldn’t come. But I also remember the space that opened up to fall in love with new things: the pleasures of whole afternoons outside with my brothers, extended baseball games in the yard, setting up complicated bike courses on a side street.
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Justin Whitmel Earley (Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms)