Whilst reading an article online relating to thought and action certain aspects stood out to me as interesting. The article was on action for happiness, a community of people aiming to bring more happiness into the world, and it emphasised the significance of action, thought and consequence. Focusing on the different ways in which people’s initial thoughts to an event can provoke an emotional reaction, not the event itself. For example if you were to feel unhappy over a bad grade, it’s not receiving the grade that makes you unhappy but rather the immediate thought process following the event. However it goes on to talks about our emotional reactions sometimes being too fast and our thoughts become unclear. This strikes as interesting as gives us insight into the different ways people respond to events, because their immediate thought response is different. Here is some of the article:

Dr Albert Ellis, one of the founders of cognitive behavioural therapy, developed what is often called the A-B-C model, which is a useful way of separating things out. A is the Activating Event, or thing that happened; B is the Belief, or the thoughts that immediately run through our head; and C stands for Consequences – the emotions we feel and how we react as a result.
What Dr Ellis found was that the way people interpreted life events, and the things they said to themselves (B) had a huge bearing on how they felt emotionally and how they behaved (C).
The examples below show how different thoughts about the same event can impact on our feelings and behaviour. Do you think more like Tim, Laura, Mel or Dave?
Example 1 Activating event
You are working hard for a looming deadline. Your boss asks you for the second time that week how the report is going and reminds you that she would like to read it before it goes to the clients.
Tim
Belief – “She thinks I am useless and not capable of doing this on my own. She thinks I am being really slow and should have finished this by now.”
Consequences – Feels stressed, worried and sad. Cannot concentrate on the report and end up making unnecessary errors. Do not sleep well that night.
Mel
Belief – “Phew! This is an important project and I am glad that she keeps checking in and will read this through before it is sent off.”
Consequences: – Feel reassured and supported. Carry on working on the report, check it through before sending to the boss for review
Example 2 Activating event
You have had a bad day. On your way home you see a friend you haven’t seen in a few weeks across the street. You look up and wave and he seems to just ignore you.
Laura
Belief – “Why would he have just ignored me? I must have done something to upset me. Or maybe he just doesn’t like me that much.”
Consequences – Feel sad and quite down. Make no plans for that evening. Friends. Avoid seeing or calling him for a while. Don’t call any other friends
Dave
Belief – He seemed really distracted and looked a bit out of sorts. I hope he is ok.
Consequences – Feel fine – a bit concerned. Call him when you get home to check he is ok.

Interesting examples of how our immediate thought process influences the actions we take, and how reflection and a clear head can keep you from feeling negative even in bad situations.

During this lesson our group attempted to recreate a scene from Guardians of the galaxy, using the cameras and projections as tools to aid the performance. In the first run through we simply had stationary cameras, pointing towards all the characters, whilst we were stood and sat around in a semi-circle. This first run was comical due to failing accents, low stage movement and the premise of presenting an unrealistic superhero like world within the Lpac theatre with the props that we had. However that satirical, comical element was then built upon by the addition of using moving cameras, with facial close ups projected to the screen. The three camera operators shuffled around in a tight circle with their shoulders pressed together, whilst filming our scene. This also added a sense of a hyperreality into our performance as the audience can see the cameras being used in reality, on stage whilst we play out the scene, but they are also presented with the digital reality, that is projected on the screens. These contrasting elements create a sense of displacement as there is a clear divide in what the audience see on stage, and what they are presented with in the projections. Simply by adding these elements the scene became completely different, and more engaging for the audience. With the use of cameras and projections in performance there is no end to what can be created, as the performers can gain a new sense of control over the audience, guiding what they see and when, to provoke a desired effect. The camera also adds temporal and spatial elements to the performance, as these can be presented incoherently and expansive, for example in Gob squads Super Night Shot the temporal element is shifted and disjointed as the performance is presented an hour after its filmed, furthermore the camera expands the stage into the streets as the audience sit in the theatre, watching the projections of the actors endeavours. This provides food for thought as there is really no end to the possibilities of using modern technology in performance.

It’s not always fun being a jaded know-it-all, but it’s easier than being optimistic. Optimistic people have to be that way all the time, even when it’s not convenient.

Lots of people I know, including critics and bloggers who raved about it when it was released, feel like Birdman winning Best Picture is somehow an indictment of the whole awards season experience – that it was too safe or obvious or not as worthy of recognition next to films like The Grand Budapest Hotel, Selma or any number of other films. The same has been said about the wins for Best Actor/Actress, or Best Animated Film, and the lack of diversity in the nominees for the categories therein.

Whilst I do agree with a lot of people that The Grand Budapest Hotel is exceptionally good as a piece of cinema and a better movie thematically (and I’m glad it took the awards for Best Score as well as Production Design, Costume and Make-up), I think I understand why Birdman won big in the Best Picture, Director and Screenplay categories – both it and the reactions I’ve seen to it remind me of our bemused incredulity at Argo and The Artist winning a few years back.

Part of me feels like all three of these films key into a specific meta-narrative that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (for better or worse) have a very keen response to: they are all movies about the state of making movies, films that hark back to previous eras of movie-making that the Academy judging panel are nostalgic for, or that somehow filter current film-making techniques, themes and tropes through a retro-nostalgic lens.

Grand Budapest uses lots of idiosyncratic techniques unique to cinematic storytelling to tell a simple but endearing story, but it’s not exactly about cinema in the macro sense – Birdman, on every level, is a film about the current state of Hollywood, independent cinema, Broadway culture, literary criticism, celebrity, the cult of the actor, the (arguably false) dichotomy between high and low culture, and bridging the gap between the shared experience of sitting in an auditorium observing the live body versus the closed-off experience of living our lives through a series of screens. It is a movie in which an actor typecast as a superhero seeks to reinvent himself as a theatre actor/director and gain recognition as a serious artiste, but his public persona is inextricably tied to the kind of culture we as an audience consume and the increasingly solipsist ways in which we consume it. And the Academy eats that kind of shit up every-time, because whilst the panel are almost exclusively old white men, they are also old white film-makers, and old white film-makers love being told how awesome they used to be back in the day.

And really, it’s not as bad as all that: whilst there will always be the usual self-congratulatory syncophancy inherent to these events, at least it wasn’t devoid of hope and enjoyment. Both Graham Moore and Patricia Arquette used their wins as opportunities to talk about teen suicide and income inequality. John Legend dropped some truth-bombs about the fact that there are more black people in jail now than were slaves in 1850. Tegan and Sara (along with The Lonely Island, Mark Mothersbaugh, Questlove and Will Arnett as Batman) gave a performance of “Everything is Awesome” that will rank alongside Robin Williams’ performance of “Blame Canada” as one of the most surreal moments in Oscar history. Who cares that The LEGO Movie didn’t get a nomination for Best Animated Film – sometimes, everything is, indeed, awesome.

For anyone not out having a good time this Friday night, here’s some fine mixed and mashed tunes to help take her easy over the weekend. Love, baby. 🙂

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2809228/Evil-murderer-dug-little-girl-s-dead-body-mummified-corpse-taunted-ten-years-Grieving-mother-relives-nightmare-bodysnatcher-genius.html

My dark thought….

What happened in the attached article is bloody cool and creative!!!

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