Papa Rodin Quotes #1 - The Joker
Greetings, Steemians and Steemettes!
Today marks the beginning of my forth week. Usually, I would use this time to make a quick recap over how my week has been, but since I have already spoken about most of the notable things in my 100 Comments Challenge Post, I will talk about something else instead.
50 Greyshades of Rodin
Are you not entertained?
When it comes to entertainment, we live in decent times. Plenty of movies, lots of shows, music.....has gotten strange, but is as big of an industry as ever. I can talk open with you, can I? I think that most of what we get served these days is mediocre. I love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for example. On the other hand, almost all DC Movies so far have been utter disappointments.
This includes Nolans Batman trilogy. I did not enjoy them for the most part. One of the main reasons was Christian Bale getting the lead role. He was neither a good Bruce Wayne nor Batman. That doesn't mean that there aren't some gems in movies like these here and there. As most people, I did enjoy The Dark Knights Joker quite a lot. While not the kind of Joker I used to grow up with, the way he was portrayed in this movie was outstanding. Of course, Heath Ledgers performance helped out a lot here as well.
What I want to talk in this post and in other posts like this in the future, though, isn't the movie or the Joker as a whole, no. I want to talk about something much simpler. One single line he said that left it's mark on me.
Great that this video exists. This line, just handed over in a flippant fashion and probably not all that important in the grand scheme of things for the movie left a mark on me.
If you are good at something, never do it for free.
A simple line, yet it actually held so much meaning to me back when I heard it for the first time. It really got me thinking. I have a rather high opinion of myself. I would even go as far and say that I am a good friend to have. But for most of my life, my relation to topics that were in any way related to giving value to things was very flawed. For as many qualities as I think I have or thought I have, I was way too generous in handing them away.
You reading this post can probably relate to this as well, can't you? We are on a platform that rewards us for doing things that millions of others are still doing for free. I am not the best blog poster there is, hell, I just started three weeks ago and there is so much to learn and to test. Still, not only is it good to see my efforts being acknowledge not only by nice words but by something I will be able to work with in the future.
When I look around, I see a lot of people living their lives having talents of all sorts of kinds that rot away because they are not cultivated or, worse, are being taken advantage off. The same used to be true for me as well. And to a degree, it probably still is. Looking back at the past, especially in regards of my working life so far, I have been selling myself short. Especially my last Job ended up being a real eye-opener. Not only did I waste away my talents and strengths, I used them for something that seemed right at the time but turned out to be against everything I represent and value as good in life.
I came back to this quote and started thinking. Up until that point, all I ever did was subjugate myself to others who would just take advantage of me, one way or another, for next to no gain. That is wasteful in the worst way. Selling myself, my life, my time and my soul for what little I got in return is shameful for me to look back to.
Looking forward
Since last year, I am always on the look out for ways to manage my life in better ways and use my strengths in more productive ways. So far, none of them have proven to improve my life in any way, but I am just getting started and I am willing and able to try out many more things in order to give my life the value I think it deserves.
Posting on Steemit is the most recent example for this and also the most enjoyable. God knows I am infamous for spending way too much time in front of a computer, but now, I feel like this time is spend in a good way. The amounts of money I make with my post is small, but I don't mind. The symbolic value of having these rewards given to me in the first place where they would have gotten wasted somewhere else is enough for me and I also do think that there is much room for growth in the future.
So I am doing fine, anything else?
I have to take a friend of mine as an example. She is a much more dedicated and skilled writer than I am, but right now, she suffers from the same mindset that I suffered from many years ago, but to a degree that I consider to be harmful to herself. She basically has no regard for her own talents or well-being. I talked to her about Steemit and told her that it is a great opportunity to get an audience for her works while also having the option of maybe earning a couple cents or euros along the way. And on and on came a tirade of words about how she thinks that her works suck even though plenty of people told her that they enjoyed it. She is also one of these people who do almost anything for other people, even at the expense of her own well being.
I do not wish for her to become a self-absorbed maniac like the Joker and I certainly do not wish for her to end up developing a huge ego such as mine, but she desperately needs to get a better idea about her own place in the world.
I will show her this post once I have submitted it. Maybe it will do her some good. I will also write more posts about quotes that left a lasting impression on me in the future. There are quite a few of those and I am looking forward to writing about them. Do you like this idea? Tell me in the comments. Also tell me about quotes that had a similar effect on you, I am very interested in that.
So remember, give value to everything you do. It doesn't have to be much, it doesn't have to be money. It only has to be enough so that you feel good about yourself and feel accomplished.
I like your post but "we live in a decent time for movies"? Really? Movies from any other decade that is not 2000-2010, were a million times better than movies now.
Depends on what you look at.
From a storytelling, character development point of view, you are absolutely right, going a few years back, even more than just 8 to 18, we've had some real gems.
That being said, movies these days aren't not as bad as they could be. From a visual and technical point of view, we have reached new amazing climaxes and are still seeing progress being made for the future.
Music in Movies is usually a piece of beauty in one way or another. Sticking to the topic of this thread, the Batman Movies, while I wasn't too fond of them, had outstanding music. I am a huge fan of whatever Hans Zimmer creates, but we also have a lot of other talented composers that work in the industry.
Sure, a lot of movies these days that come out are trash, but that has been the case years ago as well.
Sure, visual and everything technology related, movies are great now but if I think about what art is really about then no, I think movies nowadays really suck , not even close to the great movies of the past.
That is true as well, but also a matter of how you look at it.
If you look at movies as a medium for art, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I wouldn't go as far and say that most movies these days are a piece of art nor do they want to be. They just want to be entertainment for the sake of entertainment.
If I were to be ask if and what movie I consider to be a piece of art, I would really don't know what to respond, I couldn't think of any. If someone were to ask me what some of the greatest movies I can think of are, I would probably respond something along the lines of Pulp Fiction.
Some of the Bud Spencer Movies because I was a huge fan of him. Still am, in a way.
Yeah, you got my point.
Bud Spencer movies? I love those movies too but come on those were not great movies, they were fun B movies right...
They served the purpose of entertaining me. There is also the nostalgia factor that goes into it.
Yeah sure definitely same here. I've watched some of those movies over 30 times I think..
And they were definitively worth it. And we still have Movies like that these days that never stop to entertain one way or another.
And even bad movies have moments that are great. I was no fan of Batman Vs Superman, for example, but the movie had it's moments.
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First saw Christian Bale in Disney's Newsies from 1992, a films about the newspaper boys in New York around 1902. A pretty fun musical about the power of the press and about NYC and freedom.
Seize The Day!
Destiny is there for each one of us like you say. The only thing worse than wolves of wall streets, is the wolves in our hearts. Like, people take advantage of us. That stops us. Beyond that, we stop ourselves by doing nothing in the face of not being able to do everything. We have this all or nothing mentality. I'm a perfectionist, too. But something is better than nothing. So, a lack of focus is what keeps great men and women from becoming greater. Some of the best, most talented, people, started out smaller, but slowly grew. It takes daily steps. Each day, we can wake up early. We can look at life-long goals, dreams, but then we need to focus on smaller assignments, steps. We all kind of know this but it is great to remind ourselves of this constant need to refocus and refresh our steps. I love basketball. So, I find time to exercise a little even while typing on a computer. Maybe, some stretching. Maybe eat some raw garlic. Eat from my gardens. Just a little bit each day goes further. Each day, when we do a little thing, that little thing may grow like cancer but in a good way. Habits become lifestyles. I'm Oatmeal.
Not sure about how the Seize The Day! - Oatmeal - part fits in here.
First Movie I saw with Christian Bale was some Movie were Humanity was almost wiped out by some dragons. He was the main actor and it was so forgettable that I had to think really hard in order to remember this.
You might be thinking of Reign of Fire from 2002 which has dragons. I've yet to see it. One film I thought was interesting was Equilibrium which is about a future dystopia. But I also love the Queen of Dragons in Game of Thrones.
Reign of Fire sounds like the one I was talking about. I think it was the first one I really ever saw Christian Bale in and I was underwhelmed. Bad start for a bad viewer/actor relationship.
I like Christian Bale as Batman over that new guy in Justice League. Only thing better is the boy that plays young Batman in Gotham.
Oh yeah. "Lil' Wayne" as I like to call him. Gotham is a underrated show.
I actually liked Ben Affleck as Batman in Dawn of Justice. He did a great job and was decently portrayed, actually one of my favorites so far. He just has been locked into otherwise mediocre films.
Especially in Dawn of Justice, there are some iconic moments and cuts that are easy to miss but made the inner Batman Fan in me feel excited.
Ben is a pretty good Batman and Dawn of Justice is very interesting, I'm curious to see how different super heroes interact with each other, like Game of Heroes, instead of Game of Thrones.
Give Justice League, Justice League Unlimited and Young Justice ago. These three are among the if not the best Super Hero Cartoon shows I have ever seen.
You may be on to something, if like the quotes: work them. It is easier to write about things that make a difference in your life and more personally rewarding.
I intend to make that a regular thing as well.
In a perfect world, my schedule would be two posts a day, one a book review, one a quote, with some life-hacks, rambles and Steemit-related topics sprinkled in between.