Considering I haven't posted anything in ages does it really matter that I have decided to not to use tumblr and go back to using Blogger? How did I even come to this conclusion when I haven't written anything? Maybe I have been writing a lot of things in my head and choosing the correct platform for my imminent arrival back to the blogging world.
Or maybe I am just fickle.
Post coming soon.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Back to the Past
One of my favourite movies* is “Back to the Future”. The premise is tight, the script is clever, the acting is energetic and the movie maintains a fine balance between camp and humour. Every time I sit down to watch the movie, I find something new that entertains me thoroughly.
*I better clarify the use of “favourite” in this instance. I don’t mean “best” movie made, I mean movie that I enjoy rewatching at any time. “Schindler’s List” is a favourite of mine, but one that I wouldn’t rewatch.
I refuse to preface this paragraph with *spoiler alert* because you have no excuse not to have seen this movie unless you were born in 1995 or later. Below is a 4 minute recap of the movie set to the stellar song from the soundtrack “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News. Ahhh 80s music.
The Power of Love BTTF recap
The movie starts off with such confident energy in the hands of director Robert Zemeckis*. Marty McFly’s family’s stench of “loserness” is captured in one nice succinct dinner scene. The entire introduction of the movie crams so many clues of the present that set up a perfect juxtaposition when we are all transported back to Hill Valley’s past. Brilliantly executed, “Back to the Future” was a commercial success because it grounded the time-traveling action on a personal scale while mixing it with a strong comedic sensibility.
*Can someone please ask Zemeckis to stop with his obsession of creepy human animation movies? From “Polar Express” to “Beowulf” to “A Christmas Carol”, he has lost 5 years dabbling with this animation style that is not appealing to the masses. Zemeckis used to be the master of seamless digital effects to enhance his story (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Forrest Gump”) rather than make it the only focus of the story (re: “Transformers”).
Rather than time-traveling to save the world, the idea that changing our actions in the past can have great ramifications for the future (positively in the case of the McFly family) keeps the movie grounded and thus the idea of a time-traveling DeLorean isn’t too crazy. I think the movie appeals to all of us who have wondered how the decisions of the present impacts the future. It is that big "What if?" game* we all play.
*The "what if?" game always bothered me as a teacher. Students would start asking "what if" questions to try to get out if work or tests and if you didn't do anything proactive you could get what iffed forever. I liked to stop the "what if" train right away by firing back a rapid succession of my own nonsensical what ifs back at them.
Student: "What if it snows tomorrow? Maybe we should have the quiz next week?"
Me: "What if an asteroid hit us today? What if the sun exploded tomorrow morning? What if?"
That would usually end it because the student probably thought this guy is crazy and let's avoid talking to him any further.
I have often thought what my personal “Back to the Future” journey would look like. I believe all my experiences and decisions I have made have shaped me into the person I am today, whether good or bad, but I do catch myself playing the "what if" game from time to time (you hypocrite Mr. Kim). If I stepped into my own DeLorean and kept the time-traveling focus on my personal events, I could go back and warn myself not to call out my friend’s name Michael in the woods behind Village Park Elementary school (Comox represent) because that would bring the attention of the bully who tortured me for a good week in grade 1 or not to dive into the bushes at the YMCA Camp Southwind because that would cause me to sit on top of a wasp nest. I would tell myself to give mBryan to take care of while Mina and I went on vacation in the summer, so I wouldn’t have the death of an 18 year old tree on my hands. Out damn spot out. I would go tell myself to get myself diagnosed for narcolepsy much earlier*. I would go tell myself not… I could go on and on with embarrassing things I have done or things I am not proud of, but that would simply cause myself to be embarrassed all over again. On the other hand, if I started fixating on all the trials and tribulations of my journey, then what sort of person would that create--someone who hadn’t taken chances, been embarrassed, or learned from his mistakes. If I play this time-traveling game, I think you can only lose. I like my life. I enjoy my history. I am not looking for a wholesale rewrite as seen by the McFlys by the end of “Back to the Future”.
*I noticed symptoms at age 18 and got diagnosed with narcolepsy at age 32. I thought I was really lazy because I could sleep anywhere at any time. An early diagnosis may have made my three degree journey at UBC more enjoyable. My life with narcolepsy is another story for another day.
There would be only one thing I wish I could change. OK make that two.
1) I would go back and tell my despondent self after game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup run, not to leave from Pacific Coliseum and head home with Dax Naples and Mike Chipman but to go downtown with the rest of my friends. I will always remember the next day at school, Steve Williams telling me the riots were the craziest thing he had ever seen. I am not saying that I wanted to riot nor what went down in Vancouver that night was right (it was stupid), but it is not everyday you get to be in the middle of tear gas on Robson Street.
2) I would go back in time and punch myself for being such a selfish teenager, who could only moan and whine in his head about how strict his parents were and how they were not fair to him. Age gives you perspective and wisdom, both of which I was in short supply as a teenager. Now I wasn’t a bad kid, as I excelled in academics in high school and didn’t get up to more than the usual trouble of a boy of that age. But I certainly, could have treated my parents with more love and respect at that time. I look back and cringe at how wrapped up I was in my own world and I failed to acknowledge all the ways that my parents loved me and how good they were to me. I am not saying that I wasn’t at all appreciative, but I certainly could have had a better perspective about how much my parents did for me over the years. I would like to go back to the past to give myself a lecture. The selfish me needs to be told to suck it up, that my "problems" will work themselves out and be forgotten down the road, that I was lucky to have my parents love and support both emotionally and financially, that my parents sacrificed more than I ever could imagine leaving their family, friends, and country to come to Canada simply to give my sister and I a better opportunity, that I couldn't understand their love for their children until I had children of my own.
I sound like a parent, right? Well back to the future and now I am a proud parent of a handsome baby boy. Now after one month of taking care of him, I get a small glimmer of the enormity of what my parents did for me, which makes me even appreciate them more. That's the power of love.
*I better clarify the use of “favourite” in this instance. I don’t mean “best” movie made, I mean movie that I enjoy rewatching at any time. “Schindler’s List” is a favourite of mine, but one that I wouldn’t rewatch.
I refuse to preface this paragraph with *spoiler alert* because you have no excuse not to have seen this movie unless you were born in 1995 or later. Below is a 4 minute recap of the movie set to the stellar song from the soundtrack “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News. Ahhh 80s music.
The Power of Love BTTF recap
The movie starts off with such confident energy in the hands of director Robert Zemeckis*. Marty McFly’s family’s stench of “loserness” is captured in one nice succinct dinner scene. The entire introduction of the movie crams so many clues of the present that set up a perfect juxtaposition when we are all transported back to Hill Valley’s past. Brilliantly executed, “Back to the Future” was a commercial success because it grounded the time-traveling action on a personal scale while mixing it with a strong comedic sensibility.
*Can someone please ask Zemeckis to stop with his obsession of creepy human animation movies? From “Polar Express” to “Beowulf” to “A Christmas Carol”, he has lost 5 years dabbling with this animation style that is not appealing to the masses. Zemeckis used to be the master of seamless digital effects to enhance his story (“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Forrest Gump”) rather than make it the only focus of the story (re: “Transformers”).
Rather than time-traveling to save the world, the idea that changing our actions in the past can have great ramifications for the future (positively in the case of the McFly family) keeps the movie grounded and thus the idea of a time-traveling DeLorean isn’t too crazy. I think the movie appeals to all of us who have wondered how the decisions of the present impacts the future. It is that big "What if?" game* we all play.
*The "what if?" game always bothered me as a teacher. Students would start asking "what if" questions to try to get out if work or tests and if you didn't do anything proactive you could get what iffed forever. I liked to stop the "what if" train right away by firing back a rapid succession of my own nonsensical what ifs back at them.
Student: "What if it snows tomorrow? Maybe we should have the quiz next week?"
Me: "What if an asteroid hit us today? What if the sun exploded tomorrow morning? What if?"
That would usually end it because the student probably thought this guy is crazy and let's avoid talking to him any further.
I have often thought what my personal “Back to the Future” journey would look like. I believe all my experiences and decisions I have made have shaped me into the person I am today, whether good or bad, but I do catch myself playing the "what if" game from time to time (you hypocrite Mr. Kim). If I stepped into my own DeLorean and kept the time-traveling focus on my personal events, I could go back and warn myself not to call out my friend’s name Michael in the woods behind Village Park Elementary school (Comox represent) because that would bring the attention of the bully who tortured me for a good week in grade 1 or not to dive into the bushes at the YMCA Camp Southwind because that would cause me to sit on top of a wasp nest. I would tell myself to give mBryan to take care of while Mina and I went on vacation in the summer, so I wouldn’t have the death of an 18 year old tree on my hands. Out damn spot out. I would go tell myself to get myself diagnosed for narcolepsy much earlier*. I would go tell myself not… I could go on and on with embarrassing things I have done or things I am not proud of, but that would simply cause myself to be embarrassed all over again. On the other hand, if I started fixating on all the trials and tribulations of my journey, then what sort of person would that create--someone who hadn’t taken chances, been embarrassed, or learned from his mistakes. If I play this time-traveling game, I think you can only lose. I like my life. I enjoy my history. I am not looking for a wholesale rewrite as seen by the McFlys by the end of “Back to the Future”.
*I noticed symptoms at age 18 and got diagnosed with narcolepsy at age 32. I thought I was really lazy because I could sleep anywhere at any time. An early diagnosis may have made my three degree journey at UBC more enjoyable. My life with narcolepsy is another story for another day.
There would be only one thing I wish I could change. OK make that two.
1) I would go back and tell my despondent self after game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup run, not to leave from Pacific Coliseum and head home with Dax Naples and Mike Chipman but to go downtown with the rest of my friends. I will always remember the next day at school, Steve Williams telling me the riots were the craziest thing he had ever seen. I am not saying that I wanted to riot nor what went down in Vancouver that night was right (it was stupid), but it is not everyday you get to be in the middle of tear gas on Robson Street.
2) I would go back in time and punch myself for being such a selfish teenager, who could only moan and whine in his head about how strict his parents were and how they were not fair to him. Age gives you perspective and wisdom, both of which I was in short supply as a teenager. Now I wasn’t a bad kid, as I excelled in academics in high school and didn’t get up to more than the usual trouble of a boy of that age. But I certainly, could have treated my parents with more love and respect at that time. I look back and cringe at how wrapped up I was in my own world and I failed to acknowledge all the ways that my parents loved me and how good they were to me. I am not saying that I wasn’t at all appreciative, but I certainly could have had a better perspective about how much my parents did for me over the years. I would like to go back to the past to give myself a lecture. The selfish me needs to be told to suck it up, that my "problems" will work themselves out and be forgotten down the road, that I was lucky to have my parents love and support both emotionally and financially, that my parents sacrificed more than I ever could imagine leaving their family, friends, and country to come to Canada simply to give my sister and I a better opportunity, that I couldn't understand their love for their children until I had children of my own.
I sound like a parent, right? Well back to the future and now I am a proud parent of a handsome baby boy. Now after one month of taking care of him, I get a small glimmer of the enormity of what my parents did for me, which makes me even appreciate them more. That's the power of love.
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