Death of Hypatia®

Category: Know Thyself

  • Know Thyself Post #61

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY:

    The following can be found on the Home page, but I feel deserves a reboot:

    I can remember a time when I lived my life with enthusiasm and I didn’t worry about the economy, corporations, scams, and politics. This blasé attitude can be attributed to it being a presumption/expectation that our business leaders and especially our civil servants were working towards the good of the people, or at least pretending to. The only time that politics or the government specifically entered my focus was when it was time to vote, a politician was commended for acting honorably, or, and most often, a politician or a law, grossly missed the bar for what was considered decent by the people of the United States.

    Now it seems, I pass each day, not living now, in my life, but flooded with anxiety ridden thoughts about tomorrow. The horrors of politics now take up the majority of my concerns; not because politicians missed the bar on decency, that bar has been buried, politics fill my brain because I’m scared that my government will further diminish my ability to pursue happiness. I know believe that the ultimate goal for those in power is ALL of it, not more, not most, ALL. I feel I’m a consumer and my importance is limited to Buying and Dying.

    This is not living. For those of you too young to remember what it was like when the government wasn’t constantly taking from you, I’m sorry. It wasn’t always like this.

    But maybe, it could be again? That is the point of Death of Hypatia; to achieve the ability to live our lives and pursue our happinesses.

    How do YOU feel?… more “Know Thyself Post #61”

  • Know Thyself Post #60

    Know Thyself through the ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS, or is it just BUSINESS?:

    On the website InternationalBusinessTimes.com, in the article The Most Major Movies Next Year Will Be Prequels, Sequels and Remakes: Report, By Bruce Golding it states:

    ‘The shock of the new is history in Hollywood — as more than half of next year’s movies from major studios are expected to be sequels, prequels or remakes.

    The 2025 calendar shows 50% to 70% of the feature films from Universal, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Sony and Lionsgate will be based on existing characters and other intellectual property, CNBC reported Sunday.

    “There’s been a recognition by studios that the known commodities are what most audiences gravitate toward,” Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian told the network.’

    Gravitate towards….doesn’t seem like the right verb to me….cause…

    According to TheGameofNerds.com this is NOT what audiences want or ‘gravitate towards’ it is the ONLY flavor drink mix we are being offered:

    ‘Why Audiences Feel Nostalgia Fatigue

    Studios continue to choose reboots because they are safer than launching new properties. Familiar brands come with built-in recognition, reducing marketing risk. But constant repetition has consequences. Viewers who once felt excitement now leave theaters with a sense of déjà vu.

    Reasons this approach feels stale:

    • Reboots recycle stories with minimal innovation.

    • Films focus on fan service instead of fresh narratives.

    • Limited marketing and poor box office performance are common for original titles.

    • Streaming divides attention, so cultural impact rarely lasts.

    • Pop culture moments are fragmented across too many platforms.’

     

    Seems like reboots, prequels and sequels are cheaper to make and that matters more than what audiences want.

    Makes them money, but sucks for us 50-70% of the time?….

    What do YOU think?

    https://www.ibtimes.com/most-major-movies-next-year-will-prequels-sequels-remakes-report-3745719

    https://thegameofnerds.com/2025/08/02/reboots-and-remakes-dominate-2025-but-original-stories-are-missing/

     … more “Know Thyself Post #60”

  • Know Thyself Post #59

    Know Thyself through ART:

    To me, art is created through feelings, and often that feeling is suffering. I see art as the voice for people who can only scream through the creation of something that makes other’s feel. Often this isn’t a good feeling.

    I don’t read many happy writers, the one’s who have suffered, those are the ones that I want to help shape what I think.

    I also don’t think art can be made from or for money. Once it is from or for money, it is mass-produced and therefore, in my opinion, cannot be considered art.

    It isn’t just in art, money is almost always on the side of the bad guy. Look at any John Hughes movie. Rich Uncle Pennybags from Monopoly fame seems happy, but rather lonely and I can only think of one novel where the good guy was richer than the bad guy; but not that much richer, nor that much better now that I think about it, if only we could ask Daisy Fay…

    My point is, read about the artists you admire be it; music, literature, surf boarding, archeology, philosophy and look into their lives and I doubt you will find many well rested, happy, satisfied, trust fund babies. These insatiable individuals strove to do more and understand more, or YOU would have never heard of them. I think there is a reason why most great artists were ‘starving’ or insane. The same reason why reality tv stars will leave no lasting positive impact on humanity.

    Just me?… more “Know Thyself Post #59”

  • Know Thyself Post #58

    Know Thyself through: slowing the f#ck down:

    I lose things and often find them in the first place I began my search. Meaning, I half assed it and wasted a LOT of time.

    Next time you lose something, try this.

    Sit down in the room/space you believe it most likely to be. For 30 seconds try and picture when you last saw it/used it.

    Open your eyes and before you get up and begin to search, thoroughly look throughout the space from where you are sitting. Scour all exposed surfaces and plan out how you will search the space. DO NOT leave the room/space and move onto the next space until you have exhaustively searched everywhere. Goal is to not return to this room. Rinse and repeat in other rooms.

    Was this approach better for YOU? Was it more/less anxious? Was it more/less successful?… more “Know Thyself Post #58”

  • Know Thyself Post #57

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY:

    In Know Thyself Blog Post #5, I asked you to go outside, and, once the voices in your head shushed, look up and around until you notice something beautiful.

    That was a test in analog, let’s try an analog vs. digital comparison

    Go online, peruse as you usually do, and, when you have read and paid attention to all the voices that surround it, look in and around until you notice something ugly.

    Which do YOU think takes longer?

    Which do YOU think was a better use of your time?… more “Know Thyself Post #57”

  • Know Thyself Post #56

    Know Thyself through MUSIC:

    Try this:

    • find a record player and collection you could commandeer for a few hours.
      • CD’s, cassettes and a radio are not suitable substitutes. It needs to sound like vinyl, it needs to take time to begin with few buttons pushed and needs to be physically flipped over by hand. It needs to have a weight to it, a label and grooves.
      • One in your own home is best, but friend or fam’s house works just as well. If you are at someone else’s home and their there and you feel weird being alone in their house using their acoustical gear and/or they would be cool to do this with – ask them to join you.  I recommend having them read this and make ground rules like whether you can start and stop, replay a song or play it all the way through;  discuss when to discuss: during, after, and/or in between songs, etc.
    • Understand how to play said record player and whether owner has any rules of their own. The records must be respected.
    • Choose a record
      • It could be by someone(s) you know or an entity you have never heard of
      • It could be an album and artist you are familiar with – or – an album you are but artist you aren’t – or – an album you aren’t by an artist you are… you get the point
      •  Choose one with liner notes, lyrics and pictures
    • Play the record, song 1, side 1
      • Do NOT skip any songs nor cut any off. You are not scrolling through this music, you are actually listening to an entire album….both sides. Relax, tap a foot, think of this experiment like ‘it’s ___day and you don’t got shit to do’.
      • take the aforementioned liner notes, lyrics, hopefully pictures and/or art work, the album cover, a notebook, and pen, sit and listen.
      • follow the lyrics. note down things you like.
      • Look at the pictures and try and imagine them writing, practicing, playing, hanging out together.
      • Discuss if you want:  Why was that song first? Why were the songs in that order? What did that song mean? Do I like that one? Why? What were they trying to say? Does it translate today?

    Did YOU ever lose yourself for a moment? Did YOU forget about what you have to do or what you didn’t do?

    Not bad heh?… more “Know Thyself Post #56”

  • Know Thyself Post #55

    Know Thyself through LITERATURE:

    Read the following poem and then think about it….

    To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

    BY ROBERT HERRICK
    Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
    Old Time is still a-flying;
    And this same flower that smiles today
    Tomorrow will be dying.
    The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
    The higher he’s a-getting,
    The sooner will his race be run,
    And nearer he’s to setting.
    That age is best which is the first,
    When youth and blood are warmer;
    But being spent, the worse, and worst
    Times still succeed the former.
    Then be not coy, but use your time,
    And while ye may, go marry;
    For having lost but once your prime,
    You may forever tarry.

    I think this could be seen in a few ways. One is the universally approved ‘Carpe Diem’ attitude. That go grab life by the balls kind of mentality.

    Another is a more negative perspective…. a more grab-whatever-you-can-get-your-hands-on-before-it-is-gone kind of perspective.

    It could be seen as a narcissist’s battle cry, no? ‘Gather ye rose-buds while ye may’, ‘his race be run’, ‘best which is first’, ‘Times still succeed the former’, ‘be not coy, but use’, ‘you may forever tarry’.

    AKA: You are the most important thing, but hurry, get all you can get or you will regret it most bitterly.

    In this light this isn’t inspiring, it is anxiety causing! Hurray up and grab all you can before you peak!

    That doesn’t seem like inspiring you to be the best you can be, just possess as much as possible before you age…

    What do YOU think? Just me?… more “Know Thyself Post #55”

  • Know Thyself Post #54

    Know Thyself through LITERATURE:

    Think before you speak. Read before you think.

    – Fran Lebowitz

    I couldn’t agree more, in fact, it is kinda the whole point of this site….

    Read before you think….

    Know YOU; and nothing gets YOU knowing YOU better, than reading books that make YOU think.

    Most of the day you are doing, worrying about what you need to do, multitasking (and probably not doing any one thing awesome) and forgetting to live, like right now. I bet you could tell me 5 things you did yesterday, but not 5 conversations, not 5 feelings and I’m certain you didn’t learn 5 things.

    Start living by knowing where you stand, by thinking.

    Have YOU ever read a book that made you see YOU differently, get you to feel like you know YOU better? It’s cool.… more “Know Thyself Post #54”

  • Know Thyself Post #53

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY/LITERATURE:

    Jackson Browne in the documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes Part I, says:

    What people were trying to do, wherever they were, whether it was in Laurel Canyon or it was Greenich Village, they were trying to find out who they are.

    And I think a lot of that involves leaving where you’re from and going somewhere else.

    But I think what you find is something about where you’re from.

     

    Ernest Hemingway often wrote novels set in places he lived, but wrote them WHILE he lived in other places.

    He wrote about Spain (The Sun Also Rises) when he lived in France, Began writing about France when he lived in Cuba (Garden of Eden) and he wrote about Italy (Farewell to Arms) when he lived in the United States.

     

    Why do YOU think these two storytellers were able to write of places so vividly, when they were away from them? How did they seemingly know more about the places they lived and themselves, in retrospect?

    Assuming YOU ‘relocated’ at some point in your life, if YOU were to write about one of the places YOU lived, what would YOU write about….who would your characters be……what would the vibe be that would sum up that time, in that place?… more “Know Thyself Post #53”

  • Know Thyself Post #52

    Know Thyself through POLITICS:

    Jean Jacques Rousseau believed:

    a free society must be dominated by its middle class; which when prosperous, keeps the gulf between rich and poor in check.

    ‘It forestalls the development of a two class society which can become a civil war waiting to happen and Rousseau notes that civil strife always takes liberty as its first casualty.’

    -Charles Sherover Voltaire and Rousseau

     

    Do YOU feel our leaders know this?

    What do you think about this way of thinking (in the 1700’s….)?… more “Know Thyself Post #52”

  • Know Thyself Post #51

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY….mine:

    I think people would be happier if they focused more energy on communicating their message and less on worrying how the message will be received.

    If what YOU are communicating is the truth, and YOU weren’t a dick about it, why would it matter how they took it?… more “Know Thyself Post #51”

  • Know Thyself Post #50

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY:

    Have you heard of Voltaire?

    Voltaire is a fascinating guy worth checking out, I will attempt to tempt you into learning more about him in a post-sized nutshell: François-Marie Arouet, aka, Voltaire, was a French philosopher/writer/historian during the Age of Enlightenment (late 17th – early 19th century), known for: hating slavery, Christianity, Rousseau, and, the suppression of free thought. He was arrested and thrown into the Bastille for accusing a French prince of incest in a satirical verse, exiled for challenging a rich guy to a duel (whom consequently wussed out, didn’t show and paid for/had Voltaire arrested), and. wrote a book that praised the government of England over that of France (a book which was thereby, publicly burned and banned). He did science experiments with his lover, (whose husband sometimes stayed with them in their chateau), was pro-Free Speech, not afraid to criticize authority, and, wrote a science fiction novel called Micromégas in 1751 that is worth the read/listen, in my opinion.

    According to the Philisophical Dictionary: English Conversationalist about religion Voltaire said:

    ….let us be just and do good,  THAT, is the essential point.

    That’s the end to every argument.

    Let intolerant barbarians be execrated by mankind, and let everybody think as he likes.

    -Voltaire

    • Do you agree with Voltaire’s ‘essential point’ to life?
      • If yes, why and what does it mean to YOU?
      • If no, what would YOU replace ‘be just and do good with?’
    … more “Know Thyself Post #50”

  • Know Thyself Post #49

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY:

    To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most People exist, that is all.

    -Oscar Wilde

    Do YOU live or exist? What do YOU think the difference is?… more “Know Thyself Post #49”

  • Know Thyself Post #48

    Know Thyself through HISTORY:

    Paul Strathern wrote:

    The first people to come up with philosophical answers–that is, those who used reason and observation unclouded by metaphysical mumbo jumbo-were the ancient Greeks, in the sixth century B.C. Precisely why this major step in human evolution should have taken place at this time on the obscure shores of the Aegean remains a mystery.

    Fact:

    The Hellenistic period (323- 30 BC) when Greek cultural influence reached its peak within and beyond its own borders. This was a time of great progress in philosophy, science, the arts, architecture, and music influencing readers, writers, artists and scientists ever since and is considered the foundation for Western culture.

    Fact:

    The Ancient Greek world never hosted a state religion.

     

    Coincidence, cause and effect, ingredients but not the full recipe?

    What do YOU think?… more “Know Thyself Post #48”

  • Know Thyself Post #47

    Know Thyself through LITERATURE:

    Again, lyrics, to me, are literature; they are poems of someone’s feelings put to music.

    The things, you say
    Your purple prose just give you away
    The things, you say
    You’re Unbelievable
    (What the)

    Seemingly lastless, don’t mean
    You can ask us
    Pushing down the relative
    Bringing out your higher self
    Think of the fine times, pushing
    Down the better few, instead of
    Bringing out the clues, to what the
    World and everything anger to, brace
    Yourself with the grace of ease
    I know this world ain’t what it seems
    (What the)
    It’s unbelievable

    -EMF

    Who would YOU say this to if YOU could?… more “Know Thyself Post #47”

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