Sayings

There are certain things that people say that seem to be accepted as some kind of universal wisdom. Things said so often that no one really sits down and thinks about what they really mean or what could be implied by these so called "truths".

For example take "curiosity killed the cat." On the surface it's simple, cat sees dangerous thing (e.g meat grinder), cat doesn't know what dangerous thing is, cat investigates dangerous thing, cat becomes puddle on the floor (i'm not a cat person).

However what's implied here is that all curiousity is bad, that maybe 500 years ago Magellan should have been told to step away from his boats, you never know what lurks in the sea, or maybe that Alexander Fleming should put down his test tubes.

Now you might say to me "hey, you're using the saying incorrectly, it's only meant to be said about things that look dangerous." Now i don't mean to be pedantic (well only a little bit), but the saying doesn't say being curious about dangerous things killed the cat, which leaves the assumption that ANY curiosity can kill a cat.

Now i'm thinking about it, is it just me or do people who say "curiosity killed the cat." up to something. like they know something that you don't, like if something 'happened' to go wrong they would have the advantage of plausable deniability if they were called out on it, but paranoia aside.......

Now we've all heard the saying "you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette." Now wouldn't it be convenient if all we had to do to create innovation was to kill a few cats?
 

Sunday

What word do you think of when you think of sunday? There are the regular cliches, 'lazy' (if you're an average joe), 'holy' (if you're religious) or bloody (if you're U2, an Irish republican or Alan Partridge). But i had a different thought as i found myself awaken at 1pm on Sunday. Sunday is an afterthought, pure and simple that is the best way to describe it.

You may wonder what i mean by that and naturally it's as shallow as it sounds. Sunday is a day to be missed, it's the day you sleep through a hangover or take a stroll through the park and smell the roses.

But it's not as bad as it sounds, i mean as bad as suggesting the positives of wasting a day could be perceived, but this is entirely necessary. This is a day worth of downtime, no real social or work related obligations (though one can socialise if one so chooses). In this fast paced world who can say no to Sundays charms?

So i raise a glass to poor forgotten Sunday, the unsung hero that keeps us all from going insane, a day that has the misfortune of being followed by Monday. Next time i awake in the aftermath of a (subjectively) well spent saturday, i may whisper a thank you to Sunday.

The everyman

So if you asked me who my favourite member of The Beatles was you would be suprised to know the answer is longer than you think. It shows i distinct different between who "the best" is and which beatles i form a connection with. That in itself is 2 seperate questions.

The question of who is the best is obvious, Paul Mccartney. He is the best one objectively, best musician, best singer and questionably best song writer. But which Beatle resonates with me?

The long and short of it is that my favourite beatle isn't really all that important, it's what it says about my character. Who i consider the everyman.

In fiction the everyman is there to give the audience someone to relate to, most likely an observer, acting as an audience surrogate (that's probably the best way to figure out the target audience of a film).

I'm a believer that the best things come in 4, sometimes instead of giving us an everyman as an audience surrogate we are given 4 to choose from, a sort of "pin the everyman on the character." Four manufactured personalites creating a net, as if audience members were fish to be caught. A large enough range so a larger chunk of people identify with at least one person in the piece of work.

Lets take Seinfeld as an example, you have Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine. Jerry for the egotistical, George for the self loathing, Kramer for the eccentric and Elaine for the nuerotic.

So who is my favourite beatle? It's probably George, as a lover of the obscure.How could i not admire the talented introvert in the shadows. The world loves an underdog and i'm no different. Although that might change later as i can be quite fickle.

Also Pin The Everyman On The Character is available at stores for $19.99.........