Here and There
The dirty secret that you learn when get to leave stop writing and start doing is that the difference between the daily existence of an amateur and professional is mainly illusion.
The biggest property owner in Los Angeles looks for tenets for six story buildings with For Lease signs. Just like I’d sublet my apartment. A company with 5,000 employees still has uses Craigslist to find employees. If you’re going to do a $40,000 ad spend online, you email the site and ask how much it’s going to cost. This one is a stretch but the notion of greenlighting movies with A-listers, I think, is less about some misguided economic theory and fundamentally about the comfort of having heard of the person you’re trusting millions of dollars to.
The things that seem so foreign at the highest levels are subject to the biases and tendencies and limitations that everyone deals with on a daily basis.* I think it’s really easy to get impressed by a 40 foot banner advertising a building for rent, so much so that you forget it has exactly the same purpose as a taped flyer. Or you think, ‘man, if only I had their resources’ when they’re constrained by virtually all of the human restrictions that you are. The difference is mostly about one group needing other people to believe that they’ve got it all figured out. Reality though is that it’s scary how limited the capabilities of most things are.
There’s not some larger, earth shattering point here. In fact, all I’m saying is that you don’t need to wait to learn these things when you get the big leagues because you can intuitively understand them right now. They’re simple and basic. They are right there in front of you. But are you cynical enough to notice?
*A great illustration and nice way to feel better about yourself is to look at the photos from events like a expensive charity ball or a political fundraiser. The people you’ve heard lionized as tyrants or ‘shrewd, cunning strategists’ look like your fatter versions of your parents. Personally, the photos in Variety of Hollywood executives are my favorite.
Or how easy it is to fully utilize those capabilities.
Interesting point about the A-list movie stars. These calls require credibility on the applicant’s part, just the same as a candidate for a job interview. They look at your history.
That started out slow, but is entirely correct.
Without knowing it, we put up a lot of mental barriers that can be easily shattered. Realizing that there is nobody on this planet with super-human powers is a good start.
Ryan,
Entirely unrelated to your post but thought you could shed light on the issue or perhaps point me in right direction — have you read anything lately on the War on Drugs? Could you recommend anything? I am writing a paper for an econ class on it and I wanted to see if you had any suggestions..
Not quite. History proves star-based movies wrong.
Why do you have to be cynical to notice?
Josh I think “Success Driven Philosophy” could use a dose of cynicism itself. You’re missing the point with your site [that’s why there’s more people here] things are very simple, not very glamorous and that “ray of shining light” type thinking that you espouse ain’t helpful cuz it hides the nature of stuff.
Chris- it’s not that truths are “very simple”, it’s that, as Nietzsche put it, “All truths are for me soaked in blood.”
I “A” don’t agree that I espouse any overly-optimistic philosophy, and “B” would love to hear why you feel that way over email ([email protected]). Jason and I are always looking for ways to improve the site content.
The nature of things isn’t necessarily hidden by sugarcoated layers requiring cynicism as a tool to break through. There is a fundamental difference between cynical thinking and thinking, and it’s bias. If you always look at things cynically, how are you any different from the person who pre-judges things idealistically?
That’s just my “ray of shining light” opinion though.
Cynicism and romanticism need to be linked. Ie-your favorite activity should unquestionably be celebration of life (that’s the romantic, non-cynic in you), but you should be aware enough of self and surroundings to find it hard to celebrate life because of all of the bad, disgusting, incongruous things afoot (the cynic in you).
Holiday dude, that’s a good point you made. Anyways, I was wondering what motivates you to work so hard? Is it just fun for you? Or is it just like your natural way you are, kind of like how some people are just lazy and you just like to read and work a lot.
Me personally I had been broken down for a long time where nothing seemed worth living for until just today I found my raison d’etre, a reason to get back on my feet and become a man again. Now that I have something worth living and fighting for I bet I will be unstoppable.