Monthly Archives: January 2020
THE KOBE BRYANT GOSPEL OF DEDICATION, HARD WORK: BE A LOVING FATHER, A DEDICATED HUSBAND, A DECENT PERSON, AND DO GOOD – by Gary Smolker
Kobe Bryant was a superstar athlete and was an unusually nice, decent, and caring person.
Kobe was a superstar athlete and celebrity who inspired millions of people.
Kobe proved and still proves the untruth of the statement “nice people finish last.”
KOBE BYRANT
Kobe Bryant was an evolved human being.
He was intense.
He had mind bogging drive; he had a relentless drive to be the best at what he did.
He would outwork anyone.
He had an almost superhuman work ethic.
He had determination and persistence.
He had an unyielding will to win.
He was a go-for-broke competitor.
He was fearless.
He displayed a steely toughness; he played through pain.
He never gave up.
He always wanted to grow.
He always wanted to know: What drove excellence?
He was a wonderful exemplary father.
He taught his young daughter how to play basketball.
He went to his young daughter’s ballet class with her.
He coached a girl’s basketball team.
Kolbe Bryant was more than a razzle-dazzle basketball star.
He was a wonderful compelling compassionate man.
He used his celebrity, his star power, and his animal-magnetism for the good.
He was more than a basketball player.
He was a fine, gutsy, highly skilled larger than life icon who always tried to be the best person he could be.
THE KOBE BRYANT GOSPEL OF DEDICATION AND HARD WORK
Kobe Bryant was a work maniac who leveraged his talent with an incredible work ethic that drove him to the top of his profession. He spoke three languages languages, was a brilliant man and a great writer who chose to pursue a career in sports over more erudite occupations.
Kobe was an inspiration to an entire generation of young people who were attracted initially by his prowess as a basketball player, but soon learned of his work ethic and quality as a person.
Kobe made mistakes, did the hard work of learning from his mistakes, and then after much thought, corrected his thinking. Kobe turned the corner, redeemed himself.
Like many males, he had his challenges with his sex drive, but he owned up to his mistakes, learned from them, and grew to be a dedicated father and husband.
Kobe stands shoulder to shoulder with a handful of the very best in his profession and leveraged his fame to spread the gospel of dedication, hard work and being a thoughtful and good person to all whole chose to listen.
NICE PEOPLE CAN FINISH FIRST
Kobe was a nice person who finished first.
TRANSCENDENT
Kobe was transcendent.
Not only did he stop to smell flowers, he exceeded the limits of ordinary experience.
Copyright © 2020 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved
PAIN AND GLORY – a movie review by Gary Smolker
I saw PAIN AND GLORY last night.
It is an artsy movie about an extremely successful writer, movie-director, movie producer.
It traces his life.
It begins when he was a little boy, living in extreme poverty with his mother.
It then jumps to a time in his life after he has obtained great success as a sensitive writer telling the most interesting heartfelt love stories, he had magically directed the movies he wrote and thereby had successfully created great wealth for himself through writing, directing and producing compelling movies.
Writing is a compulsion.
The great writers yearn to write, to reveal, to be authentic.
They have an urge to tell.
They are willing to go to that place of telling that makes writing come alive.
What they write goes straight from their heart to the page.
They present their real self, as a real person.
Their candor is charming, disarming and refreshing.
In a culture where character can be as malleable as Play-Doh, they stand out.
Most of this movie shows the audience the main character’s daily life after he lost the joy of being alive.
Writing, when committed honestly, is an act of of exposing.
The word “EXPOSITION” comes from the Latin exponere, defined as “to explain or to put forth.”
During most of the movie he is miserable, because he could not save his lover from drug addiction.
The audience sees that his sense of failure and shame paralyzed him.
But in the movie he is so truthful, the intimacy and authenticity about him creates a bond with the audience, that favorably connects the audience to him.
The audience loses emotional control – the audience is moved to love him, because even though he was miserable he was also fun.
He was a mixture of creative prankster, tortured soul, poet, charmer, and quirky businessman.
He had an alluring mixture of of strength and warmth that compels the audience to care about him.
He was lively, and hip, and interesting, while being miserable.
That makes the audience love him.
He is a refreshingly politically incorrect unplugged character.
That makes the audience love him.
He was the sort of person you immediately connect to: simultaneously approachable but inaccessible.
His style was his substance.
He was extremely style conscious.
He was an extremely interesting earnest person, full of finesse.
I want to own the kind of t-shirts he wore.
I want to live in the kind of home he owned. It was cozy and sunny and full of character.
The audience roots for him, wants him to get his joy of life back.
About 40% of the movie focuses on the pain he endured artistically, romantically, physically, mentally, and emotionally while he was a successful writer, director, producer.
Another 40% of the movie shows what his life was like later, after he voluntarily quit writing and directing and producing movies while at the height of his financially and artistically successful career.
The movie compels the audience to understand the focus required to be a writer, the focus required to be a director, and the focus required to be a movie producer.
The movie forces the audience to understand the heart break he suffered from losing his lover – a drug addict.
That heartbreak caused him to stop writing, to stop directing and to stop producing movies.
After his lover – another man – was no longer in his life, writing required more focus than he was able to summons up.
The intensity of the actor acting out this man’s life makes the audience understand that writing another screenplay would require more focus than this extremely sensitive heart broken man felt like summoning up.
It is a forceful profound movie which ends when a pleasant memory makes him happy; once he becomes happy he then starts writing an autobiographical sexually charged story titled FIRST DESIRE.
Throughout the movie he had a buoyant spirit powered by a self-generating energy.
The writer and director of this movie are masters of technique, larger than life masters of connecting the dots.
In my opinion this movie tells such an authentic story, seems so true, it must be autobiographical narration.
Everyone has a story to tell, but the version the writer of a movie and the director of a movie are willing or able to tell is not necessarily the story most worthy of telling.
I wonder: Is the person on the screen really the writer, really the director, or really someone he or they are/were close to?
This is a breathtakingly seductive movie.
Whoever made this movie has a lot of energy, a lot of vitality, a great inner-fire, an off-the-charts IQ, intestinal fortitude and heart.
It is easy to understand why the writer and director and producer of this movie are successful, a whole other stratosphere professionally.
They understand both substance and structure.
The main character in this movie is a strong and compelling person.
This movie speaks to your state of mind.
This movie is a Rorschach test, a telling symbol which reveals your position in society.
It will become radioactive in the minds and lives of sensitive people who see it.
Copyright © 2020 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved
HARRIET – a movie review by Gary Smolker
HARRIET
I saw HARRIET a week ago.
HARRIET is a great movie about an amazingly brave woman.
HARRIET escaped from slavery in the South at the risk of her own life.
Then she helped other slaves escape by going back South – at great risk to her life – where she hooked up with other slaves – at great risk to her own life – and then helped them to escape by leading them – at great risk to her own life – to freedom in the North.
She felt no man should own another man and would rather be dead than be a slave.
She lived by the motto: Freedom or death.
Copyright © 2020 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved
The Hard Work of Independent Thinking, Individualism and Courage – by Gary Smolker, Social Commentator, Values Critic
COURAGE
How much courage do you have?
What is courage?
THINKING
Thinking for yourself is courageous.
Thinking for yourself is hard hard work.
HARD WORK
Unless strongly motivated, most people avoid doing hard work.
THE HARD WORK OF BEING PREPARED TO THINK
Most people avoid spending large amounts of their time fully engaged in doing the hard work required to be able to think things through adequately.
Many people do not keep themselves informed by reading a large variety of books; they do not read a variety of magazines; they do not read a variety of reports on studies conducted on a variety of topics of interest to them.
Most people do not read several newspapers each day.
Many people are not constantly reading.
Most people are not constantly looking things up.
Most people do not attend seminars; most people do not attend lectures on topics of interest to them; most people to not take continuing education courses.
Most people are not constantly learning new useful things.
LEARNING NEW THINGS
Most people spend little or no time studying anything.
Although many people are constantly reading, they are not reading to learn things important to independent thinkers.
Instead, they are reading to learn “what society should think according to influence leaders.”
They do not “think” for themselves.
Most people are not constantly learning new useful things of interest to independent thinkers.
Most people do not spend any time doing “experimental research” to learn new things.
Most people spend little or no time analyzing their own ideas or the ideas of other people.
COMING TO CONCLUSIONS
Many people do not come to their own conclusions on matters that are of great concern.
Most people do not come to their own independent conclusions on matters of importance to them.
Instead they rely on other people’s advice and/or they rely on the generally held beliefs of the communities they belong to.
Coming to their own conclusions is too much work for most people.
Coming to their own conclusions would require too much of their time.
Coming to their own conclusions often requires expertise they do not have, expertise they do not wish to gain.
VERY AMBITIOUS PEOPLE
At the opposite extreme is a very small group, but growing group, of very ambitious people who find it difficult to have fun for fun’s sake.
They don’t stop to smell the roses.
They don’t spend time enjoying nature or the outdoors.
They seem to live to work.
They are being who they actually are.
They are driven by a desire to accomplish a clear concrete self-defined well-defined goal.
If they work 12, or 14, or 16, or 18 hours a day, six or seven days a week they are giving up a lot for something.
Some of them eventually learn: “the key to having a successful relationship with another person is to devote a substantial amount of their time to that person.”
They figure out that it is necessary to give their full sincere attention to that other person.
They eventually realize there is more to life than money and prestige.
PROGRESS DEPENDS ON THE UNREASONABLE MAN
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world.
“The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
“Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.”
– George Bernard Shaw
THE BENEFITS OF BEING AN INDEPENDENT THINKER
Independent thinkers search for the truth with little concern for what other people think.
Their value and respect for the truth compels them to make their own decisions.
Their judgments are based on the logic and knowledge they have achieved.
Their judgments are not based on another person’s agenda.
The benefit of being an independent thinker to an independent thinker is they learn to trust themselves and the efficacy of their own judgments.
They have tremendous self-esteem and self-confidence.
The only person who can give you self-esteem is yourself.
KOBE BYRANT
Kobe Bryant was an evolved human being.
He was intense.
He had mind bogging drive; he had a relentless drive to be the best at what he did.
He would outwork anyone.
He had an almost superhuman work ethic.
He had determination and persistence.
He had an unyielding will to win.
He was a go-for-broke competitor.
He was fearless.
He displayed a steely toughness; he played through pain.
He never gave up.
He always wanted to grow.
He always wanted to know: What drove excellence?
He was a wonderful exemplary father.
He taught his young daughter how to play basketball.
He went to his young daughter’s ballet class with her.
He coached a girl’s basketball team.
Kolbe Bryant was more than a razzle-dazzle basketball star.
He was a wonderful compelling compassionate man.
He used his celebrity, his star power, and his animal-magnetism for the good.
He was more than a basketball player.
He was a fine, gutsy, highly skilled larger than life icon who always tried to be the best person he could be.
THE KOBE BRYANT GOSPEL OF DEDICATION AND HARD WORK
Kobe Bryant was a work maniac who leveraged his talent with an incredible work ethic that drove him to the top of his profession. He spoke three languages languages, was a brilliant man and a great writer who chose to pursue a career in sports over more erudite occupations.
Kobe was an inspiration to an entire generation of young people who were attracted initially by his prowess as a basketball player, but soon learned of his work ethic and quality as a person.
Kobe made mistakes, did the hard work of learning from his mistakes, and then after much thought, corrected his thinking. Kobe turned the corner, redeemed himself.
Like many males, he had his challenges with his sex drive, but he owned up to his mistakes, learned from them, and grew to be a dedicated father and husband.
Kobe stands shoulder to shoulder with a handful of the very best in his profession and leveraged his fame to spread the gospel of dedication, hard work and being a thoughtful and good person to all whole chose to listen.
Copyright © 2020 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved
IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMETHING DONE, HIRE A MANIACALLY DETERMINED PERSON – a report – by Gary Smolker, Social Commentator, Values Critic
The recently released move “Harriet” accurately portrays the super human power possessed by a manically determined person.
I know from personal experience that manically determined people have extraordinary powers.
IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMETHING DONE, HIRE A MANIAC
Mania is the driver which enables a person to perform beyond normal human boundaries.
Mania swallows your full attention, your life, your being.
Maniacs find difficulties addictively challenging.
To a great extent a maniac becomes a hostage to his mania.
A true maniac has no personal life at all.
THOMAS EDISON
According to Edmund Morris’ book “EDISON”
On a wall in his library Edison was a framed quotation: “There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.”
Edison wrote of himself, a self-appraisal:
“Everything on earth depends on will. I never had an idea in my life. I’ve got no imagination. I never dream. My so-called inventions already existed in the environment – I took them out. I’ve created nothing. Nobody does. There is no such thing as an idea being brain-born; everything comes from the outside. The industrious one coaxes it from the environment; the drone lets it lie there while he goes off to the baseball game. The ‘genius’ hangs around his laboratory day and night. If anything happens he is there to catch it; if he wasn’t, it might happen just the same but if would never be his.”
The executive quality he admired the most was curiosity.
During the depression of the 1920s bank presidents committed suicide, homeowners lost their homes to sheriffs and Billy Durant of General Motors was out of a job. Edison has no intention of sharing Durant’s fate.
Edison fired an enormous number of his employees.
He congratulated himself on having got rid of “thousands of untrained and careless workers” by one estimate one third of his eleven-thousand-man-payroll.
He worked out a plan to replace highly paid executives with young men willing to work for less money.
This ment a risky investment in recent college graduates.
He designed a questionnaire to bring out their general knowledge to ensure that he got the best of the hundreds of desperate job seekers with college degrees.
He sought to hire young men who displayed alertness of mind, power of observation and interest in the life of the world.
He designed an IGNORAMOMETER questionnaire to test job applicants for those qualities.
Humorists, professional and amateur, satirized his “Ignoramomenter.”
A group of Wellesley girls sent him a five-foot-long list of their own questions, including “What are the chemical properties of catnip?” and “When you turn off the electric light, where does the light go?”
The New York Times published almost forty articles on the subject of “the Edison brainmeter,” while magazines such as Literary Digest, Harper’s, and The New Republic began a debate on intelligence tests.
The World remarked that in a time rendered dismal by depression and Prohibition, “Mr. Edison with his questionnaire, has contributed to the gaiety of life but also to the dissemination of knowledge.”
Only 4 percent of his initial batch of applicants struck him as worth hiring.
“The results of the test are surprisingly disappointing.” “Men who have gone through college I find amazingly ignorant.”
Edison claimed to study twenty-seven periodicals, ranging from the Police Gazette and the “liberal weeklies” to the Journal of Experimental Medicine, plus five papers a day, and “about forty pounds of books a month.”
“Nearly all my books are transcripts of scientific societies, which will never be republished.”
He was an energetic margin scribblers.
He was a self-taught man.
His erudition was beyond that of many university professors, let alone their graduate students.
The electrical theoretician George Steinmetz remarked, “I consider Edison today as the man best informed in all fields of human knowledge.”
ALBERT EINSTEIN’S AND NICOLA TESLA’S RESPONSE
Einstein, the father of relativity, said that he saw no point in cluttering his mind with data obtainable from any encyclopedia. “The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.”
Nicola Tesla, Einstein’s rival in popular genius rankings, agreed. “Edison attaches too great a value to mere memory.”
LONELY LIFE
Edison’s wife Mina said of him: “Because of his work he has had to live a great deal by himself and in himself.”
For many years the members of the National Academy of Science refused Edison membership because Edison was a mercenary, publicity-seeking technologist.
Edison was not surprised by the rejection. He had invited it with many jibes against “lead-pencil” theorists.
Finally the National Academy of Sciences voted to admit him after being shamed by a member quoting a French academician’s epitaph to Moliere “We cannot afford to say when Mr Edison dies, ‘Nothing can add to his glory, we can only regret that he does not add to ours.'”
LIFESTYLE
Edison worked 18 hours a day, monotonically focused on whatever current project interested him.
He made no distinction between day and night,
He was completely unconscious of time.
When asked what he did for recreation, he replied: “I eat and think.”
OUTPUT
Edison patented one thousand and ninety-three machines, systems, processes, and phenomena.
Edison averaged one patent for every ten to twelve days of his adult life. The complete list, arranged by number and execution date, is available online at edison.rutgers.edu/patents.
PERSONAL NOTE
The really smart people I know read a lot of books.
They are always reading one or more books.
ENERGETIC MARGIN-SCRIBBLER
I am an energetic-margin-scribbler.
PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE
On January 18, 2020, I received the following email from a good friend who was recently hired to transform a major highly capitalistic institution.
“I have been feeling manic at work. There is so much to be done. The inefficiency and disorder hurts my feelings. I want an elegant solution. I want to fix it all – now. I dislike the anxiety which comes with negative surprise. I need to create order in the world.
“I too wake up at 2-3 a every day. I wake up thinking about things that need doing. I think about things I could have done better I ruminate about things I’ve done and said and analyze the consequences of each potential action. I can’t stop.
“I work out at 4:30 am. My brain is solving problems all the time, running in the background. Too many open tabs sometimes. I fall into exhaustion when I’m spent.
“I do enjoy spending time just thinking. This is my favorite time To sit and read or sit in the bath and think (and talk) to myself.”
The woman who wrote the quoted note above is living the life she loves.
IT TAKES A BEAUTIFUL MIND TO APPRECIATE A BEAUTIFUL WORLD. THERE IS BEAUTY EVERYWHERE.
Manically determined people are extraordinarily sensitive.
They see and seek and appreciate beauty everywhere.
That photo is of a bejeweled pin to put in a turban.
It, and other wonderfully hand made beautiful objects, is in the clothing accessories collection in the Topkapi Palace Museum.
Gary Smolker, Social Commentator, Values Critic
Copyright © 2020 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved
Visual Identity #6 – PLACES – by Gary Smolker, Social Commentator, Values Critic, Coffee Lover, Chocolate Lover
Everything has has a visual identity.
Even places have a visual identity.
A visual identity represents who you are, what you are, and where you are.
How you, or your business, represent yourself visually is important.
Visual identity is what you think of when you think about a place. a product, and/or a person.
Bubble-baths are divine.
After seeing those bubbles i had to find out how to get such a bubbly bath.
I am running a scientific experiment.
Do you have any suggestions on how I can get such a bubbly bath in my own home?
A beautiful mind can appreciate a beautiful world.
THE BACK STORY ON COFFEE
COFFEE originated from and was invented in Ethiopia.
Coffee did not become a global enterprise until traded in port of Moka in Yemen. (Moka is where the word “mocha” comes from.)
Zanzibar was one of the most important trade links between Africa, Yemen and eventually Europe for the trade of “mocha java” or coffee.
Gary Smolker, Social Commentator, Values Critic, Coffee Lover, Chocolate Lover
Copyright © 2019 Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved
“UNCUT GEMS” – A Movie Review by Gary Smolker, Social Commentator, Values Critic, Movie Reviewer
THIS IS A REALISTIC ACTION MOVIE
I DON’T LIKE THE REALITY THIS MOVIE PORTRAYS.
I didn’t feel wittier or wiser when I was done watching it.
I was depressed the entire time I was watching this movie.
It was a painful movie for me to watch.
I felt like walking out from the very first scene at the very beginning of the movie and continued to feel like walking out all through the entire movie.
I stayed because the main character is a captivating individual.
POSITIVE TRAITS
I admire courage.
I admire persistence.
I admire creativity.
I admire intelligence.
I admire loyalty.
I believe in the power of will power.
NEGATIVE CHARACTER TRAITS
I hate lying. I hate deception. I hate cheating.
PERSONALITY PROFILE OF SANDLER’S CHARACTER
Sandler’s character is all of the above. He is courage, creative, intelligent, and hard-working but he is also a cheat, a deceiver, and a liar.
VIOLENCE
There is a lot of violence in this movie – which is usually a big turn off to me.
But in this movie the violence made sense, it was not gratuitous violence or violence for the purpose of getting my attention, or violence interjected in the movie for the purpose of keeping my attention.
The violence was not in the movie for the purpose of entertaining, but the reality and authenticity of the violence was entertaining.
HIGH ENERGY INDIVIDUAL
The character Adam Sandler plays in this movie is a super-hyper, super-active man, always moving. He is a high energy extremely goal driven man.
He is an always going somewhere, always hustling from one place to another.
COURAGE AND PERSISTENCE
I love courage.
Adam Sandler’s character has courage.
Adam Sandler’s character keeps going though matter what horrible things happen to him.
THIS IS A PHILOSOPHICAL MOVIE ABOUT COMPETITION
At its heart, this movie is about competition.
It is about performing at the highest level you are capable of performing.
It is about your need to win, and your self-image.
In one important key scene in this movie, Sandler spontaneously launches into a monologue about competition, about him being a competitive person, about need to win, about him needing to win.
This monologue occurs while talking to a basketball star – This monologue begins in response to the basketball star asking how much the uncut gems he is buying from Sandler costs Sandler.
The basketball star replies to Sandler’s monologue.
The basketball star agrees with Sandler’s description of the role of self-image and goes on to describe what drives him to perform as a champion.
The basketball star describes what is behind his need to win.
SEX
There is sex in this movie. But, it is not exploitative sex, or gratuitous sex., or disgusting sex.
FEMALE MASTURBATION
There is a scene in the movie where the audience and Sandler watch Sandler’s mistress masturbating.
The scene makes sense in the movie. It is not a tawdry scene.
SELF-PROTECTION
The movie is also about the way people protect themselves.
There are many scenes which show how the business people in the movie screen business callers and social callers to protect themselves.
-Sandler had a set of glass locked glass doors one has to go through in order to enter his jewelry store.
-An auctioneer who auctioned Sandler uncut gems has a receptionist screen visitors and callers,
-The basket ball star athlete to whom Sandler sold his uncut gems has a business manager who handles business matters for the basketball star; the basketball star was accompanied by body guards wherever he went.
VIOLENCE
There is violence on Sandler’s character’s person in the movie.
There are collection thugs who try – through violence – to collect money Sandler owed someone.
Those characters are incredibly interesting characters; how they humiliated Sandler was incredibly interesting.
The thugs respected no social boundaries.
GAMBLING
Sandler’s character is a gambler.
Sandler’s gambling practices are fascinating, way beyond interesting.
TEAM WORK
The way Sandler imposes on everyone to accomplish his goals throughout the movie is entrancingly interesting.
Sandler gives people he imposes on a financial incentive.
PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS
Sandler’s relationship with his mistress and his interactions with his mistress was very believable; his mistress’ relationship with Sandler and the rest of the world was very believable too.
Sandler’s character has a wife and three kids.
His wife was unable to stomach him.
Yet she stays married to him.
COLORFUL PEOPLE
UNCUT GEMS is a colorful movie full of colorful people doing colorful things.
SUCCESS
Sandler’s character’s success – if you want to call anything that Sandler’s character did a success – was based on his ability to effectively communicate, his ability to think on his feet, his courage and ability to keep moving towards a clearly defined goal.
LIVING LIFE FULLY
Sandler’s character didn’t live fast. He lived furiously at hyper speed.
Sandler’s character did not live life half-way.
ADMIRABLE TRAITS
Sandler’s character was very courageous and very hard working.
People who respect hard work and courage will admire Sandler.
He has a personality that sparkles and intellectual wealth.
NEGATIVE REVIEW
“I saw it under the mistaken belief it was a comedy. Certainly there are comedic elements, but the violence and depravity overwhelm them. The characters range from unlikeable to despicable. Yet the movie sells out. Depressing.
“I left the movie theater feeling assaulted.”
NEGATIVE REVIEW
“There’s more than enough violence to fuel the world’s need for it. After all, the news outlets broadcast the aftermath of violence on a daily basis.
“Aren’t we sick enough of this nonsense. The generations to come will become so desensitized that violence will become the new normal.
“Combining sex with violence is NEVER a good thing.”
REVIEW OF THE TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE OF THE ART OF MOVIE MAKING
The acting in this movie is superb.
The characters are believable; they glow with vitality.
The screen play story is fantastically well written.
It is a morbid depraved movie.
I reluctantly admire it as a realistic depiction of life.
Gary Smolker, Social Commentator, Values Critic, Movie Reviewer
Copyright © 2019 by Gary Smolker, All Rights Reserved
Gary S. Smolker 