Simple Pages On My Mind
I'm starting to realize that as I get older and more "mature" (?), things get more complicated and I lose track of the simpler things in life. That's quite unfortunate, because simplicity rules. I already wrote a blog on why bumming around is nice, but in general, we should appreciate the value of all that is simple and good.
For example, I recently watched the movie "Minority Report." I thought it was a good movie, definitely intense and thought provoking. But nowadays, it seems like every movie tries its best to be as complex or elaborate as possible. Everything is loaded with special effects, a twisted plot, or big-name stars, in an attempt to "impress" the audience into liking the movie. To a large extent, this is the gap that separates the original Star Wars trilogy from from Episodes I and II, or the difference between "Good Will Hunting" and any Ben Affleck or Matt Damon movie since then.
If you ask me, one of my all-time favorite movies was, and still is, Home Alone (and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but not as much). Not only because it was set in Chicago, and I love Chicago, but because it is such a beautifully simple movie. I mean, comedy just doesn't get much more primitive than bad guys stepping on nails and getting shot in the balls with a BB gun, but when I was a kid, I could watch it over and over, thinking it was hilarious every time. To this day, I probably still have most of the movie's lines memorized, which makes me quite a loser but I don't care. I already got a girl that loves me in spite of that.
Another example I can think of is food. I do enjoy the finer things like sushi or steak, but there's a certain undeniable charm to something like a peanut butter & jelly sandwich that can't be easily replaced. I'm telling you, it's possible to spend a hundred dollars on a meal at a fancy restaurant and not be as satisfied as you would be with something an 8 year old kid could make on the kitchen counter. And while everyone loves watching the Iron Chef make the dishes look all pretty and colorful, I like to watch the hot-dog eating contests just as much, if not more. By the way, that Japanese guy is a beast. You wouldn't think some skinny Asian kid could lay the smack down on a big 300 pound black man in anything, especially not in eating hot dogs, but wonders never cease. That's another story though.
Or, what about video games. Everyone knows that I love Starcraft, but there's something to be said for good old Minesweeper and Solitaire. Or, even simpler, Snake on my cell phone. I could just as easily spend hours on those games as the latest PS2 game. Still, as the world moves along, video game systems get fancier and more powerful while the games get crappier and less inspired. People my age remember the time when Super Mario Brothers was awesome, the cutting edge of gaming. Now, it looks crude and unimpressive to today's kids, even though I would argue that it's still a better game than 90% of what's out there today.
I sense I'm in danger of being called a "Luddite" again, so I better qualify all I just said by reiterating that I do appreciate the finer things in life as well as the simple. It's just that modern day folk tend more to overlook the simple in favor of the shiny, new, or elaborate stuff. I'm just trying to point out that fact.
Kick it on back, kick it on back, kick it on back to what you know
Gimme some love, gimme some love, sugar on the hard rock radio
When they play tunes, when they play tunes, when they play riffs of the hard rock beat,
Gimme some love, gimme some love, sugar from the drop with the old school beat
- Weezer, "Simple Pages"
