This Movie, That TV Show, And Detaching From Real Life

The internet is a vast wonderland of seemingly infinite information on a wide array of subjects. You can learn of the great accomplishments of history, explore the limits constantly tested by science and medicine, you might immerse yourself in the culture of others getting to better understand people and by extension the very nature of humanity. But more likely you are going to look up who the girl from Charles In Charge was and whether or not it is her in this movie. (Her name was Nicole Eggert and if the movie in question is the 1998 film Siberia then you are correct, she most certainly is in that movie.)

Yes, the internet had the opportunity to change our world in a million ways but ultimately it's greatest value to us is identifying meaningless trivial interests. The most significant of these of course, this being America and us being privileged people in a comfortable society, are pop cultural excavations. We want to know who was in the good TV shows that mattered in our youths and the films that have filled in most of the areas of our brains that in the past might have been filled with something called "life experience." Instead we live life in something like a constant movie and TV review cycle. We are trapped in our brains which no longer belong to us. These days our heads belong to the cast of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia or the kids from the Twilight movies. Why bother having our own life experience when we can hitch our wagons to funny drunks who aren't going to hurt us and weird otherworldly beings who are hot?

Each day we choose the television or the multiplex over going out and getting to know others better. The internet has made it so that the television and multiplex now come with us everywhere right in our pockets. As a result we can skip all the getting to know our fellow man and instead explore the intricacies of the career of Keenan Ivory Wayans. Yeah I remember the movie Little Man!

Getting into the real world instead of delving into the world of internet pop cultural ephemera just seems messy and generally not fun. If we can instead communicate in good TV shows and this movie or that movie we will find that our sense of humanity is reflected in that pop culture. We will be better because we will be less ourselves and more like the people we see on screens. Our eternal betters.

A Traveling Dog is a fantastic resource for information on pop culture. Whether you are looking for good TV shows or interesting takes on film review, it is the place to be on the web. A part of the AJ Blog Network.

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Narcissistic Rage and the Failure of Empathy: 'Citizen Kane'

In this article, instead of trying to demonstrate the features of any particular label, I'd like to discuss two psychological traits that show up in a number of apparently distinct diagnostic entities, and I'll use the main character from that classic film, Citizen Kane, to demonstrate them. The first of these features -- a lack of empathy -- is a diagnostic criterion of both narcissistic personality disorder and various autism spectrum disorders. The second, narcissistic rage, features in both borderline and narcissistic personality disorders.

So... Charles Foster Kane, heir to a Colorado mining fortune -- he grows up as the ward of a wealthy financier and when he comes of age, he decides to run a newspaper because it would be "fun". His paper crusades on behalf of the underprivileged and Charlie views himself as their champion, using his generosity toward "the poor" as a kind of narcissistic feed. Charlie exemplifies the kind of narcissism you often see in people who make displays of their compassion and altruism, where the person wants to feel good about himself rather than having true empathy for others.

In a similar vein, when Charlie falls in love, he chooses a woman who reflects well upon him and feeds his own idealized self-image. Emily Norton is the niece of a president and an important socialite. Charlie adores her... that is, until her perfect admiration for him begins to wane. In a brilliant montage of scenes over the breakfast table, we see their mutual idealization slowly transform into alienation and contempt.

Charlie never truly cared about Emily or her feelings, any more than he cares about his second wife, Susan Alexander. In the scene when he first meets Susie, he seems most concerned with the fact that she "likes" him. Later, when he tries to make her an opera star against her own wishes - again as a narcissistic feed for his grandiose view of himself -- he cares nothing about her feelings and proves himself incapable of empathy. She finally attempts suicide in order to escape his relentless narcissistic drive. Charlie experiences Susan's failure to win over the public as both personal shame and narcissistic injury; he blames "the people" rather than himself, but he can't empathize at all with his wife's feelings.

In order to bolster his narcissistic view of himself, he then builds a monument to Charles Foster Kane -- Xanadu, a grandiose castle and the largest private home ever built in America. He fills it with treasures and art works collected over a lifetime; he and Susie live imprisoned in this castle with little human contact, a perfect symbol for the beautiful false self the narcissist often erects to disguise the shame he feels about his internal "ugliness". Trapped inside this gilded cage, Susie is miserable. She complains with growing shrillness about her unhappiness, and the fact that Charlie never gives her anything she actually wants or needs. It's clear that Charlie is enraged by her remarks, experiencing her very accurate criticism as a narcissistic wound. When Susie walks out on him, he explodes with narcissistic rage and destroys her room.

As an old man, Jed gives the best summation of Charlie's character, and one of the most insightful descriptions of the narcissistic personality you'll ever find:

"I guess he had some private sort of greatness but he kept it to himself. He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away, he just left you a tip. He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions! But he never believed in anything except Charlie Kane; he never had a conviction except Charlie Kane and his life. I suppose he died without one. Must have been pretty unpleasant."

Charles Foster Kane believed in nothing but himself and his self-image; he spent a lifetime craving the narcissistic feed that would give him an inner sense of meaning and value, but in the end, he died a lonely, isolated man. Such is the ultimate fate of all narcissists, because they lack the ability to feel authentic love or empathy and thereby to form meaningful relationships. Most of what they do is geared toward earning praise and adoration, and when they fail to get it, they may erupt in rage. When he dies, Charlie's final words --Rose Bud -- imply that nothing has mattered in his life since he was a small child. He developed no personal relationships of any depth; he accomplished nothing that gave him a sense of meaning or purpose, and he dies dreaming wistfully of the sled he owned as a boy.

Joseph Burgo PhD is a clinical psychologist with 30+ years experience in the mental health profession. He writes two blogs, one called 'After Psychotherapy' where he discusses psychotherapy issues such as shame, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder from a psycho-dynamic perspective; on the other blog, 'Movies and Mental Health' hosted by PsychCentral, he uses classic and contemporary films to illustrate his ideas. His forthcoming book on psychological defense mechanisms will be released by New Harbinger Publications in Spring 2013.

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Inflatable Movie Screens For Live Broadcast Events

Inflatable movies screens are a popular way to show movies outdoors at festivals, school events, parks, churches, or almost any other venue. The portability and ease of use of the inflatable movie screens, combined with a variety of sizes available make inflatable movies screens versatile. Besides being the perfect screen for showing movies; large blowup screens can be used for showing live sporting events, concerts and live video feeds of events like a Presidential Election or UFC Night Fights, or to add a special touch to an event like a graduation ceremony.

Convenience, Portability and Versatility
An inflatable movie screen provides the memorable experience of seeing an event on a large screen without the hassles. These screens can be set up almost anywhere; in the parking lot of a bar broadcasting a big football game, on a college campus, at a large park or even in the middle of a busy city.

The set up and take down time is minimal. If you are having an event in a busy area and need it set up and taken down on the day of the event; a team of trained technicians can set up and take down the screen in only a few hours.

Many outdoor screen sizes are available to accommodate audiences as small as 100 or as large as 10,000. Regardless of the size of the audience or the location of the event; there is an projection movie screen to fit into any budget, allow any size crowd to view the screen, and to make the event an unforgettable one.

Quality
Quality matters when it comes to broadcasting a live event. High quality equipment means that the event will look and sound great. These airscreens offer bright, colorful, high definition pictures. Crisp pictures and clear sound are important for making these events enjoyable and successful, and attracting large crowds in the future.

Big screen projection to celebrate New Years
Each year a giant outdoor projection screen from Southern Outdoor Cinema shows the New Year's countdown to a crowd gathered at the City Market in Savannah, GA. 1000's of people gather to celebrate the New Year with live music and fun. The larger than life screen showing the famous Times Square celebration and the ball drop adds even more excitement to this gathering. Residents of smaller cities like Savannah, GA can have the best of both worlds while celebrating together in their own city, and still feeling like they are a part of the action in Times Square.

Paul B. Murray is the founder and owner of Southern Outdoor Cinema, LLC, the LARGEST producer of outdoor movie events in the United States for professional sports teams, movie studios, film festivals, marketing agencies, Fortune 500 Companies and cities. Using cutting edge outdoor cinema equipment paired with a proprietary movie event planning system, Southern Outdoor Cinema helps clients create highly successful and highly entertaining outdoor movie events. To learn more about Southern Outdoor Cinema, visit http://www.southernoutdoorcinema.com/

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Party Goods for the New Year

Although the holiday season is winding down, you may still be hosting an upcoming New Year's Eve party. If this is your first time hosting such an event, you do not need to feel overwhelmed. If you are organized and prepared with the right party goods, you should be able to confidently and successfully host a great gala.

You should have already completely your major holiday cleaning for the holidays, so for your New Year's Eve party, you should only have to do basic upkeep and maintenance. If this is a family affair, and the age range of attendees includes infants and the elderly, you need to make sure that your home is both childproof and easily accessible to older relatives. If you are hosting a party for your friends, you may have to do less prep work. You should still have leftover party supplies, such as kitchen garbage bags and disposable cutlery, so you will hopefully not have to do too much shopping for party goods. If you do need to stock up on party necessities, buy them from an online retailer because you will be able to purchase items from them in bulk for great prices. You must have festive party ware in order to make it feel like an appropriate New Year's Eve party. You may want to avoid buying napkins, plates, etc. that have the exact year on them, since you will be able to use non-specific ones next year as well. Hang gold and silver streamers. You may want to employ these shades throughout the room to give it a more festive feeling.

Reduce the work you have to do for yourself by asking your guests to contribute. You may want to officially make the gathering a potluck, so everyone contributes. You should only serve light finger foods; designate who brings hors d'oeuvres based on who you know will arrive on time. If everyone brings at least one dish, then everyone will have at least one thing they like to eat. In order to save money and accommodate everyone's tastes, you may also ask that they supply their own alcoholic beverages. And, if you have a pet that is very food oriented, feed him before you serve appetizers so he will be less tempted to beg or sample food. The point of a celebration is to have fun and revel in good company; if you make the appropriate arrangements and use the right party goods, you will be able to relax and enjoy yourself.

Paper Goods offers kitchen garbage bags, disposable cutlery and toilet tissue, as well as paper towels.

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Highlight of Second Life Art

Back in Second Life

Getting back into Second Life and enjoying art from a new perspective has been fun! I get to tour all the galleries that as a museum and art gallery owner, you don't have time to see!

It's also fun discovering new things on the Second Life art scene. One of the biggest discoveries is that Linden Labs has endowed the SL arts, "Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA). They offer "land" free of rental fees to up and coming artists in Second Life. The committee, formed of famous and respected Second Life artists make up this committee, has an art gallery sandbox and new artists seeking funding can display their work here.

Once a month, the committee members meet at the sandbox and vote on the best art based on pre-agreed upon criteria. Then the artist who won the votes gets of have land for their art for three months. Touring the LEA lands is fun and inspiring. Some great examples is LEA6, which features, Dante's Nine Levels of Hell and Catharsis, which is a 24-minutes of machinima magic!

Another new artistic discovery is 3D and kaleidoscope artwork. The 3D art is just that 3D and can be any subject matter. The kaleidoscope art is very popular and it's just like looking through your kaleidoscope when you were a kid and seeing all the lovely colors. The art moves and rotates just like a kaleidoscope.

The jump in good scripted artwork is amazing! This type of art is also called interactive art (with your Avatar). Sometimes you touch the picture and blocks come out of the picture or you stand and the artwork "does" something with you!

The new sculptors in Second Life are introducing new styles and designs such as the artistic spheres, where you have an environment that is not dependent on the Second Life viewer allowing the artist more control over the sky and ground.

However, the most popular artwork in the galleries that I have toured is Second Life photography. Some artists touch up their artwork in Photoshop; others brag that their work is untouched!

This gives my creativity an outlet and a forum to display my art! I do not consider myself in the same league as Spiral Silverstar, Feathers Boa, Milly Sharple, to name a few, but I still love art and want to share what I find to be picture perfect in Second Life! I also highlight galleries that are closing and that have been in Second Life for as long as I have been there and only a few remain.

I was amazed to discover Primtings, which takes a real life artwork by a Master and then they make it 3D and display the original picture beside the 3D one, giving new meaning to, "making art come to life." This type of art was displayed on another sim under a different name when I first came into SL and it was fun to rediscover this fun style of art, especially since the original 3D museum closed.

Artists bring their Real Life art projects in to Second Life and ask for volunteers to participate. I did participate in a new and exciting project in SL called, "1000+ Avatar Project" by Gracie Kendall. It's an amazing undertaking featuring you as an avatar and how people view themselves!

Another amazing piece of art is the art you can wear; some artists take the Real Life works of the Masters and create an outfit out of that picture for you to wear!

Last, but not least was my tour of the Halloween sims; the ones that I featured had to be scary, give me the goosebumps on the back of my neck, making me shiver, and be frightened even if I was only a pixelated avatar! I loved the way they took our basic fears and scared the tar out of you! From sims with fog, to gore, scared of the dark, and clowns! There was something there for everyone! Some art galleries make the Brother's Grimm Fairy Tales come to life some true to the tale, but others give them a twist from an adult's perspective!

It is my belief that everything in Second Life is art, but some take it to true artistic levels that mere mortals can only admire!

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