Eternal Sunshine

" How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
'Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;'
Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n. "

-Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1717

It wouldn't be right to dream,
while Forgetting to live, it seems;
Nor would it be right to dwell on life
And yet forget our dreams.

I watched the movie "Eternal Sunshine on the spotless mind" the other night and I was blown away. I have watched movies written by Charlie Kaufman. This was a pleasant surprise and I was really into the existential meaning of the film. I am not one for giving away movies, but in a time when people seem more driven by movies that have millions of special effects with little plot this movie gave me hope that people are making movies that have meaning. I am a real sucker for poems and more importantly quotes that come from poems. Alexander Pope's quote provides one of the great principles of life. Sometimes it is hard to readily except the mundaness of our lives, but that doesn't mean that their is nothing special about the experiences we have.

By the way, I didn't catch the Superbowl this year and I am half-heartedly sorry for missing out on the 4 and half hours of Bud Bowl XII. Still, I enjoyed my day sitting along a parade route having a few beers with my brothers and my wife. It was like an Old Milwaukee commercial. We were sitting around a small barbeque pit, grilling some burgers. The sun started to set on our day. The parade was about an hour from starting, when I looked around at the smiling faces around me. I turned to my brothers and my wife and said "It doesn't get any better than this." All we needed was a river with fish jumping out of it, a five story high bonfire, and a can of Skoal and it would have been a great commercial for the Superbowl. Sorry, Pats fans for missing out on your celebration. Lastly, I don't ever want to hear from a Masshole fan about their sports teams sucking. They have envoked the 10 year obligatory no complaining rule. As for me, a true New Orleans Saints fan and Red Sox fan. I have to wallow here in purgatory until someone mentions to me that a new stage has been added to Dante's Inferno. It includes being born and raised as a self-obliging Saints fan with no hope or no reason why they are so bad.