I was driving home tonight, thinking about what I would choose to take with me if I had to leave this world at short notice and could take with me only one thing. What would you choose? No explaination, no story, just leave your comment with your 1 item.
Anyone who knows me well will tell you that my favourite all time movie is The Shawshank Redemption. Last night though, that title was almost knocked off it’s pedestal. After checking out the guide and realising that there was absolutely nothing on the box, and being in the mood to sit in front of the tv, my Wife and I decided to fetch a movie.
In the end we settled on The Grudge, which wasn’t anywhere near as good as I thought it would be, and another title called Garden State which was simply brilliant. Garden State was the story of a young bloke, who revisits his home town for his mother’s funeral, and during the visit meets a quirky girl (played by Natalie Portman) and falls in love. The movie itself is filled with many weird and wonderful characters, types you would expect to see in your average person’s social circle. From drug users, to geeks, the cast made for an interesting dynamic that gave the movie a good feel. It was a story about finding yourself, relationships and friendship. The best part was there were many aspects of the movie which reminded me of things I have been through in my own life, and also how Mellissa and I came together. The bit I liked most about the flick was that it was real, very real. Again, anyone who knows me well will tell you that I like real things, I’m very anti-fluff.
One thing that blew me away was that not only was the lead actor the main guy from Scrubs (Zach Braff), but this same person also wrote and directed the movie. Pretty good for a young bloke if you ask me.
After some thought, Shawshank is still on the top, but then it really is a different sort of movie. Garden State comes in a close second anyway. A brilliant flick, watch it… because I said so 
Disclaimer: My enthusiasm for this movie was in no way biased by my soft-spot for Natalie Portman.
<rant>
After much deliberation I’ve come to the conclusion that there are only four good kids in the entire world… at least that I have personally come across. There may be others, but I highly doubt it. Other than these precious four, every other child I have come across seems to be a successful experiment in bad parenting.
I can’t stress enough how much I hate having to deal with other people’s bratty children. Don’t get me wrong, all kids have there moments, even the four that I do like, but the others, well….they seem to lack one important element… a soul.
Much more even than for these little monsters, is my distaste for their parents. When it all boils down to it, every bad kid is a result of bad parenting somewhere along the line… I’ve always maintained that crazy things happen when stupid people breed. The truth is, kids simply don’t learn right from wrong without adequate discipline. But then, that’s not very popular in today’s world is it? Most parents simply seem too scared to give a kid the recompense for their misbehavior, preferring instead to let the child do as it pleases so as not to cramp the child’s style or "spirit". Can anyone say "bad idea"?