Limitless

There is a movie coming out called Limitless where Bradley Cooper plays a writer who takes a pill called NZT which unleashes his brain power. In the preview, they put out that old saying that 'we only use ten or twenty percent of our brains', think if you could use all of it. Man! That line just bugs the crap out of me, but hey it's a commercial right. Another statement in the commercial is "how many of us ever get to know the perfect version of ourselves?" Now there's an interesting thought. Is there a perfect version of ourselves? Well probably not, but there's no doubt that many of us are searching for it in at least some area of our life.

I was talking with a friend a few weeks ago and he was poking at me in a friendly way saying, "Dude what happened to you? You used to be into this and that and now it's like 180 degrees." I jokingly said back "Well I guess I got married and had a kid!" So we explored the idea of whether 'family' inhibits artists abilities to produce good works. It seems to make sense for many things. This band , this writer, this artist...we still like their earlier works, but the new stuff after having families just doesn't interest us and in many cases their original audiences.

However, there is some dynamic going on here where our tastes change as we get older which still allows us to enjoy old items, but perceive the new content in a different way. Why? Well simply because they are growing to, the artists that is, even without family in some cases. And of course my experience and logic doesn't apply to everyone either. There are plenty of Rush fans out there that I'm sure find their new albums just as moving.

Back to the idea of the perfect self though. I think artists have no choice but to evolve and change their work over time striving to better their work and build on their experiences. An artist may finally make his best work, the most meaningful only to find that no one is really interested. I pointed out that Anthony Burgess didn't like A Clockwork Orange very much at all and yet it's what he's most known for. My friend told me that Mellencamp hated Jack & Diane and didn't want it on the album. Yet it's one of his most popular songs.

In high school I was in art class and did a charcoal still drawing. It was a picture of fruit, some gourds, and a blanket. When I went to the county fair, I was shocked to see my drawing in an art booth representing our school. I was appalled that my name was attached to such a boring drawing. I remember marching into my art teacher's office and demanding to know why I wasn't told ahead of time. My art teacher was so nice though. She said in the sincerest voice that she thought it was really good and that she thought I would've been happy. I felt bad for being so rude. How was she supposed to know that normal looking me, was really trying to define himself as a new age cyberpunk?!! People came up to me though and said, "Hey I saw your drawing at the fair. It was really good!! You are awesome!" I simply said thanks, but deep down I was like ughhhh, just call me gourd boy!

So my silly high school story aside, here's the idea. Is it likely that the more you become your ideal self in art, writing, engineering, or even running...the less people will notice you or notice the things you see as important. As you approach that ideal self in you, the further you become from everyone else and suddenly no one can relate to you anymore.



I just re read this post and it's kinda confusing I think. But ya know what, I'm just too lazy to edit it. I don't feel good, and I just wanted to get this out of my head since it's been rolling around there for a couple of days. Oh and another thing. The other day I saw a horse playing soccer with a huge green and yellow soccer ball. Dems some weird chit going on out here Fred!