People's Choice

I can't believe I did, but last night I watched the People's Choice Awards.  It was sort of a shameless commercial event...at least that is how it seemed to me.  As I watched, I wondered how much truth the recipients of the award felt as they proclaimed their gratitude and appreciation for the people...you know, because without the people they wouldn't be who they are.

The final award went to Johnny Depp.  Mr. Depp has received the most votes in the last ten years of any other artist.  Honestly, I was a bit surprised he showed up to accept the award.

So why did I wish to write about this, especially as you can see it has been almost two months since I've written a blog here?  I feel my motive is somewhat pure and somewhat self serving.

To begin I feel like part of it is we as a society want to feel like answers can come in small easy to digest packages so they are fast.  You know like our food.  That very few of us are willing to enjoy the process or wait.  We want to skip right from the first page to the last page of the story.  I think about this when I film something like people surfing.  Much of their time is spent waiting for the perfect wave just so they might ride it for a couple of seconds of bliss.  And when you see my footage of them surfing, I will have cut out the majority of the waiting time so my audience will simply get to see the good stuff, so to speak.  Yet truth is we are eternal, spiritual beings.  We have all the illusory time in the world to experience anything we desire.  There is always time and space as long as we wish to participate in this earthly 3-D experience.

I feel like my pure motive can best be explained by example.  The other day while working on the computer with the TV news on in the background, a story was being reported about how despite the bad economy this past year crime in L.A. was still at its lowest point in many years.  And then to comment was a representative of the police/law enforcement faction of my fair city, L.A., to take credit on behalf of police/law enforcement for keeping our city safe.  It got me to thinking that except for things like wearing my seat belt and certain parking of my vehicle habits so I don't get tickets, the police have little to do with whether I commit crime.  I'd like to think I am not the only one who is similar.  I am not violent because I am afraid of being punished.  I am peaceful because it is the right thing to do.  Nay!  It is who I am as a child of God.  It is how I define myself.

My point being if you blindly believed the representatives statement, you would accept that the only reason we are safe is because we have police.  While it may be nice to feel like you could put a nice little bow on the result of lower crime and attribute it all to police and law enforcement, I feel this is a disservice to all who essentially self-police because the thought of harming another intentionally is abhorrent to them.

That's where the self-serving part of this came into play.  As I was showering I was thinking about how I have been going over in my mind the different topics I gravitate towards when it comes to sightseeing L.A. and what will my "people" (and by people I mean my treasured readers of my LA Sightseeing Examiner articles or my blog post readers) think?  Will they be excited about it?  Will they love it?  Maybe I should just stop because how do I know what they'll like or what will excite them (okay unless they tell me, which at this point I dont' have that sort of feedback)?  And yet, right there on my CaliforniVacation:SoCal Style blog...hell...on this blog I mention that I write for myself.  Ars Gratia Artis!  Art for Art's Sake!  Metro Goldwyn Mayer used this as their slogan.  Complete in itself.  Get it? I write 'cuz it pleases me...the rest is gravy.

Now I have come full circle.  That's Johnny Depp's win proves my point...my choice.  In my mind the most celebrated actor of the first decade of the new millennium is the actor who would have done it the same way and would have continued to act no matter what the people thought or felt.  He isn't an actor because of the people.  He is an actor because it pleases him.  Art for the sake of Art.  I technically can't speak for Johnny Depp, but I get the sense he has acted and will continue to act as long as it pleases him.  If we love it too, great.  If not, that's okay!  (Plus, it seems to me it also proves that he doesn't owe any of us anything if we love him, buy tickets to his performances or vote for him, etc.  After all did he put a gun to our head to watch any of his performances or force us to love him or for that matter vote for him?)

I feel I would have somehow felt let down if Mr. Depp had implied that without the people he wouldn't be an actor or a great actor, which it appeared to me that some of the other recipients were somehow implying.  Maybe he wouldn't be as popular or as financially wealthy.  I'd like to think, as I write this with my rose colored glasses on, in some innate way, we the people sense and admire this about him as we enjoy his performances.

I guess what the BLEEP I'm trying to say is that if I was looking for an excuse to continue and to write about what pleases me and what I find exciting or interesting without worrying if you will love me or admire me or approve or appreciate my art, I feel I found it.

Party on, Garth!  Party on, Wayne!