A Techno-Idiot's Guide to Philosophy (Updated)

Well, after nearly dying/becoming a possible quadriplegic and figuring out I could be a film producer after attending an indie film seminar in February, I’ve had a whole series of epiphanies (way too many to count) that have led up to my conclusion that I’m a happy fool. #iamfoolish

Now, being a happy fool isn’t easy. It means you have to make the right choices. This includes choosing to feel happy. Choosing love over hate. Choosing to make light of stupidity. Choosing not to take anything too seriously. Especially yourself.

These, of course, are just my thoughts. What do I know? I’m just a fool like anyone else.

Yeah, like him. The dude who abides. Awesome.

So … I’m thinking all this, while I’m working out the bugs in the formatting of my script in Final Draft. And I’m the world’s biggest techno-idiot. Plus there’s this contest and the deadline is, like, tomorrow. But I keep thinking …

Then, I figured it out! Using Final Draft help FAQs. And I didn’t have to call tech support. I reasoned it out.

Or … did the bad author who’s writing my life do that for me? OMG! Does it matter? :-O

That’s when I realized that Woody Allen had the answer all along.

And that’s why I love Woody Allen.

Especially Stardust Memories.

I don’t care what critics say. They can all go to hell. What do they know?

And on that note, here’s some stuff from the Web:

Saying the obvious with way too many words.

When the economy stinks, the cosmos must really enjoy itself.

Warren Buffet is human. Humans die. Eventually.

Benjamin Myers/Reuters

Lady, get over yourself, please.

I mean, honestly, given this, I’d think you’d be the slightest bit grateful, if not laughing your ass off.

This article is way too awesome not to quote, in part:

Literary novelist Ann Patchett‘s fight to save independent bookshops, which has seen her open her own shop in Tennessee and champion the importance of bookselling on American television, has led to her nomination as one of Time magazine‘s most influential people in the world.

Patchett, whose 2001 novel Bel Canto won her the Pen/Faulkner prize and whose latest book, State of Wonder, was showered with praise by critics, is on a list of 200 names of the world’s “most influential” selected by Time magazine. The list also includes Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, the Queen and Aung San Suu Kyi. Readers are currently voting for their choices among the 200, with a final list of 100 to be selected by the magazine’s editors and revealed on 17 April.

Patchett, said Time, “has demonstrated a singular ability to write smart literary novels that are also big bestsellers”. Opening Parnassus Books, an independent bookshop in her hometown of Nashville last year, shows the author has “put her money where her mouth is [when] it comes to literature and books in general”, said the magazine, “placing herself on the front lines of several ongoing battles for the fate of the printed word”. Patchett recently appeared on The Colbert Report, where she spoke out for the importance of independent booksellers.

Isn’t that awesome? I wonder if those awesome people know that you’re an Amazon author, Ann.

You’re the author of the book THE GETAWAY CAR, an Amazon Single.

To see herself sitting alongside politicians such as Obama and Angela Merkel made Patchett laugh, the author told her local paper, the Tennessean. “The humour of it is not lost on me,” she said. “If Beyoncé can get 30,000 votes, I’d like to have 30. I would like fellow Tennesseans to vote for me just so I’m not an embarrassment to the state. [But] I don’t think I am going to take Rihanna down on this one.”

Her nomination, though, shows “that people are taking independent bookstores seriously, and I have come to stand for something,” she said – namely, that community is important, and so is “feeling like we are not all being eaten alive by a giant corporation”.

Would that include the great big corporation from whom you’re making money on your book?

Ah … the benefits of having five blogs.

Including this one that pays the bills.

And the benefits one grants to blogging friends like those at World O’ Crap.

So, please click here and read the words about one woman’s horrible and imminent eviction. Along with her cat. Or animals. Does it matter?

She has real problems. That’s what matters. Way more sh*t than she can deal with, so to speak.

OMG! World O’ Crap … Get it?

PS: Naomi Wolf can speak from a microphone. And not get arrested. Apparently.

Photograph: viewpress Vp/Demotix/Corbis

PPS: RIP Dick Clark, a stroke survivor and real hero, in every sense.

UPDATE: I hope these images from Crengux will soothe everyone’s eyes.