J'ai Obtenu Cette

"Ridin' through this world, all alone
God takes your soul, you're on your own
The crow flies straight, a perfect line,
On the devil's bed, until you die

Gotta' look this life, in the eye"

-Intro song to Sons of Anarchy


I'm a fan of the FX network's show Sons of Anarchy because I am a fan of being a bad boy and I like motorcycles. Though, logically, detrimental acts have their reaction. Those who live detrimental lifestyles have those reactions catch up with them and that lifespan is shortened. J'ai Obtenu Cette is the title for this weeks episode and it translates in French to supposedly: "I Got This". In a previous episode one member of the motorcycle club, Tig Triger, killed the daughter of a big time crime boss, Damon Pope. In retribution for the death of Damon Pope's daughter, Pope wanted Tig's head but Jax wasn't ready to give him up. So the temporary alternative, by the order of Pope, was to have one out of four motorcycle club members locked up in jail die instead, because someone had to die in revenge for his daughter's death. Opie stepped up and died. Opie is the right hand man (since childhood) of Jax Teller (current President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original). Whose fault was it? The one who caused the catalyst: Tig Trager or the one who ordered one of the four to die: Damon Pope. In an outlaw world someone had to pay for the death of Pope's daughter, that was Opie and someone had to pay for the death of Opie, the choice for Jax was Tig or Pope. Jax's decision was to follow and give up Tig or change the course of the game, lesson 1. The J'ai Obtenu Cette is meant for Jax's unsaid way of killing Pope, the man issuing the rules: to follow. But in real life, revenge in this savage manner, killing another person, there are more serious consequences.

"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings of arrows or outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep,
No more, and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devouty to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to sleep - ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil..."

When you are young the curiosity of what will happen when you rebel against the rules and regulations of your parents, in most cases, your answer is disciplinary action or punishment. That is the same case when you are an adult, so why do adults do it? Shouldn't they have already learned from the lessons of childhood, if they were fortunate to be present? Three answers to the previous questions. The first answer is the good, morals and love are no longer there or never was. The second is since they have little or nothing to lose, since the love is not there, the end is what they embrace and their selfish view is all that matters or focused on, their actions on others do not matter. A third view is that they have no understanding of right or wrong, it's just not there. Negative actions are based on ignorance or a lack of a positive. But if you have something there, even a little love, care or morals (a conscience), (something my old pastor said:) you cannot serve two masters: walk either in the foot steps of good or suffer the consequences.

Sons of Anarchy is a mind trip of drama for those that like the bad ass life, kind of like the television show All My Children was to house wives. Sons of Anarchy has extreme violence but it is not without a good mix of scenarios or examining the consequences of a detrimental lifestyle.

A few notes from this week's episode:

---The old lady of Jax is having a moral conscience to go good for the future of their children rather than to stay with the motorcycle club, she gives him an ultimatum to go with her or stay without her. But her love for him had her act on a situation earlier which stopped her from escaping that lifestyle. It was stated in a conversation earlier in the episode between Jax and Nero Padilla (Jimmy Smits) that letters Jax are writing are for his son to read only, just like Jax's father had wrote... for him? Jax has an opposite intent than his old lady, to continue the lineage. Lesson 2, this episode showed Jax's old lady (Tara) and Clay (the mischief causing former President) getting arrested, taken out of the picture. The recently assigned Vice President (Bobby Munson) of Jax takes off his V.P. patch because Bobby doesn't like that Jax is turning out to be too much like Clay. Jax says "maybe I'm not so different". It would seem at the end of last seasons finale, the portrait was of the new leadership: Jax and old lady at the helm of the table, but at the end of this episode is of a portrait of Jax Teller and his mom (Gemma Teller, Katey Sagal). What this few second freeze frame indicates is that the Queen bee influencing the hive is not the new game changer, Tara, but with certain individuals that cause road blocks in the club out of the way, the lineage remains, Gemma.

---This character Juice is weak, how can you whimper, cry and fall to demands of anyone else (even under manipulation) if you choose to join an organization known for bad deeds, e.g. a motorcycle gang. Juice reminds me of the movie Savages where this young guy is watching over Ophelia and he feels sorry for Ophelia being kidnapped and shows her compassion. The young character in Savages is shot because "it didn't work out, you're too sensitive". Lesson 3, in the game of being a bad ass is that you do not crumple, if you enter the game of death, you should be ready to die or take what comes at you. If you feel you no longer wish to be in the game, you better take care of loose ends, and toughen it out until the window opens.

---This television show is bullshit because these are staged plots, anyone taking this show for more than it being entertaining with action, violence, drama and acted scenarios is suffering from delusions, please refer to my first paragraph. Life doesn't go as planned, period. There was a part of the show where in order for a plan to work out Tig Trager had to be caught off guard, with a gun in his hand and be turned over to Damon Pope. The show had Tig put his gun down when Jax was pointing his at Tig and screamed. But what if like a true rebel the plan didn't work out for Tig to put down the gun, instead raise it and shoot at Jax.

---Lesson 4, in the game of being Sun Tzu, sorry I mean being a bad ass, you have to be smart like Jax, conniving with your plans. Like in war, the game of being a bad ass, respect your enemies because if they don't kill you, they can teach you as much as they can hurt you, just like your friends. Just like how Gemma betrays Clay, you have to watch a few episodes to understand that Gemma and Clay were in supposed love, what happens in this episode? Gemma didn't back him no more, the new one for the Black Widow is Nero or is it her son.

---But sometimes you have to keep life interesting.


Not exact wording...

Gemma: "Do you want to be with me or not"
Nero: "I don't know if I can give you everything you need"
Gemma: "What do you think I need?"
(Something is said about love)
Gemma: "Only men need to be loved, sweetheart"
Gemma: "Women need to be wanted"

Peg Bundy, I mean Gemma is back in position of Queen (or Black Widow) of the bees, for now. First it was with Clay, but he's out, now it's her son. She also has Nero in her webs.

Sweet November

There is no tomorrow, unless it's reserved for the next generation, for tomorrow changes; there is only now.  Tomorrow is the hopes of the present, then past or accomplished, though interlinked.  Because hope and memories coincide; life is not concrete and no matter the reinforcement it decays.  Never let another define good and bad for you. Experience is about your personal life and reality, not through decisions or views of others, though sometimes because of them.  Sometimes, we have to choose the "lesser of two evils" because good is not always there.  Sometimes, we have to embrace and accept evil to understand good.  An antihero can believe in a creed, do good and save a life but at least he is living a truth in his reality of indulgences: smoking, drinking, without manner and creating carnage. -Andrew Szeto

November is my favorite month.  I write Sweet November every November because it's the month of my birthday and I really liked the movie (2001).  The summary of the movie is of a woman dying and her reality changes, thus she sets on a cause to change the lives and views of others.  Since January 2011 until November 2011, I have had only two days of paid time off, one of them mandatory because of Hurricane Irene.  I took two weeks off this month because by January 2012 my Paid Time Off for 2011 gets voided.

---One of the in flight movies was Kingdom of Heaven (2005).  Though unrealistic and inaccurate reproduction of history, it had very good points.  The following are just two that was illustrated most in my mind.  Re-watching the movie brought back a few lines that started me on blogging, my ideology at that time:

(Scene 1)

Godfrey: "So how find you Jerusalem?"

Balian: "God does not speak to me. Not even on the hill where Christ died. I am outside God's grace"

Godfrey: "I have not heard that"

Balian: "At any rate, it seems I have lost my religion"

Godfrey: "I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I've seen the lunacy of fanatics of every demonitation be called the will of God. I've seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. 

Holiness is in right action and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. And goodness, what God desires (He points to Balian's head)

and here (He points to Balian's heart)"

And by what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man, or not

Come"

(Scene 2)

King Baldwin IV: "Come forward. I am glad to meet Godfried's son. He was one of my greatest teachers. He was there when, playing with the other boys, my arm was cut. And it was he, not my father's physicians, who noticed that I felt no pain. He wept when he gave my father the news... that I am a leper. The Saracens say that this disease is God's vengeance against the vanity of our kingdom. As wretched as I am, these Arabs believe that the chastisement that awaits me in hell is far more severe and lasting. If that's true, I call it unfair. Come. Sit.

Do you play?"

(They both sit opposite a chess board)

Balian: "No"

King Baldwin IV: "The whole world is in chess. Any move can be the death of you. Do anything but remain where you started and you can't be sure of your end. Were you sure of your end once?"

Balian: "I was"

King Baldwin IV: "What was it?"

Balian: "To be buried a hundred yards from where I was born."

King Baldwin IV: "And now?"

Balian: "Now I sit in Jerusalem and look upon a king."

King Baldwin IV: "When I was sixteen I won a great victory. I felt in that moment that I would live to be a hundred. Now I know I shall not see thirty. None of us know our end really or what hand will guide us there. A king may move a man. A father may claim a son. That man can also move himself. And only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember howsoever you are played or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone, even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say "But I was told by others to do thus" or that virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that."

Balian: "I will."


---Happy Thanksgiving, I wish all who are reading a warm, safe and great time with family and friends. If you are alone, be strong, I share that strength with you, not the alone part.


---That's it for now

Felon (2008)

John Smith: "When your life is defined by a single action, it changes the concept of time."

John Smith: "Love is the most subtle force on earth."

Wade Porter: "Yes, prison desensitizes you. But it also forces you to see what's most important. Family. And loyalty. Because a con like you knows neither exist in this place. So don't run from who you've become, felon. Embrace it. Grow from it. And you'll never lose sight of what truly matters. That's my final piece of advice, Wade Porter. You protect your family at all costs. Even if you're forced to kill again. Because if I had to, I'd wipe out the whole planet to get mine back. So long, friend."

(Backtrack)

Wade Porter: "They never broke him."


There are differences between a "Bad Guy" (someone who faces a problematic situation and too weak to stand strong against wrongful actions) and a "Tough Guy" (someone who faces problematic situations and have become stronger by them).  Both don't yield to a peaceful society too much.  Both will stab a person but the "Tough Guy" will resist stabbing someone unless he is faced with a self preservation conflict.  Nor will he do so with an evil intent.  Circumstances bring us to how we value life, our own and others.  It's those subtle experiences that can make you tougher or break you. -Andrew Szeto