10 Bad Opinions & Hot Takes

plus: ❤️ a mini e-book of journaling prompts ❤️

1. Odile is a more challenging swan to play than Odette. Odette is all flutter and fragility, and being able to turn that into a more aggressive, yet still seductive/beguiling temptation, who is also an elegant swan, is hard. Couldn’t be me. (This might not be a hot take at all, but be generous with me; I just saw my first ballet. It’s good to start out your hot takes with one that might make people think that you’re as interesting as a bread sandwich.)

2. A.I. is a good movie. Yes, the A.I. directed by Steven Spielberg that starred Haley Joel Osment when he was still a wunderkind and Jude Law portrayed a sex robot. The one that had a confusing ending that made everyone mad. I’m about to spoil a movie that’s twenty-three years old, but just in case, here’s a

   SPOILER ALERT FOR A.I.

   
   Okay. Are we in the clear? Is it all people who either saw the movie or don’t care about being spoiled?
   

   What seems to piss people off about the deux ex machina ending of the film is having alien life forms find and resuscitate David, who has been living for eons in a state of frozen stasis. These people usually argue that dropping in aliens is beyond the pale. I personally think that these so-called “aliens” are actually robots from the future. To have robots come and resuscitate David, not to mention to allow him to live out his more closely-held dream of being with his mother eons after she’d passed, is incredibly poignant to me.

   
   But that’s me coming at A.I. from a defensive stance. Dude, I love it! I’m not ashamed! I love the perilous question of what should happen to an android who is so close to real that they believe that they are real—and, in the most heartbreaking version of that ‘what if,” to become attached (which is a goal of the project; early in the movie, David and his mother, played by Frances O’Connor, need to follow a certain number of steps to imprint O’Connor’s character onto David forever).
   
   And he does long for his mother forever, even when his mother decides that David is a threat to their new, biological son. Thought of like a rabid dog, his mother fools David into coming with her into the woods before abandoning him; we might feel bad to see her weeping as she drives away, but it’s far from the anguish that David shows as he runs pell-mell after the car, screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!”
   
   The rest of the movie hinges on that desperate desire for David to find his mother again. Yes, the imprinting happened because of technology, but it’s fucking real to David, who is also real in his own way, and that is why I love this movie.

3. All of the seasons are good. It's taken me a long time to get to this point, as I used to find winter depressing and would have a manic or depressive episode every spring. There's societal pressure to choose one season like it’s a rescue animal that needs saving. But all of the seasons are good! They all have their own loveliness. Let’s just enjoy the earth’s moods before it burns to a crisp.

4. Goals are wildly overhyped. I say this as someone who buys goal-setting notebooks and software every year. I say this as someone who is a rube for every goal-related thing on the market. It’s because I don’t know what to do, and if I have a goal, I might know in which direction I’ll head. But I’ll tell you what: most goals live like a swallowed compass in your gut. Whether you make a huge deal out of goal-making or not, it'll point the right way. P.S. Goals in soccer are important. I’m not that much of a bad opinion-haver.

5. Being late should be punishable by inking a tattoo on one’s face. No exceptions. If you’re late a lot—gosh, I don’t know what to tell you. I know a guy who knows a guy who will do a stick-and-poke for cheap. He’s not the cleanest chap, but he will offer you some deli meat straight from his hand before pushing a needle through your skin.

6. I really do desire punctuality from people.

7. We should bring back duels. There’s a lot of pent-up anger from macho humans who want to blow up other countries or kill their cheating wife’s beau and so forth when really they should settle the matter with a duel. Back-to-back, step-step-step, turn and shoot. There it goes: decision made.

8. Red Bull is better than coffee.

9. Instagram is good, and I’m not quitting it any time soon. You do what you want. I’m just going to be watching Reels and being hopelessly manipulated by ads for things that I actually want.

10. Sometimes, taking political action is awful, not glamorous. You’ll end up hospitalized from a hunger strike, or your friends will stop talking to you. You’ll lose an eye from a rubber bullet. The Band-Aid is community and belief—being held by your people and your ancestors, and the rippling light in you pointing in the direction of progress.

So I have a lot of things for y’all to consider, folks. I know that the economy is shit and you might not have the funds for any of this, and that’s 1000000% okay. But I’ll be honest: I also need to sell things to have funds for my life. So, if any of these things speak to you, please take their hand and let them take you for a whirl.

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The Book Proposal Kit

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Surprise, surprise! I have for you a free mini-workbook with prompts and instructions on 5-minute journaling. For both free and paid subscribers. Download it here.