I'm getting sooooooooo bleeping tired of ppl abusing the "Pareto Principle" which you have undoubtedly heard at one time or another as the "80-20 Rule," probably another reason why I dislike Tyler Perry, I digress. Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist (I don't remember when, look it up on your own or the companies dime on wiki) who did a study that revealed that 80% of the wealth in his town, most of Italy and many others places was controlled by 20% of the population, leaving 20% of the wealth to be dispersed and fought over amongst 80% of the population (today its like 1% controlling 99% of the worlds wealth; sad I know). It doesn't stop there. In government and any organization, 20% of the ppl make 80% of the decision. On a team or a company, 20% of them will produce 80% of the value and worth (this is why one company will pay some ppl a few million and while a few million get laid off). Applied to a contemporary context, I'd say 80% of your emails are trivial (even more for me if you knew my friends), you talk to 20% of your addressbook 80% of the time. You wear 20% of your wardrobe 80% of the time. See where else this applies in your world. Have at it, take it to town.
The theory in the movie "Why did I get married" states that if you find a man/woman who has 80% of what you're looking for with 20% missing, you should neglect or stomach the 20% and focus on the 80. So based on Pareto's principle, he's telling you to be sheep and not shepherd and to quote one of my favorite thinkers of all time, Thomas Jefferson, "the masses or asses"(hence the inception of the electoral college...I forgot how much I loved history.I digress). So when he tells his woman "baby, you're my 80," Paretoeanly speaking (jus made that one up muhself) he basically calls her trivial.
Perry missed the entire point in its entirety, ENTIRELY. The point is the critical few versus the trivial MANY. The point is that the 20 percent, even though seemingly inconsequential in number, is more valuable and critical than the overwhelming 80, hence why its referred to as the vital few vs. the trivial many, or "Pareto efficiency." You're SUPPOSED to spend 20% of your time on the trivial 80 and 80% of your time/energy/money/effort on the 20% which will yield you 80% of you total value (hope I'm not losing anyone). I used to teach this in my time management and leadership trainings so I was wondering why in every conversation on relationships, ppl keep quoting this...erroneously.........and citing Tylyer Perry? That's like saying The RrChitect'sfirst law of thermodynamics is energy is created and destroyed!! Like Sir Issac Newton never existed. And even worse, I have legions of ppl ignorantly quoting me on that like its the gospel.
If I hear one more person telling me that they are going to stay in some seriously effed up relationship bc of a few good things, I'm going to scream. If you're not happy, you're not happy, PERIOD!!! It's like a single negligible drop of water that if ignored and continued dripping over time will collapse an entire building (our second physics lesson for the day is on pressure over time: F=MA M'Fa's!!). Some things are petty and resolvable but some things are just irreparable. It kills me bc with so many good ppl not getting a chance for trivial reasons, you have these flying camel turds who getting away with murder and their man/woman won't leave them.
Sidenote: I'm not sure what's worse. Me making physics jokes or the one or two other nerds who are rolling on the floor laughing at them right now. I'm a closet nerd. SHHHHHH!
So whats the take away after all my complaining? Good question little Timmy, I'm glad you asked. If you have an 80-20 situation, first of all, slap the first person who quotes Tyler Perry (hell, even Steve Harvey has better relationship advice). Secondly, please take the history lesson and correct anyone you hear quoting this erroneously and stop using it. I understand it makes for mellow dramatic soppy crap, but if you're going to quote a reputable theory, citation please, and get it right. Perry should have just changed it all together so call it the 70-30, 90-10, 9-1 rule or something, and make it your own. Finally, ask yourself, is it a TRIVIAL 20 or a VITAL 20 and that, my friends, will tell you exactly what you need to do. Too many ppl are ending relationships over a trivial 20, and even more are sustaining despite a vital 20. I don't know about you, but if I heard that the pilot CRASHED 20% of the time and landed 80%, I'd forfeit my seat for the next stand by.
Sidenote: Nerd Moment #2 - If something is TRIVIAL, all it takes is the removing one or two of the RIght elements, and you can reprioritize it into something VITAL...............
So I started this topic and amidst my multitasking, re-prioritizing and self-diagnosed A.D.D., I never got around to finishing the point. However, I learned something: in my nievity, I thought that when you click "save now," it saves as a draft. Little did I know that closing the window commences the saving AND publishing process.
Background: At one point in my life there were 5 things that were more important to my childhood and personality than life itself:
Transformers
G.I. Joe
Street Fighter
Comic Books
Music
So allow me to elaborate on WHY 2009 made me a kid again.
Street Fighter 4 Street Fighter videogames were perhaps the greatest stress relief I have known my entire life. There are few ailments in this world that cannot be solved or alleviated by "forward, down, down-forward + Punch." lolcats funny cat pictures" border="0"> Ppl have asked me for a few yrs now "why don't you get a second generation system?" And my answer has always been....."they didn't have any SF games." Every system I ever had, some incarnation of SF was always my first game. After a billion variations of sf2, sf2 turbo, sf2 hyper, super, alpha, alpha 2, alpha 3, alpha just because, virtual, zulu, beta, lalala, and FINALLY part 3 five years ago, '09 marked the 20th anniversary of the original game, which revolutionized fight games, and probably one of the most imitated games of all times. One of the best games I've ever played in my life. Its been years since I shared a roof with my brother (who I probably had AS many real life fights with bc of the game) but now with these online networks who needs a roommate, brother or arcade. I can go online and play against live players around the world any time of the day.
G.I. Joe - The Rise of Cobra [SPOILER ALERT] If you don't know how much I heart G.I. Joe........... So this was a movie long overdue, but well worth it. First off, after the first X-Men movie, The first Hulk, Daredevil, and the first 4 batman movies, I lost faith in Hollywood's ability to maintain creative integrity in any storyline re-adaptation. Lord of the Rings and 300 are probably the best fiction story to movie adaptations I've ever seen. They always have to change something, remove something, create something new and ruin something.
Saying this to say, I'm not surprised anymore when they stray from the original storyline. G.I. Joe was an easy sell for me. Guns, CHECK. Explosions, Check. Cobra trying to destroy some stuff, CHECK. Cool military weapons and vehicles, CHECK. Snake eyes doing cool ninja stuff.....CHECK!!! They even threw in Storm Shadow too. As an added bonus they actually did a good job of explaining Cobra Commanders lisp and why Destro has a metal face, yet can move his eyes and lips.
Sidenote: Why did Snake Eyes have a nose and lips??? Who ever seen a ninja mask with nose and lips??!!! How could you ruin the simplest part of the movie?
Sidernote: Peter Jackson may probably not possibly iono maybe a racist, but you got to question his choices of films. King Kong and Lord of the Rings have some of the most racists undertones in all of fiction, but that's another conversation.
X-Men Origins - Wolverine There is no man alive that did not want to be Wolverine at some point in his life or at least have his powers and retractable claws. Let's disregard that fact that Hugh Jackman is about 1 foot taller than Wolverine actually is, I was actually quite surprised. I must say, the prospect of a PG-13 for a film about one of the bloodiest comics of all time was an immediate turn off, but it ended up to be quite a gully, enjoyable Wolverine flick....which basically all three X-Men movies were.
Sidestnote: NOTES TO SELF
Write a blog on why Peter Jackson is a racist
Write a blog on all X-Men movies suck
Write a blog on "why 300 is the best movie ever!"
For example: Hands down the most anti-climactic, worsest, WACKEST finisher punchline in the history of cinema.................
.......Clearly these writers have never seen an Arnold Schwartzenegger movie....Ironically, Ray Pack who plays Toad, got the roll of Snakes Eyes in the GI Joe movie. He's much better when he has to shut the heck up.
Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen [SIGH!!!] I would say spoiler alert, but the whole movie was spoiled, far as I'm concerned.
This movie was so bad it made me un-like and HATE the first Transformers movie. Throw everything I said about understanding out the window. I thought "Revenge of the Fallen" meant just that. Who knew they had to change the whole storyline and create a character named "FALLEN!!" And how did they manage to ruin Devastator, a giant mega robot composed of 7 construction vehicles merged (the original Voltron of the Transformer universe) into one of the coolest robots ever conceived. He was an evil Voltron on steroids. To help understand my frustration, this is the image of Devastator we've all had for 25 years.............
But noooooooooooooooo!!!! Kiss-me-ass Micheal Bay and the new folks at hasbro had this Ro-beast in mind............
WHY is he a dog, sucking up sand?!
Sidenote: Should have known not to trust Micheal Bay. After all, this is the man who made Pearl Harbor!! SIDEnote to self: Write about "Why Pearl Harbor is the Worse Movie EVER!!"
Terminator - Salvation [Spoiler Alert] Terminator is one of the all time greatest sci-fi and action movies ever (albeit stolen from a storyline written by a woman who inspired both the Terminator and Matrix series). I loved this movie. After the third movie and recent beach pictures, they finally decided to have the governator sit this one out. Proved impossible to make a Terminator movie without Arnold but I was surprised.
Star Trek Never really was a Star Trek fan, but loved this movie.
V One of the best sci-fi sitcoms of all time was remade this year. Haven't been keeping up with this series. But who could forget the lizard faced aliens who ate live, whole mice and gerbils? Good thing they remade it, bc after recently watching the original....we were in desperate need of a special fx upgrade.
Maxwell, Genuine, Joe, we already talked about, but at the final stretch Boyz 2 Men AND R. Kelly drop albums???? What a 90's flashback!!?
Twas fun to reflect, and open a portal into my year to share with you all. Although I may appear a flagrant offender of TMIatry, I'm very calculated about what I choose to share and not share. Alas, this was..................IS a joyous year.
The sad thing about motivation (I find) is that it's like gas, bills and any other fossil fuel......or corporate America. It doesn't matter what you did last year, 5 years of 10 years, its all about what have you done in the last 30-60 days. Oh what a replinishing emotion it is. You can pay off a car, a house, or a property, but you can never pay off a phone, a gas tank or your motivation.........probably why many relationships or marriages don't last because ppl feel like they paid off and bought the car when they don't realized what they signed was a rent out lease. Leases do not constitude ownership. Titles and deeds do.....so is that why ppl are so caught up on "titles" in relationships?........but thats another conversation.
I SERIOUSLY digress!
I found my new motivation, which ironically motivated me to write about it rather than act on it (DWEEB ALERT!!). It should be no secret by now that "300" is one of my all time favorite films and one of the bestestess thing to ever appear on screen. Not only did it motivate me to build a forte and defend it, it jump-started an animal workout-blitz-lifestyle that transformed who I was as a person, physically and mentally.....and personality.......but thats another conversation. The sad downfall, is when I discovered that in addition to the massive workout, many of the cast who didn't "make the cut"...(get it? cuts??) were AIRBRUSHED into shape...not all of em, but enough (I've seen the movie enough times to point out who and where). Therefore, it's utility as a fitness motivator has all but exhausted itself. That probably explains my recent fat boy binge bc the light has come on. . . ...........................................................for those of you who don't drive, when you're gas tank is dangerously low a light on your dashboard turns on....that's like your final warning before you're about to shut down.
[Pulls off the exit ramp into a rest stop] HARK!!! What is my new motivation you ask?
"NEVER BACK DOWN!"[SPOILER ALERT!] This movie is something we've been missing in cinema for a long time. Now I've been advocating for years that every movie I go to does not have to be "gone with the wind" or an Oscarcaliber performance. I merely request to be entertained. And while "living la vida recession," when we spend our time and money, we better damn well get entertained. Now completely disregard the fact that I saw this on sate litetv, bc that would null and void my previous point. God forbid, I contradict myself. A probo, since the satellite ppl don't knock on doors and say, "hey want some free-ass programing," living la vidarecession is still applicable. Ere go, sometimes, I just want cheesy entertainment and boy does this movie deliver.
It's basically takes you back to Saturday Kung-fu @ 3 o'clock (for the 80's babies) slash Karate Kid, slash every Van Damme movie ever made (minus the splits and gratuitous ass showing), all tied into one..........with a dash of 2008 sprinkled on top of it. And we all know the premise: boy gets his monkey ass whooped (and his ass sure was monkey) by the antagonist jerk. Boy meets master/sensai/drunken fighter in the woods/flees to shoalin (or in this case, an African Mr. Miyagi. Teacher shows boy one special move. Boy trains. Motivational and inspirational "Rocky"-like montage of boy getting stronger, better, (shout outs to Kanye)faster over "hero" rock music, influencing simple minded ppl like yours truly. Boy seeks revenge. Boy wins rematch with antagonist jerk (in the hood we say, "he got eff'd the EFF up ::radio edit::). Just as boy is about to lose, boy gets flashbacks of teachers words of wisdom and training. Much to the surprise of everyone, boy just happens to end/win fight with teachers special move. Boy also wins girl in super happy ending. Boy teaches teacher a valuable life lesson. A good time is had by all.
However, between some of the training techniques, seeing ppl get better/improve, and with my admitted boarder-line homo-sexual fascination with anatomy and great physiques, I'm sold! I take my hat off to a good movie that can motivate me to do anything. It's because of my brothers and I that they make those disclaimers (don't try this at home) bc we have probably tried every training technique you've ever seen in a fight movie. Seriously, from eating raw eggs to tying ropes and pulling apart our legs training to split. Only difference is, I have enough knowledge and insight NOW to separate the literal from the Hollywood.
Whether you work out or not, look at every area of your life and ask yourself, "What's my motivation?" "Is my tank full, half, quarter or is the light on?" And more importantly, "Where do/can I go for a refill?" Off to the gym kiddies!!
lolcats funny cat pictures" border="0">
