The Forgotten Monk

Hello Monks. Rick here again. It’s been awhile since I that first article of mine and I wanted to come back and see what other bits of wisdom or life observations I can impart on all of you. I’ve attempting to write about friendships and how it related to the classic movie, ‘The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit’.

I pondered and wrote it many ways, and I wasn’t too happy with it. The story is about 4 down on their luck men, who have various goals and dreams and band together to buy a ice cream colored suit. They each don the suit for an hour that night and get into their own adventures and step up in life.

In my pondering, I tried to relate how your circle of friends can make or break you. One group may back you up on decision and motivate you to reach your goals or to support your decisions to push your life forward. Where as others will hold you back and take the ‘your wasting your time approach.’

But how do I relate all this stuff in this movie to life? Going through a social climate change and adjustment in the dynamics of my circle of friends, I found that there were many more friends and relationships I had been neglecting and new bonds I am building.

Each group is different and dynamic. Sometimes I am restraint and with others I am care free, and with another group I am very motivated and focused, but still fun.

That last group is a new part of my life. The local rockabilly band, the ‘L.A. Kingpins’ have taken me as one of their own and doing things with them has lifted my spirits and helping the band has only motivated me to help myself. Now this is a group that is interesting, this is a group that doesn’t have to ask me to do anything, I just do it. As if inspired by the growing friendships and the groups unifying goals.

Each person is unique and interesting and unlike some other people I have spent time with, I don’t want to punch any of them in the face, or throw them out on a frakkin Airlock. There is something indefinable about this group of friends that lead us all to do what we have to do for the betterment of the Band and for ourselves. This is not a ‘Whatever, your wasting your time’ group. This is a ‘Lets kick some ass’ group. They have lots of heart; all of them have become close in a short time.

These are the types of friends that can make a big difference in your life. There is no pressure to do anything you don’t want to do. Somehow its inspired by the vibe between each member. Sure there is a fair amount of drama and differences of opinions as there are in every group, but as a whole, it’s worked out and smoothed over. There’s fears and apprehension, goals and dreams, opinions and differences, but the main goal is common and the bonds that bring them together is friendships. Much like the characters in ‘The wonderful Ice Cream Suit’

It’s more than, he is a great Base player or she is really awesome on drums, he’s a great guitarist or that guy has good ideas. Of course these talents are important, but before that it’s the bonds of friendship then what we can do for each other.

It all goes back to my writing teacher Garrick Dowhen told us, it when something like this. That if the person at the top has heart, it will transcend and filter down into everyone involved and lift things to another level.

It’s not just that Steve the lead guitarist has heart, it’s everyone, from Mel the Drummer to Rich the base player and even to me, your friendly neighborhood Reckless Rick. Every member has lots of heart. It’s just that this group of friends just happens to be a band. While another group might be a film production crew. Or maybe your just a bunch of assholes who hangout. What matters is the friendships that bind you together.

I can go on and on, and I am not even sure how coherent all this is. I think the main point of all of this is to choose the people to ‘roll’ with carefully. Friendships can be the thing that lies between a bad path in life or a fulfilling one.

Hope that made sense Monks.

Sponsored by: LA Kingpins

Imagine quitting your job to travel the world. Matt Harding had this dance he’d do when he would pick up his friend for lunch. One day his friend said he should videotape himself dancing in front of popular places. This idea stuck with Matt who later quit his job to travel the world, he videotaped himself in front of many places.

He uploaded the clip to his website, long before there was a YouTube. It was viewed by millions of people. STRIDEgum saw his clip and contacted Matt with an interesting proposition. They asked him how would he like to travel the world for six months and dance his heart away for Stridegum? Of course he jumped at the chance. And that brings us to the clip of the Week.

Hello Monks! CHEER at the RETURN OF RECKLESS RICK!!!! Yes I know its been a little bit, but I’ve been a Busy Monk, trying to get things together and working on this thing called Life. Thanks to the lessons and insights of Thefogottenmonk.com! Subscribe now!

For this week’s top 10 I wanted to talk about “The Last Starfighter” It’s always been one of my favorite movies. It had a lot of heart and is a classic that has a special place in my heart. Being a timeless tale of intergalactic heroism, I pondered what lessons there are to learn from the movie, with no further ado, our weekly top 10.

1. Don’t worry about everyone asking you to take care of everything they are too lazy to do themselves. You’ll eventually leave all those jerks behind to save the universe.

2. Dealing with your girlfriend, hard. Being the last star fighter against the Kodan armada, not as hard.

3. There are no speed limits on flying cars.

4. Video games can save the galaxy and is a great training tool.

5. The little things matter, even a high score.

6. Never sell yourself short, if you think that your just a kid from a trailer park, then that is all your ever be.

7. Finding the hero can be a profitable business.

8. Find something to fight for, for example, your family and your girlfriend, who is back home getting it on with your Beta Unit.

9. If you are the one ship against the armada, you can hide out in asteroid that isn’t considered a strategic blind spot.

10. The Enemy’s over confidence always leads them to keep their vulnerable weak spot exposed to attack.

Its good to be back. Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, and Happy everything else I’ve missed. Tell your friends about us.

I love stories when something unexpected suddenly becomes a huge hit. My next two clips of the week are that way.

2003 - Eastern European band O-Zone releases a song titled “Dragostea din Tei”

2004 - 19 year old Gary Brolsma of New Jersey hears the song and recrods himself lip-synching to the lyrics with his webcam

December 6, 2004 Gary uploads the video to internet video site newgrounds.com He calls it the ‘Numa Numa Dance’

within weeks the video is seen by millions of people.

2005 Video sharing website YouTube launches.

The ‘Numa Numa Dance’ inspires thousands of copycat videos and is eventually downloaded over 700 million times itself.

The Numa Numa song as it is now called, hits #1 in 32 countries and sells more than 12 million copies worldwide

March 23, 2007 VH1 names Gary Brolsma the #1 Internet Superstar

Rick here once again. Cloverfield is here, and yes, I survived the incident. I thought it was pretty good, not great mind you but pretty good. There are a few things I didn’t like, but this isn’t a review site or we’d be more pretentious and love ourselves a lot more.

Monsters, Chaos, all hell breaking loose, sure that’s just a day in the life of yours truly, but this movie did have its lessons to pass on.

1. Cell phone batteries stolen out of the store come fully charged.
2. Rats that all run in one direction, always means there is something very bad in the direction they are coming from. Don’t think, don’t observe, just run.
3. Don’t bother with dark underground tunnels, stay up top, where there is light. You want to know what’s coming at you, so you can act accordingly.
4. Watch the News report that tells you there are little creatures falling off the Bigger monster and are wreaking havoc, then completely forget about the potential problem when the rats are fleeing a danger and you have to stand around to talk about it.
5. Even after the news report, don’t bother finding any rudimentary weapons before venturing into the dark subway tunnel.
6. Even if she somehow pisses you off when she comes to your going away party be nice and don’t let it bother you. Otherwise you might end up having to trek across the town, endanger all your friends, in the middle of utter chaos to go and get her back and finally tell her you love her.
7. If your in-love with that certain someone, and at one point, you both give in to those feelings and sleep with each other. THAT point, might be a very good time, to tell him/her that you love them.
8. Always check your tape before you record over it.
9. Good days are common, great days are hard to come by, if you get it on tape, pull it out of the camera, mark it, and save it.
10. Never EVER! Go to New York, especially Manhattan.

Hello Monks. Rick here again with the top 10! This time I tackle Alien vs. Predator Requiem. Sure it wasn’t Aliens, but at least it wasn’t that first AvP movie. There were a few things to learn from this movie. And at least one very good one. Here it is, enjoy.

1. The sewer makes great living quarters for the homeless and a superb breeding ground for the alien infestation.
2. The hospital is a great place to give birth and a superb breeding ground for the alien infestation.
3. A hunting trip with your boy is all fun and games, just never, under any circumstances check out that strange object that fell from the sky. Doing so only leads to a horrible death.
4. When you pick up your dead Predator comrade from the Alien/Predator show down. Inspect the body for infection before allowing it on board.
5. There may not be any honor in killing the cop who stumbled upon you as you clean up someone else’s mess. But it sure is fun skinning him.
6. Panicking in the middle of an alien hive achieves only one thing. Getting yourself killed.
7. Corporeal Hicks learned the lessons of his forefathers, why send down a platoon of troops to die trying to cleanse out the Alien infestation when you can do all the work by nuking it from orbit.
8. Always listen to the person with the Military background. It could mean the difference between surviving and death by nuclear cleansing. (see number
9. As much as you like the hot blonde with the douche bag boyfriend, it only leads to trouble, a kick to the stomach and your keys getting dumped in the alien infested sewer.
10. The Predators are a clean society; their blue goo can get rid of anything, from bodies to that gravy stain in your suit jacket.

From all of us at The Forgotten Monk to all of you. Happy Holidays everyone. We’ll be back after the new year. Make it a good one!

Yesterday one of my favorite movies is came out on DVD, Stardust. It was one of those films that didn’t get the press it deserved and wasn’t handled very well with its marketing.

They don’t make movies like this anymore; it had intrigue, love, humor, adventure, character growth, lots of heart and my one-day future ex-wife Claire Danes (sorry I haven’t call ya baby!) And I can’t wait to own it. (The DVD, cause no one owns Claire Danes!)

With it, there are a few lessons to be learned, most of them relationship ones. Now if you haven’t seen the movie, read no further, watch it, rent it, buy it! It’s worth it. But before you do, subscribe to www.theforgottenmonk.com and come back and read about what I learned from this movie I hold close to my heart. So, lets get to it and be warned spoilers ahead!

******Spoilers******

Our hero, Tristan is trying to win the love of Victoria (Sienna Miller) and after witnessing a falling star, promises to bring it to her to prove his love. One thing leads to another and he finds himself beyond the wall and in a mythical and magical world where he runs into the fallen Star, who, as it turns out is a woman named Yvaine (Claire Danes).

Tristan starts his journey dragging Yvaine along against her will, back to Victoria, to make good on his promise and win his hearts desire. Which leads me to what I wanted to get at, Tristan is a nice guy.

Tristan is a nice guy, with a big heart and a strong resolve. He starts his journey with one of the pitfalls of many a Nice Guy, the idea that he can change her mind by going out of his way to prove his love.

He spends a lot of his time so focused on winning Victoria over that he fails to notice his budding romance with Yvaine. He is so intent on his goal that he isn’t very nice to the lost and scared Yvaine and at one point he even tied her to a tree, in the middle of the forest… in the dead of night.

But there is hope for our hero, he grows up and he evolves as a person. He trades his obsessive one-sided relationship with the manipulative Victoria for a mutual and deep love with Yvaine. But how does one get there? How does a nice guy or gal come to accept that the way they conduct themselves isn’t winning the game? (For more on this, refer to our previous post ‘What Most Idiots Don’t Know about Fear of Failure or you can my article of the Nice Guy here)

A big part of it is that you have to stop thinking of relationships as your feelings towards another person, but rather what feelings are there between the two of you. Tristan and Yvaine grow closer as their adventure continues and they are a better fit with one another, whereas Tristan’s relationship with Victoria, as far as we know, has always been one-sided and she mostly plays with his emotions to get what she wants out of him.

The narrator will tell you that this is not a tale of a boy who becomes a man, but a tale of a man who finds his true love. But really, to win her love, he must first become a man. Tristan grows up, becomes more responsible, mature and sees the error of the way he had been conducting himself. Enough so, that he is willing to let go of who he wants for the love of the woman he needs.

When Tristan reached this point in his journey, even Victoria is taken aback at his transformation. He has the character traits that could have attracted her to him, but at this point she already lost her chance and he’s figured out that she isn’t the one for him.

Stardust has reinforced what I’ve grown to think about being a Nice Guy, many of his actions early on were exactly how I would conduct myself several years ago and his character growth leads him to be more the type of person who can attract and gain someone’s love.

Just remember my Nice Monks out there; sometimes there is a lot of growing up for you to do. You’re not a perfect person as much as you might think you are. And in many cases, you have to let go of who you want, in order to find who you need in your life.

Our main Monk Marvin has been busy this weekend. So Rick is here again and I took it upon myself to come up with a top 10 for the week. I had my 10 year reunion just a few weeks ago and I have been thinking of people who have come and gone in my life since those days and thought about Janette Meza, one of my closest friends in High School who had a thing for calling me Mulder and naturally I’d call her Scully. We were geeks and proud of it. And with that here are the top 10 things I learned from the X-Files.

1. Define which truth you’re looking for, the truth of what? The existence of Extraterrestrials? What happened to your sister? Does your stubbornly skeptical partner secretly have the hots for you?
2. The search for what you desire, takes sacrifice, friends and occasional feats of insubordination.
3. Occam’s razor’s ‘the simplest explanation is often the correct one’ is a good way to look at things, and sometimes Occam lacked imagination. Generally the most farfetched theory is the most correct.
4. Thinking outside of the box can get you places, like an abandoned satellite station in Mexico or a Submarine in the middle of the artic.
5. Trusting No One is a good rule, trusting everyone is an interesting way to go, finding a middle ground is your best bet.
6. In the pursuit of truth, there is a risk of losing your ideals and your way, confide in your friends and let them help you keep true to yourself.
7. Know when to cut your losses and get the hell out of dodge.
8. It helps to know people in high places; they can get out of trouble, such as, if you broke into a military base to catch a glimpse of an alien.
9. Sometimes it doesn’t take a safe with the most sophisticated security system to keep something secure from the wrong people. Sometimes all you need is an airport locker.
10. Secrets that have been buried away and forgotten often find ways to resurface. So take care of your crap before it take care of you.

That’s it Monks, if any of you Special Agents out there can come up with any more, leave a comment and let us know. Much like how, here at TheForgottenMonk, we try to find truth in Movies, Television and Books, Mulder tried to find his truth with a passionate search for Extraterrestrials and his missing sister. Whatever truth your looking for, the ‘Truth is out there’ and some of can even be found here from week to week.

Greensburg, Pennslyvania Starbucks. A woman pulls up to Starbucks drive thru and pays for her drink. Then she decides to buy a drink for the car behind her. He decides to do the same. A chain reaction occurred. It lasted two hours and consisted of more than a hundred cars.

And that’s my inspirational clip of the week. Have a great weekend guys.