Don Hall 7/5/19 Don Hall 7/5/19

The Guide to Excellent Customer Service

In The Shawshank Redemption, the character of Brookes Hatlin is released after decades behind bars. The world has changed. It's faster. Cars are faster, technology is faster, people seem to be in so much more of a hurry than when he was convicted. The speed of things and the lack of familiarity in simple day-to-day living pushes him further and further into a corner that he can only find one means of escape from - a rope.

Don Hall 7/4/19 Don Hall 7/4/19

The Reasons Behind the Celebration

“In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt

Don Hall 7/1/19 Don Hall 7/1/19

I Believe… [College Isn't Mandatory]

...that while I completely agree that college should be tuition-free in the United States, asking for previous student loans to be forgiven is a bit much. College is optional, not mandatory and anyone who signed up for a loan to go knew exactly what they were getting into.

Don Hall 7/1/19 Don Hall 7/1/19

Repost: Playing Dead in the Face of Responsibility

Human beings are among the most vulnerable creatures on the planet. No armor, no big claws, can't fucking run fast, not particularly strong. Even the strongest man on the planet (you know, the redneck fucker who can pull a tractor with his teeth or hang an anvil from his balls) is just a thin-skinned hot dog meal to a mountain lion.

So we compensate with misdirection.

Don Hall 6/30/19 Don Hall 6/30/19

Corporate Sexual Harassment Training is a Hamfisted, Poorly Thought Out Necessity

Yes, we watched another video of clueless idiots harassing each other with a dumbfounded obtuseness that defies how actual humans behave. In my time in the workforce, I think I’ve seen five of these videos and none of them are repeats which begs the question: how many fucking Sexual Harassment Training videos are in existence and can we have a mini-film festival featuring the best or worst ones?

Don Hall 6/26/19 Don Hall 6/26/19

Independence Day: The Dance of the Vicious

There are things for us to celebrate but perhaps we should put the party off for a few years while we get our shit together, clean up our own house, and strive to be the country we believed we could be rather than the nation we have become.

Don Hall 6/24/19 Don Hall 6/24/19

I Believe… [You Are Not Your Credit Score]

...that if you judge your own success by your credit score, I’d like to point out there is a Kool-Aid stain on your shirt.

Don Hall 6/24/19 Don Hall 6/24/19

The Conflicting Case to Do Away with Facebook

It was a Black Mirror episode that triggered me.

Specifically, Smithereens, and more directly a monologue/rant by Andrew Scott about everyone looking down at their smartphones constantly. It hit me like a two-by-four in the gut: I am that guy. I’m on my phone far more than I should be and I’m almost paralyzed in my distractions.

Don Hall 6/23/19 Don Hall 6/23/19

I Like to Watch | The Perfection

I believe that, when creating fiction-based mass entertainment that also addresses major sociopolitical issues, filmmakers need to pull back a step and tell a great story first with the over-the-top social commentary present but in the background.

Don Hall 6/20/19 Don Hall 6/20/19

Practicing Yoga in Your Mind

Don Hall 6/18/19 Don Hall 6/18/19

Running the Marathon Rather Than the Sprint

The problem with being a sprinter is the misconception that a marathon is just a series of sprints making up twenty-six-point-two miles. It doesn’t work that way. Sprinting uses up all the energy for short term gains and is unsustainable for twenty-six miles in any genuine fashion. A marathon requires planning, patience, and a sense of perseverance that eludes the sprinter.

Don Hall 6/17/19 Don Hall 6/17/19

I Believe… [Gambling is Basically Buying Hope]

...that nothing is more desolate than an empty casino; nothing is more exciting than a full one. A whole room full of people buying bits of hope is a gas.

Don Hall 6/17/19 Don Hall 6/17/19

An Open Letter to a Late Stage Incel

I hear you, sitting in your room, typing furiously away about how lonely you are and how angry it makes you that, for some unexplained reason, women don’t find you companionable.

I mean, instead of looking hard at yourself and your behavior, your borderline social retardation, your obsessive compulsive mania, it’s just easier to find someone else to blame.

Don Hall 6/10/19 Don Hall 6/10/19

I Believe… [Pride Should Be Justified]

…that one should demonstrate pride in something accomplished rather than mere existence. Thus, Gay Pride (because of the accomplishments over generations of stigma) and not Straight Pride (because what the fuck did we have to overcome except the lazy task of consistent acceptance?). I mean, I’m straight but I can’t say it’s necessarily anything to be proud of.

Don Hall 6/10/19 Don Hall 6/10/19

I Like to Watch | Dark Phoenix

Less than technological advances, I’d argue the primary reason superhero movies are the Big Gorilla in cinema today is about the casting.

Don Hall 6/9/19 Don Hall 6/9/19

No Chains, No Imprisonment

"Unless there are actual chains and bars, your imprisonment is in your mind."

Don Hall 6/7/19 Don Hall 6/7/19

Whose Idea Is It Anyway? The Terminator, The Infinite Wrench, and BUGHOUSE!

The format [curated open mic storytelling] is a rich canvas for the different shows to create new improvements on the skeleton and flesh it out in their specific artistic way. The format wasn’t stolen or plagiarized in these cases so much as stripped of specificity and re-clothed in improvements, making wholly unique live experiences for a completely different audience.

Don Hall 6/5/19 Don Hall 6/5/19

Americans LOVE Their Larger than Life Outlaws which is why Trump is Our Bruce Wayne

Take the billionaire who pretends to be one thing through lies and subterfuge and then breaks a list of laws to combat what he sees as crime and corruption. We love that guy. He’s a hero, right?

Who doesn’t love Batman?

Don Hall 6/3/19 Don Hall 6/3/19

I Believe… [Your Delusion is Showing]

…that if you see the world as an Either/Or proposition, a place of definable Good and Evil, and a belief that the righteous will prevail, you’re living in a delusion fueled by comic books, blockbuster movies, and religious propaganda. Go watch Requiem for a Dream, Glenngarry Glen Ross and Magnolia, and grow up.

Don Hall 6/1/19 Don Hall 6/1/19

Demand Accountability or Take Responsibility

Accountability is about making someone else do what we want them to do.
Responsibility is about making ourselves do what needs to be done.

Time to make a choice.