charlie & the gluttony factory

[Glorious Amok]

...oompa loompa's disco dancing in stretchy plastic suits, a chorus of miniature backstreet boys, swollen bono fly glasses, candy doesn't have to make any sense, that's why it's candy ...

i just saw the remake, it really elevated the moral issue of the story. in the days the original was made, consumption at today's level was only a science-fiction horror tale. now our gluttony is so inflamed, was there any way to remake this movie without poking a lot of fun at that?

because our gluttony IS a joke. it's ridiculous. so much stuff. people just go out every day and buy more stuff. stuff that has no purpose but to just sit there and be stuff. stuff that in and of itself wants more stuff. computer stuff? it's always wanting more computer stuff. dollar stores? knick knacks? what the fuck is a kick knack? shit to hang on the walls? we need stuff to hang on our walls? for what?

gluttony is definitely an issue i'm having a hard time with now. before i went to europe this summer, i was feeling so poor, like i'd be poor forever. all my cousins own gargantuan homes, slick hi-tech cars, tv's ... every couple of years they just buy entirely new furniture. and i don't even have chairs that match. i can't even pay off my phone bill. i'm still paying for a candleholder i bought ten years ago. i'll never own my own home. i'll probably never be able to afford my own car. and so i felt poor.

but coming home from europe, i feel suddenly so wasteful. i feel embarassed of my riches. i feel pampered, spoiled rotten, i feel like a tall Veruca Salt. i can't believe how many cd's i have. i don't know where to keep all these clothes. i feel like i'm living in a department store. like in the movie Mannequin, i feel trapped overnight in the mall. over 200 movies to select from, what colour towel would you like to dry yourself with today, madam?

my friend katherine fell in love in europe. and her man was getting dressed one morning, they dress... differently ... there. and he put on some shirt, and this quiet, whiny voice inside her head sort of whispered "is he gonna wear that shirt?" but before she said anything, she looked in his closet and saw that he only owned 5 shirts. what does it matter what a shirt looks like, so long as you've got 5 of them?

i just don't like myself very much right now. i don't like my life, my country. so forward thinking, i always thought. so free and easy, i always thought. i feel like a hoarder. i feel like a squirrel, stashing nuts away for the winter, only the winter never comes. it just keeps on getting warmer, and warmer, and the days longer and longer, and i'm so stupid i just think, 'oh lucky me, more hours in which to hoard away more stuff i can never consume....'

[judih]

cool. all this after an air conditioned Depp flick.

i think you're lucky. You've hit the soultrain bullseye.
There's no reason to play along with the 'gimme' game of western magazine junk brain.

i left the country for a simpler land, but it's no doubt not essential to do things that way. Try out your stufflessness right there. The ultimate zen.

[mousey1]

Eggsactly!!!! Cracked eggs with our greedy guts oozing out!

Sometimes I look around and feel less because what I have is not fancy shmancy! I cannot now, nor will I ever, be able to keep up with the Joneses.....but I live in opulence compared to the majority of earth dwellers.

How often do we say to ourselves..... Enough! I am satisfied!

Thanks for the review and the reminder.

[Glorious Amok]

today i sold about 20 cd's. i earned $11 + a $12 billie holiday cd.
20 bad cd's = 1 good one. now that's zen to me.

last weekend i traded 8 dresses for one good one. just since my last post, i've created 4 more towering piles of clothes to sell. anything that doesn't sell is going down to the sally ann.

i'm paring down. scaling down. reducing, reusing, recycling. i'm eeking back toward natural fabrics. cotton, linen, denim, wool. my closet was jammed full of acrylics and polyester. i can't stand the feel of those anymore.

i just don't need all this shit! somebody else probably needs it much more than i do. and they'll be more grateful for it than i have been.

[judih]

oh, mother earth is smiling

and so am i
zen on, k!



http://www.birdsofpraycreate.com/drawin ... cing_b.jpg

[Artguy]

My basement full of reminders I too a part of what turns and produces shit out the grinder piled things stuff I swear I will use let go and be more full than emptiness can describe.........the biggest pile wins....

[mtmynd]

Glorious - your broom of guilt sweeping away the debris of non-necessity. Like Judih said - Go Zen!

My own broom has broken its handle many a time, but I proceed...

[e_dog]

ours is

THE UNITED STATES OF GLUTTONY.

won't see the flick, tho, cannot remake a classic.

[YABYUM]

I can fit all my belongings into two bags. One is my backpack, strictly filled with writing and reading material, one change of clothes, and cigarettes. The other is regular size travel duffel bag that holds my two pair of jeans, 6 underwear, 6 pair of socks, three coats, 10 t-shirts, 1 sweatshirt, and a backup pair of Dr. Martens. I travel and live extremely fucking light. I think you're on the right track. You will be amazed at how easy it is to live when you know everything you own can be packed up in less that ten minutes.

[mnaz]

Glorious...

I just wanted to say.... great post.

I have been "downsizing" over the last several years....
It is, well,..... liberating. I will keep what means the most to me., but the rest was essentially weighing me down. Thanks.

[Rat Bag]

haha, stufflessness -- cool word

yes, reduce, reuse & recycle -- rethink

cool post, am liking this place already

[Lightning Rod]

Rdog,

Good to see your face.
Got into a little trouble at AC, did we? It's not hard to do.

How long are you in jail for?
They wanted me to beg to get back in. Ha! not in this lifetime

[Lightning Rod]

Back to the topic at hand

Vows of poverty are most liberating. That's why monks and shaman and mystics do it.
When I am strict with my vows of poverty, I am always richer.

Possessions are a burden, you have to store, protect, maintain and move them around.
I don't own the shoes on my feet.

[e_dog]

vows of poverty are a sign of decadent affluence.

the impoverished don't take vows of poverty.

[Lightning Rod]

clever observation, e dog

not quite true, however

vows of poverty are simply a statement of disattachment to material things. They work just as well for the impoverished as for the wealthy. But it's like when someone who is 10 pounds overweight gets in shape it's not as noticable as when someone weighs 400 lbs and loses 250 of it to get in shape.

And then we must define poverty. Starvation is not good (even if you proclaim that it is 'fasting') The poverty that I am talking about means that you recognize the temporality of physical things and therefore are not troubled when things come and go.