Your Moment is Now

Although it is not at all uncommon for someone’s earlier years to be filled with a certain sense of experimentation, for artists, these experiments can go to much further extremes.  In the case of Peter Sellers, it’s more extreme than most, suggesting that great artistry can go hand in hand with great eccentricity.  This isn’t to suggest that any of the things that characterized his life were in themselves eccentric or extreme, but taken together they form an eclectic and entirely fascinating portrait. 

For the young Sellers, finding the perfect methodologies through which to channel his talents was not an easy task.  It wasn’t as simple as finding the perfect fit for his acting ability, like buying cooper tires online to match one’s car.  In Seller’s case, he was the vehicle and the contents, and there was never a solid and stable nature to either.  He was like a volatile chemical reaction, always on the verge of something dangerous, and this is what made watching him so terrifically compelling.

It has been noted widely that he was initiated as a Freemason, but not so widely that he was never what one could consider a member in good-standing.  After a few moments of attendance, it seemed to have dropped out of his life altogether.  He was following a familial tradition, to be sure, but it seems to have fit his acting persona about as well as big rims on a subcompact car.  It could work, but only for a very short while, and better if no one is around to see it happening.

Instead, Sellers seems to have invented a kind of wonderful blend of methods.  His work is as esoteric and complex as any of the hidden sciences, and it does not require a deep knowledge to catch a glimpse of its mystery.  His mystery did run deep, and it was apparent to those viewers who only saw the surface, as well as to those who knew him very well.  Whatever Freemasonry did or didn’t do for him, there were tenets that combined with an interest in color vibrations, an ability to enter trance states for performance, and a particularly deft capacity for the mechanics of acting.  The results of this alchemical combination were absolutely genius.  On a profound level, his work speaks to the initiated, with a complexity that is almost Kabalic.  However, on a more base level, his work speaks directly to the gut.  He is simply a very funny man, and his work and life bear repeated consideration.

For the past few years there’s been an increase in the number of 80s themed parties. If, like many others, you’re tired of every other invitation encouraging you to relive the decade of greed and excess, consider throwing your own themed party to show others how it can be done.

Picking a musical genre rather than a decade will allow not just you, but your guests to really stretch their imaginations. In addition to coming up with the perfect Kiss Costumes , you and your significant other will get to spend hours browsing through music files to collect all your favorite heavy metal songs of the past four decades. Or maybe you’ve chosen Country music as a theme which gives you options stretching all the way back to the hillybilly music of the 1920s and 30s.

In addition to costumes and music, you’ll want to make sure you get the decorations just right. By choosing a genre you widen the possibilities for decor as well. Recreate a teenager’s bedroom shrine to rock and roll in the 50s or the psychedelic bus of a 60s band. Food can be pulled from song and album titles whenever possible or you can decide to serve the favorite foods of all your favorite artists, as compiled from wikipedia or other online source.

Creativity is the key to standing out from the common theme party.

Less than fifty years ago, the only things that came close to contemporary gaming were found in the analog realm. It could be argued that pool halls were the first prototypes for video game parlors, where groups would gather around the tables to try their skills in a competitive forum. The pinball machine, which was adapted from the Japanese pachinko machine, took the concept and pushed it further, into a self-contained machine where one, or sometimes two people, could focus their energies on one object. Over time, this became more electronic, with bells and lights, and all the whistles necessary to keep the players in a state of near-trance as world records were broken.

While the early arcades had air hockey and knock hockey, skeeball, and miniature basketball courts, the big change came in the 1970s with Pong . This was the first game that was entirely digital, and for kids discovering it, it was a revolutionary moment. Suddenly, all the trappings of play were captured on a screen, where the players could experience a virtual interaction that felt like a real life experience. It’s been a long evolution, then, to the present day, where Game Software is available for players from their own homes, and the revolutions have come so quickly, it’s difficult to know where things might be going in the next decade.