A Creative Sparkle in a Muse-less Mind

So it has been quite awhile since I've felt "the Muse upon me" as regards my writing. I have had little thoughts here and there, but nothing excellent and certainly nothing that I've turned into text on paper. Just thoughts. But one particular thought has been circling my brain for hours, days, weeks..

An archenemy. A nemesis.

Among many others, I was sucked into the craziness of seeing The Dark Knight on its opening at midnight. I was awestruck at the new interpretation of The Joker that was presented - an ancient, pre-existing enemy that has been deemed the "quintessential bad guy of all time", reimagined in such a brilliant way. The thing that drew my attention was the relationship between Joker and Batman. "Two sides of the same coin" it has been said. "You complete me," Joker says. "You need me," I believe he says in another situation. And for all the evil that Joker inflicts upon Batman and Gotham, our protaganist even saves his life once! Despite the fact that Joker "dies" several times, yet keeps coming... the concept of a hero having a necessary nemesis is huge here.

I need a nemesis. Not some evil character who directs hordes of minions and sits comfortably on a throne of evilness somewhere.... A rival who gets down and dirty in his evil. For all his peons, Joker gets personally involved with everything, in direct conflict with Batman. I mean, currently disregarding the fact that he's out of his mind (assumably) and has no rhyme or reason... he is a personal villain. The evil shadow of the good hero - and shadows follow you everywhere.

The villain who doesn't have "trusted minions" and does his own dirty work for himself. Uses the "tools" (aka people) necessary to do his will, and then drops them or kills them afterward. Think the whole intro scene to the movie. And think about the fact that it is Joker, personally, who is firing the rocket launcher during the chase. He needs no one, except the person he is anti-hero to. So I need a nemesis who is the personal rival of my hero... the thorn in his side... the other side of his coin.

And thinking of Alfred's quote, I think it sums up the kind of person I need to find in my imagination:

"Some men just want to watch the world burn."

A Re-evaluation of Direction

Looking back on the pathway that I have taken to bring me to this point in my life reveals some interesting things to me. When I was about the graduate high school, I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. The only thing I had expressed interest in was animation for movies or games. Just so happened that there was only one private school that sounded like they offered something like that... and once I was accepted, my direction completely changed.

I feel like there are times in our lives when we are "called" or drawn or impressed to do things purely for the reason that they will lead you to something else. Case in point, above, using computer animation to bring me to IWU. But I think that once that happens in your life, you start to expect it. Maybe make it into an excuse for the pathway that you start to choose for yourself. An example of this is that I would never have been involved in the theatre program at school if it had not been for my major including some of their classes. But perhaps in total overcorrection, I believed that I had been drawn to IWU to get involved in a major that would draw me to a completely different career path... and there you go.

But then, as paths of our lives seem to do, I was drawn back to the thing that I actually went to school for. I am learned in this far more than I am "experienced" at technical theatre... though it is a very strong asset to have. In all my planning, all my scheming to get me to Chicago and struggle as a starving artist/tech and "live the theatre dream", I was going by my strength as a man. Thankfully, I awoke to a phrase that drew me back to what I believe I am supposed to be doing:

"The plans of Man shall fail."

Though I find myself in a place where I am completely unsure of what I am supposed to do, or where I'm supposed to go... I trust. I have faith that I will be taken to the place that God wants me. My plans will fail. And He has plans for me. Always has.

You too. He's got something for you, whether you see it or not. Whether you believe it or not. You are important. You have a purpose.

Here's the kickoff... Hope you're not sick of...

My mind tries to work in profound and deep sorts of ways, and I thought I would make a place where I could dump my thoughts, both short and long, for inspiration, conversation, or whatever else you might take from me.

So here is.