5 Things NOT To Say To Someone With Depression

  Depression is a cruel mistress I have often been in unfortunate contact with. It has stayed with me since I was a young kid, and over the years there have been a lot of ups and downs. While most certainly a struggle, depression is still stigmatized in society and sometimes looked at as not being a "real" disease. I am here to change your perceptions about this. Below is a list of things you should avoid saying to someone with depression.

1.  "What's wrong?" You should avoid this inquiry because most of the time, people with depression can't pinpoint what it is exactly that they are depressed over. It doesn't have a real rhyme or reason; it simply is, and we have to deal with it. Plus, if we knew what was bothering us, we could have devised a proper solution to help get rid of it. 
2.  "You'll get over it." Well, okay then, excuse me while I lift this incredibly large boulder off of my chest for the sake of your convenience. We cannot just "get over it", as that would imply that we have a specific reason to be depressed, and that the problem can be easily remedied with a certain solution. Depression is not some sort of infection that you can destroy with a pill; it takes time and effort, but most of the time you just learn to deal with it rather than get rid of it. Doing away with depression entirely is extremely difficult, as it can always bounce back. 
3.  "C'mon, smile!" This was (and still is) the most frequent statement people choose to say to me. As a kid, many saw this as just me having some sort of attitude. "Oh, don't mind her, she's just being a bitch", is basically what they were saying. We do not have an "attitude". We are not depressed because we seek to drain the people around us of any pleasure. 
4.  "I just saw you laugh and smile the other day, so you don't have depression." By this logic, I could say that you are never calm because I once saw you throw a temper tantrum. Depressed people get through some days with ease, and other times it is a huge undertaking to get out of bed in the morning. Plus, you may be one of the few things in life that temporarily relieves them of their depression. Think about that. 
5.  "People your age can't get depression." Since I heard this one a lot as a kid, I eventually stopped using the word "depression" and simply tried to convince myself that what other people said was true: maybe I did have a snotty attitude. But I never fully believed it, because in my gut I knew it was depression, or some form of it. There is no "right" or "wrong" time to get it, and it can affect anyone. Throw away your perceptions and recognize how prevalent it is. 

Think You Know Screenplays? You Should Read This:

A Word On Being An Older, But Still Weird, Kid

  As we are all probably well-aware of, it is perfectly acceptable to dress up weird, engage in cultural phenomena, and "find yourself" during your childhood and teen years. However, society has this unspoken rule that once you reach adulthood (fuck adulthood, always spoiling everything!), you have to throw that all away for business suits, coffee, primetime sitcoms, and Newsweek. 

  Yeah, I am as terrified as you are. I mean, considering that I discovered and became interested in Kawaii only recently, it pains me to think that it will all have to come down in the next two years. But if you think I am throwing out half of the (fabulously DIY-ed) masterpieces in my closet, well, think again. 

  I am saying this because Bohemians and my other subculture peeps are thought of as weird, more so women than men. Why is that? Apparently it's because we assume a man who dresses in Star Wars-y shirts or eccentric fashion is an interesting trailblazer, but a woman who dresses in a similar way just wants attention or is insecure and lonely. As Geddy would say, "Wah-wah-weeh-wah!", and rightfully so. Why is it that being weird is encouraged as a kid, but adulthood swoops in and demands that you put down your toys? Who is to say that a person can't do mature work in an office while also attending Lolita meet-ups on the weekends or harboring an intense fascination with the obscure works of Andy Warhol?

  Newsflash, society: you may look at us in our superhero cosplay ensembles, or our "childish" pink petticoats and pompoms, and think we are juvenile. That we should grow up, or that we should "act like an adult", but guess what? There are a crapload of perfectly mature adults that love this stuff as much as we do, and they are productive members of our civilization like everyone else. 

  So yes, don't put your toys down. In fact, polish those fuckers, and polish them good. If someone calls you out on it, screw them. I will keep making jewelry out of random items. I will keep dressing like a cross between a hippie, a punk, and a Japanese pop star. Your personality is best when it's unbridled, so break those chains and unleash your inner weirdo. Haters gotta hate, so it's best to leave them be and just skip onward, wearing those harajuku boots and Rainbow Brite sneakers. 

  

Artist Spotlight: Frida Kahlo

   I feel that I have been neglecting the more classical Bohemians, so it is here I present one talented woman. Frida Kahlo has been referenced numerous times as the quintessential Bohemian, from the way she dressed to the way she painted. (If you don't believe me, read Laren Stover's book on Bohemians and count how many times she references Kahlo.)

  Frida was born in Mexico City on July 6th, 1907. She was the third daughter out of four born to her parents, a Lutheran father and a Catholic mother. At the age of six, polio resulted in Kahlo's right leg being thinner than the left, a feature that lasted the rest of her life and was covered by her wearing long skirts most of the time. Kahlo was on track to studying medicine when, at the age of eighteen, a bus that Kahlo was riding in crashed into a trolley car, resulting in multiple broken bones, including her pelvis and spinal column. On top of this, an iron handrail punctured her uterus, making her unable to have children; though she conceived several times, all of her pregnancies had to be destroyed due to the risk. Kahlo eventually regained the ability to walk, though she relapsed several times and had over 30 surgeries over the next few years. 

  It was here that Kahlo abandoned medicine and took up painting, as it passed the time during the sessions where she was immobilized or bedridden. Her experiences with pain translated into many of her best works of art, many of which were primarily self-portraits. She is quoted as saying: "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best" (Kettenmann 27). In her lifetime, Kahlo created about 140 paintings, along with several drawings and studies. 55 of these works are self-portraits. 1938 marked the first time her paintings were displayed in a U.S gallery, at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York City. 

  Frida had a relationship with painter Diego Rivera, who encouraged her vision and admired her talent. Though they married, their union was often troubled, as both Kahlo and Rivera had extramarital affairs, with Kahlo having affairs with both men and women due to her bisexual nature. Kahlo and Rivera also became good friends with Communist Leon Trotsky, who Kahlo eventually had an affair with. However, both her and Rivera abandoned Trotsky's ideology and supported Stalin after Trotsky was assassinated. Less than twenty years later, Kahlo had her right leg amputated and her health began to decline. She died in Mexico City at the age of 47.  

  Kahlo only became widely recognized in the early 1980's, when the art movement of Neomexicanismo began to form. Her 100th birthday in 2007 was celebrated with the largest exhibit of her paintings ever presented to the public. Today, she is remembered as not only a Mexican folk artist, but also one of the most significant surrealists and pioneers of modern Bohemianism. 

  (In accordance to her self-identifying mantra of being the "ribbon around the bomb", I will probably put that mantra on my denim jacket somewhere).

For more about Frida, check her out on Pinterest and her posthumous website: 

http://www.fridakahlo.com

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=frida%20kahlo&rs=ac&len=5

Works cited: 

Andrea Kettenmann, Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo, 1907–1954: Pain And Passion. Page 27. 

Books I Read/Movies I Watched This Summer

Books:

• Life by Keith Richards
• A Brief History Of Time by Stephen Hawking
• The Universe In A Nutshell by Stephen Hawking
• Pericles by William Shakespeare
• The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp 

Movies:

• 47 Ronin
• Dracula
• Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
• Hercules
• The Purge: Anarchy
• How To Train Your Dragon Two
• The Shawshank Redemption
• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• The Matrix Reloaded
• Speed
• Blue Is The Warmest Color
• Trailer Park Boys: Live In F**kin Dublin
• Dear Mr. Watterson
• Man Of Tai Chi 
• Pulp Fiction
• 12 Years A Slave
• Grown-Ups 2
• This Is The End

You Know You're A Rush Fan When...

  In list form of course.

  You know you're a Rush fan when....

1.   Your Facebook groups have names like, "Geddy Is Hot" and "The Rush Appreciation Society".
2.  If you ask, "Rutsey or Peart?" and people go, "Who?", you become visibly annoyed.
3.  You resist the urge to scream, "Salesman!", in Geddy's voice, whenever you hear the word. 
4.  You know how to correctly pronounce Neil's last name.
5.  You know how to correctly pronounce Geddy's last name. 
6.  You know how to correctly pronounce Alex's last name. 
7.  You have seen Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage at least five times. 
8.  When "2112" comes on, you break into an air-guitar solo that lasts until the song ends. 
9.  You have read Ayn Rand in an attempt to decipher Neil's lyrics.
10.  You become irritated when someone says, "But his voice is so annoying!" 
11.  Your entire life revolves around tour dates. 
12.  Seeing them live for the first time was the best moment of your life. 
13.  You think Neil should bring back his mustache. 
14.  You think an average song length of 3-4 minutes sounds incredibly short. 
15.  When someone says the name, "Tom Sawyer", you immediately perk up.
16.  You have considered naming your child Alex, Geddy, or Neil. 
17.  You put the Starman logo on everything. 
18.  You cringe whenever you see Rolling Stone magazine on a newsstand. 
19.  You have considered using Rolling Stone as toilet paper. 
20.  You have actually used Rolling Stone as toilet paper. 
21.  You own, or have considered buying, a kimono. 
22.  When Rush got into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, you played it off like it was nothing but secretly felt like all of your dreams had come true. 
23.  The closest you have ever come to playing a Rush song with precision is on Rockband. 
24.  You think that Neil being the best drummer in existence is not even up for debate. 
25.  You have a Rush album for every type of day there is. 
26.  Finding a girlfriend who is obsessed with Rush as you are is about as likely as discovering a unicorn in the wild. 
27.  Picking your favorite album is the hardest question to answer. 
28.  Both Lord Of The Rings and Anthem sit on your bookshelf. 
29.  You hope that Neil will show up at a random joint in your small town one day so that you could have a conversation with him. 
30.  You have become used to hearing the words, "Who are they?" when you mention how Rush is your favorite band. 

Worst Movies Ever Made, #10-1

10. Batman And Robin

   Most of you should not be surprised that this movie ended up in the top ten. Batman And Robin is literally the corniest, cheesiest, and stupidest superhero flick ever made. The casting choices are baffling: I mean, Clooney as Batman? Really? And to top it off, he is actually a somewhat capable actor (excuse me, more than capable actor), so his horrendous acting in this film can either be attributed to the poor script or the character itself. Uma Thurman, another decent actress, delivers an equally terrible performance, and her dialogue is just as awful and full of puns as Schwarzenegger's character. Nonsensical and completely insulting to the source material, this film is one of the biggest piles of shit that exists in cinema. 

9. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2

  If you watched the first Twilight and thought it couldn't get any worse, you were very, very wrong. To be fair, I liked the first film, so I was a bit scared to see how the rest of the series would progress. And I was right to be scared. In the simplest of terms, this movie was lazy. The visual effects are awful, the acting is wooden and campy as hell, and the entire film just doesn't flow like it should. Instead of having the series go out with a bang, this film proved that the producers simply gave up and let it die a slow death. It was like they figured, "Ah, well, people are paying to see it anyway, so who cares if the quality is decent?" And the fact that I came to this conclusion is insulting. But hey, at least these movies are finally over.

8. Grown-Ups

  Remember back when Adam Sandler made good movies? Those were the days, and unfortunately this movie proves that we have passed that era. I somewhat enjoyed this film the first time I saw it, but that was it. Now, it's just painful to sit through. I cannot believe that these talented comedians have reduced themselves to appearing in these shit-fests. The entire movie is really just a series of three-minute joke setups, and the jokes aren't funny after you hear them once. If you want my advice, enjoy this movie the first time, because that is the only occassion on which it will ever be funny. After that, you begin to see what a real turkey it truly is. 

7. After Earth

  Newsflash, Hollywood: this whole "nepotism" thing is really getting annoying. What says, "I have a huge ego" more than writing a full screenplay just so you and your son can star in a movie together? I read that this was really just an attempt by Will Smith to elevate his son's movie star status, and boy, did it backfire completely. In fact, if Jaden had any acting chops before this movie, you can be sure that this film completely destroyed them. The only thing that is actually worse about this film is how it was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who is responsible for some of the absolute biggest pieces of Hollywood garbage in recent years (and yes, the movie you are thinking of is one I will not even mention, as it is too painful to even think of. It's unbearable). Combine it all together, mixed with an extra dose of ugly CGI and a plot that's full of holes, and you get After Earth: a giant, colossal mess that is one of the poorest excuses for cinema, ever.

  

6. Son Of The Mask

  For the past few years, this tended to top the list of the worst comedy films I had ever seen. That spot was later claimed by Grown-Ups 2, but the competition from this flick is awfully fierce. I use the term "awfully" because that is the only word I can use to describe this film, other than "terrifying". I mean, the visuals are so crazy and in-your-face that even adults will be freaked out by it. Thus barely passes for a family picture, if at all, and I'm not sure you could remotely expect any kid with half a brain to enjoy this movie. Not to mention that the characters are extremely, extremely unlikeable, the writing is just lazy, and the whole premise has such little to do with the source material that you wonder how it even qualifies as being a sequel. To this day, it hurts me to think about it. 

5. Pearl Harbor

  Two words: Micheal Bay. Ever imagined him trying to direct a historical film? Maybe. Ever imagine he would try to use the oppurtunity to remake Titanic and fail in the most miserable way possible? Well, perhaps, but this film proves it. My God is this movie an absolute mess. The fact that it is incredbily slow and boring is one thing, but did it really have to be almost three whole hours long? It doesn't even get to the title event until the last half-hour! So why the hell is this movie called "Pearl Harbor"? It should really be titled, "Watch-These-Terrible-Actors-Weave-A-Boring-And-Stupid-Romance-Plotline-As-You-Wait-For-The-Japanese-To-Show-Up". I want three hours of my life back, and possibly also some validation that the new Transformers film will finally encourage Hollywood to get rid of Micheal Bay once and for all. 

4. Grown-Ups 2

  After seeing this movie's predecessor, I did not imagine it could ever get worse from there. And, like several other films on this list, I was wrong. In this sequel, I did not feel that Adam Sandler was even trying in the slightest. It's like the entire movie is just him laughing while giving us the finger on his left hand, and waving our money back in our face with his right. The studio apparently thought that a few celebrity cameos would help make up for the rest of the problems that the film presents, but they were incorrect. In fact, it kind of makes everything worse. If you value good comedy, avoid this movie. Please.

3. Sharknado

  Some of you may think I am being too nitpicky for putting this movie on the list. Well, you know what? This spot is well-deserved. This is probably the modern equivalent of Plan 9 From Outer Space, which is not exactly a good thing. I don't even know what to say without sounding repetitive: stupid storyline, horrendously campy acting, even worse visual effects, and editing that is of the sloppiest, most awful quality imaginable. The only improvement this film experienced was getting a sequel that was at least a bit more enjoyable. But this one? Painful. Simply put, painful. 

2. Food Fight

  I think I can hear every Hollywood director that is now deceased turning in their graves. Literally, I don't even see how you can call this a film; to use the word would be an insult. Who thought that it would be a good idea to make something that is essentially a two-hour advertisement for giant food corporations? Not only that, the animation is the worst I have ever seen, the puns are obnoxiously idiotic, the sexual undertones make you uncomfortable, and the entire thing just takes bad to a whole new level. Please, if you want to see this, put away anything you can kill yourself with. Because, trust me, you will want to do so after seeing this film. 

1. Plan 9 From Outer Space

   Oh, where do I begin? Everything, no really, everything is wrong with this movie. So much, that Plan 9 is legendary for its poor budget, absolutely ludicrous storyline, and atrocious acting. I give Ed Wood a bit of credit, as he didn't have too much to work with. But the reason I put this at the top of the list is because he actually took this movie seriously. And the fact that he actually saw this as a decent film, and had the gumption to actually put it out for people to watch, is why I name this movie as the worst film of all time.