If you have read most of my previous posts, then you know that this summer I did a month-long theater program in Berkeley. In my Acting class, one of our assignments was to memorize a monologue, whether it was from a poem, a movie, a play, whatever. We needed to memorize a monologue and be able to present it to the class. Within seconds I knew what I was doing, my favorite monologue from my favorite actor from my favorite movie. Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, presenting to the not-so-special snowflakes the 'Rules of Fight Club'. When I got home, I looked up the rules as a reference for order, and began reciting them. By the fourth time reading them aloud, I had them down. I've seen the movie so many times I remembered very clearly how Tyler annunciated every word in that monologue jam-packed full of epic. Finally, the day came when we presented. When I felt I was comfortable enough to raise my hand, I did, and it was the single best performance I've ever done, right there, in front of a class. A few more people went, and it came around to one of my favorite people on the planet.
"I don't have a monologue prepared, but I was thinking, would it be alright if the class asks me a few questions, and I answer them?" she said. With a little hesitation, our teacher, Marvin, agreed to let some questions be answered. Somebody in the class raised their hand and asked her to 'define crazy'. With little time to think about what she was asked, she gave one of the most eloquent and captivating speech's I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. She said that really, we're all crazy. We all have things in our lives that we are crazy about (and not just in the sense that we like them a lot, but that we all are kind of OCD about certain things), and that it's important to be crazy, sane people are boring. She went on to talk about crazy being used to diagnose people, especially back in th 18-19th Century, when doctors knew less about mental retardations, schizophrenia etc. etc.
Not one week later, I was talking to my dad about Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett. Syd Barret was (for lack of a better word) crazy. He was schizophrenic, and was pretty fried from heavy drug use. It could be argued that many of Pink Floyd's albums reflect on Syd, even after he had left the band. He most definitely had an impact on 'The Wall' as it has to do with a man becoming so worn down by the music industry, that he is transformed into a megalomaniac. The album deals with the issue of defining the term 'crazy', in my opinion. It brings up questions such as 'Is it crazy to consider yourself sane in an insane world?' and 'Who is one person to judge anothers sanity?'.
Discussions on being crazy have always interested me, I don't know why. Maybe I'm crazy to be blogging at 12:30 on a school night. On that note, I'm off.
-Bobby
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