Winston & Co, I think we need a core curriculum here

[S_Parc]

Fellas, I know this is sounding like some Liberal arts program at let's say a Univ of Chicago but I think HA needs a type of curriculum because a lot of these ad hoc topics can be answered by simply referencing a few cultural items.

For one, a lot of the guys in their early 20s are worried about fitting in and what others' think of them, esp in relations to AWs. What's a way of addressing this issue? ... put the movie, 'American Beauty' into the core curriculum. Then, whenever anyone logs onto the forum, they can see the list of core films, go study 'em, and then, if the movie doesn't make the point clear, then one can ask related questions.

[xiongmao]

I think men need to man up.

Think and Grow Rich is still a good book for men who want to acquire wealth >> attract females. Add that to the list.

[S_Parc]

I think men need to man up.

Think and Grow Rich is still a good book for men who want to acquire wealth >> attract females. Add that to the list.

I'd put that in the suggested reading list, as it's a type of back-in-time/rear-view-mirror looping forward to 'The Secret', which has irated a lot of posterers here.

All and all, 'American Beauty' told me, when I was a just entering my 20s, to beware of American women & the Feminist conformity that they inflict upon our society. I took the advice from that movie and stopped seeing AWs after the age of 24.

[abcdavid01]

Yeah, I'm torrenting that now S_Parc. These are things that have inspired me as a young person:

The Fatal Conceit by F.A. Hayek

This one makes a case against Socialism, but on a purely logical basis. There is no vitriol and the subject is treated seriously. It is a short, but very dense book that presents a narrative for the genesis of civilization itself. Although Hayek is thought of as a libertarian, he is by far no Ayn Rand. The Socialism Hayek argues against is the common Left Socialism, but he argues in favor of something akin to Right Socialism a.k.a. Patriarchy. Also covers topics such as linguistics, overpopulation (myth), and an atheist/agnostic perspective on why religion exists and what its benefits are.

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

Written in 1987 and set in Tokyo during the late 60's with the international student movement (of which there is a generally apathetic assessment). Themes of loneliness, death, boredom, and the search for meaning.

Also see his short story A Folklore for My Generation: a Pre-History of Late-Stage Capitalism:

I was born in 1949. I started high school in 1963 and went to college in 1967. And so it was amid the crazy, confused uproar of 1968 that I saw in my otherwise auspicious twentieth year. Which, I guess, makes me a typical child of the sixties. It was the most vulnerable, most formative, and therefore most important period in my life, and there I was, breathing in deep lungfuls of abandon and quite naturally getting high on it all. I kicked in a few deserving doors - and what a thrill it was whenever a door that deserved kicking in presented itself before me, as Jim Morrison, the Beatles and Bob Dylan played in the background. The whole shebang.

Even now, looking back on it all, I think that those years were special. I'm sure that if you were to examine the attributes of the time one by one, you wouldn't discover anything all that noteworthy. Just the heat generated by the engine of history, that limited gleam that certain things give off in certain places at certain times - that and a kind of inexplicable antsiness, as if we were viewing everything through the wrong end of a telescope. Heroics and villainy, rapture and disillusionment, martyrdom and revisionism, silence and eloquence, etcetera, etcetera... the stuff of any age. Only, in our day - if you'll forgive the overblown expression - it was all so colourful somehow, so very reach-out-and-grab-it palpable. There were no gimmicks, no discount coupons, no hidden advertising, no keep-'em-coming point-card schemes, no insidious, loopholing paper trails. Cause and effect shook hands; theory and reality embraced with aplomb. A prehistory to high capitalism: that's what I personally call those years.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/au ... g.fiction1

...

Angel-A by Luc Besson. Although Besson is considered more commercial, I still consider him a true auteur. This film greatly helped with my depression.



...

[abcdavid01]

Two more films for here.

Rebel Without a Cause is a classic. Jim Stark does have a cause in the film; he is rebelling against Feminism which did not yet have a name.



Fight Club

[Voice of Reason]

[Andrewww]

I think The Godfather 2 is pretty relevant, especially the way Michael deals with Kay.

Up in the Air with George Clooney is a hidden gem which ridicules corporate women and shows how easily AW can manipulate your feelings while cheating on their husbands at the same time. I almost felt sorry for the guy, he changed his mantra and he became more sociable but it was all for nothing.

[abcdavid01]

Yes, Up in the Air is a wonderful film. While on the subject of Clooney I'll also mention The American.