Blogocentric Formulations

Alternative Currency & Joseph Gordon-Levitt

PROMPT: Try to come up with five what ifs. Pick your favorite and turn it into something funny -- short story, rant, essay... Your choice.


          What if... instead of paper bills and coins, our currency was some other item?
          What if... you had to assume a new identity and leave your old life completely behind?
          What if... your doctor said you only have two months left to live?
          What if... your significant other suddenly confessed that they were actually a spy?
          What if... you could be a professional athlete for a day?

I've often wondered what life would be like if, instead of paper money and coins, we had some other kind of currency. What if we collectively decided that salaries would be paid and goods and services would be bought with something entirely arbitrary like buttons or seashells or pineapples or poker chips. On the one hand, it's not so hard to believe... at one point we had to make the collective decision to assign value to pieces of printed linen paper and circular pieces of metal, and could just as easily have chosen some other arbitrary item (although maybe pineapple would have to be ruled out because it has a natural expiration date on it ).

Speaking of currency, I really love the fact that the European Union has coins for the $1 and $2 denominations. I think it's so much more convenient to carry coins for those little amounts, so you can pay for pretty much anything under $5 with the change in your pockets rather than having to also break out an assorted collection of bills and coins. I pointed this out to my wife when we were in Paris last year, and she was mostly in agreement with me until I pointed out that it might make stripping a more dangerous job... what with patrons flinging metal coins at them rather than raining dollar bills down on them.

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PROMPT: What actor or actress do you like enough to watch in just about anything?

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0330687/

Even though I've known who Joseph Gordon-Levitt is since 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN and one of my all-time favorites, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, it's been remarkable to see just how far he's come and how good he really is over the past decade or so. His collaborations with Rian Johnson (BRICK, LOOPER, and a cameo in THE BROTHERS BLOOM) are really the first time I realized this guy was an exceptional actor. Then he turned in outstanding performances in THE LOOKOUT, (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, INCEPTION, 50/50, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, and DON JON. Even his less impressive fare (PREMIUM RUSH, STOP-LOSS, etc.) still show him standing out from other talents actors in the cast.

There are a lot of other actors that I will follow and see which projects they're acting in (Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bryan Cranston, Anna Kendrick, Bradley Cooper, Natalie Portman, Emma Stone, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anne Hathaway, etc.), but there is a limit with most of them in terms of what subject matter I'll watch. Even if I love an actor, there's always the occasional project that just doesn't sound all that interesting to me... with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I'm not sure I've gotten to that point yet. I'm either still too much a fan, or his taste in movies is similar to my own, because every time I hear he's got a new movie coming out, I make a point of seeing it.