Today (11/18/17) I ran… e (a) Sports – It’s (with)in the game

Category: Across this thought / On my mind… (48)

Cool names or odd names.

First and foremost: I don’t really care about the question if – or If not – eSports is real sport. I want to talk about something. To put it simply: How great it is. I know eSports since my early teenage years. In 2006, when I was a mere teenager, I watched a television channel that only focused on eSports. (It flopped big and failed miserably.) The biggest ‘disciplines’ back in the days were Counter-Strike 1.6 and WarCraft 3. And a bit of Quake. Everything was still in its infancy. There was no big YouTube channel covering it or even things like streaming. (i.e. Twitch or the early Justin.tv.)

When I began watching it simply loved the competition. How the teams coordinates its attacks or how WarCraft 3 players refined their strategies. I did not consider it as global and broad as it is today. The only way to find and battle other players were the ‘ESL’, the Electronic Sports League. (It still exists today.) It was easy and nice to use. Many people met noobs and boons and showed off their 1337-ness. It was a nice and positive atmosphere. Okay, they were rage-quitters or arrogant pros. But that did not matter. Everyone had a good time and liked being together with others who share the same passion for competitive gaming or gaming in general.

Fast forward to 2010. This were the time where I came across StatCraft 2. And YouTube. Since then, I watched every replay and loved it even more. This was the inception time for my now concluding thought about why I love eSports so much. It’s not just the kind and nice community. The commentators. The presentation. The professionalism. I love eSports because of its cosmopolitism.

Esports is not just “eSports”. It’s South Korea, USA, Germany, Sweden, France; it’s everything. I love how the players respect and behave without prejudice and racism. People are always nice. It seems like nobody gives a crap about where someone else was born, how someone looks, its skin, its clothing. The people respect each other and behave in a very positive manor. From my point of view: I think it’s because the players itself are so smart. The players are simply smarter than people in others sports. (Cough, cough. Football. (Soccer.)

I think the eSports community, which fans are also often very smart, is a role model for

global multi cultural exchange. It is a beacon of hope of how we want to treat each other is a global world in the 21st century. To put it bluntly: I simply love the intelligence and respect. I am not the smartest man in the world and I admire everyone smarter than me. I love astrophysics, psychology and sociology. I love to understand things. And learning. I may not be able to study them but I can grasp its concepts and theories. Sorry, for the detour.

Esports is something we all should cherish and try to enjoy the atmosphere, the people involved and the world it created. The people are fantastic and phenomenal. I may not be able to follow every tournament or every new players now. But I will always remember, and love, that people are actually able to respect and tolerate each other. Regardless of gender, age, skin color, or something else. We should not take it for granted. To make a point: You are wonderful.

Today (11/16/17) I ran… Equalization

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (47)

I hope on hope so hopelessly...

„There is industrial espionage. Why is there no social espionage?“ – Hagen Rether (German cabaret artist)

What if we had certain standards for every country in the world? No, I don’t mean or even want a world government. (I already talked about this.) No. Imaging we would take all ideas that would benefit other countries? Like certain tax systems. Education. Healthcare. Welfare. We took the best idea for every system we currently have and try to evoke the best possible outcome for everyone?

A few examples. There is a huge recycling system in Germany. For every aluiminium can or PET bottle you have to pay 25 cent more and you can go to every supermarket in entire Germany to recycle your bottle or can for free. You get a small bon and can either demand the money or buy something for it. What if we decided to install such a system globally?

Imagine what resources we would save and how good it would be for the environment.

Or a global educational system where school starts at nine. People get older and older. Why do people have to leave school at sixteen or seventeen? Can’t they stay longer? Can’t they sleep enough to stay more awake in school? Be more productive and healthier? Combined with fruits and vegetables for every pupil and we have a perfect school system? The bigger question though is simple: Why aren’t we debating such things? Why does it seem the governments don’t even care for education? Why only in the third world? (Where it’s impossible to fund the educational system.) Why aren’t we doing research and how to improve the system? How do educate students more efficient and with better techniques? I have no answer to any of these question.

Or the pension system in the Netherlands. Every Dutch citizen gets a certain pension he can live with without fearing that it’s not enough. Pension is a delicate thing and every country in the world handles it differently. Why don’t we compare all systems and choose the best one? It does not sound so hard to be honest. At least for the first world. (Where at least theoretically could fund a certain pension for everyone.) We could save people from being poor and offer them a perspective for life in such an age.

What I’m trying to say: We could try to “perfect” our world with the best system possible. But I’m fully aware of how utopia this sounds. It’s practically impossible. Which brings me to my next point. I think – if we did all this – we could boost and promote diverse culture and multi cultural relationships. Those who already work together, like the EU, would harmonize its systems and approaches. Not to form the United States of Europe, but to start the equalization of our world.

Today (11/15/17) I ran… Hunting minds

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (46)

I am a T.E.A.M. Totally Enthusiastic and Ambitious Man.

My lifelong goal, among many other things, is to understand evil. From a psychological point of view, from a sociological, from a humanists point of view. As I pointed out in my post 'Practive human', from my personal point of view, we never evolved in any way, shape or form. We are still the greedy, power hungry, ignorant control freaks who seem to only love damaging others as much as someone can. But that is not my thought of today. My thought today needed insight I simply cannot gain: What does happen inside of your mind? The most simple premise to tackle this topic is the following: Why do you do – what you do?

I wish I could simply ask. I could ask a professor at a university. I could ask a criminal in jail. The greatest fear, from my part, is the actual answer. There are probably many, many answers to the questions of crime or sadism. Either the answer is very complex and involves many aspects of all kinds of points of view. Or the answer is very simple. The simple answer could be: "I don't know." Or: "I don't care." In the end people actually might have no answer to begin with. They simply did what they did. Without motivation. Whatever way you try to grasp this concept; it's frightening.

I asked myself: Is being evil the default mode? Is being evil actually more normal than being a good person? Why do people don't know? Why don't people care? I think that it's not only these people don't think and feel emotions; it's also these people are either empty shells of humans with no humanity inside of them or it's their socialisation. But murders aren't socialized with being a murderer. I know. I think it's a gradual downfall of someones "soul'. (And I immediately apologize for this term. I simply have no better one.) Maybe downfall is too drastic. Let's call it 'process'.

Since positivity is not being vauled and taught; we only got negativity. And it begins in elementary school and proceeds to your teenage years and finally into your adulthood. All these evil-ness grows inside of us because we have no other approach to turn to. People don't want much things. They want to be taken seriously, they want to be part of the group and they want to be vauled. And all these things people only get with being evil. This whole complex of evil casts a huge shadow onto us; the society.

As long as we – every one of us – celebrate negativity and accept evil behavior; this will never stop. We must start to practice human. We must start to stay quiet and don't ramble all the time. We must start to think and don't act blindlessly. We must start to accept that being different is something good and we should appreciate it. Many other things must go with it. Compassion. Empathy. Hope. When we start to become good and dicide to defy humans known order of behavior and demolish barriers we thought we cannot burst –

then! - then we can become good men and women. But that sounds too good to be true.

Today (11/14/17) I ran…Day v Night

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (45)

Like the day: I love the night.

There is a German term I learned from a German rap artist called Samy Deluxe. He called himself: "Nachtmensch." Or, barely translated: "Night human." Or : "Night person." What's my point. I consider myself a Nachtmensch, too. I remember my first time being awake at night. And it collides with the internet. (How unfortunate, right?) When I got my internet in 2005 I was mere 12 years old. And hang out in internet chats. This is when I first began to be awake at night. And I loved it.

I loved being at night because it was peaceful, quiet and so meditating; so free of tension and noise and so full of peace and harmony. I chatted all night and tried to stay awake at night. This was the first time I stayed awake at night until 5 o'clock in the morning. And then I began to play World of WarCraft and played all night long. I would not consider it addiction. I just enjoyed the atmosphere of the night more than the day. Consider please, this way on weekends or holiday; NOT on usual weeks. (And I would go to school normally without any negative effects on my grades or something.)

The night has something magical to it, you know. It's kinda hard to describe. It may be colliding with the fact that I lived in a small village and we had no airplanes, trains or cars or something. I loved to just browse the web for information or chatting a bit with strangers. I played demos or browsed forums. All at night. The day is so loud and so annoying that I began to appreciate the night more and more. I would rewatch old TV shows or listen to some music at night. It was just me, my computer and a bottle of ice tea and a blanket to warm myself.

Now, I don't do this anymore and will probably never repeat it again. The only thing I sometimes do is to wake up early and enjoy the morning dawn. It was a phase of my life I enjoyed a lot. I would not recommend it to anyone though. Teenager should not stay awake at night. (Kids, go to bed early!) When I look back, I always remind myself how peaceful I am as a person and how the night made me appreciate peace in general. It shaped me a bit; only a tiny bit. Anyway. The night is something great and – if you're old enough – stay awake a night and tell me what you think. Good night.

Today (11/13/17) I ran… People that inspire me

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (44)

The man with devil's fingers.

I think idols are very important. We need people to look up to; to learn from. Be it your father, mother, brother, sister, friend, best friend, girlfriend. The point is: I wouldn't be here if I had no idols that helped me to make me become the best version of myself I can possibly become. I know, I sound theatrical and a bit weird – but it's true. Who are those

people? In no particular order.

Michael Sebastian "Curse" Kurth, German rap artist

His music is pure love and pure soul. His texts have me influenced more than anything else. Since is German music – so German rap verses – it's hard to discribe what I truly mean. I came across his music when I was 12 years old. Hearing his track in a small niche television channel called 'NBC GIGA'. It was the track "Münze des Glücks" or "Coin of Luck." The track itself is good, but not the main focus. It's his entire catalogue. I could quote lyrics, snippets or something. His passion for positive attitude, love, encouragement and a hate – for hate, inspire me to this day. For 12 years of pure gratitude for this man. He taught me that I am not alone, that there are others out there. He taught me to endure hard times with a passion for positive thinking. He taught me to think – and to reflect. Everything – every technique – has been taught to me from his lyrics. Just like on fan of him stated: "Every sentence a mantra." Thank you, Mike.

Tony "London Elektricity" Colman, British Drum and Bass artist

His music is always like trance to me. I listen io it and get very positive and cheerful vibes. His expression of positivity, deep thinking and deeper tracks inspired me a lot. My favorite album is Syncopated City because I like every track on it. I have his music on my phone for many years and always listen to it on the tram or train or something. Be it 'Point of No Return' or 'Syncopated City': It always struck in my head for a long time because I had to think about; reflect it. The introdcution to him was actually through an artist signed to his label. The track's name is 'I Remember the Future' from High Contrast. And since then I am hooked. And I will never forget 'The Plan that Cannot Fail': It will not. Thank you, Tony.

Eiichiro Oda, Japanese manga artist

His world 'One Piece' is my go-to world to juice up new creative ideas. And no, I don't mean stealing, copying or imitating ideas. I mean simple inspiration. The cheer creativity in One Piece is unprecedented and undeniable the most creative world ever created. An endless amount of ideas for characters, powers, items and much more. Whenever I feel a bit stuck and don't know; I look up the One Piece wikia (onepiece.wikia.com) and look up a few things and I get the power back to create my own worlds and universes. He inspires me to be better than I was yesterday; to challenge known tropes and defy expectations. Thank you, Odacchi.

J.K. Rowling, British novelist and screenwriter

She is funny, witty, intelligent, strong, sympathetic, and last but not least: So. Damn. Creative. It's a similar approach to Eiichiro Oda. When I need some inspiration I just browse Pottermore (pottermore.com) and then the creative juice gets flowing. Her so detailed and diverse Wizarding World is the most consistent fictional words ever created. Every detail is so well-thought and thought-out that nothing is being left unanswered. Every character has a backstory, every magical item has a detailed description; everything feels cohesive and fluid. Everyone – and everything – has more and better backstories than entire other franchises. It's not only her Wizarding World. She herself is very sympathetic too. I browsed her Twitter feed for a few weeks and could not stop laughing, acknowledging or simply smirking. (And now I wish there was a pottermore for One Piece.) Thanks, Jo.

Rudy, my father

Last but not least it's my father. He taught me to be the person I now am as a grown-up. Without him there would be no critical thinking, reflecting or thinking at all. His influence on me cannot be expressed. Only due to his unconditional love for me and my person itself; there would be no Dominik Roderburg, the storyteller, thinker, poet and what else I do. Due to his input about the world, its people and how he saw the world; I'd probably never developed the way I act now; the way I live now.

And to all the other people, friends, relatives, teachers, class comrades, people I met on vacations and never forgot; thank you. I am the product of love, compassion, passion and freedom. Without all the others; I'd not be here. Only due to those who inspired and shaped, I can present my thoughts and feeling to the world; share it with them. Last but not least: Now I can use me – myself – to try to reach out to others and try to help them to become as critical, thoughtful, creative, reflecting and modest as I am. From all of us here: Thank you.

Today (11/12/17) I ran…Give life meaning

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (43)

Life in 90 Pages.

Life itself, and its meaning, can be broken down into two factors: Philantropy and altruism. These two things are the ultimate answer to the quesiton of life and its meaning. If we look at the things that make people help others and make people respect others; it's these two things. Good people will always help others in need. A closer look will give us the insight that nothing else makes sense. Hate makes no sense, consumerim makes no sense, and having fun makes no sense. This distinguishes everything fairly simply. Doing good feels god. Doing bad feels bad. Depends on owning a conscious.

Life is only struggle until you arrange with nature. Nature should guide us. Nothing else. Many people struggle with too little sleep or eating way too much. Then life is struggle. When you arrange yourself, your body and your mind, to nature, it becomes way easier. You will feel better and live better. Listen to your body. Listen to your mind. It will tell you exactly what it needs.

Sometimes... sometimes I think life on earth is a competition about who is the cruelest human. Helping each other, caring for each other, being with each other. Forgetting what kind of skin someone has, how much money he has on his bank account, accepting someone with edges. These things make everything worthwhile. The rich help the poor, the intelligent help the stupid, the strong help the weak.

Because... Because what else could we do? Continue as we do now? With hate, fear and doubt? No. This concept won't change anything. Everyone wants peace, happiness and fulfillment. Me too. We could have all these things. If we worked together, began to think and accept us a beings of nature. We can make it happen. We can make it work. If you start using your mind and just imagine how it could be. Just imagine.

Am I just being naive? Have I seen too much negative stuff? Too much negative input? I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about everything and so much other stuff through my life. I just did what was fun. Like everyone else. Someone drinks or smokes for joy… I simply think. We only ever benefited from people who thought. The reformist Martin Luther, Leonardo DaVinci, Isaac Newton. I am no genius. I am no scholar. I am a simple man from

the street. Will my thoughts make a difference like these people did? Will it be enough?

I can only hope my thoughts resonate with those who are supposed to be resonated with. The right people will hear my thoughts and put their own puzzle together. The right thought in the wrong man can make all the differences in the world. I deeply believe in thought- entropy. Because the smallest things have the biggest effect. This does not only count for atoms. A small little self-made bracelet may be more valuable like a new, expensive gift. Small things, like a compliment, mean much more than bigger things in life.

The masses won’t follow me, and that is okay. Only a handful people will ever hear from me anyway. To those people out there. You are not alone. I am here. Many others of are also here. We can make a difference! Together! We can change the world and make it better! Don’t stop! Don’t stop thinking! Don’t stop believing! Don’t stop dreaming! Never stop being amazed by life, nature and everything the creation has to offer.

Today (11/11/17) I ran...Dreams matter (04.14.17)

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (42)

One Piece Fan #0001.

What would life be without dreams? Many endure a hard life. Trying to survive day by day. Without any ambition to become better in any way shape or form. And that is simply sad. It's sad to see people wasting their lives for no reason. They do not do anything at all. They just get up, go to work, come home and the cycle repeats. This cycle must be broken. By dreams.

A dream is something that keeps you alive in harsh times. That inspires you and people around you. It elevates you, your mind, your brain and your soul. Be it a small thing like a certain activity, or a big thing, like being an athlete. Whatever it is; it's empowering you. It takes you out of the cycle. It makes you stronger and more versatile. It's a very good thing to have one. It helps every day. Until the dream has come true.

When the dream has come true; life, is different. Many dream of a better life. And through hard work, dedication and ambition, things will change over time. Not from today to tomorrow. But from today to in a few months. People will always say, that chasing his/her dreams was a good idea. To not trying is almost a crime. The outcome is a life more bearable, more fun, and more engaging.

Having a dream is impotant. Everyone who's dreams has come true will agree. Everyone needs something that motivates him every day. To go out – and show the world who's the boss. And those without dream: It's never too late. Start dreaming today. Dreams have their own lives – treat them well. Dreams are important if you want to succeed in life. Dreams, like getting a job you like, or becoming something you like, will always empower you to become exactly what your heart desires. They do not go away, they do not judge. They just reside in your heart and wait to become made real.

This is the path you have to choose. The way you must must walk. The thing you must do. You have the right to choose for you. Your personal way is a path your dedicate your life to. Whatever may come across your path; you will prevail. This thing cannot be discussed or changed, cannot be challenged or be questioned. Your life lies in front of you like a huge map. You know what to do. The challenges and hardships will be conquered like a man

conquers a country. Nothing will stand in your way. Nothing will stop you from accomplishing your hopes and dreams. It's not done until you say it is done. People will hate you, people will love you. You don't know which and what kind of people will cross with your way, but you will accept it happily. You will accept that the strange, the unusual and the weird. Nothing is embarrassing if you follow your path. It's indistinguishable from everyone's else. You don't know if God has plan for you or if he or she even exists. You put your faith into your hands and hope for the best. Nothing can go wrong. Nothing will go wrong. Everything has its time and date. You listened to your heart and trained your mind. Nothing, absolutely nothing will stop me. No man, no king, no God. It is in front of you like a vision. You know you can accomplish anything. You will accomplish anything. This. Is. Your. Way.

Today (11/10/17) I ran…Aspiration

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (41)

Dominik Roderburg: How to write. Coming soon.

I've been thinking... about people, their dreams and their path. People, be it people on the street, on television, or I meet personally. I always try to look closer, more personal. I want to understand their aspirations, their ambitions, their way of life. I want to know someone how they are really are.

The most common thing I come across is the lack of ambition. Many people live an ordinary life with job, family, etc. They are happy the way it is. They are happy how things are. They may don't want to change the world (which is okay), or change how the world works. But that doesn't matter. They even lack the ambition to make their lives better. Which is a bad thing. Most people simply accept the circumstances 'as they are'. Like a certain job, certain relationships, certain activities.

Unlike most creative people, like musicians or artists, these people will establish a certain way of thinking, acting and living and will probably never try to question how, and why, things are the way they are. This is a notably bad thing. Not having the ambition to make things better (even when it's just the own, personal life), is damaging everything around us. But ambition is not necessarily the worst thing; it is the lack of discipline.

Learning a new skill, like playing a guitar, demands disciplined learning and practice. Here comes the crux: Many are not even trying. Adpating to a new life can be a hard, or even harsh thing. When the routine you know for many years is broken, you get either sad – or mad. You lack the personal discpline to make things better; be it your life or the world. But discipline is key to success in any way, shape or form. Only your disciplined way of approaching things, like problems you face in your life, can make it actually better.

When you accept hardship, and face the things discilplined, things will change. And everything can change. Nothing in life is for sure. You don't need to accept things necessarily as they are. You can have a positive effect on everything surrounding you by trying to accept some sort of hardship. With this way of approaching things, change will become certain and predictable. You can have it your way. Every day. Your life will become better. With change. By discipline.

Explore your potential. Many people are born with a talent. Some can play a piano, some can jump very far. And most of the times people only do one thing their entire life. They

choose a certain profession and are happy. My stance would be to try as many things as possible. Be an experience junkie. Everyone has its own comfort zone and range of interests. The tricks is to explore these 'segments'. If you play pian, maybe try a different instrument. If you can draw, maybe you can paint. Within the range of your abilities and habits, you should try to widen it. You will know to explore the full pontetial of yourself. You can eleavte your ambiitons and learn a new hobby or engage in a new activity. Widen your horizon as wide as possible.

Today (11/09/17) I ran... Idea-listic

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (40)

No reference needed.

Having an idea is better than having a plan. Having a plan is important. The first step before developing a plan is having an idea. Maybe you want to go to school again, or open up a restaurant. Before the thinking comes the projection. Project your own idea in front of you. Have a very, very disttinct and nuanced idea inside of your mind. Have a goal. Have an aspiration. This is the first step. The comes the next step: Planning.

Think up the details. How long will it take? How much money does it cost? Do I have the abilties? Do I have the patience? The actual planning is the essential part in achieving your ideas. Try to think as detailed as possible. Imagine how it should be and then try to think up the 'how'. Things get failly easy with this simple trick. Never forget: Dream big. Think bigger. Also: Big things lead to bigger things. Plus: The most simple solution is the most beautiful. Remember: Dedicate yourself to it – the rest is hard work. Success needs two things; a dream and a realistic goal. Last: If you lack ambition – forget it.

The future can be predictable. Many people believe that the future is uncertain. Everything can happen at any given time. Illness, debt, accidents. This is only partly true. Keeping everything the same may keep things common and predictable; change on other hands; keeps things interesting. Constant change will make you able to constantly adapt to it. Rituals are only human. But give every day the chance to surprise you. Every day has something to offer you. A new interesting thought, a new person you meet, whatever.

Every day is a gift you must treat with gratitude, and will thank you back. Because the future is uncertain; your actions – are not. Your actions determine your future. When you save money, you can afford bigger things. When you use you bycicle instead of a car, you become fitter. This is simple logic here. When you focus on what's to come; things become easy to adapt to. Don't forget: You can change your life, your behaviour and your attitude at any given time. Always.

It's all about your decison. Progress is a decision. When new thoughts clash with old ones; that’s progress. When you're stuck. In life for example. Many people do not know what do to. The answer is easy: Make a decision. Decide to stop drinking, or to start reading more books. Whatever you do; a decision is the first step moving forward. Don't panic, don't get all angry. Calm down and make a simple decision. This decision will lead to further decisions and the process continues until the problem is solved.

When all hope is lost, return to the start. When all hell breaks loose and you don't know any further: Just go back to the start. Re-think your decisions, reflect and come to new conclusions whch will lead to new decisions. Repeat until you're happy. Life is no

competition, please, remember that. Don't look at others. Only look at your life. Maybe others can help or give direction. But in the end: It's up to you. You decide for your life.

It is not bad to make mistakes; it is bad to not to learn from them. If you don't learn from your mistakes the stakes are high that you make them again. Try to write down what you've done wrong and think up a decision that makes things better for your own. You may walk alone; but you walk. That's the most important thing. Don't get stuck. Always try to progress further and beyond your own imagination. The outcome is purely your personal vision coming to life.

Adapt. But don't conform. Conforming is a bad thing. Even though it is a natural one. Humans are wired to socialize and meet new people. Try to adapt to others, by having mutual hobbies, but don't conform with the other person. Always stay true to yourself. Embrace the new - never forget the old. Trying new things is good. Not forgetting your old life is also good. Things like personal rituals are important in character building. Old friends, old books, whatever, do not forget how the past shaped you how you are today. Just try. You may like the outcome. Many people do not try new things and do not take the risks. But trying new things is essential! It could change your whole life for the better! A new sport, a new book, a new stranger to talk to. The opposite to free choicie is being controlled. Then you are under control. This means your hobby, and the people involve, decide for you. Never let this happen. Always remember to choose the free choice instead of something else.

Going somewhere. Going nowhere does not mean getting anywhere. I experienced a few downs in my life. I always thought I was going nowhere in life. But the closer I analyzed myself, the more I felt how everything "lives" on itself. Even when you do not know where to go next, life will always go for you. It willl help you regardles of where you're heading. Let go. Otherwise you never know what may happen to you. Most people cling to things. That's natural and totally okay. You don't want to loose things you like and care about. But if you let go, new things will enter your life and you can experience a whole new thing. Things are always moving; thus changing. They just won’t ask for your permission. Many people complain their life is not changing at all. Every day is the same. Nothing changes.

But everything changes on every day. As said: It will not ask for your permission. The people around you change, you are changing yourself, you just do not notice. Even when everything seems dark and awful, remember: Everything changes on his own. Just keep an eye out. Give every day the chance to change your life for the better. Every day offers massive ideas for a better life. Every day offers you a chance to make your life better. You must reflect on your actions and rethink your position, then, you'll find true happiness. Moving forward is hard. But it's worth it. Because it is simple: People only change through maturing. Some say: "People never change." And they are wrong! Through thinking and reflection, people change for the better. Through maturing, people become other persons. As it depends on the person; for the good, and, for the worse.

Express yourself. Don’t limit yourself. Many people do the best they can, and forget, they could do more. For my part: I can write feature film screenplays, then I thought I could write short fims or a TV show. I do not limit myself in what I do; I do everything. In other words: Try new things out and learn from everyone. Allow yourself to wonder. Coolness seems to be defaul mode for many people. Just being cool all the time does not help at all. Allow yourself to be like a child, seeing something for the very first time. A certain sentence, a certain opinion, whatever. Allow yourself to wonder about life's riddles and questions. Curiosity is one of the few things you can keep from your childhood. You cannot

keep your naivity from your childhood, you have to be a serious grown up. But curiosity is something you can always embrace. It will offer you new chances and new ideas in life and will become a better one.

Open your mind today – tomorrow it’s too late. A closed mind. Closed for problems, closed for misery, will always be closed. This is what we call ignorance. I don't know what happens tomorrow, but whatever happens, it might be too late to have an open mind about it. Try to be as open as you can about everything surrounding you. It helps. A lot. Constant challenge makes you stronger. You may get better by doing the same thing over and over, but you only get really better, if you challenge yourself in what you do. Challenge improves your abilities way better, than just repeating. Then you'll succeed. Question everything. And don’t stop when it comes to yourself and your beliefs.

Critical thinking is something our world lacks desperatley. No one dares to think about things or facts or ideas. This is why you must question everything around you. Your politics, your media, your ideals. And do not stop when it comes to yourself. Improve yourself by thinking about what makes you – you. Or what makes you the person others like, or do not like. A true master will always question himself first. Practice makes perfect. Passion makes perfection. Practicing is important. You cannot become a master of all skills, if you just sit around. But passion, passion gives you the power to become a true master of what you do. You must love what you do. Otherwise you will fail at becoming better.

There is always room for improvements. No matter how good you are: You can do better. In science, in art, in sports; whatever you do – you can – do – better! Many people are satisfied with what they do, not thinking on improving themselves. But improving yourself is key in succeeding in life. The best of the best will never stop to become better and better. Amazing how much you can learn from yourself. I learned a lot from my idols and role models. But I also learned a lot by myself. It is astonishing how much experience and knowledge lies within yourself. Listen to what your mind is telling you. Try to perfect your moral stance. Don't just listen to your heart; listen to your mind too and be surprised what things it tells you. Remember though: Your heart will always be superior to your mind. Your mind will only partially motivate you. You have a thought that motivates you and it fades with the time. If you're fueled by hormones, it also fades. But your heart stays active all the time. It's like an inner fire that pushes you forward. Focus on it and be amazed.

Today (11/08/17) I ran... Not. Your. Business.

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (39)

For individuals only.

What I know for sure is: Homosexuals have and had it hard. There is one simple sentence I want to put at the beginning of this thought: It’s none of your business. I always see the demonstrations for, or against, homosexual marriage. What other people do with their life is none of your business. If someone drinks himself to death; nobody cares. But if someone marries a man; all hell breaks loose. This is not okay.

Homosexuals just want to make use of their basic human rights like the rest of us. They can marry if they want. Let them do. Why do you even care? Is it really so awful to see a man marry a man? Is it so awful to see a woman kiss a woman? What’s the deal?

Because it’s against God or nature? Homosexuality is not out of the ordinary. Even

animals are gay. It’s, as all the time in my thought, just because you cannot think for yourself. You just blabber what others blabber in front of you. You can’t even argue. The same goes for abortion.

You can think of abortion what you want. You can think it’s murder, you can thing it is against God. I don’t care. But it is none of your business to interfere someone else his life. You don’t know why they abort, how the baby came to be. You don’t know the person who is about to abort. Always this urge to interfering someone else his life. If someone kills himself with drugs, nobody cares. But abortion is the main problem here. This is so stupid and nonsensical. This shows off how wrong our society is.

Women should rule everything. Women are better in school, women are better students. They got more empathy and compassion. They act calmer and less angrier. Women should rule over corporations and politics. Women are the only chance for a better world. If we look at the state of women in our society, things get very eerie. They’re nothing more than puppets and dolls for men. They’re only here to please and serve men. Be it as prostitutes, strip clubs, catwalks, pornography.

All women do all day is to give men a good time. They have to take care of the kids, the household, and still earn less money than the male counterpart. This is so fundamentally wrong. Women are not part of the problem. They are part of the solution. Men are the problem. A documentary I saw asked: Is evil male? And I say: Yes. Women do not run amok, murder someone, don’t steal. They don’t go to war, they don’t join gangs, they don’t deal with drugs. The majority of crimes are committed by men. Men are the root of all evil. Women have more empathy, more patience, a greater social feeling. They’re eager to help, eager to respect others and more eager to be nice.

Today (11/07/17) I ran...Give it a try

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (38)

Read Death Note. Now.

You must try and try and try. And not because of this song. What happens if we don't try? If I may paraphrase: Those who only do what they can, will only stay who they are. And this sums it up pretty perfectly. Everything is given. No questions left. Just what should we try? They are plenty of things. Trying new things. Give things the chance to improve your life. Try a new diat or try a new philosophy.

Otherwise you life will only be what you always knew. And isn't this boring? Wouldn't that be the most boring thing in the world? Just having the same life; your entire life? With no change and no aspirations? To paraphrase again: Me being the same person 10 years ago would be boring. A rapper said that by the way. Or maybe trying new food. Food is an essential part of our life. Many order in restaurants or buy in discounters. At some point you ate everything those things have to offer. This means again: Stagnation. To paraphrase again: Trying the same thing and expecting a different outcome is what I call insanity. Einstein said that This is actually false. As a writer myself I tried many times to come up with a good story for my stories. I tried to come up with a good story and had the first one. I was not satisfied and tried again, then I had a different story. So on and so forth. This may be only applieable to creative things, yet it matters.

Maybe you try to earn a higher degree. Then you fail. Then you think: Why bother, it won't work. Then you try again and it works. The decisions we make and the attempts we try are

so complex and different all the time that a simple quote won't fully explain it. And if you did not succeed. Even after several attempts. Be assure that you can confident that you at least tried to change things. Maybe you got lost of the habit of something. Like smoking. The idea of trying is all that matters. The notion of trying to overcome and master things. The attempt to try to be different. However you want to see it: The try alone is worth your effort, time, money and patience. Believe me.

Today (11/06/17) I ran...Practice human

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (37)

Imagine all the people... reflecting their actions.

We are pretty much fucked. We. Our entire species. We. The people. We. You and me. If we look at the current state of Earth; our world, we only see a constant progress into regress. Since we do not move forward we simply stagnate, and partly, move backwards. Best example is the rise of right and right-wing ideologies spreading all over the damn planet. (Okay, the U.S. and parts of Europe.) The downfall continues with our climate as it gets weirder and more extreme each year with entire nations getting flood. People become more and more aggressive, not only on the internet, but also in real life. It seems there are no taboos anymore. It seems nothing seems, or is being deemed, bad anymore.

The problem lies within our nature as human beings where negative attributes are more developed than good one. The good has to practiced. Things like love, patience, compassion, empathy, sympathy and hope need to be learned in order to be understood. Good people are so rare because the circumstances to create one are so rare. Negativity, like hate, are all around us. In schools, on TV, on the internet. It shapes us to be evil people. It's a cycle we cannot break. (At least we could. If we wanted.) Good people are good because they were taught to be good. Parents, teachers, friends shaped them to be a good person. You experienced that positive behavior gets rewarded. Our world promotes negative behavior though. You insult someone and the entire class laughs about it. That is your reward. If you beat someone up and the rest cheers to you. That is your reward. You smack someone in a comment section and it gets thumbs up. That is your reward. Negativity, thus evil, is a cycle we cannot break if good people do not stand up. The good ones are quiet, shy, held back. They won't speak up, gather their resources or build up organization. The reason is simple: They are too few good people. We are too few.

And that is why our world is nothing but a reflection of our human nature. Movies, TV shows, full of sex and violence, YouTube videos full of glorifying capitalism and throw- away-culture, music about sorrow and broken love, terrorists killing innocent people, politicians being corrupt and only serving the economy. Everything. Advertisements, crime novels, the lack of empathy and courage. The 24/7 news cycle. Everything reflects our corrupt and rotten innards. Our disgusting minds. Our evilness.

From my point of view, we never developed as a species. I don't know what happends if we evolved (since we never did it). Since the dawn of time, we only did live in the lowest form possible. With no developed character or personality. Look at the world. What do we do in our globalized world? We trade. Like cave men. But instead of fur for a fruit we trade televisions for money. Even looking back at our entire history or humanity, we only did two things: Trade. And fight wars. Translated into our modern world we do two things: Trade.

I.e. the globalized economy. And fight. I.e. either in actual wars in the Middle East. Or in our societies. Lie pro-Europe versus anti-Europe. We never moved forward. We never

progressed. We never evolved. What happens if we do?

I don't know. Our world is chaos. It needs order. It needs stability. Only saying: It needs love, would not do it justice. We don't need unions of countries in order to do that. Not the elites should organize themselves; the people must do it. We must unite people, not nations. If we organized ourselves in a people's union of independent thinkers, scholars and creatives, we might begin to achieve progress. We might learn what lies ahead of us. For now, we can only imagine. The road ahead is an enigma.

Today (11/05/17) I ran...You can do more (06/18/17)

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (36)

Your dreams wish to be made real.

If we look at the people of our world; what do we see? We see salesman, shop assistants, fast food provider. We see a huge pool of underdeveloped people. Not in a sense of nutrition or body; but mind, intellect and heart. We see that people can do much more than they actually do. It's not the way for us - the people of Earth – to just execute orders and be a mindless office drone. I deeply belive that every human being has the potential to be a person much greater than they can imagine.

It saddens me to see, that people are not developing their mind and body in a sense of progress and progressivness. They don't read books, they don't engage in political discourse. They do nothing more than just simply exist and let life happen as an afterthought. Yet, the potential these people inherit is immense. But what is this potential? What are talking about? The potential to be part of something greater. Be part of the world's change.

The only way to change the world – and make it a better place for everyone – is to develop every human being to its maximum potential. This does not mean you need to look like Schwarzenegger or be as smart as Einstein; this means people begin to train their brain. To train their mind. How do we achieve this? By an simple technique called 'reflection'. Most people don't enagege in the concept of thinking. Thinking is too hard, too stressful, too annoying or too stupid to work with. Refleciton on the other hand is a begiinner's tool to open your mind. Reflect what?

The first thing people can reflect on – is obviously – their actions. To be more precise. Their behavior towards others. Most problems – like hate-speech – exist because people are not facing the consquences of an open, agile mind that has something we call 'conscious'. They don't feel what damage they do. As soon as people begin to question their behavior – if stressed enough by society, friends, relatives, books – these people make the first step in becoming a better human.

Nevertheles, our society does not encourage these things; they encourage negative behavior. This is because we humans are social beings and we always engage in rooms that we share with others. This is only normal. A football fan will engage with another football fan. Here is the crux though: We have little to no people who demonstrate and help others with reflecting their actions. The answer to this problem is to call out for those who do and help others to become better humans who can do more than just having a job.

The group of these people is sadly way too small to be a critical mass. We are a tiny

fraction compared to the ordinary human who engages in negative behavior. And just like the others – we gather too! We may be fans of musicians, fans of spirtiual leaders, believers, scientists. We – the people who think – must become a critical mass that demolishes the negativity we celebrate here on Earth. The only way the world is a better place is with – better humans. It's at least worth a try.

Today (11/04/17) I ran...Thinking

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (35)

I criticize advertisements in my free time.

Your are not truly free until you begin to think. Right now, you are shakled in a system of belief that is now your own. Religion, your parents, your teachers, your TV, everyone gives you certain input. You cannot be free by this. You must think on your own and become a master of yourself. Free yourself.

Thinking is huge fun! But not bad fun, like entertainment. You can become yourself, you can improve yourself and have fun by doing so. New thoughs to think about are there in an endless pool. Give it a try and see how much better it makes your life. You think. Or someone gets paid to think for you. Thinking is essential in understanding and learning how the world, and everything else works. You must think to question the known order. But people do not think. That's why others, like TV-hosts, get paid to think for you. And no one should think for you. You must act on your own.

Thinking is an integral part of what makes you – what you are. We all know that individuals like to think. And others? Can we define a construct for them? The ordinary man on the street? I think so. A human is much more than the sum of its parts. Most people define themselves over their job. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, except when it is. When you're a manager, you see yourself as successful, powerful and being envied by others. If you work in a fast food restaurant, you look at yourself with a bit more critical mass. Your job should just be a task to earn money. Yes, you can have fun. This is totally okay. You may work for 8 hours a day, but it should come in between what makes you – you.

Then they are your hobbies. A much bigger part. This is where you spent most of the time. With video games, novels, reparing old cars; I don't know. This part defines how other people see you. This part tells them what kind of interests you have. You may even meet others in your hobby. These things shape you. Make you individual. Now comes another part: Your personality. A very delicate and fragile thing. People are so different in so many ways that I could go on for hours. Let me get straight to the point: This is what you should develop further. Always trying to improve. Every person has its flaws and that is okay. I don't mean when you, for example, are very critical about certain aspects of life, that you should become more critical. It's rather the other way around: If you got positive aspects, develop them!

You may like to help the elderly, then you should go ahead and try to develop this aspect. When you like to teach others sports, try, and develop this aspect. This is a huge lesson in spreading positvitiy. You got stengths and weaknesses. Everyone is different. A good thing. You should look at yourself in the mirror and think about yourself: Who I am? What makes me – me? And take these thoughts to improve on your strengths and try to overcome your weaknesses. When you can't do that, try to accept your weaknesses. They are part of you. Nature gave us flaws for a reason. We should combine our powers and be

a community. If everyone were perfect we had fairly boring society, and therefore, world. All these things shape you into being someone that is true to himself. True to his nature, flaws, strengths, weaknesses. You are more than what you are right now. Try to become better and improve yourself.

This path leads to so many things. First and foremost to a better and more positive attitude . Since the dawn of time, hatered ruled our minds and hearts. The antidote to this is personal self-improvement. Working on yourself by improving your positive aspects and accepting the negative ones. That is what makes you – what you are.

Most people never tried thinking in their entire life. It is rather proscribed. I find thinking is the most joyful, funny and interesting thing to do. I'm thinking about things since I was a young boy. I started in kindergarden. And I never stopped once. I'm hooked and addicted to it. I have to admit, it is not always the best idea (because you could overthink things.)

But I every answer I found, made room for more questions. It never stops. You need to think in order to understand the world. You must do it do find your own opinion, instead of adapting a stangers one. When everyone has the same opinion; we stutter. We go backwards insteads of forward. Thinking is critical to find solutions. And that is what we need RIGHT NOW: Progress and solutions.

We can't let just a tiny fraction of intellectuals, scholars and elitist do the job of engeneering the society. I believe everyone must be involved. Thinking is also key in art. You must think out song texts, imagine pictures in your mind you want to paint, come up with plots for novels, plays and screenplays. Creativity always drives a society forward. Makes it interesting, fun and engaging. Real creativity takes a lot of effort. You may copy others peoples work; but in the end: You must think for yourself. The most successful artists are keen thinkers and analysts. They come to their very own conclusion. Ending up in analytical and on-point art.

Many people did not even try to think on their own. They are helplessly lost. Then we end up in conformism. Everyone is the same. Wears the same clothes, has the same opinion, and in the end: Leads the same life. It's bland and boring.

I deeply believe that thinking people makes us a more diverse, calm, analytical, critical, fun society. It would give everyone the opportunity to find themselves, listen to their minds and hearts, and in the end: A better world. Use your mind for the better of mankind. Everyone should want to make the world a better place. And we can only become better, by using our minds. Become a scientist, an activist or an artist and improve together with others.

Imagination is the powerful tool that makes the system shiver. What the powerful fear the most are artists. Or people who are creative and self-thinking. No one fears protests, no one fears online campaigns. But people who KNOW what is going on and KNOW how to act properly, this makes the system shiver.

Creativity is an easy thing. I think everyone can do and everyone can have success in it. The main source for ideas you can express creativly is coming from thinking. For my part, my whole life dedicated to creativity. I think about new ideas every day; come up with new ideas every day. I couldn't live without it.

Logic always wins. When it comes to debates, they are facts and opinions. And most of the

time the most vocal supporter win. Good example: Climate change. Not the scientists win, but the people led by newspapers and radio show hosts. In the end though, the site with more reason and broader knowledge will always win. When we experience the climate change; logic has won. Then people have to accept the facts and forget the opinion. It's that simple. Because thinking is a modern virtue.

Thinking is essential and key to the world of your mind; try, and open it up. Your brain is a laboratory. Go ahead and try some experiments. By thinking, you enter your mind, a world beyond. Even the most stupidest and naive idea is better than no idea at all. Your mind is built to function by will. And lastly: It needs courage to practice logic. Following logic and stepping back with emotions may seem weird, yet it is better than rambiling and raging. You have to accept things you formerly dismissed. You have to consider things you did not want to consider.

Ideas need time to grow. Whatever idea you plan to pursue: Take your time. Don't rush and force things. Take your time to consider every single detail. The more details the better. Let the idea grow in the back of your mind. Let the idea become a living and breathing entitiy inside of your mind. Over time, the picture of that idea becomes clearer and clearer. The goal is becomes easier and easier. It's a natural process.

I never get why intelligence is hated while geniuses are being worshipped. People don’t like to see someone being better than themselves I guess. I like intelligent people. I adore intelligence. I accept that some people are smarter, more clever and simply better. This is not a bad thing. You should accept that you are not the best on the block. Rather try to learn from intelligent people. They offer advice and help no one else can provide.

Sex and crime. The lowest instincts possible. Is that the only thing people appeal to? It’s not peace and love. The world would be a better place. Only feeding the lowest instincts is a generally bad thing. You should not just be fed with this stuff. Don't let negative stuff enter your world. Don't let the news feed your greed for sensation. Being negative is so damn easy. Try reason for a change. Rage against the machines which try to control you.

The stupider things are.The more dangerous they become.

The stupider the problem; the stupider the people involved.

Stupid people are the most dangerous ones.

The stupider, the more violent.

Stupid and angry people are easier to control and will likely do what they’re told.

That's why the educational systems all over the world do not produce individuals, who think for themselves, but rather a huge, dumb mass of non-individuals. An angry mob can be controlled very easy. Individuals, who stand for themselves, are not easy to control. Most people aren’t stupid. They just have no idea. Many people aren't that stupid. I believe, that everyone is smart enough to understand the world and its problems. Many people just have no idea what is going on. We're too focused on having fun and enjoy the time. The media are not doing their job by provding critical content and they lie to us. The internet could fill that role, if we really wanted to.

Today (11/03/17) I ran...Fun means doom

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (34)

Every good plot starts with five intriguing minutes.

Fun is not necessarily a bad thing. Only wanting to have fun is a bad thing. The fun live balance. Having fun is not a bad thing. I like to have fun too! I like to ride the rollercoaster or play some games on my console. What I see though, is, that everyone around is designed to amuse you. You're being amused to death. The radio entertains you in the morning, the news in the evening, the television in the middle. Then their is your phone. Or your computer. Your magazine. Or whatever you consume.

The outcome of this fun-loving attitude is that seriousness gets hard. Really hard. Serious debates become hard to manage. Serious discours about current or future events are even harder. This attitude diminishes everything we need in an instant. The worst thing of this attitude is that seriouness gets hated and despised. People are too serious or having too little fun in their life. This is an immense issue. Most debates are fought over your television where 'experts' and politicians throws their opinions back and forth. The actual people who are affected by this, you and me, are left out. Just because you're busy having fun. How do we debate things actually? Either by your television. Or by protest. Then their is the classical scheme of 'for that' or 'against that'.

This is not how sould debate things. We all, living and breathing participants of our respected democracies, should be involved in this. We should not be passive viewers, but active speakers. We are those who have to live with the consequence of a debate. How do we change this? By stepping backwards first. Then we have to look at what is happening. Who is involved? Who tries to manipulate me? Who tries to be aggressive? Who tries to convince me of his point of view?

Step back and breathe for a moment. Then you can make the right decision. Don't just blindly jump into arguments over the internet. Rather try to discuss it with friends and family. Be an active member of society. Maybe then you can enter the internet and try to enforce a serious debate about certain topics. Be rational and calm at any given time. Don't argue out of anger. We already know that it's bad. After evaluating your thoughts and feelings, you can make the best move as a vocal member of a democracy. Fight for the better idea! Not for the loudest speaker.

Our world is an amusement park without exit. Fun, fun, fun. All people do around the world is having fun. You cannot escape it. TV, internet, radio, all around you is there to keep you in a good mood. But only bad mood creates critical thinking and critical thoughts. Mankind must be freed from its entertainment addiction. Entertainment is an easy way to control people. And nowadays; everything is entertainment. We must stop this machine for once and for all. It keeps us distracted and stupid We’re a fun drugged society.

Fun is not a bad thing. It just seems we cannot get enough of it. Everyone and everything JUST wants to have fun nowadays. Entertainment 24 hours, 7 days a week. It is a drug used to control us. If we just laugh and joke all the time, we do not question the known order. We must step back and stop having fun for a moment, to solve problems we must solve NOW.

I've been thinking... is having fun the meaning of life? This is, of course, not meant seriously. But wherever I look, at whatever I look and whoever I look upon: Everyone tells me that they 'only want ot have some fun'. Is that really okay? In age of global problems, and crises; is just wanting to have some fun really okay?

Our predominant ideology, capitalism, is where the dog is buried. Every inch on our current world tells us to 'just have fun'. Spent your money on consumer electronics, novelties and useless nonsense. We are taught to look and shy away from problems like homeless people, the poor or uneducated people. The world tells us to ignore these problems. Simply focusing on your life, your happiness, your pleasure. We are raised in a really, really egoistic way.

Having fun is the core of all evil. It's a mass phenomenon, and everyone not participating is being called 'too moral' or 'too serious’. People only care about themselves and the rest can go to hell. Suddenly it only counts what the majority wants and desires. What makes me wish we all wanted to fight the problems instead of letting someone else do it. If we all started to care for homeless or poor people. If we tried enforce help for them through politics. Or enforce help from pledgers. We all are called when evil is rising; not just a small minority. We all should be eager to help those who desperately need it. If we continue the path of fun and enjoyment and leave the rest in dust and the whole world turns bad; it's us to blame for this. No one else

Today (11/02/17) I ran...The typical you

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (33)

Sold my soul to God.

I've been thinking... how does a typical life on earth look like? Let's begin with the thing everyone must go through: Being born. After your parents to decided to become one, they made you. You are being born and your life begins.

You're six years old by now. You've experienced a happy and good childhood free of problems and tragedies. You're going to visit a school for the next ten years. Your first day in school. You meet other children your age which may or may not become your best friends for your entire life or the people you will hate your the rest of your entire life. (Depends on how well raised the other chilrden are.) You're in school. You learn mathematics, languages like English or Spanish, biology, history. Everything your country thinks it needs to shove down your throat. You will only need a fraction of it and the rest will only drag your patience.

You're eighteen now. You've finished school with a descent degree and you're going to study. You're in your mid-twenties and you've finished college or university. You will get a job and work for the next forty years. You're sixty years old. You've worked your entire life and you will enjoy the rest of your life as and old man or old woman. And after approximately ninety years, you die. This is what a typical life looks like. In between all these things, you had hobbies like sports or playing an instrument. These are the things you did. Now look at the things you haven't done.

You probably have never thought about the beauty of life and nature itself. Things like perspectives and philsophical point of views are not on your hard drive (brain). You probably did not engage in organizations who try to make the world a better place. You did not care for other people. You did not think about the poor, the weak, the people who need help; because it was not your job to do so. The problems of the world were not your cup of tea, you did not feel responsible. Even though you are the reason for the world's problems.

Your behavior had let things become awry and awful for others. Your mindless consuming of electronics and clothing has let other work as slaves; just for your pleasure and enjoyment.

You never thought about anything. At all. While thinking is the key to a world in your brain no one else can show you. You must find and experience it yourself. I can tell you for hours how great thinking is, and what you experience when you do so. You probably did not think because you always did what the world wanted you to do. You had no mind for yourself. Everything around you decided for you. You had de facto no free will to find a life on your own. You did what everyone else did and did no think for yourself. You had 80+ years to experience something no one can show you. You wasted your entire life on pleasure, enjoyment, fun and consumerism. Don't be sad when it's over and you can't get rid of the feeling that you missed something. Your entire life.

Today (11/01/17) I ran... Understanding evil

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (32)

Celebrate life.

I small flashback to my childhood. I insulted a girl as a kid and saw the sadness in her eyes. This experience altered everything. I went on and never insulted someone ever again. This happening gave me the starting point for the definition of evil. First thing is: Evil people don't experience things as others. When an evil person calls someone else fat for example, he does not experience zhr consqeuence for this person. This person does not feel because he never learned to feel. To feel something has to be learned by getting involved with empathy. When your parents show you to care for others, you learn to care and to feel. If you don't learn anything about feelings – like most people do – people have a higher chance of becoming evil. I.e. becoming criminals or act out criminal behavior. Someone who robs a shop does not feel how the people you rob feel. That's the main point. Evil people are empty vessels. Shallow pieces of human flesh and organs.

Thinking about evil is very hard for someone like me, who considers himself a good person, mostly due to the fact that I don’t have any experience in doing evil things. What could we may consider as “evil”? Drug abuse is something I’d consider evil. You destroy your body – your brain, organs – your soul and everything else around you. A drug addict is probably away from his family, only has friends who are also addicts, and cannot live an ordinary life like the rest of us. To be honest, I have no pity for people doing drugs. No one in the entire world told you to do drugs. It’s a choice people make. Then it becomes an addiction and people loose the choice. Once addicted; you can hardly stop doing drugs. Rehabilitation may work; but not for everybody. The war on drugs can be won though. I deeply believe in a world without drugs. People mostly do things because other people do it in front of them. Be it friends, parents, people on the media. Now trying to raise someone is a task of enormous proportion.

How do we prevent people from becoming criminal and how do we fight criminality? Answer: The next generation. When we look at this problem, we only face the current generation. The people who live now. The people who act against the law now. If we want to solve this problem we must think up ahead like in the drug problem. We must address these things open and responsibly. We must raise a generation of people with strong believe in the righteous state, its laws, its institutions. With a strong believe for justice. With

a strong sense for what is right and what is wrong.

For what is allowed and what is not allowed. For the system itself. Such a person must be able to reflect on its actions. An ability very important when it comes to criminality. People either don’t become criminals in the first place. Or when they became one, they did not continue this life by reflecting on his actions. On how the things he did wrong affected his life and thinking. People only change through maturity. Through growing. A criminal either was strong enough to execute its own believes or grew bigger by thinking on what he did wrong.

We should employ psychologists and therapists in jails that help people think on what they did wrong. Just shutting them in and hope it will turn out well is fairly naive. The people in jail don’t even fear jail. They sit for many years, come free and continue what they did. Either someone is smart enough to not do crimes; or we try to help those who did one. Either way, we can’t continue they way we do right now. They don't sit down and think: I am going to rob a shop. No. They just rob a shop. That's why prisons usually don't work. You may arrest and put them in prison but their behavior and state of mind won't change.

They are still criminals. And when they are free again, they will continue as they did before. If we want to eradicate crminal behavior and evilness. We must try to reach out for the person. Talk to him. We must confront them with themselves. With their own state of mind and behavior. We must activate their conscious. Their inner feelings. They must be forced to think about what they did. So that they will never do it ever again. This is the only way to overcome evil.

The forces of evil are only superior because their better organized. Those who do evil on our planet are often very well organized. They know what they do. While those who do good are only availabe in small, tiny faction scattered around the world. We got Greenpeace here or Amnestiy International there. We need a huge, well organized super network, that combines the powers of good.

Are people born evil? Their environment and non-reflected behaviour makes someone evil. Evil people seem to be everywhere. We react with one another. Nobody wants to stay outside and become an outcast by not particitpating. Evil is the default mode for people. An empty vessel. Goodness has to be learned and practiced.

To those who destroy. Your anger leads you through your life. The anger against politicians, bosses, enemies, strangers, immigrants. Anger will elevate you through these times. In a bad way. In a very, very bad way. Anger is meaningless. Your stomp your feet, free your loungs. In the end: Nothing good was the outcome. You only wasted a lot of energy on a thing that was not even worth your time. What benefit did you havet? You only yelled and screamed like a little child. You only did what your neighbor was doing. You only did what was expected from you.

Everyone knew what you were about to do. You're a calculated factor. A number in a spread sheet. Nothing more. You should learn to contain yourself and earn some inner peace. Inner peace means inner strength. Inner strength means freedom. When you stop being angry, you begin being peaceful. You begin to see things more calm and collected. Things become accessible, more open. You begin to enter a world of choice and reason. Next time you want to unleash anger upon the world, try to stay calm and control yourself. And experience, that this outcome only benefits you.

Ignorance only makes you weak. Ignorance only makes your world smaller. You don't see the whole spectrum, only a tiny fraction of what it may look like. Ignorance is such a huge problem because it lets you being manipulated fairly easily. When you're ignorant to things like climate change, homosexual marriage or, a tid-bit smaller, to the needs of your next ones; then you're weak. In this stage, everyone around you can fool you around like a donkey with a carrot. Everyone can tell you anything and you would believe it. You should not believe everything you hear. Especially when you're only a pawn in someone else his game. A politcian wants a new law that suppresses something? He calls out for you. Because he knows, you will blindly listen. You will not question what he said.

Try to fight this. Try to overcome this. When you overcome this state of mind, you will regain your personal autonomy. Your personal state of mind. Don't be fool that follows blindly. Become a leader yourself. Look what following makes of you: An idiot. You only say what others say. You only hear what others hear. You only do what others do. We need people who are able to demand the best possible outcome for everyone. In the end: It's your choice. Are you one who destroys? Or are you one who creates? We got enough idiots who're being fooled around. Don't be like this. Be someone. Be something.

Today (10/31/17) I ran... History should not be a cycle

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (31)

Mirror, mirror on the wall; who has the most stories of 'em all.

Be your own leader. If you look around, you will always be following someone. A certain musician, a certain relative, a politician. A certain ideology that defines your life. Some people tell you what to do, others will try to decide for you. Learn to say no. Learn to take your entire 'you' into your hands. Of course, your boss decides for you. Or your parents. Learn to adapte from those who lead you. Maybe you like a certain's person opinion. Then try to re-think it and come up with your own conclusion. Being your own leader does not mean you don't have to dislike someone because your own thoughts are different. If we blindly follow someone, we end up being under their command. Their opinions become ours, their ideals become ours.

History showed us for many thousands of years what happens if we follow blindly. Being your own leader makes you more versatile. You think in your patterns and ambitions. Don't let others choose for you. Things like Putin or Erdogan should not happen in the 21st century. Blindly following someone will end up being our doom. Those who follow blindly will be blind forever. The people following blindly will become the long arm of the leader. They execute his wishes and ambitions.

The people forget to think for themselves and become pawns in a global game of politics. The patterns are always the same. One demagogue, one despot; the rest folows without questioning it. But shouldn't we learn from histroy. Shouldn't we learn what happens when we only got one man in power? The democracy will go under. Rights are cut, laws are changed to simply imprison and hunt opposition. Things like parades disgust me. Like seen in North Korea for example. Where millions and millions of people are being ruled with an iron fist. The worst things aren't the people; it's the leaders themselves.

Only a tiny fraction is in power and commands everyone. And people follow these commands. It would question and think about what a leader says. Individualism would stop these so-called leaders. Individualism must be made attractive. Which is why I write this

here. So, when you should not follow leaders? Who else? Well, you got two choices: Either follow no one and just be your own leader. Or look out for idols and role models. An idol can be many things. Your parents, a relative, a musician. The best way to point out idols are what they do. Their actions define them. An idol should inspire you to do your thing. It should give advice and help you in harsh times. It should make you simply happy. The whole concept of an idol is about people that empower you. Where you can extract positive energy. Don't let others make you feel down. Try to find someone, or something, that makes you feel better and be better in what you are.

Today (10/30/17) I ran... Regress is now

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (30)

Always ahead of the curve.

I want to talk about regress. What is the opposite of regress? Progress. Progress is a decision. A simple decision. If we decide to move forward; we move forward. We can decide at any given time to move forward. To progress from our current situation into a better one. You only have to decide.

This decision – at least prior to the twentiest cenutry – was made by small grous, or, individuals. Only a small and tiny fraction of the people in history made things better. Jesus Christ did it. Leonardo DaVince did it. Mahatma Ghandi did it. All these people saw the current circumstances and decided to make things better for everyone. Fairly simple, isn't it? What if this decision was made by several millions of people? What if people decided to progress ahead? Progress and venture into new territories? Wow, the world would be ablazed. In a good sense, of course We don't want to see the world burn, you know. The problem with progress though is that this decision is fairly hard to make. For several reasons.

The human nature is routine and common patterns. People actually don't want it to change. They want things to stay how they are. The only way for people to change are circumstances out of their own reach. The rent rose. You have to move. You got fired. You need a new job. A friend died. He is not around anymore.

The only way for people to actually change would be to make progress attractive. By teaching them how to improve their lives constantly. By telling them that progress is a good thing. We must take away the fear of change. Progress is a good thing. It's harmless, painless and overall a good positvie boost for your life. What if we don't do this? Well, then we got regress. And regress is now. Trump as U.S. president. The protests against abortion. The poverty in Africa. The fear of muslims.

This is what happens if we don't move forward. We stagnate for a few years and then we go backwards. That's a logical process. We will not move forward as mankind. We will only slowly move into circumstances that were worse than they were before. So, how do we fight regress? By letting masses be masses and letting individuals be individuals. We should not look at the bis mass of people and say: Let's change that. No. We must look at the people who're willing to move forward and bring them together. A group of ten individuals is far more powerful than a mass of one-hundred thousand non-individuals. And in this process, we try to convince non-individuals of the benefit of progress. Which I already discussed earlier. Bringing together the finest minds is a good start to look ahead

We must wage war. Let's wage war with the ignorant. Try to reach out for them. Try to engage in dialogue. Try to convince them of a better point of view. Try to help them. These people, unknowing and helplessly lost, need our knowledge and – in some cases –

our wisdom. Tell these people of a story; better: Of a message. That the world is not what it wants you to believe it is. That the world is more than what your local television show presents to you.

Give them the courage to go into the world and fight for things worth fighting for. That they are the masters of their destiny. The masters of their life. That their freedom lies in their hands. Encourage them to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. For people entrapped in terrible jobs or terrible circumstances. Encourage them stand up for their rights. Tell them, that not single individuals fight for them; but everyone. Everyone should become part of this idea that you can choose your path on your own. No one can tell you to go there. We can only recommend you find out. I cannot show you how things could be. You must go there and find it out yourself. These things will not come on their own. We must become active and work together.

Togther is the only way to make things better. Together is the only way things do change. So go out, go out and find your luck and happiness in the world. If you don't dare: What would be the choice? Remain unhappy, unlucky and thrown around like a ball in foottball game? Is that what you want? Let someone else decide for you? This is not how things should be. This is not how people should live!

Go and get it. Otherwise you will live an empty and shallow life on your own. Just being a consumerist cannot be the way to be. If you're scared: That's okay! No one likes to go out and the outcome be a life that is worse. Understandable. But is that what you want? Just be there? Just exist? You must develop and spread your wings in order to fly. It's your life. So it's your choice. Go and try it. If you don't. Well... then don't be sad when it's over.

Today (10/27/17) I ran... A few words about love

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (27)

My life? Write. Discard. Repeat.

Love is feeling the connection with each other.

Love to love and hate to hate.

Love is natural; hatred induced.

Love is always the best choice.

Love is always the answer.

Whatever you do: Talking to someone, laughing with someone, crying with someone. Always do it with love. Forget everything else: Just love. When someon hates you, do not hate back, show some love. When something makes you angry: Show some love. When life does not go the way you planned it: Try love.

Emotions are a driving force. The most powerful one is of course love. Love demolishes walls and builds bridges. It brings people together. It unites people within a certain circumstance. Love is not only the love between two people. Like a man and a woman. Or a mother to his kid. Love is more than that. It functions like glue. It connects two things that are either similar or too different.

Love is like bulldozer. It opens up a new range of things. Be it ideas, thoughts, visions or something. Like I said: It demolishes all evil in the world. It gives plenty of room for change. Change in itself. Everybody likes love. Everbody likes to love. But why is it so rare on earth? Why is hate the pre-dominant emotion in the world? Why is love such a tiny fraction compared to other things? Because love seems to be some sort of weakness. People are good at sharing love with loved ones. When it comes to strangers; it gets hard. This behavior is totally understandable. I couldn't love a stranger instantly. I would have to get to know him and look if we share similar ideals and views. Yet, love for strangers is not the main point. You don't have to love someone you don't know. Here is the crux! You have to atleast respect him! Respect is not an emotion, it's a concept. Respect for different opinions, a different religion, or simply a different hobby. We need to learn to respect someone that is not us, and in itself, something stranger to us. This is the basis for democratic behavior.

If we want to improve our current democracies, we must learn to get along. This does not mean you have to like or dislike something. It just means you have to acknowledge that other people are different than you are. A democracy should be the argument for the best idea and the best solution. We can't just hear a debate and then say: I am for that. Or: I am against that. We need many shades of in between them. A living and breathing democracy is a hodge podge of ideas, views, ideals and opinions. We should learn to accept others as they are and don't try to convince them of our own ideas, views, ideals and opinions. Love overcomes obstacles and unites. Let's share our love for the better. Love connects us.

Today (10/26/17) I ran... A few words about anger

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (26)

Gay is totally okay.

My rage. My anger. It sickens me myself. It's a bad feeling. It feels terrible. But I have to accept it as a part of me. Emotions should be felt. You may suppress them or try to fight them, but it comes back like a boomerang. It will always come back to remind you that you're just human after all. Emotions are important. The very basic nature of them are key in being human. Be it sadness, sorrow, happiness.

Every emotion has its reason and has its meaning. Nature didn't gave them to us for the funsies. They always show you what is going in your mind and body. Emotions are the language of mind and body. When you fight them it will go awry. Feeling nothing makes you an empty, shallow human with no basic human functions. You will always be a zombie of some sorts. A mindless and soulless human. You will never experience the whole range of expressions your body has to offer. We can see what happens when nobody feels. Right now. Nothing happens. No one dares to accept their feelings as an integral part of their human experience. Then the mind, heart and instinct are underdeveloped and everyone just ignores it.

We must learn to live them in order to be aware of what it means to be human. Crying is okay; it clears your mind and, in the end, it strenghtens you. Nature implemented everything for a reason; even sadness. People who are aggressive try to hide their fear and incompetence. Anger should not guide you. Peace is the only acceptable compromise. Ignorance makes us blind to what makes us what we are – beings with feelings.

As for stupid people, the same goes for ignorant people. Many do not care about feelings, many are ignorant to them. But they are important. If we felt the pain of other people, we might start being a civilization. Many people ignore other people's pain. To quote London Elektricity: "They always look the other way." If we start to feel other's pain like our own pain, we could develop a society that focuses on empathy and compassion, instead of mocking and insulting. This one explains itself very clearly. Those who do good will feel good. Those who do bad will feel bad. WHEN you have a conscince. Without it, people will steal and mob people without any regrets. A conscience is very important if you want to succeed being an honest and righteous person.

Why does hatred rule over mankind? Anger represents the lack of compassion and empathy. Anger is easy. Anger is accessible. Love is actually as easy as anger, but many make things complicated by not even trying. Are you angry? Anger is always a terrible idea. You shake, rant and shout; yet nothing happens. You must be calm, right?

You must conquer and defeat those demons. And be a better person in general. Helping others is better for your soul than hurting others. Laughter isn’t just good medicine only, but also a universal language. :) Humor connects people from all around the world. It provides access to all countries and cultures. With laughter, you can reach out to people and make them feel good. Jokes are a universal language everyone speaks by birth.

Today (10/25/17) I ran... The pursuit of peace (03.17.17)

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (25)

Start thinking before it is too late.

The pursuit of peace. Everybody talks about the pursuit of happiness. That happiness alone would the most marvelous thing in the world. That's not true. There is something more worth your effort of pursuing something: Peace. Not just peace of mind or peace of heart. Rather inner peace. Inner peace is it worth finding. Their must be something to it. The pursuit of inner peace is not actually something to pursue. It's a complex matter of many things. It's mainly a quest for peace. A task you must complete to earn the right to say that I you got inner peace.

First of all, you must learn to be calm. Not neceassirly cool or relaxed; calm. The first, and biggest thing to overcome, are inner turmoil and burning emotions. It's not really about control, rather about acceptance. The acceptance of your inner realm. With every left, right and with the head through the wall. You have to learn to accept your inner being, your inner desires and emotions. This peace is a source of power and inner balance. This may sound a bit weird and esoterical. Yet it doesn't have anything in common with this. This source of power enables you to things you never imagined to master.

The power ends up in mastering your self. Or mastering yourself. However you wanna see it. This power enables you to concentrate and focus like you never experienced before. This focus helps you to overcome insecurities or simply sheer anger. It's something you have to experience. And it is no easy task to begin with. It requires lots of effort into improving yourself. Use your mind. Use your brain. It may sound contraticting. But it's true! Your mind will be the remote control to master your inner self. And when mind and body live in harmoy. You experience another dimension of being alive. It's such a different and fascinating thing, isn't it? Your mind helps to master your body. Super cool.

Inner peace is a good thing. You know what else is a good thing? Morals. The biggest question on my mind is: Why is morals deemed something bad? Everyone brags about how morals is for people deemed being 'better' or something. You know 'the good guys'. Morals are important in organizing our society. Our society lies in shambles because no one has morals. No one feels responsible for anything. Everyone marauders across the globe ignoring any morals.

Well, what kind of morals? Where are the morals when it comes to drug abuse? What do we do when celebrities are allowed to publicly abuse drugs and we have to teach our kids to not do that? What morals when it comes to crimes? That's why we have so many criminals. No one cares about morals. Everyone just tries to take advantage of something. Everyone just sees himself and no one else.

No one sees the pain of others. No one even cares about pain of others. Because it is more convinient. Easy and simple. We need a renaissance of morals as a complete concept for our global society. And here is the catch: We actually only need to look at ourselves for that. Kinda a contradicting as inner peace. We must develop high moral standards for our own behavior. This means: No drugs. No taking advantage. No lies. No insulting. And the list can go on and on. Only through the process of an inner filter, so to speak, we can become a better world.

We may can look at others and think: That is not okay. A politician publicly lying or something can be dismissed. But we have to do it ourselves, too. By analyzing ourselves and becoming a morally righteous person. Morals are important in functioning societies. It does not work without it. It will always fail. It starts with us and our behavior. If we all look at oursevles, things would turn out better. If we all agree to become moral people, then we can look at others. Only – and only! - if we are moral ourselves. Otherwise we all would be hypocritical people. Which would be even worse. As well as ourselves and our society.

Accept your feelings. Better: Accept your thoughts. Peace in mind and body empowers you more thank you can comprehend. Many people are easily distracted by their emotions. Only inner peace can empower you to achieve your goals. In peace in mind and body, lies the strength to change your life for the better. Be calm, my friend.

Today (10/24/17) I ran... Listen to your heart

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (24)

I learned a lot by hating my own work.

Our world is only in this god-forsaken, terrible, disgusting shape because everything around us is designed to make an order-fulfilling zombie. Don't think. Don't rebel. Just execute orders. That's how wars are being fought. With military which its bread and butter is to raise people who don't think for themselves, but only think what their commander wants them to. Stop listening to your orders would be a great start. Here lies a problem though. It’s your job. Not listening to your orders only gets you expelled.

This problem is as old as mankind itself. Things like dictatorships only happen because mindless idiots only follow their orders. Look at how China oppresses their people because police men arrest them, or reporters only report what the government wants. Nobody has learned to question this. The problem is also the executioner of the order. Many people enjoy the power it gives them. They begin to nest within their position and enjoy the

influence onto others. Or even worse: They try to rise in their ranks to gain even more power.

This happens in Western countries too. Like in military, as mentioned before. But things are similar in the police force. Things like the Patriot Act can only work, because police men don't question it. People must learn to say no. A good example is Edward Snowden. Out of several tens of thousands NSA employees, he was the only one who had the guts to say no. This is not okay. The public should be informed about this. I wish we had more people like this. The whole system would crumble when people begin to question their orders. We could turn this world upside down and back again by this. People would begin to act responsibly.

You should begin to listen to what your heart says. What it desires. It’s a better compass that the orders you’ve been given. Your heart will only tell you to emphasize and help others. Try to give them power and give them the opportunity. You are basically your own compass in that regards. It will tell you to be a better person than you are now. A better version of yourself. Since it’s your humanity it represents, listen to your heart makes you more human.

Rejecting your orders may be more helpful than executing them. Our whole world is built upon it. Since our biggest concept is the concept of work, orders are your bread and butter. You have to do what yous boss says. Then the concept of hierachy follows. One big boss at the end and then follow two bosses who got four people to order around. So: What do we do? The short version: Question your orders. You may execute them, but try to question them. Try to think of the ‘why’.

And then, the more we question it, the more we doubt it, we may stop executing orders. Drone pilots would stop killing people, others would stop being an asshole since they have no one to order around. The concept of hierachy is a bad thing. In my opinion, we all should be equal. But it’s not the time for this concept yet. Millions of soldiers won’t stop being soldiers. Bosses won’t stop being bosses. If we stopped executing orders and began to be all equal, the world, would be in a much better shape.

Today (10/23/17) I ran... Passion makes perfection

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (23)

Dialogue monster.

How are people these days? What were they the entire time? Since the dawn of time? The dawn of the homo homo sapiens? Passive. What if I told someone, that you could be a king? They say, among the blind, the one-eyed is king. This is sort of, kinda, like this. It's based on the same idea. The same topic so to speak. What kind of king? The king of your own life. The king of your town. The king of your entire world. As discussed earlier: How do we achieve this status? Thinking: Yes. Feeling: Yes. But we left on thing out: Passion. Most people are bored out of their mind. Their job sucks, their girlfriend is nagging all the time, the favorite sports team lost again. This is not how it should be. You could become the master of the world!

With passion, you can achieve basically everything you want to achieve. You want a degree? Passion. You want a better job? Passion. You want a better life? Passion. It's the magical source for all kinds of fascinating things that determine the parameters of your life.

Maybe you want to become a writer. You lack skills, maybe lack ideas. Maybe lack the notion. If you turn 180 degree around and become passionate about what you do: Things become suddenly very easy.

The book you want to write is a breeze to type. After a long day in the office, your blog becomes a big thing because people feel the passion you put into it. It infects you, and your surroundings. It is a driving force for change too. The things that lacked in your life become accesible because you tried to become passionate about it. Without passion... it is not even worth trying.

If you aren't 100 percent sure about what you want to do. Don't do it. You must feel it within you. Ask yourself: Do I want this? Or do not I want this? This question should be the beginning. This is where you start. If you aren't sure, things will never work out. Go within yourself, try to meditate on it. Go deep inside and decide if it's worth your time, money and patience. Otherwise it will fail instantly.

Passionate people will always prevail with their ideas, projects and goals in life. It’s a burning flame within your body you can turn to every day and think: Yes, I am on the way; my way. This way of thinking affects your way of acting. And your way of acting determined the way you live and breathe. In this certain way - or stance – you can diminish doubt immensely. Or in another way adapt to the doubt and listen to it to become better. It really depends. Which way you put it, passionate people will always be more successful than who do it half assed.

Today (10/22/17) I ran...Gam-ing? Bor-ing!

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (22)

Hollywood Employe #1993.

It's been three years since I watched my last walkthrough. It was BioShock Infinite. And four years since I played a game. It was Portal 2. And my passion for gaming, since then, has gone to zero. No game that game out was interesting enough for me to pay 60 bucks to play it. You get your yearly Call of Duty, which is the same game every year. You can get your yearly Assassin's Creed, which is the same game every year. Or you can try a Nintendo game. Which is the same game all over again, just a few years apart.

Usually I'm a PC gamer. But my PC is so outdated that it can't run modern games. I didn't want to spend more than 500 bucks on a new computer. So I thought about buying a console. Which is only 300 bucks plus a game of my choice. There were a few games which were fun. Like Diablo 3. Playing it on the console must be fun. But then I looked up how many other games might be fun. And it looked grim. Aside from Diablo 3, there were no other games.

Games nowadays always rely on the same gameplay, the same mechanics and the same storyline. There is liitle to no diviation. Halo for example features the same weapons since its first game. You shoot the same aliens since the first game. It's boring. Even Nintendo offer the same gameplay all over again. Super Mario is not a 10/10 game. You may get a new suit every game; or a recycled one every game. It's still the same game though.

I don't understand why everyone is still having fun with gaming nowadays. I don't want to do the same thing over and over again. Maybe in a MMORPG, but not in single-player

games. Games in the past, like Ocarina of Time for example, offered a huge variety of gameplay-mechanics. Like hover-boots, a bow and arrow (which could be used in four different forms), and several swords and shields. Every item was useful in some way or another. It was fun.

Modern game design is nothing more than a template. Take gameplay element A, character trope B and a clished setting – done! This has nothing to do with creativity. Game designer don't seem to think a lot about what they are doing. There are only a few who are even trying. Peter Molyneux may exaggerate their ideas and promise too much, but hey, he came up with cool ideas and concepts. Many other game designer just copy what is known, or what is popular at the moment. The medium is as stale as every before. I won't return to gaming anytime soon. I will keep an eye on new games and hope that things will get better. I'm a gamer since I was 4 or 5 years old. I played games my entire life. It's very sad to see this state of gaming in general. I will see how things turn out.

Nintendo is probably the least innovative videogame company in the world. Their only "strategy" to make money is nostaligia. They don't come up with new intellectual properties, they do not re-invent their exisitng franchises and they do not care about what the customer wants. They only do things on assumption of what the consumer wants.

Let's take a small look at Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. Their most popular and successful franchises. Super Mario is always the same. Princes Peach gets abducted and Mario needs to rescue her. Even when Nintendo puts 'gameplay first', this is almost embarassing in terms of creativity. They are not even trying to come up with a proper story. You may say: "Hey, it was the eightees!" Yes. But it's 2017 still coming with this stupid formular is an insult to gamers all over the world.

The only thing they do come up with is one, single new suit for Mario. A penguin suit, a rock suit, a drill suit, a bee suit, a cat suit. Maybe – just maybe – they come up with a new type of stage. But that's all. They are not introducing new characters, it's still Toad, Peach, Mario, Luigi and Bowser, and they do not come up with a new plot. I mean they've tried with Super Mario Sunshine and it blatantly showed off how terrible their plots are.

The Legend of Zelda on the other hand has the same problem. Gameplay first, then story. For Nintendo, story, is just an afterthought. They even admitted that in an interview where the producer said: "Story first and then gameplay feels unnatural." It's been many years, but is gives insight. Ganon is resurrected, or an evil wizard, Link needs to rescue Hyrule. Done. Wow. This is laughable if you see how great storytelling can be. Look at Half-Life, The Last of Us or the BioShock series. That's how you balance fun and engaging gameplay with fun and engaging storytelling.

Nintendo always tries to distinct itself from the competition. What a nonsensical approach to business. Be it the Nintendo 64 with cardridges, the Gamecube with mini-discs, the Wii with motion control, the Wii U with a tablet or the Switch with the gimmick of changing between handheld and console. They may be commercially successful, but from a gamer's standpoint, it's terrible. The consoles never offer real useful technology. Only flimsy, stupid gimmicks. And the only software usable on the Nintendo hardware are Nintendo games.

The Switch may change this. But you won't get 4K Gaming, a working online play compartment, Blu-ray playback, good third-party software. Nintendo is still stuck in the ninetees. Where they wer the dominant competitor. But their is Xbox and PlayStation too. And they are simply ignoring them and try to enforce their own strategy of games making.

I deeply believe that Nintendo are terrible game developers. With cutesy little games but no real aspiration to make big, bold and brave games like Red Dead Redemption or Uncharted. And people still fell for it every god damn release. Every Nintendo game gets a 10/10 instantly without any critical thinking whatsoever. It's our fault that we let Nintendo do whatever they want and letting them get through.

But it’s not just Nintendo. Other game developer also suck. Mostly because most things are not thought through. The question is not if games are art. The question is: Are they creative? You want to do art? Then you have to be creative, my friend. You must try things no one else tried. Overcome tropes and challenge common things. That’s the only way to differentiate yourself from others. This way of thinking is very risky though. Maybe the game bombs or the reception is bad. Gaming needs risk takers. It must develop its very own structure. Try to employ real writers for story, try to employ cinematographer to improve the games directing.

There is so much to learn and improve to make gaming better. To make more vital and engaging. I don’t like to see gaming in such a bad state. This medium gave thousands of hours of entertainment and experiences movies cannot give me. We should all try to make gaming better. With better journalism, better development and a more vocal and critical player base. Make gaming great again. Make it how we remember it as kids: A fun and worthwhile hobby.

Today (10/21/17) I ran...Games and art

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (21)

Consistency... I cannot live without you.

Are games art? A tough question. The question is: How do we define art? By the dictionary? Or by analysis? Art consists of factos. A movie for example consists of cinematography, editing, music, acting, writng and much more. A painting consists of type, the lines, the composition and much more. Art is a complex thing. It consists of very complex things. You must put effort into your art or people won't resonate with it. It's either a work of a group of a single individual.

Looking at games though – even though it's made by groups – may have factors, but they don't play such a big role. A game consists of engine, art style and that's it. You will always only get pixels and polygons. They may be many people involved but they don't matter in the finaly product. You get production designer, level designer, sound designer. It's one big, unified product at the end where all these factors only play a minor role.

Games are not art. They could be art though. Things like Shadows of the Collossus represent things you can do with games that at least resemble a piece of art. The first things games must do before becoming an art form is being creative. It don't want to insult someone, but games are made by amateurs. People who have no idea or feeling fort art- like composition. They cramp a boring and bland protagonist in a boring and bland setting to comlete a boring and bland quest.

If we started to overcome this infant-state of gaming as a whole; it may become an art form. With talented directors, writers and designers. Games offer so much potential for art. It could do so much more than we cannot imagine right now. Uncharted shows how it's done properly. Or BioShock. A good narrative, a good design. People put effort into it and it

may be considered a piece of art. Gaming must open up and learn to professionalize their process like Hollywood. No, I don't want games to be like Hollywood. You get me wrong. I want to overcome this state gaming is in.

With a better organization of games, we may begin to consider games as an art form. Hollywood is simply more professional. It has certain phases a movie has to go through. Pre-production, production and post-production. And they are many more people involved. Maybe this analogy to Hollywood does not work since developer studios work differently. I just want to make a point here: Be more professional and put more effort into it. Defy expectations and estimations. Defy conventions and tropes.

Gaming must begin to flourish with new ideas and concepts. Let people from Hollywood gen involved. Maybe we crossover Hollywood with developers and we may learn from each other. We may streamline processes, come up with better ideas. All in all gaming has the potential for being art. It can be art. If we'd all overcame the infant state and make gaming a huge, big thing for creatives from inside the branch, and outside.

Today (10/20/17) I ran... Majora’s Unmasking (27.03.17)

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (20)

Sir Critic-a-Lot.

What can I say about this game that hasn’t been said before? What can I praise that hasn’t been praised before? Can I even bring anything new to the table? I think not. I just want to express how I appreciate it. For what I appreciate and what I don’t. The good things; the bad things. It’s is an outstanding game to begin with. I would not consider it a masterpiece, it’s still very good though.

Many already pointed out the unusual setting for a game in the Zelda-franchise. There is no Zelda, no Ganon, no master sword, no Hyrule. The only glimpse of referring to other installments is the mentioning of a 'valuable friend', this is of course Navi from Ocarina of Time. We may not have to save the world from evil, but from the moon crashing down onto the ground. This basic premise presents of a very intense, dark and gloomy atmosphere. Added to this idea is the gameplay mechanic of a three day cycle the player has to use in order to fulfill the quests. This whole package of darkness – and somewhat – sadness, offers an experience you would never expect from a Zelda-game. You expect nice characters, funky items, a great epic adventure. I think this game woudl probably not work in the age of the internet. Back in the days people only had magazines and information were rare and scarce. Nintendo just released it and people bought it. This shake-up of the formula would maybe, maybe work as a handheld game.

The biggest thing, that baffles me personally, is that Nintendo only had a one-year development-cycle. They simple used the Ocarina of Time assets and put them into a new game. Considering Nintendo's conservatism I wonder: How could Majora's Mask happen? Why is Nintendo capable of creating and crafing such high-profile games and why didn't they continue? Why aren't they more game that are outside of the the franchise's spectrum? Okay, they need to please their customers, they need to please the share holders, they try not to alienate old fans and try to gain new fans. I get that. But wouldn't it be more engaging and fun if Nintendo did more games like Majora's Mask? I bet it would..

Looking at Majora's Mask you see what Nintendo can do. They can be super creative, out- of-the-box and innovative. Something we see rarely. But what made it so great in the first

place though? I think it's the plot. It's not about heroism or saving the world from evil; it's about the people in this world and how we connect with them. Like the infamous Kafei quest. But there is also Tingle, the ranch, the milk bar, the deku people. They are, for Nintendo standards at least, very well characterized. We may not care, but we're at least interested. We learn to get to know them, we learn to emphasize with them. This is not only rare for a Nintendo title; but also for gaming in all its entirety. Then they are the masks. A super creative idea. They did a great job by making simple masks into very well made gameplay mechanic. Then they is the the ending. This marks a highligh in the history of gaming. I won't give a spoiler alert. (This game is almost 20 years old, guys.) In the end, we end up on the moon and meet for playing kids who want our masks. They all ask a different question. This is something not only kind of deep, it's also fascinating. A total screw up of expectation. Before the great boss fight we meet four harmless kids running around a tree. Nintendo outdeveloped itself and others alike.

What I don't like though are the usual highlights in Zelda games. First: The music. Second: The boss fights. Both downright suck. The music is stupid doodle tunes that are simply annoying. I didn't like it anywhere. From the Deku people doodle to the dungeon doodle. Nope, bad thing. And the other being the boss fights. The warrios, the worm, the fish and Goht. All of them are fairly boring and offer no real challenge in terms of gameplay mechanic. By Goht you simply roll into him. You fight the worm and grow in size; that's it. This is nothing compared to the boss fights in Wind Waker or Twilight Princess. (Which only got good boss fights.) This may be nitpicking, yet it counts. I simply blame it onto the one-year development cycle. I bet they did not have the time to polish and create new content for the game itself.

What else can I say? Well done, Nintendo. I am not your biggest fan aymore, you know. You disappointed me for year and year and year because you did not innovate old IP or create new one. You only rehash old concepts and formulas. That's why I am not buying your games anymore. I'm sorry. Yet, Majora's Mask gives me a glimpse of hope of what you can do when you put your mind to it. You tried similar with Super Mario Sunshine and the failure made you shy away from being different. Majora's Mask is a superb game where I can understand why people like it more than Ocarian of Time. Nintendo may never repeat such a success but if ever a follow-up to Majora's Mask is being developed, we can be assure: It will rock.

Today (10/19/17) I ran... Mirror's Edge at least tried (07/07/17)

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (19)

Some people can't be reason with because they're jokes...

Mirror's Egde is a small, overlooked niche game developed by DICE. It was released in 2008 for console and later on for PC. I bought the game at the release and played though it in one session. I liked it a lot. I liked its graphics, its art design, its characters, its location. It is a great game and everyone should give it a try. But why? Let me explain. What do I mean with 'at least tried'?

First and foremost it used a pretty innovate gameplay mechanic; free running. (Also known as 'parkour'.) Not only did it do that, it executed its mechanic pretty good. You could slide, jump, roll, swing and free run through every level. The only limitation of the gameplay variations were your own imagination. You could challenge every level the way you

wanted. It is a marvelous concept and its usage was superb.

Second, the plot. The plot itself is not the most original compared to other mediums – but for a game – it is a revolution. You are a so-called 'runner' who lives in a dystopian future where everyone and everything is surveilled. And to deliver information safely, people rely on those runners to use the roof tops of the unnamed city to deliver – well – information. It was written by the daugther of Terry Pratchett. She not only gave it a nice, innovative spin on the details of the plot with the conspiracy revolving the main protagonist Faith, she also came up with pretty good characters, which is my next point.

Faith is a superb protagonist. First: She is a woman. (Which is pretty rare for a videogame.) Anyway. She cares for her sister and the game delivers this affection and love. Not only through dialogue but also through gameplay. In one cut scene she hugs her sisters. Which was delivered so good and so well that I still baffle about how stiff, mechanically and artificial other games handle relationships. She tries to fight the system and defends and protects her friends and family. It is a believeable, mature and engaging character. Especially for a video game.

Taking all this into consideration you get a pretty good picture of how the developer were vastly ahead of their time. They managed to make something simplistic, minimal and small yet so big, deep and agitating at once. They collaborated on the story with a professional writer and polished the gameplay very well. The more popular and more known Diablo 3 is a joke – at least in these categories – compared to Mirror's Edge. It took a risk, it tried to change and it succeeded in my opinion. More developers should defy expectations and broaden the spectrum of gaming.

I go toe to toe with Extra Credits (I forgot which episode, it was many years ago), that gaming should evolve with direction from Holllywood, talented novelists as writer, orchestras as sound design, etc. We must open up the stiff and bloated way of developing games and open it up to make better games. Better characters, stories, plot, plot points, direction, design, art and many other factors. Mirror's Edge showed what cames can deliver. If we only raised the stakes and explored how deep the rabbit hole of game development can be.

Today (10/18/17) I ran... Secret services don’t help

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (18)

Grey skies over Germany. Me gusta.

Secret services are as protective as they're destructive. Edward Snowden shook the globe. Edward Snowden did, what every righteous person should do: Shake the world to its cores. He woke up everyone about the evil doing of the NSA. And that should inspire others to do the same. Blowing the whistle is necessary in our world. Show the evil doers, that we're not afraid to stand against them and show them, that the honest and righteous people will always prevail.

So, basically every known secret agency spies on everyone and anytime. Where is the scandal? The outrage? But people are busy. Tweeting, posting on Facebook, making pictures, writing letters, short messages. I do in fact have something to hide. My privacy. What many people seem to forget when going online is that, despite the surveillance from state, police and secret service, we are out in the open. They know everything about us.

Every post on social media, comment section or video we made is out in the open. People seem to forget how transparent we become when using the internet. For my part, I have to hide all these things. I don't want anyone to know more about me than myself.

Are secret services ever useful? When I look into the history of every secret service ever; they were never any useful at all. I am always told that secret services 'protect us' and 'protect the country'. What a bunch of nonsense. Secret services are just one of many tools to enforce power. As Edward Snowden disclosed in 2013, the National Security Agency (NSA) is not here to protect us from evil, but to surveill everyone on the entire planet. Whoever you are, wherever you are. If you got a phone or an e-mail-address, the NSA is probaply spying on it. Snowded didn't called it 'security ageny' but 'hacking agency'. Which is much truer if you look how they surveill the entire planet.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) funds and controls 'black sites', like a secret prison, all over the world where they torture innocent people with loud music, waterboarding, nudity and humiliation. Since when does this protect anyone? How am I being protected if Mustafa al-Bali (random name) is being tortured for knowledge? It doesn't even make sense. And the secret services in the rest of the world are cooperationg in everything. You can think of every secret service in the West as 'one big agency'.

They lend each other data, information and details. And yet, it didn't protect one single citizens in the Western world. Not in London, Madrid or Boston. The secret services, funded with billions of dollars in black budgets, cannot – do – shit. They cannot protect anyone. You may hear from the occasional 'we prevented', but that is just superficial. In reality the secret services are here to damage the democracy, as they actively ignore basic human rights given to every human being on earth. Secret service and democracy do not go hand in hand. They do not protect; they do not help.

The so-called war on terror, is for my part, a war on freedom. Look how many rights we sacrificed in the name of safety. Cameras watch us on public places, all our date is being stored. Dozens of datas coming from our smartphones, our flights, our computers, our cars. Things like Swift, the Patriot Act and many other laws, other deals only make our democracies shallow and empty. We have a right for privacy, we have a right to encrypt our data, we have a right to travel without being watched. We have a right to be free citizens.

Today (10/17/17) I ran... Preserving nature

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (17)

Senor Write-too-Much.

You know what is wonderful in life? Nature. The biggest problem to date is that people don't have a feeling for their body and soul. They cannot interpret what either needs. Or they don't want to. Either way; it's bad. Nature tells us, that you only need a small percentage of everything. You don't need three meals a day, you don't need breakfast by the way, you don't need gallons of soft drinks. Water, vegetables and fruits, that is all we need. Ask our ancestors, they lived on it for many thousands of years. Just because we

got the opportunity to eat so much, drink so much and ignore what our bodies truly need, does not make it any better.

Everyone talks about obesity. Either it's too much sugar, what the industry denies, because it has to, or too less exercise, or too much corn. It's because we lost contact to our roots. We should lean and life by the rules of nature. Eat when you're hungry, not because you have to, drink water, not coca cola all day, and start listen to what your body needs.

If we look how many years, several billions in fact, it took to create the world we know today; things get eery. Many species are extinct or are on the red list and are about to extinct. And they will not come back. We cannot simply clone species and let them set free. We cannot simply plant a new rain forest and thinks to ourselves that it will be how it was. Eco-systems are very nuanced, detailed and geared to each other in a way we as man probably won't fully understand entirely in a way, so that we could reproduce it.

We cannot continue robbing all of earth's resources and call it a day. It may be not God himself that tells us to save and secure earth, but simple human reasoning. Resources are not endless. They can't re-grow, re-fill or re-miniralize. That's probably the whole crux with our economic system itself, which bases itself on consuming as many resourced as we have. But we don't have another earth in our back. It's only one planet.

If we lived with nature instead of against nature, things would be different. But the economy has taken over. We consume garabge with salt, fat, sugar, other unhealthy ingridients. We think we don't need to live in harmony with nature, we think we conquered the world and found our own way. That is wrong. We don't need to cuddle trees or live in caves again. That is now what I meant.

To be more precise: Live in harmony with your body. Your body will always tell you what it needs. All minerals, vitamins, everything the body needs, can be obtained by eating when you're hungry. You should not shove garbage down your throat. If we arranged our bodies, minds, environment and lives with nature, things would be better for all of us. The creation is complex and vital for our survival as man itself. We can see what horror us awaits when the bees die. We see endless viruses spread due to meat consumption and their use of antibiotics. We could end all of this and live according to nature and preserve system that will never come back once destroyed.

Diversity is good. We must preserve things like language and culture. Diversity in people is something very precious. Right now, corporations try to make everyone a dumb consumerist zombie. Do not fall for this. Embrace your local culture, try new cultures. The only way to preserve our species. The pursuit of harmony is what makes being human bearable. Yes, the pursuit of happiness is important. More important though is to chase for harmony. Being in harmony with your body, mind, heart, soul, friends, family, relatives and everything in between. It lets the negative stuff seem less vicious and hard.

Today (10/16/17) I ran... The inability of politics

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (16)

Learn from Scrubs.

Looking at politics. There is only one word to describe it: Inability. We have to face the truth that politics cannot do shit. They cannot create jobs, stop wars or make laws that help the

people. They can only make things worse for everyone. For every citizen of every democracy in every part of the world. I am not entirely sure if these people are simply idiots or if it’s made by design. It’s probably a bit of both.

What kind of inability? I already said: These people are not able to solve problems. They manage problems; but don’t solve them. This idea becomes evident the bigger the crisis. Look at the refugee crisis in Europe. Several years later the only thing everyone agreed of was to build fences. Other example: The banking crisis of 2008. Half the world went under the bus and the only thing politics agreed on was to bail out banks and save them with tax- payers money.

And the list can go on and on and on. There is the war on terror. The only thing politics agreed on was to tighten the law and create a surveillance-state. The main point is: Our elected leaders only do two things: Follow the power. And obey to the economy. Follow the power means that a politician is not interested in working for the people. It’s always about working against the people. This goes hand in hand with point to: Obey the economy. The only thing politics every does talk about (if you look closely) is one things: Jobs. We must create jobs, help young people getting jobs and try to keep the trade going. There is nothing else the politics wants to do.

We must free us form illusion that politics works in our interest. They work for lobbies and economists. And if they want to give you universal healthcare (Keyword Obamacare) the politics manipulate the people itself to be against a law that would make them benefit.

Politics rely on our ignorance. So: What do we do? How do we proceed from here on out? The best thing to do is to get involved. Don’t let your elected leader do what he wants. Find those who actually want to help and engage with him. It may sound like a clishe but phoning or writing your elected can actually make a change. Like the laws against the internet a few years ago. People got involved and it got dropped.

The fraction of people who want to embrace democracy and its benefits is simply too small. There are many movements and non-profit organizations who want to make democracy better and improve it. Because real democracy is hard. It is not enough to vote once every four year. If that’s all you want you and you’re good, fine. Democracy though is a thing of many people involved and many people to organize.

I think the people have to regain the democracy. It should be in the hand of the people. The people should decide what is good and what’s bad for their respected democracies. People should change their respected democracies for their will. But as I said: This is very, very hard. People want simple answer to very complex topics. People want it quick and easy. This won’t work though. That’s why I think we should help each other. Those who can explain laws help those who want to understand it. Those who understand lobbying try to help those who have no idea what lobbying does.

This whole complex of helping and learning should strengthen our democracies. We should not just watch and gaze. No. People should learn that democracy is about them. Their wishes, their ideals and their ideas. And politics itself must learn to listen to what the people want. The parliaments should not be isolated echo chambers. The people simply want better and easier lives. That’s why politics should only do one simple thing: Improve people’s lives. The laws should make insurance easier, healthcare, reduce education costs, make organizing lives better by reducing bureaucracy. (Just a small fraction of what should be better.) The ultimate goal should be to serve the people. Serves its will and

demands. Not economists, lobbyists or something else. Just. The. People.

Today (10/15/17) I ran... The bubble must burst

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (15)

Love, love, love.

A simple system is an efficient system. How does the world work?

Corporations lie to you, journalists lie to you, governments lie to you. And why? Because the truth would set us free. And we must being kept in the dark. See what WikiLeaks reveals. They screw up a lot of things. I once read, that "destroying the economy won't save the planet." I argue against that. I think destroying the economy is the only way to save the world. But let me make this a bit clearer, I don't want to 'destroy' the economy, I want to transform and reform it into a better system. A system that does not funds itself by money and resources but sustains itself by giving people a fair share of wealth for everybody. Let's see what the economy is responsible for. It destroys the rain forest, it pollutes the oceans with plastic, it ships electronic trash to Africa, it lets people work in mines – for minerals we need for our smartphones - in Africa, it lets people work in factories for 16h a day, seven days a week, and the list goes and on.

So, basically, if you don't live in the first world, you're downright fucked from the start. You don't have access to healthcare, education, governance, jobs, administration, clothing or the luxury of an up to date electronics. The people in the first world do not care for people in other parts of the world. The first world only cares about their wealth, their money, their luxury. The rest of the world just functions as slaves to provide cheap workers. Workers who don't get paid enough – or even not at all – who do not have basic humans rights, or can organize themselves in unions. The main problem regarding the economy is, that it makes us all very egoistical. We only care about ourselves. The rest can go to hell. This is a thing we get raised with. Most people probably don't even know how bad the people in other parts of the world it have. That's a terrible attitude.

The economy only knows one, single way: Growth. The economy has to grow each year in order to function properly. This system is pure madness. The economy cannot grow infinitely. We can't just "produce" more jobs. The politicians all over the world only know one more thing, next to growth: Jobs. It's the other side of the system. If one-thousand people loose their jobs; everyone gets angry. If a concern cuts ten-thousand jobs; nobody cares. And here is a problem that is almost impossible to solve. Everyone depends on the system – on jobs – itself. Everyone is part of the system. From the blue collar worker to the banker from Wall Street.

The economy doesn't gives a shit about you, if you don't function as they want you to do. And here's lies another spark of madness. You get told to consume in order to be happy. This is a flat out lie. You don't need to consume. You don't need ten t-shirts or ten pairs of shoes. If we want to burn the economy down, we must do one simple thing: Stop.

Consuming. If you only bought what you truly need and only buy what you truly need; things would go awry for the system.

We could shrink the system down and change it entirely. But this is impossible to convey to anyone. Me? Not consuming? That's not fun. And here lies the crux of everything. The

system wants you to consume; and you need to consume in order to be happy. So be it. Have fun. Enjoy your life as consumerist zombie. Let the whole planet go to hell. But if the climate burns your skin, because the economy could not reduce emissions, or half the planet swaps under water because the water level rose; don't blame someone else

Today (10/14/17) I ran... China is not being nice

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (14)

Blow the whistle to protect and serve.

First and foremost: It's not a democracy. It's a dictatorship. A communist regime. They don't have free press or free speech, they suppress people and opinions, they actively censor the entire internet after their picture of how things should look like. The people in China are not free. I don't understand why nobody seems to care about the people of China. How they're being suppressed and shakled in a system of injustice and despotism. Why is everyone doing like this is no big deal? It's not North Korea, who is cut off the rest of the world and nobody does business with. It's China, the second most biggest market in the world.

But all these things doesn't seem to matter when it comes to business. Great Western countries like Germany or the U.S.A happily trade and exchange knowlegde like it's not big deal that China is no democracy. China has become a big, big market for all kinds of goods and items from the West. And everyone is producing their products like it's totally fine. Chinese workers have to work for more than ten hours a day, more than six days a week. People even killed themselves because they could not endure any longer. They don't have insurgance, have to sleep on the factory grounds and, depending on what they produce, become fatally ill due to chemicals used.

Human rights does not seem to matter when it comes to China. It's like a thing everyone voluntarily ignores. Like a jacket you have to hang up in the morning. China still has the death sentences and forces victims to 'confess' their crimes on television. It's disgusting. Very disgusting. This is an overall global problem, when it comes to business. Nobody cares about the people. Nobody cares about their lives, their way of living. The economy first. Then the people. Us first. The rest can go to hell.

I think business with China represents superbly how our ‘values’ and ‘morals’ are as shallow as it can be. We – the democracies – are not better than China if we simply ignore its own problems and shortcomings. Just doing business is not acceptable. China is slowly taking over the world and will probably become more powerful than we – the free world – can only imagine. It buys lands, mines, oil fields, place to plant solar farms. And it will use its advantage to kick our – the West – ass as hard as a horse can kick. And it still can do whatever it wants to its people.

I think the UNO and the West has to intervene and engage in dialogue to positively influence China. Trying to make it a less strict and evil regime and more a free society with free people. All we do is to make things worse for everyone. From the factory worker to critics of the Chinese regime. Although I probably sound very naive with this plead – I know that – but accepting the current circumstances as ‘they are’ is not the best approach. I want to improve the condition for very human on the planet and it can’t be done without a free China.

Today (10/13/17) I ran...My little green friend

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (13)

Born to Write.

They are many question in my mind regarding aliens and the U.F.O.-phenomeon. The biggest question is not if or if not alien exist. This does not matter. But, let's assume they were aliens. Somewhere in the wide, dark outer space. On a cute little planet with their cute little civilization. What would these aliens do all day? Have they science? But if they mastered interstellar travelling, are they even secrets left? Have they found the ultimate answer to questions like the Big Bang or have they even found strings? Or are they exploring the universe like we use to imaging in science ficiton? Is there even somethingt explore since the universe consists of stars and gas clouds? It's really hard to imagine an alien civilzation since they must have founds answers we are still trying to figure out. Are they even abe to conquer the physics we know are are aware of that we can't beat them? Like lightspeed for example.

Would they've been gone throught he same evolutionary process as we did? Would they look for other aliens like we do? And if they are out there: Why aren't we hearing from them? How do the look like? Scientists can answer this question partly. They need eyes to see, a food to eat, ears to hear and fingers to feel. They probably won't have these exotic bodies Hollywood is pinning into out heads. No tentacles for example. They need legs to move forward and a brain to process signals. All these things are necessary to even exist. They must have some kind of intelligence. Maybe the same rules of evolution apply to aliens and they actually look like humans.Or intelligent cat people. (Just kidding. That's Avatar.) Anyway. Aliens may even look completely different since the circumstances are different on each planet. Maybe the gravity is higher so their body is strongers than ours. Or they won't breathe oxygen. They could breath methane. (Just kidding. That's Perry Rhodan.) The imgination can run as wild as it can get since we have no idea of how other intelligent life looks like. It could be a giant fly-alien. Who knows.

This thought origniates from my thoughts about U.F:O.'s. If there were an alien civilization out there. Why would they visit us with? What would their reason be to come to us? This thought comes from the documentaries about these things. I saw so many material about this topic and they were fairly similar. A bright light, paralization, sometimes people told about how they saw something inside of the flying objects. Most of these sightings have basically no substance since either 1) The same happened to everyone or 2) The information we could gather from this are no useful. And why are they aliens here since the 40's? Did they just found us? Is this even new for aliens? The material the MUFON (Mutual U.F.O. Network) has gathered can give no insight either. All the gathered material give no clue about their motivations or goals. They only show up, scare someone, and leave. Why would they do this? My assumption would be that they simply like to scare us. Maybe there is an alien television show that scares humans. But wouldn't that be frightening? Hyper-intelligent aliens that cross the stars only came to scare us? This is such a weird thought, isn't it? Why aren't they revealing themselves to us? Why do they show up randomly to innocent individuals? I wish I did know. The phenomenon of U.F.O.'s is so weird to begin with. No explanation for it seems to make sense.

Are they visiting us to see aliens? Are we the aliens in their eyes? Are they coming so close just to see a human? This does as barely sense as any other explanation. They could look throught a hyper-high-tech machine and watch from the outside. I don't want to

get into the government thing. I don't think governments are aware of aliens or work with them. What would governments benefit from? The technology? That's bullshit. Man developed the technology we now have today, or had one hundred years ago. Technological progress is a logical process. Scientists take to and develop new technology all the time. As said: Nothing makes any sense. Maybe we thought in the wrong direction and they are no aliens. Maybe humans in top-secret underground basis having fun scaring us. They were never aliens, just humans.This makes at least a little sense. t's such a weird and slippery topic. I don't know. What can I say further. Aliens. Humans. Unidentified Flying Objects. Whenever this phenomenon has an explanation. I hope it's a really damn good one

Today (10/12/17) I ran... The right to ‘defend’

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (12)

Self-proclaimed Story King.

How do we restrict gun usage in the United States? One of the worst things people tell me they want to buy a gun for is the following: Defending yourself. I argue back: If you didn't had a gun; you didn't need one. It's that simple. Imagine we would ban guns from today on. Everywhere. The entire planet becomes free of weapons. Imagine how we would reduce murder and crime rates. How we would prevent someone running amok. How accident with guns would be entirely depleted.

Okay, I get it: You only make use of your rights to own and carry a gun. I understand that. But, please, try to be reasonable. If we collectively dismissed guns as a whole, by simply not buying or carrying one, many lives could and would be saved. Just because the lobby of the arms industry tells you to own and carry a gun. This is not okay. Think on the people that loose relatives, children and others just because people wanted to “defend” themselves.

The rest of the world has no guns either. There is no such thing as defending yourself and protecting your family. Most countries in the world are safe even without guns. Guns don’t make things better; they make things worse. You can make usage of your rights, but you don’t have to. It’s fine if you don’t carry a gun. Don’t fall for the lobby of the arms industry. A gun is not making you safer. A gun won’t help survive certain situations. It will only make things worse. And the situations where a gun might help are so rare it’s not even worth mentioning. I bet no one would be able to stop a terrorist or stop a person running amok. This is just propaganda.

And most atrocities with guns cannot be stopped anyway. As long as weapons are available on the free market; this horror continues. We cannot prevent anything. People will always abuse their use of gun carriage. The question is. For how long should this madness continues? For how long must innocent people die because some individuals come up with an idea for abuse of this? What baffles me is the ‘fun factor’ people have with this stuff. They go to shooting ranges only to shoot. I find this disgusting. Guns are made to kill people and are no source for entertainment.

People must come to their senses and fight the lobby.. If we all pursued the same goal and got mutual in this topic, things may change. And don’t forget: It’s not to protect you. It’s to sell you stuff. Sell you a gun for a false feeling of safety is marketing. The lobby is strong and we should stress them. We all should agree on a more strict gun carriage act (or law).

And the worst things people can do is to give a gun to a kid. This may be ordinary for Americans, but for me as a German, it’s disgusting. We cannot introduce kids to guns. Kids must learn that guns are bad. This would be a good start. The snake bites its own tail. Grown up use guns – introduce it to kids who become grown ups – who introduce it to kids. Kids should climb up trees or ride a skateboard but not engage in gun usage.

But all my appealing will fall onto death ears. People want to defend themselves and they want to have fun. And this careless attitude is the reason for atrocities with guns. As long as we agree that owning guns is normal, disturbed individuals will abuse this. We – the people – must learn that guns are bad in any way. They are not for entertainment, they are made to kill. Please. Remember that the next time you use a gun.

Today (10/11/17) I ran...Jesus, The Real American Idol

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (11)

Powered by inner fire.

7 Billion people. Imagine how good our world could be, if only ONE of them would be like Jesus. Jesus. What a man. We don't need to argue if – or if not – he existed. Most historians are sure he existed. He was a revolutionary; a rebel. He did not accept the circumstances as they were. He wanted to change things for better. He wanted to send the message of God and his realm. If you follow the 10 commandments, you will have a life after life.

As I said a few lines ago: How would earth be? Someone who cares for the poor and ill. Someone who rebelled against the authorities. Someone who loved his enemies. Maybe being Jesus is way harder than someone can think. Nobody would – or even can – do all these things. Nobody wants to go to a kitchen soup and eat with homeless. This makes Jesus so special. He did not care what people were. His only interest was to give a good example of how people should be.

Looking at Chrisitians in the 21 Century, you have to wonder: Are these people really Christians? Of course they are not. These people go to church, spend some money and maybe they do pray. They follow huge event-like services and just pretend to be Christians. This is probably not what Jesus had in mind. He wanted others to be like him. Really caring for others and don't just pretend to do. The whole Christian religion is nothing more than a hollow, empty ritual. Full of hipocrisy and repetition.

The institution of Church is as hipocritical as it can get. They make millions of Dollars and Euros all around the world and yet I don't see or hear anything about this money being givent the poor. Sadly, the church is as any other organization. People sought power and influence; not to serve the lord. Serving the lord is being Jesus. It is being as he was. It's disgusting how the bishops and Vatican representatives make hundreds of thousands of Dollars and yet they don't spend a single dime to the poor.

And that is what church should always be about: The poor. They deserve the money. They deserve the wealth. Why can’t the church fund new houses for the poor? Why can’t they fund money for kids in Africa? They are simply sitting on their money and they even let people work voluntarily for them. Many are not even being paid in this organization. What a mess. The question is: What is the church doing with all this money? Why is there even a tax for church?

You are not a Christian because you go to church. Or because you pray. You have to be an active example of being a person that follows the footsteps of Jesus. Jesus is the default mode for people who deserve to live in God’s realm after life. If the church is not helping the poor? Who else does? The government has no budget for this. The church is a joke. It’s not following Jesus. It’s not helping anyone. It rips off its believer. Either be like Jesus. Or leave the church.

Today (10/10/17) I ran... Our all second father

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (10)

Begin your writing career by learning from the master. But first I have to become a master.

If you want to understand God; try to understand nature first.

There is popular conception that God is nature. Or the other way around: Nature is God. And I like this idea. Nature represents everything God stands for. For intelligence (NOT intelligent design), for diversity, for harmony and peace. Yes, some animals kill other but they only do it to survive and not for fun. As we begin to understand nature, God, becomes a grapable concept. The intelligence we can find in nature hints, or gives glimpses, into the, well, nature of God. Taking things like physics and chemistry into the equation, and looking at the universe, things become much clearer and tid bit easier to understand. A being so vastly intelligent that it incorporates everything the creation has to offer. From atoms to elements, to evolution and diversity. The core is the complexity of our world. From DNA to cells for example. All this could be god. And as a writer once ended his novel: God is the universe. And we are his dreams.

God doesn't work in mysterious ways; he works without fingerprint.

Does God even influence people? Did he influence Jesus? Did Jesus work out everything on his own? Nobody can really tell. All I know is that God works in the details. As a rapper once pointed out: God's nature lies in the simple things. When you're mad and you see a cute squirrle; you can either say it's coincendend or God tries to cheer you up. It's all a matter of perspective. How much are you willing to credit things to God? Would you even accept having no own will? Is free will illusion? Putting your life into His hands is no easy task since you want to control everything and be in control and choose your destiny. I think God influences us all with all kinds of bumps and nods. He will never say: I am God. I was here. He does work on you. Simply withtout fingerprint.

God only influences individuals. Not groups, masses or societies.

As Jesus taught us is that he only works on you. Not your entire family, not your community; only on you. It doesn’t matter if Jesus was, or was not, His son. He influenced him. But not everyone he influences is God’s son. (Even though we are all his children.) He will give YOU direction and YOU meaning. You can consider it a catch that brings everyone he influences together. Again: You may consider it coincidence or the work of God. Just like the disciples of Jesus. Those who must meet; will meet. And these groups will then work together. These people, powered by God, will make a difference and change the world for the better.

Today (10/09/17) I ran... The PC of the future

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (9)

Born German. Philosophy Japanese. Way of life American.

I never thought about the post-PC-era. I heard it here and there, but never really got into the topic. Many talked about tablets replacing computers, or smartphones replacing computer. Or whatever the newest tech trend was supposed to replace the computer. Now I bought a cheap budget smartphone myself, and yes, now I don't need a computer anymore.

My phone can do every trick my PC can. I can browse the web (even faster than with the PC), I can write and receive email, check Twitter. Whatever I wanna do: My phone can do it. I even watch Twitch on my phone. Even though the screen is albeit a bit small. Doesn't matter though. It's enough to enjoy a few streams. And recently I found a RSS-Reader for it. A super convinient way to get updates from my favorite websites. I'm planning to buy a tablet in the future. A bigger screen, more capabilites, more apps etc. I could extent the idea of my phone onto a tablet. I watched and read so many reviews and I think I can be even more productive on a non-PC hardware.

Windows tablets already replace a lot of computers. And I think they could do it entirely. With more connectors or interfaces, the laptop or desktop isn't needed anymore. The only problem is still the hardware power. You could replace your desktop, but for a cost: The power. GeForce or AMD Radeon graphic card don't fit into your tablet. Neither the newest generation of Intel core processors. Time will make it possible though. I bet I can have a super high-end PC in my hands in the next years.

I would even argue that the future is that we use smarthphones as computers. Samsung DeX and Windows Continuum are the first steps in this direction. We simply plug a phone into the computer and us it as our desktop PC. It would be super convinient. But the processor power must rise a lot for this to work. They had to manage huge deskop applications and that's not possible right now.

Another step into this direction would be 2-in-1 or convertibles where you can have a laptop and a desktop PC. Maybe we could a few phone features into them. The Mac is doing somehting like this with their eco system where you can receive phone calls with your Mac computer. This whole blending bewteen the type of device you use will continue. It's up to the manufacturars to make that happen since a lot of money is involved. And it's up to the customer if they want and accept such things.

Today (10/08/17) I ran...‘No money, ‘no problems (17.03.17)

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (8)

And the Oscar goes to...

Oh, you need to earn a lot of money. No, you don't. The most happy people on earth are those who almost have nothing. Only the clothes on their body and the food in their small bowl. Money is a false motivator. Many think that earning more money will them make more happy. It's a flawed thought to begin with. More money only means more consuming. And more consuming is mostly more items you can buy. A bigger tv, a faster car, a more powerful computer. But all these things don't make you happier.

You don't need to engage in social media. Social media is a hodpe-podge of meaningless terror between each other. Not just hate-speech. But also greed and jealousy. Promised as a holy land for openess and connectivity, we had to accept that people are stupid and only engage in insulting each other. It's a meaningless back and forth between two different camps. "Oh, you are on the other side, you must be my enemy!" This seems to be the only direction this think took. I mean, you can use social media of course. Just try to spread love and engage in connecting with others. Not the other way around. Try to find people who are positive and engage with them. Help others to connect with the right people. Make them find people who think alike and let them unite better.

This cycle of hatred will probably never end and when we not stand back and see how things really are. The best thing to do is to leave the social media and enagage in real life. "But leaving the social media? I might miss something! I want to be part of it!" Well, then...

mankind is doomed. Masses following blindly were always the reason for bad behavior of masses. Masses are always driven by self-declared leaders and their opinion. The only difference nowadays is, that they are no leaders anymore; the leaders were replaced with enemies.

The enemy can be a lot these days. Self-declared "sceptics" try to reason that climate change is not real. And every scientist that says that climate change is real is the enemy. This can applied to everything. To homosexual marriage, pollution, politics. The enemy has replaced the leader. The best thing someone can do is to shut up and let real experts to the work. Just shut your mouth, step back and think the rest. Stay calm, let experts do their job and learn to stay behind the curtain.

I abandoned my social media accounts. Easy to answer. First and foremost: I had little to zero followers. It wasn't much fun interacting since I had no one to interact with. It's simply boring. But it also has a much deeper reason: I despise the social media. I don't like how people behave on these websites. The social media is full of hate-speech, mobbing, insulting, mocking. People don't use it to communicate and enrich but to destroy and break. One wrong tweet results in a huge shitstorm and people are bullied off of Twitter. On Facebook it is the same. It baffles me that though no uses an alias, people still go onto these websites and hate the shit out of each other. I don't like this negativity. I like positivity. I like embracing things; enriching things and not the other way around.

The only good thing that social media has brought upon us was the Arab spring. Where people used the power of social media to organize protests and gatherings. This is a good use and a good example of how we should use these things. And on the other side of spectrum are the dictators and autocrats who block social media to do just that: Blocking organization. Either way: Social media could be a good way to get in touch with you representatives for example: Twitter has a blue symbol that indicates the nature of the account i.e. it shows that the person behind the account is the actual person it represents. We could make extra accounts for politicians who already are on Twitter. This way we could make democracy as a whole better. Or we could use it to spread the word for petitions. Or code the petition into Twitter. All in all we could improve lives and make it easier to get in touch with people.

Today (10/06/17) I ran... Terrorists win

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (6)

One Piece, Death Note, Detective Conan; there must be a hidden school for writers in Japan.

The war on terrorism is the biggest, most expensive and demanding war in history. (And we thought the war on drugs was hard.) The terrorist simply buy their weapons on the black market, or simply on the free market. Or they are armed by the Western countries. (Depends on the country, its leaders and the circumstances.) We could stop terrorism the same way. If we stopped producing ammunition from today on, in a few years all ammunition would be depleted and no new one would follow. Terrorists would run out of out ammunition and we would be one step closer to defeating terrorists.

The question is. Why do terrorists still win? Why can’t we defeat them? Why are all those anti-terror-laws useless? It seems we simply watch terrorists doing whatever they want. Sometime we hear that an attack has been foiled. This bad thing: How could they even build bombs in the first place? Why do we have so much surveillance and espionage only that terrorist still can kill people? Why do we – the people of the Western world – have to be surveilled in order to find a few thousands terrorists? And why are not finding them? So many questions.

The terrorists are still winning and it does not matter in which way we look at it. The anti- terror-laws are a success for the them. Our freedom has been restricted in order to us to defeat them. The politicians say things like: We are not scared. Or. This is a cowardly attack. Yet, they still kill innocent people. The war on terror cannot be won this way. Not like this. I have no idea to win this war. But it’s not this way. Simply invading a country does not work either. As we saw in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Since the terrorists are so damn-well organized and funded - a win – is not possible.

Today (10/05/17) I ran... The media should not shape your reality

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (5)

The TV raised me well, I guess…

We only get negative input. You know else give us negative input 24 hours a day and 7 days a week? The news. The news are a bad thing. First of all: You don't need them. Okay, you want to be informed about what is going on on the planet. Then try the internet; but not your television. News should not shape your reality. The news are not aware of how much damage they do everyone and everything. Your tv is watching you. The TV is the modern televisor from 1984. It surveils everyone all around the globe. You do not act, you do not think, while you're watching TV. Whole mankind is shackled in front of their TV's, eating the news, consuming trash TV.

They should not tell you how to view the world. The only focus news has, is to make you feel bad. They only focus on negative things like war, murder, crime, etc, just to keep you down and sad. But you should be joyful and happy instead of that. All the news in the entire world, and I saw all of them, present the same thing: Negativity. I wish we would do the opposite. We would only focus on the positive stuff. Imagine we had a TV channel that

only focuses on things like, the cure for a disease, a peaceful turn in a war-ridden country, or that some hungry people are able to farm their land independently now. We would encourage us, and others, for a more positive outcome. We would be happier and more engaging.

But maybe they are no positive things in the world. We cannot end wars and conflicts. We cannot cure cancer. And the people itself are so negative too. There is probably no room for positivity. There is only negativity. At least we could stop putting the focus onto it. If we simply ignored the bad stuff in the world and spread love in our local circles. Here are many positive things to be found. You caring mother. A kind barber. Just begin to ignore the negative stuff and everything sad will be flushed away.

The constant state of crisis and peril only presents the feeling of having ‘no power’ or ‘being too small’. That’s why the focus should be put onto positive stuff. As long as you focus onto the negative stuff in the media, you will always feel bad in one way or another. And it will never end. It’s a 24/7 news cycle. There will always be a new crisis looming in the distance. Learn to filter these things out. The truth is one thing: You don’t need to engage. Don’t do it. Ignore it. You cannot do anything about it anyway. You cannot end hunger and you cannot end wars.

Better learn to change things you can actually change. Learn to accept that some things cannot be changed. And learn to find the difference between these two things. Sooner or later you will be able to connect with other people who can actually change things and then you can change things. One alone cannot change the world. We must work together. Then we can end hunger and wars. It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, watching the news will not help you.

Today (10/04/17) I ran... The great 5 rules for a better together

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (4)

Good vs. Bad. Dark vs. Light. Predictable vs. Obvious.

Rule 1: Only buy what you truly need. If we want the system to crash and fail, we only buy things we only need. Don’t buy a new phone every year, keep it until it’s broken. No more than 1 or 2 pairs of shoes. A handful of t-shirts. Recycle what you bought or at least try.

Rule 2: Begin to reflect on your actions. Don’t agitate in

hate-speech, love your family. Think about what you’ve done and try to think about what you’re going to do.

Rule 3: Accept your mind and body. Accept your thoughts and feeling. If we want a better world, we must learn to feel for others. We must try to relate to people working as prostitutes, or people working in factories all day long, or people who work in mines in Africa. If we understand and feel for them, we world will become a better place.

Rule 4: Act. You don’t need to rush to the next Greenpeace stand. No. But try to spread a positive word around you. Do yourself a favor and become a positive and optimistic person. Don’t join the cynicism-train. Learn to be happy for others. Be thankful if someone close to you is happy. If we did all these things, it could make a difference

Rule 5: Leave others alone. It’s not your business what kind of sexual preference someone

has. What kind of music they like or what kind of car they drive. You must care for others, yes. But don’t hate others. You probably have no reason to hate someone in the first place. Don’t do things to others, you don’t want others to do to you.

If we did all these things, it could make a difference.

Today (10/03/17) I ran... The real criminals

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (3)

Rothecastle.

Well, thank you, Mr. Assange. There is this notion of us – mostly in our separate democracies - that our elected leaders are ‘the good ones’. You have to look to from a different direction. As Frank Zappa once said. “The government is the entertainment branch.” Then there is WikiLeaks who are prosecuted and criminalized for exposing nothing but the truth.

I take the most prominent and most known case: Collateral murder. The attack of American soldiers on innocent people and Reuters journalists. Why is that so important? Because we are not seeing the elephant in the room. Is WikiLeaks now bad? Or the American army? (Or marines, or whatever.) Who did something wrong? WikiLeaks by exposing the fact that American soldiers kill innocent people? Or the actual soldiers who killed the innocent people? WikiLeaks are not the bad guys. One more thing. Who is the bad guy. Julian Assange who states absolutely correct things like: “Secrecy breeds incompetence.” Or a stupid asshole who says things like: “Just shoot that son of a bitch.” (What he said live on television.)

When the American army kills more than 100.000 (the number is actually much higher I presume) civilians, has death squads who roam the country, drone attacks killing hundreds of innocent people; the simple question is: Who are the real criminals? Just because it is America? Just because ‘it is America’ they are allowed to do such a thing? Am I getting this wrong here? Am I the idiot? I don’t think ‘America’ as a whole are criminals, I just wanted to shift the perspective.

It’s a totally twisted thing now. WikiLeaks can be deemed many things, yet it is a totally neutral party. They are not pro or contra anything. They just publish things and wrong- doings of our elected leaders. (Just as an example. They do expose corporations, people, organizations, etc. too.) Why arw WikiLeaks supposedly bad and not those who are exposed by them? Like the American army, or banks, or organizations or people? Let’s face it: We can be thankful for their bravery. Julian Assange is in semi-exile. Edward Snowden in full-exile. We learned how bad the NSA is. Why don’t we – the people – try to fight it? Why aren’t re-forming the entire service? We know through our journalists how bad certain things are. And through WikiLeaks how bad things truly are.

Today (10/02/17) I ran... How I became a storyteller

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (2)

Love... put into every story.

This is actually a fairly short story. It involves anime and boredom. It all began in the year

2007. I was still in school and I had holidays. Like most of the time; I spend my time on anime streaming websites. I loved to "binge"-watch animes with 12, 24 or more episodes. And I came across a sneaky, nifty little story called 'Death Note'. The story revolves around a 17 year old, highly intelligent student named Yagami Light, who finds the notebook of a Shinigami, and every name he writes into the notebook dies. (It is much cooler when you watch it.) So – I watched the whole 37 episodes in a few days and simply thought occured to me. "I bet I can write an even smarter story than Death Note."

Out of total boredom, I began coming up with my very first ideas for plots. And I got hooked immediatley. A simple from time-to-time activity became my hobby. My first stories were actually novels. Yes! I wrote novels. And 8 short stories. Sadly, no one published it. But I have to admit, it really sucked. (LOL.) After finishing my short stories, I tried screenwriting for a change. It made more fun and was much more engaging than writing novels. The short time span and much more visual control over the stories was more fun than "just" describing what happens. This is how I wrote my first screenplay. It was a 'Justice League' feature film. I sent it to Warner Bros., but they were not interested. Looking at it now... mh, it is not up to what Marvel is doing or someone else. It is just not that good.

The 'science', so to speak, is now my everyday life. I always brainstorm or think up new scenarios all the time. I consider myself a professional storyteller. I probably take this stuff way too seriously but I don't mind. It's giving me a good time to come up with a new plot, new charcaters, new twists and turns. I always think to myself: I am a writer who found its medium. Screenwritting is totally my thing now.

This whole thing of storytelling is simply my thing. I enjoy the process of the first idea for a title, the first idea for a start to the first idea for a character. I went through this process so often by now. I wish I were so good that I could teach others. Write books about screenwriting. But I can't explain how my methods function. I mostly work on emotions. A good story always agitates and excites me. I could not translate that into a rational sentence or tell how to 'feel' a good plot.

I never engaged in actual film science. I don't like to fulfil checklists. A common thing I learned was, that a good story needs good characters. Good. I get that. Then there is this thing of the choice of the characters. A choice makes a character relatable. I just don't want to write certain plot points to be deciions only to be a better storyteller. For my part: I only want to tell a nice story. A story people can get lost in and enjoy a world beyond their everyday life. That's what film is made for.

This is how and why I became a storyteller.

P.S.: I never succeeded in writing a smarter story than Death Note. And I never will be.

Today (10/01/17) I ran... A mutual goal

Category: Across this thought / On my mind... (1)

I live on a unicorn farm....

As I said many times before: We must unite people and not nations. If we unite nations, it

always ends up in a mess. What does uniting people mean? There is this popular thought of 'if aliens attack we all work together'. (It's flawed because A) We wouldn't win a ar with aliens and B) Aliens wouldn't have had a reason to attack us anyway.) Can't we just get along if we worked towards a mutual goal? The obvious thought would be something like a World Union, or World Government. (Which would also end up in a mess.)

The mutual goal every human can work towards could be much easier. What if we said: Every human gets five dollar a day to survive? Or: What if every human gets the same educational standard? Or: What if every human gets a bowl of rice every day? See. It's rather simple to accomplish a mutual goal for everyone. Why is that important? Because we must learn to get along. Better sooner than later. Many currents and streams try to hold the world in a single-nation construct. The EU is an exception. (Even though technically we are simply 27 nations on one continent.)

Right now: Everyone is on their own. Millions of refugges flee their country because of war and poverty. Many try flee into the U.S. Many people die in dictatorships like China and North-Korea. Then we have extremists in the Middle East and other extremists like Nazis in Europe. We had to find a way of connecting the people who do good into one big network. We got facebook, twitter and other social media services that would made a connection much easier.

The main goal for every human being could be anything. All I'm trying to say is that a mutual goal every human could work and participate with would make the world a better place. I know how easy it sounds and how hard it is to execute. It's almost impossible. People are not the nice and perfect beings I project here. People mostly don't care and don't have any interest in such things. So, the end of the world has came over us because people were lazy, ignorant and stupid.

A mutual goal could be a plan to re-think our society, a mantra to repeat all the time, a sentence engraved in stone. We are encaptured in a capitalistic wonderland where there is only fun and games and all the problems in the world will be solved by others. We don't have to intervene or act ourselves. It's laughable. It's pathetic. It's our demise. The world could be a world where there is no pain and suffering; not harm and misery. If we all agred to work towards one mutual goal that would benefit everyone.

Today (09/05/17) I ran... UNCHARTED: THE LOST LEGACY

Category: My P.O.V. / Pop culture, observations and volatility... (7)

Did I like it?

Yes!

This was my first game playthrough since BioShock Infinite in 2013. For more than four years I was absence from the gaming scene. I haven't played a game since Portal 2 in 2011. I lost all interest in gaming since it became dull, boring and stale. And good games are so damn rare. I came across a YouTube channel and watched the entire playthrough. Here are my thoughts.

+ Strong women

Writing strong women can be a hard task. Most of the time, at least in the past, many wrtiers would take a male character and slap a female skin onto it. (Or a female actor.) But

Naughty Dog succeeded in portraying two strong women with a sense of independecy and autonomy. Chloe and Nadine are female characters done right. From the first moment in the intro, where we get to know her a bit, to the outro; both women are tough, strong and smart. I am sincerely impressed how good it's been executed. (And I thought my female characters were good.)

+ I hear (female) voices in my head

Oh, boy. What a good voice acting. It's like the entire script has been brought to life without any compromise. Chloe's voice actor did a tremendous job. From the agitated: "Look out!" To the subtle sentences; everything nailed perfectly. I feel in love with the voice and want to hear more from her. And by the way: It sounded beautiful.

+ Riddle me this

I usually don't like puzzles or riddles. (Maybe except in Zelda games.) Most of the time they are annyoing, too easy or too confusing. The riddles in this game had the most coherent degree. From the jumping riddle to the slide riddle; everything was managable and doable. Naughty Dog was able to deliver a challenge you could actually master without biting your controller. They were fun, engaging and cool. Hands up for Naughty Dog.

+ Smooth animator

Hell, yeah. That was a fun ride. The animation and the graphics quality are beyond everything I've ever seen. (And I thought Portal 2 looked good.) Blending cut scene with gameplay seemlesly was definitevly awesome. The gameplay itself was smooth as butter and the enemie's AI was decent. The overall quality is unmatched in my eyes. I have never seen a more beautiful and superb animation in my life.

- Side

Could not find anything I did not like.

Bottom line: Other game developer should watch, learn and take notice.

Today (09/07/17) I ran... ARRIVAL

Category: My P.O.V. / Pop culture, observations and volatility... (6)

Did I like it?

Not much.

Arrrival was one of those hyped Oscar contenders. I did not watch it in cinemas or even noticed a trailer. Then I bought it on Blu-ray and gave it a watch. And I was not very pleased with it. I could not think of much I liked or disliked since not much happened in the movie itself. It begins with a short introduction of the protagonists, both try to communicate with aliens and it ends as quick as it begun. I had two thoughts in mind. Let's go ahead.

+ Strong directing

Denis Villneneuve is - as noticed and stated before – one of the most talented directors now working. He does it so good. He knows how to be subtle, observing and giving the actors and scenes its needed place. I liked the scene in the beginning, where he zooms onto the protagonist and on the left side of the frame are jets flying. Wow. That shot blew my mind. It looked so simple, yet looked so good. And every scene following was as magical as the ones before. You could follow the story through the eyes of the protagonists and how they perceive the ongoing story. Nothing distracting was there, nothing annyoing. Only the actors and the scenes. Such talent is really impressive.

- Weak writing

The potential for Arrival was immense. You could explore how mankind deals with aliens and how they would be contacted first. But that big part is only a small part. Most of the time we get to see news and media reports and some experts. No big and fancy debate. I know this movie is not about this topic, but it could have been a greater part of the overarching story. The writing itself was not bad in itself; just too limited. I don’t know the source material though. Even if I knew it: It could have been expanded. To how the people would react etc. (Something ‘Man of Steel’ tried and failed.) The characters are a bit pale. Even though I admit: How can you boast up a scientist? The dialogue could have gotten bit more into the details of the characters. How they perceive the first contact and how they dealt with it. It seemed like it was no big deal that aliens landed. It could have been a bit more full of depth. How angry they got ‘cause they don’t understand. How they doubt and struggle. It is unfulfilled potential.

Bottom line: It did not deserve its Oscar nominations.

Today (09/08/17) I ran... Bruce Almighty: Fingers of Mischief

Category: Pitch Wknd. / Helping Hollywood for free... (2)

So, Bruce Nolan learned that he has all the power himself to change his life for the better and does not need God to do it for him. Lesseon learned. Character development finished. Act one, two and three are done. All good, all fine. But what if there was not only God who can influence all these things? Someone we all know. Somoene we all should not paint on the wall? You know who I mean: The devil.

Bruce Nolan continues his life as a reporter as Grace, his girlfriend dies. He tries everything to contact God and ask for her resurrection. But no one answers. No one is there. Now in a state of constant depression, he begins to doubt God every existed. But no. Someone answers him. Someone reacts to his prayers and doubtful thoughts. At first he thinks it's God. But no. It is not.

He is caged in a place called Hell and has been freed because his time in the cage was over. The punishment for not serving man has been finished. He begins to become a human being to experience the species he damned and despised so much. He meets Bruce Nolan and becomes his co-worker. Both become frriends and everything is fine. First presenting him as God he should worship, the devil begins to reveal himself. He wants to test Bruce Nolan and offers him all his powers for the price of his soul. Bruce denies and does not believe until Graces stands back in his threshold. The price for her being alive is his soul. Now convinced he his the devil, he sells his soul to him.

Bruce and Grace are happy. Both marry and expect a child. But something is wrong. Flawed. He feels confomfortable and tries to questions his decision since his life begins to downfall. His co-workers hate him, his boss wants to fire him, his friends begin to dislike him. Since he has no explanation, he turns to the devil. He wants his soul back. But the devil simply disappears. Bruce is being fired and lives on the street. Then he meets another homeless person and becomes friends. It turns out it is God. Like he was in the first movie. He explains he was testing Bruce and says there is no devil; only him. He explains it by saying that he chose Bruce as some sort of modern prophet for the apocalypse. Which would set up the third and last part in the trilogy.

And so it ends.

Today (09/04/17) I ran... My new phone

I never quite understood the appeal of so-called flagship phones. Why should I pay more than four-hundred and more bucks for a phone when a two-hundred bucks phone does the trick? If someone needs it; go ahead. My former phone was a Motorola Moto E2. And I was happy with it. I could browse the web, check my emails and watch some YouTube. Yet I needed a new phone.

My Moto showed its age though and began to become sluggish and slow. Apps would take forever to load and many times apps would crash. It was annoying. Now I needed a new phone. My first thought was about buying an iPhone. I could have gotten one for 330 bucks. A bit more that I wanted to pay, but it seemed like a good deal. I looked up the specs and some iOS data. And then I got an iPad.

And iOS is not my thing. I would not say I hate it; I just don't like it. I don't need any of the apps pre-installed neither do I need the apps in the app store. The only thing that drew me to the iPhone was shooting in 4K. Then I thought: I don't film. I don't shoot photos that much. Why even bother, huh? And I rejected this idea. I wanted to buy something that had decent specs.

I googled some budget phones and had a wide variety. The Moto G5, Lenovo K6, Elephone P8 mini and the list goes on. I came across the Honor 5C and thought to myself: This is it. It has a 1080p screen, a good camera with HDR, an octa core, a big display. I considered calling it a "little upgrade" from my Motorola. Watched some reviews and bought it. And I could not be happier.

It does every task I throw at it. It does not load slowly, is not being sluggish and the screen is gorgeous. As I said: Why pay more? I think most people don't even need a flagship phone and I don't know why people are willing to pay more than five-hundred bucks for a phone. I don't see any overvalue. Anyway. I will enjoy my new phone and wish you a happy day.

Today (07/31/17) I ran... The One Piece live action show

Well, first of all: I am skeptical. I mean, how can you translate the One Piece world into the real world? Ain't that damn expensive? The whole powers, the world and its locations, the colorful characters and their most of the time unusual outfit. It would look sort of goofy in real life. But don't mind my scepticism. It will probably a good show. I am not doubting the

producers and the production itself; just the idea of having One Piece depicted in a live action scenario.

The bigger question is though: What kind of story will be used? Will it be an original plot? An adapted plot? Something in between... ? Whatever plot it is, I hope it fits the tone of the series: Lighthearted and friendly. (Even though many get killed and beaten up very badly.) I hope it catches its spirit and driving force of the original manga. Maybe the plot is a spin- off. My idea for a One Piece spin-off would be to follow the other Supernovae and their travel across the Grand Line.

The good thing is that Oda-san functions as one of the producers. This means it will have the usual quality storytelling we're used to. He will provide the needed passion to pull something like this off. I believe he will be as good as the movies counting from Strong World upwards. He knows how to do this properly. The question is how much the production company is going to invest to make it as good as possible. This question cannot be answered until we see the first trailer.

Considering this announcement: I am hyped. I love to see One Piece grow even bigger and to gain and attract more viewers and get drawn into the story like we – the fans – already are. I can't wait to be honest. It will take a while until we see but as I pointed out the sections before, It will probably be very, very good. And even when it sucks, what I highly doubt, at least it has been tried to translate it into live actions.

Point is: I will give it a watch.

Today (08/11/17) I ran... SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

Category: My P.O.V. / Pop culture, observations and volatility... (5)

Did I like it?

A small yes. A big no.

I may be very, I don't know, overexaggerating if I said it's the worst MCU film. But it kinda is. It tried to be a lot and, even though it manages to do so, fails hard at some points. Yes, it had humor, action, drama, emotions, visceral camera work. Yet, it lacked the usual ambition MCU films display. Either with strong writing, or strong directing, or some other factors. I was baffled, but it had a total of six screenwriters. Maybe that has been the problem.

- Now on home video

The beginning of the movie, I won't spoiler, was neither funny nor necessary. Peter makes a little vlog, it tries to catch up with the MCU timeline. Even though it was kinda "cool"; it also annoyed me a lot. The constanct: "Oh, this is so cool. This is so awesome. This is unbelievable." Just no. Couldn't there be a more diverse range of reactions? It was just not as funny or engaging as it tried to be.

- The first act

There are two type of things when it comes to film making: Either it is relevant to the plot. Or it is not relevant to the plot. Dialogue can be relevant to the plot. Certain shots; scenes. Entire sequences or set pieces. Most movies first act is used to explain the mythology, the characters and everything surrounding it. This movie's first act was a boring mish mash of scenes. He goes to school, he tries to be Spider-Man. And that's all. It could have been

used to maybe explain the backstory (even though many would claim that we all know his backstory), but not this Spider-Man's. Maybe they will explain it in the sequel; I don't know.

+ The natural Spider-Man

What I did like, and liked a lot, was the realization of Spider-Man's movement and presentation. I liked the fluid, fast and smooth movements of him and how he was represented in that certain type of environment. I.e. where we see him swing or jump or something. I thought The Amazing Spider-Man did it right; this one did it the best. The scenes of him being Spider-Man were simply engaging and very fun to watch.

+ The Dutch Spider-Man

And as much as I liked Spider-Man, I also liked Tom Holland. He is talented, knows how to shine in every scene and convey a realistic way of how he plays Peter Parker. From the awkward scene, to the sad scenes, to the emotional scenes; he knows how to nail it all the time. It was a delight to watch. I haven't seen him in other movies as of now, but I think he will be one of the big ones in the future. I may overexaggerating things once again, but my point of view is clear: He. Can. Act.

- Neddy

I don't know if it's the script or the actor. Probbaly some of both. Ned only had constance surprise or constant admiring on his card. I am not sure how to put it. He simply is just the best friend of Peter Parker. It would have been better if he was Harry Osborne. That would have at least some sense and filled a certain role. Heck, they gave M.J. a character, why not Harry? This character, aside from hacking or coding skill, had no real depth or interesting arc to follow through. It was just a waste...

Bottom line: MovieBob was right*

*His point of view is, that Sam Raimi's first two Spider-Man's movies are still the best Spider-Man movies. And I agree.

Today (07/31/17) I ran... MacGYVER (2016) – Episode 1-12

Category: My P.O.V. / Pop culture, observations and volatility... (3)

Did I like it?

Yes.

I have not seen the original series from the 80's and I only know the stories my father told me about it. The big difference between both versions is that the 80's show as about MacGyve as a lone wolf that is likable and charming. And the remake is about a cocky MacGyver with a team at his hand. I can't confirm the first claim, but after watching the first half of the season, I can say that Lucas Till is as likeable as it can get. The character is nice, educated, polite and friendly. I like him. Let's get going.

+ Not your average Joe

Wow. Just wow. The plots are above average, polished and very good. Be it the episode with the Russian bomb or the plot with the drug boss in prison. It always gives a good spin onto some already known and used plot points. The way its presented exceeds my usual level of excitement for a show. It's even better than my much beloved Supernatural. (Even though you can't compare tv-shows.) I like the way it begins, how it's being handled and how it ends. Very weill executed. Well done.

+ Tinkering with tinkering

The 'gimmick' of the show is the making of tools and usage of ordinary objects to solve complex problems and harsh sitations. And wow, that is so much fun to watch: (And you can learn a thing or two if you pay attention.) I always think: How is he going to get out of this and then he comes up with a solution that always baffles me. Again, I can't compare it to the original but this one, oh boy, is fun.

- Bozer snozer

I can't find a huge interest in this character. He seems to not serve any purpose and always feels out of place. For the first half, they did not give him much to do. He only is there. He does not quip or quirk. He does not joke or rant. He is just there. I don't know if he plays a bigger role in the future, but besides giving MacGyver a friend, there is nothing to do with him. And the acting is not very... I don't want to judge his talent; but it is not very engaging. He always either smiles or makes a neutral face. Not much to get excited about as a viewer. I am sorry.

- Riley and rules

Mhm. She is the typical, clished and somewhat conservative hacker-type. And I mean her characterization and not the character herself. She is the hacker and hacks stuff. In a very old-fashioned way. "Oh, here, check his data." And then there is a file and all data is exposed. "Oh, here, check his communication." And then there is everything ready to be wire-tapped. This is more a critizism of the arche-type i.e. the hacker. Riley itself is snarky and tough. Something rare for a women's role and even rarer for a TV-show. I can live with her.

Bottom line: I am happy there will be a second season

Today (07/30/17) I ran... WONDER WOMAN

Category: My P.O.V. / Pop culture, observations and volatility... (2)

Did I like it?

Hell, no.

There is not much I actually liked about this movie. I only got negative points. It was a terrible movie and the DCEU is still not up to par with Marvel. By far. I know that the comparison is not popular, but it has to compete with the other cinematic universe. It's a superhero movie after all. Okay, let's get going.

- World building

It has no. There is no other DC character (except a small notice from Batman) and that is all. I don't want to compare it with Marvel again, but how should I stay invested in this universe when there is no other character to relate to? You could argue: "It's in the World War I, why bother." Although it is not very broad in world building, it should have had at least something that refers or relates to the upcoming Justice League. And without needing to spoiler alert here: There was not even a post credits scene. "You may argue: "Why compete with Marvel by copying their way of producing movies?" As I said: How can the viewer relate and invest himself if there is no inner universe to relate or invest with. Warner Bros. seems not to be very eager to make this universe work. It seems they do not

care for inner consistency lor things like ike easter eggs or references to cater to observant fans. What a shame.

- Too slow

The fighting sequence in the warehouse in Batman v Superman showed how to potray an engaging and visceral fight without making compromises like too much cutting or a shaky cam. It was a good visual presentation. Wonder Woman on the other hand chose a lazy route to potray all its fighting sequences. With slooooow motion. Almost all sequences that depict fighting rely heavily on it. It was a really, really overused effect. And this effect made the fighting boring and lousy. It takes the fun out of the sequence or situation. You can't get into the sequence and root for the hero because the slow motion spoils this. One slow motion per movie is okay; or two. Not more. The fighting sequencnes – even though it slow motion – was average. Just average. Not neceissarily bad; just average. It showed Wonder Woman kicking ass and that's fine. I mean: What can you do with a superhero in World War I? The filmmaker did their best to make the moust of this setting and that is totally fine.

- Poisenous acting

This movie had no real villain. (I am not spoiling.) The presented villain was a character named Dr. Poison. (Because she is a chemical expert.) And throughout the entire movie, she only had three short scenes and there all including her making use of the gas she developed. Jeez, that was boring. And then her acting. I am aware of her wearing a mask, yet she only had two different views in her eyes throughout the entire movie. Either she was too confident or too wondering. Like: "Oh, look what I created. My creation is so good. I am so good at this." Burp. No. It was terrible. And she is not the only one. The supporting cast, which was given little to no background, were also terrible. Plus, they did not serve the plot or the protagonist. They were supporting actors and that's all. They could have cut them and it would not make a huge difference. The only good actor in this was Gal Gadot. Her potrayal felt natural and genuine. She is a good actress.

- Please, don't let me be misunderstood

After two hours full of use of slow motion and stiff acting, or overacting at some points, was another terrible thing that repeated all the time: Misunderstanding. The whole thing of a- hero-leaves-his-world-and-is-confronted-with-a-different-one works for like five jokes. In this case, it was used over and over and over again. Probably like twenty times in a row there was a mísunderstanding of Wonder Woman and it wore of pretty quickly. You can make a few jokes here or make the protagonist wonder (haha), but not all the time. The viewer gets it: She does not know this world. The writer should have focused on her trying to understand this world and not let her stumble from misunderstanding through misunderstanding.

Bottom line: The DCEU was dead on arrival

Today (05/19/17) I ran... GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

-

Category: My P.O.V. / Pop culture, observations and volatility... (1)

Did I like it?

Yes.

+ Drax the Likable

Dave Bautista is truly a super underrated actor. His talent oozes all over the silver screen.

The performance of Drax is funny, engaging and you simply can't dislike this guy. Dialogue itself felt a bit werid because of his alien background, behavior and habits; yet he doesn't seem very off from the other characters in terms of odd-ness or weird-ness. His laugh is somewhat magical too. (Even when it sounds rough.) I haven't seen other movies with Mr. Bautista in it (I only saw him in the trailer for Blade Runner 2049, which I will watch), but he seems to enjoy it and gives the audience a good time and a lot of acting power. Let's see how he acts (pun intended) in other movies with characters that have more human and grounded personalities.

+ Mantis the Nuanced

Holy cow. That. Was. Awesome. The character Mantis is probably the gem of the entire movie. She did such a great job with conveing a character that had not background with social interaction and it was simply outstanding. The forced/awkward smile and laugh was such a pleasure oberserve. And the body language of being a bit shy and not knowing how to act (no pun intended) was, as the other factors, good. I don't know the actress behind her character but she has talent indeed.

+ Other characters

Be it Nebula with her wish to beat Gamora or Rocket Racoon playing all cool while being a bit insecure or Yondo, who cared for Peter Quill just like a father; these character were colorful and full of personality. The only thought I had watching the movie was: "Please, don't die! Please, don't die!" Because I cared so much about their position, life and standing. I felt for these characters. This is something I probably never experienced while watching a movie in my entire life. (And talking about it right now is a bit weird to be honest.) It may be "just a superhero movie" but Marvel, not being reduced to the origin- story-vs.-other-side-of-the-coin-villain-formula, showed of an impressive production.

- Side

I have nothing bad to say. I liked it a lot. There were no weird plot points that distracted from the main story. The humor was funny. The music was good. The directing was more than solid. All in all a superb movie.

Bottom line: Outstanding (Marvel) movie.

Today (07/15/17) I ran... Harry Potter and the Guild of Aurora

Category: Pitch Wknd. / Helping Hollywood for free... (1)

It's been a while since Harry and his friends encountered a powerful and strong enemy. The world is safe. He has his jobs and his family. So, where could an enemy come from? Could it simply be a dark wizard? Someone who turned evil but was good before? A wizard from Slytherin? All possible. All legit. But my enemy comes from somewhere where no one thought he – or she – could come from. Our antagonist comes from the past.

The backstory is fairly simple. Our antagonist (I won't name characters. I only say it's a 'she') worked for the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. She did research on the field of time. Although we explored the matter of time in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. All its implications and possibilites for different timelines; my point though is not to screw with time and see what different scenarios pop out. It's simply that our anttagonist comes from the past.

But how? How did she come from the past and why is she evil? What are her motivations?

Due to her travel through time, she encountered a powerful MacGuffin that grants her ordinary powers. And power always has – and always will – corrupt people. What is this item? A brain-streamer. What is this? It amplifies certain aspects of someone's brain. (Which comes also partly due to the reserarch on thought.) It makes a wizard much stronger due to the ability to amplify any charm and spell known. Consider it a super- wizard. It's a small thing you put behind your ear But that's not all. It's side effects corrupt your brain and make you sinister the longer you use it. (Hence her motivation and evilness.)

Our antagonist comes back from a long time travel and is back in the modern world of Harry Potter. The story – and plot – that unfolds is fairly simple. She tries to copy and multiply the brain-streamer and tries to corrupt as many other wizards as possible with the promise of power. Some turn to her because they are evil to begin with. Others are tricked with many other promises. She gathers are small army and attacks the Ministry of Magic. Now comes Harry Potter into the plot. He is an auror and tries to defend the Ministry. A big duel occurs. This sets up the plot for the rest of the time.

The antagonist tries to hide and gather greater forces as Harry and his friends try to find her and stop her actions. It's a wild hunt with many obstacles to overcome. The antagonist has many weird, new and unknown abiltiies due to her time in the Department of Mysteries. Strange things happen where Harry is entrapped in his brain or Hermione is entrapped in a small time loop. The possibilities for weird and strange stuff is endless due to her knowledge of magic that no one else has.

In the end, Harry gets corrupted himself due to a trick. He turns evil for a short time but his brain reacts differently and it stops functioning. A last big duel and the antagonist is being defeated. Everything turns back to normal and the heroes prevail. The brain-streamer is being destroyed and a small cliffhanger shows the rest of the dark wizards leading into the next adventures.

And so it ends.

Today I ran... Why I love One Piece

My absolute favorite story of all time is the Japanese manga 'One Piece'. I began watching the One Piece anime in 2003. My local TV station aired new shows constantly in its anime section. From episode 2, which was the first one I saw, I was hooked from its easy and lighthearted adventure which were great and a joy to watch. A pirates theme was something fresh and fun. The action and the characters simply drew me into the story like no other story has done before. The characters did not just look awesome, but they were also very nuanced and detailed. Zoro is strong and silent. Name is a thief. Usoppen is a liar. He crafted characters you care about. Characters you simply have to love.

The superpowers, which are called devil fruit-powers, were simply awesome. My friends and I debated a lot about them. In the beginning of the show, until episode 193, which were the first ones shown, I never saw how impressivly creative it was. Like the Bara Bara no Mi from Buggy. A character that could split his body parts. Is Eiichiro Oda even aware of how awesome this idea is? Or a person which body parts could explore only to use his own booger to explore. Is he aware of how creative this is? He did not simply took something and said: This is a super power. Like Lufffy's Gumo Gumo no Mi. He cannot simply stretch, he can also pump up his blood to attack quicker. He has developed idead to an extend I cannot even think. I would never come up wich such an idea in regard to a

person whose body is made of rubber.

I began reading the manga in 2007, beginning with the Thriller Bark arc. Until I became a writer myself. When I came up with the first ideas for stories, plots and twists, I analyzed the One Piece-mythology on the One Piece-wikia (www.onepiece.wikia.com). One of the first things I saw was, that nothing (!), absolutely nothing has been done before in other creative works. I looked up the devil fruit users and was intrigued by them. A rubber man, except Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four-comic, has not been done before. Ever then I saw how all the islands they visited, were never imagined before either. Then the big picture of One Piece opened up to me: Nothing in One Piece has been done before! Beginning with the world, which is parted in four oceans, north, west, east and south blue, the Grand Line, which its magnetic routes, 'till the devil fruit users powers like hormones, wax, bombs, earthquake. Look it up on the Wikia up above. It is impressive, believe me.

Not only the superpowers, but also the places. The islands and places the protagonists visit are so unique you have to wonder. How does he come up with this stuff? He crafted a world beyond my own imagination. Even in my wildest dreams, I, could not think up this stuff.

I wasn't just the biggest fan of One Piece before, now I am the greatest admirer of its author Eiichiro Oda. He managed to do, what barely any creative writer has done: Creating a new and original world. Full of characters with unique traits, like their laughing style. With characters that look and feel like real individuals. With ambitions, plans, emotions. People who sought power, people who sought to be a good person, people who sought to be simply strong or the very best in their discipline. The whole saga is a new world. That's why One Piece is the greatest story ever told.

Today (08/18/17) I ran... Chapter 875 – "A Woman's Honor"

Category: One Piece at a time / To admire... (4)

To be honest: Not much has happened so far. Big Mom still chases our heroes and our heroes still flee from Big Mom. So, I will talk about a few thoughts I had while reading the Whole Cake Island Arc.

First: Big Mom is a boring character. This is probably the very first character I don't like in One Piece. (And I like every one!). It begins with her design. One Piece characters are usually like Karakuri or Perospero; creative, unique and simply cool. But Big Mom has a boring design. She has no distinct details or traits most other One Piece characters have. She is just an obese woman. And I would not consider the tantrum / craving a cool detail either. And her backstory is nothing cool either. She lived on the islands of giants, had a foster mother, and that's all. I think Oda-san could have make such a big character – she is a Yonko afterall – a bit more engaging. But the other characters, like I mentioned before, are totally fine and the way I being used to. (I.e. unique and cool.)

Second: Sanji's backstory is exactly what I expect from Oda-san. Very unique, detailed, thought out and overall very engaging. (Even when you consider it's actually very sad.) He is being rejected by his family and left it. And the threat of killing Jeff was hefty. I thought Sanji could beat them, but no; he can't. I remember how excited I was when the cliffhanger announced a fight. Then again, the whole thing of being a scientist left and open space for the reveal of Vegapunk. Who was only mentioned like so many times before. Come on, Oda-san! Please! PLEASE! P-L-E-A-S-E! - Reveal him already. He is a character I'm dying to know who he is, what he does, what he can. (And I want to know the secret behing the

devil fruit.) All we know is that it influences the bloodline or something; the cells.

Third: The food theme. Themes are usual for the series. Like the Mr. (ADD NUMBER) in the Baroque Works Arc or the animal theme in Enies Lobby. Most of the time it is rather subtle and well executed. But simply calling characters after food comes across – I double dare to say it – lazy. I am terribly sorry, but... it kinda is. The theme itself is not very cool either. I think Oda-san will return to old form in future Arcs.

Fourth: 20 years One Piece. My general thoughts are simple: I. Am. Impressed. More than twenty years of unique, original and engaging ideas. Nothing repeats, nothting has been done before, nothing I did not like. I liked every chapter from the very first. It rose and rose and rose with every years. It never got boring. (Except Dressrosa. But only because it was too long for my part. 100 chapters when 50-70 were enough.) I wish I could pump out so much quality every week. (But I'm only a screenwriter with a few scripts each year:) I would love to write a spin-off for One Piece. Maybe in the future. Oda-san: Never cease to amaze me. Thank you.

And now some speculation for the next chapters.

I think we see a fight on the Thousand Sunny. Though it's pretty obvious. I wonder how Chopper fights now. Maybe we see new form, new Rumbe Balls, new combinations. I always loved his super strong arms-move. And Brook. Well, he toured through the two years time skip. I don't know how he improved his skills. Even when I'm sure he will have a new trick under his sleeve.

Not much else has been set up. Nami stopped Big Mom for a brief moment and ahm...

that's all. The only thing I can say now would be a repeat of my previous entries. I wonder how Wano Kuni is and what happened to the other Strawhats and what's up with Kaido. (Who is probably the most fascinating character in the current series.) His "immortality" is such a cool details and I'm curious how this is being explained and turns out. That's all, folks.

Today (08/04/17) I ran... Recap and Speculation: Chapter 874 – "King Baum"

Category: One Piece at a time / To admire... (3)

Well, it was a rather short chapter without any major happenings, action/s or revelations. It may feel like a filler, but sets up the further plot very well. (Which we don't know yet.) The main focus of this chapter is the attack of Big Mom. And wow, she hits like a truck. One single attack and everything is about to be beaten. She is a Yonko after all. The representation of her power is rather curious. Not only does she wield one of the mightiest devil fruits in the seires; she also kicks ass with her physical strength. I wonder if that's fault of the crave or if she's simply that strong.

One cute thing though was Nami seducing the cloud. In the Seducing Woods. (Ha. Ha.) I wonder if that will involve other characters in this Arc. Maybe other characters join this cutesy cloud and Big Mom faces some major threat. What I wouldn't say out so loud. The biggest questions remains though: How will they escape? Will they beat Big Mom? Will someone betray Big Mom and help the escapees?

It's a constant back and forth now. One chapter they're about to make it; the next one they are about to be killed. This pattern becomes repetetive and boring. Oda-san should nail

the coffin and finish the Arc quickly. We get it: Big Mom wants cake and tries to kill them. Either he opens up a third or fouth storyline or let either of two things happen. Even though I am sure they will escape at one point.

The Arc is running for so long now. And we are used to longer Arcs. I prefer short ones though. The Arcs get stretched and stretched and stretched nowadays. Half the length would do the trick too. One Piece did never compromise. It was always an epic story. But lengthen it indefinitely is boring. It does not have to be fast paced; just well paced. Like the Impel Down Arc or the Sabaody Archipelago Arc. I get that more and more characters are involved, and many new ones get introduced, and that not every Arc can be shortened due to the action and characters involved; BUT (big one) the pacing should be engaging and fresh and let the reader root for the story and not drag it out like an old chewing gum.

Today (20/07/17) I ran... Recap and Speculation: Chapter 873 – "Trapped Like Sweets in a Cage"

Category: One Piece at a time / To admire... (2)

Before I begin. Let's acknowledge the progress of the cover story. It seems Bartolomeo is on an island that is being protected by Shanks. What a twist! I mean, how does Oda-san write Shanks into the story? He is not a bad guy and is cool with the Strawhats. Wow. I mean, how will Shanks even act in the future of the series? Will he be a supporter and will help the Strawhats? Will he fight them? It could be anything! Let's wait and see. We now continue with the usual schedule.

All happening now is the result of the exploded Chateau. The Big Mom pirate discuss how to stop and catch the Strawhats. Katakuri wants to kill Luffy himself and then – with a good twist – Big Mom got her "craving-illness". She is unstoppable and even will kill her own children if she doesn't get what she wants. This craving-thing is somewhat, how do I put it, a good character quirk yet not really engaging. She just gets enraged and wants to eat something. It's not necessarily boring, but somewhat annoying. She is unstoppable. But then make her simply evi and cunningl and don't come up with a small quirk that makes her enraged.

The following plot is a good "we are screwed-what do we do"-moment. I really like how Oda-san protrays the situation and its endless possibly outcomes. Will Big Mom kill everyone? Will she just calm down? No one can predict – as always – the outcome. As the cliffhanger showed, the Strawhats can't easily flee and come back later to beat her up. They are the ones Big Mom will ride sled with. (Translation of a German saying.) But – the big, very big – What?! - is how they will flee the situation.

I speculate that someone will show up and helps them. Maybe Shanks. Or a marine shows up and tries to use the situation for their beneift. The Ciper Pol are already there. I don't see a fight coming. The Strawhats are way too weak to beat her up. Luffy may have beaten Doflamingo, but.... I don't see a fight. Maybe Luffy has an unknown ability he developed and has never used yet. These are the two only scenarios I see coming here. Any way you put it; Oda-san managed to thrill the reader with the development of the plot. (At least I am.)

Today (07/13/17) I ran... Recap and Speculation: Chapter 872 – "Soft and Fluffy"

Category: One Piece at a time / To admire... (1)

So, the Whole Cake Chateau exploded and began to crumble. A mildly surprising twist. (But the off-plot with the exploding chest – therefore initiating it - was superb.) I mean, they had to flee in some way anyway, and by destroying it Oda-san managed to relief the situation in a good way. And now they have to flee. Now we're in a situation where speculation can't get that far because they will probably flee in some way and leave the island as soon as possible.

The biggest speculation I can kick off is the way the Big Mom pirate will show up in the future. The only way the plot can move on is to move to Wano Kuni and that's all. Luffy said he will beat her when he beat Kaido, yet, I don't think Oda-san would go all the way back to the island just to beat Big Mom. Maybe Big Mom follows him or sends a team to fight the Strawhats. Either way I'm happy the arc ends soon. I spent enough time on this island and getting to know all the Big Mom pirates.

But we all know how unpredictable One Piece can be. I bet it's not that simple "they go there and beat someone"-pattern. Oda-san always has many good plot points and twists in his mind. (That's why One Piece never gets boring.) More speculation could be regarding the other Strawhats currently on Wano Kuni. Maybe they are caught – maybe they are dead – maybe they will be executed. Kaido is as unpredictable as he is strong. (And he is aware of how strong he is.)

The current chapter is an extension of the whole "we must flee"-thing and we have to wait how it proceeds and progresses. For my part: I wish I had seen how Luffy beat Big Mom. (But on the other hand, it's probably a bit too early for one of the Yonkos to be beaten.)

Anyway. I think the Whole Cake Island arc was big step forward towards the actual One Piece. The only thing left are three Yonko's which have to be beaten in one way or another. Otherwise they won't get the four road-poneglyph. (Big Mom is simply strong. Kaido is immortal. And Blackbeard is rendered invincible.) Let's see how Oda-san manages to surprise us next week.