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El Topo
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 952
Been meaning to re-watch this forever, Alejandro Jodorowsky's famous "Acid Western", so started it last night and got about a quarter into it. A few early second impressions.
First of all, his innate and intuitive understanding of symbolism. What works for the scene. If you've not seen the film I'll warn you - it's written almost entirely in the language of symbolism, and has to be interpreted as such. And - if you take it on those terms, it's a masterpiece. If you don't - well, maybe don't see it.
So I arrive at the scene where our hero is dealing with "The General" - no spoilers - but - the obvious and apparent solution to many of today's political struggles is foreshadowed here, and by that I'm thinking of a certain President Trump as the General.
Anyways, it just struck me, The resemblance between the General and the President, and I'll come back to this when I've finished the film, there's a fair bit of it left to watch, but - like "The Wailing" - so many of our problems are so simple - and expedient - to solve, only we're afraid of dealing to others the same treatment they're only too comfortable dealing to us.
Cattle Calls & Group Interviews
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Restaurants & Cafes
- Hits: 948
Hospitality, the one industry where experience counts against you...
Almost 5 months now and nary a nibble, it's harder and harder to pound the streets looking for work, being interviewed by people who have less experience in life - period, than I do in the industry. No industry counts age as a disadvantage as much as customer service, and the online recruiters sending me jobs at mall kiosks and minimum wage isn't boosting my ego much either. I'm definitely an underachiever, but it isn't that bad, not yet, not with the lucrative fall-back in April.
The daughter, just landed her second serving job, 18 years old with all of the attendant life and serving experience, but she's pretty, "we'll train her...".
In the last 20 years I haven't had a job that hasn't offered to have me back, wouldn't be happy to have me back, and given that I have a job guaranteed in April, but not what I want, so I keep looking.
JOEY TOMATOES.
I'm not one to answer cattle calls, I got the email, the "GROUP INTERVIEW", gave it a miss, then talked to someone I knew who actually needed a job and attended.
Hospitality - it's about people - it's not exactly like most other businesses, where you sell a product, no, hospitality the people that you're ordering from, the servers, staff, they're part of the product. Group interviews - I get that they're great for the company - but - frankly - they're lousy for the prospective employee - and give a fair indication of the treatment you can expect on the slight chance you're chosen to work from them. Which is why I don't attend.
The cattle-call at Joey Tomatoes - as recounted to me - (and I'm pretty sure there's no elaboration or embellishment here). 3 Groups of 12, each being "interviewed" for 10 minutes apiece by the manager and the "Chef".
A tangent here. I've worked with some pretty competent and talented chefs. If you're at Joey's cooking pizzas and pastas from the recipes the company provides you don't call yourself a chef. You're a cook. And if you for a moment believe the wall of canned tomatoes are an advertisement for "Fresh" I suggest you refer to your dictionary.
Back to the interview. 10 minutes for each group of 12 - 10 minutes cut short by the 2 minutes the manager and chef take to introduce themselves. That leaves 8 minutes for 12 people to make the best impression possible answering the questions the manager/chef lobs at them. Neither the manager or Chef make notes, so there's a bit of a mystery as to how they know who's who.
Between the manager and chef - 30 minutes apiece - 1 hour total, to "interview" 35 prospective candidates. People are conscious of the time, and everyone tries to "hoard the mike". They have 1 position to fill. And they have three more sessions scheduled - a total of 105 people "interviewed" for 1 position. The people being interviewed - probably largely unemployed, some maybe looking to upgrade or switch their employment - conservatively they've each invested an hour and a half to be here - attend the interview, transport, apply, etc. Conservatively. Between the candidates - easily 150 hours plus invested to attend the interviews. Joeys management - outside total of 3 hours between manager and chef to interview these candidates. At the end they advise the interviewees that they'll only contact the candidate they select, "Don't call us, we'll call you...", fair return for your interest in working there. They set the bar for their self-importance, and you fed into it by attending.
Frankly, I hear the story and I feel the pain - the fact that Joey's is playing upon the bad economy, the desperation of job seekers, and the "Well, isn't it great for them" mentality doesn't cut it - we should probably think about what's great for us, and that might be burning Joey Tomatoes down.
In any event - it would be better to get a job in Calgary - but not on those terms, Calgary, it's right about now got the politicians, the mayor, the premier it deserves, it's a tire-fire of late stage capitalism and if I have to leave to get employment there won't be any tears shed.
The Great Buenos Aires Bank Heist
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 970
"Great" is relative, and in no ways is intended to undermine the amazing heist banks pull on a complacent clientelle every day. But this inspires me:
Link: https://www.gq.com/story/the-great-buenos-aires-bank-heist
The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian - Paul Radin
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 1141
The Autobiography of a Winnebago Indian - Paul Radin
Life, ways, acculturation, and the peyote cult
A slender read, written by an anonymous Winnebego Indian living in the Minneapolis region of the US in the mid-late 1800's. Curious, by western standards rather devoid of descriptions and more of a "these are the facts of my life and my tribe...". Of interest were the notes on the belief in reincarnation, the traditional roles of men and women, traditional knowledge, the narrators doubts regarding initiation and the great earth-spirit, the traditional native idea that to hoard up items you didn't use reflected a poverty of spirit, and that - unless you were actively using them, items were there for communal use - (a sound principle, I might add), there was the emphasis on dying in battle - a heroes death for the warrior clan - rather mirrors the idea of certain extremist Islamic groups.
All and all interesting - always interesting to have keys to the thoughts of long extinct others, and rare enough that we can get it from their own lips. And good to read, if only in that it overturns a lot of the romanticism we've built up over the first nations.
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