..."From one pawn to another."

Untitled new story intro

2012-09-07T11:37:00.001-04:00

...

I was playing with a new idea for a story in my head recently. The story essentially follows two characters a la My Dinner with Andre or Before Sunset in that it is dialogue heavy. The story is near to real-time as possible and would take place over the course of a short span of maybe a day. The main character is a recovering sociopath that has undergone an experimental surgery to perhaps gain a conscience for the first time in his life. The focus on the story will mostly be the idea of the character's perceptions of before and after the surgery. The supporting character will be female, perhaps from his present or past interactions.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2012-06-30T13:54:00.001-04:00

This movie has always been in my favorites. Charlie Kaufman's surrealist filmography shows an approach unparalleled by and large in Hollywood. A philosopher with a day job as a script writer. He won an Oscar for the screenplay of this film. Maybe for this scene in particular. Impossible to watch without a chill:

INT. HOUSE - CONTINUOUS


She runs upstairs, giggling.  
The room is drying out, turning
into a husk.

  JOEL
  (calling after her)
 I really should go.  I really need to
 catch my ride.

  VOICE-OVER
 I didn't want to go.  I was too nervous.
 I thought, maybe you were a nut.  But you
 were exciting.  You called from upstairs.

  CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)
  (flat)
 So go.

  JOEL
 I did.  I walked out the door.  I felt
 like I was a scared little kid.  I
 thought you knew that about me.  I ran
 back to the bonfire, trying to outrun my
 humiliation.  You said, "so go" with such
 disdain.

  CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)
  (poking her head downstairs)
 What if you stay this time?

  JOEL
 I walked out the door.  There's no more
 memory.

  CLEMENTINE
 Come back and make up a good-bye at
 least.  Let's pretend we had one.

Clementine comes downstairs, vague and robotic, 
making her way through the decaying environment.

  CLEMENTINE (CONT'D)
 Bye, Joel.

  JOEL
 I love you.

She smiles.  They kiss.  It fades.

  CLEMENTINE
 I --

EXT. BEACH - NIGHT

Quote of forever

2012-03-31T02:11:00.001-04:00

"Nothing fixes a thing so intently in the memory as the wish to forget it." -Michel de Montaigne

on repeat

2012-03-16T00:12:00.002-04:00

DG is a lyrical genius in every single song on his most recent album Camp.

the woman

2012-03-15T18:02:00.002-04:00

2012-02-19T16:18:00.000-05:00

"It's a good start. A chance lo live simply, earn people's respect...maybe become a person someone could love."

Kid Cudi's new creation: WZRD

2012-02-17T00:59:00.003-05:00

Kid Cudi is taking on a new(er) direction than we've seen in the past. I approve. "The moment when I realize it's all in my mind, the moment I hate the most..."

Blog Highlight: The True Verdict

2011-06-13T13:31:00.001-04:00

"Oh! what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" Sir Walter Scott

This is a short post today-- soon I'll be getting back into the swing of things when it comes to regular updates on the blog. I wanted to highlight a blog that interests me a good deal, and if you fancy the subject matter on 'From one pawn to another,' you'll feel the same. The blog is http://truthinthelaw.blogspot.com/, and is primarily run by a real-life friend of mine named Peter Romary. I won't go into Peter Romary's credentials, you can find them for yourself on the blog's sidebar-- a cliff-notes version is essentially he is a very successful lawyer, is knighted, probably was a lead guitarist for an English band at one point and is maybe in a three-letter intelligence agency. Particular posts to skim off the bat are "Eye Contact: The Myths About Lying; The Truth About Deepening Your Love!" and "Hot Dog! How Deception Detection Experts Caught Rep. Weiner With His Pants Down." Give it a look.

Psychoanalyst Walter Langer wrote, "People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."

Microexpressions: Lie Detection 101

2011-05-21T11:30:00.000-04:00

When I picked up playing Texas Hold'em poker, I read a lot. I read books by the poker pros, I read tournament strategy, I read statistics and probability and I read about bluffs and tells. It was in the latter selection of reading that I began to really focus on body language and microexpressions. I read books on lying and lying theory. I read books on common body language reading and how to baseline people. But microexpressions really interested me in that they were a split-second "slip of the tongue" except in this case the tongue was your face and the slip was an involuntary muscle reaction of the mind. I could not believe what I was reading. Was there really a method of lie detection that worked on everybody and I just did not know about it? I had to research more.

Microexpressions came about pretty recently and have only been in research for the past thirty years. The man at the forefront of the work (and the basis for the protagonist of the show Lie to Me) is Paul Ekman. Are there others in the field who contributed/discovered a lot of information and breakthroughs for microexpressions? Sure, but Paul Ekman was the one to map every muscle movement of the human face and correlate it to a particular emotion, whether it may be shame, pride, contempt or amusement. Keep in mind when I say split second, we're taking about somewhere between "1/15 of a second to 1/25 of a second." No wonder I had not been seeing the signs before.

In one of Ekman's books on the subject, Ekman recalls a story of a psych-patient looking for a weekend pass away from the hospital. The patient was there because of severe bouts of depression and had previously attempted suicide, but on the review of her temporary release, she was smiles and laughter. It was her daughters birthday, the patient explained to the board in charge of approving her release, and she so very much wanted to be with her for this occasion. The interview was filmed, as they all were and the voices of the board could be heard asking the patient a number of questions. The patient smiled and politely answered them, explaining she had lied previously for weekend passes when she was denied, but on this occasion she was sincerely feeling better, happy for life. Just as the patient was approved for her weekend pass she came clean: do not approve her, she stated, because the only thing she wanted to do when she went home was kill herself.

When Ekman reviewed the tape of the interview, he watched the events over and over. The length was roughly twelve minutes long and at first, nothing came to his mind that the patient was employing deception. But as Ekman began to slow the tape down and now that he knew the conversation by heart, certain segments of the piece did not sit with him. When asked about her plans for the future, the patient hesitated and Ekman clearly saw a split-second reaction that hinted to the contrary of her supposed happiness. It was pain, and it was sadness. When asked about how the patient was coping with her present feelings, the patient shrugged. But it wasn't a full, double shoulder shrug that would be used normally. It was controlled, much like the expression that looked unsure on her face. The patient deceived the doctors because everything was obviously happening in real time. Only when Ekman's edited video was slowed to nearly one-twentieth fifth of a second of the normal speed did anything come to light. A microexpression.

Ekman has a program on the market which you can buy to train yourself to spot microexpressions. The program is currently used by various government agencies that are specifically in need of facial reading and microexpression detection. There are various training programs online for free that you can test your own skills at facial recognition and mircoexpression detection at Ekman's own site F.A.C.E. training and at M.E.T.T. training tool. For both cases only click the number/slide/test section once. If you have to repeat the facial expression, you've already failed that question.

The 48 Laws of Power: The Mirror Effect

2011-05-15T15:52:00.003-04:00

"The mirror reflects reality, but it also is the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson." -Robert Green, the 48 Laws of Power

In the continuing coverage of the book, 48 Laws of Power, there is probably no law I've employed most in life than the Mirror Effect. Whether it may be repeating the action of someone else to better illustrate their wrongdoings, or to quickly befriend a group at a party, the Mirror Effect is a swiss-army knife of deception practices. As usual though this tool should not be the only strategy in your toolbox. Predictability is never becoming.

Greek mythos teach us of the warrior Perseus tasked with slaying the Gorgon Medusa. Medusa, once a beautiful individual was turned blindingly ugly by the gods, turning any man who caught her glance to stone. Perseus polished his bronze shield into a mirror, reflecting Medusa's gaze back onto herself and then slicing off her head of snakes. What happened here? Medusa was distracted by her own actions and could not see past the ploy Perseus had enacted. At this loss, Medusa's primary defense was canceled out and she was easily defeated. Likewise, if you copy any individual, their words, their actions, the way they carry themselves; you cancel out any advantage or power they may rely on. Without it, the playing field is evened and they can be easily defeated.

Narcissism is commonly mentioned in this blog and for good reason. The personality disorder is on the rise and symptoms of narcissism are at an all time high. What better tool than for a deceiver or courtier than a mirror. The word narcissism stems from the Greek man Narcissus. Gazing at his reflection in a pool of water, the young man fell in love. Distraught, however, upon discovering the image was himself, Narcissus drown himself. In this day and age the general population loves to talk, and talk about themselves. Share their interests, their worries, their hopes and suddenly you become their reflection, and they are at ease. Moreover if you act as they do, like and dislike as they do it further cements their beliefs. If you also share their distaste in a particular song, the song must be on all accounts bad. They love you for agreeing.

Often times, you can not win someone over or explain a situation through words. Words are cheap, and everyone has them. But to show through actions (a law in and of itself), can be incredibly powerful. What could be more powerful and easy in such cases than showing through actions the very actions someone just committed? You can teach a lesson, explain a moral. Instead of trying to detail why you are hurt, or why someone should not do something, you make them feel the actions their self. Even if the action employed by others was not a bad one, copying them may force a feeling of guilt or shame in what they did. Fastest way to get someone to quit doing something annoying? You do it yourself.

For the clearest exemplification of this law: watch a couple at a bar, lounge or restaurant the next time you're out. Does the couple mirror the body language of one another? Yes? They're either already in a relationship and happy with each other or their spark is just starting and they're at ease. If the two are not in sync, focused away from each other they're either on a first date and its going poorly or they're in a relationship and just not interested in each others company.

"image: the shield of perseus. it is polished into a reflecting mirror. medusa cannot see you, only her own hideousness reflected back at her. behind such a mirror you can deceive, mock, and infuriate. with one blow, you sever medusa's unsuspecting head." -Robert Green, the 48 Laws of Power

Drunken musings of a street fighter: Basics of street defense learning to punch

2011-05-09T11:25:00.003-04:00

Step one: What to look for in a fight

what street fighters may look like

I am going to try to teach you how to punch within a street setting. First of all you have to be able to know when your opponent is about to strike. Anyone who has not done any martial arts will instinctually go for a power punch. By this I mean they will use their right hand to punch if they are right handed. The thing about doing a power punch at the start of a fight is that you can see them coming a mile away if you know what to look for. The primary mistake they will make is raise their elbow up. This is a big taboo in punching unless you are throwing a hook but I am not going to get into that in this post. The thing about raising your elbow is that you slow down your punches and also let your opponent see that they are coming. The correct way to throw a punch is to keep your elbows in tight and straight. The next big mistake people make that you should look out for is that they over extend themselves or even step with their punch. If the person you are fighting is drunk they are nine times out of ten going to do this. Now that you know the signs to look for let’s give you the correct method of fighting back.

Step two: The jab

Alright so your opponent is throwing a big looping overhand right as we described above WHAT TO DO!? You can either A) Take the hit to your face and wake up to find your girl friend has left with the other guy. B) Turn around and run far away and never return to the town. C) Fight back. If you have chosen C keep reading. The first step in fighting back will be the jab. For those of you unfamiliar with the jab it is punching with your front non power hand usually being your left if you are right handed. You want to be in a stance with your feet being about shoulder length apart. left foot forward pointing at a 1 o’clock angle and your right foot should be facing more at 3 o’clock angle towards your right. Next you want to keep your elbows in tight almost to your chest and you hands almost touching your face. To throw the jab you simply punch out with your left hand keeping your elbows in. You can practice this next to a wall to make sure your elbows are in and your punches are straight. Keep your hand unclenched until the moment you are about to hit your opponent. This will add some speed to your punch. You want to try to hit with your top two knuckles so you don’t hurt your hand. With this punch I would try to aim for the jaw or throat to stun your opponent and prevent them from punching you with their right. If you have done this step correctly your punch will hit them first since it is traveling a much shorter distance.

Step three: The straight right

So you have your opponent stunned and its time to finish him. You need to now use your power hand most likely being your right hand. As you are bring your left hand back from your jab use this momentum to throw your right. You want to turn your back hip forward as you throw this punch so all of your weight goes through. Try and hit your opponents chin once more for this finishing blow. If you practice this enough before getting into a actual fight then you should be standing over a unconscious body soon enough.

Step 4: What to do after?

Just like before you can always do a number of things because the choices you make in life are yours like these options. 1 check their wallet if no one is around? 2 go back to partying if you are at a party? 3 burst into tears and yell at the body “I TOLD YOU NOT TO MESS WITH ME!” 4 or just leave the scene of the crime. I would go with 4 if I were you personally to stay away from any legal action.

Tips and tricks of the drunken punching

So you might be thinking after reading this “I thought you were a drunken street fighter. So what do I do if drunk?” Well calm down there I have some simple tips for you. There are many pros and cons of being drunk in a fight but in my opinion a lot more pros then cons if you know what you’re doing. I mean there is even a martial art called “Drunken Boxing.” The pros of being drunk in a fight are it helps loosen you up and the looser you are the quicker you are. If you are all tense and ridged like a robot your attacks will be slow and not do that much damage. Another attribute in favor of being drunk is that you may feel less pain and feel more mentally confident in yourself. The main con of drinking and fighting is that if you have drunken to much you will be sloppy and stumble to much and not have controlled movements. You might even fall over when you throw your right straight punch. So always be careful in how much you drink and where you are. That’s all I am going to muse on for tonight. Until my next drunken writing keep training and reading.

A Return to Sociopathy: Origin(s) and the Inner Triangle

2011-05-02T16:08:00.002-04:00

As mentioned previously on this blog, two great resources in the field of study of sociopathy are both the website lovefraud.com and the nonfictional accounts detailed in The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout. Today's piece follows two quick trends detailing the personality disorder: it's origin and seemingly incurable nature and a more detailed, defined model for what sociopaths lack within themselves.

The debate over sociopathy/psychopathy has been waging for more than five decades. Books, peer-reviewed psychology journals, the DSM-IV and "experts" in the field have thrown the two words around and their apparent definitions. Perhaps its a questionable subject to approach based on personal beliefs, because one school of thought attributes individuals possessing sociopathy and psychopathy to have been there since birth. This would seem to entail, then, that individuals could be born "bad" or "evil," something a religious or optimist may not accept. Other schools will describe the personality disorder as stemming from a medical or physical injury. While the last will say the disorder is learned, from childhood onward, through environmental factors such as their socioeconomic status, parental rearing, peers or a significantly low or high intelligence.

Well if we accept any three of the origin schools of thought for this PD, they each equally dictate the same story for managing the illness. There is none. The illness since its "discovery" has largely been passed over because of a universally accepted belief of it being "untreatable and no interventions have proved to be effective." Empathy is not something you can buy over the counter and take with injections. There is no talking out in a session that will rekindle a conscious. In fact, studies have been conducted across the board that therapy in the conventional sense, or rehabilitation will only assist sociopaths in both further masking their abilities and defects, and gaining a better understanding as to how to manipulate their surroundings. Essentially moves to help these individuals have assisted them in only better understanding human nature and psychology for personal benefit.

The Triangle

On the lovefraud website, the origin school of thought in regards to genetic traits is taken, a contributor Liane J. Leedom, M.D. describes an inner triangle that exists in each and every person. Leedom states that said inner triangle is lacking in individuals with addictions, alcoholism, ADHD, sociopathy and the like. And being that the three sides of the triangle are an ability to love, moral reasoning and impulse control, one begins to draw upon the importance of Leedom's theory.

Without an ability to love, sociopaths may experience fleeting feels of affection, a drive to be with another person. But in lacking empathy, sociopaths have no guards against hurting the friends and family close to them. Caring, then, is for a hidden agenda, as a sociopath will never sacrifice their own desires for another person.

Sociopaths lack impulse control, making them overly sexual and at times, very aggressive. Moreover this side of the triangle conducts planning, foresight and a consideration of consequences for one's actions. Rarely is any of the planning stages of an action put to use for sociopaths. Actions then are driven by one of the basic human motivators: "nourishment, comfort, physical contact with other people, sex, social dominance, material possessions and entertainment." For sociopaths, it leans toward the four latter.

And while sociopath know the rules and laws of the land, can recite them when asked, the rules are ruled out in their actions. Leedom believes narcissism plays a large role in this side of the triangle, in that sociopaths first do not believe the rules apply to them for whatever reason, and when the action is carried out, give little to no afterthought to what has occurred. This one-two punch allows the sociopath to act with moral impunity in their minds, again and again.

The first in a series of drunken musings of a street fighter

2011-04-30T15:26:00.004-04:00

A little about me… I like to drink and love to fight. So I thought I would do some drunken writings and upload it for you all to see. Umm I really don’t feel like editing any of my works so you will just have to take them as they come. My first musing will be on a subject close to my heart. I often see threads online with questions like “I want to learn a martial art to protect myself what would you recommend?” My usual response is about fifty more questions right back at them. Are you male or female? What is your weight? Do you work out regularly? Where do you live? And so on… So to some it all up I am going to write what I feel is the best martial arts to start out with for beginners looking to protect themselves based on some criteria.

Women’s self defense

Brazilian: Jiu Jitsu

My top pick for women of all sizes to start off for self defense would be Brazilian jiu jitsu. This martial art almost looks like it was made to protect women from rape. Bjj uses joint locks, crushes, and chokes to make your opponent beg for forgiveness. Royce Grace showed the world that size does not matter with this martial art when he went into the original UFC and defeated opponents almost doubling his size who trained in many various martial arts.

Pros- Easy to learn(hard to master), you don’t have to be strong to use it

Cons- In a situation against multiple attackers you will find this to be ineffective.

Muay Thai

My second pick for women’s self defense would be Muay Thai. This is a very deadly art that originated in Thai-land. It literally turns your whole body into a weapon. Utilizing fist, knees, clinching, elbows, and shin kicks to disable your opponent. The power in this martial art does not come from muscle mass but from lean muscle and hardened bones from thousands of shin kicks on a sand bag.

Men’s self defense

Boxing : medium to large builds or small and built

I would recommend this for more average to larger sized men for self defense purposes. People without any martial arts background will throw punches with their elbows to the side and bringing up their fist first. This is because it is the natural movement your body wants you to do. Although there may be some power in this it is simply slow and can be easily dodge. Boxing will teach you how to throw punches with both speed and power along with movement and how to set up your attacker. For this reason I would recommend boxing the most for when being attacked by multiple assailants. You will be able to move quickly setting up your opponents so that they are moving the way you want them to and where you can take one out one at a time. (Ps If fighting multiple people at once don’t try to go for the toughest looking one first. Go for the cheap knockout on the small attacker. If you can cleanly take him out first you will surprise the group and save stamina for the stronger opponents to come.)

Judo: small to large figure

This martial art can be used by people of any size from small or non muscular to big and buff. If you see this in competition or mma it may not devastating. This is because the throws are down on mats and leson the damage. In mma judo does not often work out well because the competitors do not wear shirts so there is nothing to grab. On the streets this is completely different. Your opponents jackets and shirts become tools to use to throw and choke them out. Another big difference is on the street you do not have mats to break your fall instead you just have concrete. One throw can mean a broken bones or a long cold nap on the ground. Here is a video for your view pleasure

That’s all I feel like writing tonight so until next time. Feel free to leave questions to rebuttals of any kind and I will try to answer them in my next drunken rant.

Sociopathy and You

2011-04-27T13:16:00.004-04:00

Today we're going to talk about a subject near and dear to my heart: the notion of sociopathy. For those who do not know or confuse the word with what they may have heard on Law and Order or Criminal Minds, sociopathy is not psychopathy, in that sociopaths do not kill people (although those whom have come into contact with sociopaths may feel hurt on the same level a psychopath may inflict).

Sociopathy is a personality disorder, complex in that it is not a singular idea of being different from a normal person, but possessing a group or cluster of symptoms at the same time. For instance an individual may lack empathy for his or her fellow human beings, unable to connect and understand what others may be feeling or experiencing. And while a sociopath is unable to experience said emotions, they are incredibly skilled in faking them. They wear emotions like a mask over the coldness inside them, superficial and fake, but all the while blending in with their groups, functions and friends because of their uncanny ability to mimic the most basic feelings. Sociopaths are highly manipulative and lie pathologically, stemming from their lack of conscience and remorse for their actions. Moreover sociopaths will generally lack responsibility for their actions and seek excitement impulsively.

Sounds like you would almost be dealing with an alien, an outlier of society that are so rare they're saved for cop dramas and the occasional Hollywood flick. But books like The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout put the numbers into an interesting perspective. Diabetes, a health condition so apparently popular it has its own commercials for testing equipment only affects 8% of the general population (source: American Diabetes Association). In the United States that would mean roughly 26 million people suffer from some form/type of Diabetes. Consider now that in Stouts book as well as other studies conducted, sociopathy is found in 4% of the general population, or one in twenty-five. Again, using the United States for a gauge, that would entail roughly 13 million people living in North America show multiple signs/traits/symptoms of sociopathy, as per the DSM-IV. Think about that the next time you attend a school sporting event, a PTA fundraiser, or shop at the mall.

So now that I have the science-mubo-jumbo out of the way, my reason for today's article: being a sociopath is not all that its cracked up to be. I'm not saying I am a sociopath, but I know beyond reasonable doubt I possess a great number of traits listed by the DSM-IV as told to me by my ex-girlfriend, a number of therapists and a few episodes of CSI. I lie pathologically, I use people for personal gain without regard for their feelings and I'm pretty narcissistic. I often live a parasitic lifestyle, leeching off the benefits of others whether it may be their resources or their money. I constantly groom an image of how I want other people to view me, and it is one of the few things I'll guard more than the secrets "friends" let slip in conversation. And I cannot change.

Seems sociopathy is so far ingrained in one's psyche its impossible to change. Medication is irrelevant because there is no imbalance, simply a lack of existence for the most basic human characteristics: emotions, conscience and empathy. Talking it out with others serves no purpose, because again there is nothing to gain. You're simply stuck in a body, a bad movie in which you're both the audience and the character on the screen, and no matter how much you yell at the pro(an)tagonist to do something, they cannot hear.

“Do you not know that there comes a midnight hour when every one has to throw off his mask? Do you believe that life will always let itself be mocked? Do you think you can slip away a little before midnight in order to avoid this? Or are you not terrified by it? I have seen men in real life who so long deceived others that at last their true nature could not reveal itself;... In every man there is something which to a certain degree prevents him from becoming perfectly transparent to himself; and this may be the case in so high a degree, he may be so inexplicably woven into relationships of life which extend far beyond himself that he almost cannot reveal himself. But he who cannot reveal himself cannot love, and he who cannot love is the most unhappy man of all.” - Soren K.