O is for Ozymandias (#AtoZChallenge)

Hello, WORLD. I'm usually known as Smokkee but just for today only, feel free to call me Stupid. I promise I'll respond to it. On a lesser note, I feel Stupid because like I Tweeted yesterday:

2nd day in a row opportunity knocked, got impatient, & left before I even got a chance to open my door.
— Smokkee G Singleton (@MrGBIZ) April 22, 2015

I don't miss opportunities too often but 2 days in row is too much. I can't & won't let it become a trend.
— Smokkee G Singleton (@MrGBIZ) April 22, 2015

Like I say, that's the lesser note. The real reason I feel Stupid with a capitol S is I'm already behind a few posts in this A to Z blogging challenge as is and here I am submitting another O post when I should be my T post right now.

Why another O post anyway? Based on the subject matter, I could easily make this post P for Poem, right? Or R for Regret would probably work for this post as well but since Ozymandias is the poem's real name, since I want to address politics (fairly quickly, I promise!) with my P post and since I already have my R post done, why not just submit another O post, make playing catch up even harder by tying my hands up unnecessarily?

So, call me Stupid.

Anyway, I'm sure you're familiar with Ozymandias on some level. According to it's Wikipedia page, it was a poem written by Percy Bysshe Shelley about the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II. Wait, it wasn't A poem; there was actually two. Shelley engaged in a poetry contest with his friend and fellow port Horace Smith. You can read Smith's Ozymandias poem here. While they both address the decaying remnants of Ramesses' empire, which had been gone for about 500-600 years before they were even born, it's Shelley version that is the one that struck a cord with me.

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Walter White, realizing how true this poem is, on Breaking Bad

Even if one is not familiar with the poem itself, one may still be familiar with it's use in pop culture and what it represents. If you're familiar with the hit TV show Breaking Bad, you're familiar with this poem. Bryan Cranston, the actor who won a few Emmys for his portrayal of the show's lead character, high school chemistry teacher turned crystal meth cook Walter White, famously recites this poem in a promo for the fifth and final season, aptly setting the tone for a dark ending. The pivotal episode of season 5, the one where this scene with Walter White crying in anguish takes place, is also named after the poem.

Matthew Goode as Ozymandias in 'Watchmen'

 Then again, maybe if you've read the critically acclaimed Alan Moore graphic novel called 'Watchmen' or seen the critically panned (unnecessarily, in my opinion) 2009 film adaptation of the comic, you're at least familiar with the name Ozymandias. Adrian Veidt (played by Matthew Goode just the way I imagined him) was a former superhero named Ozymandias who used revealing his identity to the public to become a rich businessman until they were disbanded by a government law. He later rejoins his fellow heroes to find out who has killed another superhero named the Comedian since it appears all the former heroes where being attacked.

Now, I'm sorry if you want to hear more about the plot at this point but there's no way to go further into it without spoiling it. I'll eventually go into more details about this, but not here. Very shortly, I promise. My W post, perhaps.



Anyway, those are some of the modern day influences of this poem but it's biggest influence to me is on me myself. I'm working how I'm working, multitasking like crazy, for what? To further explain, take this A to Z challenge I'm working on. I'm working on it, once again, like crazy. I've done more blogging these past 2 weeks than any other writing, including on my own short stories. When I pass, I believe my legacy will be defined by what I leave behind. Do I wanna be known as a great author or a tenacious blogger? Based on my work output this week, I'd say the latter. Regardless, since I won't be here, isn't it all for naught anyway? Thinking about this should give me this really nihilistic view of things and of life in general but yet, in spite of that, I push forward anyway. Why? Well that's a question that I can't answer. I don't even have a best guess but I know I can't stop. I don't ever give up. I simply can't do it. Speaking of which, I gotta finish these catch up posts ASAP.


Later, WORLD!
Smokkee