Do you remember the time when you could sit down and watch a full day of movies with popcorn for just a few dollars? You could take the whole day to sit back in your pajamas and huddle up with a size jumbo bucket of salt and butter. Some knight rides away to save the princess, some nine-to-five everyman somehow transforms into a superhero, some suave fighter pilot destroys the bad guy’s evil plan for world domination, or even Luke Skywalker swordfights the Dark Side. You see, the best thing about going to the movies is to escape into the fringe of reality in order to see spectacles and occurrences which could possibly be real. Nobody needs to see a romanticized story, but for some reason Americans are attracted to things that are bigger than life. At the very basic level what drives all of Hollywood is escapism mixed inexplicably with the curious desire to see things that don’t fit logically with the rest of the world. In a word, the whole point of movies is to change perspective.

Then we get to the action/horror genre. These genres rely fully on exploiting the fact that people will pay to see good guys kill bad guys or bad guys extract revenge on other bad guys. At least half of all major cinema relies on the fact that Americans are willing to shell out ten bucks to see some fighting, blood, pain, suffering,  Why in the world would anyone want to watch blood, guts, gore and serial killers up on the big screen in full glory? Why do we all wince when Darth Vader chokes his subordinate?

And why do people cheer when Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star? The death star is filled with thousands and thousands of living, breathing human beings. Why are we so happy to see them all die? It’s all a matter of perspective. The force has a dark side and a light side, but who is to say that the dark side isn’t just downright better?

And why is the violence in Star Wars, where billions of people die (Alderaan, remember?), somehow not as potent as the violence in The Matrix where there are only deaths numbering in the scores? Again, it is a matter of perspective. Its okay to see a planet explode, but if Solo and Leila get it on its morally wrong.

All of our conventional morality concerning art defies all understanding. Heck, most of us can’t even show the line where bad entertainment ends and real art begins. That’s because art, especially art featuring things that are taboo like sex and violence, is all about perspective. Art that I think is bad you may think is good. And art that you think is exploitive and morally wrong I may see as brilliant.

The only universal judgment of art is not about the subject matter, but about the message there within. Good art has something to say, but says very little. Bad art has nothing to say, but says very much. I hope my work is good art, but that’s up to you.

This perspective is my purpose for creating the Nexus. You probably will be offended by the derisive language, the liberalism, the drug use and the ultra-violence. If that is the only side of the story you choose to see, you should put this book back on the shelf. But if you want to look deeper for the meaning, then read on. Everything, like the Force, has a Dark Side and a Light Side. Life is about trying to determine one from the other.