The Internet takes you on strange trips
So I was reading the Wikipedia entry on Wu Tang Clan and then ended up on Busta Rhymes Wikipedia page and it mentioned a live performance on Arsenio Hall where Busta stole the show pretty much. This was the year I graduated from high school. So I went to youtube and typed in “busta arsenio” and I got this. Busta did steal the show – check it for yourself:
Spam is Satanic. I have proof.
From my inbox this evening.
Random bits worth sharing
- This dude writes a review 18 years later about the 1989 Patrick Swayze movie “Roadhouse”. I thought he would be making fun of the movie, but he pays a rather glamorous homage to 80’s movies instead. A must read.
- Have you ever done the “message in a bottle thing”? Not sing the song by The Police. Have you ever ACTUALLY wrote a message, stuffed it in a bottle and corked it, and then threw it in the ocean? A class in Seattle did 21 years ago and the bottle washed ashore in the Bering Sea in Alaska last month.
- Zen Habits has a really cool article called “20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out In Life“. I still probably wouldn’t have listened.
- The final Harry Potter book – Deathly Hallows – is going to be split into TWO movies. This is great! The Battle For Hogwarts can be given a lot more time in the final movie. My heart was racing as I read that chapter. Very excited.
I saved up my paper route money for one of these bad boys!
What’s even cooler about this Commodore Vic-20 commercial is that it is hosted by William Shatner! What a time capsule!
If I was a kid again playing little league baseball, this would be the coolest thing EVER!
The people at ImprovEverywhere.com turned a little league baseball game in Hermosa Beach, California into a major league event. They rented a Jumbotron, the Goodyear Blimp, NBC Sports announcer Jim Gray, mascots, vendors, crazy fans, autograph seekers, and the whole deal. They even staged a press conference after the game so the players could field questions from reporters.
The link below even includes a thank you from a mom who said the kids can’t stop talking about it.
Check out the pictures, videos, and behind the scenes info here. It’s a great read, and will probably put a smile on your face all day.
My life outside The Matrix
(Disclaimer: This entry is hard to follow. If you have no idea what I’m talking about feel free to move along. It doesn’t mean you’re not smart or anything. I’m speaking in pictures and riddles here … )
It’s hard to believe I have been in North Carolina for over two years! There have certainly been a lot of changes – for sure.
After a long period of reflection and examination, we made some deliberate decisions a a few years ago that have changed our family’s direction in large, unimaginable and almost all good, ways.
My experience these last 3 years reminded me of a very poignant scene in the movie, The Matrix. (Minus the cool martial arts, large guns, and sexy skintight leather outfits of course. Yes I am talking to you Carrie-Anne Moss.)
For those who never saw it, the fictional plot of The Matrix is that humans live in vats many years in the future, being fed false sensory information by a giant virtual reality computer (the Matrix). The Matrix was constructed and is run by machines of the future who use humans as a source of power. Humans are literally farmed. The false reality information they are fed makes them feel like they are living in the real world, with real jobs and families and purpose – but it’s all an illusion created by the supercomputers.
This obviously fictional plot is really a vehicle for the larger questions about life and existence and stuff like that. (As most sci-fi movies tend to do …)
The Choosing Scene
There is a scene where Neo (the main character played by Keanu Reeves) is presented with a choice to know the Truth about his reality – or to choose not to know. If he took the blue pill, he could get an idea of what life is like outside the Matrix, but he would end up back in his bed like it was a dream and not remember any of it. However, if he took the red pill he would be forever removed (literally unplugged) from the comfortable illusion of the Matrix and would have to deal with real life – a life that he doesn’t even know if he will like.
What would you do?
In retrospect, I could liken some of our choices over the past couple years to a similar analogy – whether we wanted to take the blue pill or red pill.
When I typed “red pill blue pill” into Google, I found a really cool article on the Matrix Philosophy and how it borrows from religious and philosophical symbolism (existentialism,etc) in ways many viewers probably never realized.
Their examination of the “Choosing Scene” pretty much sums up a lot of my feelings:
The film as a whole and especially the choosing scene is deeply compelling. Why is the choice between what you believe you know and an unknown ‘real’ truth so fascinating? How could a choice possibly be made? On the one hand [you have] everyone you love and everything that you have built your life upon. One the other [you have] the promise only of truth.
The question then is not about pills, but what they stand for in these circumstances. The question is asking us whether reality, truth, is worth pursuing. The blue pill will leave us as we are, in a life consisting of habit, of things we believe we know. We are comfortable, we do not need truth to live. The blue pill symbolises commuting to work every day, or brushing your teeth.
The red pill is an unknown quantity. We are told that it can help us to find the truth. We don’t know what that truth is, or even that the pill will help us to find it. The red pill symbolises risk, doubt and questioning. In order to answer the question, you can gamble your whole life and world on a reality you have never experienced.
I really enjoy their descriptions of what the advantages of each pill is.
First, the blue pill:
So what are the advantages of taking the blue pill? As one of the characters in the film says, “ignorance is bliss” Essentially, if the truth is unknown, or you believe that you know the truth, what is there to question or worry about?
By accepting what we are told and experience life can be easier. There is the social pressure to ‘fit in’, which is immensely strong in most cultures. Questioning the status quo carries the danger of ostracism, possibly persecution. This aspect has a strong link with politics. People doing well under the current system are not inclined to look favourably on those who question the system. Morpheus (the leader of the resistance outside the Matrix) says to Neo “You have to understand that many people are not ready to be unplugged, and many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.” (Amen to that!)
The system also has a place for you, an expected path to follow. This removes much of the doubt and discomfort experienced by a trailblazer.
Another argument on the side of the blue pill is how does anyone know that the status quo is not in fact the truth? (Good question!) The act of simply questioning does not infer a lack of validity on the questioned. Why not assume that your experience is innocent until proven guilty? Just accept everything?
And the red pill?
To justify taking the red pill we might ask what is the purpose of an ignorant existence? Further still, what is there in merely existing? Simply existing brings humans down to the level of objects; they might have utility or even purpose, but where is the meaning? Existence without meaning is surely not living your life, but just experiencing it. As Trinity says to Neo, “The Matrix cannot tell you who you are.”
Given the potential disadvantages of choosing the red pill, the motivation for discovering the truth must then be very strong. The film makes much of this point. Trinity (Neo’s friend outside the Matrix) says to Neo “It’s the question that drives us, Neo.” and Morpheus compares the motivation for Neo’s search to “a splinter in your mind – driving you mad.” The motivation for answering the question is obviously strong as the answer will help us to find the meaning in our lives.
What we are looking at here is the drive to answer a question, but the key to this is what drove the question in the first place. The asking of questions about our environment our experience and ourselves is fundamental to the human condition. Children ask a seemingly never-ending stream of questions from an early age. It is only with education and socialisation that some people stop asking these questions. However, we remain, as it were, hard-wired to enquire.
This is an inevitable consequence of consciousness. A being with a mind, conscious of itself and its existence, experiencing a reality, needs to organise the data that it receives from its senses. Simply observing and recording does not allow for consciousness. It is what we do with that information that allows us to think. In order to process and store the vast amount of information received, the human brain attempts to identify patterns in the data; looking for the patterns behind what is experienced. This is asking questions of the sensory information, and requires reasoning. By definition a conscious mind seeks to know. Knowing something requires more than just data, but intelligence or reasoning applied to that data. To attempt to obtain knowledge we must therefore question the data our mind receives; thus, consciousness questions.
I’m sure most readers stopped about halfway through and relegated all this to their process of cognitive dissonance.
For those of you that did stick with it. Let it be known that I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers or absolute Truth. That attitude is neither faithful nor discreet.
However, today I can say I do know what the Truth is not, and for that I am more grateful than I ever imagined I could be.
Like the article above mentioned, “Questioning the status quo carries the danger of ostracism, possibly persecution.” As a family, we experienced that firsthand. But we knew it would happen going in, and that people treat other humans in such a vile way does nothing but help reinforce our decision was the correct one. But to those precious few of you that have remained in touch and continue to share your lives, I would like you to know I value and cherish that relationship greatly.
I recognize many people would prefer the illusion. In the movie, there was another guy that was unplugged from the Matrix – named Cipher. He took the red pill too – initially thinking he wanted to get out of the fake reality. Real life was a little TOO REAL for him and he asked to be put back in the Matrix – a comfortable life of existence based on an illusion.
I know more than a few people could identify with wanting to be ‘made comfortable’ to live out the rest of their existence. So I don’t condemn those people. I don’t hate them. I don’t even think I am better than them. It’s simply not the choice for me.
What our family chose to leave was not the only Matrix in this world we live in. There are plenty of other fictional realities out there. Though I was never Mormon, I found a really great example of a fictional reality (Mormonism) trying to protect themselves from the free-flow of information as I read this letter from an ex-Mormon. Thankfully though, as we get further and further into the ‘Information Age’ it is harder and harder for these fictional realities to exist. Many of the leaders of these fictional realities even go so far as to ban people from reading material that questions their belief system, and slap labels on people who dare to question their authority.
A few quotes I have kept close to me lately:
“When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson“Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them.”
– Orison Swett Marden“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”
– Ambrose Redmoon
Related Blog Post: She was a woman of the world. He had never been around the block.
So I found out I’m a white guy
White people
One of the funniest blogs I have read in a long time is called “Stuff White People Like“. Politically incorrect in every way imaginable (which is why I love it) and sometimes the discussions at the end of the posts are funnier than the actual article. What kinds of things are white people into?
Outdoor performance clothes:
“When white people aren’t working, they generally like to wear Outdoor Performance Clothes. The top suppliers of these garments and accessories include North Face, REI, Mountain Equipment Co-Op, Columbia Sportswear, and Patagonia.
(..)
“The main reason why white people like these clothes is that it allows them to believe that at any moment they could find themselves with a Thule rack on top of their car headed to a national park. It could be 4:00 p.m. on a Saturday when they might get a call “hey man, you know what we need to do? Kayak then camping, right now. I’m on my way to get you, there is no time to change clothes.””Bad Memories of High School:
“Virtually every white person you meet was a nerd in a high school-it it is how they were able to get into a good arts program and law school. As such, their memories of high school are painful, but not tragic since they were able to eventually find success in the real world. Exploiting this information is your one way to ticket into the heart of a white person.
(..)
“If you cannot properly gauge the type of music a white person liked in high school, you should always say that you were really into The Cure. All white people know that liking The Cure in high school is an invitation to be tortured by the cool kids. This will bring about instant sympathy and respect.”Hating Corporations:
“White people love nothing more than explaining to you how Wal*Mart, McDonalds, Microsoft, Halliburton are destroying the Earth’s culture and resources.
(…)
“When engaging in a conversation about corporate evils it is important to NEVER, EVER mention Apple Computers, Target or Ikea in the same breath as the companies mentioned earlier. White people prefer to hate corporations that don’t make stuff they like.”Having gay friends:
“If white people could draft friends the way that the NFL drafts prospects it would go like this: black friends, gay friends, and then all other minorities would be drafted based on need and rarity to the region.
(…)
It is generally accepted that a gay black friend with a child is considered a once in a lifetime opportunity – like a quarterback who can pass, run, kick, and play linebacker. White people will crawl over each other for the opportunity to claim this person as a friend and add them to their roster of diversity.”Modern Furniture:
“In situations where you need to improve your connection with a white person, just mention how you hope to be successful enough to one day afford an original piece of furniture by [insert obscurely named architect]. If they have heard of the designer they will nod in agreement, if they have not, they will also nod in agreement and make a note to look it up later.”Apologies:
“White people know that their ancestors did some messed up things. As a result, it has become hard wired for them to apologize for almost anything.”! Hahaha.
So I won’t be apologizing for the fact that I never realized how white I was til I read that list!
