Zeitergeist

Zeitgeist is culture. It's also a set of movies that... well...

Zeitgeist: The Movie (2006) is a set of three mini-films, really. The first is about how Christianity is a rip-off of other religions (shock!), and how it's bunk. And also connected with astrology. Umm... some connections, I'd agree with. All of them...? It's always possible to cherry pick the bible to support any view, as is done here. And the second part is not even thinking enough to cherry pick: the US knew about 9/11 and let it happen. I'll go with that the US government took advantage of the crisis (and other wars) to run through laws that benefited themselves and powerful companies, but that 9/11 was planned, the building was detonated, several attacks were staged... fuck off. And the third part is how money is a system used to screw over everyone but the bankers who control how money flows.

Which is then the focus of Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008). Just outdoing the previous film's length (over two hours!), this is a rant about how "monetism" is what we have, and everything is controlled by the top bankers and everyone should reboot society and go with The Venus Project. I will grant that it's a slick movie and there are some valid points about how people are doing things to benefit themselves, you aren't going to change the world (that radically) by changing the world, you need to change the people, and that isn't happening.

And so we come to Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011). People are molded by genetics and the environment. Market economics is against making society better. Indeed, the market place is creating a bad environment and making people worse. What we need is a Resource-Based Economy. But since that's not going to happen, the global system is going to crash, taking everyone with it... In many ways, this is a politer, and better structured, version of Addendum, although even longer at 2 hours 40 minutes. However, I look forward to seeing the crash and what we do next, 'cos I don't see us changing before then.

This is a set of movies (I'm not going to say 'trilogy' 'cos there could be more) that is trying to change the way we interact with the world. Nice idea, but vision is out-stretching ability to make that change. If you have seven hours... well, I doubt you'd watch these... and, in fact, you're better off sticking to the last movie... but they are, if I may say, a slice of culture...

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It's like a video game you don't need to play

I would like to play video games some time, but since they take large chunks of time, I'm too busy lazing around doing stuff to have large chunks of time in which to play said games. And I have a few, thanks to Good Old Games that I've brought, even downloaded, but haven't installed...

Fortunately, I have found a way to find out what a video game is all about without all that tedious actual playing and being involved and, you know, interacting. Thanks to the Let's Play Archive. Which is, if you can't guess, an archive. Of people playing games.

Sometimes it is a video of someone playing. Possibly with voice over. Possibly with just text commentary on screen. Sometimes it's just images with added commentary. Some videos you can download (which is a useful option, considering you'll be effectively downloading it anyway through a video site). Fortunately, there're keys alongside each game so you can get a good idea.

A rather odd collection of games. Currently I'm watching Ghostbusters (am now thinking of buying it). Tried to read House MD, but that's not a good game. They've got a few different Prince of Persias. Silent Hill. Monkey Island 2. Halo. Commander Keen. And more!

While no Spoiler Warning, I'm sure you all need something else to take up your time...

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Overthinking a Phrase

There's a phrase that often occurs to me. Although I like to twist it around. Why? Because that's the kind of person I am.

"Naked as the day you were born."

However, there are two problems with that.

One, it presumes I was around when you were born. Considering I'm under the median population age, that's a heck of an assumption.

Two, it presumes I was naked on the day you were born (yeah, I know, there's an image). But when you think of all the times I've had a shower/bath, there's a good chance that sometime, during the day on which you were born, I did meet the criteria. (Certainly the few days in which, for some reason or another, I wasn't, is a low enough probability I an ignore it.)

That all said, does that really get to the heart of the matter? Is being nude for merely, say, seconds, enough time to satisfy the requirement of the phrase? The problem here, however, is the other part of the phrase.

Consider the day one is born. Come out, get slapped, and then... wrapped up in a blanket and handed to the mother. (There are cases where this doesn't happen, but for the majority of people...) Thus, while the intention of the phrase "as naked as you were on the day you were born", on that day you weren't that naked either. Or rather, you spent more of the day not-naked than naked. (One could ask "is being wrapped in blanket enough to be not-naked?" A lot of babies are now wearing garments the parents bring in pretty quickly too. That aside, you're naked under your clothes, so the real question is about what constitute clothing, but I'm not addressing that.)

Given all that "you are as naked now as you were during one point right after your birth" doesn't really have that ring to it. And consider the extreme, there are nudists colonies out there in which people are more naked during the day than they were during their day of birth.

I'm not claiming that this phrase will be overturned or updated or anything. Just that it doesn't mean as much as most people will believe at first blush. [And I'll leave overthinking that phrase to some other time...]

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A Question of Immersion

Following on from yesterday's post, I was asked a direct question "Did I actually enjoy it?" Fair point, I don't explicitly say... so I'll copy in what I replied:

"In a way, yes. Parts of it, thematically, went over my head. Certainly admire it on a performance/production level. One problem is that while we have the experience of going to Somes, the actual play was basically "a play in a building" which while set on Somes, didn't really connect with it (had to keep reminding myself of the distance).
Some great moments in the play, some not so. Overall... good memories."

There is a point here, and that (as you might be able to guess from the title) is being able to become immersed in the play. I have a problem with doing that. Some of it is whether or not the play engages my complete interest, but also I'm a squirmer. I move around a lot in my seat, and most plays I've been to have very uncomfortable seats, which really distracts me.

And, in this case, I was hot and sweaty from walking up the hill, had my jacket in my lap, making sure it didn't fall, and was trying to be careful not to step on the props or the actress that was right next to me. Which meant I had other things on my mind than connecting with what I'm seeing.

If I'm home, I'm comfortable. At Reading Cinemas, moderately comfortable, but they have big nice chairs, and I can squirm a lot without it really being a problem. At other movie theatres, your milage may vary. At other play-style theatres, usually not so much. Being in a small building, on a basic chair, not a large chance of it.

As I said, I still predominantly enjoyed the play. But there were definite times when I was observing myself observing the play, and not that final step immersed...

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I was Quarantine'd!

You may have seen the odd article about it, including this one with the usual picture. The Fringe Festival kicked off early with a 'play' set out on Somes Island. We were quarantined patents, back in the day, and we were to be treated to the practices of back in the day.

I was there, opening night, "packed ferry" and all (not in great weather), transferred over to Somes Island and made to walk up to the Quarantine station. There, we encountered other patients who were incarcerated before us. They told us of their tales of woe... however, it did not go easy for them. Telling their stories, confronting our presence, they were soon stuck down afresh with new sickness. And none of them wanted the Doctor to arrive...

This is "experience" drama, from the director Paul Stephanus, who likes to do things differently. In this case, instead of just going to a theatre and hearing tales of woe, we were transported to the appropriate location, which added another dimension of alienness to the play. And the subject matter wasn't exactly a piece of cake either, being stricken with diseases, and the treatment of the Doctor...

It was certainly different, although I didn't quite get the link between the disease and consumerism that the writer intended. I don't see many plays, but then there aren't many plays like this! Bizarre... and yet intriguing...

And sold out. If you haven't got tickets, you're missing out.

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You want to install WHAT???

I installed the latest version of Apple the other day, and got annoyed by it all over again. Yes, it is possible to be a bit more precise than the standard installer, but it brought up installation issues that really tick me off.

DLLs. Really? Do you really need to install those DLLs and, more importantly, why do you need them to run when I start up my computer? If you need all those DLLs, do you know what that tells me? It tells me you've written a really bad program and are relying on so many other packages that I'm surprised it doesn't crash while installing. Unless I really want the package, wanting to install DLLs makes me hit the "Cancel" button...

Unnecessary Functions. Do I need to link in with Outlook? Or a Photo Processor? Or weird services that refer to other things I don't have? More importantly, when I block those items with Online Armor from working, the package immediately crashes. What? I don't need them. Why are you so hung up on needing them? Is your software so fragile (read: buggy) that it can't work without bluetooth connectivity to my toaster??

Start Up. No, you do not need to start up with my computer. There are some packages that I am likely to use, but even for those I don't want you in my start up, hogging my resources. And even if I try to disable the start-up-i-ness, it just hides the start up options and starts up anyway! Is this software I want or a virus???

Get better installers guys. No wonder my computer has problems. It's not spyware or trojans or hacks... it's bad, buggy programs!

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Decoded... or Deluded?

I started watching a conspiracy theory series, Brad Meltzer's Decoded (named to distinguish from all those other Decodeds out there...).

I think I was expecting something a bit more fun... but this just takes itself far too seriously. Brad Meltzer is a writer who's used a fair few conspiracy theories in his books (yeah, 'cos that's never bad). So he's got his own show in which he stands in a blue screen room and espouses different ideas, while a team of people get to travel around America, talking to people and finding things out. (Which isn't a bad job in and of itself. Hell, I know I wouldn't mind that opportunity.)

But there is a lot of "what are you talking about?" moments. The Freemasons get into the first episode, so you know you're in sane territory. Now, while they do go off the deep end, they do manage to claw back into some pool of sanity for a final conclusion (the ending of the Statue of Liberty is amazingly rational given the stuff they are told, and supposedly believe, during the episode).

I thought I might get some interesting story ideas out of this, but frankly I'm not sure why I'm still watching it...

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