Black Friday

So Black Friday is a dangerous time.  Apparently people are getting trampled, shot, pepper sprayed, beaten, and even tasered.  Why?  Because they can save a few dollars!  Frankly, I would rather pay money than subject myself to that kind of behavior and those kinds of people.  That's why I do all my Black Friday shopping online, where everything is safe and happy.

But seriously, this behaviour is out of control.  What is it that people need so badly that they are willing to hurt others to get it?  Xboxes? Ipads?  Plus, all those things are readily available all the time!  But the good news is that spending and consuming is up.  Hooray for the economy.  Its not the people in Walmarts and Targets that are the winners in this scenario, that is for sure. 




I am sure there are videos of the mayhem that are interesting for those of us who decided that we were better off not consuming junk...  If you see videos worth sharing, don't hesitate to post a comment or message me.
David


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Blog subjects, please help

So why is my most read about blog post is about a natural disaster in Japan? 

What can I do to capture the interest of the masses?  What should I write about?  What do you want, readers?

Please, tell me! 

Music? No?
Random junk? 
People dying?

Help me out here!



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Amazing music videos by OK Go

Check out these music videos by the band OK Go.  Frankly, the music doesn't do much for me but the videos are excellent!

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How we are making ourselves more narrowminded

These days the majority of people read news online.  They do most things online.  The good thing about this is that there is a wealth of information like never before.  We have access to the most obscure and random information.  Apparently, people watch YouTube more than they watch TV now.  Everything is in bite sized amounts so that it is easier to read and handle.  People use Twitter to post little blurbs that are limited to 140 characters.  In a sense, these are all good things.  People listen to music online on sites such as Deezer or use sites such as Hulu to watch shows.  People stream.  The verb "to google" now exists...  And of course I have done or do all of those things myself as well...

Here is the thing though.  Because of all that, newspapers and television and radio are suffering.  Here is my problem with that:  when looking online people end up only clicking on things that interest them.  The Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster getting you down?  Don't worry, you can watch videos of Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber on YouTube instead.  People are therefore closing themselves off to many things because they only look at things that they choose.  They don't listen to entire news broadcasts or read an entire newspaper.  Books?  Ha!  I figure most of you are already bored with this and clicked away to something else by now, if you even clicked here at all. 

Most people don't adventure out into the world of the unknown online.  Never heard of it, never going to click on it.  When you look at a newspaper, you can't help but see other pictures and headlines, even if the subjects don't interest you.  Online however, you are limited to where and how you browse.  If you are interested in one subject, you may look that up and only that, never looking beyond to people with other opinions, ideas or other subjects...  That's bad. 

Happy browsing!



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Japan's natural disaster

First a few videos:

  

This shows us the true power of nature.  We are weak and helpless when we see this.  Anyway, check out these before and after pictures of the tsunami and earthquake:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html

Also, apparently the length of days has been minutely shortened and the tilt of the earth on its axis has been slightly altered.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14seismic.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=homepage

The only thing I can think of is that it happened in a country where they are organized and disciplined and so at least they will be able to deal with this disaster in a more efficient manner than a lot of other cultures would be able to.  Look at this picture of a water distribution place:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2058378_2254685,00.html




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Inception, the movie

I finally watched the movie Inception the other day.  I'm glad I did.  I understand why a lot of people wanted to see it several times.  In my opinion, the manipulation of a plot with several levels of action and reality with different concepts of time all happening at once was excellently done.  Just the idea in itself is incredible.  Hats off to Christopher Nolan for the conception of this story.  I was also a fan of his movie Memento, from 2000.


SPOILER ALERT!
If you haven't seen the movie then don't continue reading. 


So far I have seen several different interpretations of the end.  According to Nolan, you never see whether or not the top falls or keeps spinning at the end.  What he says is the most important is that diCaprio's character doesn't even wait to see, he looks at his children instead.  My interpretation is that actually the whole movie is a dream, from beginning to end.  There is no reality being shown at all.  This hypothesis is not really supported by anything except the fact that the whole idea is so dream-ish and far_fetched already.  In order to believe that they were in a form of reality, then you have to accept the whole idea of entering people's dream, being chased around the globe by corporations, the architects, the sedation and so on.  Of course, I don't think that all sci-fi movies are like that, just this one!  Anyway, I am open to other ideas. 

I think in order to have a clearer idea of the movie and have a deeper understanding, I would really need to take the time to watch it again and also perhaps even watch the commentary from the director and the cast and crew.

Overall, thumbs up.  It makes you think and doesn't put all the ideas on a platter for you, which is rare for an American action film.



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