I just had one of the coolest things happen to me. I was listening to some music (Of Montreal) on the computer while going through the school website to get to the eResources in the library section. On the front of the library page there was an embedded music video by some artist or something. At first I clicked past it, but then I thought I should check it out if the library thought it was worth embedding on their front page. So I went back. I didn't want to stop the music I was listening to so I decided I'd just mute the video player, since it was probably the visuals that were the best part anyways. I started the video playing and then all of a sudden The Party's Crashing Us (by Of Montreal) started playing almost in response. I continued to watch in awe as the video almost perfectly synced up with the music, or vice versa I suppose. I couldn't believe how well they worked together. I never actually listened to the video's actual music but as far as I'm concerned it may as well be the video for The Party's Crashing Us. It was an amazing fluke how it worked out, essentially from start to end, completely perfect. The dancing in the video was even on time! The video was Department of Eages - No One Does It Like You. This experience has definitely interested me in the compatability of different music with different music videos. There are so many great music videos that are awesome independently of their music. The music can completely change the context of everything so switching the audio could definitely do some very interesting things.
Mostly though I just thought it was an incredible accident. That reminds me of a thought I had the other day and I'm not sure if it's entirely true, but accidents may just be the most beautiful thing in the world.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Story in the Mind
I watched Alien 3 tonight. I had watched Alien and Aliens over the previous two weeks as I've been working my way through the quadrilogy. I thought Aliens was an amazingly awesome movie so going into Alien 3 I guess I had some expectations. It was a very different movie from the other two, I'm not sure if it was in a bad way though. It was just a very different mood and seemed almost completely detached from the other two.
After finishing the movie I went to the imdb forums and started reading. I have never seen so much conflict in an imdb forum. There are a lot of people that have serious problems with the movie. I can understand why when reading their points. There are many plot holes and the film also kills off the only two other characters from the previous movie before this one even begins. I can't say it was a satisfying conclusion to the other two movies. And this is where I am very interested in how I feel about that.
All three movies are stories, thought up out of someone's head the same way my own imagination can do, or anybody's for that matter. The stories have been tied together by their names, characters, and visuals. But what really validates the stories as a fictional truth? Do I have to accept the events of the third movie as an unavoidable conclusion to the other two? Many people don't, I discovered reading on imdb. So can anyone ignore whatever parts of a story they want to? In my opinion this is an acceptable thing to do. The same way many people reject star wars episodes 1, 2 and 3. The author loses control of their characters and events the moment they share their creations with another person. In general, people like to accept the author's intent for the plot but is it necessary to do so? I think my imagined ending to a book I never finished is just as real as any ending. Maybe that goes against everything a story is supposed to be because it is very difficult to convince myself it's true. I'm fascinated by the feeling of unrest I share with many other fans over the plot of Alien 3. What if instead of watching the movie a friend just made up a different story for Alien 3 on the spot and told it to me? How would I feel about the story then if it didn't live up to my expectations? At what point and degree of delivery does the story develop enough authority to invest my feelings.
I feel like maybe I'm nerding out here and discussing the difference between fan fiction and recognized canon, but I think there's more to it than that. I could walk out of a movie half-way through and decide for myself how things end. The reason I can do this is because unlike real life, a story will only advance from within my own mind. So it is interesting to consider then how much interest we will give to a story that has been brought to a screen or text. If someone were to tell you a character in your favorite tv show was killed you would no doubt be intrigued and perhaps saddened, but realistically it is only the writer that has decided this is true. And what right does a writer have to decide a fact once you have carried the story into your own mind? I don't know. I need to think about this more.
After finishing the movie I went to the imdb forums and started reading. I have never seen so much conflict in an imdb forum. There are a lot of people that have serious problems with the movie. I can understand why when reading their points. There are many plot holes and the film also kills off the only two other characters from the previous movie before this one even begins. I can't say it was a satisfying conclusion to the other two movies. And this is where I am very interested in how I feel about that.
All three movies are stories, thought up out of someone's head the same way my own imagination can do, or anybody's for that matter. The stories have been tied together by their names, characters, and visuals. But what really validates the stories as a fictional truth? Do I have to accept the events of the third movie as an unavoidable conclusion to the other two? Many people don't, I discovered reading on imdb. So can anyone ignore whatever parts of a story they want to? In my opinion this is an acceptable thing to do. The same way many people reject star wars episodes 1, 2 and 3. The author loses control of their characters and events the moment they share their creations with another person. In general, people like to accept the author's intent for the plot but is it necessary to do so? I think my imagined ending to a book I never finished is just as real as any ending. Maybe that goes against everything a story is supposed to be because it is very difficult to convince myself it's true. I'm fascinated by the feeling of unrest I share with many other fans over the plot of Alien 3. What if instead of watching the movie a friend just made up a different story for Alien 3 on the spot and told it to me? How would I feel about the story then if it didn't live up to my expectations? At what point and degree of delivery does the story develop enough authority to invest my feelings.
I feel like maybe I'm nerding out here and discussing the difference between fan fiction and recognized canon, but I think there's more to it than that. I could walk out of a movie half-way through and decide for myself how things end. The reason I can do this is because unlike real life, a story will only advance from within my own mind. So it is interesting to consider then how much interest we will give to a story that has been brought to a screen or text. If someone were to tell you a character in your favorite tv show was killed you would no doubt be intrigued and perhaps saddened, but realistically it is only the writer that has decided this is true. And what right does a writer have to decide a fact once you have carried the story into your own mind? I don't know. I need to think about this more.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
New Personal Best
I just set a new personal record for longest time riding a public bus as the only passenger. I didn't keep track of time or stops but I can say that it was almost like riding a gigantic taxi for practically free.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Free Movie Making in Space
In amongst a ton of awesome dreams last night I had one that stood out as one of the most bizarre ideas I have ever dreamed up.
I was hanging out with some friends and I think we were in a fast food restaurant. One of my friends started telling me about this cool project that someone had done where they sent a bunch of space ships up into orbit around the earth. Each of the ships was equipped with cameras that could be accessed online. In addition to this, the space ships could also be controlled from online. Basic commands could be given to the ships by anyone using the website and then that person could save any video captured and essentially create any kind of space scene that they wanted for a movie. To solve the problem of the ships running out of power, the ships had been loaded with cows and grass. The cows would provide fertilizer for the grass while also creating some form of energy that the ship could use. The cows and ships were in theory capable of staying functional for an unlimited amount of time. I was impressed that they had managed to get so many cows up into space and that they were now just grazing in orbit. I was also excited about the potential of shooting video from space. It was at that point that the dream started making even less sense and I'm afraid I don't know exactly what happened, but I think the cows started dying for some reason.
I was hanging out with some friends and I think we were in a fast food restaurant. One of my friends started telling me about this cool project that someone had done where they sent a bunch of space ships up into orbit around the earth. Each of the ships was equipped with cameras that could be accessed online. In addition to this, the space ships could also be controlled from online. Basic commands could be given to the ships by anyone using the website and then that person could save any video captured and essentially create any kind of space scene that they wanted for a movie. To solve the problem of the ships running out of power, the ships had been loaded with cows and grass. The cows would provide fertilizer for the grass while also creating some form of energy that the ship could use. The cows and ships were in theory capable of staying functional for an unlimited amount of time. I was impressed that they had managed to get so many cows up into space and that they were now just grazing in orbit. I was also excited about the potential of shooting video from space. It was at that point that the dream started making even less sense and I'm afraid I don't know exactly what happened, but I think the cows started dying for some reason.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
That Metaphor
I have no problem with coming up with a ton of things to do and saying I'll do them all but then not actually do most of them. Is that basically a rewording of that metaphor about aiming for the stars? I think it's important to vocalize all your ideas, even if they seem unlikely to occur because there is a better chance that they will be remembered, (by anyone even), and they may eventually evolve into something. Not sure if I got that across properly. I've just thought about it several times about how I do make lots of plans for projects but complete almost none of them. No regrets.
A micro-dream that I had briefly last night before falling asleep for the long slumber. I had only been out for a minute or so and then I woke up and realized that it was a funny dream but doubted very much I would remember it through to the morning. But I did remember it. I was hanging out with a friend and he needed change for a 20 dollar bill, for something, can't remember. He asked me if I could 'bend' it, which in my dream was actually a well-accepted term for breaking it into smaller change. I couldn't. So he suggested we go to a nearby convenience store to get a 'bender', which was another common term in the dream used to describe a relatively cheap product that is purchased for the sole reason of breaking a larger bill into smaller change. That's it. I actually really like those terms and will try to use them more in the future.
I haven't posted anything here for a long time. It's been difficult to motivate myself, even though it takes very little time and is also a great way to back up ideas. I'll try harder.
A micro-dream that I had briefly last night before falling asleep for the long slumber. I had only been out for a minute or so and then I woke up and realized that it was a funny dream but doubted very much I would remember it through to the morning. But I did remember it. I was hanging out with a friend and he needed change for a 20 dollar bill, for something, can't remember. He asked me if I could 'bend' it, which in my dream was actually a well-accepted term for breaking it into smaller change. I couldn't. So he suggested we go to a nearby convenience store to get a 'bender', which was another common term in the dream used to describe a relatively cheap product that is purchased for the sole reason of breaking a larger bill into smaller change. That's it. I actually really like those terms and will try to use them more in the future.
I haven't posted anything here for a long time. It's been difficult to motivate myself, even though it takes very little time and is also a great way to back up ideas. I'll try harder.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Pictionary and Beyond
I was playing pictionary a couple days ago with some friends. We didn't have the actual game so we googled for some sort of word generator site that we could. We found a forum discussion on that exact topic and used a link to one of the better suggested word generator sites. As we soon discovered many of the words were very difficult to draw, ie. Nominal, and we also had numerous issues with tenses that I myself have never encountered playing normal pictionary. I will not say the game was less fun though; if anything I was laughing harder each round. Some of the approaches to the more challenging words were so bizarre and so removed from the word itself that they became really interesting studies into how someone thinks. It made me want to do something more with pictionary.
One idea I had was to choose a really impossible word to draw and then attempt to create an elaborate diagram that could conceivably be created during a pictionary game that would guarantee a single correct guess to who anyone that saw it. It would obviously require a good deal of planning but I think looking at a picture like that would be a lot of fun and be really interesting to see how a bunch of unrelated images could lead someone to just understand it as just one word.
A second idea that would probably not work so well would be to play a normal pictionary game only the drawer is not allowed to draw the word in it's literal sense. Using words that rhyme, opposites, and considering larger contexts in which the word would appear the drawer would have to work around the basic image of the word to actually create a solid foundation for the use and understanding of the given word. It's almost like some kind of combination between the game Taboo and Pictionary. It could be a lot of fun. If I can ever convince a small group of people of the game's merits I intend to attempt just such a game.
One idea I had was to choose a really impossible word to draw and then attempt to create an elaborate diagram that could conceivably be created during a pictionary game that would guarantee a single correct guess to who anyone that saw it. It would obviously require a good deal of planning but I think looking at a picture like that would be a lot of fun and be really interesting to see how a bunch of unrelated images could lead someone to just understand it as just one word.
A second idea that would probably not work so well would be to play a normal pictionary game only the drawer is not allowed to draw the word in it's literal sense. Using words that rhyme, opposites, and considering larger contexts in which the word would appear the drawer would have to work around the basic image of the word to actually create a solid foundation for the use and understanding of the given word. It's almost like some kind of combination between the game Taboo and Pictionary. It could be a lot of fun. If I can ever convince a small group of people of the game's merits I intend to attempt just such a game.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Bipolar on Food
I can't think of anything else that makes me feel the way I feel about food. Most of the time I want food, often I want food so much that I can think of nothing else. And when I get food and eat it I generally want nothing to do with food anymore. The more I want food when I get food the more I find it repulsive after I have eaten it. This is all easily explainable, but I find it interesting that nothing else makes me feel this way. I suppose that I could play a game for half a day and not want to play it anymore, but that's not the same. I doubt I would have been craving the game so much that I wanted to play for such a long time, and I doubt I would hate the game at the end, I'd probably just want to do something else. So, I guess food is unique.
Brief dreams from last night.
In one dream my friend had made a movie based on a dream he had, and I watched the movie, and it didn't make much sense.
Next dream I have a contruction light and I am walking around at night. I am trying to figure out where to set up the light to illuminate some object or space. I think it was supposed to be some kind of art work or something.
Another dream I am sitting in the sand on a beach. The sand starts sinking slowly while I am sitting there. I notice some seaweed that is very slowly crawling away, I thought it was pretty cool at the time. I stand up and notice the sand is suddenly caving in where I had been sitting. It turns out to be some kind of creature living below the sand, like an anemone, and there are several on the beach. I am repulsed and angry because I had been sitting right above one. I want to kill them but I don't know how to.
Forgetting dreams now. A comment on conversation. One of the worst things that can happen in a conversation with someone you don't know very well is when someone mishears the other person and strongly agrees with a statement only to find out seconds later, when the person has to restate their position, that the person said the opposite of what they thought they had originally heard. It's awkward for both sides. And it leads to one of two conclusions. Either that person strongly disagrees with the other person on whatever the subject was, or perhaps more embarrassing, the one person just tried be agreeable by going along with what the other person said. After that point any hopes of serious discussion dwindle considerably. It happens.
Brief dreams from last night.
In one dream my friend had made a movie based on a dream he had, and I watched the movie, and it didn't make much sense.
Next dream I have a contruction light and I am walking around at night. I am trying to figure out where to set up the light to illuminate some object or space. I think it was supposed to be some kind of art work or something.
Another dream I am sitting in the sand on a beach. The sand starts sinking slowly while I am sitting there. I notice some seaweed that is very slowly crawling away, I thought it was pretty cool at the time. I stand up and notice the sand is suddenly caving in where I had been sitting. It turns out to be some kind of creature living below the sand, like an anemone, and there are several on the beach. I am repulsed and angry because I had been sitting right above one. I want to kill them but I don't know how to.
Forgetting dreams now. A comment on conversation. One of the worst things that can happen in a conversation with someone you don't know very well is when someone mishears the other person and strongly agrees with a statement only to find out seconds later, when the person has to restate their position, that the person said the opposite of what they thought they had originally heard. It's awkward for both sides. And it leads to one of two conclusions. Either that person strongly disagrees with the other person on whatever the subject was, or perhaps more embarrassing, the one person just tried be agreeable by going along with what the other person said. After that point any hopes of serious discussion dwindle considerably. It happens.
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