Temps à perdre

I've been reading a lot of other different blogs lately, which has chewed up the time I was going to use writing mine. They all seem to end up leading into some sort of philosophical discussion and from there my mind gets drawn into some sort of endless sinkhole of compacted emptiness. It doesn't help that the more I read the more it changes what I think, and therefore what I think about writing. So it's kinda been hard to nail down my thoughts long enough to get them out. So I figured maybe I'd take a break and watch a movie or something.

The movie I decided to watch is called "The Nines". It had some tag line about an actor who's life was falling apart and was mixed in with a game producer or something. Didn't sound overly interesting and I didn't really want a movie I need to think for. It ended up being a bit of a twisted view on perception and reality. Unlike some others I've seen, such as 13th floor, it managed to have the quality characters needed to draw me in while it slipped in past my consciousness only to unleash its mindfuck from within. So much for taking a break.

There's a few web comics I try to keep up with regularly so I think I'm gonna see if I can add them over there -> somewhere. There's quite a few more that I enjoy but only look at irregularly so I might add them sometime too. And may end up looking at them more frequently as well.

Faites ce que je dis, pas ce que je fais.

This rebellious teenager, the one who has reached a legend status of epic proportions, got my attention. He's achieved the dreams of every popularity seeking, party throwing teenager. His party made international news. He then proceeded to stand up to authority and tell them he'd do it again, resulting in the police making fools of themselves with over the top charges as try tried to save face. The part of me that spent years as an oppressed teenager just couldn't help smiling.

It got me thinking, trying to find a reason why we, as a seemly advanced society, have the preoccupation with such baseless popularism. Can we really blame those who get propelled to the top? Should we feel sympathy for them when they fall from grace?

For starters, aside from betraying his parents, we can't attribute any significant wrong to this kid. He's grown up in a society of pop stars, celebrities and idols; one that grants wealth and success to those who become popular. He's grown up in a world that worships democracy; a system where we make choices by ticking a box; no reason, no justification, just choice for the sake of choice. He's doing what he sees our leaders doing, using cheap antics and shock tactics to gain popularity and power. The real question is why do we do it?

I think it's an artifact of the information age. Social values move at a much slower pace than technology has over the last century or so. In the days before instant world wide communication or rapid long distant transport, one had to impress enough locals and garner enough support before one could take their proverbial show on the proverbial road. To get that critical mass one had to have something worth having. This lead to the correlation between substance and popularity, so when people heard someone was popular they assumed they were a person worth knowing about. The relative slow rate at which popularity spread would give time for them to be critically examined, weeding out most of the nobodies.

What I see is a society that places great value in widespread popularity when in fact it is something that is all to easy to obtain. Rather than question the ease with which popularity is gained, I think we need to reevaluate the value we place in it.

Confort matériels

I was greeted with a strange scene this morning, when I stumbled upon my house mate sound asleep in front of a blaring tv, rolled up in a blanket with the AC blasting full ball. It's amazing what people will to do achieve the level of comfort they need to get some sleep. When I was younger I used to sleep with my fan on while I slept under a sheet or blanket. It seems that its not the fact that we are warm, but the act of keeping warm that creates a sense of comfort. I guess it's the same way being inside and dry while it pours down rain outside creates such a cozy atmosphere. Something to do with a (false) sense of security from the elements that we're somewhat programmed to protect ourselves from. The development of behavioral traits to deal with an obsolete genetic adaption probably occurs well before the genetic adaption disappears.

I find that the more effort I spent trying to explain things I see in life, the more questions I find. And the more my brain hurts. The limits of my rather human intellect are quite frustrating, which is probably why I get such a sense of enjoyment out of debating issues with others. Our collective intellect has so much more potential to learn. And I like learning. I'm weird like that.

Déclaration de principe

When I was considering starting a blog, I began thinking about all the things I felt like writing about. I came up with quite a substantial list of a wide variety of things which seemed to widely cover the four pillar taboos: sex, politics, money and religion. Of course I'll inevitably end up writing about light issues such as artistic matters or even maybe the weather. But most of what I had already written, through comments and the like, orientated around the more meatier issues.

In reading a lot of other blogs or sites they commonly seemed to take on some sort of cause or focus issue. The remainder were generally of a personal nature, relating day to day experiences. I've tried keeping a personal blog before but didn't really find myself being self obsessed enough to maintain it. Equally I couldn't come up with anything that stood out as a key issue for me either. I think it comes down the fact that I rarely see things in black & white and so find it quite difficult to 'pick sides' or chose a 'label'. So this may turn out to be a Seinfieldish blog about nothing.

If I absolutely had to chose some sort of ideal to get behind it would probably involve something like "balance" or "moderate" or the ideal that there are no bad ideas, only bad ways to use them. I guess it comes down to the notion that this blog, and the comments I make around the place are as much about finding faults with my own reasonings and learning from others as it is about expressing my own points of view.

Garço de plage

I gave up my usual weekend of thrilling nothingness to spend a night at the Gold Coast with my parents, who were undertaking their annual coastal migration. I know many people who have a less than positive relationship with their parents and to them the thought of spending a meal, let alone a night, with their parents would be uncomfortable. I guess I'm fortunate to have had such supportive parents.

Over the course of the 24 or so hours I spent there, I was reminded of something I've continually forgotten. That despite the comradery and sense of accomplishment from successful completion of an engineering project, despite the challenge and passion of political debates, despite the thrills of adrenaline sports and despite the craziness shared with mates over more than a few drinks, I'm able to get an incomparable amount of fun and joy out of simple childish play. Between tackling the unbeatable force of nature out in the waves and the spontaneous and uncompetitive sand fights with my dad I was able to, if only only for a short time, stop giving a shit. It was the most refreshing experience I've had in a while.

While I was in my teens, my father would frequently act as though I was somewhere between 2 and 12 years old. My mother, being a conservative catholic country girl, was adamant about me gaining now real freedom until I reached the magic age of 18. I'm sure I don't have to explain how an adolescent male feels about being treated like an irresponsible young child. Yet in spite of my best efforts to rebel they managed to successfully brainwash me into being a respectable civilized member of society.

I guess what I'm getting at is there's significant respect within society for the 'innocence' of children, and yet there seems to be an assumption that we lose all that is childish about us as we mature and experience things. There seems to be an irrational "think-of-the-children" approach that insists that exposing children to certain ideas or experiences destroys their childhood. I think it's important that children be able to enjoy their youth, just as its important to gradually teach them responsibility. I also think it's important they learn that they don't need to lose everything they had in their childhood as they grow into an adult. As much as my father gave lackluster support in some areas of my life, the lesson he's taught me on not forgetting the joys of childish fun is one I consider important.

A few of my friends have started families, and as much as I don't hate kids I experienced a certain discomfort around them. I didn't know how to behave, I wanted to interact and share in their childish antics, but felt strangely like I would lose some 'manhood' by doing so. That's not to mention the fear of being seen as a man who likes kids a little too much. At the beach, there were numerous families and dozens of kids, something which made me a little bit apprehensive. However crashing into the waves the ocean threw at me, I remembered the joy of being blissfully ignorant of what others thought while engaging in juvenile freedom. And in turning around to see a young kid grinning at me after being thrashed by mother nature, I reacted in a way I haven't done with a child in a quite a while. I smiled.

Je ne sais rien.

I don't know exactly why I'm starting a blog. Well that's not entirely true, as I do know, I'm just at a loss on how to explain it. Or maybe I just don't want to tell you. Forging a blogentity and becoming part of the blogosphere appears to be the thing my generation Y comrades are into. And yes, as I'm part of the blogosphere I'm allowed to mash-up my own words. And use bad grammar. If only I was one year older and I'd be a Gen Xer and not in this mess.

I guess I should point out a few of the sites that have inspired my renewed opinionation. There are quite a few more that'll probably get around to naming and shaming at a later date. It's probably time to stop this meta blogging now though.