Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
How ('Friday Night Lights') Football Players Got Trounced by ‘Glee’
From the worth-reading New York Times article on tv shows Friday Night Lights and Glee
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose""The real message of “Friday Night Lights” is a message about the joy of little things: the awkward thrills of a first kiss; the strange blessing of an unexpected rainstorm on a lonely walk home from a rough football practice; the startling surge of nostalgia incited by the illumination of football-stadium lights just as the autumn sun is setting; the rush of gratitude, in an otherwise mundane moment, that comes from realizing that this (admittedly flawed) human being that you’re squabbling with intends to have your back for the rest of your life. If “Glee” is about expressing yourself, believing in yourself and loving yourself all the way to a moment of pure adrenaline-fueled glory, then “Friday Night Lights” is about breathing in and appreciating the small, somewhat-imperfect moments that make up an average life.It’s not hard to see why “Glee” would be more popular right now, but its moment, like the moment of glory it celebrates, feels likely to come and go. Recognizing the impermanence of such moments, “Friday Night Lights” embraces the rough edges, the fumbling, the understated beauty and uncertainty of the everyday. It’s rare for a TV show to acknowledge that happiness is a fragile, transient thing. Although the tenure of “Friday Night Lights” may have proved just as fleeting, its exquisite snapshots of ordinary life won’t fade from our memories so quickly."
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
The Real Reason for Democracy - C.S Lewis
- C.S Lewis"I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of Man.I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that every one deserved a share in the government.The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they're not true...I find that they're not true without looking further than myself. I don't deserve a share in governing a hen-roost. Much less a nation...The real reason for democracy is just the reserve. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle sat that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters."
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Nation Somehow Shocked By Human Nature Again
Nation Somehow Shocked By Human Nature Again
'How Could Someone Do Such A Thing?' Populace Wonders Of Event That Has Transpired Literally Millions Of Times
...As the initial wave of grief began to subside Sunday, many throughout the country started openly questioning why this incident happened, putting forth a host of explanations that ranged from lack of government regulation to negligent parenting to declining church attendance, but never once mentioning that it likely would have occurred anyway.
"If it's possible for something positive to come out of this terrible turn of events, perhaps it will make people stop for a moment and realize how short and precious life is," said Daniel Romero, 45, of El Paso, TX, who, until this event, seemed to have somehow ignored the most omnipresent characteristic of his species: its mortality. "You have to recognize that each day you have is a gift and always remember to cherish your loved ones."
At press time, Romero remained unaware that he, like everyone else in America, will completely forget the incident within a week and then abandon his own sensible advice.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Reaction vs. Reflection - Kevin Kelly
- Kevin Kelly, from Smithsonian's article "Reading in a Whole New Way""Books were good at developing a contemplative mind. Screens encourage more utilitarian thinking. A new idea or unfamiliar fact will provoke a reflex to do something: to research the term, to query your screen "friends" for their opinions, to find alternative views, to create a bookmark, to interact with or tweet the thing rather than simply contemplate it."
The irony is I found this quote on my iPad...
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Brave New World vs. Nineteen Eighty-Four - Neil Postman
- Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death : Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business“We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.”
A must see summarized and illustrated comic after the break!
Monday, February 6, 2012
How much time it takes to start enjoying different kinds of video games
 |
| I wonder where RTS and strategic-life (The Sims) and sports (Football Manager) simulation games go |
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Lord of the Flies summarized by the author
"The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.
The whole book is symbolic in nature except the rescue in the end where adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the island.
The officer, having interrupted a man-hunt, prepares to take the children off the island in a cruiser which will presently be hunting its enemy in the same implacable way. And who will rescue the adult and his cruiser?"
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Object of Opening the Mind - G.K Chesterton
"The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)