It's an adventure, Charlie!

A day like last Friday was probably just about the worst day a group of people could pick to visit a library, especially because of the fact that I'm going to a library isn't the most comforting thought to enter my head. Aside from that, it was raining, even worse, it was cold. Helen, Dino, Noel, Nick, Jorge and I traveled there with little trouble, except for the maze-like turns that presented itself on the block of the library. I found this to be quite enjoyable, actually.


Once there I found myself sort of lost as to the objective at hand. We made attempts to use the Library computadora which all proved to be inferior to the fact that we should explore on our own. The library was pretty bland except for the occasional piece of art that hung in random corners. One of the sections I found interesting was the music section which had various song books. I took a picture to commemorate this experience.


Once we had enough of wandering we decided to consult an actual map. The 3rd floor seemed to be the most interesting because it was filled with information on film, I think it was named the "video" section. There was a plethora of various historical events in film from newspapers as well as books. Most of it was interesting, I actually wouldn't mind going back there if I had some research to do for a project.

So, with that I shall depart with a video from which inspiration was spurred for my title. The ending will make you grin, I guarantee it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5im0Ssyyus

S.O.S. (Week 8 Blog)

"Randomness is very hard to achieve.

Organization always murders back if you don't pay attention.

-Death to Organization."

This quote is from one of my favorite movies, The Science of Sleep. In this story of a dreamland, Stéphane battles with his ability to distinguish reality from his hallucinations. Written as well as directed by Michel Gondry, this film is a vision of fantastical normalcy. A true original of his craft, Gondry's manipulation of mise en scène which translates from French to be "putting on stage" is beautifully constructed with randomness well accomplished.

This particular movie struck my fancy to write about because recently I've been studying my dreams in an attempt to better understand myself. There are so many things hidden within our subconscious that go ignored, just to be left building inside us. I don't want to keep anything hidden in my dreams. It's actually helped me discover a lot of things that hold particular plagues and has helped eradicate them through expression. Yes, very vague, I know. I guess you wouldn't know unless you try it.

This movie is definitely worth watching to those of you who don't require blood, guts or explicit sex to carry on interest...even though that's fun sometimes. =}

Drip, Drip, Drip...

Our environment is in a fragile state of existence to the point where it has become our responsibility to nurture and care for it as it has done for us these many centuries. The obvious answer to why it’s pertinent for us to begin the healing process to our earth would be to save ourselves. Yet, through my research of global warming and even the research done in media class of all the evils human beings are capable of has just made me all the more keen on saving our planet – the innocent bystander of our irresponsibility.

In my quest to “Go Green” as Dr. Smith has encouraged us to, I found myself at a loss for certain answers. Why must we conserve our water supply? It was always sort of a given to me that water is all around us and it will always be available. The explanation I found was that people use our planets fresh water faster than it can be replenished. This does pose a problem because the human adult body is 50-65 percent water. Therefore, to maintain a healthy body system, I’m sure we all want the best quality of water we can get.

Here’s a site that points out some of the key values of water: What is "safe" water and why is it important?

A few tactics of conserving water will be linked to my will power. I myself enjoy long showers because it tends to be the time in which my thought process is the most fluid of artistic ideas. My solution to this will be to get one of those running waterfall fountains or just attempt to break the habit. A more practical approach towards over-indulgence of water would be when people leave the facet running while they’re doing dishes or brushing teeth. These things aren’t necessary because you can shut off the water in between cleaning to the same result. I can already tell I am going to annoy my family quite a bit with this information. =D

Well, these were just a few ways I found to keep our water consumption regulated, more information can be found on this site : How to Conserve Water and Use It Effectively

I also found this site which contains 50 Simple Things YOU Can Do To Save The Earth

Historical Truth.

The apparent rise in temperature over the past decade is giving us the scare that is needed for us to have a healthier environment. All around me, I've been noticing advertisements with environmentally charged statements or even, just a very pronounced usage of the color green. It may just be a tactic of the media to capitalize on the people's growing interest on saving our planet, which, isn't as horrible as capitalizing on our thirst for things like sex, violence, etc. At least now there's a noble cause behind the shady workings of our media.

I wondered if my observations were correct and turned to yahoo by searching "green advertising," here's an article in the New York Times I found very interesting: Now Looking Green Is Looking Good

As far as my trip to the museum, it was full of fun and adventure. As life always is when you're in a museum you haven't been to since you was 10 years old tends to be. Me and my friend found various evidence on the effect of greenhouse gasses on our climate. As far as I knew or thought of greenhouse gases, they were a controlling factor in our planet’s climate. Four natural examples of greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, the ozone and methane. The graph that displayed our temperature increasing as the amount of carbon dioxide in the air does. With technological advancements bring higher concentrations of greenhouse gases which increase our global warming potential.

In relation to the movie An Inconvenient Truth, I found the museum much less interesting and captivating of my attention. It gave information but didn’t have the warning effect of Al Gore’s presentation.

As a whole experience thus far, containing what I’ve learned from the media we’ve been researching, I find that it all ties together in the sense that the truth is always available but it’s how we use it or if we use it at that makes us who we are. In Allegory of the Cave, the enlightened one uses his knowledge to his advantage and to not be stuck in ignorance. The Matrix, Neo accepts the same journey and in An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore can be seen as our Neo, seeking the truth to wake the sleeping world.

This Place Is A Prison.

I just finished writing my 3rd assignment blog to be posted and the song from the beginning of that youtube video of Allegory Of The Cave was all stuck in my head, so I decided to post the linky for a video made for the song. I love this band, The Postal Service. This song is haunting. Watch if you want :]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PveGQoqeSD4&feature=related

Gnosticism In The Matrix's Cave.

Wikipedia describes modern Gnosticism as a system of belief which exists through knowledge or Gnosis. The general idea which surrounds this movement is that humans are divine souls confined to a material world which was created by an imperfect spirit or the "Demiurge." The Demiurge is either created by or a similar form of God which exists on a supreme level. Under Gnostic principals we should strive to free ourselves of this material world by gaining spiritual knowledge through direct experience or knowledge of God.

This approach to our existence is a very interesting theory for our time. Especially now with the government attempting to excite us with visual and verbal tactics of confusion. It’s important to seek the truth rather be fed false facts for their own purpose.

The concept of being trapped in a world that limits our growth can be related to Plato’s Allegory Of The Cave. The story describes a human existence where people have been chained in a cave with their only source of light being a grand fire blazing behind them. What has been given to them and their circumstance is their only source of knowledge. Their life experience has been stunted by their surroundings, their material knowledge being all they know. If they would just push past their material comforts or, discomforts in this case, they would gain great knowledge in a world unseen.

Yet material knowledge overrides many factors in our everyday life. People tend to be comfortable trusting a familiar sight. What Gnostic principals urge is for us to be aware of our spiritual existence rather than what is blatantly in front of our eyes. The Matrix symbolizes and supports this theory with a modern overtone. The world that Neo feels around him actualizes to be a simulated reality created to keep his spirit dormant while his body is used as an energy source. Neo’s ascendancy into the actual world and use of his mind to avert the agents is his procurement of Gnosis while the Matrix is our Demiurge. I don't know where God factors into this allegory but then again, who ever does? (If you do, I'm forever open to enlightenment) :]

Disguising Insight

Our knowledge of the world is sometimes stunted by the traditional values we hold fast to guide a new life. We are comfortable learning from our parents in the road to adulthood but what happens when our parents, like an old science that’s been improved upon, are no longer giving us what we need to lead a progressive life? The Allegory Of The Cave ascends concepts of evolution with a story which survives time to be relative even today. An assessment of the word allegory to me, is insight disguised with symbolism. Of which this story is full of.

The idea that surrounds the story is simple, if we limit ourselves to the comfort of what we are used to, growth is difficult to achieve. This is my synopsis aside from the incredible amount of symbolism encompassing the story. I’m sure that throughout history, adaptations of meaning for The Allegory Of The Cave have changed. Yet with the birth of technology constantly changing and underlying our activities, the allegory for our time is that we shouldn’t keep our eyes focused on a farce reality (media propaganda) that blinds us to the world we can experience for ourselves.

This abstraction can also be analogous to The Matrix. In Neo’s world, people were cloaked with identities given to them by their fake perception. If they really wanted to seek the truth, their harsh reality was open to exposure but in all it’s perfection, the matrix had just become too hard to escape, well, except for Neo of course. In this way Neo is like the person who gets free from the cave and Cypher represents those of the cave who is comfortable in ignorance. It is important we take a certain knowledge of such warnings. Not as if to say that technology might succumb to the extreme circumstances of The Matrix but it just could be the television screen that blinds us.