July 1, 2012
The Busy Trap
by Tim Kreider in New York Times
If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”
Notice it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.
"Go Fish" in Vancouver
Recommended by Aziz Ansari. Aziz loves food. If he recommends something, it's probably worth trying.
Matrix
AMC has been running a Matrix marathon. The first movie is undeniably awesome. Once it became a hit, the Matrix series released two movies in the same year, a video game, and an animated anthology. I have a sneaking suspicion that all of these other things probably help the movies to have a more cohesive mythology. If only someone had enough time to investigate all of these other things.
Summer is awesome.
Matrix Revolutions has some really great pieces. That freeway chase with the ghosts? That's great. And that's 45 minutes of the movie right there. The fight Neo has with 100 Agent Smiths? That's pretty cool if you remember the movie was made in 2003. The effects don't quite hold up and there are shots where there are no live actors and everything is computer generated. Looking at it now, it looks pretty phony.
The scene above is probably one reason why you hated Matrix Revolutions, and it's admittedly pretty sloppy. The line "Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of The Matrix" is seventeen different kinds of crazy. But there's something in there about choice, and breaking a cycle, and the imperfections of humanity being our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. That's at least kind of cool, right?
But seriously, the freeway chase is dope.
Star Wars Phantom Menace Review
by Tim Kreider in New York Times
If you live in America in the 21st century you’ve probably had to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing: “Busy!” “So busy.” “Crazy busy.” It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the stock response is a kind of congratulation: “That’s a good problem to have,” or “Better than the opposite.”
Notice it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.
"Go Fish" in Vancouver
Matrix
AMC has been running a Matrix marathon. The first movie is undeniably awesome. Once it became a hit, the Matrix series released two movies in the same year, a video game, and an animated anthology. I have a sneaking suspicion that all of these other things probably help the movies to have a more cohesive mythology. If only someone had enough time to investigate all of these other things.
Summer is awesome.
Matrix Revolutions has some really great pieces. That freeway chase with the ghosts? That's great. And that's 45 minutes of the movie right there. The fight Neo has with 100 Agent Smiths? That's pretty cool if you remember the movie was made in 2003. The effects don't quite hold up and there are shots where there are no live actors and everything is computer generated. Looking at it now, it looks pretty phony.
The scene above is probably one reason why you hated Matrix Revolutions, and it's admittedly pretty sloppy. The line "Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of The Matrix" is seventeen different kinds of crazy. But there's something in there about choice, and breaking a cycle, and the imperfections of humanity being our greatest strength and our greatest weakness. That's at least kind of cool, right?
But seriously, the freeway chase is dope.
Star Wars Phantom Menace Review
My brother and I debated which was worse, the Matrix trilogy, or the Star Wars prequels. He cited this 70 minute youtube critique as proof that the Star Wars prequels were better. Or at least that the critique of them was more entertaining.
Today's Photo:
Enough time has passed since the end of school, so I started cleaning out my backpack and school boxes.
I found these cards from a mother and daughter who said some of the nicest things.
Totally made my week.
No comments:
Post a Comment