I HAVE A NEW CAT!Wanna see? She’s unnamed as of yet, but she’s a cute, 2-year old, 4-pound kitty from the shelter, and she’s absolutely perfect for me. Thanks to for helping me pick her out.
Thanks again to for reminding me that I can watch films with violence in them, mentally tune out the violence, and focus only on the story. Hence, I got to see the new Matrix film. It’s so incredibly mystical, in the original sense of that word. The Corporate Mofo and, of course, The Christian Science Monitor manage to identify most of the mystical allegories (though I am surprised they don’t talk about Esther and Lazarus in this context . . . Trinity makes SUCH a sexier Lazarus . . . .) People, when you watch this film, do something radical: ignore the CG and the violence. Study the intelligence in the film. If you get the message, welcome to the 1% of the world who actually think about things, rather than just accept and mimic.
On the same topic, I recommend skipping the direct-to-video release of The Animatrix. As must as I love good animation, it’s just going to lead to more stories of idiots in real life who think they’re in The Wachowski Brother’s fictional reality. (In The Animatrix, there’s a short where a kid throws himself off of the roof of his school, saying “Save me, Neo” or something similar. Don’t kill yourself, or others, over a film, please!) This is a major hot button for me (those of you who know my stance on RPGs understand this). There are times you DON’T THINK, and there are times you THINK. Learn when to do which one.
Some late pledges are coming in, but my friend M. won first place with a whopping $90 donation ($0.25 / minute for 6 hours, on the dot). She’ll be receiving the lovely special gift when she makes her payment. If you’d still like to volunteer money (or beat her out for first prize!) the deadline is this Friday. You can email me directly to find out my PayPal address, but please be advised that I’ll only take bank transfer PayPal payments, not credit card-based ones.
23 thoughts on “joanbits”
Absolutely a cute kitty! Reminds me of our own cat… You remember her…
Oh yes. I did that in “Robocop” ignored the violence and laughed myself silly. It was making subversive jibes all over the place. quite funny. So shall be seeing the matrix II on your recommendation.
I HAVE TO MEET THIS CAT.
Debbie (my housemate) and her boyfriend Aaron got a kitten and my goal for the summer is to make her like me more than Debbie + Aaron. Hah. Of course they don’t know this yet.
Your cat looks like it can be Nafferro’s (My cat) sister! Very cool. Hehehe
“ignore the CG and the violence”… I told something similar the friend I went to watch the movie with. He was telling me that the story line sucks and the only reason to watch the movie is the f/x.
Personally I didn’t care much about the f/x since I saw them all during previews, interviews, etc, etc…; but don’t take me wrong, I didn’t tuned out shit! I love sex, action and violence in films (Ninja Scroll? Battle Royale? Doberman? Matador? Visitor Q? I want them all, he he)… What I don’t do is to base my opinion in how much of those things a movie uses…
One thing is for sure, I can’t wait to see the third one :-D
Excuse me? The idea that the everyday world we live in not being real is mindblowing? Has this guy actually bothered to LIVE in the real world at all?
Gads, people like this always get me thinking that they can spend their lives living in books and literature, yet all most of them can do is tell you they have some naive view of the world. And they have to use fancy vocab, complex grammatic concoctions, and “academic” references 99% of the world has never heard of like they’re showing off about how “educated” they are while doing it. Now I remember why I try to avoid reading movie reviews.
Anyhow, sorry about that outburst, Joan. This wasn’t quite the place for it.
That’s one sleek lookin’ cat on the prowl..
Good argument, hon, but my point is that for those of us raised on these sorts of texts and concepts, or those of us who get off on history, this is a good summary of the concepts involved. I personally didn’t read it as elitist snobbery, but rather a nice reference point to get people up to speed on what I personally got out of the film.
Understanding and realizing that reality is only how we perceive it to be (the essence of phenomenology) is a great old concept, and is one that is best described in two of my favorite works of fiction: Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time (and its three direct sequels), and Dan O’Bannon/John Carpenter’s film Dark Star (which, if you like a bit of trivia, was a huge influence on the creators of Red Dwarf).
“Let there be light.” <BOOM> ^_^ And thanks for the kitty complements! I’ll be sure to tell her tonight.
I’m glad you can enjoy that part of the film too! Because of personal morals and beliefs, I simply can’t enjoy that part of the film. Violence? Sure, but only if it’s consentual on both sides. The kind of violence demonstrated in film these days usually doesn’t include that depiction. But more power to you!
Please tell me what you think, after seeing it! And yes I remember your cat. Come and visit my new family member sometime! ^_^
Then you may visit only after I am sure my cat loves me more than you. :P (just kidding, visit anytime, as always, sexy!)
Awesome! I can’t wait for You to meet her!
BTW, I like the CG and the violence (not in and of themselves nor do I generally like CG at all). The Matrix has a storyline that could almost be considered vanilla. The appeal, ‘least for me, is the execution. The story is done with flair and pizazz. The surreal edge and ambience that CG creates is actually quite appropriate in a virtual world.
It’s a bit hard for me to separate violence from any story and just search for the “intelligence” in a film. Films are about stories and about people. They’re about action, decision, and consequence. Pure intelligence isn’t very moving, not to condone watching the CG and violence and ignoring the intelligence. And I’m not much of a supporter of accepting and mimicking.
Mmmmmm.. phenomenology is fun. Back in college, I suggested to some friends that everyone in the world could merely be figments of my imagination that disappeared the second they walked out of sight/mind. One of them had a sense of self that didn’t quite enjoy the notion, so we went about addressing each other as figments of each other’s imaginations to annoy her. She eventually got wise to it and started playing along. We had no idea what phenomenology was at the time either (the wondrous joys of our educational system).
I miss Wrinkle in Time.. the books you read as a kid are always the ones that hold the wisdom of the ages.
I’d heard about Dark Star but never actually seen. But then I’m not actually that big a fan of Red Dwarf. Managed to see a few eps since my ex was rather keen on it.
Consentual pain and violence… hmmm… Life’s little pleasure. Sorry, that was just the sadomasoquism within me talking out loud :-)
Did you have any funny/interesting stories from the envent last weekend? I’d be interested to know if there were any protesters or anything of the such. Oh, and congradulations on the 6 hour mark!
yay cats.
Right..well..
I found the movie utterly silly for the most part, and annoying where it wasn’t silly. *wry grin*
The F/x were overdone, and the wire-fighting has gotten so out of hand that I no longer feel that I’m watching brilliant and acrobatic fighting (see early Jackie Chan) but excellent rigging and gaffing. Feh. But I’ll go with you on the notion that it functions well as Philosophy(tm) marketing for the masses.
All this to say howdy, yer added.
And nice cat btw. :) But my mattress comment holds.
Trollboy.
i’m in love…. with your kitty *gryns* he’s GORGEOUS!
LOL…. The kitty is a she…
In my experience, an understanding of phenomenology has very little to do with IQ. A higher IQ just helps you learn big words for stuff.
I can’t remember, but have I made you watch Fight Club yet? It’s another movie that was drastically misunderstood by a lot of… well, normal people, I guess you’d call them (I don’t hang out with enough of them to know what they call themselves). I was mostly fascinated by how beautifully it showed one version of “MPD,” very close to my ex-gf. And Helena Bonham Carter is SO yummy. Mmmmhmmm, cigarettes usually turn me off really fast, but HBC smoking makes me wet.
Yes, the CG got a little annoying after a while, but I figure this sort of thing is what most people want (or what they think most people want), and if it gets them a contract, or enough money to make the next one… whatever. I actually got into it when they showed the time-distorted stuff; it looks so silly full speed, but it all makes sense when they do it the way Neo is seeing it. The fight scenes are actually relatively reasonable, given Neo’s ability to manipulate “reality” in the Matrix. AND they don’t show a lot of blood and gore.
So a couple days after we watched The Matrix, I showed elbowfetish Leonard 6 (which had a 1.5 or something on IMDB, so it must be good), and I kept thinking the evil psychotic vegetarian leader looked familliar. I recognised her by her voice, and we looked it up to check – it was Gloria Foster (who played the Oracle). She died during the making of Reloaded. Waaahhhhh!!!!! She is (was?) so incredibly sexy.
I saw Fight Club again while I was living in Tokyo (first time was when it came out); same comments as apply to The Matrix movies for me apply to that one. Great life philosophy, absolutely no motivation to watch it again (depiction of violence was simply too strong to make me be able to enjoy watching it over and over.) However, it’s on my list of films to own again.
Mmmmmm, Leonard Part 6!
ooooooooooooopse….. shoulda lifted the tail, huh??
Absolutely a cute kitty! Reminds me of our own cat… You remember her…
Oh yes. I did that in “Robocop” ignored the violence and laughed myself silly. It was making subversive jibes all over the place. quite funny. So shall be seeing the matrix II on your recommendation.
I HAVE TO MEET THIS CAT.
Debbie (my housemate) and her boyfriend Aaron got a kitten and my goal for the summer is to make her like me more than Debbie + Aaron. Hah. Of course they don’t know this yet.
Your cat looks like it can be Nafferro’s (My cat) sister! Very cool. Hehehe
“ignore the CG and the violence”… I told something similar the friend I went to watch the movie with. He was telling me that the story line sucks and the only reason to watch the movie is the f/x.
Personally I didn’t care much about the f/x since I saw them all during previews, interviews, etc, etc…; but don’t take me wrong, I didn’t tuned out shit! I love sex, action and violence in films (Ninja Scroll? Battle Royale? Doberman? Matador? Visitor Q? I want them all, he he)… What I don’t do is to base my opinion in how much of those things a movie uses…
One thing is for sure, I can’t wait to see the third one :-D
Excuse me? The idea that the everyday world we live in not being real is mindblowing? Has this guy actually bothered to LIVE in the real world at all?
Gads, people like this always get me thinking that they can spend their lives living in books and literature, yet all most of them can do is tell you they have some naive view of the world. And they have to use fancy vocab, complex grammatic concoctions, and “academic” references 99% of the world has never heard of like they’re showing off about how “educated” they are while doing it. Now I remember why I try to avoid reading movie reviews.
Anyhow, sorry about that outburst, Joan. This wasn’t quite the place for it.
That’s one sleek lookin’ cat on the prowl..
Good argument, hon, but my point is that for those of us raised on these sorts of texts and concepts, or those of us who get off on history, this is a good summary of the concepts involved. I personally didn’t read it as elitist snobbery, but rather a nice reference point to get people up to speed on what I personally got out of the film.
Understanding and realizing that reality is only how we perceive it to be (the essence of phenomenology) is a great old concept, and is one that is best described in two of my favorite works of fiction: Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle In Time (and its three direct sequels), and Dan O’Bannon/John Carpenter’s film Dark Star (which, if you like a bit of trivia, was a huge influence on the creators of Red Dwarf).
“Let there be light.” <BOOM> ^_^ And thanks for the kitty complements! I’ll be sure to tell her tonight.
I’m glad you can enjoy that part of the film too! Because of personal morals and beliefs, I simply can’t enjoy that part of the film. Violence? Sure, but only if it’s consentual on both sides. The kind of violence demonstrated in film these days usually doesn’t include that depiction. But more power to you!
Please tell me what you think, after seeing it! And yes I remember your cat. Come and visit my new family member sometime! ^_^
Then you may visit only after I am sure my cat loves me more than you. :P (just kidding, visit anytime, as always, sexy!)
Awesome! I can’t wait for You to meet her!
BTW, I like the CG and the violence (not in and of themselves nor do I generally like CG at all). The Matrix has a storyline that could almost be considered vanilla. The appeal, ‘least for me, is the execution. The story is done with flair and pizazz. The surreal edge and ambience that CG creates is actually quite appropriate in a virtual world.
It’s a bit hard for me to separate violence from any story and just search for the “intelligence” in a film. Films are about stories and about people. They’re about action, decision, and consequence. Pure intelligence isn’t very moving, not to condone watching the CG and violence and ignoring the intelligence. And I’m not much of a supporter of accepting and mimicking.
Mmmmmm.. phenomenology is fun. Back in college, I suggested to some friends that everyone in the world could merely be figments of my imagination that disappeared the second they walked out of sight/mind. One of them had a sense of self that didn’t quite enjoy the notion, so we went about addressing each other as figments of each other’s imaginations to annoy her. She eventually got wise to it and started playing along. We had no idea what phenomenology was at the time either (the wondrous joys of our educational system).
I miss Wrinkle in Time.. the books you read as a kid are always the ones that hold the wisdom of the ages.
I’d heard about Dark Star but never actually seen. But then I’m not actually that big a fan of Red Dwarf. Managed to see a few eps since my ex was rather keen on it.
Consentual pain and violence… hmmm… Life’s little pleasure. Sorry, that was just the sadomasoquism within me talking out loud :-)
Did you have any funny/interesting stories from the envent last weekend? I’d be interested to know if there were any protesters or anything of the such. Oh, and congradulations on the 6 hour mark!
yay cats.
Right..well..
I found the movie utterly silly for the most part, and annoying where it wasn’t silly. *wry grin*
The F/x were overdone, and the wire-fighting has gotten so out of hand that I no longer feel that I’m watching brilliant and acrobatic fighting (see early Jackie Chan) but excellent rigging and gaffing. Feh. But I’ll go with you on the notion that it functions well as Philosophy(tm) marketing for the masses.
All this to say howdy, yer added.
And nice cat btw. :) But my mattress comment holds.
Trollboy.
i’m in love…. with your kitty *gryns* he’s GORGEOUS!
LOL…. The kitty is a she…
In my experience, an understanding of phenomenology has very little to do with IQ. A higher IQ just helps you learn big words for stuff.
I can’t remember, but have I made you watch Fight Club yet? It’s another movie that was drastically misunderstood by a lot of… well, normal people, I guess you’d call them (I don’t hang out with enough of them to know what they call themselves). I was mostly fascinated by how beautifully it showed one version of “MPD,” very close to my ex-gf. And Helena Bonham Carter is SO yummy. Mmmmhmmm, cigarettes usually turn me off really fast, but HBC smoking makes me wet.
Yes, the CG got a little annoying after a while, but I figure this sort of thing is what most people want (or what they think most people want), and if it gets them a contract, or enough money to make the next one… whatever. I actually got into it when they showed the time-distorted stuff; it looks so silly full speed, but it all makes sense when they do it the way Neo is seeing it. The fight scenes are actually relatively reasonable, given Neo’s ability to manipulate “reality” in the Matrix. AND they don’t show a lot of blood and gore.
So a couple days after we watched The Matrix, I showed elbowfetish Leonard 6 (which had a 1.5 or something on IMDB, so it must be good), and I kept thinking the evil psychotic vegetarian leader looked familliar. I recognised her by her voice, and we looked it up to check – it was Gloria Foster (who played the Oracle). She died during the making of Reloaded. Waaahhhhh!!!!! She is (was?) so incredibly sexy.
I saw Fight Club again while I was living in Tokyo (first time was when it came out); same comments as apply to The Matrix movies for me apply to that one. Great life philosophy, absolutely no motivation to watch it again (depiction of violence was simply too strong to make me be able to enjoy watching it over and over.) However, it’s on my list of films to own again.
Mmmmmm, Leonard Part 6!
ooooooooooooopse….. shoulda lifted the tail, huh??
Not so little ^_-