Jul 11 2009

Lost and Found

Filed under: Learning, Music, Pop Culture, Rant, War Stories

[BGmusic: We Used to Vacation by Cold War Kids]

Dear reader, do you know this movie?

Plot summary (from imdb.com):

When a young boy and his family don’t come one year to their holiday home, their household appliances… think their master might be in trouble. They decided that rather than stay where they are, they’ll try to find them. So beings a dangerous and amusing adventure through the countryside and into the big city. Written by Cynan Rees {cynanrees@hotmail.com}

If you do, good. You know what I’m going to be talking about. If you don’t, now you know.

Anyway, I blame this movie especially for my unhealthy empathy towards inanimate objects.

For example, I crack a mug. Most people would feel pretty bad for being so clumsy, but sometimes – not as frequent as it used to be, mind you – I actually feel sorry for the mug. I mourn over its loss of purpose in the world, and the part I played in its death… Then I quickly get over it, because one should only allow a modest number of moments of insanity in one’s life.

[This is why I don't name my belongings. A lot of people name their gadgets/musical instruments/etc., and I do none of that, it only makes me worse. I tried giving my violin a name  once upon a time but it didn't work out. So basically we're all no-name slobs now.]

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Jul 06 2009

Wag Po

Filed under: Rant

[BGmusic: Girl in the War by Josh Ritter]

Quote for the day:

“All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re not unreasonable; I mean, no-one’s gonna eat your eyes”

- Jonathan Coulton’s Re: Your Brains

A sad reality of our times is how indifferent we’ve grown towards each other. Yes, we all have an opinion on the lifestyles of the rich and the famous, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who cares about your run-of-the-mill Juan.

We hardly ever try to connect with people outside of our social circles.  Forget making eye contact or wishing someone a good day. We don’t do that. And when we do… okay, let me tell you about what happened to me yesterday.

See, I was in a pretty good mood because I just came from church [and post-church lunch], and I’m almost always in a good mood after church [and post-church lunch]. Plus, I just bought a CD and was in the process of buying myself a book, so if you were playing the Sims [2 - am in the process of getting myself Sims 3 hwahaha], my aspiration level would be platinum.

Anyway, so there I was, in line at the cashier at this second-hand bookstore, when I feel the man in front of me looking at me. So I look at him in the eye, and he smiles at me and I smile back. And I think, “Wow, this world isn’t so bad if strangers still smile at each other.”

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