Weblog 119
May 18, 2008~ 12:00am
Imagine the world as a mass of tangled cables and wires. Imagine a knotted great BALL of electronic umbilici connecting us all....
...that is an actual telephone pole in India, high above a crowded street where the poorest of people travel down narrow byways, still entangled with all of us the world over. Is this a good thing, this new technology? It can be. It isn't always. Much of it brings out the worst parts of us. Much of it is garbage and offal. Much is trash. Like anything else, the world wide web offers the potential for inspiration or for folly, for surely there is enlightenment in getting to know our planet a bit better, but oh, there are so many ways it can harm us, making us less than we are-- and certainly more devolved as a species. I think of the INTERNET as the new Tower of Babel.
There it is, gleaming in the sun- just HUGE- and directly in our midst so no matter where we stand, it's in view. Voices coming from it-- pictures by the millions. Thoughts, humor... international news, art......but there is a dark side, and that side of it sometimes makes me want to walk away and not look back.
At it's most benign, that side is simple stupidity and the complete immersion in the trivial. It's the way it has taken over youth so that, like oxygen, young people cannot be without their text messaging and wifi for very long without feeling deprived and cut off from their electronic life. It many ways, it's replaced real one-on-one actual communication with an electronic equivalent which is MUCH more manipulative- and therefore less honest. As you know, there have been cases where young people have targeted peers in venues like Facebook, and have done real harm to reputations, making life miserable for some.
And always there is the proliferation of porn, which devalues human sexuality like nothing else. I used to think the ability to see anything, study anything at all, was healthy, but I was wrong- because it never stops. It becomes increasingly mundane, even as it becomes more extreme, and it can numb. It's a form of license that coarsens the spirit after a time, and over the internet, it spells BIG MONEY for those who traffic in it. People and their dignity should never be sold. It's simply wrong.
The internet is something I have a love/hate relationship with-- so it's always complicated, and never simple for me to try and decide whether it does more harm than good. I suppose it depends on the person. Like so many things, it's the person and their use of a thing that decides that in the end. Something to think about.... this new Babel, this tower of a billion voices and as many images, and we decide whether it's mounting toward heaven or devaluation. We decide- and that's something, anyway.
May 20, 2008~ 5:15am
You've all seen this famous mugshot of Nick Nolte, arrested for driving under the influence a few years back?
Pretty bizarre-looking, right? Well yesterday, I laughed my butt off at this array of hooligans, but I especially enjoyed the captions attached to the pictures. Go have a look at the Mugshots. What a line-up of goofballs. LOL!!!
May 18, 2008~ 6:00pm
Ah.........what animals can teach us! Here's two tricks you'd do well to take note of.....awkward as they look-
"Balance"
Now there's a thing to keep in mind when feeling overwhelmed...feeling like you're flying apart in a hundred directions. Stop. Breeeeeathe. Balance.
"Flexibility"
No matter what impossible situation you find yourself in......find a way of doing it.....even if it's unorthodox. Try it. Bend and reach...(even if you think "I don't bend that way"- I'll bet you can.)
And here's something else to make you smile. This past Friday I watched the DVD of 'Talladega Nights' that I bought for myself about six weeks ago, and never watched. And I had no idea my new favorite comedian, Sasha Baron Cohen was in it!! He goes on record as having the funniest French accent I've ever heard- and that means he's now (for me) surpassed Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. LOL!! Oui!
This is a well-written comedy with brilliant casting. As much as I enjoyed Will Farrell and Cohen, my favorite actor was the fella (and I don't know his name, and it probably wouldn't ring any bells if I did)- who used to play the senator known as "Bingo Bob" on West Wing, who then became Vice-President- and he's stunningly funny in Talledega Nights. Sort of cross between an aging James Dean and a 'pot-rotted' sensei..... I loved him! For your delight, I've scooped some of the best dialogue from the prayer scene around the family table. Will Farrell, who plays southern race car driver, Ricky Bobby, LOVES to pray to 'baby Jesus'. Only 'BABY' Jesus......
Ricky: "Dear Lord baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife's father, Chip. We hope that you can use your baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. And it smells terrible and the dogs are always bothering with it. Dear, tiny infant Jesus, we--"
Carley: "Hey, um, you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him, 'baby.' It's a bit odd and off-putting to pray to a baby."
Ricky: "Well, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I'm saying grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grownup Jesus or teenage Jesus or bearded Jesus, or whoever you want."
Carley: "You know what I want? I want you to do this grace good, so that God will let us win tomorrow."
Ricky: "Dear tiny Jesus in your golden-fleece diapers, with your tiny, little, fat, balled-up fists pawing at the air..."
Chip: "He was a man. He had a beard."
Ricky: "Look, I like the baby version the best, do you hear me? I win the races and I get the money."
Carley: "Ricky, finish the damn grace."
End of damn quote. SEE THIS MOVIE!!!
May 22, 2008~ 7:00am
Great example here, of sifting the grain from the chaff on the internet. My rank nemesis, YouTube- does have some inspiring things now and again, crammed in there with a LOT of junk. So if you have javascript enabled, and you'd like to watch what is probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my life, click on the picture below of Booger, Kitty and Mousey
Who says we can't all live together? Take notes here folks. Truly amazing.
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
Imagine the world as a mass of tangled cables and wires. Imagine a knotted great BALL of electronic umbilici connecting us all....
...that is an actual telephone pole in India, high above a crowded street where the poorest of people travel down narrow byways, still entangled with all of us the world over. Is this a good thing, this new technology? It can be. It isn't always. Much of it brings out the worst parts of us. Much of it is garbage and offal. Much is trash. Like anything else, the world wide web offers the potential for inspiration or for folly, for surely there is enlightenment in getting to know our planet a bit better, but oh, there are so many ways it can harm us, making us less than we are-- and certainly more devolved as a species. I think of the INTERNET as the new Tower of Babel.
There it is, gleaming in the sun- just HUGE- and directly in our midst so no matter where we stand, it's in view. Voices coming from it-- pictures by the millions. Thoughts, humor... international news, art......but there is a dark side, and that side of it sometimes makes me want to walk away and not look back.
At it's most benign, that side is simple stupidity and the complete immersion in the trivial. It's the way it has taken over youth so that, like oxygen, young people cannot be without their text messaging and wifi for very long without feeling deprived and cut off from their electronic life. It many ways, it's replaced real one-on-one actual communication with an electronic equivalent which is MUCH more manipulative- and therefore less honest. As you know, there have been cases where young people have targeted peers in venues like Facebook, and have done real harm to reputations, making life miserable for some.
And always there is the proliferation of porn, which devalues human sexuality like nothing else. I used to think the ability to see anything, study anything at all, was healthy, but I was wrong- because it never stops. It becomes increasingly mundane, even as it becomes more extreme, and it can numb. It's a form of license that coarsens the spirit after a time, and over the internet, it spells BIG MONEY for those who traffic in it. People and their dignity should never be sold. It's simply wrong.
The internet is something I have a love/hate relationship with-- so it's always complicated, and never simple for me to try and decide whether it does more harm than good. I suppose it depends on the person. Like so many things, it's the person and their use of a thing that decides that in the end. Something to think about.... this new Babel, this tower of a billion voices and as many images, and we decide whether it's mounting toward heaven or devaluation. We decide- and that's something, anyway.
May 20, 2008~ 5:15am
You've all seen this famous mugshot of Nick Nolte, arrested for driving under the influence a few years back?
Pretty bizarre-looking, right? Well yesterday, I laughed my butt off at this array of hooligans, but I especially enjoyed the captions attached to the pictures. Go have a look at the Mugshots. What a line-up of goofballs. LOL!!!
May 18, 2008~ 6:00pm
Ah.........what animals can teach us! Here's two tricks you'd do well to take note of.....awkward as they look-
"Balance"
Now there's a thing to keep in mind when feeling overwhelmed...feeling like you're flying apart in a hundred directions. Stop. Breeeeeathe. Balance.
"Flexibility"
No matter what impossible situation you find yourself in......find a way of doing it.....even if it's unorthodox. Try it. Bend and reach...(even if you think "I don't bend that way"- I'll bet you can.)
And here's something else to make you smile. This past Friday I watched the DVD of 'Talladega Nights' that I bought for myself about six weeks ago, and never watched. And I had no idea my new favorite comedian, Sasha Baron Cohen was in it!! He goes on record as having the funniest French accent I've ever heard- and that means he's now (for me) surpassed Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. LOL!! Oui!
This is a well-written comedy with brilliant casting. As much as I enjoyed Will Farrell and Cohen, my favorite actor was the fella (and I don't know his name, and it probably wouldn't ring any bells if I did)- who used to play the senator known as "Bingo Bob" on West Wing, who then became Vice-President- and he's stunningly funny in Talledega Nights. Sort of cross between an aging James Dean and a 'pot-rotted' sensei..... I loved him! For your delight, I've scooped some of the best dialogue from the prayer scene around the family table. Will Farrell, who plays southern race car driver, Ricky Bobby, LOVES to pray to 'baby Jesus'. Only 'BABY' Jesus......
Ricky: "Dear Lord baby Jesus, we also thank you for my wife's father, Chip. We hope that you can use your baby Jesus powers to heal him and his horrible leg. And it smells terrible and the dogs are always bothering with it. Dear, tiny infant Jesus, we--"
Carley: "Hey, um, you know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don't always have to call him, 'baby.' It's a bit odd and off-putting to pray to a baby."
Ricky: "Well, I like the Christmas Jesus best and I'm saying grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grownup Jesus or teenage Jesus or bearded Jesus, or whoever you want."
Carley: "You know what I want? I want you to do this grace good, so that God will let us win tomorrow."
Ricky: "Dear tiny Jesus in your golden-fleece diapers, with your tiny, little, fat, balled-up fists pawing at the air..."
Chip: "He was a man. He had a beard."
Ricky: "Look, I like the baby version the best, do you hear me? I win the races and I get the money."
Carley: "Ricky, finish the damn grace."
May 22, 2008~ 7:00am
Great example here, of sifting the grain from the chaff on the internet. My rank nemesis, YouTube- does have some inspiring things now and again, crammed in there with a LOT of junk. So if you have javascript enabled, and you'd like to watch what is probably the sweetest thing I've ever seen in my life, click on the picture below of Booger, Kitty and Mousey
Who says we can't all live together? Take notes here folks. Truly amazing.
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