Castles in the Sand

I went to an NHS activity and it was appalling. We watched a movie about the suffering of the children in Sudan. You would think they would show the truth sad and terrible as it is. No instead they lied to the viewers.

They prayed the whole thing as a high school documentary. Except I know some about film making and they were using expensive cameras with stabilizers, heavy duty professional microphones, and at least 10 - 30 thousand dollars of video editing complete with soundtrack. Also the scenes in the movie were all at least partly staged.

Now I think the cause is good but I had the problem with propaganda being the driving force of the desire to help. Most people weren’t paying attention till the movie used cheap sympathy tactics.

I was appalled that such a manipulative tactic was used to portray such a noble cause.
(The ending was literally
“We need your help”
“We need your talent”
“We need your” … take a guess … “money”
They didn’t even imply it, they just went out and said it)

I was also appalled that this seems to really be the only way to reach students. Does doing the right thing really require students to be manipulated by movie?

After the movie I stated my observations, and like any brainwashed group I got called inhuman and appalling for simply stating that although I agree with the cause( Its not like I don’t care, I donated, and actually care regardless of the propaganda) I was unhappy with propaganda tactics.

The ease with which propaganda turned a room of NHS students (supposedly the top of the school) into sheep has depressed me greatly.

Today’s Song: In the Air Tonight - Phil Collins
Thought for the Day: Do the ends justify the means?

Society is tedious.
Everyone is too goddamn selfish.

As I look around me I have noticed that the selfishness of those around me is at intolerable level. No matter where I go, everyone has problems. This is nothing bad. The problem lies in the interaction between people. Instead of helping each other out, listening to each others problems, being essencially what friends should be, everyone just lays their problems down and ignores everyone else. Everyone thinks that what is going on in their life is more important then anything else.

The LAN is the perfect example of this. When we needed to upload to the server and asked not to download for 5 min. All I could hear was I’m downloading this and this, and I am playing this game, even when uploading files benefited everyone. This continued for the rest of the night, only complaints, no one offering to help or compromising. I got so fed up I eventually left for a walk. I know I was not alone in noticing this. A few people I talked to feel the same way.

In the morning same thing. I wake up and to spare everyone else (namely the people that usually help clean up {Trey, Brian, Taylor}) the energy and let them sleep in, I started cleanup myself. No one was up at that point and the LAN area was empty. When people got up there was no thank you for spending hours on clean up or setup. Only complaints of why is the network down, this sux, etc…

No one even offered to help. With the Network down everyone simply got packed up and left. End of story. Even Brian, Trey, and Paul sat in a car while Marty and I were on all fours cleaning up the trash that others made.

This is just one example of the selfishness around me.

If we all just for a moment helped each other out, compromise, then we would not all be so goddamn miserable all the time.

Today’s Song: Nowhere Man - Beatles
Thought for the Day: You don’t know what youre missing

Sorry for not posting for so long. I only post when I have something to say and lately I didn’t feel like saying anything.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about digital technology. Most of the people who read blogs will have to agree with their sentiment that our computers are a part of our lives. The computer is not just a tool but an environment of living. Chat rooms, private messages, emails are a part of us. We talk to people near and far and we do it in a unique way. The computer can be your life. You can explore the real world and worlds made by others. You can fight, love, make, destroy, draw art, make movies, work, buy, do near anything on the computer.

The computer also gives us a unique opportunity. We are able to not only live our life but also shape new ones. On the internet there is a clean slate, in fact a multitude of clean slates. There’s millions of people you can meet, you can do anything, and you can say you are whatever you want. A man can be a woman. The old can be young. An billion of new lives are open to us.

But now comes the question on how these worlds interact. Can someone in the real world exist with someone they met online? Did they ever even meet this person or was it simply a digital fantasy that they have come to know? But then comes the thought what about the people we know. Is it possible that those that we know are actually something? Is it the fantasy they make online or the fantasy they present in real life that is real?

What about when you meet a person you thought you knew in real life online? Is how they act there or how they act in real life that is their true form?

That’s just stuff to think about…

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I have also been working on digitally remastering some of the photos I took. Tell me what you think and also post ideas of photos to work on.

Remember all the pics can be used for wallpapers but are not to be reproduced
or used for commercial gain.

Today’s Song: .hack//SIGN: The World
Thought for the day: Does digital schizophrenia merely reflect social schizophrenia?

UPDATE: The gallery has been updated with pics from the Carmel Valley cliffs and some digitally remastered photos.