Braindump

[learnedax]

I'm off for a week in Disney World tomorrow morning, so I've got to jot down overdue thoughts for this month before they flit away...


So I haven't posted in a long time again, this time because I've been barely able to keep up with LJ, much less add anything of my own. Among other things, tpau and I have been working quite a lot with dkapell on his not-so-secret start-up project. It's a lot of fun, and might in fact lead somewhere eventually.

I saw X-men 2 and Matrix 2 within a week of each other and I haven't been able to keep them apart since. In short, I've decided that they both occupy the same ultra-hip wish-fulfillment brainspace, and X2 handles it a lot more deftly. (Hell, it even wins hands-down in the Matrix's home territory of extended stylish fight sequences.)

I've started reading Amber at long last. At just into the second book, I'd say they are excellent hardcore fantasy.

I'd been mulling over Buffy as it wound up, and realized yet again that it is truly both deep and complex. For the past couple of years most fans have felt that the show has gone in a very different direction from "classic Buffy", but only tonight did I realize the dead simple explanation of when and how it changed. During the 4th and 5th seasons, most acutely in Restless, Buffy made the transition from being a primarily emotionally driven show to a primarily philosophical one. The quest for underlying meaning and mature understanding of the world, especially of the nature of Slayers, drove the show into an entirely different thematic venue. I happen to like both periods, but know I see why they seem in so sharply distinct.

I am getting really irritated by the "knowledge: the anti-drug" campaign. Aside from being just generally condescending, the slogan itself is thoroughly inane. Knowledge is in no way "the anti-drug", either literally or figuratively. I'd like to see a study, actually, measuring the druglike characteristics of knowledge. Having a some definitely leads to wanting more, and getting cut off can lead to withdrawal symptoms. A little of it is a dangerous thing, and a huge industry has built up around supplying dilute portions of it at exorbitant price. I'm amused by the idea of wealthy Cuban knowledge czars. The real anti-drug, however, should be like a drug in its behavior, but opposite in its effects. For instance, you should want less of it the more of it you have, it should cause nasty things while you have it and make you feel better when it goes away, and it should cost the industry devoted to it millions of dollars while getting distributed to everyone for free. So we already have one: Cancer, the anti-drug.

Just to make my brain extra bruised, I found out this morning that a childhood friend of mine I'd lost track of has been a pre-op transsexual for the past year. Trippy.

Ok, time to dash off for my week of fun in the sun.

Comments

[doozer4200.livejournal.com]

I like your "Buffy" thought and it explains a lot. It also explains why I am personally less distressed by "late" Buffy than a lot of people. "Restless" is probably my favorite Buffy episode of all time.