sudo life

Yes it was violent.  Yes there was a sex scene.  Yes, there was a big blue penis.  And yes, it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time.  You see, the movie wasn’t about the violence, the sex, the penis, or anything else like that.  It was about the story, and the story is what carries this movie to being one of the best ever.  And if you haven’t yet seen the movie, but are planning to, you’ll get much more out of it if you read the book first.

The story isn’t simple.  If you want simple, I recommend something like “National Treasure.”  The story  makes you think.  If you don’t want to think, I recommend watching Jerry Springer.  The story is a commentary on society, and it is a commentary on ourselves.

Here’s a few of the questions explored:

• What are the implications of having a true superman with godlike powers?  (hint: perhaps clothes aren’t really important, and neither is humanity)
• Does humanity require a Watchman (God?) to keep us from destroying ourselves?
• What do we require protection from?
• What is the importance of the rule of law?
• What are the implications of having a moral philosophy that you never compromise, and are there any possible compromises to your moral philosophy?
• What is the meaning of miracles?

I could probably think of a few more questions, but there’s more to the story than just these explorations.  There’s depth. There are repeated visual themes and commentary occurring over contrasting scenes, but amazingly applicable to both.  The nuances of life are present, and this is what sets it apart from other comic book stories.  I really enjoyed watching Iron Man, but was that story very nuanced?  The only other comic book based movie that comes close in recent years that I can think of is The Dark Knight.   More than anything, Watchmen isn’t an escape from reality, but instead presents a mirror of ourselves.  The best and worse of us are presented along with everything in between.  If that’s the sort of thing that you enjoy, then you would definitely enjoy this movie, especially after you read the book.

Philosophy humanity, movies

I’m on vacation this week, and it’s been glorious!

I’m not watching the olympics this year.  Actually, it’s been several years since I last watched either the summer or the winter olympics.  I’ve just felt there is something wrong with them.  I wasn’t sure what until this year.

It started when I bought the awesome series off the iTunes store called “When We Left Earth.”  If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.  It chronicals NASA starting with the Mercury program to the current day.  While I watched this, there is something that repeatedly jumped out at me:  the difference between calling the achievements of the program ‘American’ achievments or ‘Humanity’s’ achievements.  I realized that don’t really view the moon landings, for example, as the fomer of those, but the latter.  When I think about those events, they don’t make me proud to be an American.  They make me proud to be a human.

There are those that go the other way.  At the time, NASA was a source for national pride, and that continues to this day for many.  We were better than those Commies, and we showed them.  I understand that’s important, but we would be better off without it.

From the perspective of space, you can’t see the borders of nations.  There is only one earth, and everything in it is connected to everything else by location.  All our quibles are meaningless from that perspective.  Carl Sagan said it much better than I ever could.  And so I get tired about hearing about all of it.  I get tired about hearing what comes down to idiotic squabbles like the Russian-Georgia fiasco, or our own country’s fiasco in Iraq.  Or China’s censorship and human rights violations.

I always thought the olympics were meant to be a place where we could set aside our differences and participate in sporting competition.  But when I hear the coverage, it continues to be portrayed as just another place for nations to duke it out.  “Hey, look!  China has the most Gold medals.”  “We Americans lead the medal count, HA!”

You know what I want to see?  I want to see an event that can bring everyone together, but in a way that doesn’t reflect nationalities.  We need a worldwide event dedicated to celebrating the abilities of humanity itself, not the ‘products’ of it’s nations.

And that’s why I don’t really care about the Olympics.  As long as it continues to be some way for a nation to exert it’s superiority over another nation, my reaction continues to be: meh.

Philosophy humanity, inspiration, nasa