Inertiatic

Though I have to admit that I skipped most of Galt's speech just to get to the end. But yeah, I did go back to read it in its entirety.

I think video games, as an industry, have yet to realize their full potential to be art, save for a few I'll mention later. Art as re-creation of reality according to the artist's value judgments is applicable to movies (I defer you to Romantic Manifesto for that argument)- and, all things considered, there's little that separates video games (ignoring online games which are more likely driven by consumer appeal than the "artist's" own judgments) from movies. They are there to tell a story- and you, the player, subject yourself to this story and become its driving factor. Without you, there is no story. So video games, in relation to man, do two things: are art and provide something that man can be proud of himself for seeing through to completion as a player. Anyone who's dabbled in video gaming has had that one certain boss they just couldn't beat. For days victory eluded them. Then, finally, they beat it. What is it but pride that fills the gamer at this moment? So I give video games that, which is not applicable to, say, books, or movies, or music. As for video games that could be considered art, there are very few. Shadow of the Colossus is, I think, is the closest video games have come to producing art. The story (or plot-theme) is: man seeks to restore life to his dead lover- and to do so he must battle gigantic and powerful beasts of titanic proportion. And he succeeds in doing this with his hands, a bow and arrow, and a sword. The graphics and the world presented in the game are beautiful and vast, respectively. This is a world as it ought to be, to the artist. And the sounds, and the music- simply great. Now, am I attempting to justify my favorite game as "art"? No. Shadow of the Colossus is not my favorite game- in fact, it's not even on my Top Ten Favorites List. Why? It's just not my kind of game. But still I love it, and if it isn't considered art, or the closest video games have come to it, then what is? Now, as for games like the Madden series- as for art: it's possible. It's nonfiction. It would be easier to call, say Call of Duty games art, however.

[Note: Normally I write poetry and short stories, but yesterday I thought I'd try my hand at a song. I'm satisfied with it. I hope you enjoy. ] [slowly] That's not what I meant to say, but say it I did; that's impossible to calculate in terms of arithmetic. [Tempo increase, builds] But the harsh would have fallen and landed on your mind; that's not to say I'm sorry, but I've left you behind. [slows] And now there's another dooming- another society in waiting- and when the needle hits empty- that's when we all must say: [Chorus; Loudly; Crescendo] "I don't love you! You stole it all away from me! I don't love you at all! You're not the one for me!" I don't sacrifice, I don't slow my mind, just 'cause they chose you, they chose you; I don't love you! I'm not for you at all! [slows, softens] Though you fall to crying, what do you want to hear from me? Reconciliation for the fallen? Or the anthem of the beatniks? [Music pretties up, stays slow] But it's a matter of principle- not a golden opportunity for you or me. And it's a matter of principle- though you clutch at my legs. [Normalizes] "What will the others think?" you gasp, "What will the authorities say?" And my answer is, "I don't care, I've never cared at all." [All music stops for a second, then-] [Chorus; Loudly; Crescendo] "I don't love you! You stole it all away from me! I don't love you at all! You're not the one for me!" Just 'cause father says that we should marry, I won't, I won't; let them do what they will, but not with my sanction, let them fall, like you out of grace.... [interlude] [slow; Music is soft and quiet, singer's voice is louder though whispering] It's not the way I want to live, so you must go. Remember what Galt said? It's outside the engine room's door. Go ahead, open it without speaking the oath, and watch it turn, watch it all turn to dust. [All music stops for a second, then-] [Chorus; Loudly; Crescendo] "I don't love you! You stole it all away from me! I don't love you at all! You're not the one for me!" I don't sacrifice, I don't love you- [Music ceases, but still the last notes reverberate. Much less singing than speaking:] at all.

True. The whole experience was unfortunately odd.

My family and I go to Aruba every year for two weeks. Since we've been doing this for about seven years now, for the first week we didn't do any sightseeing. We just stayed around the hotel and the ocean. But this year, on the second week, we brought up my grandmother and cousin (who had never visited the island before) to stay and vacation with us too. It's an idea I recommend strongly against. STRONGLY against. But, towards the end of the week, we went to these extremely shallow "caves" on either side of a road that house Christian (or Catholic, I don't really know the difference) shrines/altars. Earlier in the week, we brought our pretty religious grandmother, though begrudgingly on our part, to a large church we didn't even go into- only her. She took forever, and we weren't very pleased. We didn't even set foot on the property. But still we went to those "caves". The man who takes care of the "caves" was riding on a bike and saw us pull over on the other side of the road. We met him last year. We sat in the car and my father asked him if we could just walk around the altars. He gave his reply and went off down the road. It was the last time we saw him. My father undercut the moment by asking, bewildered, "What the hell did he say?" Indeed, the man was unintelligible. We all burst out laughing, relieved to know that none of us knew what the hell he was saying either. My dad put on a great show, nodding at all the right moments in the man's speech. He was flawless. We sat in the car for a little while afterward, as if deciding on whether we should leave on that note or proceed with our self-guided tour. We decided to get out, which is when I said, amid my agnostic-yet-staunchly Catholic father and pretty religious grandmother, when I shrugged about our decision and said, "Who cares? It's all just a bunch of religious malarkey." Big- no, huge laughs from everybody except me. Even my dad and my grandmother, laughing. I don't know why. I didn't get it then and I've never asked why. But I know I'll remember that. That's all religion is, perhaps even to the religious. It's just malarkey.

I haven't seen the musical version but I have seen the movie version, which, incidentally, I like quite a bit. The them of breaking the stigmatizing gender role that seems to declare "Women can't be in law!" is quite well-done- at first, you think it will be just another stereotypical "girls goes to impossible lengths to impress a guy" movie when really it is a "woman proving herself as able to compete in a 'man-based' profession". Plus, it has a nice joyful and carefree sense of life. No one has to feel guilty about laughing with it! It sounds like the musical version does and even better job of presenting the theme even based solely on the one quote you gave me. I didn't know there was a musical version- so thank you for sharing!

I've recently read his "Metamorphosis" and many of his short stories- as well as "The Castle"- and, once I'm done with the books I'm on now, I'll be moving on to "The Trial". What fascinates me about Kafka is his ability to present even horrible scenes with such beauty. For instance, the description of Gregor Samsa's sister at the end of the story. As you said, yoni, though the protagonist has died, his sister is described as "beautiful and ripe for marriage"- notice how he also doesn't leave his description of sunshine (which had previously been all but eradicated in the story) at sunshine- it is warm sunshine. Gregor died, but now his family can be happy- they don't have to deal with him anymore. And, perhaps, his sister can go to violin school. In fact, isn't that what Gregor wanted? His family to be happy. (I am a bit skeptical of his reasons for wanting this, but still, you can't deny that he wanted them to be happy.) Gregor, as punk has said, is more of a portrayal of Kafka himself; he is "[a] foreigner (or alien) living among people who don't understand him, don't want to understand him, and are continually passing judgment on him," and Kafka set Gregor up like this. He did not portray man as a bug but ALIENATED man as a bug. And isn't it almost universally true that annoying bothersome bugs will get squished? But, with Gregor's death, Kafka also nods to his family- those that also feel alienated by the alienated person. It works both ways, he's saying. There's two ways for you to get rid of an alienated person: 1) Try to accept him and understand him or 2) Ignore them and wait for their own degradation to destroy them. Gregor's family chose the latter. But the Nazis found a third option: Remove them completely. Forcibly. The amount of time Gregor spends with the apple in his back is lengthy, and he shows a slow deterioration in health until his ultimate death. This may or may not be a nihilistic approach on Kafka's part- even innocent people will be destroyed by this fear and (forgive the overuse of the term) alienation. Kafka rendered Gregor's feeling of being an outsider magnificently. And even still, he pursues what he values: his sister, her violin-playing, and his family's happiness. I don't think he acts sacrificially by letting himself die, I think that, because of his shape, Gregor realizes that his family can't be happy, hi sister can't play the violin, etc. and this makes it impossible to see any other values in the word, especially in his form, to obtain. So he dies so that his family can be happy. Now, here's where the parallels between Metamorphosis and the Nazis stop. Kafka did seem to have a poor sense of life. But he also manages to portray heroic characters in this poor life who still seek to uphold their own values. Like the officer in "In the Penal Colony" who kills himself with the machine he fought so hard to keep in operation so that he wouldn't have to see it demolished. True, the officer is a brute and this one quality does little to redeem him, but even in these people Kafka throws some morality. Without the machine, the officer would have had nothing else to seek from the world. I can understand why you dislike Metamorphosis so much. Now I hope you understand why I like it.

Hello. I'm a new poster here. I came here because I think it will be a good learning experience for me. You see, I am trying to become Objectivist (I'm reading a lot of the nonfiction)- but, as a fifteen-year-old in a world bent against the individual, you can imagine this is difficult. So please, if anyone sees an error in my thinking, please let me know about it so I can correct it. I would greatly appreciate it. Incidentally, it's a bit sad that FireFox's built-in spell-checker doesn't recognize "Objectivist" as a word.