What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.

- Neil Postman

I find myself having less and less in common with Texas each time I return. Yet when I’m there and someone asks me if I’m going home I imediately think of my parents house. In any other part of the world I think Detroit.

I’ve just returned from seeing Synecdoche, the latest Charlie Kaufman movie, and I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, some parts are truely hilarious. However I doubt many will. As a matter of fact several comments from neighboring patrons included “I’m glad it’s over” and “What the hell was that all about?” Two people behind us decided to leave near the end, oddly about 15 minutes till the end. Why not stay till the punctuation mark?

Anyway, why they left: The movie is a classic example of postmodernism, throwing the sequence of time out the window as well as being rather self referential. Someone not accustomed to the genre or Kaufman films in general would find the movie hard to follow. Ironically I enjoyed the film for the very reasons that some left. I found it interesting and well layered but about the beginning of the second act I noticed a surprising similarity to Six Characters in Search of an Author. Which gave me a basis for understanding the movie without much explanation. So I spent the movie admiring the details as I no longer had to pay attention to the road signs. I think that is the key to Kaufman movies.

It was enjoyable and interesting, my only wish was that it didn’t hand it to you on a silver platter at the end. He decided to simply beat you over the head with the message at the end like so many art films I wanted to enjoy. Children of Men is a good example of this. Small spoiler: I wanted the movie to end when Hoffman gets the role of Ellen near the end, just after he enters the door.

Watch the trailer and if you are into a slightly tougher read, then give it a go.

There is a true art to saying nothing and having people think it’s profound. Some are excellent at it and some fall short and let their cohorts do most of the talking. Nevertheless, I’m astounded at the amount of wealth and power can come from saying absolutely nothing. I should probably start rehearsing my versions of elaborate nothing.

I found myself having lunch at a Buffalo Wild Wings recently. Not my choice mind you, there is something about a restaurant/bar that has multiple televisions on the walls that makes me throw up a little in my mouth. Never-the-less I was with family so in we go. The clientele never ceases to amaze me in a BW3’s, you will always find frosted tips on both the guys and girls. I should have bought stock in BW3’s as the douchebag index seems to be on the rise in this country. And somehow the enticement of hot sauce and sports is too much for the average douchebag. So they congregate there and beat there chests in vocal ritualistic methods, guzzling beer and using the worst pick up lines in existence. However the female version of the douchebag, sometimes referred to as a douche baguette or slut for short, seems to think of these lame attempts as peacock feathers. When presented with such mating calls they tend to emit a repetitive high pitched response. I was thankful the Olympics were on one of the TV’s so I could zone out and refrain from burning my esophagus with stomach acid. Despite the clade of butterfly tattoos, I was still able to enjoy some synchronized diving.

By the by, the sauce is good but the urge to buy peroxide soon after paying the bill is eerie.

I miss Ze. *sigh*

When in a group of people at a restaurant, there is always one person who will ask what someone else is getting. This could be for a couple of reasons. The most popular being that they do not want to order something that someone else is going to order. This one always seems absurd to me. As if originality in ordering had anything to do with character. Besides, most mainstream restaurants all have the same 12 dishes, its bound to repetition at some point. This fear of ordering the same dish as someone else seems illogical

There are also those who are just horridly indecisive and maybe other opinions will allow for their own choice to be made. This one is the most interesting I think, in that your answer is more of a timeline gauge, than a genuine interest in the the surrounding palettes. For if you have decided and they haven’t, it’s time to simply go with the chicken sandwich as long as no one has already decided on that. However these are usually the same people who “need another minute”.

In certain restaurants i have a favorite but in other i like to really be diverse in ordering. So when the question falls to me I like to say I haven’t decided, whether I have or not. Moreover I like to not commit to a single dish and keep myself guessing as to what I will get until the waiter shows up. So that when I finally get asked by a person that is interested, I’m pretty much just guessing.