Top 3 Reasons Why I Think Our Society Has Reached Its Peak

 

1. We have been actively searching for the "God particle" and we also have the appropriate expectations that we are probably overhyping this whole thing
2. We actively tried to deport Justin Bieber from the US back to Canada
3. And this app is a real thing. Want to wake up to the smell and sounds of bacon without actually getting up and making bacon or having any bacon? (Also known as, want to wake up hungry forever?) No one does! But here is an app for it

Things I Learned Recently... Part Purple 2.7

• Apparently the new health care law is having a lot of unintended consequences considering some people are finding it as an opportunity to quit their jobs because they no longer need to be employed to get healthcare
• Don't know how I feel about this one. On one hand, good for you for being a little more empowered and taking charge of your life. On the other hand, you either could have done this earlier and I'm scared that lazy people will use this as an excuse to leave their jobs with limited penalty
• So Satya Nadella is Microsoft CEO now 
• He's a Booth alum. Big props. Apparently, some Indians are seeing this actually as a negative reflection on their culture as it highlights how so many people are moving away from India and becoming more successful abroad, which highlights the brain drain that is currently occurring in their country
•  Dartmouth has experienced low application rates this year. They guess its because of some of the bad publicity they've received regarding sexual assault/hazing on their campus
• They say they're working on it, and they're building new centers to combat any negative occurrences on campus, but I don't know if a new center is going to fix all of their problems
• So Ali Baba is killin' it. They were just valued at $153B after surging sales, and is probably what's really propping up Yahoo (a main shareholder)
• As a B2B sourcing portal between Asia and...everywhere else, this isn't surprising anyone. Expect their valuation to keep going up and their IPO price (supposedly later this year) to be ridiculous
• Apparently inequality is kind of unavoidable
• Some scientists set up an experiment awhile ago where everyone starts with equal talent and equal wealth. Setting up incentives to protect the non-wealthy actually resulted in an aggregated wealth disparity

• Sao Paulo, facing a drought, just figured out its largest water supply may run dry in 45 days
• So, I'm not a scientist, but I don't think that's good. It's compounded because much of the petrochemical refinery that happens requires a lot of water, which could result in extreme difficulties
• Technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that, contrary to the popular belief of nerds everywhere, technology will simply allow humans to be the best versions of themselves
• Not only will we have the benefits of gene selection, but we'll also be healthier thanks to tiny blood-cell-sized nanobots, better monitoring of our everyday health and be more productive

Why Everyone Should Love Short Films

I forgot how much I loved short films. I was recently out in Las Vegas for the MAGIC tradeshow (fashion-- apparel, accessories, sourcing, etc.) and I went with a friend to the Dam Boulder City short film festival (she was there with her parents and helping out and I tagged along), and we got to see the finalists of the shorts festival. Although a lot of them were good, my favorite was Fruitcake, which is about a man, although socially different than the majority, hits on a lot of the same things we all struggle with-- trying to fit in when he is still trying to define for himself what his life is and how to define his own self worth, etc.

I'm particularly drawn to shorts not only because I have an incredibly short attention span, but also because there's nothing excessive. It's almost as though it's the skeleton of a film laid out in its rawest form. The characters are usually introduced in the first frame-- most of the information given to the audience is given through the implication of actions, objects in the background and the scene. The things that we take for granted in many of the longer movies becomes that much more important in a short because the director really only has 12-15 minutes to tell the story (hopefully) with a storyline arc and everything. I also find that, because the viewer is thrust into things midway through, that it elicits almost an instinctual bond between the viewer and the main protagonist. For some unexplainable reason, I notice that I feel much more for the characters in a short than in a full length feature film. Maybe it's because you have more time to realize the various facets of a character with more time and you don't feel so purely supportive when you realize that they love so freely (but love married men), maybe it's because deciphering the many implications of their life make you feel an unexplainable kinship, maybe it's because shorts are often more purely based on core problems/emotions-- loneliness, heartbreak, displacement, isolation, etc. that are simpler than some full-length films (think of Star Trek, for example). Whatever the reason, go watch one. Thank me later.

PS- Don't overlook animated shorts. They're awesome too. Mr. Hublot? Awesome.

Happy New Year!

Ahh... it's the new year... a whole season dedicated to me making promises to myself to eat better and exercise more and then eat my sorrows away indoors because it's (literally) -36 degrees outside. I don't know how I feel about this whole Polar Vortex thing, but I know for sure that it's definitely cramping my style. With the new year comes the realization that I really only have about 6 more months of school before it's time for me to pack up my bags and literally move my life across the country so that I can be a big kid and pretend to have one of those... what are they called again... oh yeah, careers.

Anywho. The best thing about winter break though is that there is a set amount of time put aside for me to read and listen to music and catch up on magazines and basically do all those "normal people things" that I never actually have time to do. I read a lot during this break because I had lots of downtime between airports and layovers and generally pretending that I'm retired (my favorite thing to do on my vacations) by pretending that I have an unlimited amount of time to do leisurely activities. I read Dan Brown's new book, a Jack Reacher novel, the new Superfreakonomics and this book called 1Q84. I gotta say, 1Q84 really blew me away.

I didn't know really what to expect, but this is, from now on, going to be the bar by which I'm going to measure all other authors, but specifically Japanese authors against. There are a lot of Asian influences in the book, top being the fascination with the concept of time (What is time? Does time flow linearly? What if it didn't? Does time mean different things to different people?) and the idea of fate or destiny. SPOILER ALERT In the story, a serial killer, Aoname, reeling after the loss of a good friend finds a new friend with which to have orgies with strangers. Meanwhile, Tengo, a budding author decides to ghost-rewrite the story of a young, 17 year old girl and submit it for a writing contest, which they win. The young 17 year old girl, Fuka-Eri, is the product of a cult lifestyle and may not be fully human. The cult tries to kill Aoname after they find out she has killed their leader because he is a raging pedophile. Aoname becomes pregnant with Tengo's child even though they've never met. Yup, this story gets strange, but it's a great read to get weird with. Seamless story-telling and a haunting story leaves you asking fundamental stories about what you, the reader, believes. Is there such a thing as fate? Do the ends justify the means? Does true love exist? What is true love, anyway?

Highly recommend. It's kind of an epic read, so make sure to set aside the time, but it's well worth it. I can say that this book has changed the way I think!