Well my life has ended. I have finished Half Life 2, or has it finished me? What do I do now? Life beyond HL2 is something hard to fathom and harder to live. I can't believe it was so short, yet so good. My soul has been stolen from me and lives in City 17 now; With a headcrab named Lamar.
of obsessions...
I won't spoil the game for anyone by talking about specifics but needless to say I suggest you get it. More than that I suggest (if you have broadband) getting it through Steam.
There are a few very good reasons to use Steam and I can attest to it being at least fairly stable as a platform having used it for a while so I can play Counter Strike.
I'm sure some of you may have heard bad things about Steam and even more of you may have misgivings about the idea of ordering stuff over the internet which you only ever recieve as a download, never a realware product but do not be put off by that.
One of the big advantages of Steam is that you never lose a CD again. I lost my old copy of Half Life recently but I really felt like giving the old fella a spin in celebration of the soon to arrive Half Life 2. 40 minutes later and I had downloaded and was playing HL; Thanks to Steam!
Of course you need to have a fast internet connection to use it but more and more these days everyone has access to the internet and in the future a fast connection will be normal so let us assume that is not a problem.
To address the problem of never having a hard copy of the game; This is no longer the case either.
With the latest update from Steam they have introduced a 'Backup' option that allows you to well, you've guessed it really haven't you. You can compress any game you have bought/downloaded over Steam, then write them to CD/DVD. I compressed Half Life from 460mb down to 230mb. Therefore if you decide you want to download Half Life 2 you won't have to redownload it if for some reason it gets deleted.
Ok enough about Half Life 2. I don't want to make it seem as if I am obsessed or something.
of insanity...
Well it has been an exciting couple of days. Got to one days worth of lectures this week. Uni is exciting as ever. I now have four essays to do for early December so that will be fun. None the less I am sure I will find some exciting ways to procrastinate such as this which took far too long to do but at the same time was a good puzzle. I have always thought people who had the time to do ascii-art should be shot so I volunteer myself to be the first against the wall. It should also be noted that this is not just acii-art but emoticon-art, a doubly heinous crime against humanity and a sure sign of insanity on the part of its creator.
of ninjas...and cyborgs...
The new episode of Naruto is out. Episode #109 sees Sasuke-kun making a life choice that is going to come back and bite him in the future. Dattebayo got there first with the the subs.
I need some new series to get my teeth into. After the end of Full Metal Alchemist and the annoying reality of there only being one episode of Naruto a week I feel as if I'm not getting my full anime quotient.
I just got the Appleseed manga and it rocks big style. I am really psyched about the movie so here is a trailer for it.
Just watched Ghost in the Shell 2 again. Absolutely stunning.
.
It is interesting how japanese animation is moving towards a synergy between cg imagery and the classical cell shaded style that we are familiar with. GitS is a perfect example, as is Appleseed. Even back with classics such as Akira though japanese directors were already messing with computer generated images. American animation just cannot compare. At all.
of us...
Speaking of Ghost in the Shell I have been thinking about consciousness and what it is to be human.
One of the questions that GitS brings up is what does it really mean to be human. The implication just soley in the name is that our body is simply a shell. For example if we think of Jewish Golems then what makes them golems is not their form but the words inscribed into them which gives them form. Indeed in Hebrew the word "golem" means "shapeless mass".
The other implication of the title GitS is that of the "ghost" and what that means. There are many different terms that can be used depending on your beliefs: Soul, consciousness, spirit. All of them suggest something intangible that you cannot see and exists beyond physicality.
This all assumes of course some kind of truth to the idea of there being a "ghost" and a "shell".
If we assume that the shell we exist in [our body] can be changed then the conclusion is that the quality of being human can be disassociated from that of our phsyical form.
Obviously there is an interaction between the shell and its ghost. We grow with our body and grow into our body. As we grow older we become more used to it and how it functions, its foibles and oddities that make it unique. However there in lies my problem. My body is in its essence different to yours or anyone elses. From a cellular viewpoint I share some commonalities with you but I own more differences than similarities. Genetically I'm unique. I know that I am human and so are you, yet at the simplest phyiscal level the building blocks that make me and you are different. Therefore if this is part of being human then it is a small part. The greater part being something much more nebulous and intangible.
So it can be seen that our ghost exists in parellel to our shell, however if I had a different shell but the same ghost surely I would still be human? Even more troubling a question is what if that shell was a simulcram that closely mimed the human body. If I had a body that was indistinguishable from my "real" human body then what would the difference be. What if it were even genetically identical?
These questions plague me, in waking and in sleep.
Another question that also bothers me which is also to do with the human ghost/soul/spirit is the idea of consciousness.
We are essentially communal animals it seems. SG is proof of that with its lively forum boards attesting to everyone wanting to reach out and communicate. It is within our essence it seems to want to communicate; therefore I posit that someone who doe not is not conscious.
I am beginning to come to the conclusion that my consciousness is not just my own but that of other people too. I assume due to my underlying ego that I am singular but what if infact I am plural? Think of this, from conception till today when I write this I have been part of a greater interaction within the communties I have lived within. I don't simply mean those I phsyically associate with but through every form of communion. When I read I do not read by myself but as part of a group. When I watch TV, open a newspaper or listen to music I don't do it just as an individual but as someone who is cognisant (even if subconsciously) that I am partaking of an activity that ties me to a particular community. My 'consciousness' is in this way shared. It is not just something I form by myself but is shaped and dependent on the external influences of those around me. Without them I would not exist. I demand recognition and if I do not recieve it then do I really exist?
of randomness...
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.
of the end...
the end
ps.
A caveat first: I love valve and all that comes from them, but....
YOU BASTARDS HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW CAN IT END LIKE THAT WHAT ARE YOU THINKING I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK HELP HELP HELP WHAT'S GOING ON WHAT WHERE WHAT WHEN ERM er erm....
written under the influence of tenacious d, brought to you by the letter phlar, the number three..ish and some blokes in white coats
all friends applications accepted unless you happen to be Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. just bugger off i don't like eon old betentacled things who come and go without a please and thank you. no-ones impressed and if they are it's probably because they are stygian.
pps the dude abides.
sync out.
of obsessions...
I won't spoil the game for anyone by talking about specifics but needless to say I suggest you get it. More than that I suggest (if you have broadband) getting it through Steam.
There are a few very good reasons to use Steam and I can attest to it being at least fairly stable as a platform having used it for a while so I can play Counter Strike.
I'm sure some of you may have heard bad things about Steam and even more of you may have misgivings about the idea of ordering stuff over the internet which you only ever recieve as a download, never a realware product but do not be put off by that.
One of the big advantages of Steam is that you never lose a CD again. I lost my old copy of Half Life recently but I really felt like giving the old fella a spin in celebration of the soon to arrive Half Life 2. 40 minutes later and I had downloaded and was playing HL; Thanks to Steam!
Of course you need to have a fast internet connection to use it but more and more these days everyone has access to the internet and in the future a fast connection will be normal so let us assume that is not a problem.
To address the problem of never having a hard copy of the game; This is no longer the case either.
With the latest update from Steam they have introduced a 'Backup' option that allows you to well, you've guessed it really haven't you. You can compress any game you have bought/downloaded over Steam, then write them to CD/DVD. I compressed Half Life from 460mb down to 230mb. Therefore if you decide you want to download Half Life 2 you won't have to redownload it if for some reason it gets deleted.
Ok enough about Half Life 2. I don't want to make it seem as if I am obsessed or something.
of insanity...
Well it has been an exciting couple of days. Got to one days worth of lectures this week. Uni is exciting as ever. I now have four essays to do for early December so that will be fun. None the less I am sure I will find some exciting ways to procrastinate such as this which took far too long to do but at the same time was a good puzzle. I have always thought people who had the time to do ascii-art should be shot so I volunteer myself to be the first against the wall. It should also be noted that this is not just acii-art but emoticon-art, a doubly heinous crime against humanity and a sure sign of insanity on the part of its creator.
of ninjas...and cyborgs...
The new episode of Naruto is out. Episode #109 sees Sasuke-kun making a life choice that is going to come back and bite him in the future. Dattebayo got there first with the the subs.
I need some new series to get my teeth into. After the end of Full Metal Alchemist and the annoying reality of there only being one episode of Naruto a week I feel as if I'm not getting my full anime quotient.
I just got the Appleseed manga and it rocks big style. I am really psyched about the movie so here is a trailer for it.
Just watched Ghost in the Shell 2 again. Absolutely stunning.
.
It is interesting how japanese animation is moving towards a synergy between cg imagery and the classical cell shaded style that we are familiar with. GitS is a perfect example, as is Appleseed. Even back with classics such as Akira though japanese directors were already messing with computer generated images. American animation just cannot compare. At all.
of us...
Speaking of Ghost in the Shell I have been thinking about consciousness and what it is to be human.
One of the questions that GitS brings up is what does it really mean to be human. The implication just soley in the name is that our body is simply a shell. For example if we think of Jewish Golems then what makes them golems is not their form but the words inscribed into them which gives them form. Indeed in Hebrew the word "golem" means "shapeless mass".
The other implication of the title GitS is that of the "ghost" and what that means. There are many different terms that can be used depending on your beliefs: Soul, consciousness, spirit. All of them suggest something intangible that you cannot see and exists beyond physicality.
This all assumes of course some kind of truth to the idea of there being a "ghost" and a "shell".
If we assume that the shell we exist in [our body] can be changed then the conclusion is that the quality of being human can be disassociated from that of our phsyical form.
Obviously there is an interaction between the shell and its ghost. We grow with our body and grow into our body. As we grow older we become more used to it and how it functions, its foibles and oddities that make it unique. However there in lies my problem. My body is in its essence different to yours or anyone elses. From a cellular viewpoint I share some commonalities with you but I own more differences than similarities. Genetically I'm unique. I know that I am human and so are you, yet at the simplest phyiscal level the building blocks that make me and you are different. Therefore if this is part of being human then it is a small part. The greater part being something much more nebulous and intangible.
So it can be seen that our ghost exists in parellel to our shell, however if I had a different shell but the same ghost surely I would still be human? Even more troubling a question is what if that shell was a simulcram that closely mimed the human body. If I had a body that was indistinguishable from my "real" human body then what would the difference be. What if it were even genetically identical?
These questions plague me, in waking and in sleep.
Another question that also bothers me which is also to do with the human ghost/soul/spirit is the idea of consciousness.
We are essentially communal animals it seems. SG is proof of that with its lively forum boards attesting to everyone wanting to reach out and communicate. It is within our essence it seems to want to communicate; therefore I posit that someone who doe not is not conscious.
I am beginning to come to the conclusion that my consciousness is not just my own but that of other people too. I assume due to my underlying ego that I am singular but what if infact I am plural? Think of this, from conception till today when I write this I have been part of a greater interaction within the communties I have lived within. I don't simply mean those I phsyically associate with but through every form of communion. When I read I do not read by myself but as part of a group. When I watch TV, open a newspaper or listen to music I don't do it just as an individual but as someone who is cognisant (even if subconsciously) that I am partaking of an activity that ties me to a particular community. My 'consciousness' is in this way shared. It is not just something I form by myself but is shaped and dependent on the external influences of those around me. Without them I would not exist. I demand recognition and if I do not recieve it then do I really exist?
of randomness...
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.
of the end...
the end
ps.
A caveat first: I love valve and all that comes from them, but....
YOU BASTARDS HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW CAN IT END LIKE THAT WHAT ARE YOU THINKING I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK HELP HELP HELP WHAT'S GOING ON WHAT WHERE WHAT WHEN ERM er erm....
written under the influence of tenacious d, brought to you by the letter phlar, the number three..ish and some blokes in white coats
all friends applications accepted unless you happen to be Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. just bugger off i don't like eon old betentacled things who come and go without a please and thank you. no-ones impressed and if they are it's probably because they are stygian.
pps the dude abides.
sync out.
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there is a reason why i write short ones, cause they rock
btw.. my tshirts rock.