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I have a beef with The Matrix

Okay, I know this is about as timely as Y2K, since the movie was released in 1999, but it’s on TV at this very moment, so it’s on my mind. To recap the premise of The Matrix, before I get to my beef: it seems like mankind has lost the War Against the Machines, circa 2199. The machines have (quite ungratefully) enslaved their makers, literally encapsulating all humans from birth in little pods, feeding us by tubes. This is so that we can serve as power sources, “batteries” in a massive thermal and electrical energy producing infrastructure. The Machines apparently were using solar power, but we messed that up for them in the War.
Now already I have a beef, but it gets worse… in order to keep us docile, the Machines created the Matrix, a neurally interconnected virtual reality simulation that they feed to the humans via a tube to the brain. This convinces us, in our stupor, that it’s still 1999, and all is well.
Right. Well, first of all, why would a human wired into a pod from birth even need to be kept docile? Surely this wouldn’t be a big issue, and even if we did become agitated, wouldn’t that just generate more energy? And even if worse occasionally did come to worst, the Machines could just open that little escape hatch and flush those occasional little troublemakers into the Hudson. So why go to all the trouble of feeding our brains this complex virtual reality? Makes no sense, machines wouldn’t do that.
But here’s my real beef: why use humans at all? Where are all the COWS?? For starters, they’re already docile. And even if they did need to be fed some kind of Matrix to keep them contented cows, all you’d really need would be a five minute loop of a nice day in the field, some white puffy clouds, maybe an occasional tourist in a passing car yelling “mooo” out the window… child’s play for a Machine VR programmer. Plus, think of all the methane they could harvest, must be a million things a Machine could do with methane.

Lost VALIS

Some LOST trivia:
Oceanic Flight 815 crashed (and the series debuted) on Sept. 22, 2004. This was my 50th birthday. Okay, interesting only to me I suppose. But consider this next bit of product placement.
In the episode that aired last night, John brings Ben some food, along with a book from Ben’s shelves. The book was “VALIS” by Philip K. Dick, one of his last books before his death in 1982, and the book that convinced me that he had either discovered the true underlying meaning of the universe, or that he was suffering from a psychotic break. Perhaps both. In the novel, “VALIS” is an acronym for “Vast Active Living Intelligence System” – a kind of living-yet-alien construct that shapes the realities of the people around it. Which is pretty much how John thinks of the island, yes? VALIS is also a kind of sci-fi metaphor for God, and John is after all the “Man of Faith”, vs. Jack’s “Man of Science”…
Layers inside layers…

What is Art?

Incredibly, experimental composer Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Helicopter String Quartet was the subject–perhaps due to his death in December 2007– of a recent YouTube “featured video”.

From Wikipedia:

“Stockhausen had dreams of flying throughout his life, and these dreams are reflected in the Helikopter-Streichquartett (the third scene of Mittwoch aus Licht), completed in 1993. In it, the four members of a string quartet perform in four helicopters flying independent flight-paths over the countryside near the concert hall. The sounds they play are mixed together with the sounds of the helicopters and played through speakers to the audience in the hall. Videos of the performers are also transmitted back to the concert hall. The performers are synchronized with the aid of a click-track.”

So, does this challenging piece of music qualify as art? Maybe, maybe not. Seriously, it’s a bit hard to listen to, but as an idea for a concert event, I think it was genius. It reminds me, in that sense, of the Harbour Symphony, a piece of music written for (and performed entirely on) ship’s horns in St. John’s Harbour, Newfoundland.
For me, the real art in this Stockhausen/YouTube “event” lies in the hilarious, yet disturbingly narrow-minded, even inappropriately angry comments by YouTube members and would-be art critics. Most of whom, I’m guessing, take their cues for artistic merit from record sales and American Idol.
So, if that’s where the art is, in the funny/sad parade of banal comments, then who is the artist? Maybe the guy who decided it should be a YouTube featured video… brilliant!!
(thanks Joshua for the heads-up on this video)

Pileated Woodpecker




Pileated Woodpecker

Originally uploaded by rgdaniel

Spotted this guy in the backyard while eating lunch in the sunroom. Against all odds, he stayed put while I finished lunch, got my camera, put my boots and coat on, and trudged through the snow to get close. They’re quite huge, about the size of a crow, and he’d just about removed all of the bark from this dead tree. Click photo for larger version, or check out the video (just below) to see him in action.