For about a month now I've been wondering about the great nothing that happens when you die. Won't it be so strange to be aware (mentally/physically/metaphysically) one moment and then all of the sudden...not? There really isn't a way to describe that, right? Especially if you (too) don't believe in the afterlife or rebirth or anything fancy like that. As far as nature and science goes - that's it. Worm food. But while driving back to work after lunch today (driving the same paths everyday makes my mind wander) I got to wondering (wandering) - Matter can't be created or destroyed. What is our consciousness? Our mind is creating self-awareness, sapience and our conscience...does that count as matter? I know that it isn't a phyiscal thing that exists in one of our defined states of matter but it is something isn't it? Anyways. That made me wonder what really happens at the end. I don't recall a whole lot from science classes so maybe I'm thinking about all of this wrong.
But really, while thinking this my real idea came about. You may or may not know the old clayamation christian TV show Davey & Goliath. I only know about it because my dad used to talk about it a lot and we got him some VHS of it one xmas. If you haven't seen it, Goliath is a dog that can talk to Davey and acts as a conscience to him. So I was thinking what if there were a similar thing with a boy and a conscience sidekick/friend/thing but in this idea the sidekick/friend/thing was a submarine. I know that sub conscience isn't a word but it sounds similar enough (for me) to subconscious to be a good/stupid idea. Anyways. That's really it. Maybe the submarine would talk via some sort of walkietalking/sonar/radio frequency or something. The kid would have to live near a lot of water too, for this submarine to really prove to be any help.
A week without any ideas and that's the best I've got? Ick.
I went to the mall yesterday to find a pair of running shoes. Mall should be the 8th deadly sin. Someone figure out how to change the 7 deadly sins to include Mall. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) the town the show takes place in is located on a Hellmouth (a gateway to hell). Well in Greenville the Colonial Mall is located on and most likely IN a hellmouth. I walked into the Foot Locker where there were 3 employees. One behind the counter, one leaning on the counter and one standing near the Jordans. I could tell where the children's sneakers were but aside from that I wasn't sure what I was looking at. We don't have a Lady Foot Locker and to me most running shoes look like girls shows (is that racist?) so I was really lost. But no matter what, not one employee actually moved or acknowledged me. I got really nervous by that and walked out. Luckily there is a rackroom shoes right outside the mall and all the ladies there were helpful and at least talked and acted like they had a job in a store where their job was to sell something.
Also last night I watched Sunshine. It reminded me a lot of Alien due to the creepy dark space ship and the eerie shots and things. Even without the Alien connection this movie was really really awesome to me. The idea was cool (reignite our dying sun 50 years in the future so that mankind can continue to live) and the spaceship was cool too. They have a giant solar panel shield attached to their payload (the bomb to reignite the sun) which the ship hides behind. They are close enough to the sun that their ship/skin would burst into flames with even a second's exposure. Really cool movie. Can't wait for the DVD to see what kind of commentary/other things there are. First the Fountian (on DVD), now Sunshine. There has been some really good Sci-Fi for me in 2007. Next I think I'll rent 2001 (How haven't I seen this?) and probably get caught up on Battlestar Galactica before it ends.
And now a word about a computer/360 game, so stop reading here if that bores you --
Half-Life 2: Orange Box came out today (last night if you pre-ordered from the Steam client - I did). Aside from the greatness that is Half-Life 2 (+Episodes 1 & 2) and Team Fortress 2 you also get Portal. Portal was a senior project done at a college where Valve (creators of HL2) comes to your final crit and reviews your game. Valve hired the Portal kids after seeing their final project. With the somewhat long training under my belt I can tell you that they made the best decision ever. In Portal you have this Portal device where your left click creates a blue portal and your right click creates an orange portal. When you walk into one, you come out of the other. Momentum carries over between portals too, so if you put one high on a wall and one 20 feet below you and then jump into the lower one, you launch out of the top one with the speed you had entering the first. The neatest effect to me tho is that you can look into one portal and see out of the other one. So if you shoot one on a ceiling and one on a wall, when you look into the wall one you can see yourself from above. A few times I have almost thrown-up from the vertigo caused by this game. Seriously.
Anywhoo. That's about it. Hopefully more soon...possibly before 7 days from now.