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Floating Through Life on 8-Bit Balloons
Five World Records Up For Grabs in Brooklyn
Denver, 7:12 PM
Tue Dec 15
62 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/07/08
12/06/08
yeah, that video lamented the grind, sure enough, and juxtaposed that with various quotes (as a philosophy grad, i honestly only recognized the camus one), but i dont think you're supposed to walk away wanting to off yourself, or give huggy bears to everyone.
sure, it looked like a grind hacking that tree in harvest moon, or tappin' root beer and such, but they're choices that were made. i dont think Golgo 13 was meant to look monotonous (he always talks in ellipses!), and think about Mario's plight: sure, he's gotta go through some more levels, but he's on a freakin' mission. point is, these characters were doing what they wanted to do, is what i took from it, even if ironically their essence (their purpose for being) was around before they existed, unlike the way it is for us. its a terrible freedom & all that.
im well into TL;DR territory, and expect to get flack for being a philosophy kid reading into shit, but im sayin: your impression shoudlnt be morose from that. if you want to know why, go watch I Heart Huckabees when you've a chance, its a great flick and it'll lay out the beauty that is existentialist thought in a much more approachable manner.
12/06/08
12/06/08
12/06/08
perhaps one day, ill forgive myself.
one day.
12/07/08
As in, Balloon Fight has no intrinsic meaning, there's no 'bonus level' at the end, but as you get older you realize the journey in Balloon Fight is the point. You're having the best time when you're working towards progress, even if there's nothing at the end.
Replace 'Balloon Fight' with 'life' and I think that's his point.
12/07/08
12/06/08
I love looking at existencially conflicted people who look at life and find it meaningless and pointless.
Because, although I've lived plenty of life experiences, I wouldn't give away my life for anything, because what I've felt, lived, touched, smelled, seen and heard, I treasure with me forever, and anxiously await what the next day will bring.
Because I have felt several different kinds of happiness, and they're all more wonderful than the last. And life... life is INCREDIBLE. Life is wonderful, full of different meanings and feelings which nobody can fully understand.
Looking at these people, it's like enjoying the greatest steak dinner I've ever had in a restaurant, and seeing a grown man, my age, in the next table, crying over his dinner (same as mine), saying "I DON'T WANT IT!". It's funny to see how people just can't make the most of what they're given.
I've lived through depression, finding out about wife's multiple affairs, divorce, death of a parent, suicide of a friend, long-term poverty, and so much more.
And no matter how much shit is thrown my way, I have always, ALWAYS been able to enjoy how incredible life is. And I've never given up on living every single day of my life as if it was my very last one.
Simple things in life, like hugging your best friend just because you feel like it, putting on your new Christmas present-socks in a cold winter night and appreciate how warm they feel, going to the library, picking up a random book and reading it from beginning to end fascinatingly, drinking hot chocolate while it's raining outside...
...they don't just feel good. They feel RIGHT.
To every single one of you, never give up in life, at least until you've tried all of these things:
- True friendship
- True love
- Parenthood
If you haven't... well, how can you even judge life if you haven't lived it?
12/06/08
I didn't read that, but I'm going to assume that my reaction would be positive.
12/06/08
/nominated
/follow
12/06/08
12/06/08
12/06/08
And if you can be happy, feel pleasure, and find a side of this life where you can truly enjoy living it, then isn't that "meaning", anyway?
You don't need a huge bearded man to descend from the heavens in a fiery chariot in order to tell you a higher purpose. You can simply make your own by deciding your own purpose in life, which, no matter how "meaningless" to everyone else, it can change your life forever.
Isn't that what meaning is all about? ^_^
12/06/08
12/06/08
12/06/08
I learned to knit two months ago. =D Made my kid a sweater, and myself a scarf. Another thing most people overlook and which can be not just entertaining and a great hand exercise when watching your favorite show or something, but useful. I recomend it to everyone. Doesn't cost much, and you can learn it at home, by yourself. DIY stuff can be fun and handy! Last summer, I saved alot of cash when the kitchen table broke down. I bought some tools and made it myself.
I'm basically a walking cliché of a self-improving simpleton, but the thing is, it works! It's damn fulfilling. People just don't feel like trying it out in the first place.
12/06/08
My little place of happiness, is seeing stuff like last month, when the Pope and several leaders of the Jewish faith (I think it was Jewish... I apologise if I'm mistaken) got together in order to discuss how the two religions could work together in order to improve the human situation, not in terms of belief, but in terms of peace and tolerance.
A good religion is something that many of us need to a certain extent, not because of the faith, but because of what it teaches us. To be good to others. To share and to help others. To love.
Don't forget to look at the other side of the coin.
12/06/08
Incredibly naive.
12/06/08
I'd rather be less cynic and happier. But yeah, I might be naive. Although I've got alot of experience in both hard times and the good stuff this life has to offer, I could never know everything.
...but then again, so can't you. =P
12/06/08
@Ashurahori:
I was going to post a comment of my own, but you just put it better than I could have.
And the meaning of life is what you make of it, surely. If the meaning of your life is to find out the meaning of life, you're setting yourself up for a lifetime of torment. If you're content with what you have, you've already won. If you continue to seek new things to experience regardless, then you're also truly living.
12/06/08
Some in darkness look up and simply see more darkness. Why live if you live to suffer, to toil endlessly without reward, existing simply to exist? Pac-Man can either die or forever live to be hunted by ghosts. There is no end where he's happy, just another level. Something else to accomplish. No reward.
Not saying you're wrong or they're right, but both sides see the world with different eyes. Personally, I lean more toward pessimist. More bad than good for me, and the good things that happen are dimmed when I know they do not last. Those like that don't need pity, remorse, OR platitudes. We just wanna get it done and be done with it. Much like those perpetual game characters. Some of us don't get the luxury to live, we simply survive. Ain't much of a life, in my opinion.
12/06/08
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...
12/07/08
"You don't need a huge bearded man to descend from the heavens in a fiery chariot in order to tell you a higher purpose. You can simply make your own by deciding your own purpose in life, which, no matter how "meaningless" to everyone else, it can change your life forever."
Right, and existentialism is just that. Our purpose is up to us. There is no grand meaning to anything, however, the choice is in our hands.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say here is that you can believe that life is (at its rawest form) pointless however we can still enjoy life and live it "to the fullest." At our core, we are merely another tiny organism on a tiny planet in another faceless galaxy. And yet, we have the power to make something special out of that.
12/07/08
I hate to get into religious arguments, and I do believe that religion, or some kind of belief, is needed for alot of people in this world to feel truly fulfilled. I'm at a point in my life where I'm trying to find it out for my own, although I doubt I'll ever reach the whole truth. I'm leaning more to the religious belief, mostly because I doubt that the entire world around us happened because of a coincidence. Still, what fascinates me more about areligion, is to learn about the history of each one. Tell me, have ANY of you ever read the old Coran texts? Some of them are extremely beautiful.
12/07/08
12/07/08
I'm not saying that life can be good for everyone if they try. It's just that most people who could live a happy life simply... don't. By laziness, unwillingness to make it better, or choice.
12/07/08
i think you might be missing the philisophical implications of these quotes in the video. camus was not a nihlist and devoted his life to fight against it. "meaninglessness" and "absurdity" are not meant to be taken negatively but rather as a sort of starting point in the ethical conduct of each individual human being. in truth, we must first exist to create an essence of such of the connections you listed (true friendship, parenthood, etc); none of these ideas existed before our inception. some people live not ever knowing any of these relationships, and live fine. in short, EVERYDAY is an existential dilemma (though this 'punch line' is not to be taken negatively)
12/07/08