I was thinking about competition today. Friendly competition between two people like in a game of Chess or Martial Arts or something. Like why people choose to be competitive over certain things more than others and why we're still competitive at all. I don't mean competitive over obvious things like money, food, control, etc. I mean like competitiveness where it doesn't really matter.
I could probably look this all up in wikipedia and find numerous studies to inform me on the roots of competitiveness and why we're like this, but I'm too lazy. So instead I'm gonna type my thoughts really fast.
I think as humans, part of our enjoyment comes from knowing and seeing that we grow. Knowing that we progress inch by inch, day by day, in whatever aspect we choose or unconsciously choose. We like to feel the sense of building ourselves from bottom to top and knowing we have control over what parts we want to build.
That's part of friendly competition I think, in sports and games. It's why people go into competitions knowing full well that one of you will lose and the other will win; where the only outcome is not material posession or fame, but knowing which one of you is the better man. One of you will be inferior to the other. But, acknowledging your mistakes when you lose, or acknowledging what you could've done better when you win, that's the enjoyment of friendly competition. Figuring out how you will improve or how you can improve.
Well the fun comes from that and playing the game itself...
Here's the funny thing though: The person who doesn't want to grow or improve, will ultimately feel angry or sad or frustrated when he/she loses. They want the winner to stoop down to their level in order for a "fair" fight. Those people only get their enjoyment from winning, which means that they don't do the competition to grow. They do it for fame, which I think is missing the entire point of a competition and life itself.
However, I think it takes a bit of extrovertedness to enjoy competition. There are those that just find it stupid to compete for whatever reason. They prefer growing through their own trials and tribulations competing only against themselves. Which is absolutely fine.
tl;dr
I like to think that I think about deep things every once in awhile. I'm insecure about my intelligence and I can't organize my thoughts very well.
Monday, March 16, 2009
I got thinking today
Watchmen
Good movie overall. I went in with low expectations and came out with a smile on my face. The only problem is, Watchmen should not have been a movie at all. Alan Moore didn't create a narrative story, but instead created this alternate universe where comic book nerds decided to take initiative and God is born out of some lightning breaking machine.
Sort of like Star Wars and Star Trek. That's what Watchmen is. They both have their own fantastic story arcs and all, but what makes them such good shows is that they basically have so much lore and fiction inside the show, it makes them a potentially immersible universe.
While the movie emulated scenes from the comic word for word, action for action with an added 2 min slow-mo fight, that's all it was. Just scenes from the comic onto the big screen. Like many have said, I would've preferred if they'd done an HBO mini series or something.
There's a half a ton man living in Texas.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/article2107664.ece
Goodness.
Where am I going?
So I guess I'm gonna take the SAT next year. I'm getting really poor grades. I thought I was more responsible than that but whatever. Too poor to afford college and too irresponsible to get into one. I could always make those neat toys for Happy Meals.
Drawing
I'm painting and drawing more. Trying to find new ways to go about old concepts. I think I'm improving step by step. I'm taking painting class at CCA but I don't think that's helping at all. I've been trying to decide if learning to paint for reals will help me paint digitally or if they're two totally different things. See I can't paint with real paints because I fucking suck at mixing colors. I try and make violet and end up with a magnesium fire or something. I also cant get brush strokes down. I'll try and paint a tiny white glint on the tip of a child's nose and in half a second it turns into a deleted scene from a child porn.
Otherwise
I have no complaints. Life's good.
Things I need to pick up (recommended by friends):
Good movie overall. I went in with low expectations and came out with a smile on my face. The only problem is, Watchmen should not have been a movie at all. Alan Moore didn't create a narrative story, but instead created this alternate universe where comic book nerds decided to take initiative and God is born out of some lightning breaking machine.
Sort of like Star Wars and Star Trek. That's what Watchmen is. They both have their own fantastic story arcs and all, but what makes them such good shows is that they basically have so much lore and fiction inside the show, it makes them a potentially immersible universe.
While the movie emulated scenes from the comic word for word, action for action with an added 2 min slow-mo fight, that's all it was. Just scenes from the comic onto the big screen. Like many have said, I would've preferred if they'd done an HBO mini series or something.
There's a half a ton man living in Texas.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/article2107664.ece
Goodness.
Where am I going?
So I guess I'm gonna take the SAT next year. I'm getting really poor grades. I thought I was more responsible than that but whatever. Too poor to afford college and too irresponsible to get into one. I could always make those neat toys for Happy Meals.
Drawing
I'm painting and drawing more. Trying to find new ways to go about old concepts. I think I'm improving step by step. I'm taking painting class at CCA but I don't think that's helping at all. I've been trying to decide if learning to paint for reals will help me paint digitally or if they're two totally different things. See I can't paint with real paints because I fucking suck at mixing colors. I try and make violet and end up with a magnesium fire or something. I also cant get brush strokes down. I'll try and paint a tiny white glint on the tip of a child's nose and in half a second it turns into a deleted scene from a child porn.
Otherwise
I have no complaints. Life's good.
Things I need to pick up (recommended by friends):
- Shantaram
- Infinite Jest
- Snow Crash
- Ergo Proxy
- Rosetta Stone Jap 3
- Snacks.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
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