Thinking.

I just saw a movie – I wonder who’s in it? Checking the Internet movie database, oh yes of course, that one guy from that one thing. Well, since I’m on the computer I mine as well click a few more links and browse a little bit to check out Actors. Oh, this guy is in that one Oscar Wilde adaptation? Cool. Well, since I’m here I should click on Oscar Wilde, nice; a few quotes of his just came up, here’s one that sticks out –

“A man who does not think for himself does not think at all”

Yeah, no shit, Wilde. Wait, something just caught my attention, a link to t-shirts with quotes on them, and not just any quotes, I can look at all sorts of T-shirt quotes – funny, famous, characters etc… God, I love the Internet. Sure, I’ll take a look.

CLICK.

Oh no way, a link to more graphic T’s, here’s a funny one with a Velociraptor doing a rubix cube that says “Clever Girl”. Wow this is indeed very clever and also a pretty great quote from an even greater movie, you know I think I should send this link to my friend.

Open G-mail, pull up “compose” and then I see it – an advertisement discussing low euro rail passes. Well, this is great because I’ve been looking for cheap tickets for a trip I’m going to be taking.

CLICK.

Looking and browsing and checking all of the prices on various dates… What the hell, the euro rail has a Facebook page?

CLICK.

Oh I have a new message. Cool! My friend has a film in a festival and needs people to vote so it can get a high rating at the fest.

CLICK. (Voted).

Interesting, there’s a banner for another film with a familiar guy. Who is this guy? Internet movie database time, I’m back to the database and headline is talking about Zoolander 2.

CLICK.

Wait, I need to focus here for a second. And then it hit me, as a wise man that I once heard of named Oscar Wilde said: “A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.” Am, I thinking for myself right now? Or am I scattered from information overload that I can’t complete simple tasks? But here’s the catch – All of this information is my interests and essentially placed in their spots due to my search preferences. I need to read that quote again because I’m starting to fear my past thinking for myself doesn’t have me thinking in the present.

The quote seemed simple enough but I’m coming to realize that my thinking is becoming progressively scattered. I’m not sure if it’s my natural personality to lose focus so quickly or the fact that I have so much great information at my finger tips that I’m gluttonous with what I want to see and learn, maybe it’s both. But either way I’m reaffirmed on how important thinking is, and on the flip side thinking too much can be a hamper, which leads to over analyzing and lack of decision-making.

I’m trying to connect these dots here and I’m not to certain what I’m exactly getting at here but I can sense it’s something, and I just need to think about it a bit.

The End of The Internet?

We’ve seen what happens when big companies regulate themselves. From AIG to BP we easily trust that humans will do the right thing. It’s easy to sit back and go with the flow of what’s happening. We adapt to things we don’t like on a regular basis, but some times things have to change. There has to be a unified moment where the people without the pull realize that we actually DO have the pull. When we come together we can change anything we want.

A moment to test this theory is happening as we speak. Google and Verizon have outlined their “pact” and how it’s going to change the Internet… It’s not good. Our website freedom is going to be taken away and THEY will tell you what you can and cannot look at. Corporations force enough in our face on a daily basis and more and more regulation is starting to takes it’s toll. Let’s not let this happen to the Internet.

Here is some info regarding what is happening…

(Thank you Huffington Post)

1. Under their proposal, there would be no Net Neutrality on wireless networks — meaning anything goes, from blocking websites and applications to pay-for-priority treatment.

2. Their proposed standard for “non-discrimination” on wired networks is so weak that actions like Comcast’s widely denounced blocking of BitTorrent would be allowed.

3. The deal would let ISPs like Verizon — instead of Internet users like you — decide which applications deserve the best quality of service. That’s not the way the Internet has ever worked, and it threatens to close the door on tomorrow’s innovative applications. (If RealPlayer had been favored a few years ago, would we ever have gotten YouTube?)

4. The deal would allow ISPs to effectively split the Internet into “two pipes” — one of which would be reserved for “managed services,” a pay-for-play platform for content and applications. This is the proverbial toll road on the information superhighway, a fast lane reserved for the select few, while the rest of us are stuck on the cyber-equivalent of a winding dirt road.

5. The pact proposes to turn the Federal Communications Commission into a toothless watchdog, left fruitlessly chasing consumer complaints but unable to make rules of its own. Instead, it would leave it up to unaccountable (and almost surely industry-controlled) third parties to decide what the rules should be.

You can go here to read the framework: http://www.scribd.com/doc/35599242/Verizon-Google-Legislative-Framework-Proposal

Or here to see Google’s thoughts:

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/

Oh, last thing. Protest here: https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=470

The Internet removing the moviestar

What happened to our movie stars? Do we still have them? Why is this really even important? What we’re witnessing now in the ever accessible time that we live in is diminishing allure of the entertainment industry. The allure is being brought down but also restructured because of the internet.

“Brought down” may not be the perfect word usage but what I mean is the over saturation of our “movie stars.” The people who were draws for the entertainment business have now because run of the mills everyday entertainment figures. When I say the allure is being brought down it is because at one time the ever elusive actor is nothing more than a regular.

Let’s take Youtube for instance, it was the game changer. It’s in the top 5 of most viewed sites on the internet (In the mix with Google, Yahoo, msn, Facebook). On youtube we have a selection of anything we want to watch. You can watch a cat falling asleep on a snake, you can watch your next door neighbor singing his favorite cover song, and you can watch Jessica Alba desperately promoting her husband’s website. What youtube did is bring down the level of who we hold “special.” In our minds the people who were on the silver screen were somebody different than us and they did something we didn’t do. Now, not so much, now I could be posting a video and on the same site a movie star is doing the same thing.

The internet has killed the “movie star” but it has promoted so many other “stars.” It has created a world of people that we never knew about, and these people are damn talented…Uh oh, so if their are talented people on the internet, and the internet is filled with people like me….! I’m talented, that’s what this all means it means I am a star, I’m no different than any of these people I see…Or so we subconsciously think. Is this a good thing or bad thing? Both, it just depends how you look at it. I’m currently looking at it from the movie star stand point. So first off who are the CURRENT Movie Stars? Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Maybe George Clooney or Damon or Jack Nicholson. What do people in this category have in common? Well you don’t typically see them showing up in mindless internet commercials. Maybe someone will show up in a funnyordie ad but nothing too serious.

So what does this tell me? Over Saturation can dumb down a “star” in Hollywood. Will we ever see people who aren’t in the lime lite twenty four hours a day. The internet is rapid and it’s growing, I wonder if anyone will be able to keep off it. It’s a catch because it is a a amazing resource to promote your work and reach a mass appeal, I mean I am currently using it.

In a matter of years what we know now as a Hollywood Movie Star will be gone. Since the internet is ever growing we’ll have no choice but to utilize it. The next generation is already here and it works in the social networking galaxy. The “movie star” you are fading, soon you will be gone. It’s unfortunate.

We’re so accustomed to living through individuals as a society that instead of living through a select few we’ll live through more and more, because we’ll all be the same. We’ll all be the stars in our own regard. How is this important? Maybe the boxoffice will be affected by it, maybe not. Or maybe the internet will fade…but we know that’s not happening. Keep a open mind about who is a movie star, maybe they’ll fade. The world of gossip, youtube, twitter, and facebook will evolve into something else, new exploits await and the stars will find it.