From This Moment Into Infinity...

I get this feeling whenever I read science-fiction, or watch a science-fiction film, that I am looking into the inner workings of my own humanity. This feeling much resembles looking at one's toes and raising one's gaze till it meets the horizon. There's this intense draw when you see the beyond, especially when your aware of your own position in relation.

My imaginings in this genre have always taken me to the edges of known perception and driven questions out of me that aren't easily, or usually, driven. It's as if I can zoom from views of nuclear particles out to the greatest distances of the edges of the known universe and back again. In this journey of realization not only am I able to see the shapes, forms, and substances for what they truly are, I am also capable of greater imagining with questions that look for what is not seen between the layers of existence. Raised in a world of darkness would we think to question the absence of light?

Such a speculative and often dismissed genre, science-fiction provides a vehicle like no other which deepens the potential and possibility for present and future discovery. If we do not ask of the absence how shall we react when we are made aware of the presence?

I have always been a fan of this section of fiction and, for as far distant as I can figure, I will always be. Looking beyond the simplistic, silliness of certain lighter levels of the genre, into the heart of the questions its greatest writers and works ask, I can see the whole of our potential. That is a truly splendid thing indeed.

Moon

Tonight I watched a film I've had my eye on since long before its official release. "Moon," directed by Duncan Jones and starring Sam Rockwell, is one of the best, most human science-fiction films I've seen.

For those who have seen Douglas Trumbull's "Silent Running," and those who have read Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot," there is much in this film to draw comparisons with. I won't go into enough detail to spoil the plot but I will say that the questions of ethics that arise and the feeling one get's for the society the character exists apart from really pull at one's interest and challenge personal philosophies.

It's a fantastic drama about personal revelation, existence, and what's make a human a human. I would highly recommend this film to any who are interested in a great story that deals with the previously mentioned themes and who enjoy such in a wonderful science-fiction setting.

Humanity, Oh, Humanity...

I felt a genuine disgust this weekend while experiencing something for the first time. After attending a send off for one of the few tolerable co-workers I know, and drinking copious amounts of bitter, my wife, myself, and my friend with his wife all decided to go inspect the local exotic night club.

I have not, in my entire life, been to a strip club, and after having been subjected to one I can honestly say that I will not, for any reason, enter one again. It's a pit of repulsive humanity where the breathing's hard, the feigned sexuality is desperate, and there's a general confusion as to the setting of any known social boundaries. Despicable can't even begin to compound effectively enough with the adjectives of dislike I have in mind for such a place.

The girls, for though they appear women most are in fact girls, are sad. It's a sadness that makes you want to give them money, whether or not you are in fact enticed, if possible, by their meek attempts to wobble around like "Sex-clowns" on a gaudy, festively lit stage.

I love women and can not see myself finding anything more attractive about humanity than the natural personalities and physical forms of women. My wife is an icon of lust for me, to be less than private about such powerfully primal emotions, but I can't see anything possibly attractive in women who behave with a foul, vaudevillian manner that mocks their inherent sexiness.

The point is that no matter how demanding the base crowd of hard panting monkeys in over-sized polyester sports clothing are, women shouldn't lower themselves in such a way, and any who respect the attractiveness of the female should avoid such places, no matter how intoxicated one becomes or how daring their sense of humor convinces them it can be.

Some uncommon thoughts over an artistic ale, at the computer of Sunday night's closing. Adieu.