Instagram, Oatmeal, & Absurdity: My Transformation fron Cynicism to Gratitude

I’ll admit it, when it comes to social media I’m more than a little bit cynical. In fact when it comes to most things I’m more than a little bit cynical. When I heard about instagram I thought it was trivial and a bit narcissistic. My impression was that there were thousands of people out there taking pictures of their food or themselves, and that they thought there was nothing in the world more important than what they were consuming or what they looked like. I thought what an absurd world we live in where we spend our time looking at other people’s food or lives constantly through our phones.
Rather than sit on the sidelines and watch the absurdity I thought I could become a part of it. I wanted to prove how absurd the whole concept of instagram was by gaining as many followers as possible with the dullest possible topic. I decided to consistently document what could arguably be the least interesting and most monotonous part of my day. A bowl of oatmeal. A plain bowl of brown oats is not the most interesting subject in the world to photograph, but I was determined to gain an audience.
Every day I would photograph my oatmeal, add a caption, and like some pictures of oats. Slowly I began gaining popularity. People began liking (hearting?), following and anticipating my morning bowl of plain oatmeal. But gradually through this routine I began to change. I began to look at my oatmeal artistically. Having to pause and look at my meal, instead of scarfing it down without a second thought, actually led me to enjoy eating it more. I appreciated the warm meal I had. I suddenly was surrounded by a group of people who were actually excited about oatmeal, and it started making me more excited about it. Although I’m kind of a negative person in reality, I was aboundingly positive in all my instagram posts. The online persona began to influence the reality. I grew more positive, thankful, and excited for the little, mundane, the ordinary, and the consistent things in my life. And I realized a secret, that all an ordinary thing needs to become something extraordinary is to be appreciated, to be enjoyed, to be delighted in.
What had began as an act of cynicism had become an exercise of gratitude. I had originally thought it absurdly indulgent that people people would delight and document their meals. I then realized life is much better when we delight in even the most trivial or mundane aspects of our lives, because life and everything in it is a gift.

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5 Songs For a Melow Day

Start things off with Challengers by the New Pornogrophers.

Then you bring in Jeff Buckley singing Hallelujah (Rufus doesn’t cut it for me personally, also props to Leonard Cohen for creating such a poignant song)

Then throw in The National for good measure with Little Faith.

Followed by Jesus etc by Wilco

Finish it up with Evaporated by Ben Folds (because there aren’t any good Not Dark Yet videos by Dylan)

Hope you enjoyed.

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Battlestar Eschatology

I am currently in a class called Eschatology which is a fancy word for the study of end times. In this class we are required to do a book review, that our teacher also extended to movies  I decided to write about Battlestar Galactica and it’s view of end times events. It’s a nerdy combination of two interests of mine Biblical studies and Science fiction. Anyways it’s not too insightful, but it allowed me to justify watching episodes of Battlestar as “research.” I’d love to hear any comments or insights or discussion of the show. I tried not to include any spoilers.

Eschatology of Battlestar Galactica

This paper is a book review of the Eschatology of the Science Fiction Television series Battlestar Galactica (2004-2008). [1] This paper will discuss points of congruence between this series and the Bible in their general perception of end times events. The paper will not attempt to be exhaustive but will serve to summarize how one perspective in popular science fiction relates to the bible in terms of it’s eschatalogical implications.

Show Summary

The show begins on the premise that there is a conflict between humanity and a group of man-made sentient machines called Cylons. This conflict resulted in a truce between the two civilizations (human and Cylon) where each stayed in separate parts of the galaxy. After 40 years of peace the Cylons attack the twelve planets hosting human life destroying all but a few humans. The remaining humans are left to search for a new place to call home, as they are continually pursued by bent on destroying them. Cylons were aided by the fact that they have now created and program biological bodies almost identical humans.

Points of Commonality

There are a surprisingly high number of congruent themes betweeen Battlestar Galactica and Biblical eschatology. While the show certainly doesn’t present a Christian or Biblical viewpoint, it does develop many points of commonality in its depiction of end times events.

Immanency of End Times Events

The near destruction of the human race in Battlestar Galactica is preceded by no discernible warning signs. Taking advantage of human optimism and complacency the Cylons were able to disable all defense mechanisms that were supposed to warn about the oncoming attack. In part because of human pride in their own brilliant defense system, and in part because of their complacency after 40 years of peace, the human race was unprepared for their near extinction until it was already upon them.

Human Culpability

The near destruction of the human race is brought on by an entity that they created. In practical sense the human race is responsible for it’s own destruction. Commander Adama best illustrates this idea in a speech,

…you can’t outrun the sins of your family and as a species we refuse to accept responsibility for anything that we’ve done…like we did with the Cylons. We decided to play god. Create life…When that life turned against us…we comforted ourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn’t our fault, not really. But like Ensign Wallace says, it was our fault…no one else to blame…You cannot play god then wash your hands of the things that you’ve created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can’t hide, from the things that you’ve done, anymore.[2]

This speech implicates humanity for its own destruction. The speech is given before the initial Cylon attack essentially making it prophetic. The near destruction of the human race is also viewed as a form of judgment. Humanity is morally responsible for their own destruction. Cylons in the show often imply that humanity does not deserve to be saved. What is surprising is that this sentiment is sometimes echoed by humans as well. Adama’s speech not only condemns man for making the instrument of it’s own destruction, but questions whether humanity deserves to survive. Earlier in the speech he says, “when we fought the Cylon’s; we did it to save ourselves from extinction. But we never answered the question of Why? A young Ensign once asks me, ‘Why are we as a people worth saving?’ I could not answer him then and I can’t answer him now. As a people we still commit murder because of greed, spite, jealousy…We still visit all of our sins upon our children..”[3] This again foreshadows humanity’s near extinction, and raises one of the show’s great themes; Is humanity really worthy of being saved? This question and Adama’s speech implicitly condemn humanity for the evil it has committed and serves to show that the horrors visited upon mankind were acts of judgment. Although the destruction is brought upon mankind from without, mankind was culpable in bringing the destruction upon itself.

The salvation of a remnant.

While almost the whole of humanity is destroyed there is a remnant that escapes the destruction. The show demonstrates that these survivors are merely a fraction of the worlds population. The show often implies that those who have survived have a special purpose, although they are not entirely clear as to what that purpose may be. In the broader sense the show often describes survival for survival’s sake. However often there are abnormal occurrences and references to prophecies, that seems to indicate that some sort of “higher power” is directing this remnant.

Historical Pattern.

Later on in Battlestar Galactica it is revealed that this pattern of destruction has happened before and will happen again. A prophet-like machine called the hybrid utters the phrase “All of this has happened before and it will happen again.” Later it is revealed that another civilization was nearly destroyed by machines they had created. This pattern of destruction followed by the escape of a remnant then prosperity then corruption then back to destruction, seems to be the something humanity is bound to repeat. This parallels the Biblical theme of judgment with the salvation and restoration of a remnant as seen in the flood narrative, desert wanderings, judges, in the nation of Israel, and culminating in the Apocalypse of John.

Conclusion

In terms of a popular work with eschatalogical significance, Battlestar Galactica provies interesting and thoughtful perspective on end times events. It is useful as a depiction of what popular culture finds to be the relevant, important, and interesting in relation to the end of the world, and the survival of mankind. While certainly not Christian the Television Series raises similar questions and establishes similar themes to the Biblical text, perhaps providing a launching ground for eschatalogical discussion amongst Christians and fans of science fiction.

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[1] This refers to the Battlestar Galactica Reimagined Series & Miniseries (2003-2009), not the Original Series or other reboots.

[2] Battlestar Galactica Miniseries, “Battlestar Galactica” episode 1, [originally aired December 8, 2003]

[3] Ibid.

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Rick Moranis Where Art Thou?

Rick Moranis used to be quite the star. He was in several major films such as Strange Brew, Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Honey I Shrunk the Kids,  He started out his TV career with SCTV a Canadian sketch comedy show. He eventually worked his way into film. In a lot of his early movies such as Ghostbusters or Spaceballs he actually was able to rewrite his lines and had a sense of comedic creativity that Moranis enjoyed. As he got larger and larger roles, he felt that he lost that freedom and was dictated what to do. In his personal life tragedy and difficulty weighed him down. He lost his wife to liver cancer. Six years later retired from show business to work on being a single parent in 1997. Since then he’s released folk style comedy album. “The Agoraphobic Cowboy” was released in 2005. Is it any good? I was kinda surprised but you can decide for yourself..

I think we can all agree this is far better work than his “Impanema Rap” which I couldn’t even watch all the way through.

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Music I’ve been listening to lately

Nice music video as well.

A good reminder to stop making excuses.

That guys voice just haunts me. I don’t know why.

I like her voice and the lyrics, the  video is a bit odd.

I can’t justify this pick. It’s one of the few things I actually enjoy that they play on the radio… or maybe I just enjoy that it isn’t a lady ga-ga song.

And some Josh to cleanse the palate if that last song was too pop for your taste.

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Pop songs in Sign Language

And now for your viewing pleasure bad pop songs done in sign language.

And as a special bonus a good pop song signed by a zombie.

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Time Orientation

This is an interesting and creative take on time. In many respects it relates to my previous post.

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Modern Nostalgia

Nostalgic video games mixed with modern civilization in a visual feast for the eyes.

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Music & Video Chat

So there is a thing called chat roulette that is basically a service that sets you up to video chat anonymously with strangers. In other words a place you want to avoid because it is mostly people showing their ugly parts. Anyways sometimes people will go on there and do some interesting things. People such as “Merton” who plays piano improv to strangers. As seen here

Who seems suspiciously like Ben Folds, who when recently performing, paid tribute to “Merton.”

Anyways I hope this inspires you to do something quirky and fun and unexpected. If you do let me know what it is.

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TV Quotes

Homer Simpson once said “Television- teacher, mother, secret lover” in that vein I give you the following quotes.

“I hope I get multiple personalities. I get lonely in long showers.” -Troy

“I’m not a hipster. Would a hipster be wearing $300 jeans?” – Jeff Winger

“The only thing I hate more than hippie neo-liberal fascists and anarchists are the hypocrite fat-cat suits they eventually grow up to become.” – Major Casey

“What about that are you not getting?” “Well, Obviously the core concept.”

Slater: We need to talk.
Jeff: Are you breaking up with me?
Slater: Oh, good. Guess we don’t need to talk.

Abed: I hate when they finish each other’s…
Troy:… pies.

“It’s like a black Barbie doll in Arizona! Nobody’s buying it!”- Tracy

“Passing out and cursing on St. Patrick’s Day. Is nothing sacred anymore?” -Jack Donaghy

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