I often talk about the emotional impact of viewing art. In particular, I put a lot of focus on empathy. It’s almost always used to describe the personal understanding of the plight of another person. This is contrasted with sympathy, which is simply feeling sorrow on behalf or for another person. We may not understand the pain, but we do understand the resultant feelings or distress.

I bring this up because I came across these 5.12 EARTHQUAKE STRIPS. It was a link that appeared on reddit. As always, there is a great spectrum of comments on the post. The comments show a range of feelings on the matter. Some were moved, and others were joking. There are mocking tones, and complete apathy towards the matter.

It shows that empathy and sympathy are dependent on the individual. As for me, the strips were very moving.

There is a certain amount of time that one is allowed to waste each day in the pursuit of personal pleasures. More often than not, this time is utilized for what many would simply term “relaxation.” This empty time of leisure is to an extent fruitless. Conversely, there are those among us who seemingly work endlessly; still, that endeavor may be just as empty as sitting and doing nothing.

Life is very short when compared to the expansiveness of time; yet, we waste away what little moments we have doing very much useless things. That is to the outside observer. Sometimes, it is seen that way by us. In the end, what is it that we accomplish through these unhurried and unstructured hours?

Maybe the question should be, why do we do it? Some find their comfort in those segments of the days, weeks, months, or years. That comfort of losing one’s thoughts and shifting one’s mind to other things. Many find their reassurances at the bottom of a bottle or in the form of some other chemical self-medication. The goal would seem to be physical pleasure, or is it mental blankness? Others may find it better to keep their thoughts busy by doing other things. Perhaps it is a book, music, or television. Likely, for both, it is some-thing enthralling enough to direct the mind’s attention; that attention being focused, for a time, on one thing.

However, it simply does not work because thought is not so simple. The problem is that our minds don’t turn off. They churn what information is gathered from the senses. It is examined, stored, and reexamined. It is forgotten and remembered. Worst of all, the mind fixates. A single memory can become a lifetime of thought. Its weight, overbearing. Its size, enough to encompass all being.

All this comes in the light of a posited question: has the time we spend for our work or leisure overtaken us? Addiction is defined mostly by a compulsive behavior that interferes with one’s life. It is the chronic wanting, seeking, and exercise of some thing that is harmful solely by its use.

It is us who are addicted to wasting time. To the pursuit of nothing more than watching life’s flame burn out slowly, dimly, without much fuss. The alternative is to make use of that time to better one’s self.

What does it mean to be better than one’s self? It would seem that many have the answer with regard to others, not to themselves. There lay the problem in this line of thought. Who really knows what should be done with our time? What fruit will be the results of our expenditures, and what costs will be wrought? Some would say it should be measured by the end results for all. Another would say it should be weighed by the personal gains.

All may have a preference, but that doesn’t change anything. Whether the goal is right or the gain is good leaves us with only another matter of contention. Perhaps, things should just be taken as they are, and the lot of us should simply carry on.

–

In other news: After better than a month I’ve made a new blog header. 

It is widely known that Google is a fairly good indicator of public sentiment. Actually, I made that up. The truth is that google trends offers only a hint of what the public’s feelings are about any particular issue. If anything, the best we can get from these charts is time-based popularity metrics.

Nonetheless, it came as a surprise to this blogger that Mr Ron Paul has surpassed hentai in popularity at the current time. Of course, this is only in the US. Overall, hentai is still dominant many times over when all metrics for the world are compiled, which you may test for yourself.

Also of note is the incredible dominance that Ron Paul has over hentai in the news (bottom section of plot).

Revolution…indeed.

-

This post does not constitute an endorsement of Ron Paul or any other political figure, country, person, thing, idea, color, hue, luminosity, or Hillary Clinton.

People look to the past to find themselves. They search their memories for hints of hope but often find despair. The mind wonders through a singly linked list of thoughts. One event building upon another until the present is reached. We ask, what if I had done it differently? We think, what if I had changed this? More often than not the truth is that we simply couldn’t do anything to change the happenstance of our past.

They say we must learn history or else, surely, we are doomed to repeat it. I’m sure most of us can relate to that mantra. How often I have wondered the truth of that mantra. How much control is there? How much leverage do we hold over our own destiny, our lives?

If I be more poetic, this one may believe in fate. To love one thing less myself, that would be great. I feel that a long year, nay, many long years have chilled mine heart. The now cold weather has engendered a start. That is a start to reflect on the past.

Can it be that there are actually key moments in any of our recent memories having to do with anime? Did one moment, one second, leave such an indelible mark on our thoughts as to define that simple instant as a key part of our life? Was it that important? Is it not simply an escape from those moments that would or do? Having simply some fun? Wasting some time? Running away?

If I be a more cynical person, this may seem a bit of a downer. I don’t believe that we are as simple as that. I don’t think that we are tools of fate. It may be so that we are defined by our past, but we don’t live there. Even though some may exist there, it would seem. Don’t play those memories repeatedly in your mind else they become your world.

I think what I’m trying to say is that one should live in the moment. I think that makes me a hypocrite. At any rate, School Rumble is a pretty good cure for the winter blues.

I decided to see what was going on over at a geek by any other name a while ago. It appears that some previous posts about a possible anime link with Zac Efron has attracted some unwanted attention.

Quote: “It’s all rather terrifying because some of them take the idea rather seriously, and others seem to actually think that by leaving a comment at my blog they can somehow get through to Zac Efron.” (my emphasis added)

Now, I can’t say that I actually know anything about this Zac kid. No one is immune to mass media who watches a bit of television here so I was somewhat familiar with the name. The same way that I’m familiar with that Hanna Michigan girl, ya’know.

I think what we can take away from this is that we shouldn’t mess with the affections of teenage girls because they are crazy. No offense intended to any non-crazy teenagers who may be reading this entry.

-

I had to post something about this because it’s the funniest thing I’ve read all day.