Notes from the Wired
This is a website where I write articles on various topics that interest me, carving out a bit of cyberspace for myself.
You shouldn't believe anything I talk about — I use words entirely recreationally.
Most Recent
Oct. 03
Violent Cop (1989)
From the same director and main actor as Fireworks (1997), but this is the first movie he directed.
I feel like it has many static shots of our protagonist walking, either away from the camera, slowly towards the camera, or from the side, and the shots linger for a while, which gives the movie a rather slow and deliberate feeling that stands in radical contrast to the story. More on this later. I think these walking shots are a bit excessive; it almost feels like a walking simulator. Our director and actor Takeshi Kitano plays his role as a hard-boiled detective as well as he did in Fireworks (1997). I do wonder if he is one of those actors that can only play one role, but I haven’t seen too much of him yet to make this decision.
Oct. 01
I hate my Phone
I hate my phone. And I don’t mean this in a polemical sense either. If I were asked to describe a device designed by the devil himself, I could not come up with a better device than a smartphone.
I hate the constant notifications. I hate how it is a constant source of distraction. I hate how owning a smartphone comes with the expectation of being available at all times. I hate how it has shifted many direct conversations we used to have into conversations mediated through text, or even worse, video calls. I hate how it normalized freeware and software riddled with ads. I hate how the idea of an open-source version of Android, available to everyone and modifiable by everyone, became a collection of locked-down, vendor-specific versions. I hate how much time I spend on it. I hate how much it has become necessary for everyday life, from two-factor authentication needed for everything to banking apps and navigation.
Sep. 30
Philosophical Ramblings #18: Return to Monke
There is an idea that I do not completely dislike: that human consciousness was a mistake. When I talk about consciousness here, I specifically refer to our ability to self-reflect, to think recursively, and to introspect.
The idea is that a large part of our thinking has little to do with what is happening in the present moment, and that this kind of thinking is not necessarily conducive to happiness. We could call this stimulus-independent thinking: thoughts that arise independently of whatever we are currently doing or experiencing. This includes thinking about future plans, replaying past events such as conversations we had with other people, reliving insults or embarrassing moments, wondering what we will eat for our next meal, thinking about what we are going to do tomorrow, and so on.
