the RADISM network
Pop-culture and other geekery.
Not all who wander are lost.
08 months ago
by Erinism
in Mental Health
I have been focusing on self growth recently, and when internetting such topics, I came across this blog post that made me think. The following is repost from here:
Today’s topic is about the feeling of apathy. Some people would call it lazy but that’s just apathy with intention. Others would say insouciant but that’s just plain lazy without caring. Lassitude is too dang slow to describe the feeling.
Half-heartedness. That’s it! Apathy is all about heart, really. Or lack thereof. You see when your heart wanders you lose sight of your goal. Without a goal you flounder. Like a flat fish on dry-land flip-flopping for water you gasp for meaning. You need a purpose. A destination maybe. A reason to compel action.
Sometimes you take these for granted. You never notice them. You work to earn a living. You love and create to feel alive. When times are good you function on autopilot and all is right and good with the world.
When crisis erupts, however, you lose your bearing. Like a drunk, you stagger woozily. Disoriented, you sometimes lose sight of your goal. Instead of action, nothing. A profound sense of sadness or frustration or carelessness typically underpins apathy. The result is non-action. Time drags by slower. The world dims. You have urgent desires to eat chocolate or watch re-runs of “I Dream of Genie”.
So what to do?
Turn on all your lights? Ramp up your heat? Or shake it off like a dog waggling off water? Yeah, spray everyone around you. Piss them off. Will yourself into the world and the world will kick you in the shins and it will hurt. But the pain will focus your attention on the big questions: What am I doing? Why am I doing it? The feeling of apathy then becomes a gift of sorts. An opportunity for you to re-evaluate those questions and reinvigorate your response to them.
So have you ever suffered from the feeling of apathy? What brought it on?
What was your response? How did you beat it?
What is Truth North on your life’s compass?
Crazy Giant LEGO Nerds
08 months ago
by Erinism
in Pop Culture
An interesting pop-culture concept that is becoming increasingly popular in this day and age is ‘brickfilming’. Brickfilming is stop motion animation using LEGO construction blocks. Some of these brickfilms go so far as to incorporate CGI, traditional animation, and live action elements. The LEGO Group officially encouraged and supported fans in creating brickfilms and released a series of bricks called ‘Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set’. Even British Comedy troupe Monty Python featured a brickfilm in the extras section on the The Holy Grail DVD of their fantastically funny “Camelot Song”.
LEGO fandom is worldwide phenomenon. People all over the world take obsession to new levels where individual people have spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on colourful plastic interlocking blocks. While the average person probably wouldn’t understand the craze, most can admire the dedication, creativity and patience with the amazingly intricate, time consuming and ingenius engineering behind the design concepts of the building structures and scenery.
One such LEGO fanboy (see: crazy giant nerd), Simon Nichols, has taken his collecting of LEGO and love of comic books to new levels and turned it into a creative venture, taking photos of tiny LEGO figurines doing giant sized (in comparison) human tasks, such as fixing things and housework, while the human giants aren’t looking, similar to that of pixies or elves.
Simon plans to create a series of brickfilms and comics involving his LEGO collection, based on the characters and concepts he has thought up for his pieces. He has even created a mini LEGO nightclub for his filming purposes. He plans to create a series of LEGO super hero and villains in a post-apocalyptic world which he plans to incorporate a super-human story line to tie in his love of graphic novels with his LEGO obsession.
What made you interested in LEGO in the first place?
I saw a LEGO ‘Mission to Mars’ drop ship that looked like the one from Aliens. I HAD to have it. Then I had an idea to make a city and film zombies eating people. I guess it just snowballed from there.
Could you put an estimate figure on how much your LEGO collection is worth?
One can look at my LEGO collection and realise that I’ve spent a few thousand dollars on collecting all the pieces. People think I’m a crazy giant nerd and often rabbit on about how I waste my money, but I’d never sell it, even in dire times. My LEGO collection means more to me than anything and has been a great outlet for creativity for me. I enjoy building and rebuilding over and over. It’s just so much damn fun!
What is the appeal of LEGO for you?
I think LEGO appeals to me because I’m never happy with something if I know I can make it better and with LEGO if you don’t like it, you change it. LEGO lets me be creative and abstract and with one or two small changes, a bus can become an APC or a camper van.
What is your favourite piece in your collection?
I don’t really have a favorite set in my collection. I like all of it because I can just change it if I’m not happy.
What is the most expensive piece in your collection?
Out of all of the sets I own, the one that has cost me the most was my bio-hazard mini figurine. I spent close to $150 just to get him from a blindbox vendor.
What would you like to acquire next?
A log cabin for my movie, or a bank. I’m going to start making my own houses as well. I plan to make a city scape to use as a backdrop.
What pieces or series’ would you like to see brought out by LEGO?
I want to see a ‘Last Night on Earth’ zombie series with with hide-out mods, normal cars and trucks that have been apocalypse’d and a smashload of zombies. I love zombies. They’re the business. LEGO Zombies. Aww yeah.
These aren’t zombies, but this is a very funny take on the original Dragostea Din Tei
film clip by O-Zone, a Romanian pop group. Sound familiar? You probably know this song
because of the guy who danced to it who got internet famous and was plastered all over YouTube.
