I just finished watching Garden State.

After thinking about the scene where “Large” fades into the wallpaper, I realized that one of my new Christmas shirts almost fades into the paint in my bedroom.

This movie truly moved me.

I’ve had the experience depicted in the movie where everyone appears to be moving around you.

I’ve had the experience of finding that one person in life who understands you for almost no discernible reason.

I’ve had the experience of feeling like I loved someone so much that life with the most meager, meanest existence possible, if shared with that person, would be just great.

And let’s not forget, I just went back to Milwaukee and saw an old friend.

Seeing small pieces of my life depicted on the screen was both uncanny and cathartic. Now don’t get the idea my mother is dead, depressed, or was in a wheelchair or that I’ve ever been prescribed or taken anti-depresants, rather I identify with the ideas and moods shown in the movie.

I’ve been listening to the soundtrack for a while. It’s one of the best soundtracks I think I’ve ever heard. The songs comfortably fit the mood and sequences of the movie almost as well as they seem to fit my mood at present.

When I like something so much, be it a song, a book, a movie, or whatever I wonder if something must be wrong with me or it. I have that feeling about this movie.

Seeing this truly great movie makes me even more frustrated by all the truly bad movies I saw last year. Excepting the Lord of the Rings trilogy which is in a movie category all by itself, this is the best movie I’ve seen since “The Matrix.”

Robotic Nation

This is exactly what I have been trying to tell people for some time, although I think this guy paints a far too dystopic view of the future.

It will be interesting to see how the take-over of traditional retail positions by robots will affect the general economy. Will there be enough robot repair, refurbish and programming jobs to offset all the fast food and retail jobs that will be lost?

When these kinds of systems are in place, what will a person have to do to get really wonderful personal service? When you complain to a manager will you simple get a videoconference with someone in India, China or Pakistan?

His ideas remind me of a sci-fi book “Kiln People” by David Brin. In that book, which I never finished because it was too boring, almost no one has a job because everyone can make these golem like creatures at home. These creatures that have your memories and can do any menial task. Some are even capable of quite sophisticated work. These golems then expire and can download their memories back to you. It interesting to think about a future where almost no one works because there just aren’t any jobs available. For a better review take a look at this.