How gnarly are your boots?

Having just finished watching The Crash Reel, a few mad thoughts have begun rushing through my brain.

The Crash Reel is a documentary about [former] pro snowboarder Kevin Pearce, who suffered a massive brain injury after an accident whilst training as an Olympic hopeful. It's a hugely emotional film about the journey up to and after the accident with accounts from his peers, fans, friends and family; but it's struck a cord with me on more than one level.

I'm an extreme sports fan. My primary hobbies are snowboarding and taekwon-do. I've taken my fair share of big hits in both and I'm aware that they're far from risk free activities. Some of the injuries I've suffered in my taekwon-do training have led me to seriously question whether or not it was sensible for me to continue. Same goes for snowboarding. But I love what I do and inevitably, I've found myself back into both TKD and snowboarding after every recovery period.
The bit that hit hardest about Kevin Pearce's story was that all throughout his long and arduous recovery, his primary concern was getting back on the board again. Shredding with his buddies was what he lived for, and he couldn't picture his life without it. To quote many an internet meme: "I know that feel, bro." Sadly, it hasn't worked out as Kevin had hoped. His brain injury has rendered him almost incapable of snowboarding - at least far, far from the level he used to ride at. Feel free to cry here folks. I definitely did.

My own breaks and bruises are completely inconsequential next to a traumatic brain injury, but that drive to keep doing what you love in spite of a far greater risk to yourself is a difficult subject to address. At one point in the film, Kevin's own father says that it sounds like he's talking about snowboarding as though it were an "addiction." As though his own son were incapable of realizing the seriousness of the situation.

I have a brother who is one of the best martial artists in the country. He frequently competes at a national and international level and will be competing in the World Championships this coming year. He loves what he does and it is utterly essential to him. He's a man at the top of his game.
This documentary made me think - what if it were my brother in the same situation as Kevin Pearce? One big hit and bam! no more competitions, no more sparring and no ability to train anymore. It's one thing to worry about my own safety when throwing myself down a slope, or stepping into the ring against a IVth Dan black belt, but what the hell would I say to my own brother if injury rendered him unable to train again? How would it make my family feel if it were him or myself in a situation where we could no longer do what we loved? I do know that I'd be a difficult guy to be around for sometime if it were either one of us, or any one of my friends who enjoy risk-heavy activities.

This raises the question then; why do it? You know the risks going in and yet you persist. The reason? I agree with Papa Pearce - it is an addiction. I would not be the person I am today were it not for my experiences with TKD and snowboarding. The feeling you get- poetry in motion, that perfect run, the bluebird skies and mountain air - that total focus that can only come from combat, training your body to perform incredible feats... the effect is narcotic. The more I ride and the more I train, the more I want to do it. And when you find those rare people who really get what you mean when you say that snowboarding is the path to nirvana, or why you think martial arts are absolutely fundamental, it's just so rewarding.

Popular opinion and the media label extreme sports practitioners as 'adrenaline junkies.' Truth be told, adrenaline is the last thing I'm looking for. Adrenaline makes it super-hard to focus and damned near impossible to get a grip on what it is I'm trying to achieve. I'm looking for those moments of utter focus. That feeling when time seems to slow down and everything just falls together. Flawless execution, perfect technique -- this is what it's all about. Thinking about it now has my heart racing, but when you find that feeling, it's a kind of calmness that nothing else can bring. Life in a single moment. And the complete explosion of joy and satisfaction upon achieving something new, testing your limits and then tearing through them... It's fucking incredible. Words really don't do it justice enough. You have to know it to understand it.

As a snowboard instructor, I see that feeling in people almost every day. 'Testing your limits' isn't just reserved for the guys throwing 1080s and double-corks, it can be managing to get down a hill on a snowboard without falling over. It's those little successes that build up to something so much more. It's inspirational for me to see, and I thrive on that moment when it clicks for someone!

Yes there are risks - but the chances of something going so drastically wrong are tiny. Your journey to success will be littered with trials - numbing repetition of the same trick or movements over and over and over again. You'll fall. You'll get hurt. But those aren't failures. Every second spent practicing is just a piece of the puzzle to your eventual glory.

Because trust me, when that moment comes around and you realise just why you put some much time and effort into that moment, it truly is glorious.

Not so Solid, Snake?

There's some controversy over a new character in the latest installment of Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid franchise, so if you're familiar with videogames and journalism, this likely comes as little surprise.

The Quiet, as she's known is a professional sniper who also happens to be mute. Hence the extraordinarily inventive name, I suppose. It's her choice of battlefield attire that has people up in arms.

Before I begin a rambling essay entry, it's worth giving a little backgroun context for those unfamiliar with the series. Metal Gear Solid is an over-the-top, fourth wall breaking videogame series, famous for it's emphasis on stealth and sneaking, rather than shooting everything in sight. The vast majority of the cast are larger than life caricatures with tragic battlefield histories and the series is famous for it's ridiculously convoluted plots, self-referential nods and - perhaps somewhat unexpectedly - strong commentaries about the nature of warfare. It's Japanese people, that should be all the explanation required!

I'm not particularly impassioned about the feminist agenda, and yes, I realise that this is purely a videogame fantasy, but here's what all the fuss is about:

Remember Quiet's job description? She's a sniper. I'm not entirely convinced that particular outfit is going to be any sort of functional anywhere, much less have any kind of practicality about it. Where does she keep her ammo pouches? How is she protecting herself from any sort of environmental hazards that might occur in the middle of a war? Granted, this is the barmy Metal Gear universe we're discussing here, but she doesn't look very battle-weary. Matter of fact, she looks like a pixel perfect bikini model. No scars? And this chick isn't even built like a solider. She looks about as hard as most professional footballers; as if a light breeze might break a few ribs. I don't see an experienced soldier there, do you?
Unlike some men I know, I don't actually posses a pair of breasts myself but I'm lead to believe that they can get in the way when performing any sort of physical activity. Physical activity such as sports, or you know, war.

Perhaps we're all getting ahead of ourselves here - we know nothing of Quiet's history or personality, it could be that she's using her sexuality as a weapon, or that she's recalling the Picts, who fought naked because they were that glorious combination of hard as nails and batshit insane. Or perhaps, people are simply overreacting to the fact that there's a sexy girl in a piece of entertainment. Wouldn't that be a turn up for the books?

My interest in the debate about her choice of attire spawned from reading an article posted on fark.com, in which the author comments about how all female characters in every videogame ever are overtly sexualised and I think he might be arguing that first impressions - in this case especially so - give off the wrong impressions. He claims that Quiet looks like "a military themed stripper" and it's hard to disagree. Here's the original article.

I think what occurs to me most here, is that this author is equating showing some skin with sexualisation. Now granted, Quiet's design is far beyond just 'showing some skin,' but the author then calls into play other female characters that he considers sexualised. Lara Croft goes without saying, though her recent (and utterly superb) reboot shows us a girl who isn't rocking grossly oversized breasts and is a fully competent human character, flaws and all. Perhaps the industry is growing up in it's representation of women.
But it's the citation of Cortana as a sex symbol that I really have to question the competency of the author. Cortana is an artificial intelligence who manifests herself as a blue, naked, hologram.

On a review of her image, two things strike me: that her "nakedness" isn't the first thing you notice about her, and well, she doesn't exactly ooze sexiness. Maybe I'm just not that into AI holograms, but I think there's a certain danger of equating nudity and sexuality as the same thing. Just because a person isn't wearing clothes doesn't automatically imply seductiveness or arousal; consider all the rampant nakedness in Renaissance art. My impression was always that this was exactly what Cortana's design was meant to evoke, the simple aesthetics of the female form, not a deliberate attempt at appearing attractive.

Suffice it to say, this being the internet and me having had my interest piqued, the myriad comments about the portrayal of women in games and other media lead to some interesting viewpoints to consider. Check out this videoblog:

Now this is a juicy talking point if ever there was one! Arguably this is a little off topic, but she raises an interesting point. Maybe this discussion about portraying the poor, frail female as nothing more than a sex object is just a bunch of self-entitled lady folk getting their knickers in a twist? Is this particular bout of controversy just something that gets people into shouting matches online, or is Quiet's design something to placate the ill-tended for male market?

Personally, I feel there's some truth to the notion of the Disposable Male, that a man's wants and needs will always be placed last - even among peers. How often is a guy told to 'man up' if he has a particular issue to deal with? Perhaps we all fail at attending to the needs of both men and women in modern society and it's time for a change in the thinking between how we address our differences.  Food for thought there.

The best portrayal of equality between men and women that I've seen in entertainment, is likely the most recent Battlestar Galactica. On the show, men and women are both fully rounded characters with various attributes and flaws, but there's no distinction as to why a man may be better suited to a particular task than a woman, or vice versa. There are female fighter pilots, female soldiers, and a female president all of whom are successful or unsuccessful not because of their gender, but because of their character. One scene in particular comes to mind when the crew organise a boxing fight so that they can blow off steam and nobody bats an eyelid about a guy going toe-to-toe with a girl.

So is Quiet a throwback to a male dominated throwback, or should we judge her first on her character an her actions rather than appearances?

The Post Travelling-Blues

I'm fortunate enough to have travelled around the globe.

I mean that in a literal sense too - I have completed a lap of the planet travelling east through Asia, Oceania (or is it Australasia?), the US and back home. That's a serious source of pride for me, particularly having crossed the international dateline between Fiji and Los Angeles and thus experiencing the same Sunday twice. When I arrived at LAX, I had no idea what meal I was supposed to eat. When I got home back to the UK, I was lucky enough to be jetlag free too, despite the confusion of an extra day and not being entirely sure what meal to eat and when!

I'm not bragging here - those of you that have been on a journey of your own know that it's one of the most liberating and rewarding experiences you can have; and when you've been once, you'll only want to find the next opportunity to jump on a plane and go exploring somewhere. This can lead to see serious post-travelling blues.

I've been back in the UK for a long while now after my six months of backpacking, but that doesn't stop the cravings! My travels were the time of my life so I have many memories I like to escape into if I feel myself falling a little too much into the same old routines.

[There's an alien species in the Mass Effect series who can perfectly recall any memory they have, right down to smells, textures and other sensations. Several ladies tell me these guys are also really sexy, maybe it's that voice but they're essentially just big green lizard people. Google 'Thane' from Mass Effect and get back to me on this.
Of course, perfect memory obviously has its downside and dangers, but I so wish I could indulge myself in the remembered experiences I had through the places I've been and the people I'd met!]

Today I've found that for the few short seconds I've had to myself, I'm pulling up memories of the beautiful beaches in southern Thailand, trekking the mean streets of Hanoi, or the long and lazy boat ride through the mesmerising Ha Long Bay.

Occasionally, these memories jump to the forefront of my mind - usually it's a particular food or the smell of summer rain that pulls me right back, but for today it's been a very deliberate mental escape process into past pleasures. I can honestly say I met some of my favourite people on earth on my walkabout, and certain songs or a particular image absolutely serve as reminders of all the brilliant people I met.

What I'm essentially getting at here is that I feel it's time to get going somewhere again. If only to some tropical beach for a week to chill out. Fellow travellers, you know just how brilliant it feels when your only wardrobe concerns are boardies, flips flops (thongs to our Aussie cousins) a t-shirt and some sunscreen!
As a snowboard instructor and general busy body at an indoor snowslope, I  spend a lot of my life in full on winter gear: snowboard boots, sallopettes, a hoodie and jacket, gloves or mitts; the lot. So to strut about wearing as little as humanly possible is an intense relief for me!

That feeling of relief is synonymous with the sheer freedom you get from travelling if you ask me. You go where you want, when you want. Like this particular corner of the world you've found? Why not spend two weeks there? Not feeling the vibe? So jump on the next bus, boat, plane or train and get out the hell outta dodge!

I'm sure this isn't something exclusive to me, but I often find myself staring at a world map and looking for little routes across intriguing parts of the planet. One I'm particularly enamoured with at the minute is flying to Florida (maybe starting in Tampa then dropping into Miami) and gently curving down through the Bahamas, perhaps dropping by Havana, seeing Jamaica and maybe Haiti. Moving on, I'd be making my way down through the Dominican Republic, saying hi to Puerto Rico, Antigua, the Grenadines and St Lucia, Barbados and finishing up in Trinidad and Tobago. A luxurious bit of island hopping through the gorgeous Caribbean Sea.

I have no idea how feasible (or expensive) that trip would be, and upon reviewing it just now, I'm inclined to suggest that as a honeymoon venture. You know, a romantic trip with that fiancé I totally have and will totally be marrying at some point.
I do however feel utterly privileged to be part of a generation for whom travelling around to world is so easily accessible.

As we reach the end of August, we're now  approaching my favourite season - winter. It's coming. Despite having travelled through the tropics at the height of summer, I'm all about the winter chill at heart. As nice as it is to be wearing very little, the sun is also a brutal killer (especially of pasty ginger kids like myself) and let's face it - if it's too hot, you can't get anymore naked than naked. It can be a real challenge to simply get moving in serious heat and humidity. But if you're feeling too cold it's a hell of a lot easier to warm up than it is to cool off in the summer heat.

I'm getting all excited now about the opportunities to shred on my snowboard in some beautiful alpine scenery. The season is about to kick into gear, the snowboard and ski shops are starting to bring in the early drips of their new stock which always starts to excite me.

I am in serious need of a holiday after a strenuous summer - so methinks it's time to book up a trip to some snowy hills somewhere in the northern hemisphere.

Or maybe a visit to my buddy in Denver. Or my buddy in Calgary. Perhaps a week in Rome? Or a long weekend in the Canary Islands. Or some long walks through the Lake District? Or anywhere else for that matter!

Identity Crisis

Now assuming I can pull myself away from laughing about all the amazing Batfleck reactions on the internet, I I wanted to finally get another blog out after seeing Kick-Ass 2. 

As for my two cents on Affleck, I'd like to find that casting director and set them on fire, with this clip playing on a loop in the background:  

But I'm here to talk about Kick-Ass 2, and the general concepts and ideas in the larger superhero mythos. Not so much a review as a statement; this film is properly brilliant - emotive, exciting and resonant in all the right ways and I highly recommend it.

Kick-Ass 2 is an extremely aptly titled movie in that it is not only a kickass adventure, but also the second film in the franchise. I'd argue that this is one of those rare sequels that out-does the first installment on almost every level.

The basic premise is that Dave Lizewski's antics as real-world superhero Kick-Ass have inspired a few like-minded folk to don their hero costume in an attempt to make the world a better place. Inevitably, this leads to superhero team ups and the formation of the world's first band of super villains, whose goal is essentially to really screw things up for everyone but themselves. With a name like The Toxic Mega-Cunts, you know they're either completely mental, or completely pathetic. And, in a direct parallel to real world villainy, it's an excellent combination of both that make team evil seem grounded and convincing - for the most part, at least.  

The most controversial character from the first movie, Hit Girl - aka Mindy McCready, is back and struggling to lead a normal life after the slightly unconventional upbringing at the hands of her superhero father Big Daddy. This is the real core of the movie, the crisis of conflict that arises from being a crime fighting hero and that of leading a 'normal' life. 

I found this to be an excellent thinking point - Hit Girl struggles hugely with the idea of who the 'real' Mindy is. Is it the highschooler desperately searching for acceptance with the cool kids, or the violent, foul-mouthed costumed vigilante? 

In all our lives, we wear many masks and many faces - I can gaurantee that your relationships with your best friend, your boss and your significant other all vary drastically. Your online dating profile is your sales pitch, but it's not the same as your curriculum vitae. Likewise, how you chose to present yourself through the various layers of anonymity afforded to you online each offer a different opportunity to present yourself as a certain image. 

The idea of our true self is of course influenced by countless external factors, be it a particular role model or the opinions of our peers. Superheros provide a particularly interesting influence, with all the usual noble traits like fighting for justice and assisting those in need being the most overt characteristics that come to mind. Ben Parker's own "With great power comes great responsibility" is one of the most well known superhero mantras and it serves as a wise warning not just to arachnid-powered mutants, but to anyone in any position of responsibility. There's always a code, a duty or ideal that heroes need to uphold and that usually drives plenty of dilemmas for good-guy or gal in question. 

The obvious link here is that we're all heroes, and we all have to make decisions throughout our lives that can shape our character for better or worse. But the point is that we have a choice in who we wish ourselves to be. Me? I'm a taekwon-do practicing, snowboarding instructing, overly empathetic, passionate geek who absolutely struggles with the idea of which of those personas is my true self. The obvious answer is that it's all of them. Just because I do different things for different reasons or act differently with different people doesn't mean my 'core' self is lessened or corrupted in some way. Would I love to be a superhero? Damn right I would, but every time I put my taekwon-do gear on, I feel like one. It's just that this is something I get to do without all the wanton destruction, gross collateral damage and murdered parents (which is a bonus, as far as I'm concerned). But that's why we have comics, books, movies and videogames - so we can project ourselves onto an avatar of our choosing and imagine what it would be like the act out those fantasies without the real-life murdered parents and destroyed cities.

Kick-Ass 2 ends on the breakup of the super-groups because real world vigilantism is generally frowned upon and has drastic and server consequences. But the final message of the movie is that the heroes aren't always the guys in costumes. The superhero in everyone is the person who sacrifices themselves for the sake of others, whether it's to run after a mugger, or to give poor mal-adjusted Mindy her first kiss, the hero is the person who puts their goals and desires second for the benefit of others.

Unless you're Batman, in which case you have some seriously messed up revenge issues and should probably seek help in ways other than brutally punishing the criminals in your city. 

Heroes are wherever you find them. A perfectly timed shoulder to cry on, or a perfectly timed chainsaw through the neck of an alien invader. The person who swaps shifts with you at work so you can do whatever it is you wanted to do, or the friend who visits you in hospital - just make sure you don't become a bitter and twisted individual and end up like Kick-Ass 2's nemesis, The Motherfucker. 

Fighting Fit?

I've just watched a clip a friend posted on their Facebook feed from a page called The Fight Archive.

Make no mistake folks, I love a good fight. As a matter of fact, watching a good scrap or a sparring bout, or being in the ring myself has to be up there as one of favourite things to do.
The intensity, the passion, the power, technique and skill, speed - there's a real kind of purity that comes from combat; a true test of one's dedication and discipline. It's exhilarating.

But something about this particular clip really put me off. It was titled "Bully versus Nerd - Nerd lands fifty seven punches!!" As a martial artist, if I hear that someone landed fifty seven punches, I'm definitely intrigued. I'd expect to see an Ip-Man style kung-fu beat down on someone who picked on the wrong guy. That wasn't what I got. At all.

See, the fact that this particular clip was filmed in the first place made me initially think it was probably staged, but there was something about the raw emotion in the video that hit far too close to home.

I mentioned in my previous blog that I was never one of the popular kids in school. It would be fair to say I was very, very close to the bottom of the school social ladder, by virtue of my intense geekiness. A skinny ginger kid who was properly crap at sports was never going to do well for themselves in a high - school situation. That's all very much squared away now, thanks.

I'm bringing up my own experiences here because the kid in this video was looked to have been tormented on a regular basis. Now, I don't know why the bully thought it would be fun to have his buddy film their latest antagonising efforts, but you can only push someone so far before they snap (trust me on this one). That was exactly what happened here, after pushing this kid around incessantly and calling him a few names they end up in a scuffle.

The victim manages to somehow get the upper hand on the bully (who's fat as fuck, it's worth pointing out. Stones and glass houses come to mind.) and then he just unleashes. I'm guessing years of pent up fury and frustration went into the onslaught that followed. He's on top of the other kid, and he's throwing right after left directly at his opponent's head. 

He then screams: "Do you want to leave me alone now?! Are you gonna leave me alone?!"

By this point, the bully is just desperately trying to guard his head. He's not doing a very good job. The video ends abruptly after our 'Nerd' shouts: "Have you learnt your lesson?".

My question is this: what are we supposed to take from this as an audience? It wasn't an enjoyable fight to watch in the slightest. Is the idea here for me to champion our nerdy hero who just annihilated the guy that was picking on him? Because he didn't look relieved in the slightest. Something about the way he says: "Are you gonna leave me alone?!" tells me that he crossed a line he never hoped to. There wasn't any technique or skill in his attack (and be under no illusions here; it was very much an attack), it was just raw emotion sending a message in the most dramatic and violent manner possible.

I'm not vouching for the bully here, by any means -  my point is that the [former] bullied guy ended up decimating this other kid, but it was in no way a decisive victory for victims of bullying the world over. I saw a young guy snap under the straw that broke his back, and in his voice I heard something that told me he'd crossed a line I don't think he'd ever wanted to cross.

Yes, I'm a fighter. Contrary to what many people may take that to mean, I absolutely do NOT enjoy hurting other people, nor do I enjoy seeing others get hurt. Standing up to bullies is sometimes necessary and sometimes even good. But that isn't always the case. The MO of a bully is provocation, desperately trying anything and everything to get some kind of reaction from their victims. To word it another way; a bully is someone who is trying to get you to compromise your own self.

That's what I saw in this video: a kid who compromised what he believed about the world. 'Live and let live,' 'Do unto others as you would have done upon yourself,' 'Don't hurt anyone.' Pick your cliché. The guy being picked on was upset because it had come down to him beating the ever-loving shit out of his bully; and he regretted every single punch. 

Maybe I'm reading too much into this. We all know that bullying is not funny. It's the last resort of people who lack the proper ability to express themselves as a cooperative, productive human being. Don't get me wrong; there's always that grim satisfaction when some asshole gets their just desserts, but this video borders on gratuitous. How am I supposed to react to that?

I suppose my intention here is nothing more than awareness, with a request that readers question their reactions to this particular clip. Regardless of its validity, is 'Nerd landing 57 hits on Bully' something to be celebrated as an act of bravery? Because that's not what I saw. Or is this simply a shock-tactics video, hoping to catch a few bloggers hook, line and sinker?

Welcome to the Internet

So I decided to start a blog after a throw-away bit of encouragement I received at work. Seemed like a pretty natural thing to do really; I have opinions about things and I have access to the internet, so why not exploit both and share with the world what's on my mind? twitter doesn't offer enough words for me to get properly talky about things and Facebook is fine for the odd status and a brief review of the latest buzz, but there's just not the space to, well, ramble on a bit. Hence blogging.

The first thing I wanted to write about was the internet itself. I'm old enough to remember a time before the whole world was online, yet young enough for it to have come along at such a pivotal time in my life. We got online in 1997 - I was 12, taking those first steps into the horribly awkward and formative years of adolescence. 

I'm an unabashed geek, and at the time in school, that meant not being one of the cool kids. I'm talking old-school geek here, reading sci-fi and fantasy from a young age, enjoying things like Star Trek and Star Wars on levels that most others don't, being an obsessive gamer and all the rest. That meant being an outsider and having only a very small, tightly knit friend group who could understand why it's fun to argue about whether or not a Star Destroyer could take the Enterprise. (In case you're wondering, the Empire wins hands down, Every. Single. Time.)

So all of a sudden, we get online. Actually it wasn't so sudden. Back then getting online took forever! You were treated to the glorious beep-beep-hisss-clicking noise of your dial-up modem connecting to the world wide web. ISPs charged by the minute and your connection was likely to have been so slow that loading up even the most basic html could take a matter of minutes to display. In other words, we had to wait our damn turn to internet! We treated it like a precious resource, not the all consuming, nigh-on ubiquitous presence it now has in our lives.

What did that mean to me then? Freedom. Liberation. Online you were (and are still in most cases) completely anonymous and free to access the content you wanted, when you wanted it. You could be anyone - I seem to recall that I used being online as a kind of amplifier for my young personality. I don't think I fully understood the risks of being so digitally naked back then, but I was smart enough to at least be fairly responsible with where I went and what I said (I think!). The news was awash with the dangers lurking in chat rooms, and parents everywhere were being scare-mongered into shying their kids away from the inherent dangers of this new online craze. For my part, my parents trusted me better, though my incessant typing definitely drove them to breaking point. It was new and I was young, so naturally I wanted all of the internet my mind and body could handle. 

The most accurate analogue for how the internet felt to me then is something like a fusion between The Matrix (a huge system, where you could ignore the rules and do almost anything with the right knowledge) and the OASIS from Ernest Cline's Ready Player One - if you haven't read this book yet, I strongly urge you to do so! It fast became my favourite novel of all time, and is probably deserving of a blog entry all to itself. The web is essentially a place where you can indulge every whim, every passion. Like Final Fantasy? Check out any one of almost a BILLION pages (837,000,000 according to Google) that mention it. Music fan? I've got 6.83 billion pages at my fingertips, brought to me in 0.24 seconds. Something as vague as "videos" brings back 13.65 billion results in less time than it took for me to type the first letter. 

Or how about specifics? Fancy learning how to hack? "Hacking websites for beginners" returns  1,070,000 results. The internet is a bastion of opportunity and completely embodies the old adage that knowledge is power. 

My browsing today is a perfect example of just how freeing - or even empowering - the internet can be as a medium. I've indulged every interest on a whim, spanned multiple mediums, been entertained and intrigued, I've laughed and even cried online today. Here I am blogging about how cool it is to share my thoughts on a blog. Meta. 
And it's not even quarter to two. The web is still very much an amplifier of my personality, only nowadays it feels a little more direct. To snap back to the Matrix again, when I want some information I get it, just like Neo downloading kung fu into his brain. 

(As a side-note, my personal thoughts as to how the internet will evolve is that we'll likely see something like the Net from Ghost in The Shell or the OASIS. I feel as though it will become even more relevant to us than the real world. That makes me a little sad, but I think that ultimately, online the possibilities are almost endless.) 

I often like to challenge myself by thinking about what I think the greatest achievement in human history may be. The obvious contenders like the discovery of fire, agriculture, the invention of the wheel or the computer are very valid, but until recently I've always firmly supported the Moon Landing as humankind's greatest moment. We evolve in and live in one very specific environment, break the bonds of one to only go into the most challenging domain of all (space) then we have the gall to land on another world with less technology than the average digital watch. Are you fucking kidding me?! 

Truly, we are capable of amazing things. 

I mention this is because I've recently been entertaining the idea that the internet itself is our greatest moment. It's something that has infiltrated every aspect of our lives and become fundamental. The digital realm now has very real consequences both on and offline. But it brings us education; it brings us family - a global network of friends without borders or such petty restrictions as 'time zones.' We have all the information everyone *anywhere* has ever wanted known uploaded and digitized into immortality. Riots in the Middle-East? Oh hai camera phone, let's upload this footage to CNN or Al-Jazeera and show the people what's really going on as it's actually happening. Had a pretty good meal out? Instagram's sole purpose is to show other people how nice your food is! 

If we have access to the internet, every single person starts on the same platform regardless of wealth, race, gender or nationality. We can access whatever information we want at any time and do with it what we will. That level of freedom and power has never been available to the masses and represents a paradigm-shift in how we conduct our society now and going forward. This is both wonderful and truly terrifying. But for me at least, it is above all exciting.