2009.10.21 07:00 - Sci Fi Breakfast with the Wild Things

The Guardian for this meeting was Eliza Madrigal. The comments are by Eliza Madrigal, who started off very sensitive this morning, and was first joined by Mary Karpov...

Eliza Madrigal: Hi Mary :)
Mary Korpov: hi
Eliza Madrigal: How are things for you today?
Mary Korpov: ok
Mary Korpov: What do you cultivate?
Eliza Madrigal: It is a gardening metaphor...cultivating awareness is how it usually used :)
Eliza Madrigal: I like it very much.
Mary Korpov: Awareness of what?
Eliza Madrigal: Hm, well today I am aware of my own fragility I think
Eliza Madrigal: It has been a strange morning.
Mary Korpov: Did you hurt hourself
Mary Korpov: ?
Eliza Madrigal: Not exactly. Some days feel more sensitive than others. Woke to a rainbow, ran across a wild thing puppet, watched Breakfast at Tiffany's....
Eliza Madrigal: just a funny day.
Eliza Madrigal: Do you ever have those?
Mary Korpov: Sounds like a rather relaxed morning if you have time to watch movies
Mary Korpov: My days are usually the same
Eliza Madrigal: yes, I didn't mention the laundry I was folding while watching the movie ... how I ran across the puppet
Mary Korpov: Once in a while I wake up clumsy, but that is the only significant difference
Eliza Madrigal: Clumsy?
Mary Korpov: Must be nice to have that kind of free time. Yes, some days I seem to drop things and break them a lot
Eliza Madrigal considers 'free time'
Mary Korpov: I go to work every day
Mary Korpov: I don't have the option of watching movies in the morning, or the afternoon for that matter. Not usually in the evenings either.

Mary notices the generalization I extrapolated amidst my grasping to deflect what I thought might be criticism based on all that we don't see of one another's lives outside of SL, and Mary's and my (to my estimation personally) history of not quite understanding each other. I think we found a better balance after SophiaSharon and Qt arrived. 

Eliza Madrigal: How sad to never watch movies
Mary Korpov: I didn't say I never watch movies, but not very often. And I don't think it is sad. Most movies are boring
Mary Korpov: Why do you assume that the life I describe is somehow sad?
Eliza Madrigal: I guess sometimes I wonder why you come to PaB. You don't seem to enjoy us
Eliza Madrigal: or at least not me :)
Mary Korpov: I've had pretty much the same opinion about you not enjoying or even respecting me. But it doesn't really matter.
Mary Korpov: But that doesn't answer my question about why you think the life I described is sad. I'm curious.
Eliza Madrigal: I aplogize if I gave you that impression.
Mary Korpov: No need to apologize, you are what you are and I am what I am
Eliza Madrigal nods
Mary Korpov: I have noticed in PaB a tendency of "old timers" to treat new comers with a degree of condescention
Eliza Madrigal: I've been here only since February
Mary Korpov: That's much longer than me; and I didn't exactly mean you
Eliza Madrigal: and that's never the intention I'm sure. People fall into regular discussions and that can yes, sometimes cause people to feel left out
Eliza Madrigal: It isn't intentional I'm sure
Eliza Madrigal: and good for people to jump in :)
Mary Korpov: no matter. It is what it is.
Eliza Madrigal: Hi SophiaSharon
SophiaSharon Larnia: Hi Eliza and Mary
Mary Korpov: But why do you think my life is sad?
Mary Korpov: hi
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, didnt say that Mary...but I love movies so it seemed sad the way you phrased your sentence
SophiaSharon Larnia stretches :)
Eliza Madrigal: Just getting up?
Mary Korpov: I don't consider work sad
Mary Korpov: So it wasn't intended that way
Eliza Madrigal: Okay :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: no was making something and lost track of time lol
--BELL--
Mary Korpov: But it would be nice to have a bit more free time to just do anything I want. I can't imagine getting up and watching a movie in the morning
Eliza Madrigal: Sometimes if I'm busy during the day I'll wake and watch a movie in the middle of the night... find them therapudic
SophiaSharon Larnia: sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night and watch one
Eliza Madrigal: !!
Eliza Madrigal: hahah
SophiaSharon Larnia: puts your brain on hold for a while, if you have alot of stuff rickoceting in there
SophiaSharon Larnia: oops spelling
Mary Korpov: I usually listen to music
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, what do you like Mary?
SophiaSharon Larnia: yea that works too
Mary Korpov: music
Eliza Madrigal grins and thinks of Moon River...
Eliza Madrigal: that's originally why I put the film in this morning
SophiaSharon Larnia: music usually makes me turn inward more
Mary Korpov: Would have prefered you hadn't said that. Now that silly tune will be going through my head all day
SophiaSharon Larnia: hehe
Eliza Madrigal: :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: it is rather ghostly
Eliza Madrigal: Its a lovely tune
Eliza Madrigal nods
Mary Korpov: Yes, Mancini could write a nice tune

Mary raises an important point here. Film can be a real history lesson, spotlighting how blind people and societies can be. Perhaps we could learn much from just considering that as much awareness as we may have cultivated, all of our 'offerings' are imperfect, limited, and sometimes just plain wrong? 

Mary Korpov: So what do you think of the racist role of the Japanese guy upstairs in BAT?
Eliza Madrigal: I was thinking of taking my kids to see Wild Things, and this morning the lines jumped out, she says to Paul "Never give your heart to a wild thing."
SophiaSharon Larnia: dont know it :)
Eliza Madrigal: I think it is unfortunate Mary and a real snapshot of the time
Eliza Madrigal: people's views, etc. My daughter and I watched Sixteen Candles last week and there is a similar portrayal
Eliza Madrigal: a picture of ignorance really
SophiaSharon Larnia: if you never give your heart to a wild thing, then why give your heart at all
Eliza Madrigal: I like that :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: shrugs
SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
Eliza Madrigal: In the film she is quite the feral cat
Eliza Madrigal: having no real ties
Mary Korpov: Just like Audry
Eliza Madrigal: Is that so?
Mary Korpov: Yes, Audrey in BAT has no real ties to anything until the end
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, yes in the film...
Mary Korpov: I didn't mean in real life. Holly Golightly, I meant
Eliza Madrigal: I wondered if you were talking about Hepburn's life, which I don't know that much about
Eliza Madrigal nods
Mary Korpov: See, I'm not as sad and miserably as you think. I actually know that movie fairly well...
SophiaSharon Larnia: im googling and cant find it
Eliza Madrigal smiles. I didn't say I thought you were miserable and I have all idea you are often happy :)
Eliza Madrigal: It can be difficult to read signals online sometimes Mary
Mary Korpov: No kidding
SophiaSharon Larnia: (when did googling become a verb?)
Eliza Madrigal: heheh
Eliza Madrigal: Is that added to the dictionary I wonder? Words like 'blog' are.
SophiaSharon Larnia: lol yea
Mary Korpov: But I think it is important to generally avoid judging the lives of others. Words like sad, happy, etc. are judgements.
Eliza Madrigal: And 'truthiness' which Steven Colbert made up
SophiaSharon Larnia: true Mary
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, I hear you Mary. That can be true
Mary Korpov: There is a lot of that in SL, despite that fact that no-one really knows anyone else here in a deep way
Eliza Madrigal: I guess I was saying more about me than you in that sentence
Eliza Madrigal: Most of us do the best we can I think, and I'm often surprised at how much can be picked up on non-verbally at times
SophiaSharon Larnia: most of what we say is like that, i think
Eliza Madrigal nods
Mary Korpov: I RL, to be sure. But in SL you can't pick up anything non-verbally, really.
Mary Korpov: You might say that our avatars tell others something, but you can't really know what is behind the avatar.
SophiaSharon Larnia: i think youre right vatars definately say something about the person animating it
SophiaSharon Larnia: avatars*
Eliza Madrigal nods... it is a mask of course...
Mary Korpov: They do, but it is much more difficult to tell what they say about that person.
Mary Korpov: Of course, we wear masks all of the time in RL, too, but we can interpret those masks more easily in person
Eliza Madrigal: Do you think so?
Mary Korpov: I do
--BELL--
SophiaSharon Larnia: oh? i think im very very good at wearing several masks
Mary Korpov: For example, I can tell if a man is dressed in drag in person; I can't tell if any avatar is truly male or female in SL

SophiaSharon Larnia: <<spins the whell of 'what mask to waer today>>
SophiaSharon Larnia: wheel, wear, lol
SophiaSharon Larnia: ah thats true
Mary Korpov: The more time I spend in SL, the less I like it. It is a fantasy land

Eliza Madrigal: I often think that masks in SL express hidden aspects of people
Eliza Madrigal: not 'untrue' just not true in the way we often think of true

Qt arrives and we discuss points Mary raises...   

Mary Korpov: But you can't tell what those hidden aspects are if you can't see the real person
Eliza Madrigal: of course it depends on the person
Eliza Madrigal: Isn't SL just like everything else... what one makes of it?
SophiaSharon Larnia: Hi Qt
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Qt
Mary Korpov: For all I know, both of you could be prisoners somewhere using the Internet.
SophiaSharon Larnia: Ha!!
Eliza Madrigal: Well, let me qualify, not everything else... but many things
SophiaSharon Larnia: yea Ive thought about that more than once Mary
Mary Korpov: To a degree SL is what one makes of it, but the distance--the wall between us in SL--makes it difficult to make much of it
SophiaSharon Larnia: and sometimes, that I'm talking to the same person, in a different Avatar
Eliza Madrigal: Mary, yes I could have done something horrible once and be imprisoned for the rest of my life and finding a few moments of non-judgement here
Mary Korpov: Yes, I ran across that recently
Eliza Madrigal: (not that I think prisoners are actually given access to SL)
Mary Korpov: But if you did something horrible and were improsoned, I don't really want to talk to you; so I am forced to interact with someone I would prefer to avoid
Mary Korpov: (I don't think you are, Eliza, but my point is the same)
SophiaSharon Larnia: a chance we take i guess

Eliza Madrigal nods
Eliza Madrigal: And if we know that, I think that's a kind of safety
Mary Korpov: Or maybe you are a child molester; someone I'd hate to eve speak to
Qt Core: then we cpuld be free people guilty of more atrocious things than inprisoned ones <evil >
SophiaSharon Larnia: nods
Eliza Madrigal nods to Qt... the truth is we never 'know' even about the people we're around every day.....
SophiaSharon Larnia: at Mary, grins at Qt
Mary Korpov: Actually, we do know. Where I live, for example, child molesters are listed publicly. They are on the Internet as child offenders.
Eliza Madrigal: or the people we're next to in restaurants, etc
SophiaSharon Larnia: here too Mary
SophiaSharon Larnia: i looked it up, even though i dont have kids
Eliza Madrigal: That's true here too
Mary Korpov: I think there are limits in RL, of course, but SL is completely anonymous.
Qt Core: not here, i think
Eliza Madrigal: Sure.
Mary Korpov: Also, I must admit I wonder if I'm gecoming a loser because I spend time in SL that I could spend in RL. Thus, I often go very long periods without using SL
Mary Korpov: becoming, that is
SophiaSharon Larnia: lol Mary, sounds familiar ;p
Eliza Madrigal: haha.... I think most of us who use the internet a lot feel that way at times and draw back
Mary Korpov: not a joke. I often think that SL is a land of losers
Eliza Madrigal: SL is a land much like any other land, imo
SophiaSharon Larnia: it depends on what your focus is here, i think
Mary Korpov: But I' sort of intrigued by it, sort of like looking at a snake
Eliza Madrigal: and I agree SophiaSharon
Qt Core: well, most of the times we spend on sl (i think) is taken from the time we would spend in front of the tv
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes, looking at the snake is very interesting Mary
Mary Korpov: I don't spend time in front of the TV
SophiaSharon Larnia: true Qt! or doing something similar
Qt Core: well generalizartion are just that ;-)
Mary Korpov: But why am I not reading a book now? That would be a much more productive use of my time...
Eliza Madrigal: Maybe... but after reading a book it might be nice to set your mind off of it and process
Mary Korpov: I process while I'm reading
SophiaSharon Larnia: im reading dan brown's new book, the lost symbol
Qt Core: while i have obiection about being always productive, who says sl isn't ? (especially if you just suppose not all others av are criminals ;-) )
SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
Mary Korpov: I've convinced myself that I should be doing something productive.
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Mary Korpov: Bye all.
Eliza Madrigal: Bye Mary
SophiaSharon Larnia: ok bye Mary :) take care
Qt Core: bye mary, have fun while being productive

The rest of this log reminds me of a favorite scene from the film "Notting Hill" where they compete for the loser brownie. In the video I found, the part comes after the music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne1Mkqm3GDg&feature=player_embedded ...

Qt Core: so, what was the topic ?
SophiaSharon Larnia: smiles
Eliza Madrigal: Hmm
Eliza Madrigal: It would be diffictult to show you how we got there from Breakfast at Tiffany's Qt
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Qt Core: yes, i can imagine
Qt Core: i think i never seen that movie
SophiaSharon Larnia: me either, i think i meant to ;p
Eliza Madrigal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOByH...1&feature=fvwp
Eliza Madrigal: I love this song, and woke to a rainbow this morning...
Eliza Madrigal: felt drawn to watch the film and started to fold laundry... came across a "Wild Thing" puppet.
SophiaSharon Larnia: hehe
Qt Core: oh, yes that piece i've seen several times, but not the full movie
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: I set the Wild Thing on the treadmill and then got to the line in the movie where she tells him not to give his heart to a wild thing... burst into a smile and then tears. hah. Came very sensitive this morning. :))
SophiaSharon Larnia: aww yea it funny what sets that off
SophiaSharon Larnia: happens to me a lot
Eliza Madrigal: So Mary said she wished she had time for movies, etc....
Eliza Madrigal: and somehow we got to pedophelia
Eliza Madrigal: :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: ive watched movies online, while logged in sl
SophiaSharon Larnia: now whos the loser?
SophiaSharon Larnia: giggles
Eliza Madrigal: heheheh
Qt Core: this happens a lot, both here in sl and in wikipedia ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: while answering email and talking on the phone
Eliza Madrigal: hahahah
SophiaSharon Larnia: nods nods nods
Eliza Madrigal: So, favorite movies?
SophiaSharon Larnia: um erm
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Eliza Madrigal: I think I was just noticing the patterns this morning... like one night I watched the film "Moulin Rouge" and in that film there is absynthe, etc
SophiaSharon Larnia: the last movie i absolutely had to see in the theater ws the lakehouse, because the time issue intriqued me
Qt Core: while i'm a huge sf fan ... Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Eliza Madrigal: and came to PaB and people were drinking that.
Eliza Madrigal: Ooooh nice, both!
Eliza Madrigal: Lakehouse surprised me, quite sweet
SophiaSharon Larnia: oh god last i had that was in new orleans, i dont remember much
Eliza Madrigal: And of COURSE Poitier...oh my what talent
Eliza Madrigal: heheh
Eliza Madrigal: It was the PaB birthday party night
SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
Eliza Madrigal: but funny when there are those synchronicities which really don't 'say' anything in particular
Eliza Madrigal: they just kind of wink at you
SophiaSharon Larnia: random synchronicities?? do they mean anything
SophiaSharon Larnia: laughs
Eliza Madrigal: :)))
Eliza Madrigal: You know I still haven't seen the new Star Trek Qt
SophiaSharon Larnia: reflection of thoughts in the world
Eliza Madrigal: Ohhh that's nice SophiaSharon...
Qt Core: yes, that your 1 on 60,000,000,000 chance happening was about abshynte and not about lottery numbers ;-)
SophiaSharon Larnia: i think thats what it is
Eliza Madrigal smiles
Eliza Madrigal: YES! Qt that's it exactly... i used to be quite baffled by that
Eliza Madrigal: "What USE is this?"
SophiaSharon Larnia: somehow, energetically
Eliza Madrigal: hahahah
Qt Core: watch it, it is a great movie, very funny
SophiaSharon Larnia: ok will see if i can watch for free online, while in sl ;p
Qt Core: the only way you can hate it is if you are conservative in nature
Eliza Madrigal: What I think it can be hard to explain when someone asks why spend so much time in SL for instance, is that there are times to do what seems indulgent
Eliza Madrigal: Qt, conservative in what way?
SophiaSharon Larnia: well, Eliza, you probably need to do that alot, having so much to do
Eliza Madrigal: (or indulgent from outside anyway)
Qt Core: as there are a couple big change about the original series as we knew it you may don't like it
SophiaSharon Larnia: you deserve to take time for yourself
Eliza Madrigal: :) Thank you
Qt Core: i think i would have hated it five years ago
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, I like the original but am not so fanatic that I'd be bothered too much if it is clever/well made
Eliza Madrigal: At least once a week I think "I am not programmed to respond to that answer"
Eliza Madrigal giggles
SophiaSharon Larnia: lol
Qt Core: then i started readinf fanfiction even trek fanfiction so i got acdcustomed to the idea of big changes in stories i love
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, fan fiction will do that certainly!
Eliza Madrigal: My daughters love Harry Potter fan fiction... oldest one writes quite a bit of it
SophiaSharon Larnia: writes? cool! :)
Qt Core: (you know, most of my non technical english got a big remake from reading fanfiction
Qt Core: )
Eliza Madrigal: She write a lot, for instance there is semething called nanremo... they try to write a novel in a month... meet up at Panera breads, etc
Eliza Madrigal: *writes
Eliza Madrigal: Starts in November
SophiaSharon Larnia: wow an entire novel, novelette?
Eliza Madrigal: yes...she hasn't made it yet. There is a certain word count the group strives for
Eliza Madrigal: Maybe I should read Spanish fan fiction Qt
Eliza Madrigal: ? :))
SophiaSharon Larnia: sounds intense
Eliza Madrigal nods... she's intense... don't know how she does so many things
Eliza Madrigal: I marvel :)
Eliza Madrigal is a simple and very limited person
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Qt Core: i think i spent one of my 1 on 60,000,000,000 chances with fanfiction as i got the first one i ever read randomly in a fake bittorrent link and it was one of the best i've read
--BELL--
SophiaSharon Larnia: laushs and nods 'Me too'
Qt Core: so i got interested and got addicted ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: bit torrent link?
SophiaSharon Larnia: this is the first ive heard the term fanfiction, is that when fans continue a storyline?
Eliza Madrigal: yes
SophiaSharon Larnia: cool
Qt Core: i was downloading some java/c docs and got this strange things
Eliza Madrigal: it can be, especially when a series ends flatly or with many disappointments
Qt Core: continue or change completely
Eliza Madrigal: that's what it means qt?
Qt Core: yes
Eliza Madrigal makes a note...how neat
Qt Core: just wisit www.fanfiction.net to got an idea... more than 400,000 storyes... only in the Harry Potter category
Qt Core: (ok, it is the biggest one)
SophiaSharon Larnia wonders what part of myth is fan fiction
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, that's an interesting thought.... you mean stories that amalgamate over time?
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes
Qt Core: technically myth is fiction, it does not start from someone work
Qt Core: maybe it is a multiple author work
Eliza Madrigal: metaphor details...
Eliza Madrigal: endlessly spinning off
SophiaSharon Larnia: true, perhaps can be phased better
SophiaSharon Larnia: phrased*
Eliza Madrigal: How we end up here perhaps :)
Qt Core: some could say the same about religions
Eliza Madrigal nods nods
Eliza Madrigal: I was talking with a friend last night who never felt she had a premonition in a dream, nor any other type of non black/white interpretation of something...
Eliza Madrigal: yet she finds so much inspiration in church and in imagery
Eliza Madrigal: by the time we finished the conversation it was so ... hm.. overlapped
SophiaSharon Larnia: interesting, so she thinks in back and white (no gray) yet finds a black and white meaning in imagery
SophiaSharon Larnia: is that right?
Eliza Madrigal: yes, or at least she thinks she does... if that makes sense... it is like she has a view of her view which she didn't realize
Eliza Madrigal: as do I
SophiaSharon Larnia: the idea is foreign to me, i can not see black or white, in anything
Eliza Madrigal: you see many things going on at once?
Eliza Madrigal goes back to considering multiple interlocking paradoxes... and smiles
SophiaSharon Larnia: no, not precisely, but I think something can be viewed from different viewing points
Eliza Madrigal: We're really in Sci Fi territory there :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: lol
Qt Core: while at school, many years ago a teacher explicity scolded me for watching the world in black and white (one of the best teacher i had)
SophiaSharon Larnia: hmm
Eliza Madrigal: scolded you? She must have liked you
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: try to open you up
Qt Core: he
Qt Core: he was a italian/history professor
Eliza Madrigal: Seems an important subject for someone to see in many ways
Qt Core: and geography too
Eliza Madrigal: Nice!
Eliza Madrigal: Have you ever seen this? http://www.petersmap.com/
Qt Core: sometimes he noted i was going to become restless and start to not paying reall attention and he invited me to go make a walk in the corridors and come back
Eliza Madrigal: Oh My... good teacher. He was really aware of you
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes, critical for a good teacher to realize when students are become disengaged
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: critical and rare!
Eliza Madrigal: I need to go for now.
SophiaSharon Larnia: what is the controversy over this map? it would be a more accurate interpretation of land mass?
Qt Core: bye eliza, have fun
Eliza Madrigal: If either of you get a chance, Eos and I are starting a book chat for a few weeks at 2PM
SophiaSharon Larnia: today?
Eliza Madrigal: I'll be sending another email later :)
Eliza Madrigal: yes, exactly SophiaSharon
SophiaSharon Larnia: yay
SophiaSharon Larnia: im going to be nonproductive in sl
Eliza Madrigal: hahahahhahahhha
SophiaSharon Larnia: see you later :))
Eliza Madrigal: Bye :). Nice chat with you guys today. THANKS!
SophiaSharon Larnia: bye Eliza and Qt
Qt Core: bye, there are people asking productivity around here in sl :-(
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes, Mary was earlier, said she had someting more productive to do and left
Qt Core: (and i'm not at work ;-) )
SophiaSharon Larnia: me either!
Qt Core: in rl, i wanted to write
SophiaSharon Larnia: i did too for a while, and still try once in a while
SophiaSharon Larnia: i read so man wonderful things by 'amateurs'
SophiaSharon Larnia: so many*
Qt Core: no, wrong way to say it, i was saying is that in rl and not at work i'm asked to be productive ;-)
Qt Core: messy english today ;-)
SophiaSharon Larnia: laughs
Qt Core: about writing, i may like it but really never tried, not even a diary
SophiaSharon Larnia: no problem, i think i knew what you meant
SophiaSharon Larnia: a diary is harder, in my opinion
SophiaSharon Larnia: theres this feeling of guilt if you dont write something every so often, unnecessary pressure
Qt Core: and then if you get really honest you may even scare yourself
SophiaSharon Larnia: yes that too, and swear no one will ver see it
SophiaSharon Larnia: lol
Qt Core: i may even try the blog thing, but then who on hearth would like to read my ramblings ?
SophiaSharon Larnia: i feel that way too, but writing does help me put form to many feelings i have about something
SophiaSharon Larnia: clarifies my thoughts
SophiaSharon Larnia: sometimes i dont know how i really think about something until i start writing
SophiaSharon Larnia: but now i am starting to run late and have to go :(
Qt Core: ok, run run ;-) bye
SophiaSharon Larnia: bye Qt :)
SophiaSharon Larnia: haha
</evil></spins>