YOUR LIFE IS A MOVIE

Below is the opening paragraph of a piece by Nichloas Rombes entitled
YOUR LIFE IS A MOVIE, The Surveillance Culture as Entertainment which has interesting implications for the practice of Cinemorphics.



Today, a second-order reality threatens not to replace the Real, but to expose it as a threat. The final threat. We have been prepared for this by movies like eXinstenZ and The Matrix and Minority Report, which have helped to transform fear into desire. "Big Brother" is no longer a source of anxiety, but of fascination. The Department of Defense's central research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) maintains a web site that speaks of "truth maintenance" and "story telling." In an older version of the website, there was this sentence: "Total information awareness of transnational threats requires keeping track of individuals and understanding how they fit into models."

JOHN BARRYMORE QUOTATIONS

John Barrymore is reported to have said the following:



A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

America is the country where you can buy a lifetime supply of aspirin For one dollar and use it up in two weeks.

Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him.

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.

I am thinking of taking a fifth wife. Why not? Solomon had a thousand wives and he is a synonym for wisdom.



I would like to find a stew that will give me heartburn immediately, instead of at three o clock in the morning.

In Genesis, it says that it is not good for a man to be alone; but sometimes it is a great relief.

Hollywood is like the seven headed sea monster from the Bible. Or maybe it’s the actors. Each has at least seven personalities. I know I do.

Love is the delightful interval between meeting a beautiful girl and discovering that she looks like a haddock.

My wife is the kind of girl who will not go anywhere without her mother, and her mother will go anywhere.



Why is there so much month left at the end of the money?

ANOTHER CLUE

The HISTORY of acting…

The first recorded case of an actor performing took place in 534 B.C. (probably on 23 November, though the changes in calendar over the years make it hard to determine exactly) when the Greek performer Thespis stepped on to the stage at the Theatre Dionysus and became the first person to speak words as a character in a play. The machinations of storytelling were immediately revolutionized. Prior to Thespis' act, stories were told in song and dance and in third person narrative, but no one had assumed the role of a character in a story. In honour of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians.

Theatrical myth to this day maintains that Thespis exists as a mischievous spirit, and disasters in the theatre are sometimes blamed on his ghostly intervention.

A HINT

JOHN BARRYMORE

A PUZZLE

What do these images have in common?

EXTREME PERSONALITY MAKEOVER

Below is an excerpt from a
WIRED article that somebody turned me on to. This stuff is way beyond Cinemorphics and the "Method"…edging into Nano Vogue, only not as changeable.



"Sick of your lazy, cheating spouse? Ready to dump your nagging girlfriend? Don't give up - they can be changed. A growing list of personality traits has been linked to individual genes, and scientists are finding ways to tweak them. Yes, this stuff is largely experimental, but someday DNA could save your relationship. So, young lovers, are you ready to skip couples counseling and go straight to gene therapy? Here are some behaviors ripe for reengineering…"

Check out the article via link, above…

NANO VOGUE

An associate of mine reminded me of a futuristic TV series proposal that I wrote a number of years ago that included an episode summary entitled NANO VOGUE which hints at what a Cinemorphic technology might be like a hundred years from now (or maybe sooner). Here's the summary:

"A Parisian designer debuts his new collection. By using his cutting edge neurochemical/nano-shapeshifting technology, fashionistas can select from his new generation of persona/body/sex design configurations, which enable physical and psychological malleability, changing these configurations as they would clothes. The world military and covert operations coalition attempts to suppress and commandeer the designer's innovation, but since, by this time, the fashion industry is more powerful than any government or military group, they loose."



Here are some excerpts from an ARTICLE that appeared last year:

Frederic Zenhausern, director of the Applied NanoBioscience Center at ASU, has joined with Ghassan Jabbour, a professor at the University of Arizona, to develop two prototypes of "biometric bodysuits" that contain embedded sensors, power sources, microfluidic devices and other gadgets not normally associated with the latest Paris fashions…



…The civilian one can monitor your heart or blood pressure, deliver interactive games or simply work as a wearable computer. You will even be able to download new colors and patterns from the Web to change your appearance…

…And it could all be made to look stylish by blending the electronics with high-fashion designs, he said.

Persona as fashion…

CHARACTER ADDICTION

Notes:
Someone emailed asking if I have ever encountered what might be termed "character addiction", i.e. someone who either "falls in love" (love an addiction?) with a character they are playing in a movie or play or creating a new persona for themselves which may be addictive in an unhealthy way. I addressed this very briefly in an early post, CINEMORPHICS - Observations 1, in the October Archives. To elaborate a bit...

I know some actors REALLY like to play certain types of characters because of the attributes of these types. An example would be a powerful character, e.g. a king or a mob boss or cop. The power of the character being acted feels good to the actor and becomes very seductive. I "real" life, I can see how this could create problems. (This is not the same thing as creating a persona who drinks becoming addicted to alcohol. The addiction is probably to the alcohol, not the persona.)



If you create a persona that really "works", really "plays" it makes you feel good…in the groove. If this groove habituates and you find that you have to exaggerate the aspects of this persona to continue to make it "work", the persona could be creating a dependency. We are probably all "addicted" to our egos to begin with. The ego can be very demanding. It kicks and screams if not attended to properly. This is what could be considered one of the "subtle" or invisible addictions referred to in the excerpt below from the article DRUG ADDICTION VERSUS DRUG WAR ADDICTION. Interesting stuff…addiction to "reality"?

"Addiction comes in many forms, shapes and sizes. The major ones include: alcohol addiction, tobacco addiction, caffeine addiction, drug addiction, pornography addiction, sex addiction, gambling addiction, and computer addiction (including on-line gaming addiction). Then, there are the so-called "subtle" or invisible addictions, which include addiction to work (workaholics), addiction to power (megalomania), addiction to money (miserliness), addiction to approval ("people pleasing"), addiction to reading (bibioholics), addiction to spirituality (the "silent" or taboo addiction), addiction to beauty ("attraction"), addiction to obsessive thinking (rumination), addiction to emotion (anger or tears), and addiction to certain foods (chocoholics)."

HIATUS

I will not be posting on as regular a basis until after the first of the year. I look forward to receiving questions, comments, criticisms, inspirations, etc. at cinemorphics@yahoo.com.