“Is it love tonight
When everyone’s dreaming
Of a better life
In this world
Divided by fear
We’ve gotta believe that
There’s a reason we’re here
Yeah, there’s a reason we’re here
Cause these are the days worth living
These are the years we’re given
And these are the moments
These are the times
Let’s make the best out of our lives”
(The Calling - Our Lives)
the last time i have been to Klagenfurt was at the beginning of march i guess. not much has changed, but i am still tired from the trip yesterday because it was raining heavily and the traffic was very thick. i do not really enjoy driving when it rains. good news is that the two theoretical chapters of the thesis are finished now. what is up next is the practical part of applying lacanian psychoanalysis and the concept of “terminal identity” to selected films.
the net has changed considerably. i have been online since 1996 and back then you were quite happy if you got one e-mail per day - now i get up to 250 spam e-mails daily. call it nostalgia or plain romantic but times where way different then. this article reminded me how life online was like back then… and yeah, i actually “played with the big boys” with my 28.8 modem.
np: The Calling - Our Lives
my car was short on gas so i decided to make a quick spin to the gas station. but i was short on money too, so i paid the next ATM a visit. to my big surprise (and frustration) the ATM in question was out of order. that happens occationally so i did not mind and drove to another nearby ATM that was out of order as well. what the hell? with my tank almost empty and still no money for refuelling i figured it would be best to ask my bank what is going on. they told me straighforward that no single ATM in the whole district is working (including the credit card verification at the checkout) because someone damaged the dedicated line that connects all ATMs with the central server and for what apparent reason whatsoever they do not have a backup or redundant line (and did not manage to repair the broken line in more than 4 hours)! at least i had some old fashioned change in my pocket, otherwise i would have ended up with an empty tank in the middle of nowhere… welcome to the wonderful world of high technology.
another week has just started and well, i am still stuck with the theoretical chapter about science fiction. but i am optimistic that i will finish that chapter by the end of the week. (yeah i know, it is about time…) right now i am about to explain why cyberpunk is important and what impact it has on identity and society. i am seriously wondering if anybody (apart from my supervisor) is ever going to read my thesis? if you are interested in reading it, let me know… comments are welcome.
a good friend of mine told me today that he finally got the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD. i am thinking of getting the TNG box sets as well, but they are still quite expensive and so i’ll wait for yet another special offer. this conversation reminded me that i haven’t been watching Star Trek for ages. as a result, i just finished watching Star Trek VII: Generations. i must have watched this movie for at least 10 times or more and i know almost every dialogue by heart. and still, i never get tired or bored of it. however, my favorite Star Trek film is Star Trek VIII: First Contact.
it’s my thesis all over again. today i dealt with lyotard’s “postmodern condition - a report on knowledge”. yeah, it is about as exciting as it sounds but somewhat necessary if you wanna argue why The Matrix is postmodern science fiction. i am sort of optimistic now that i will actually finish this project in time, that by the end of july.
although today was really a beautiful spring day like in the books, i somehow felt depressed. maybe i am just a bit exhausted and needed one day off. the weather was almost too tempting to take the bike out for a ride but i was not feeling that great. (i suspect the stuff from the dentist caused that strange sore feeling in my throat.) now i am about to watch some episodes of Alias from the first season on DVD.
i just upgraded to the RC2 of WordPress 1.2 and i am still totally overwhelmed by the features and functionality of this publishing platform. i do not regret my decision to switch, not at all. some say it is too early to jump ship and abandon MT. well, maybe that is true, but WordPress has all the features i wanted to see in MT long ago. although i should continue working on my thesis i decided to take a day off, enjoy the great weather, and tinker with wp.
after all the stir that mt 3.0 created, i gave it some serious thought and read what fellow bloggers say. mt seems to be a dead end in the long run, you have to move on if you want to evolve. that is exactly what i did and switched to WordPress. it is quite amazing so far. please excuse the default layout of the blog, i will customize the templates ASAP.