Goodbye My Darling, Goodbye My Baby

New plog.

Because this one is worn to bits.

Edit: link fixed.

Now with 90% more Hemorrhaging!

This week I've seen two very different movies. In terms of plot, genre, target audience, and overall quality, they're pretty polarized: Disney's Sorcerer's Apprentice and Christopher Nolan's Inception. But they shared one piece of dialog that was mildly integral to the reasoning of both movies, and it's a myth that has become extremely popularized and, to me, extremely annoying.

The "fact" in question is that we humans only use about 10% (or less, depending who's spouting it) of our brain's potential. PFFFT.

How it was used in Sorcerer's Apprentice:

Wiggy McWigerson Nicolas Cage explains to Jay Baruchel Bighair McNasallyman that normal mortals only use 10% of their brains, but Sorcerers use 100%, which is literally why they are able to create magic. The movie tries to tie magic with science and mentions science-y words like "nervous system," "electricity," and "tesla coils(I'mnotjoking)." It's pretty vaguely technical, but I really shouldn't be too hard on it since it was meant to be more of a lighthearted, family-type movie. (Though, the lady next to me seemed to have eaten the type of family it was aimed toward).

How it was used in Inception:

Leonardo DiCaprio's character, (which by the way, has the weirdest name ever. Dom Cobb? Is that what names are going to be like in the future? If so, I'm just calling my future kid Boss Haus. Try to steal milk money from a kid named that.) Dom, explains to Ellen Page why time slows down in a dream; why 3 or 4 minutes of dreaming is something like 3 or 4 hours to someone IN the dream. He starts by asking her to recall the common fact that we don't utilize all of our brain's capacity while awake, but concedes that we DO while we are asleep, making brain functioning much quicker, therefore slowing time.

The first textbook I ever read on Psychology was written extremely well and the author put it best by saying, "If we only use 10% of our brains, why would we be frightened by a gun to our head? Even if they shoot, there's a 90% chance they won't hit anything you really needed, right?" Don't be fooled, my people. We use all our brains all the times. Here are some citations if you dummies don't believe me:

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10%25_of_brain_myth

Now, it's probably not a big deal. And I'm only 20, so I'm not going to pretend like I "know the world" or whatever. But I do. And there are a lot of extremely gullible and impressionable people out there. (I know two of them!) But it really gets under my skin when I'm in a group of people discussing something and someone cites this factoid as evidence for some point they're trying to make.

"WELL, y'know, we only use like, 2% of our brain juices...so."

SO SHUT UP.

Letter to My Crush

I wanted to try out a bit of my friend Kerry's blogging endeavor where you write one letter a day to someone, and I chose this one. Long overdue.

Crush,

You're never blue, and it's why I love you. If you were, I'd really be at a loss. You're so bubbly and likable, I've really never seen anything like it. I get envious of that. Everyone loves you. But I love how, when I inch too close to you, you like to kiss the very tip of my nose. It's the sweetest thing ever.

You were with me during Sorcerer's Apprentice last night and if I didn't have you there, I might've killed myself because of how dumb it was. (Not that I truly expected that much from it, but my mom wanted to go so, y'know.)

I hope I get to bring you to Inception tonight. Oh, it'd be lovely. If not, I'll be able to pick you up afterward from McDonald's or somewhere. You'll always be the soda for me, baby.

<3

Oh yeah, I'm 20.

P.S. I wrote this to Crush, the beverage, okay? It was supposed to be kind of clever. So I wrote a love note to orange soda. That is where my life is going.

Apathetic Shuffle

OH MY GOD, SHUT UP ALREADY.

I'm so glad my brain is not as broken as some people's.

I'd also like to stay away from the internet machine for a little while. Maybe I'll concentrate more on something like the picture box or my tetris play set or something. Or read a book. Utilize my dwindling imraginration.

Cold Steel

There's a long, flat piece of wood running from my sternum to my gut.

Summer's been nice so far. Light and airy. No real concerns, save for my normal worries about The Future. I only wish I was able to pin down a job to keep my mind from reverting back to thoughts I'd much rather forget. I must get my brain occupied with something. Perhaps I'll redo my room soon. That sounds time consuming AND frustrating!

Of all the knobs and switches and levers made in the world throughout History, why couldn't just one of them be used to turn off certain memories or emotions? I mean really, make yourselves useful, inventors. Get out your Tesla coil and break my brain. If you can't fix the oil leak, this is the next best thing. You'd think world hunger would outrank Memory Destroyer in this. You are wrong. So just sit in your wrongness and be wrong.

Maybe I'll just turn into an alcoholic. It's the new heroin-chic.

By the way, I really think soldiers under 21 should be allowed to drink themselves into a temporary coma after blasting the heads off of civilians. It's only fair.

Shutter Island is so damn good. I've seen it twice now and it's already become one of my favorite movies. It's just exciting. I read that it was supposed to come out in October as Oscar-bait, but that the Paramount execs figured it would make much more sense to release it in February. They were right in that it made much more money than it probably would have, and definitely stood out amongst the crowd of forgettable romantic comedies and kid's movies, but they also assumed it wouldn't have done so well in the awards arena, either. I just folded my arms and scowled.

Sure, the movie was a bit predictable, but it was stunning and extremely well made. There should be no doubt of it's superiority over Avatar, which is little more than a particularly vivid acid trip, remembering a bedtime story while staring idly at your Blue Russian. BOOM.

Uh, anyway. I'm making pizza today at a house that is not my own. BONJOVI!