Saturday, October 14, 2006

Sleep when you're dead.

I was in a quirky mood today so I wandered over to the Piedmont to see The Science of Sleep. Turned out I was in the right mood for this movie, up until a certain point near the very end when I saw a bit too much of myself in both of the main characters and then got a little depressed. (Otherwise it was excellent - quirky and laughable and heartfelt. Bordering on lovely - but not quite. Charming, perhaps.)

Then I walked home and, in an effort to catch up on my Netflix, popped in Flight from Death, which (I think) was recommended by a friend. Parts of the documentary describe the work of a team of researchers (one very quirky) who have conducted over 300 laboratory studies that substantiate Ernest Becker's claim that death anxiety is a primary motivator of human behavior, specifically aggression and violence. And then it got sidetracked into a 9/11 montage, and overall it was too focused on America when there were so many other atrocities that could've been mentioned to support the theory, and the end was slightly - but not really - uplifting... But it did offer the final suggestion that we should act for mankind in general in our day-to-day life, versus working for money or fame or fortune. Of course, the people who need to see it will never watch this documentary. (As is the case with most documentaries.)

And then after all the talk of sleep and death I just had to take a nap. And I napped HARD. Me and Her Majesty both. It was a beautiful thing.

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