What is the value of free speech if we have nothing of value to say.
What purpose does freedom of religion service if we no longer believe in anything.
This quote is from his book Utopia for Realists, which I wrote about a couple of days ago. Something to think about when we stand for basic human rights. We keep fighting for them for various reasons, but do we add value to society with things we are saying, doing or believing? Or is most of it just for selfish reasons.
I love Christmas and it isn’t just because of the presents, which now that I am older I no longer get, but it is for “the season”. Early December it starts here in The Netherlands. You can see the decorations everywhere and the cheerful music which gets played more on the radio and in shopping centers. It is just a period of positivity.
This of course being a pandemic, being positive can be challenging at times. But whenever I feel dark and gloomy, I put up a nice new Christmas movie, which this year for me was 8-bit Christmas.
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The problem with movies which have to make (a lot of) promotion before it hits the cinema, is the need for teasers and trailers. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing, if you are capable of teasing just enough without giving away any plot points. Marvel Studios has made this into an art, usually only showing footage of the first 15 minutes of movies, shooting extra scenes for trailers or using CGI to modify trailers, just to keep enough surprises for the audience.
If you are reading this, I am hoping you haven’t seen any promotional footage of The Matrix Resurrections, because if you haven’t you will be in for a nice ride, if you have seen trailers you might have been spoiled too much. Click on to read some of my spoiler free thoughts after seeing the movie.
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Have you ever wondered what you would do if money was not an issue? Let’s say that all your financial problems are taken care of. Your kids go to a good school, food is on the table and you even have sufficient money left to buy things you want and can go on the occasional holiday. What would you do with your (precious) time?
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The Ascent is often praised as the better cyberpunk game when being compared to last year’s Cyberpunk 2077, however this for me has not been the experience. Now don’t get me wrong, I consider myself a fan of the cyberpunk setting and I am also a connoisseur when it comes to RPGs. But The Ascent did not really click with me and it might due to the high expectations I had before starting this game.
Continue readingLife’s an adventure. If you are not choosing the adventurous path then you are not living.
Currently reading (listening) to Robert Iger’s book The Ride of a Lifetime and when making various career steps his now ex wife gave him this piece of advice. Other versions are often quoted like “do things that make you feel unconformable” or “push yourself out of your comfort zone”.
I feel this type of advice holds true to one of my sayings which loosely translate to: “never stay in a position long enough that you no longer can get out of it”.
Obstacles are opportunities
From the latest The Suicide Squad movie written and directed by James Gunn, one of the main characters Rick Flag wears a T-Shirt with this quote on it.
According to Gunn he follows this philosophy to overcome problems he has had in the past, one of course being his firing from Marvel Studios (he since has returned). His mantra has grown on me and I think it is a nice way of looking at problems you might face. It reminded me of a great manager I had, who always said: “You can come to me with any problem, but only if you have also thought about possible solutions.”
I have no personal affinity with American politics, but I do like following it through various late night comedy shows. Not only do many of them address US politics, but they also discuss interesting topics around the world. Growing up I also didn’t follow local news or politics, but after college and starting a job, I’ve taken an interest in it. Mostly because I like studying leaders and/or leadership roles. For me the Obama administration was one of those to observe and perhaps learn from. After serving two terms, both Michelle and Barack Obama have written books. I’ll write a next post about what went through my mind when reading his book. As to the book of Michelle Obama, Becoming, I already had questions going in, hoping to get some of them answered.
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Growing up I didn’t have much of a social life. I am a bit of an introvert and was content playing with my LEGO and computer/console games. The small group of “friends” I did have were all related to my (mandatory) sports, chess or a couple of my classmates.
Fast forward a few years and most of what I knew back then concerning social interactions and how relationships work, came from tv series like Dawson’s Creek, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and of course Friends.
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