The story goes that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden up until Eden was convinced by a snake to eat an apple from a tree. She wasn't supposed to, so she and Adam were thrown out of the Garden of Eden. (Well, I'm no expert, so if you really want to learn more about the "first humans", ask someone else.) But it looks like such a thing could happen for robots too.

I've heard that artificial skin that can actually feel is being developed. That's all well and good, but then I was watching the Colbert Report on TV, which is something rare, considering that my dad has not watched either the Colbert Report or the Daily Show for a long time, and because I myself hardly ever watch TV, at least the channels (I do watch anime on DVDs, but that's about it). He was saying that if robots could have skin, then that would mean they could be naked, which would then me they could feel shame, like humans do.

There are some stories out there about things that aren't human but which are similar to humans or want to become humans. For instance, there's Chobits, in which there are Persocoms, which are designed to be like humans but aren't human. And then there's Eureka Seven, which I just finished last week (good anime, by the way, although 50 episodes is a bit longer than I prefer, but it was worth it). Skip to the next paragraph if you haven't watched it and don't want to see a spoiler. Eureka, one of the main characters, isn't human; she's actually a Coralian, made by the Scub Coral, an intelligent life form which is not human.

I wonder if we're ever going to make something that is so close to being human that we can't really tell it apart from a human. Anything is possible. I wonder if that would actually happen in my lifetime. Or if it would happen many years from now. Or maybe never, after all.

Anyhow, when I was watching TV, I was pretty bored. I don't really understand how people can watch a lot of TV. It seems too passive. I hate sitting there doing nothing and then getting annoyed by the commercial breaks. I mean, even at school, I have to keep my hands busy. I often do homework in class, which I don't advise that you do, because sometimes the teacher will actually teach something and then you'll miss something important.

But anyways, TV was such a bore. Maybe I'm not watching the more interesting channels; I kind of left it up to my dad. The only channel that I like a lot is HGTV, mostly because of the interior design shows.

I watched some Friends, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (which apparently I'm not, since I don't know which Great Lake bordered three specific states. But then I'm not sure if knowledge of facts is necessarily the right way to judge someone's intelligence. People use the word "smart" pretty loosely.) and Don't Forget the Lyrics. When it comes to game shows, I'd prefer to watch Deal or No Deal, but my dad says it might not even be airing anymore. If anyone knows whether it's still going, please let me know.

I have, however, started watching the Korean drama Boys Over Flowers. I don't usually watch dramas, because they tend to be long and cliched (it's quite common to see a rich person fall in love with a poor person in dramas :\ ). But since I recently finished Code Geass and Eureka Seven, I had nothing to watch, so I figured I might as well give Boys Over Flowers a try.

I'm on the second episode now. It's been pretty entertaining actually. I didn't expect much. (The person who said that if you expect nothing, you'll never be disappointed, is quite wise. I tend to keep my expectations low so that I'll only have pleasant surprises...Unless something is really terrible.) That curly-haired guy is such a jerk, but I guess that's what makes it funny. Especially when the protagonist goes and kicks him in the face. I'd like to do something like that. (But then, instead of being cool, it would land me in trouble. C'est la vie...)

Labels: adam, artificial, boys over flowers, chobits, colbert report, drama, entertainment, eureka seven, eve, garden of eden, human, korean, lifespan, original sin, shame, skin, television, time, TV

Today's post was inspired by a movie I saw my father watching on the weekend. Naturally, as I am distracted by the things around me, I end up watching some of the movies he watches as well. The movie he was watching was a Japanese movie called Premonition. It's a freaky sort of story about a man and his family. The man was outside of his car and saw a newspaper that said his daughter would die in a car accident because of a jammed seat belt. His wife got out of the car to ask him for help freeing the seat belt. Then a truck came and hit the car, killing their daughter. Some time passed after the event, and the man had more premonitions. Eventually he has the opportunity to change the fate of his daughter. Someone MUST die in the accident. He could let his daughter die, or his wife die, or everyone could die, or he himself could die.

I'm not a fan of horror and things like that, but this movie was quite interesting. It really does show you that there are things in life you do have control over. There are many crossroads that you will reach over the course of your life and you must make the decision which path to take. Sometimes no path is perfect, but you can always try to do what's right, even if you don't necessarily succeed. And sometimes the path is a sad one. For instance, you might fall into a swamp of alligators and be killed, but then other people could step on your body and use it as a human bridge to get safely away from the alligators. (I know that's a gruesome example, but I had to think of something) Sometimes the right choice could be something that harms you, sometimes the right choice harms other people, and sometimes there is really no right choice.

Sometimes, other people and beings are in control instead of you. After watching the movie, I heard a story being read on the radio. It was about Adam and Eve, and the time when they were still in the Garden of Eden. Adam was shown to be a very stupid individual. One time he showed Eve some giraffe feces he found, and he was quite excited over it. Eve was pretty disgusted by it. On the radio, the reader said, "Adam had the IQ of a coconut husk." Eve complained to God, but he stayed silent, so she had to put up with him.

There was a snake who lived in the Garden, and he was watching Eve. He thought if they met, there would instantly be sparks flying between them and they would get along quite well. Actually, Eve saw the Snake and thought he was one of the most repulsive animals she had ever seen. But, as she didn't run away, then the Snake started to talk to her. Eve was very interested in the Tree of Knowledge, which was the only tree that she and Adam were not allowed to eat from. So the Snake gradually persuaded her to eat some, saying things like, "It's not a paradise at all if there's a way you can get kicked out" and "Just a little nibble wouldn't hurt" and "God wants you to have knowledge because then he won't be lonely anymore". Finally, Eve did eat some fruit, and then all the problems started...She realized that she was naked, which she had never really minded before (that was when my dad and I stopped listening, because we thought it would be pretty inappropriate to hear about).

Well, what I meant to show with talking about that was that someone else could be directing what you do, even if you don't realize it.

Speaking of not knowing what is happening to you, we were talking about that in French class. The conversation started because one of the students had his birthday presents stolen from his party. That is really rotten, because it must've been a so-called "friend" who stole his gifts. The teacher says that he ought to lock up his presents right away from now on. You can never be too careful.

Anyhow, the teacher was almost robbed once. She was on an escalator or something, and there were two people standing on either side of her, talking over her head. She was pretty annoyed but couldn't move. Then one of them started trying to steal her bag or the stuff in it. She didn't feel a thing...Luckily, her husband was behind and noticed, and shouted at the pickpocket, who then made his getaway. And there was also a tourist who had his credit cards stolen from his pockets and didn't feel anything either. (It was the front pockets, so that's something) Looks like thieves have some crazy skills nowadays.

Labels: adam, birthday, control, death, decision, escalator, eve, garden of eden, god, life, movie, premonition, presents, radio, robbery, skills, snake, tree of knowledge

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