Feed Icon RSS 1.0 XML Feed available

Dreamflix recommends...

Date: 18-May-2009/6:45+3:00

Tags: , , ,

Characters: me, him, man

I was following someone through a snow bank, and not wearing any shoes. I realized I'd left my shoes and a number of other things behind me. Leaving the group, I went back to get them... only to realize that I'd lost my way and it was getting dark. After falling down an embankment, I just sort of settled into the idea that I was pretty much lost and going to die.
Resigned to this, my point of view shifted to where instead of being like I was experiencing freezing death first-hand I was looking through a viewfinder on a video camera.
me: (to self) "Hrm. Well, if I'm going to die, I might as well get a look at myself."
I rotated the camera to point it at me. I saw something that looked like an Asmio robot, driving a truck with a camera mounted on it that looked somewhat like a utility vehicle that was built out of LEGO.
me: "Oh. One of those. Those things that are everywhere, but you just don't see them."
My point of view shifted once again to where I was inside a kitchen in a very well-decorated house. There was a man there who I seemed to be in mid-conversation with, as he lifted me out of a wheelchair and onto my feet.
me: "...aaaa! This is ridiculous. I hate human bodies. Moreover, I hate humans."
him: "No you don't."
me: "Yes, I do. I'll grant that everyone is different. You have to give everyone a fair shot, some are better than others, no one is perfect. All that. But by and large, hate 'em. I'm thirsty, do you have any soda?"
Note I was somewhat dehydrated when I woke up and actually thirsty.
We opened the door to a large stainless steel refrigerator. It was mostly empty, but there was an aluminum can of 7-up sitting on the top shelf. I grabbed it and drank it, as I followed the man down a hallway. We walked up to a strange looking gate that he raised a hand to--and it opened to lead us into a bedroom. He went to the floor to unlock a hidden panel and pull something out of it. I focused on petting one of the two cats that were there.
me: "I have questions about how I go on talking about things that don't make a whole lot of sense. Take that humans rant a moment ago--because honestly I don't know anything about the alternatives to human existence. Why do I feel like I know this place, or know you, when I have no clue what I'm talking about? And why is your cat wearing a robe, that's just weird."
A dog started biting my foot.
me: "Your dog is biting my foot and going to wake me up."
man: "I'll talk to him about that."
me: "Okay, great, but my question stands. Who am I to you? Given that my memory starts in 1975 and between then and now I've never met you, how do you see us as relating to each other at all?"
man: "I want you to go to the box office and see a movie."
me: (excited) "Yes, what?"
man: "The movie Happy Feet."
The stress of trying to stay in the dream was beginning to wear on me, and I've not had the least bit of interest in seeing Happy Feet
me: (frustrated) "Happy Feet? Okay. But why?"
There was a pause.
man: "It makes a point, about how your circumstances can..."
me: "So you're not actually telling me anything besides 'go learn a lesson'. Thanks, but I'm always learning lessons. And your 7-Up was flat and I don't think that was a full 12 ounces so look into it."
man: (thinking) "Oh, that's probably several years old."
me: "Unopened it should keep just about forever. This dog foot thing hurts terribly, bye."
UPDATE
I went and read the movie synopsis for Happy Feet and it turns out it's not just about a tapdancing penguin. That part I knew. The part I didn't know was that his rare tapdancing talent--which causes him to become something of an outcast--becomes the key to communication with humans when he's kidnapped and put in a zoo:
After narrowly escaping from two killer whales, the penguins finally come face to face with a legion of huge commercial trawlers, all laden with fish caught around the Antarctic coast. Mumble follows after them fearlessly, leaving his friends behind to bear testament to his legacy.
(...) Mumble ends up in a penguin exhibit at a marine park (closely resembling the Penguin Encounter at SeaWorld, a massive zoom-out hinting at the one in Orlando, Florida), and fervently tries to communicate with the "aliens" (humans) who surround him. When his pleas fail, Mumble nearly succumbs to madness after three months of confinement in the sterile glass prison.
When a child taps on the glass wall one day, Mumble is woken from his stupor and dances in response, whereupon the child appears to run away. He becomes disappointed until she comes back with her mother. Soon, a large crowd gathers around the exhibit, taking pictures and telling their friends of this marvel. He is released to the wild, now with fewer of his fluffy down feathers and a tracking device strapped to his back, and leads the "aliens" home to his native colony. The other penguins, formerly skeptical, are now convinced that the aliens do exist.
Soon, a research team arrives and films the penguins dancing, and dances along with the rhythm. They bring this footage back to the human world. Different governments debate what to make of this footage and a worldwide debate ensues. They soon realize that they are overfishing the Antarctic waters, and conclude that perhaps the penguins were trying to communicate that to them. Antarctic fishing is banned, and the fish population recovers.
Given that I didn't know any of that bit and thought it was just a musical coming-of-age penguin story with mediocre animation, I'll give that the "verified" tag. Because that's rather uncanny.)
Currently I am experimenting with using Disqus for comments, however it is configured that you don't have to log in or tie it to an account. Simply check the "I'd rather post as a guest" button after clicking in the spot to type in a name.
comments powered by Disqus
copy write %C:/0304-1020 {Met^(00C6)ducation}

The accounts written here are as true as I can manage. While the words are my own, they are not independent creative works of fiction —in any intentional way. Thus I do not consider the material to be protected by anything, other than that you'd have to be crazy to want to try and use it for genuine purposes (much less disingenuous ones!) But who's to say?