And all this time I thought 2001 symbolized a bus about to blow up...

[felis_ultharus]

At its most exaggerated, [comic writer] Morrison's postmodernist reinterpretation of ideas and motifs reaches a level of complexity bordering on the insane, as when he has one character analyse the film Speed as a metaphor for human evolution, in which the bus, filled with every nationality, represents the world, heading towards the apocalypse in the form of the big gap in the highway construction; the ape-faced driver is the brutal evolutionary heritage of the Cro-Magnon, rushing the world to disaster while everybody argues; and finally, after the subway train trip at the end, the film's protagonist bursts out into the street in front of a cinema showing 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is all about human evolution.
---Abraham Kawa, "What If The Apocalypse Never Happens?"

I suppose Keanu Reeves' acting represents the emptiness and fakeness of modern life? What does Sandra Bullock represent? It can't be anything good.

On a similar note, I went to LEGISINFO to find out about the same-sex marriage bill, and realized that there have been about 55 bills that the government has passed or is trying to pass this year, five of which I've actually heard about. That means there are 50 potential laws or new laws out there I know nothing about.

For instance, on May 12, something was passed called C-40. With a little research (these bills are always so vague in their wording), I found out we changed a few laws protecting our farmers because the WTO -- a very scary organization -- told us to.

The laws in question were about wheat and trade policy, so no one noticed -- at least out here. Whenever the WTO steps in, though, someone in this country somewhere gets screwed. I don't know enough about the agricultural industry to know who exactly, but it's a pretty safe bet that someone is.

In the big picture, though, it's about national sovreignty. The WTO made the recommendation because the US urged them to, and our government made the change without any real public debate. That may be an indirect route, but it still means the US is giving orders, and we're jumping. The US is infamous among trade-policy-wonks worldwide for the subsidies and other goodies it gives its farmers, so that they can compete with cheaper food coming in from elsewhere.

Makes me wonder what else is slipping through, while our attention is turned elsewhere...

Comments

[jenjoou.livejournal.com]

So what does the sequel with the boat about to blow up symbolize? Lack of evolution? ;) ...gods I hate Speed. It's come to be used interchangebly with "bad movie" in this house.

The WTO and the US messing with our legal system is a bit scary though.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

I knew they were doing stuff like that, but I just assumed that the next time it happened, we'd hear about it.

Actually, it seems to be happeneing slowly, behind the curtain. Whenever the US says jump, Martin says "How high?", unless it's a very public issue like same-sex marriage or marijuana or Iraq.