Jonathan Light

We were married today. That’s all.

Just had my medial meniscus pretty much removed: “a large chunk,” according to my technical-jargon-using doctor.

My worry is about climbing again. Despite my recent fears of dying in the mountains, a fear I never used to have but which has promulgated with age, I still desperately want to stand on a remote peak, having moved myself up there using my own skill and fortitude.  It’s something that I need to experience during my life, just once…

Alas, whatever skill and fortitude I have left will almost definitely now have to be supplemented by a trained guiding service costing thousands of dollars, and more than likely a sturdy knee brace.  My only hope is to be successful enough in something to be able to afford both the fees and the month of time it would require.

And hopefully by the time I need a knee replacement, they’ll be made of an indestructible bionic material with WiFi connectivity.

Instead of writing, or doing some work, or living in the real world, I just spent the last hour photo-editing a headshot.  Though the fruits of my labor are now prominently displayed on this site, I can’t help but feel that my time might have been better spent in more fruitful pursuits, like cleaning the bathroom or doing push-ups or something.

I guess I’m starting to realize I miss acting more than I’d care to admit…[sigh…]

So there’s this new platform called Popcorn.js – check it out.  It basically gives you a little sidebar next to the videos so people can view other “things” associated with the video, while the video is playing.

This article from Wired suggests that filmmakers and coders will want to join forces and – using tools like Popcorn.js – create new “experiences” on the web.  It purports to create a new layer of interactivity that will change the way we watch videos on the internet.

I’m all for innovation and creation, and I’m kind of in awe of web coders and the coolness they create.  I do not, however, think that what the world needs is another way for people to have their attention span split into 15 different branches.  There is this push to create more “interactivity” and create “less passive” experiences for people – but how much stimulus can we handle at once?

Forget for a minute that the reason I make a video or a film or something with pictures that move is because I want people to WATCH IT.  I don’t want them to kind of see it in the corner of their eye and then be able to focus on something slightly related but which ultimately has very little to do with the imagery I’ve arranged.  I want people to SEE what I’ve done.  Considering it’s a video, and all.

But forget that for a second – is this actually a good idea?  Do people actually need this?  Is it a good idea to create MORE simultaneous stimuli for people, when their attention spans are short enough already?  What will happen to our once-renowned ability to focus on one thing for more than 8 seconds?

Stories like this make me worry about a future world in which nobody really knows anything because they’ve never sat still long enough to learn it.  Everybody moves and operates in what will be known as life increments, in which every 4.5 seconds your entire being switches over to something completely different, and you follow that path until the next increment, and so on.

I guess it won’t matter then anyway, because by that point we’ll be able to simply close our eyes and download all the information we need, so people will need something to occupy their time I guess.

And the irony of it all is, I started this article with not one but TWO hyperlinks to other information, which in turn contain other hyperlinks to still further away locations on the internet.  If you’ve managed to get this far, I’m very impressed, and yet also slightly sad for you:  You and your kind are not long for this world.

As Philadelphia sports fans, it’s an unnatural order of things to expect to do well – this will lead to defeat. The only way for us to be satisfied in our teams is if we expect them to choke and lose and fail every season, and then be surprised when (or if) they don’t.

Back in the real world, I’m starting to get a little overwhelmed by the possibilities in the series we’re working on at the Writer’s Studio.  Exposure has a great premise – spot news photographers roam the streets of New York.  As more and more ideas come forth, I’m realizing just how difficult it will be to make decisions: who is to say what is right and what is wrong when creating things?

I guess this is the biggest challenge of this program: finding consensus, and putting your ego aside, no matter how inspired or great you think your ideas are.