Heaven's Cloud

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by PoisonTongue [/i] [B]Sure, the situation is horrible, but the irony is far, far more delicious, and makes for [i]great[/i] comedy. I look at things from a comedic satirist's viewpoint, forgive me. :D HC, did you miss the jab at Bush in my first reply? :( [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I spent too much time in high school smoking pot and attempting to decipher the various symbolic connotations of Pink Floyd's ?Dark Side of the Moon? album to not find humor in your initial remark; that is why I replied with a similarly sarcastic jest. And yes, I caught the blatant G. Dubb reference, and I thought it was quite clever :) Although I haven?t smoked pot for sometime I think Ben Harper captured my opinion best when he sang: My choice is what I choose to do And if I'm causing no harm It shouldn't bother you Your choice is who you choose to be And if your causin' no harm Then you're alright with me If you don't like my fire Then don't come around Cause I'm gonna burn one down So I guess what I am trying to say is though I don?t condone drug use, especially at school (how stupid can ya get?), I think that waving a loaded gun at a scared, frightened, impressionable teenager is infinitely more stupid and dangerous. My younger sister is still in high school and if I heard that a police officer pointed a gun at my sister's head because they expected she may be harboring some "gonge" I think I may be prompted to send them a concerned mail-bomb...[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by PoisonTongue [/i] [B]I know the raid looked violent, horrible, traumatic, scarring, emotionally damaging, and ill-advised, and apparently they found no solid evidence of any drugs, but please, [b][i]give the locker inspectors time.[/i][/b] [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I don?t think you understand the true seriousness of this situation PT. The police charged twelve people with possession of narcotics or paraphernalia (which can be anything from a bong to a paper clip molded into a roach clip), that is nearly 0.8% of the student body. I think that more than makes up for 20-30% of the student body that was emotionally or psychologically scarred by the incident. :p[/color]

[color=indigo]I always thought that an overabundance of people fail to just place their poem in the sticky that says "Today's Poem". Instead they just create a thread for each individual poem they write, and, if they are lucky, they get one response before it is recycled to the next page. I really don't care that most of the fanfics are getting pushed to the next page, mainly because many of them are absolutly horrible. I just think that it would be nice for members to get as much notice and recognition as possible for their work.[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Justin [/i] [B]In response to the Bible being faulty: So you think that men are greater than God? The Bible is God's Word and Jesus is the Word and the Lord(John 1). Therefore, by saying that men could've altered the Word is like saying that men can alter God--who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. -Justin [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Yes I think that men are greater than God, at least the God depicted in the bible. Obviously I think this because I believe a man or group of men wrote the bible. Just like a man painted that picture that has created such a pointless argument. I can't believe that anyone is basing their faith on a painting. At least the bible, a book, explains itself with its contents. People form religions around how to interpret the bibles text. Could you imagine basing your beliefs around a painting that can be open to an even wider array of speculation. I don't understand why this argument...and it is an argument not a debate...is still occuring. I think it is wonderful when people want to get involved in a religion and become informed about it, but this thread has turned into a soapbox where everybody feels the need to throw a piece of themselves on someone else's shirt. And here I am doing about the same. If you want to argue for or against whether you think the "Da'Vinci Code" novel has any relevancy and are informed about the issue at hand then be my guest, it just seems like a good topic has been distorted because certian people have decided to air their religious belifes, or lack thereof, all over each other...[/color]

[COLOR=INDIGO][SPOILER]If we were going to base the Oracle/Architect relationship on biblical or theological ideologies, I would somewhat agree with you Shy. However, you could also view the Architect as Adam, a rational creation made in machines image to follow the will of the machines. The Oracle would be Eve, who, by causing the architect to strike up a deal with Neo, symbolized the eating of the forbidden fruit. Obviously in this reference Neo is the serpent, convincing the machine world to strike up a truce with the humans thereby destroying the machines paradise?just an idea. I think that they defiantly used religious tones and symbolism in the Matrix movies, but I tend to think it was more of an amalgam of themes. You could reference a ton of different religious themes and associate them to the movie. I think that is what the creators of the movie were attempting to accomplish above all else, to create an opening where the people of Zion would create a religion out of Neo.[/COLOR][/SPOILER]

[color=indigo]There is quite a wide range of love songs?everything from falling into to falling out of can be encompassed I guess. I guess I?ll pull a High Fidelity, here are my top five love songs for this given moment in no particular order. I guess most of them are not about love but about love lost? Garth Brooks- [b]The Dance[/b] Derrick and the Dominos- [b]Bell Bottom Blues[/b] Rolling Stones- [b]Wild Horses[/b] Pearl Jam- [b]Black[/b] Cravin Melon- [b]Silk Sunflowers[/b] [/color]

[color=indigo]They could have gotten the same results with measures that weren?t quite as extreme. There just seems too much room for error in that circumstance. What is a young kid freaked out because they had a gun waved at them and was accidentally shot? It would have been just as easy and as effective for teachers to detain students within classrooms while the police officers searched cars and lockers. Then they could move on to the students while in their classrooms. It is a lot less threatening than utilizing Gestapo tactics?and lets face it, that is what they were Gestapo tactics used not necessarily to find drugs but to scare students away from bringing them to school. If the drug problem has become so horrible in this school that this is their only resort, then the whole administration needs to be fired as well as most of the teachers. That is where the real problem probably rests.[/color]

[color=indigo]I am pretty sure that this thread was inspired by "The DaVinci Code", or at least some of the media that has surrounded the novel (which is quite good). There is no historical proof that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene other than a few documents that were written four hundred and thirty years after Jesus' death. However, from a historical perspective you could say the exact same about Jesus [u]not[/u] being married, the only factual evidence is the bible. It is a thought that Emperor Constantine left several excerpts out of the book so he could further his political agenda. Over centuries, the Catholic Church has searched for lost excerpts and passages but they either have turned up empty-handed or are purposefully withholding the documents. More than likely most of the message (if not all of it) made it into the good book? [/color] [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Vegitto4 [/i] [B]Do you even know why many christians stick to those gospels? It's because we shouldn't need to listen to any other non-biblical texts. Like Apocrypha (which was mentioned in that article, which I read very closely actually). If you study anything at all about Textual Criticism (the study of how we got what we know today as the Bible) the proof is clearly available that the extant (copies left available today) manuscripts were ~painstakingly~ copied to prevent discrepencies, and could withstand even greater rigors than a DNA test for a modern day evidenciary hearing. [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]That doesn't mean that things weren't left out of the original copy. Again, it is a point that cannot be validated either way, you can only make a true judgement based on your heart and what your heart truly believes. I, personally, wouldn't base my faith solely on the presentation of a magazine article or a fictional novel, I would base it on what fells right in my heart, soul, and mind.[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Shy [/i] [B][size=1]In either case, I'll wait for the current batch of Pokemon RPGs to fade away before I decide to create my own, with lots of sex and violence. -Shy[/size] [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Ahhh, a glorious idea Shy, Pokemon Pleasure Island: watch them battle both in the field and in the bedroom... sounds like the next million dollar idea for a Fox unreality show, heh[/color]

[color=indigo]Act perfectly normal and then write how you deviated from your set class society. If you worded it correctly you could probably get away with it...[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Manic [/i] [B] [spoiler] In Reloaded, Oracle implied that Neo had "the sight;" that he now had visions of the future. Apparently, those visions only applied to Trinity's fate, because Neo still had no idea what was going to happen. The fact that it all disappeared seems... stupid. [/spoiler][/quote] [color=indigo][spoiler]I agree, although I did chalk up Neo?s loss of ?the sight? to the fact that he was no longer forced to make the same choices as his predecessor?s, therefore there was no clear prediction of the future. That would also explain why the Oracle could not help Neo with his decisions, or at least point him in the right direction. However, this obviously wasn?t the case since she not only gave advice to Niobe, but she also was aware of how she was an integral part in destroying Smith. [/color][/spoiler] [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Manic [/i] [B] [spoiler]Also, although I liked the fact that the Indian family at the train station showed that programs can feel emotions just as potent as any human, that annulled what was said in Reloaded. Ok, so maybe the Architect is too obtuse to grasp the concept of emotion. What about Persephone? She longed to feel emotions like humans do, because she couldn't feel them on her own.[/spoiler][/quote] [color=indigo][spoiler]The Merovingian and Persephone were very old programs, so maybe the newer programs had more connection to human emotions. Although Persephone did show plenty of emotion, she was angry at her husband, so she betrayed him to help Neo, and the Merovingian defiantly lusted after other woman, maybe they have more human emotion than they wanted to lead us to initially believe? One thing that I was hoping would be broached was the original point of the Merovingian. I was really hoping that he was the residual data leftover from the original ?One?. They kind of eluded to in [b]Reloaded[/b] when Persephone said that her husband used to have the same kind of passion as Neo. It seemed as though he had resigned himself to just attempting to survive within the system..[/color][/spoiler]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by rttocs77 [/i] [B]At least the Dixie Chicks "apologized." [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]That is even worse though. Why should anyone apologize for their belifes. It is one thing to apologize when you truly have been made to believe that your opinion was faulty, but they apologized because they were afraid that their opinion would hurt record sales...no backbone...[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Kent [/i] [B]Phish and grateful dead. Both bands are cliched, over and under-rated by respective groups of fans/haters. [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Do I ever agree with this statement! I am a huge fan of the Grateful Dead, and I have most of their studio albums, and a couple live performance albums. For some reason people that hate the band think they symbolize diabolical, satanic, drug practices, when, in reality, they are big "love/peace/smoke a little grass if it makes ya happy" advocates. Fans, however, tend to have an exclusive snobbiness if you don?t own every single ?Dick?s Picks? album as well as the fifteen different covers of Grateful Dead?s American Beauty vinyl. Look I like the band, but I don?t need thirty slightly different versions of ?Uncle John?s Band? the studio version is perfectly fine?[/color]

[color=indigo]I think it is hilarious how the ?GodlyMe? tried to use Batman as a comparative icon to anime. If you have followed the character of Batman through his comics, animated series, and related movies over the years you would long ago have realized that he is an infinitely complex character. But you place him against a very one dimensional character like Vash or even a semi-complex character like Kenshin and then have the cojones to say they (the anime characters) are more layered and have more depth. It just shows me how ignorant you are when it comes to American comics/animation. You are an anime snob that has created an opinion based on a limited experience?[/color]

[color=indigo]It seems that these days many prominent artists lack the subtlety that artists of yesteryear did. If you look at Dylan, the Beatles, Springsteen, ect, they all had very strong political and social views that they expressed in their songs, they just didn?t do it in an abrasive manner. Today, prominent artists don?t seem talented enough to play on similar subtle themes so they use award shows to flaunt their propaganda. This has been going on since Brando sent that Native American girl to accept his Academy Award for him? I guess it proves that if you give a man a podium he can't help but make an *** of himself...[/color]

[color=indigo]I saw ?Revolutions? last night and I left the theater with only one opinion: ?Well, it was the end?? I think it took a little while for the movie to sink in and absorb, and I would like to see it again just to view its subtlties. The reason that the movie didn?t immediately register was because I had thoroughly convinced myself that I new the answer, I new why Neo had his abilities. At the end of ?Revolutions?, when Neo disables the sentinels, I developed the suspicion that the apoctalyptic machine world was just another layer of the Matrix, one created for those who rebelled against the original. The machines, having long studied the intricacies of human thought and nature, realized that this world (machine world) would satisfy those that rebelled and fill them with a false purpose. [spoiler]Obviously that is not the case.[/spoiler] After watching the Animatrix and reading the various sanctioned comics (Lee/Loeb the dynamic duo of comic book art/stories were involved in one issue ?sigh?) I had think you cannot help to relate to both the human struggle but also the struggle of the machines?[spoiler]who, by the end of Revolutions, seem every bit as ?human? as humans. [/spoiler] Although I?d love to discuss the philosophy in depth, I think I am going keep this post brief for now (since so many have still not seen the movie). [spoiler] I thought it was great how it ended with peace for both sides though, rather than a decisive victory?.[/spoiler][/color]

[color=indigo]Well, if she is the same age as you are (17) then she probably already has some sort of an emotional attachment to you. I actually wouldn?t be surprised if she considers you her boyfriend, but that is just my guess with you two being the age you are. As far as relationships go, I am not the best person to be giving advice. I would think that you should probably try asking her if she would consider dating you seriously/exclusively?even if she says no, at least you will never have to regret not asking.[/color]

[color=indigo]I love how everyone singles out X-Men Evo and Teen Titans as anime wannabe shows. Their catoons geared towards young people and comic book fans, not too different fro Pokemon, Yugi-Oh and Digimon. Sure, the artists were definatly influenced by anime, just as most anime artits were influenced by Disney, but they aren't copying some ridiculous anime formula (it isn't like they doing voice overs or anything, although that would be hilarious....an english recorded show re-dubbed with different, yet similar words)...[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Adahn [/i] [B]I could really use some advice on how to handle these situations, because it distresses me. [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]I'd give you some advice, but it seems as though you are already handling yourself in an admirable manner. Just keep on attempting to change the subject when one friend is talking trash about another. Or you can always mention good points about the person that is being "bad-mouthed" in a subtle way. Personally I would try and remain as neutral as possible, by getting overly involved you could end up in a situation you don't deserve to be in...[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Mitch [/i] [B][size=1] If you actually knew anything, you'd know that Bob Dylan was one of the very very MAIN influences on to The Beatles. He is what made them what they eventually became. But you don't know that now, do you? I guess not. Who's the smartass here?[/size] [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]You are still being a smartass, smartass. While I know for a fact that Bob Dylan influenced the Beatles, I also know for a fact that the Beatles were just as big an influence on Dylan. Dylan was a huge influence on their writing style, but the Beatles were well on their way to Rock Icon status before Dylan had any influence on their style (Help, Hold Your Hand, to name a few). Plus, your original statement had absolutely nothing to do with the Beatles?it is like me saying ?Led Zepplin rules!? in a thread about Metallica and then attempting to justify it later. It really was out of place. PT, I once read an article where Lennon was talking about ?Come Together? and how it was related to a junkie/dealer that was always trying to get John involved in various sexual orgies?so I wouldn?t be surprised if your elaboration was right on the money.[/color]

[color=indigo]Although it probably goes against some type of personal value that I have (the one that states songs should be appreciated in their entirety) I thought this would be fun to try?[/color] Radiohead- My Iron Lung [quote]Faith.. you?re driving me away You do it everyday You don?t mean it but it hurts like hell. [/quote] [color=indigo]This brief statement could signify how the personification of ?Faith? (and how it is recognized as more of an entity than a philosophy) is utilized as a crutch or ?iron lung? by society thereby is distorting its original intentions and pushing him (the artist) from its idealistic qualities. Hell could be interpreted as not only a mental state, but an actual place that his lack of Faith may lead him to. [/color] [quote]My brain.. says I?m recieving pain A lack of oxygen from my life support My iron lung. [/quote] [color=indigo]Again referring to his Faith, the singer realizes that he has depended on it for so long that his loss is eating him up?[/color] [quote]We?re.. too young to fall asleep Too cynical to speak We are loosing it, can?t you tell? We scratch.. our eternal itch Out 20th century bitch And we are grateful of our Iron lung. [/quote] [color=indigo]The artist is possibly pointing out the conflict in human nature today. While we give the outward appearance of cynical, tough independents, we all have and need an ?iron lung?, a crutch that helps us (whether it be faith, politics, ect?)[/color] [quote]Suck.. suck your teenage thumb Toilet trained and dumb When the power runs out, we?ll just hum. This.. is our new song Just like the last one A total waste of time. My iron lung[/quote] [color=indigo]The artist is possibly spitefully, sarcastically protesting his ?iron lung? and dependency for/on it hoping that he (along with society) can break from it. [/color] [quote](the headshrinkers they want everything) [/quote] [color=indigo]Stupid psychiatrists, analyze everything?not at all like this post. No sir! [/color] [quote] (my uncle bill, my belisha beacon) And if you?re frightened, you can be frightened You can be x ok!! And if you?re frightened, you can be frightened You can be x-ok!! [/quote] [color=indigo]probably just a statement expressing that the fear of standing alone is better than depending on an artificial ideal?.[/color]

[color=indigo]It doesn?t seem that the true issue here is whether or not your friend was a true friend, it seems like the real issue is whether or not you and you friend grew apart or if he is no longer your friend because of your short comings. You said that you had become desperate and that only by being an annoyance could you even illicit responses from your ?friend?. I think that you don?t have to let your friend go, he already let you go. I guess you have to decide whether it was because you no longer share the same interests, or whether he felt that your characteristics didn?t fit into the group that he wanted to be part of. I know that either way it makes your friend seem a bit callous, but your friend made his decision already. The real question is do you want to assimilate to fit into his crowd. I never really believed in the whole ?be yourself? hoob-a-joop that everyone tells teenagers. Your attitude and mentality change so frequently and so drastically when you are that age that it is good to be a part of a group. Now I know it sounds like I am saying that you should be something you are not so you can conform, but I do think that you may want to take some time and evaluate your personal traits and try and figure out if there is something about yourself that you could change for the better?that might not make any sense, but if it does then good luck. [/color]

I am stone I am a tome To ancient forget me nots And modern graffiti There is no sanctity In being a rock But there is knowledge Gained from repetition I bet you didn?t know That every man is an island So is every woman For that matter How else could you cope I was made between The arrival of God and god I know human nature But you can believe me When I say The nature of humanity Is infinitely more profound I am a stone I am a tome To your very essence I fear not your graffiti

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by KarmaOfChaos [/i] [B][color=deeppink] I would just ask that people who have not experienced the full force of living or dealing with an alchololic not simply spew facts about how it is heriditary, and be aware of the fact that they are treading on what is very sensitive ground for some people. [/color] [/B][/QUOTE] [color=indigo]Well since I one these people ?spewing facts? (and let me make it quite clear they were facts, not just random bits that I decided to include to encourage an argument) let me be the first to say that I really don?t care if I am treading on ?sensitive ground?. I don?t know anything about you, I don?t know about your experiences or your life, and I don?t assume to. From your statement, however, you make a broad generalization about me. An assumption for which you have no basis and an assumption that has zero truth. I have a family riddled with alcoholism, and I myself have battled serious clinical depression for eight years. It is because of this that I have attempted to educate myself with the disease that encompasses alcoholism and its symptoms. So please, from now on remember that making assumptions just makes you seem like an *** :).[/color] [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by BabyGirl [/i] [B][color=deeppink]A small vice that is only really destructive to me is FOOD. I don't overeat, I simply snack constantly. I think that I must have an oral fixation with edible things in my mouth, because I always like to take something to eat along on car rides, when I'm hanging out at Erik's, typing papers, etc. It's not so much that I'm hungry, it's born out of boredom and the need to be putting something from my hands into my mouth. [/COLOR] [/quote][/b] [color=indigo]I am horrible about constant snacking especially when I am at work and in front of a computer screen. It is just suck an easy habit to get into. I am desperately trying to snack on carrots and cukes instead of chips and pretzels, and drink lots of water instead of soda. The problem is that soda and chips taste so much better than water and veggies?and Snickers are much tastier than the cardboard protein bars I have been eating (stupid Halloween and all of its tempting leftover office candy?)[/COLOR]

[color=indigo]I always thought that you should avoid having a sig longer than the length of your average post...[/color]