I was browsing through my old dvd collection when i stumbled upon Animatrix. It was one of my favourite DVDs that ive bought. The short animations that gives the world of The Matrix as envisioned by Wachowski Brothers more meat, was oustandingly done with the help of various Japanese animation studios.
One of my favourite animation shorts has got to be Kid’s Story. Ironically it’s one of the more disturbing animation that ive watched so far. Kid’s Story tells of a boy who lives in a seemingly normal life, when all of a sudden was given an invitation by Neo himself to help escape the Matrix. However the method of escaping was not made known, till the boy was chased down by agents throughout the school compounds, due to his involvements with Neo. His suicidal action (jumping off from the roof of the school building) caused him to inevitably escape from the Matrix, and thus waking up to see Neo and Trinity watching over him. His trust for Neo was so strong that he would go to extreme lengths, to the point of taking his own life to see Neo on the other side.
The reason why i find it disturbing is the endless series of ” What Ifs”. What if the world we are living now is a world of full of lies, and that we are controlled by machines? Of course any sane person would think otherwise, but this short animation, could ultimately plant small seeds of ideas in young people who have suicidal tendencies, and might think that commiting suicide is the only way out to a better life. Its such a simple thought, and such a brisk way to taking your own life without having second thoughts. Highly disturbing for me.
Having said that and thinking about the world of the Matrix, i remember a dream that i had only last night. But before telling you what happened in the dream, i need to give some background infomation.
So what happened was this:
Playstation 3 has a powerful online network where you can purchase games and add ons, some costing a small amount of money. Being a fan of Guitar Hero III, i wanted to buy the latest album by Metallica, “Death Magnetic” and its entire tracks so that it can be played on Guitar Hero III. But the problem is that the tracks are only available to North American customers. They do not accept foreign credit cards in the purchase of the tracks. So the only way is to acquire prepaid cards. But these are rare, even in the states and Ebay sells them at high markup prices. It was basically a dead end for me till the prepaid cards are made more available later this year in the States.
So all of a sudden, i had this dream. I dreamt that i bought the prepaid card myself. Literally having the card and paying over the counter. Which store i did not know. So after paying, i remembered scratching the card to reveal the pin number, so that when entered, your Playstation Network account would have the funds for you to make your purchases. As the numbers were slowly revealed, i suddenly woke up. I was that close to seeing the number so that i can make my top up. When i woke up, i suddenly felt so frustrated, obviously not being able to see the pin numbers before waking up.
I remember that i was highly emotional. I was like “Darn! I couldnt see the number! If not i can key it in immediately” Suddenly i realised, “Wait a minute, that cant be right, the numbers wouldnt work anyway. It was just a dream!” Why am i so angry over a dream? I must have beem that desperate to acquire the tracks, so that i can master the songs in the Guitar Hero III.
That dream was so real, that the first few minute at the point of waking up, i coudnt tell what was real and what was not. The lines between dreams and realities were blurred. That was why i was emotionally charged. When i looked back, at the moment where i felt that awkwardness, it fondly reminded me of the Matrix. I think the person in the Matrix would feel exactly the same if he or she were forcifully yanked out of the Matrix network and into the real world.
So i was kinda dissapoint that it was all not real. I really wanted to play those new tracks on Guitar Hero III badly. Guess i have to wait for the prepaid cards to be more readily available by year’s end.
In the meantime, you can sample Metallica’s new Single from their brand new album, Death Magnetic. Its entitled The Day That Never Comes. You can click here to preview.
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