Week 9

First off, in answer to Yvonne's November 6 blog (http://virtualgyrl.blogspot.com) my answer is as follows:

Let a represent the 1st 3 digits of ur phone number, and let B rep. the last 4.
Let your phone number = 10,000a + b
(b/c u need four spaces after a to put put in the four digits for b)

According to the steps of this game...
Phone number = 8 steps of game... or
10,000a + b = [[(80a + 1) x 250) +2b] - 250] / 2
20,000a + 2b = (20,000a + 250) + 2b - 250
20,000a + 2b = 20,000a + 2b

Since this identity is always true, it follows that ALL 7-digit phone numbers should be realised by playing this game. How about that for math!

My Analysis of The Matrix
So i saw the finale of the Matrix this weekend, and was rather disappointed. The second matrix brought up a thought-provoking proposition that has been discussed by many philosophers. The main question involves whether we live in a universe that is completely pre-determined and consequently meaningless, or whether there is some point to human existence. On the one hand, the architect, the french guy, and Mr. Smith all believe that this universe is the world of causality, and that everything has an end and a beginning and that everything is solvable according to some pre-determined method of arithmetic or logic. On the other hand, Neo, Morpheus, the Oracle, and all the good guys defend the existence of humans in the war against the machines.

On the one hand, the ending to the final movie in the Matrix movie was really appropriate. Aside from the clichés, the horribly overcooked death scene for Trinity and a few other scenes where there was clearly some writer's block, i did like a few things about the movie. While most humans were fighting the endless war against the machines in which they were logically determined to lose, Neo (who transcends the likes of us mere humans) looked the god of the machine world dead in the face and made a deal with him. For Neo, is not at war against the machines, he is @ war with the philosophy of the machines - that is, that everything has a cause and effect. So his main target was Mr. Smith, the always agonizing reminder that all things are inevitable. The whole idea is supposed to be that what separates humans from computers and the universe of causality is that humans have the ability to make choices, choices which are not due to any pre-determined causes. This is why the Oracle always empowers Neo, not by telling him what to do, but by giving him information and allowing him to make an authentic choice. This is also why Neo eventually defeated Mr. Smith (and ended the war) simply by making the authentic choice to let Mr. Smith assimilate him. Ironically, Mr. Smith got lost in the purpose of defeating Neo, not realising that logically, the combined power of the Machine God (that created Mr. Smith) and Neo, is easily larger then that of Mr. Smith, even after assimilating the Oracle. So yea, in a way, everything was wrapped up in a neat little package. And I guess, since the writer's of this movie are humans, they can't really go far beyond saying that Choice is what makes humans better then machines, but all the same, I would've liked it if they could probe this philosophical argument a little bit further. Then again, people complained that the 2nd one was too difficult to understand, so whatever.

What bothered me about the movie is that while it had about 15-20 minutes of worthwhile story, it had anohter hour and a half of pointless fight scenes and shooting scenes that quite frankly, i'm tired of. I'm tired of Keanu Reeves doing Karate, and have you seen the guy run? He runs like a girl! And after 4 hours in the last 2 movies of the same stuff, the visual effects in this one were far from stunning. Easy for me to say, i know, but all the same, what made the 1st movie an epic was the fact that it litterally changed the way we watch action movies. Visually, the finale was an anti-climax. On a high-note, Monica Belucci looked pretty damn fine in that eye-popping dress!

And finally...
Why did I devote an entire weekly Blog to The Matrix and a game on my buddy's site? Because in the last week, I haven't given any really deep thought towards anything else. I'm happy to say that I am finally almost fully immersed in the world of a B.B.A. student. During school, I don't think, I just do.