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October 3, 2010

The Social Network teaches some valuable lessons

Filed under: Reviews — Tyler @ 1:09 am
The Social Network

The Social Network

I just finished watching, “The Social Network” at the Spectrum theaters in Irvine. That movie taught me some valuable lessons. And it also reinforced some beliefs that I already had. This movie is more than a dramatization of an internet phenomenon or startup company. The Social Network has a message and a warning that any young business owner or entrepreneur should heed. The first lesson that I learned from The Social Network is that if you own shares of a company, those shares can be arbitrarily devalued. Walking into the movie I thought that shares in a company could only loose value if all the shares lost value. But from the film I gleaned that certain shares of stock could be targeted to lose value. That is a very scary idea. So I am going to think twice before ever signing anything about sharing stock in any of my business endeavors. So that was worth my $9.00 ticket price right there.

Another important thing that I learned from The Social Network is that you need to stay close to the people you are working with. This is especially true when a business is in its infant stages. In the movie, the character who made the initial financial investment into Facebook seemed to allow himself to get distanced from the project. He was concerned with monetizing too early, and he even paid his friend to live on the other side of the continent. He did this even though he saw that a potential threat was in California. The character, “Eduardo,” really allowed himself to be phased out of the business. It is important to stay close to your partners in the early stages of a project. If you are not in close proximity and tight communication, you can end up losing clout in your own project.

Something that got reinforced by the movie was how there is karma in business. Even though the main character made billions of dollars for himself. He still could not escape the dubious karma about the beginnings of his business. His initial notoriety and success on “facemash.com” (I don’t think this site exists anymore) was created at the expense of other people. And even though the main character, Zuckerberg made tremendous amounts of money in the end. The negativity of his beginnings will forever be immortalized in, The Social Network.

Overall, the film was an extremely pleasurable and interesting viewing experience. I haven’t had this much fun in a movie since I saw, “Inception.” There was one line in the film where Justin Timberlake’s character was talking about how he brought down the record industry. One character asked Timberlake about it and he responded by asking something like: Are you going to run out and invest in a Tower Records anytime soon? (Not a direct quote – paraphrase) I felt that the question summed up the whole movie and how individual people actually do have power. This is true even in a dynamic and huge system that we have today.

-Tyler

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October 1, 2010

Strange Recurring Nightmare

Filed under: Tyler's Mind — Tyler @ 11:29 pm
Disembodied Head

Disembodied Head

I used to have this strange recurring nightmare of a bearded man. But the bearded man was actually a severed head. Let me start at the beginning. I was very young, maybe seven years old. And in the nightmare I was holding my mother’s hand as we walked down a long corridor. She was very quiet and we walked at a steady pace. Then we entered a wooden room. There was a small table with a bearded severed head. And there was a man standing near the table with the head. My mother directed me closer to the disembodied head. Suddenly, the beaded head turned and opened its eyes wide. It stared at me. I gasped. Then my mother put her hand on my shoulder and knelt down and spoke to me. “Do not be afraid,” she said, “You need to listen to what they have to say.” I remember the man standing by the head was watching me closely, yet his face seemed distant and I couldn’t recognize him. Yet at the same time he seemed very familiar. For some reason, I trusted the man so I then looked into the eyes of the bearded disembodied head. It stared deeply into me. I was frozen by its gaze. Then, in a deranged and strange voice, the head spoke one word. I woke up a moment later, disturbed and afraid. Yet I was glad that it was just a dream.

A few years later I had the nightmare again. But this time my mother wasn’t there are I spoke to the tall man. I was about fifteen at the time. And the tall man looked more familiar than ever. I remember talking with him about life and challenges that I am going to face. I can’t remember exactly what we talked about. But there was this distinct feel to the conversation, almost like I could trust this man with my life. There was a sadness in his voice, and yet hopefulness. It was as if he was preparing me for something. I listened attentively. All the while, the dismembered head stayed silent. Yet I was not as afraid of the bearded head. When I awoke, I felt as if I had gained something very valuable. What it was I truly did not know.

Many years later, when I was in my late 20’s, I had the nightmare again. Only this time, I spoke with the bearded dismembered head. We talked about urgency, and how there are objectives to be met. And there is little time. He was angry. It didn’t seem like he was angry at me. But more like he was angry at me AND himself. He knew of the future. He knew the flow of time. After I woke up, I felt like I had spoken to some strange elder entity or oracle. I had renewed vigor.

Then a few years later when I was in my late 20’s I grew a thick beard. One day I was looking in the mirror and I saw myself. I looked familiar, as always. But I felt like I had seen this face before, decades ago. I walked away and I realized that the disembodied bearded head from my nightmares had been my own. I took a few moments to reflect on my life. Did I have regrets? Sure. But I learned from every situation. Sometimes, I learned more than other times. Yet there were specific times in my life when I felt like I was getting a message, or at least a strong emotion, telling me about things to come…or perhaps opportunities ahead. Alignment with this potential often caused me either invigoration and a sense of purpose, or else a deep sense of unworthiness and trepidation.

The time that had passed went by so fast in hindsight. Yet the individual moments took an eternity. Perhaps there is more to memory than simple knowing or existing. So that night, when I rested in bed. I closed my eyes. And I relaxed, sending a message to my younger self in my dreams.

-Tyler

Terra Chapter 2 Looking Back

Filed under: Original Writing — HectorP @ 10:51 pm
Terra - Chapter 2

Terra - Chapter Two

We got inside of the big building. It looked like a giant storage facility; futuristic storage to be exact.It was filled with little cubicles with numbers above. In the entrance were instructions about how to get your accommodations.

You had to put your hand on a screen. A computer would say your name and the number of your cubicle. Big signs hanging from the roof saying the numbers of the section and some sort of lights on the walls were the decorations.

I got the 6707, Lisa got 1009; “Try to sleep,” she told me. “You too,” I replied as we got separated looking for our new “Home.” My cubicle had an automatic window door that opened at my command. The door could change color at a push of a button from crystal clear to dark black. So you could see outside or you could remain in privacy.

Near a bed next to some shelves, there was a desk in front of a chair; in the desk was a sheet with instructions on how to operate the lights inside of the room. Also in the corner there was this mini toilet with a little wall or something that seemed like a wall, covering it. And finally in the corner in front of the toilet there was a sink so you could get water.

Inside, the temperature was perfect, not cold not hot. I was surprised of how inside of the shelves were my actual clothes. I mean, I never had the chance to pack or anything but there it was. There even was stuff I lost in other places, not all of it but some of it. I was glad to see it all. It felt like a piece of my actual home.

It was a very busy day, so I decided to try to sleep. But I had all these dreams of Earth and the Catarax reminding me what just happened…

I was home, it was Friday. No more work for that day, just relaxing on my chair. I turn on the TV and there it was, news about an Alien ship landing on United Nations Offices (UNO). Several weeks ago a lot of gossip and news was reported about an Alien ship approaching Earth. And before that UFO sightings were more and more frequent everywhere. So often in fact that everyone was talking about it.

“It was a matter of time,” I said to myself.

The alien ship on the UNO opened. Two beings got outside of the craft, they were big, full of muscle, with a reptilian look. And they had very sharp teeth. They were wearing some kind of armor, and they were carrying big rifles on their backs.

The mass media was there covering the most important news of the century, and everyone was eager to hear it…

Without further explanation or salutation, the bigger being said, “We are the Caratax rightful owners of the galaxy and soon the universe. We claim this as our planet, all conscious beings living in it surrender and we will let you live as our slaves, deny this and you will cease to exist… what is your answer?”

The selected person to be the Earth ambassador in the case of alien encounters, approached and said,  “I am sorry but we do not wish to make war with you or do any harm to your people. This is our home. Perhaps this is a misunderstanding. We are a race with a very rich culture, and we can share a lot with you if you are willing to share your friendship with us; please let me ta…”

She couldn’t finish, a shadow of burned blood was drawn on the blouse of the ambassador. The alien shot her, saying, “Enough with your talking, you are not our equals to even speak like that. Your decision has been made, you will cease to exist.”

A big sound filled the sky.

I gazed through the window to find millions of asteroid like ships falling to the planet. From some of them small battalions of Catarax got out, and started to kill anyone in their way. A bigger ship crashed just outside my apartment; I was on the 4th floor, from it a giant mechanical tripod got out. I saw it… as the feeling of me being impotent and powerless about the situation rushed me. The tripod got powered up by itself and shot some kind of beam splitting the apartment in two exactly at my roof; I saw the beam cutting through steel and construction materials like butter.

The upper part of the apartment fell aside and my roof was no more. The tripod just stared at me charging its right arm cannon to shoot me; as I was the only thing alive in the top of the building.

I didn’t run. I just wanted to see the death in the face and get done with it. Anyway there was no place to run anymore. Nevertheless a beam of light covered me and the shot couldn’t harm me, I felt like I was being sucked by some vacuum. And in a blink of an eye I was inside a vessel with a bunch of scared people crying, hugging themselves and praying.

Nobody knew anything about the vessel or where we were going or anything, they just got inside the same way I did. We could see that we were in some kind craft since it had windows all over and through it we saw how our planet was being invaded. A few hours later we landed on the new planet I am on now. We got out of the ship and it flew off, to get more people hopefully…

Everyone was crying or screaming, it was too much for me. I saw the surroundings and I saw the beach. I had so many times wanted to go to a beach, I thought, for what I understand I could die right now so I better see that beach… I wanted to be alone. I wanted to think. I wanted to clear my head.

It was a new start, or at least I hoped that, in fact I hope that…

I guess that the high part of the day is Lisa and the beach,  I mean, it has to be either that or the beam of light saving me from a blast of a tripod cannon.

It was useless. I was in bed, in a room that I felt like a stranger to.
I couldn’t sleep… I needed to get out…
I went to the beach; there are 2 moons in this planet, that night I had two full moons in front of me. And the waves were making a lot of sounds, almost like music or something.
It’s a shame that I was always working on Earth. The entire system, the entire society never let me enjoy myself or be at peace. It was like I was always running and trying to make that extra buck just to buy more things and pass by. Even when I was on vacations or a trip I couldn’t really enjoy it. I was always thinking on other problems, thinking about my future, my family, being alone; too many things that now do not even matter. And I don’t feel sad about it, maybe it is because I am scared or tired or I have not yet realized what just happened, but I don’t feel bad.

As I was stargazing suddenly I saw a light approaching me from behind, I turned around and I saw this being like the one on the ship telling us about our fate before.

The being said, “Don’t be scared.”
Chris said, “I am trying.”
The being said, “Good… the test has been completed, you will be the first leader then.”
Chris surprised said, “What test? What leader and of what?”
The being with a calm voice said, “The first to get out and to try to get his mind whole, earns the title, you have been trying to do that all day.”
Chris said, “Do you know what I am thinking?”
The being started to explain:
“We see different to what you see, we not only see differences in temperature in variations of light as you see, we see more. We are the Eldac, and we are part of a confederacy of different races in the universe looking for the enlightenment and improvement of all peaceful races. Also we try to educate younger races into the good path, as is in your case. You call yourself humans but your technical name your real name is Terrans. And this new planet that we give to you will be named Terra in honor of your arrival and our friendship.
You must learn the ways of the universe so you can be part of the confederacy, so you can be allowed to travel through the galaxy. But for now you must sleep.

Remember everything is a test, a whole circle of infinite ways repeating itself among many circles. Each circle represents an error that you carry and the whole universal system will give you tests until you pass and solve each error so you can get out of your current circle to enter to a bigger and larger one, so on and so on; until you reach perfection.

My name is Toka and this is my first delivery of knowledge to you. But please try to sleep now. We need you ready tomorrow.”

The being disappeared in front of my eyes and I couldn’t get the whole message. But I had enough for the day. I went to my room and I don’t know when, but I felt sleep, this time no nightmares; I guess I was too very tired, even for that.

By HectorP

READ: Terra – Chapter 3

READ:  Terra – Chapter 1

Spooky Ghost Experience

Filed under: Tyler's Mind — Tyler @ 8:00 pm
Scary Hallway

Scary Hallway

Since it is October, the spookiest month of all, here is a Spooky Ghost Experience. It was 1990. It was a dark night in rural Illinois. I sat up in my bed and I had this strange feeling that someone was in the house. Someone was there who wasn’t part of my family. So I slowly walked out of bed and entered the hallway. The air was stale and cold. It must have been winter-time. Then I felt a strange sensation through my body. It was as if I did something that was in violation of an unwritten law. The feeling was like I was in the presence of something that I was not supposed to be aware of. Then when I looked down the hallway, I saw a shadowy figure walking slowly. It had the body shape of a man, but it was pure darkness. I didn’t believe my eyes at first. So I looked closer. And it felt like I was gazing into an abyss. I remember the shadow figure had a completely different body type than my brother or father. I can’t remember if it was walking toward me or away from me. But it was moving very slowly. After seeing the shadow figure I quickly and quietly went back into my room and shut the door. I didn’t want it to come inside my room. And I tried to sleep, knowing I wasn’t alone.

That was a long time ago. And it happened late at night.

I’ll tell more spooky things as this hallowed month progresses!

-Tyler

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