Friday, March 13, 2009

Playing Mind Tricks

Last night, I told my brother about a problem I’m having with the new TV show Lie to Me. I like the show, but my issue is that I watch Law & Order directly after it, and Lie to Me has so infiltrated my mind that during Law & Order, all I’m doing is waiting for the cops to point out the lies of the criminals.
So my brother and I started talking about how some things can really mess with your mind this way. For example, we both read this (awesome) book called Replay, where the main character lives his life over and over (kind of like Groundhog Day). After finishing the book, we talked about how we both started making decisions more confidently (and…carelessly) because, well, if it was the wrong decision, we could redo it later. Which is not real life.
So I told my brother about how when I was playing Mob Wars on facebook, I started having these crazy thoughts about money in real life. Like this: My bank account is looking slim. I’ll just mug a few people. Or: If I could only get my hands on a semi-automatic weapon, I could move on to car-jacking. Meanwhile, as soon as we realize we are thinking these thoughts and why, we swoop back down to reality.
But my brother’s example takes the cake. One day, after playing Grand Theft Auto for like 3 hours straight, he had to run out to the post office. He was sitting at a red light, and had completely plotted how to get through the red light (hop the curb, race through the parking lot – and if he hits a few cars then just push them out of the way. If the cops chase him, then just speed away or … better yet, smash the cop cars), when he realized what he was doing and came back to his senses.
You guys, we’re normal people and we get these crazy thoughts. What happens when lunatics play these games or watch these movies?!

4 comments:

  1. YES. This is awesomely tragic. If I am not mistaken this "affliction" is similar to why you curbed your facebook activity, isn't it?

    Also, that show does not look good to me. And also also, I am surprised you watch Law & Order.

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  2. yes, I had to stop with the facebook after I realized I was thinking of everything in my life in terms of status updates.
    Lie to Me is not bad. Not the best, but not bad at all.
    Old school Law & Order is my most favorite tv show in the world! I'm upset I don't get TNT or TBS anymore so I can't watch Law & Order 24/7!

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  3. Yeah, I've done that with Grand Theft Auto as well. I had to make sure I kept in mind that I'm actually driving a real car.

    And on the subject of Law & Order. My favorite is Special Victims Unit. Don't get me wrong, I do like the old Law & Order (back when it had that old guy that died). I just get tired of the same old "find the murderer" thing. That's why I like SVU. It has a mixture of murder & strange/perverted crimes. Very interesting characters. And I like Ice-T.

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  4. ok, so I totally think of my life in facebook statuses. Someone will say something funny ... like this week a friend said that I was glitterlicious (after decorating easter eggs with glitter) I KNEW it would be my facebook status.

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