Think Big....

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htnakirs

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I am not a big fan of parroting other's info; because, well, the one who are connected already know it, and the ones who are not connected can never be reached.
But, for once, I'll set aside my objections to bring you this little gem from kenrockwell.com.
Not sure if there are many on this forum who follow the guy, since he is more famous for reviewing photo gear.
I follow him because he has this knack of cutting through all the verbiage and gaining an insight which is a skill everyone of us needs to cultivate. Here is a recent such insight of his which I feel is uncomfortably true. Think over it while you sleep, Good night.

"The Incredible Shrinking Brain

Watching the new DVD we got of The Jetsons with my kids this morning, I realized again how sad it is how most people's imaginations have shrank so much in the past 40 years as Western society continues its collapse.

In 1962 when the Jetsons came out, we all thought in intergalactic terms. Sending kids to collect rocks on the moon for a kindergarten day trip wasn't given a second thought; it was obviously the future apparent. In 1950's Twilight Zone and 1960's Star Trek, each made reference in different episodes to our having colonized most of the universe specifically in 1997.

All three of these series were broadcast years before Man did make first contact outside of Earth. Man didn't arrive on the moon until 1969.

Today, its sad how too many people can't imagine past the 4" screen of their smart phone.People's imaginations stop at forwarding dumb cat videos.

The medium doesn't matter. We watched those series on monochrome CRTs, and today we watch on 65" Plasmas or 4" smart phones. What matters is the message. In the 1950s and 1960s even the stupider people knew there was no such thing as "impossible," as proved forever on 20 July 1969, while today as the stupider people represent a larger and larger percentage of the population, more and more to them becomes impossible.

Our only limit is our own imaginations. Don't waste it; imagination is the only thing that leads to great photos. Small imaginations lead to small things. Great accomplishments only come from big, crazy ideas. Don't just spam your Facebook friends about dreaming, dream big yourself.

People think I'm nuts because I think too big and too far. If people don't think you or your ideas are nuts, you might not go as far as if they were crazy."

Ken Rockwell's Photography Updates
 
You have to think what influenced people then and what influences people now. Back then it was all about space exploration as America was extremely close to putting a man on the moon. People then thought no end of the possibilities of space travel and so the content writers thought of cartoons and shows like Jetsons and Star Trek which both thrived on stories of outer space. You might think of it as 'thinking big' but really they were just following the trends and thoughts of their time, while in this modern era it seems ingenious and creative. Nothing against both Jetsons though, I really loved that show lol.

Anyways, I just think you need to open your browser and search more. Thinking big never stopped, you're just looking at the wrong places if the only things you're noticing are cat videos.
 
seconded , thinking big has not stopped , your information pipeline is limited to what you look for!
 
You will only remember what is best when you look back. People will always say that old time was good compared to modern time, but the fact is we only remember what was good and what we liked.
As great Roger Ebert has said (not a direct quote), we don't remember bad films in a particular era, we will remember the only good films.
As for Jetsons, bad cartoons existed back then. And that's why we talk about Jetsons when year 1962 is mentioned. Same can be said about any year or decade. 90s for example will be forever remembered as decade of Nirvana,Pearl Jam and Pink Floyd's last album, Doom, Quake, and Half Life, Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, Terminator 2 etc.
Stupid people existed back then. We are noticing them now because of media.
 
Ken or the OP, I believe, aren't talkin' about the few who continue to dream big. Rather, it's about the majority of people out there who are dumbed down by tech. Now, whether he is actually right is anybody's guess. What American society was like in the 60s & whether it's progressively become worse in this regard, is something only Americans can gauge. When it comes to Indians, I think we are too caught up in trying to earn our daily bread to be caught up in petty matters such as dreaming big.
 
“I fear the day when the technology overlaps with our humanity. The world will only have a generation of idiots.” -- Albert Einstein

^^ Enough said and I am a part of this generation.
 
On a related note (more or less!), I am not sure how many here have seen Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you haven’t yet, it isn’t too late! This movie is considered to be the baap of all the science fiction movies out there, despite being released in 1968! Very few movies released later until today have come up to its standards in terms of the depiction of the storyline with the visual effects and scientific realism. I saw this movie in 2008 (pretty late!) and ever since then, Kubrick has topped my list of the best directors.

I recall I had recommended the movie to several friends of mine and only two (out of the five I had recommended it to) were able to appreciate it. The others couldn’t understand the story and felt the VFX were outdated! Co-incidentally they loved Avatar! Kubrick’s other movies - A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket were some of the finest movies to have ever come with a very different storyline.

One of the many directors who have influenced others such as Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Chris. Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, James Cameron etc. One of the few guys who thought big during his era but fewer appreciated it.
 
Probably Ken does not watch anime. He wouldn't be speaking like this if he watched even some of them. The stories and settings are awesome. Most of the old ones were way beyond what you can imagine even now. example: galaxy express 999, cowboy bepop, ninja robots, gundam, mobile police, appleseed, to name a few.
 
Gannu said:
I recall I had recommended the movie to several friends of mine and only two (out of the five I had recommended it to) were able to appreciate it. The others couldn’t understand the story and felt the VFX were outdated! Co-incidentally they loved Avatar! Kubrick’s other movies - A Clockwork Orange, The Shining and Full Metal Jacket were some of the finest movies to have ever come with a very different storyline.
Click to expand...

^^ Check out this film by him called Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb -- wonderful satire on the Cold War paranoia (1964) and Paths of Glory, a stunning study of how the military hierarchy works set in the trenches of France.

He was very a controversial personality but all his films are critically acclaimed gems.

There is a reference to The Shining in ALAN WAKE.

6pack said:
Probably Ken does not watch anime.
Click to expand...

That will be a very myopic P.o.V. of things, it is akin to commenting on my job / study life by my actions on this forum / facebook.
 
yup it would be myopic in exactly the same way he saw Jetsons and commented on the people of the world. The World is not restricted to the Americas or the western society. it is more than that. painting everyone in present as having no imagination is ridiculous. it may be true for the people living in the states or whatever country he has in mind, but its definitely not true for the rest of the people in 200+ countries in the world.
 
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