Dreams

One thing possibly more boring than someone writing a pretentious old theory based on little knowledge is having some random person go on in detail about the content of their dreams. blogs are self indulgent, its what i feel like doing, so im going to do both. there's possibly another thing more boring and i plan to write about that as well, but i'll leave it as a surprise to create some interest.

so as a warning, the rest of this will probably be boring and/or annoying to read.

boring pt 1.

if i wake up while dreaming, i find it difficult to get back to sleep as i'll start thinking about a whole lot of things at the same time. i only really do this while trying to get back to sleep. therefore, my dream theory is: while im asleep my brain has less input from the senses and so uses this time to organise what it already knows (and when i wake up, it's still trying to do this, but in a conscious state). part of the subconscious sorting out process is trying to find connections between things - which is where symbols in dreams come in. so, as a simple example, if im worried about an abstract concept such as where im going with my life, my brain might try to deal with the problem by thinking about a physical object which i associate with direction, such as a compass. dream analysis might have some validity, however, symbols in dreams are probably tricky to interpret as obviously the same symbol might mean different things to different people. like you can't really interpret a dream by looking up some generic dream symbol web site. my guess on the possible evolutionary reason for all of this would be that people who dream are likely to be more stable and therefore less likely to do themselves harm.

boring pt 2.

last night i dreamt i was at a kraftwerk concert somewhere in adelaide. they came out and started playing a remixed version of computer world. at concerts i've been to, there are usually people at the front trying to dance, people in the middle nodding their heads and people at the back trying to look like they fit in while not dancing. im usually in the nodding to standing section. in this dream, everyone in the audience was dancing and dancing well. being part of this, i felt really excited. i usually enjoy concerts, but don't get that excited. some exceptions have been:

pavement - i can't really remember if they played well or not, but i'd listened to the albums so much and looked forward to seeing them so much that it didn't really matter.

the flaming lips - basically because of the large balloons, the people dressed as animals, the large screen and the story about the peach pit

and more recently at falls:

ian brown - but only during the stone roses songs, and the part where a someone behind me started giving me a head massage - when i turned around it turned out to be an attractive girl (ok, reading that now, it sounds a bit gross, but i was partly drunk at the time and a head massage seemed appropriate. my hair was newly washed and soft that day and so probably was appealed to someone on drugs. i guess what im trying to say is the 10 second head massage wasn't anything meaningful. and its not like i could have done anything to stop it....anyway, why do i feel like i have to justify it?).

the shins - probably because of songs i like played well and an enthusiastic crowd

so back to the kraftwerk dream. half way through computer world, the tempo started to slow down. the song eventually stopped and was replaced with what could best be described as abstract noise (i know thats not a good description, but it really is the best one). some people dressed in black appeared on stage and in the audience and started doing the thing which is possibly more boring than listening to people talk in detail about their dreams - performance art. and not just any performance art, but audience participation performance art. i lost the feeling of excitement and wanted to leave.

boring pt 3.

when i was younger i thought it was my fault that i didn't enjoy performance art. like i thought there was a deeper meaning to it which i wasn't intelligent enough to appreciate. now, i think it's just not for me. i still think there must be something in it though. i've met people who like it.

i don't think that its just because i don't understand it that i don't like it (i enjoyed donnie darko and some david lynch movies without really knowing what was going on). it's that if i don't understand the meaning there's usually nothing else to it...

take the first example given in wikipedia for performance art: 'A performance artist, with eyes closed, sits motionless for long periods balanced on an uncomfortable railing'. i don't think that even needs a comment. without understanding the meaning, i could probably watch that for around 45 seconds.

the second example sounds more interesting: 'The performer speaks and sings. On his chest and face, some electrodes record his emotions. These measures alter a live video stream.' based on the description, i could probably watch something like that for a while and remain interested. however, i think the actual performance would have the same problem that a lot of performance art has: it's not actually possible. as far as i know emotions are fairly complex and can't be measured by attaching electrodes anywhere. ok, so possibly electrodes can measure pulse, conductivity of skin, tension in muscles, and assumptions can be made from the measurements, but i think thats still a long way off from knowing proper emotions. like nothing is going to say 'we have detected you are angry'.

the third and final example in wikipedia is: 'Performance artists in Jubilee Gardens, London, England, remain perfectly motionless for long periods. Even when asked a question they will not reply'.

i can't think of any good conclusion. i'll have to sleep on it.