Bonus 13 - Class Review - Brandon Ince

         What a wild ride. I liked this class. Often times I find myself talking all about the fun stuff I have been doing or learning at college to my folks at home. The cool part about talking about what is going on in discourse 300 with Ms. Casady is that a discussion always spawns from the topic. If the topic is anything else like history or classics, then the event is mostly me just talking to the air and occasionally being told that what I was saying is "nice, sweety." With discourse this is entirely different often times all I do is ask their opinion on the topic of the week and the rest of the time my time is spent in silence listening to everyone else's perspective - which helps me develop and enrich my own opinion, which is useful enough.
          I think that if there is any way in which this course can be improved it would be to include a section that stresses the importance of the opposition. Often times in lower level discourse, and especially in college level discourse, there is a catastrophic failure in the system of discourse which manifests itself when one side feels it is already vindicated in what they are advocating. Believing in what you preach is perfectly fine, but shutting down all opposition and not valuing the other party's perspective is instrumental in the failure of discourse.
          If you want an example of what I am talking about then watch this video, however if you do not have one hour to spend let me give you the TLDW. Dave Rubin is a free speech advocate and is giving a lecture/speech at the University of New Hampshire when mid-speech he is interrupted by aggressive protesters. Later, when he opens the floor to questions he is verbally attacked by a student who disagree with the institution of free speech as it currently stands. This student, instead of working with Rubin to garner a better understanding of each other and free speech, the student instead opts for snide ad-hominems and a deferral in favor of a pathos charged appeal. This student does not honor the opposition and as a result the student is robbed of a richer understanding and growth as an individual. I am not saying that one side is correct and the other should learn to adopt the former's world view in order to become a better person. What I am saying is that empathy breeds understanding and if you ignore the other human being then you can not grow to understand, not agree - understand.
          So to wrap up, I feel like a lot of this class was devoted to analysis, creating an opinion, expounding on that idea, then presentation. Or in other words - everything you need to speak your piece. I think that the ability to be able to do this is invaluable and will serve to help in all avenues of life to come. However, the ability to disagree but listen is just as valuable and twice as noble. Which is cool  - being a noble person and all.

Bonus 9: Who Has the Right? - Brandon Ince

         I've never felt more like a super villain than when articulating my thoughts for one of these bonus questions, this one in particular has me feeling especially rancorous. It is my belief that anyone has the right to write about any subject for any reason and that the burden of responsibility to dignify any particular work falls on the audience. The idea that a work would be determined to be not valuable due to a predetermined set of circumstances or elements that do not have anything to do with the document itself is fallacious at best. What matters is the prose, not the author's personal relation to the subject matter, any assertions to the contrary would be an avocation for a form of discourse censorship which will only hold us back in the end. In order to become a stronger society we will have to allow all voices to have the right to write/speak on all topics, and at the same time we must as an audience acknowledge the responsibility - nay, the necessity of developing a critical eye to discern the soundness of the message.
        I feel an obligation to expound on something I said in the previous paragraph, my assertion that censorship will hold us back. I am not saying that censorship in all instances and in every situation is bad, there are certainly times in which withholding certain information is appropriate. Most of the time this is when the specific audience is not 'ready' to be exposed to such information, namely children with something like the horrors of war, or other 'R-rated' material. What I am saying is that within the context of well-to-do adults, the defensive embargo on certain perspectives within a forum of discourse is both immature and destructive.
         The first amendment is a wonderful thing, it allows all a freedom to speak and it provides all who listened an idea to criticize. The very point of putting an idea out there in the first place is to have it dignified, sometimes through praise - often through criticism. There exists an ebb and flow between idea and criticism and discourse it provides, and with each cycle a society grows more defined and stronger. If one wishes to preemptively condemn a certain perspective outright, then they rob the rest of society from the potential cycle of discourse and thus prevents a perfectly good learning experience. If there is a speaker who hates, let him hate in the same way as if there is a speaker who loves, let him love. All voices have value if not within the content of their words then the experience of defining their message.
         I almost feel as if those with firsthand experience with the topic are all the least qualified to speak. Their authority is informed by mere happenstance not distinction. The only thing they would be suitable to author is a low level firsthand account or meaningless memoir. Whatever sort of opinion or editorial they would pen would most certainly be compromised by their experience, which is at the end of the day - a very small world picture.

Group A - The Veldt and the Digital Divide - Brandon Ince

          There comes a time in every person's life, when our brain cells become old and crusty, the synapse fires considerably slower and ideas and concepts that seem used to be easy to understand and wield become foreign and devilishly inscrutable. With old age we become wise and experienced but with that the trade off is flexibility and aptitude to learn. Not to say that we all invariably become obstinate walls of hard held beliefs, more to say that we are not the metaphorical information sponges which we used to be. It becomes more difficult to learn, but despite that the world keeps turning.
         Everyday, and now faster than ever, new technologies around the world are being developed for the betterment of humanity, these inventions by and large do succeed in bringing about a better, or at least more advanced civilization. However, the rate in which they come out coupled with a human being's increasing learning deficiency results in some people, or even entire generations, being left behind. This is not a new thing, generation gaps have existed before and by golly they will exist in the future. However still, the generation gap that is occurring now with the advent of the internet, smart phones, and the damnable invention known as Windows 10, is special. Known today as the "digital generation gap" or for those admirers of alliteration simply "digital divide", is the supposed gap between the younger and older generations as a result of the former's ability to more easily adapt and faster and more successfully to technology than the latter. As our world advances in this technological direction, the risks of being left behind are becoming more and more severe and the need to be technologically literate becomes more and more necessary in order to be a functioning contributor to society. Being unable to handle a computer is a very dangerous social position to be in, one can be surpassed, outdone, and even taken advantage of by those why understand the system better. Ray Bradbury's The Veldt is story that explores the most hyperbolic consequence of this such situation.
         In this story a father, George, has invested in and moved his family into what is known as a "happy life home" in which every aspect of the house and even life (to an extent) is automated the the miracle of modern technology. This sounds rather nice in theory but the actual living experience for him and his wife, Lydia, proves to leave something wanting, they become more and more uncomfortable in this house to the point where they want to turn the whole thing off. Contrast this to their kids, Peter and Wendy, who seem to be thriving in this marvelous tech-house. Especially fixated on a certain room known as "the nursery" the purpose of which is to create a virtual reality space in which to manifest whatever the users fantasies may be. The kids demonstrate a mastery of control over this space, creating worlds of Aladin and Alice in Wonderland with ease, meanwhile George can't seem to make it manifest anything other than an African veldt populated with bloodthirsty lions. Ultimately, this image of the veldt isn't of George's doing at all and is in actuality a volition of the children, which in the end is used by the children as a tool to kill(?) George and Lydia.
         This story, hyperbolic as it may be, is a cautionary tale albeit about raising proper children, but also about the dangers of living in a system you have no grasp of and worse still living in that same system with a person who knows it all too well. Ignorance will always be a source of vulnerability, but if one is completely oblivious to the workings of a unit in which they literally live in - then one is certain to have a bad time. This is not too different from life in our current culture. We are, for better or worse, totally dependent on technology. In the same way George is hamstrung by his children in his own home is the same way folks can get hamstrung in life by children who understand the digital landscape better. It's like being a part of a hunter gatherer society, he who shoots best gets the most food, and if you don't even know what a bow is then you're at a considerable disadvantage.
         It's not all gloom and doom - well a situation like that would certainly be pretty bad - but there's nothing really indicating that we're anywhere even close to a society where the older generation is completely run over by the younger by any means. A study published in 1998 showed that a high majority (97%) of faculty at a given institution had access to and was proficient in handling the internet and all of it's useful tools. 97% is a fine number, and in 1998 using such tools was not near the requirement that it is today. As a society we seem to be doing fine in regards to computer literacy.


Except Windows 10 truly is incomprehensible.

Sources:
Kelty, Nina. “Educational Technology Research and Development.” Computer Proficiency: The Digital Generation Gap, pp. 46–61., doi:10.1007/11423.1556-6501

Bonus 8 - Midterm Check Up - Brandon Ince

        I am losing steam. Opinions are beginning to become harder to formulate and defend, assignments are harder to keep track of, work conflicts with study and I still haven't made enough to pay off tuition. The amount of pint up stress and dread and the notion of having a relaxed final college semester is neigh irreconcilable. When time is spent doing one assignment I regret not spending that time doing another assignment, when I switch over to the other assignment I wonder why I didn't even finish the first assignment causing an equal amount of grief and distraction - thus the cycle of building tensions begins.  All things considered, I am a wreck. But with this first bonus point blog post I hope to break this cycle of doing-in-vain and commit to doing something that exceeds expectation instead of simply what is on the docket - a "bonus" if you will. Before your very eyes I will lay out my "All American 3 Step Plan to the Betterment of Body, Ethic, and Spirit." (Though it's not necessary that every step betters each virtue all together, like a toddler its best to take it one step at a time.) The goal is nothing as concrete as "loose twenty pounds by May 9th", but simply to feel like a better person on my own terms, in my own way - by May 9th.

All American Step #1 - Low Carb Diet
         I am a sloth. The only form of honest exercise I get every week is the long and incredibly arduous climb to the Education Building second floor for my lovely Discourse 300 class, both the class and the stairs leave me winded, but both are worth it. However, seeing how I'm typically a stagnant human being, carbs are my worst enemy for keeping healthy and beautiful. Spaghetti may be tasty and there may be nor greater pleasure than crackin' a bag of home-style original Lays, but if I'm not planning to run any marathons - or at all actually- then those treats best stay on the shelf. It takes a certain kind of lifestyle to sustain an intimate relationship with the bottom portion of the food pyramid and that certain lifestyle is a foreign to me as French prose.

All American Step #2 - Be Inconvenient  
        Convenience is the root of anxiety. The most dangerous habit I have formed over the years is orienting my schedule to allow me the most amount of uninterrupted rest along with the least amount of work. This method of lifestyle min/maxing is an awful thing to get used to. For me it has engendered an irresponsible amount of procrastination and an influx of low quality/effort work. I know if I am allowed to continue on like this I am bound to collapse - collapse under the stress induced by my hedonistic style in "taking it easy". Instead of fixating on the delights of lethargy, try finding the joys of superfluousness and discomfort. Exercise, which is lauded by intellectuals across the land, is - after all - quite uncomfortable.

All American Step # 3 - The Little Things, baby. 
        Oh what happiness can be found in the little things. Someone once said, "From a blade of grass one can learn 500 lessons" This open minded mentality can lead to lots of things, a better consciousness both social-wise and academically, a greater sense of appreciation for most things, and if you forget your phone in the bathroom then its a great time sink.

Group A - Post 3: Akira - The Past, 1988, the Future, and the Music That Ties Them All Together - Brandon Ince

 

         Akira. Where to start with Akira. It's one of those phenomenons that comes around only once in lifetime. Lucky for me it came around before my lifetime even started so looks like I'm slated for at least one more of these course altering occurrences. For the uninitiated Akira is a 1988 film written and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo based off a manga of the same name. Set in a distorted, cyberpunk, near future version of Tokyo, the story follows disgruntled youth Shotaro Kaneda as he tries to navigate his way through this mad world that seems to be falling apart at every seam three steps ahead of him. Akira was a highly ambitious film, with the goal to equal the quality put forth by the original 2,000 page epic, the film was allotted a budget of over one-billion yen which was outrageous for the time. The investment paid off, as the film is cited on regular occasion as one of the greatest animated films of all time. In a time of notoriously "lazy" animation, where characters were wont to only move with the absolute minimal amount of motion necessary, Akira dared to explode with highly dynamic and complex motion. From detailed facial animations to surprisingly deep animated foreground/background interplay - Akira had it all and then some. As complex as it's animation was, it pales in comparison to the complexity of the themes. Drug abuse, genetic engineering, religion, civil unrest, political corruption, the meaning of life, spirituality, the concept of the unknown, the consequence of messing with the unknown - a handful of intriguing themes to be sure, however the one we'll be focusing on in this post is the concept of the past, present, and future and how Akira communicates this idea not through its story - but its music.

         The music in Akira was composed by Shoji Yamashiro, (though his real name is Tsutomu Ohashi) and sought to incorporate musical sensibilities appropriate all to 1988, the dystopian futuristic world that Otomo had crafted, and finally the human condition. The act of weaving all of these airy/amorphous concepts together into and intuitive piece of music presents a quandry of immense difficulty to Yamashiro, the composer. It's almost like being handing a bag of blank jigsaw puzzle pieces and being told to assemble it "wastefully" - whatever that means. The tall order had been set so how did Yamashiro choose to solve this dilemma? Through a clever use of instrumentation and a restricted set of musical guidelines.

       The instrumentation used in Akira is a mixture of both ethnic and contemporary, but tends to lean more on the ethnic side, choosing to implement the use of a gamelan as opposed to a traditional orchestra. A gamelan is a ten-twenty piece Balinese percussion ensemble utilizing a set of exotic and base instruments. For example, one such instrument is what's known as a Jegog, which looks like a wide apparatus with halves of bamboo "keys" lined up ascending in size and timbre from one to the next, not too unlike an oversized marimba. When struck with a rubber mallet the instrument produces a low, resonant, wooden sound. A little unimpressive on its own but when multiple jegogs are played in unison the sound takes on a primal quality, awakening some fire deep inside that had long ago been locked up.

        This fire is the key to Yamashiro's success with the score, he tantalizes the very base components of human nature through his restrictive set of musical guidelines employed when composing for Akira. No matter what song they appear in the rhythm performed by the Jegog and the rest of the gamelan ensemble always sticks to a modern sounding sixteen beat pattern. Four sets of four. This musical/rhthmatic form is the bread and butter for the very mass majority of songs ever composed by human hands. Yamashiro believes that "[the sixteen beat pattern] is a code programed into the DNA of humans. This code existed in the beginning and will exist in the future." This statement, albeit teetering on the side grandiose, has merit. No matter what creed or culture one comes from, we all seem to enjoy hearing our music in sets of four. It's one of those phenomenon that remains unexplained. It bridges not only human to human, but past to future as well.

         Through the mixture of primitive instrumentation and modern/primal music sensibilities Yamashiro is able to manipulate our sense of intuition and create a musical experience that feels unlike anything we've felt before while also being so familiar you can smell it. The rhythm is composed with a modern audience in mind so it feels familiar, but it's played on an exotic instrument that sounds like no other so it also sounds primal and distant. When you mix these two contradictory feelings together your left with something bizarre - which could be the most important component in Yamashiro's genius solution to thematically bridge the gap between the past, the present, and an uncanny future. Through music its possible to connect "the dots" in a way that pictures or words simply cannot. As long as there are human conditions to explore, there will be music composed along to capture it.

Otomo, Katsuhiro, director. Akira Sound Clip . Funimation, 2013.

Post 2, Group A - Toy Story and God, By: Brandon Ince

        In the early nineties, a small but talented Californian animation studio begins work on an ambitious new project. Having gone through rewrite after rewrite and operating on a budget of nickles, lint, and shoe strings, development was tumultuous to say the least. Expertly navigating many major roadblocks and facing the ever present threat of production shut down, the project fearlessly found its way to the silver screen on November 22nd, 1995. The movie in question? None other than Toy Story from Pixar studios. A charming buddy-comedy film set in a world in which toys come to life - just so long as no one is looking. Being primarily a movie for kids, the film leans on the lighthearted side - no swearing, straight forward narrative, bad guys and good guys, etc. But this is not to say this is a dumb movie by any means, it treats the audience with respect and does not feign to stoop in order to try and cast a wider net. The narrative may be straight forward, but the characters are interesting, layered and flawed. the tone may be lighthearted but some of the themes are downright terrifying. It's one of these themes that I am interested in discussing in this blog post, Toy Story does a great job at tackling many different aspects of the human condition, fear, jealousy, arrogance, episteme, perhaps even a little existentialism, but the theme that most intrigues me is the concept of theism, god, and how it manifests itself within this world.

           Before we go about discussing the idea of god(s) it is pertinent that we first clearly define what qualifies a god. This is highly vane and I would advise doing everything in your power to avoid doing this yourself. For the purpose of this post, let's define a god as one of perceived supreme dominion over a subject(s). Or in other words, any named individual that has the power to intervene with another in a way that leaves the subject helpless to resist.

         In this case, the first god in which the Toys are in contact with is Andy. Andy is an example of a prototypical benevolent god. Andy literally (and lovingly) creates worlds for the Toys to live in and within which the Toys flourish. Andy's room is a heaven in which a Toys simple love for Andy drives every decision. Whether the Toys realize it or not life as they live it in Andy's room resembles that of a religion devoted to a known deity in which they strive to stay in the good graces. Even the meeting Woody holds at the beginning of the movie has a sermon-y feel to it, from the poor sound quality of the mic, to the mostly inconsequential list of topics on the docket, feels like the first ten minutes of a sermon when most of the "housekeeping" items are discussed. 

           The next god the Toys would encounter would be The Claw at Pizza Planet. The Claw is an example of the aloof god, one who has no discernible habits, likes, or dislikes. The subjects of which, the Little Green Men, are both most ostensibly fanatic and driven by the need to appease their god. The Little Green Men  are the closest one for one representation we have for a true theocracy. Where the other groups will be mostly subtext and speculation, the relationship between The Claw and the Little Green Men is all but directly stated to be god and subject. What drives the Little Green Men to behave the way they do is inscrutable. On one hand they could be acting out of love for The Claw, as they see it as their only ticket out of limbo and into the great beyond, while on the other hand they could be acting out of fear as they see it as the thing that separates them from their home and condemns them to the great beyond. It's a toss up.

 

         The final and most interesting god in which the Toys encounter is Sid, the wrathful god. With a distinct knack for destruction and seemingly needing only a whim to catalyze his ruinous inklings, Sid rules (though unknowingly) through fear. All actions taken by the Toys are in direct reaction to the fear they experience whilst being in his presence. Even his room is a depiction of what hell must be like for toys, the decent into which even mirrors the decent into the underworld from Greek mythology. Ferried from Pizza Planet (living world/limbo) to Sid's house (the underworld) guarded by Sid's nasty dog Spot (Cerberus). In any case, Sid is interesting because he is to only god to "die". Not literally, obviously, this is a G-Rated flick. More so "die" in the Nietzschesque interpretation, meaning that the subject loses it's bond or reliance on the deity in a way that leaves the subject independent of the deity's dominion, for better or worse. Sid's calamitous nature was too much, it basically forced Buzz and Woody's hand to commit a taboo and confront him. The end result of this confrontation leaves Sid demystified and a sad, scared kid, while Buzz and Woody simultaneously achieve their Independence. 

          Toy Story is a film with exceptional depth that is simply hard to come by in children's movies today. It presents itself with a sense of poise and charm that is rare even among the most artsy of indie movies. The ability to pack in lots of challenging themes while also being entertaining is tall order, indeed. However, Toy Story seems to pull it off effortlessly.

Post 1, Group A--Spirited Away - Atmosphere and an Unexplainable Sadness - Brandon Ince

    Spirited Away is a 2001 film by world renown director and producer Hayao Miyazaki. Animated by Studio Ghibli, Spirited Away went on to great critical success, winning a number of awards and the praise of both critical and casual audiences alike. The characters, - enchanting. the world, - dazzling. The story, - unforgettable. Truly a modern classic in every sense, able to melt the heart of even the most cynical of curmudgeons. Alas, its' praises have been sung to high heaven and back a myriad times over. The point of this blog post is not to promote one of my favorite movies it is instead to draw attention to simple components of the movie and how they represent Japanese values and style, mainly atmosphere.

       Let's ironically jump right into things as we address the first idea of Japanese story telling, - Pacing. Spirited Away is a long movie, and it moves slow to boot. This kind of erroneous presentation is one of the main reason's some westerners are turned off to Japanese cinema. This pacing is not due to any incompetence on the screenwriters side or anything like that, it's slow on purpose. In fact, it's not erroneous presentation at all, Japanese story tellers are simply not in a hurry to serve the plot up on a piping hot plate like western story tellers would like. The focus is instead on atmosphere.
      The Japanese, since times of antiquity, have always had an appreciation for atmosphere. Traditional theater such as Noh and Kabuki are pointedly -about- setting an atmosphere often times there is no dialog, just sounds, maybe some singing - though not the sing songy type. This is reflected in Japanese cinema as much screen-time is devoted to setting a world and allowing the viewer to become aware of the atmosphere there within. Of course adding to that run-time all the while. The way in which Spirited Away specifically sets its' atmosphere is through the use of both the excellent score composed by Joe Hisaishi and the extremely detailed art and landscapes by Studio Ghibli, both of which I am only able to describe as breath taking. A lot of the time the movie stops to allow time for the world to sink in, for example the scene near the beginning of the movie when the family stumbles upon the old "abandoned theme park". Between the old train station or the rolling green field on the other side, we are allowed to see and hear and almost feel what it is like to be there. The sound of someone's voice as it bounces off the plaster walls, the sound of grass as it tumbles and blows in the wind, water as it drips from the ceiling to a puddle on the floor. To us, all these elements sound like a dumb and obvious thing to add in, but to a Japanese audience they are as valuable as the infinity stone.

   
        This movie taught me how to appreciate little things like the sound water makes when it hits a puddle, or the fact that there would even be one of those to begin with. These elements, which serve no plot purpose what so ever, are important. Which sounds ludicrous to a westerner, however, a movie as good and as powerful as Spirited Away is the perfect vehicle to elucidate these values to an otherwise unknowing audience. Spirited Away allows us the freedom to explore immediately observable things like the presentation of atmosphere and the effect it can have on us, in this regard it is a little like a teacher. Though there are still many mystifying elements of Japanese culture embedded deep within the DNA of Spirited Away, and some things that it teaches us is hard to acknowledge or even be aware of.
      The detailed landscapes are beautiful and full of life and nature,  Hisaishi's score is also equally beautiful but also somehow melancholic. I believe this pairing is a representation of a Japanese Philosophy known as "Mono no Aware". This phrase is an example of one of the many things that is simply untranslatable to English. The literal meaning is "empathy of things", though the actual meaning is a bit more airy. Basically it is a term for the awareness of impermanence. All things are transient, there is a sadness at their passing but too there is an even deeper but gentle sadness about this being the reality of life.
       It sounds depressing, and that is because it is. That being said, there is a scene near the end of the movie that takes place on a train, no dialog is spoken, the only thing we hear is that ambiatic sounds and the score, this is one of the scenes where the movie just breathes. I never knew why, but this scene always filled me with the strangest melancholic feeling. The train moves from station to station, people get on, people get off, the racks that used to be laid bare are now filled with luggage, but three stations later they are empty again. There is nothing sad about people going on their merry way, so why is it? The cab never looks the same, the cab will never look the same, it only looks like what it does now, right now. The cab changes, the people change, the scenery changes, but "Why is this sad?" I always used to think to myself, I never knew, I couldn't explain it, I didn't have the right vocabulary or cultural unconscious to even frame the idea. The idea of impermanence did not even register as a valid message for that scene, let alone as a catalyst for sadness. I never knew until I felt it for myself.

       Earlier in class we talking about the problems and solutions directors have for relaying the subjective. It's honestly amazing how film makers are able to wield their medium with enough mastery to convey an experience like that. Storming the beach at Normandy, having a psychological break down, etc. But it is something else entirely when you convey the experience of an idea that does not even exist to your audience, at least not in their culture. The event is both shaking and frustrating, as you can not even begin to explain of acknowledge what it is you feel. All the while the film acts so unapologetic about it, you wonder if the movie even meant to say something at all. Japan is a wild and crazy world. 

In class assignment - The food sucks and the wiring is bad - By Brandon Ince

Summer, 2003
Edinburgh, Scotland

I'm 9 years old and way out of my element. Scotland is a weird place, it rains all day everyday, there are different words for only specific things, and it's dark. Not dark in the sense that the exists a significant lack of sunlight or incandescence, though one would not be out of place saying so, - dark in the sense that the history of Scotland has been surreptitiously laced the the wispy stitch of malice and blood.

 Anyways, the story begins breakfast one morning, I don't know who but someone once said that "in hell all the cooks are English" and entering my second week partaking in classic English cuisine I cannot help but agree. "the food here sucks" I thought to myself as my eyes glazed over the few lovely loafs of "spotted dick" left in the buffet trays. The hotel we were staying at was nice, probably the nicest place I'd ever been, the cook staff must have been comparably talented but frankly, there is no saving that name - "spotted dick", especially to a 9 year old.

I made my way back to the room knowing we had a stash of plain bagels hidden away. I arrived at the threshold but something was not right. What's wrong with this place? I can't say for sure what I was feeling at that point, it's beyond my capability as a writer to fully articulate. A close approximation would be the strange feeling you get when you watch a massive object in the distance as you move passed it but the object is so large and perspective so warped that it doesn't move in the way you expect it. The feeling is similar to vertigo but not exact. 

I went to my bag and pulled out my precious plain bagel but I was no longer hungry, I was anxious. I want out of here. I can not stay in here. The room is exactly how I left it earlier but at the same time not. There's something extra. It's grotesque. I leave for the door but as I near the exit there is a ringing. Ringing? Ringing not exactly, but a high-pitched continuous screeching sound, though soft and quiet. I turn around to see the CRT TV is now on when before it was off, I didn't turn that on. I guess you could say I was freaked out at that point I went back to the eating area where my family was but I don't remember telling them what happened until we were back stateside.

It wasn't until later I learned that faulty wiring can cause feelings of anxiety and nausea. Which would explain the strange feelings I was experiencing and the TV turning on randomly for no reason. Darn you bad Scottish electricians. Though also that hotel is also a notoriously haunted hotel in one of the most notoriously haunted cities in the whole world. So there is also that. One or the other I guess.