The Hotel Disease

[Abishai100]

Imagine you go on a high school senior year trip with your friends to Disney World and discover you have to share a hotel-room with a classmate you don't know so well (this actually happened to me --- but there were no negative consequences). You might feel uncomfortable or unhappy, wishing you were rooming with a friend or someone you know more than your stranger-roommate.

Hotel amenities are nice but they can only do so much if you're not in a good emotional disposition or have to share a room with someone you don't even know.

How do countless immigrants brave the elements and claustrophobia to share uncomfortable spaces with people they don't know just to finally reach the shores of America and seek the proverbial American Dream? This is what many of our ancestors did, coming over on crowded boats and sharing space with people they didn't know even when they got to America (in ethnic immigration enclaves).

That's why hotels are such a civilization symbol of transit-happiness and space comfort. We think of movie stars of rich people such as Howard Hughes wallowing in the luxury of giant hotel suites and reaping the benefits of room service that only a fat bank account fan offer.

So what therefore is the psychological allure of Stephen King's novel The Shining, a story about a struggling writer named Jack who has to serve as a temporary caretaker of a hotel during the heavy-snow winter season (when the hotel is fully closed) with his family only to discover that the hotel is haunted by malicious and eerie spirits which proceed to drive him insane with fear and anxiety?

The Shining was adapted into a well-known Stanley Kubrick film starring Jack Nicholson as Jack.

Thinking about hotel comforts are relevant in this modern age of transit and globalization, especially now that terrorism has undermined our basic sensibilities regarding sharing all kinds of space in groups (e.g., World Trade Center).

So what does the Taliban think of the American film Die Hard (a story about a valiant cop dealing with a band of terrorists overtaking a giant skyscraper)?


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BILL GATES: Did you go on your high school senior-year field trip?
STEVE JOBS: Yes, I did.
BILL GATES: These days, Disney World is a popular destination.
STEVE JOBS: The hotel accommodations in Disney World are very nice.
BILL GATES: What if you had to room with a student you didn't really know?
STEVE JOBS: That actually happened to me!
BILL GATES: How did you deal with that?
STEVE JOBS: Well, we were just cordial and enjoyed the rest of the experience.
BILL GATES: Oh, so it was fine then.
STEVE JOBS: Yes, it was a useful learning experience...
BILL GATES: Very funny. The way you have to deal with me, eh?
STEVE JOBS: Hehe. Just kidding, Bill. I love hotels! I still do.
BILL GATES: Alright, we should consider space requirements for people travelling.
STEVE JOBS: Hospitality should be a philosophy of any good computer/software company!
BILL GATES: Beware of the ghost in the machine...the Terrorism Werewolf.

====

 

[Abishai100]

Reels

When I think of the collections of photos civilians keep, I realize how important record-keeping is to humanity, which perhaps explains why civilization invests in record-keeping related profitable activities (e.g., traffic-counting).

It's no wonder that McDonald's Monopoly has become so popular! Should we enlist in some kind of 'hobbyist's academy'?

It is interesting to note that Howard Hughes spent the last part of his life as a recluse in a hotel.

 

[Abishai100]

People Magazine


Here's a mock dialogue between Vishnu (Hindu god of protection) and Shiva (Hindu god of destruction) about modern 'pedestrianism-psychiatry' culture.



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VISHNU: I'm thinking about how Facebook is a global phenomenon now (like McDonald's, CNN, and Microsoft).
SHIVA: Americans are doing very well in the modern free market...
VISHNU: Well, China (America's only rival now) can boast about the popularity of Chinese restaurants across the world!
SHIVA: Facebook is really an 'online yearbook.'
VISHNU: High school is a lot like a hotel, and yearbooks are records/accounts of our optimism in that 'dollhouse time.'
SHIVA: High school is when people first start thinking seriously about marriage; it's real developmental psychology.
VISHNU: Maybe that's why high school yearbooks are so popular; they represent human hospitality.
SHIVA: Imagine how many people would freak out if there was a paralyzing Facebook virus!
VISHNU: When we see pictures in media about celebrities' high school photos, we begin to think about 'society norms.'
SHIVA: Yes, the 'dollhouse high school experience' of celebrities (e.g., Tom Cruise) symbolizes our media fascination.
VISHNU: I think it was Ansel Adams who really made photography (and nature) very personal.
SHIVA: It's no surprise that we see Facebook and horror-films (e.g., Halloween) as modernism phenomena.
VISHNU: Yes, modernism requires an evaluation of abnormal psychology.
SHIVA: It's why Woody Allen made the network-psychiatry film Manhattan.
VISHNU: There must be correlations between pedestrianism (Facebook) and psychosis (American Psycho).
SHIVA: Maybe it's all about the David Fincher film The Social Network...

====

 

[Ima Cat]

Imagine you go on a high school senior year trip with your friends to Disney World and discover you have to share a hotel-room with a classmate you don't know so well (this actually happened to me --- but there were no negative consequences). You might feel uncomfortable or unhappy, wishing you were rooming with a friend or someone you know more than your stranger-roommate.

Hotel amenities are nice but they can only do so much if you're not in a good emotional disposition or have to share a room with someone you don't even know.

How do countless immigrants brave the elements and claustrophobia to share uncomfortable spaces with people they don't know just to finally reach the shores of America and seek the proverbial American Dream? This is what many of our ancestors did, coming over on crowded boats and sharing space with people they didn't know even when they got to America (in ethnic immigration enclaves).

That's why hotels are such a civilization symbol of transit-happiness and space comfort. We think of movie stars of rich people such as Howard Hughes wallowing in the luxury of giant hotel suites and reaping the benefits of room service that only a fat bank account fan offer.

So what therefore is the psychological allure of Stephen King's novel The Shining, a story about a struggling writer named Jack who has to serve as a temporary caretaker of a hotel during the heavy-snow winter season (when the hotel is fully closed) with his family only to discover that the hotel is haunted by malicious and eerie spirits which proceed to drive him insane with fear and anxiety?

The Shining was adapted into a well-known Stanley Kubrick film starring Jack Nicholson as Jack.

Thinking about hotel comforts are relevant in this modern age of transit and globalization, especially now that terrorism has undermined our basic sensibilities regarding sharing all kinds of space in groups (e.g., World Trade Center).

So what does the Taliban think of the American film Die Hard (a story about a valiant cop dealing with a band of terrorists overtaking a giant skyscraper)?


====

BILL GATES: Did you go on your high school senior-year field trip?
STEVE JOBS: Yes, I did.
BILL GATES: These days, Disney World is a popular destination.
STEVE JOBS: The hotel accommodations in Disney World are very nice.
BILL GATES: What if you had to room with a student you didn't really know?
STEVE JOBS: That actually happened to me!
BILL GATES: How did you deal with that?
STEVE JOBS: Well, we were just cordial and enjoyed the rest of the experience.
BILL GATES: Oh, so it was fine then.
STEVE JOBS: Yes, it was a useful learning experience...
BILL GATES: Very funny. The way you have to deal with me, eh?
STEVE JOBS: Hehe. Just kidding, Bill. I love hotels! I still do.
BILL GATES: Alright, we should consider space requirements for people travelling.
STEVE JOBS: Hospitality should be a philosophy of any good computer/software company!
BILL GATES: Beware of the ghost in the machine...the Terrorism Werewolf.

====


View attachment 127180

Brevity is the soul of wit little one. And you aint got it.