Today was a day of play.
The first concerned an NPC, and the second – a slammer of Grands.
If I am not making any sense right now, do forgive me. We just managed to feed the kid, a feat that is a Grand Slam in itself.
Ok, so I watched Free Guy – Ryan Renolds on Netflix. It is about a Guy (who is free?) in a video game, only that he does not exist in the real world. He is an NPC – Non-Player Character – for the uninitiated. The kinds who players go around shooting and beating to pulp.
An interesting story concerning AI (Artificial Intelligence) and humanity, all woven into a nice little fantasy, but with a contemporary outlook. How often have you seen a real-world human fall in love with a character in a video game?
The premise is fascinating, and frightening in equal amounts. We have after all, seen the Terminator series (Skynet), and I don’t think anyone relishes the possibility of AI that takes over the world…anyways, Free Guy is far from it, and so makes for a breezy viewing.
The slammer of Grands is my favorite in the Tridev of tennis – Djokovic, Federer and Nadal. Today, at the age of 36, he came back from two sets down to win a record 21st Grand Slam title. No mean feat – the longevity and stamina required for such a long and illustrious career cannot be underestimated.
He may just go down as the best player ever. How many of us can be the best ____ ever in our fields?
Playing the devil’s advocate, maybe you don’t have to be, or even aim to be the best ever. It’s nice if you get there, but that’s not the point of it. Enjoying what you do is more important than winning, and so say the actual winners. Free Guy was about a character in the game who becomes conscious and then fails to see the point of the mindless violence that makes games so addictive…and Nadal is a live example of how one can divert such destructive energy to make a mark in a field of one’s choice.
Good when one learns from everything one sees or does!