Waking Life - the movie that got me into philosophy and changed my life

Growing up I had two passions in my life: music and sports. I do not know why, but ever since I can remember, those two things made me go. Music was a form of expression for me as well as sports and that is always where I felt most at home.

In middle school I was always playing sports in the park. I remember when we hit 7th/8th grade and the school allowed us to go out for lunch - I remember everyone being so excited about it, but I didn't really care and never took the school up on this. Lunch time/recess for me was always about sports and I would not have it any other way. I never tried out for any teams because of my timidness and lack of self confidence (I think the idea of trying out and being "judged" is what worried me the most - I have always had this fear of rejection.) But that did not matter to me so long as I was able to play with my buddies and/or after school.

In High School I got into poetry and fell in love with it. I was never a good (essay) writer and my grammar was pathetic, but with poetry, you were allowed this freedom to essentially do as you please. Reading poetry was also great because two different people could get something different out of the same poem. It was almost like a special world where there was no "right" and "wrong", so I never felt like I could give the wrong answer.

Now some of you might be wondering why I have mentioned all this in a thread about a movie, but I promise that it is all relevant. My brother was a big movie head (he is two years my elder) and I used to mostly watch movies he wanted to. I should also mention that he had really good taste in movies, so I am in no way complaining (he put me onto movies such as: Memento, Brick and the list goes on...) Looking back on it now, it was almost like I lacked my own identity (to an extent) because as you all know, I am very timid. I had never really thought about that until now, go figure. We were really tight knit growing up and we only started to grow apart around the time he began high school (a blessing in disguise now that I think about it as well).

I think this was the time when I really started to develop my own sense of self. I actually moved out of the city for my first high school and that was a huge change for me. I was at a school with more kids than I had ever been around and I was fortunate to have a random person protect me when I needed it most - I was basically being bullied psychologically by these kids who acted like they had an interest in me. They were basically talking to me, but making fun of the things I would say and that is when this stranger (I would call him my guardian angel) stepped in and stood up for me. I will fast forward to my point because this thread is getting way longer than I expected it to.

I met this girl after high school and she recommend this movie (Waking Life) to me and it immediately changed my life. I was never really good with big words and watching this movie for the first time, I probably had a lot of it go over my head because there were so many words I was unfamiliar with. But for some reason I stuck with it and ended up watching it a few more times (as well as downing loading the script and analyzing it to the bone). I read through it and circled every word that did not know the definition to - I actually still have the script in a binder. I will watch this movie every couple of years and I recommend it to anyone who I think will get something out of it. I am actually due for another screening any day now.

It took my up until today to realize how big of an impact this movie actually had on my life and in a way, it probably got me started down the path that I am still on today. IMDB be it and if you think it might interest you, I urge you to watch it.

If you have already watched it, feel free to share you thoughts via spoiler alert. I also will look to post some of my favorite quotes in this thread.