Microsoft is Greedy

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/29/microsoft.metered.computing/index.html

I swear to god, I'll buy a Mac if Microsoft puts this into action.

In Defense of Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action has received a lot of negative attention, being described as reverse racism at times. This is because the perception that because it uses race as a factor in hiring decisions or acceptance to colleges and universities. If man is supposed to be equal, then how can we allow race to be used as a factor in such things?

Although I do believe all men are created equal, we cannot lie to ourselves and say that our current educational system is even close to equal. Because of this, groups in our society are underrepresented in colleges and universities. Minority scholarships and affirmative action programs in colleges were instituted so that members of these underrepresented groups will find higher education more attractive. It is not a goal to make race a factor, but make it so that race will one day not be a factor. When all races are represented in higher educational institutions, then we can gradually phase out affirmative action policies, and I proudly look forward to the day that affirmative action is no longer needed. But in the present, it is still needed.

Ignorance

We've all heard the trite saying, ignorance is bliss, and it would seem that this is true. People prefer not to know certain things, out of a desire to keep the status quo. This is disappointing but it happens. Although I have a problem with this, my biggest problem is with those who actively shun other opinions, simply to avoid being wrong, or having their mind changed, or when people faced with an argument, simply ignore that the argument was ever presented and go on living their lives as if that logic entered their minds.

I believe it comes completely out fear. For some strange reason, we fear our minds being changed. This is why conversions, or even "de-conversions", are so scary for us. We are comfortable in our current state, why leave it?

But at some point we are going to have to leave that state. Our ideas are going to be challenged; our opinions tested. To continue in ignorance, to decide that our comfortable state is more important than living with reason and knowledge, is to accept that lies are a better form of living than anything close to the truth.

David Paterson

So, after searching very, very hard on the internet and not finding anything, I decided to hack David Paterson's email. If you are not aware, David Paterson is the New York governor and is also legally blind. SNL recently made an "offensive" skit involving him, making fun of his blindness. Now I present you David Paterson's email response to NBC and SNL.

Dear NBC and writers for Saturday Night Live,

I am very offended by your recent skit involving me. I have not seen it personally, but I have heard the details of it and I am not amused. By casting me as a bumbling oaf, you have given America simply another stereotype about the blind. Yes, it's true, I have bumped into my share of things, but I'm sure you have too. I was informed that your skit involved me holding a graph upside-down but that would never happen. I always have somebody else hold my graphs for me, make my powerpoint presentations, or anything else visual so that I do not find myself in a similar gaff. If you wanted to have an honest representation of myself, you should have had that shrill harpy of a Weekend Update co-anchor help me with my presentation. Also, whenever I am on TV, or at least when I'm told I'm on TV, I do not move. This helps me avoid moving into the way of the camera. So the physical comedy that you made at my expense would have been moot.

Now, I am not opposed to comedy. Just not ocmedy about myself. I would not be adverse to skits involving myself, just please don't make fun of my disability. I have some pretty interesting skit ideas that could use my blindness in funny, but not offensive ways. One skit could involve me meeting Eliot Spitzer's hooker and not realizing that she isn't his wife, because I'm blind! Funny, huh? Or, I could walk into the governor's office and start talking to Spitzer while he is attempting to become intimate with his hooker but I don't realize it because I'm blind!

See, public figures can be used for comedy without being mocked, humiliated, or ridiculed. I would like to continue hearing about your hilarious sketches from friends, but not if it continues to offend myself or other disabled people.

Thank you,
David Patterson

Dictated to Ashley Alexandra Dupré or Kristen

And It's Official!

TV on the Radio's Dear Science

Best Album of the Year!!!

at least according to the AV Club (first among many)

http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_best_music_of_2008/4

Movies are only interesting when you're watching and discussing them, not when you have to write large papers over them. I've had just about enough of this, and I've barely done any work. I still have a couple hours to get this mess done though. And a couple days after that...haha.

But anyways, I'd much much much rather be watching Last Life in the Universe, 2046, and Oldboy than writing this stupid paper. Every time I heard "The Christmas Song" I think of 2046 and then I think of the Slate article that named it one of the best "Alternative Christmas" movies. It is quite enjoyable. Oh twell, I always have Christmas break.

I might snow here in Waco tonight. If it does, I'll be quite the happy little camper. I will also be freezing my bum off outside, but it's all good.

But it's now time to get back to my essay. Au revior!

1st Dead Day

Not happy at all. Didn't get to sleep until 5. Woke up at 9:45. Still have studying and writing to do.

But in other news, I would like to answer Hey Rapture's question of what I want to do before I turn 20. I would like to write something thoughtful, meaningful, intelligent, and provocative before I turn 20. Not a story, or a screenplay, or anything monumental. Even just an philosophical or political essay would be fine. I have ideas mulling around in my head, so one day...before I'm 20.

OJ Simpson

So, OJ Simpson was sentenced to "at least 15 years" today. An interesting ending to a chapter in American pop culture that started in a White Bronco 14 years ago. Admittedly though, I almost wanted to see him go free and just prove that no law can hold OJ Simpson. But unfortunately, Johnny Cochran was not here to defend Mr. Simpson.

But my question is, "How will the prison population react to having him in their midst." I ask this because there's a lot of people who believe that Mr. Simpson was guilty and unjustly got off for murder 13 years ago. Are those people in prison? Do they care that the justice system has finally caught up with Mr. Simpson?

Mr. Simpson is eligible for parole in 9 years. Will he make it to his parole hearing?

Beats: and the Filthy Biters Who Jack Them

I would like to discuss beat theft today.

Please excuse all the videos. I didn't know any other way to demonstrate my point...

There is an interesting paradox within Hip Hop that goes undiscussed. This paradox is a difference between sampling and stealing. At the heart of Hip Hop, you find that many songs in the genre are made from parts of other songs. This is very prevalent. But this I would not consider theft. It is not theft because it does not claim to have created the song it is sampling, instead just using it in the creation of another work of music. This is similar to citing a source in a paper. But, also within Hip Hop is the idea of "beat theft." This would in fact be considered theft. Why? Because the producer is trying to pass off another person's work as their own. I will cite DJ Khaled's song "Holla at Me" as a wholesale theft of Afrika Bambaata's song "Looking for the Perfect Beat." Why is this theft? Because although the song is fairly well known to die-hard Hip Hop fans, the average fan, whom DJ Khaled is targeting, does not know this song ever existed, and Khaled is attempting to pass off the spectacular beat as his own.

Now, beat theft does not intrinsicly occur when the same sample is used. I present MF Doom's "Anti-Matter" and Nas' "You Can't Stop Us Now" as evidence.




Although these two songs share the same sample, even the sound of the sample is different. Nas' is clearer, as if a band came in a redid the song. MF Doom's has that slight crackle to tell you it was taken straight from the record.

I know present the reason I bring this to your attention today.





These two songs take from the same source: Na Boca Do Sol by Arthur Verocai



Note that the two parts of both samples are not close to each other. One sample occurs at the very beginning and the other at the end of the verse/chorus(?). This adds to the idea that 9th Wonder (the "producer" of the second song) stole the beat from MF Doom, first beat. Also, the only thing that actually seperates the two beats from each other is bars. MF Doom's beat allows each part to go on for 4 bars, while the 9th Wonder beat goes for 2 each.

Point is, quit jacking beats!

Yay!

It's Tuesday again, my busiest day of the week, and I'm not doing any homework. Nothing new though, right? Currently listening to Boys Night Out's Trainwreck. It's pretty nice. It's a concept album and the such and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm planning on obtaining a couple new CDs soon. Ludacris' new album, Kanye West's new album, and something else I can't remember. But anyways...

On my agenda for the near future is developing an argument for the need of a secular political outlook. That has been my new mental obsession lately. I was thinking about Christianity and Capitalism, and it led to the idea of applying secularism to politics if one decides to cherry-pick the Bible for political positions. I might write a whole thing on it; it greatly interests me.

Anyways, I have about 40 minutes before I meet up with my new organization Coalition for Diversity. I'm wondering what it's going to be like... The President of Baylor Dems wanted me to join, and prefaced it with "I know you wanted to have a leadership position..." so I'm not sure what to expect.

Another thing is the Clinton Global Initiative Conference at UT Austin in February! I'm going to be applying to get into that. Not actually sure what it entails, but from what I've seen it looks like it is going to be a conference for fellow left-wingers to discuss policy and ideology for three days. What's better?

I leave with the recommendation that everyone read The Rebel by Albert Camus.

Also, The Christian vs. Atheist war on youtube scares me. Both sides are crazy.

I had a rough morning today. First, I didn't get in until 2 and didn't get to bed until 3. But of course, I didn't get to sleep until 4ish. Now, since it was Thursday, I had to get up at 8:30, so you can see why this would be a problem. The icing to the cake though was that my roommate put his alarm on snooze at least 10 times. So that kept me up for god knows how long. Needless to say, I slept in. I skipped my first class, Existentialism (my favorite class), but still attended my second class, Great Texts. I could have slept through Great Texts. Since it was such a rough morning, I ended up rolling into class just a bit late. But that didn't matter...AT ALL. We did not discuss the book I had failed to read. Instead, the entire class was devoted to explaining how women were different from men and how modernity makes everything sucky. Honestly.

Why is it that I hate that class at this point? Because my professor has the disturbing ability to ascend his soapbox every class. I wonder if it was less pronounced last semester, or if I just ignored it because I thought he was a very intelligent man. Either way, I can't wait for the end of this semester, and the end of my communication with him.

On another rantish point, I got into an argument/discussion with the other roommate over a groups means and goals. I hate when people say "They're getting you to talk about it, you're engaged in a dialogue on the subject, therefore they have achieved their goal." No, they haven't.

Case in point, I was discussing with my roommate why RANK (Raising Awareness in North Korea) decided to hold a worship service instead of something that would be actually effective (my thought). My roommate said that the worshipping and prayer would raise awareness, but I countered that they could do something that was actually effective, and did more than send up good vibes to God, like a money drive, volunteering to raise money, or something of that sort which would allow them toraise awareness and actually do something about it. My roommate then countered saying that they were trying to engage people in the idea of North Korea, which, by having this discussion, we were doing, therefore, they have achieved their goal.

No. What we were discussing was the methods they are using to engage their audience; an actual discussion of North Korea's human rights violations was never actually discussed. Therefore, their goal was not acomplished in us discussing them. Therefore, I submit that we can take this case and generalize it to a certain point and say that simply because a group has caused a discussion, it does not mean that the group has actually achieved its goals.

New Life Plan

So, I have a new life plan that is a nice synthesis of my previous life plans.

Previous Plans:
1. Be lawyer. Really that was all I had.
2. Get PhD in philosophy or Poli Sci and become a professor.

New Plan!
Go to law school. Get accepted into a program to get both a JD and a PhD (poli sci or philosophy still) then learn French, and concentrate in international law, and become a lawyer for a bank in France.

Perfect right?

I thought so.

The Holiday Season is Upon Us

And I, for one, actually like Christmas. It's an interesting time, but I can't go to the mall within the last week til Christmas or it kills it for me. People mobbing to get toys, electronics, clothes or other knick-knacks for their friends and family. It kind of makes me sick.

But what doesn't make me sick is Christmas movies and music. It's goodwill condensed into 90 minutes or 4 minutes, respectively, and isn't that what Christmas is all about? Condensing your goodwill, affection, and love for everybody else into a nice couple of weeks or even just a day?

List of Christmas favorites

Movies:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas
and 2046 just as a bonus

Songs:
Silver Bells
Please Come Home For Christmas
This Christmas
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Food:
Candy Canes!

So, in a couple of weeks I'm going to be flying off to Florida for Thanksgiving. Since I don't see myself particularly enjoying the in-flight movie or the disturbing boredom that comes form having nothing to do for hours on end, I'm going to bring books with me to help pass the time.

But, I have a lot of books. A lot.

So, I need to start sifting through them to see what I want to bring.

Here are a couple titles I'm considering:
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
The Fall by Albert Camus
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
On Language by Noam Chomsky
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman
Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre

So yeah, input would be nice. Haha.

So, happily, I am enjoying a fully working computer. You fixed your computer, you may ask? There was something wrong with your computer, you may also ask. Why should I care about your stupid computer is definitely another question you may ask. I have nothing for this latter question, but for the other two, the answer to both is "no."

There was actually nothing wrong with my computer. I just have no memory.

I thought my computer had a virus that was slowly eating up the memory on my main hard drive. What I actually had was a lot of podcast subscriptions, of which all the podcasts were being kept, which slowly but surely ate up my memory. To solve this "problem" I simply unsubscribed and deleted all the podcasts.

I have 16% of my hard drive's memory back. So I have a total of 36% free space.

Yay moi!

Oh, and one of my essays was pushed back to Thursday.

Life is alright.

Something About the Universe...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/nov/07/spielberg-smith-oldboy-remake

I have come to the conclusion that either the Universe (capitalized to give it the anthropomorphic qualities of a deity) either hates me or just hates anything of excellent quality. And although there are numerous subjective reasons to believe that the Universe is out to make me miserable (which it isn't succeeding at), I think the actual target of the Universe is excellent art.

I say this because of the Link provided at the top. If you haven't seen Oldboy, it's amazing. Basically, one of my favorite movies. Anyways, apparently, Hollywood hates anything well-done and is now in the process of making a remake of it, directed/produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Will Smith. Let us just note that the last Will Smith remake/adaptation (I Am Legend, I'm looking at you) suck so badly, I actually walked out of the movie theater disgusted. And Steven Spielberg? I'll just leave that to your call.

Stan, why are you objecting so violently to the remake of a dang movie? You weren't that upset when they remade Kairo (Pulse), One Missed Call, or Dot Rec (Quarantine). Here is the reason. First, not only will the movie be a bad version of its original (which is almost inevitable for movies, although there are some exceptions), but it will also do a grave disservice to the original. What Oldboy achieved was an amazing amalgamation of style, philosophy, and storytelling. In being transfered to an American audience, it's going to lose all but the storytelling. But then again, the ending seems to me to be so disturbing to an American audience that it could not be allowed. Honestly, I don't think a big blockbuster director/actor team could get away with half the things in that movie, let alone keep the ending wholly intact.

Also, Park Chan-wook is such and amazing director and Choi Min-sik is such an amazing actor that I doubt that either Spielberg or Smith could do any justice to a remake after their work. Park Chan-wook honestly has an amazing eye for style and his screenplay was just beautiful that I don't think any attempt at a remake could even come close to the original. And Choi Min-sik's perfect portrayl of the miserable protagonist is just flawless. Will Smith, as good as he is, just doesn't have the chops that Choi does.

So, that is the reason I both don't want this remake to proceed (because it will tarnish the name of Oldboy), and why, if it should be made, I will watch it.

Although I can't stand the idea of a remake being done, if one is actually made, I need to see how far it missed its mark.

Flex Your Rights

So I've seen this video before, about a year and a half ago, but I think it's worth a viewing.


For myself, I was pulled over but I think I performed pretty well. I didn't admit to speeding, feigned ignorance to why I was pulled over, and basically kept reasonably calm for someone who was getting pulled over for the first time. The officer actually had a couple other things to cite me on, such as my expired insurance and registration, but he overlooked that, which was very nice of him. I, of course, was not holding any drugs in my car or anything like that, but it's always good to protect yourself from unwanted searches even if you're not hiding anything illegal.

But, anyways, enjoy the video.

My Next Two Weeks

Next Week:
Wednesday - Tests in Spanish and History
Thursday - Test in Great Texts
Friday - Tests in Spanish and Logic

The Week After:
Wednesday - 5 page essay due for History and 3 essays due in Existentialism (minimum of 2 pages each)
Thursday - 5 page essay due for Great Texts

I am screwed.

Is It Bad?

That I love that gas prices are in a free fall?

Because seriously, $1.93 for gas? I haven't seen that in forever. It's quite amazing. It might have actually been a bit higher when I started filling my own tank.

I love it!

So, we're less than 24 hours away from TV on the Radio! Actually, 20 hours to be more precise. I'm super excited. You have no freaking idea. I know what I'm going to be wearing, when I'm going to go to the venue to wait for doors to open, and of course where I'm staying for the night!

Also, my cousin is preggers. Haha. It's pretty awesome actually. I need to call her tomorrow and congratulate her. I'm really happy for her.

Life is pretty good at this point.

This May Come Back to Bite Me in the Bum

But, I've made an Obama Victory playlist. And while I was making it, I stumbled upon a Mixtape called Yes We Can, which is just a whole bunch of rappers rapping about Obama. So awesome right? Right!

It Is 1:20 in the morning

Do you know where you children are?

I love those commercials. Amazing. But better yet was the Clavin and Hobbes strip that parodied it.

But anyways, I'm about to go to sleep, but I decided to update this sucker.

I'm super excited for Thursday! TV on the Radio concert, remember? I'm super psyched for this thing. It's going to be amazing. Anyways, I'm also excited that my buddy (Hey, Rapture) gave me a place to crash before and after the concert. So this week is going to be good.

Except for Saturday, which I've decided will be the day I do my Defensive Driving class online.

In other news, my roomie sometimes get on my nerves. Especially since he has a poor grip on logic, yet believes his logic is perfect and inscrutable. Also, he's judgmental and somewhat of a homophobe. But whatever, he's kool most of the time. haha

Goodnight!

I just found this and thought it was funny

Conclusion

Charles Darwin was a tragically mistaken man who drifted from a childlike trust in One who helped him run to school on time into an abyss of hopelessness and agnosticism. While the spiritual journey of a Christian is a journey out of darkness into Christ's marvelous light, that of Charles Darwin was a slippery slide out of Gospel light (although not saving spiritual sight) into the sheer "blackness of darkness for ever."

Darwin's unbelief, like that of so many people today, had its roots in a mind which first rejected the revelation of God in the Bible and then was unwilling to accept the revelation of God which God Himself has given in nature. This religion of revelation, of the Bible, of the Lord Jesus Christ, will keep us tuned to truth, hope, and life in God, and away from evolutionism, humanism, and atheism, only as we allow it to exercise its power in our hearts. The tragedy of Charles Darwin is that he never did.

Note the use of words like "tragic" and "abyss of hopelessness..."
:)

I've Recently Realized

just how many of my posts are rants.

So, in the efforts of bringing diversity to this blog, I will....

I can't think of anything reasonably interesting to say that would not turn into a diatribe.

So in lieu of anything actually interesting, I'll just get back to work.

Actually I'll start working. First up, finish my Oldboy essay. It's coming along pretty well. I'm going to make it better for the final draft, including entering a perceived criticism and rebuttal section, and maybe more insight into the chauvinistic attitudes pervading existential art.

Then I get to read 80 pages of drivel for my History class. It's not that I don't care about the Trail of Tears, it's just that the book is boring. Plain and simple, right?

After that, a healthy amount of proof practice for Logic. Proofs are the hardest thing I've ever encountered (at least in that class). They're tough, and it takes both a good deal of memorization and creative thinking. In a very related story, I sat staring at a proof on my last quiz in that class, and came to an impasse. What I realized after he took the quizzes up was that I had done one of the rules wrong (I gave the problem a wedge signifying an 'or' statement, or a disjunction, instead of the needed dot that signifies an 'and' statement, or conjunction) and had I done it correctly, the answer would have been simple after that. I was one step away from rocking that problem to it's core. But I digress.

I have quite the busy night ahead of me, and so with that, I bid this blog adieu.

The sheer number of philosophies out there means that almost all of them are flawed.

Think about it. It is not possible for many philosophies to all be logically sound. If one is sound, the others cannot be sound. And if two philosophies are sound, they're redundant and only one of those philosophies is needed.

Now, that isn't to say that almost all philosophies are invalid. They may be valid (the conclusion must be true if all the premises are true) but they are still unsound (one or more of the premises are untrue.)

Question is...which philosophy is sound?

I posit that existentialism is the only sound philosophy.

Why? It'd take an entire book to tell you that, and really, I don't have the time right now.

But maybe when I write my thesis!

On Christianity

Hmm, I've been wondering a few things lately. Obviously, as referenced in the title, one of those things is Christianity. Mainly in the idea of gay activists who are also Christians. I, personally, believe the two are "morally" mutually exclusive. I'm not saying that you cannot be a Christian and a gay activist, but I am saying that you cannot profess that the Bible is infallible and still work towards the goal of homosexual tolerance and/or marriage.

Take this quote as the starting point:
"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Obviously, from the mouth of Paul himself, there are people who cannot inherit the kingdom of God even if they believe in Jesus. This is contrary to the common idea in modern Christianity, but this is not my actual point. What I am trying to say is that a true Christian is supposed to be a disciple of Christ, correct? And a disciple is one who lives by Jesus' example and tries to bring the truth of Jesus Christ to others, right? Now, that would mean that a true Christian cannot in all good conscience condone the "practice" of homosexual acts. This would mean that a true Christian cannot truly work towards the tolerance of gays, without being in contradiction to the very text they find infallible.

Basically, that is what has been on my mind. This isn't the only thing, but it is one of them.

Also, I've heard someone say that it was difficult to reconcile the goal of tolerance of gays with the Bible, because although everyone sins, gays live their entire lives as sin. I think that you can make an analogy between that and working towards gay rights. Seeing as working for gay rights is not a single instant, but an entire mindstate, the Christian working towards said goal is living a life of sin as well.

Tuesday

I've found that although Tuesdays are my busiest days, I don't ever do anything productive. I'm in class from 9:30 to 12:30, then have an hour and a half break, class from 2-3, then a forum at 3:30 to 4:30, time off then Baylor Democrats from 7-8 and Bearobics Hip Hop at 8:15 to 9:15.

So, between 9:30 in the morning and 9:30 at night I have about 4 hours of "free time." Now, with this free time, I can easily get a good start on my homework for the night, instead of waiting until all my "commitments" have been attended. But what do I find myself doing? Nothing. Well, today I got something notarized, but that was just in the time between me finishing my test, and the time the actual class would have been over. And I bought a shirt. Online.

Why do I do things like this? Maybe because I just don't care? I care. But not enough to start early. I know I can get things done later, and so I enjoy my time now. But if I were to work now, I could enjoy myself later. Decisions, decisions.

In other news, I'm all set for TV on the Radio!! They're coming into Austin next Thursday and I will leave Baylor as soon as class gets out, drive down to Kaitlin's place, and crash there til the concert. When the concert is over, I will make my way back to her place, and I'll probably stay there until about 7. She has graciously allowed me to stay there and now I'm super excited about this concert!

Oh, and ASA is horribly unorganized. ASA being Asian Students Association. It took us two whole hours to complete a video that is going to be at most, 50 seconds. It was a lot of fun though.

Oh! I've gained a bit of new respect for Dante the Poet. He, like Plato before him, writes with an esoteric sense. This means he writes certain ideas for the masses, but for the intelligensia, he has a deeper hidden meaning. Apparently, this is for the philosopher's own protection and also to keep society from going completely ape-spastic. According to my Great Texts professor, the bigot, Dante's hidden idea might be that he's not a Christian and that Christian ideals are not the true way to life, but instead the life of reason is to be preferred. Makes me want to really read the Divine Comedy closely to see what else I have missed. Oh, and I also didn't miss that my GTX professor was big-upping himself for being able to read into Dante's hidden meaning. He considers himself a part of the few, obviously.

You Just Have To Get To Know Me

So, since I get bored, like any normal human being, I got on facebook and pretty much just looked at people's profiles. Most looking at their "swag" section, which is what movies they watch, what music they listen to, who shows they like, etc. And I've always found a person's "About Me" section to the most interesting. My own says, "I'm Stan," as I am a man of impeccable wit (and self-deprecating sarcasm). But it's interesting that a good number of people say something along the lines of, "I'm blahblah but if you get to know me I'm really fun (or outgoing, or anything else positive)." Now, I wonder if this is true. Or I wonder if people tell them all the time how stuck up and elitist they are, and to counter that idea, they tell strangers they're this way, but you "just have to get to know me."

I doubt that it's the case as stated above, but I do really wonder why people put that on their profiles. Do we fool ourselves into thinking we're a certain way, and then actually put it out to the world for all of man to know? In this age of internet socail netowrks, I believe the idea of putting your best foot forward has taken itself to the extreme. But who knows, maybe I'm looking into this too much. Maybe I'm actually the weird one for finding it amusing to look at people's facebook profiles (I am). Maybe I should get a better hobby (I should).

Political Saavy

There are some categories that you can fall into that make you cool:

Moderate (leaning a bit to the left or right)
Independent (Usually you're leaning to the left with this one)
Apathetic (Oh, you're a hipster now!)
Libertarian (Oh come on, we all know this won't happen)

Basically, people say that they are these things simply to either avoid a long, drawn-out conversation on politics, or simply to seem cool. It's like how people, when asked what music they listen to, say, "Everything really, except for country." They know what people want to hear. And people don't want to hear that you're actually a part of a political party. It's too divisive, too polarizing.

First moderates. Now, really I have nothing wrong with a moderate. There are some people who actually are moderate. I accept that. But when all your ideals fit with one side or the other, you're not a moderate. You're a liar. If you don't support the war, want universal health care, support gay marriage, and want to tax the rich, let me just be the first to tell you, you're a liberal. You don't have to be a democrat, that's ok, but just know that you're a liberal. There's no need for denial. On the other hand, if you support tax decreases across the board, a smaller government, you're against abortions and same-sex benefits and you want sex-ed to be abstinence-only, you might be a red...conservative. Excuse me.

Now, independents. Really? You can't just say you're a liberal? Really, we know you are. I would be willing to put money on the guess that at least 80% of "independents" vote democrat. Are you afraid that people won't like you because you vote democrat? Or do you think it'll allow you to make fun of the democratic party without making fun of yourself? Come on now.

Apathetic. Really, apathetic? You really don't have any care on any issues? The government is gonna screw us either way right? You're the reason that our government is able to screw us. So thank you. Really, the fact that you allow just whoever wants a public position have it is the reason you don't like the government. You think you have no power right? Oh course, it's because you don't exercise the right to vote that you hate the current situation of the government. So really, get out and vote. The government was made to serve the people. You are a person. It's there to serve you.

Now, libertarians. I'm pretty sure this is just the political equivalent of the fabled "hipster." Seriously, do you really believe that this will work? Heck, I'm not wasting my time on you. Here's a Slate article for you guys: http://www.slate.com/id/2202489/

Thanks for letting me rant. Remember, get out and vote.

Oh, and for next time, those of you who have those apathetic friends, you can actually get them to vote. Remember, your apathetic friends think they're the cream of the crop, they have all the answers. They think they're so cool. Just show them how stupid that idea is. I did it. Now my friend is voting. For Obama. Yay!

Next time, a rant on the electoral college.

Not really. haha

maybe....

Oldboy

Oldboy is an amazing movie. It's purely astounding, really. But at the moment, I hate it. I can't stand the thought of it, but yet I still love it.

What is the reason for this love/hate feeling I have for a movie?

A 2100 word essay on its existential themes. Although I believe it is the perfect existential movie, I just don't feel like writing that much! Though, to be honest, I'm 912 words into it. So I'm almost halfway done. I just have to keep pulling themes out of my behind.

Oh, and then I have to rewrite it because currently it sucks.

I've recently realized how many of my friends buy into the idea of quietism. They are quick to discourage any discussion on ideas as futile because you can't change another person's mind. Does that matter? Must we accept the world as is, ideas as set, unchanging, and stubborn? I would disagree. There must be the ability to change ideas since people switch allegiances every day. What would the point of presidential debates be if minds can't change? What would be the point of political, philosophical, or really any type of discourse if we're all set in our ways? Actually, what is the point of any conversation be if we're so stubborn. The purpose of conversation is to change the other person's perception of yourself, always trying to get them to understand you just a bit more (I don't count the unneeded social mouthings of "small talk" in this idea of conversation. Small talk serves no purpose and is better off unsaid.).

So, to the audience, to the world, to all. Quit staying in your state of quietism. The ability to change minds is there, you must simply grasp at it.

On Our Economy

My roommates and I came to the consensus yesterday that "We're screwed."

I'm avoiding watching Destinos

If you know what Destinos is, you know why. If you don't know what it is, imagine a Spanish soap opera. Now imagine that it was made for educational purposes.

Basically Destinos in a nutshell. I don't like it because mainly, it's boring. Also, half the episode is review and I'm usually watching these things in a long row, so the review becomes redundant for me. And then there's the issue of parts of some episodes having nothing to do with the storyline. At all! One of these such segments they flash back to what I think was Mexico where the story started. The whole point of this segment was to talk about time. TIME! I can almost accept it when characters are naming articles of clothing because it's just a little filler between segments. But this filler was had none of the characters who were a part of the ongoing storyline. They were kids whose names I can't remember. Why? Because they were introduced once, in the second episode. And they have no coherent place in the show.

I've "decided" (and of course by decided I mean I currently hold this idea as having some weight for the future) that if I stick with this whole Honors Program thing, my thesis will be my own original philosophical doctrine. Existentialism shall be its basis. Not simply a rehashing of Sartre and Camus' ideas but taking their initial theories and coming to my own conclusions from the abscence of God and man's freedom.

Also, just to keep it in mind, here is a running list of great minds(very loose) who were/are racists/sexists/anti-semites/homophobes/etc?

And for future reference, what word would encompass all those above?

James Watson
Martin Luther
Frank Sinatra
My Great Texts professor :( I had so much repsect for him too...

I'm glad that Elvis' influence and popularity decreases with every passing generation.

If tomorrow you found out your favorite author was a racist, especially against your own race, would it be acceptable to still enjoy his works? Could you justify still enjoying and/or identifying with his writings if he had that way of thinking?

Could you still enjoy the works of a painter if they turned out to be racist/homophobic/an anti-semitic/whatever you'd like.

Could you enjoy the characters of an actor under the same conditions?

If you could do it for one and not the others, what is the essential difference?

So I was hoping for some bit of a respite, but alas, I am not that fortunate. Actually, if I managed my time better, I would get it. But I'm not at that level yet, so busy busy busy I shall stay.

I must:
-finish my essays for existentialism (technically they're pretty finished, I just need to cite my quotes, and in one case add quotes).
-read for existentialism.
-read for Great Texts
-decide if I'm going to let my advisor pick my classes or if I'm going to have some say in it...
-learn to prioritize.


I wish I had time to read for fun. :(

Birthday's are pointless

I think Jehovah Witnesses are just cheap or broke. That's why they don't celebrate holidays.

Just kidding.

Anyways, a few things on my mind:

-Why do Christians support capitalism? It seems contrary to their savior's message.
-I got TV on the Radio's first album "Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes" on vinyl today and the back of the last record is just a funky design. I wonder what would happen if I tried to play it...
-Why isn't existentialism today's philosophy of choice? It should be.
-I hope I don't eat all my lemonheads in a day...
-Can Camus' philosophy be reconciled with Sartre's philosophy? I think so.
-Can I get this essay done if all I'm doing is screwing around?

"You Look Stunned"

"Sorry, I'm super drowsy and it's making me have a weird look."
-An exchange between my Great Texts professor and myself

I love how vague medicine warnings are. "If sore throat is severe, persists for more than two days, and is accompanied by fever, headache, rash, nausea, or vomiting, consult a doctor immediately."

First, what is severe? Is it "Timmy doesn't want to go to school today" severe or "Oh dear God, I can't even swallow my spit" severe? And is there a middle ground of severe? I mean is there a "God it's burning!" severe, or a "Ugh" severe? This is the type of language that plagues doctors with useless patients exhibiting symptoms of not a serious illness, but of being a hypochondriac.

Secondly, don't sore throats persist for an entire cold? Maybe it's just me, but I know that I'm getting sick when I wake up with a sore throat, and I know I'm better when my sore throat goes away. Have I been ignoring serious illness these past years?

Fever? Really? I think that's just a cold. I don't think it really needs to be seen by a doctor.

And the others are just strange. Admittedly, those things could all happen in conjunction with a sore throat to be symptoms of a larger problem, but it seems like they just strung along some ailments. Seriously, any of those things could just pop up.

Except vomiting. You should probably see a doctor if you're vomiting.

Dr. Wallstreet or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Recession

Today, I was glad to hear that Congress voted against the bailout bill. Even with the additions of oversight and the restriction of the "golden parachutes", the bailout bill was not what was needed. But what is needed? What times loom ahead of us? The buyout, though disturbingly broad, would have bought the troubled assets of the companies that had recklessly loaned money it didn't have. This would have hopefully stabilized our market in the next coming years.

But the problem with the plan was that the Treasury would have taken controlling interest of those companies. This is socialism. Many are against it on that principle. What would have been more disturbing is if Paulson got his way, the Treasury would have had complete immunity and no oversight in the controlling of the companies. That is not what we need, and the bailout was, thankfully, doomed from the start.

But what can we expect out of the market in the next coming months, even the next coming years? Will it stabilize itself? Of course, that's how the business cycle works. But how long will that take? Politicians cannot wait for the business cycle to correct itself, it goes against their wish to be reelected. But even if they did let the cycle run its course, how long would these bank failures and mergers and buyouts go on? What would happen to all these businesses who are buying up its weaker competitors? Will this current market downfall lead us to monopolies? Slate is already weary of Bank of America's large presence on the market.

As a bit of disclosure, my bank, Washington Mutual, has already gone under and was recently bought by JP Morgan. Fortunately I only had about 4 bucks in my account so I had no real incentive to mad dash and take out my money. Though, it is interesting since my branch was right across the street from a Chase bank, which WaMu will now become. What's going to happen now?

First it was the Airline companies laying off empolyees, then it was car companies. Now it's finally hit the white collar workers in banks and real estate. Where is our economy going? We must remember that this current crisis is almost exactly the same circumstances that precipitated the Great Depression. Instead of buying stocks on credit and then defaulting on them, this time we were buying homes. In the Great Depression, we were bailed out. But what will happen this time?

My purpose for this post is not to scare anyone. I do not want to be a demagogue and tell everyone that the sky is falling. I simply would like to think about the reprecussions of not passing the bailout plan. Although I was, and still am, I simply wonder how the market is going to play out in the upcoming months maybe years. The Great Depression was eventually fought off by World War II, but that was a different time. Today's America is populated by different people. What will bring us out of this slump?

Coming back to bite you in the butt

I've been wondering lately what the effect of the internet is going to have on this generation when it becomes old enough to run for president. It's going to happen. Someone in the internet generation is going to run. It's inevitable. And not just the internet generation. The ubiquitous internet generation. Some people were in their teens as the internet just hit the scene. They remember dial-up (I remember dial-up also, so do most of the people my age and about two years younger). But people in their early 20s and late teens have grown up with the internet becoming a large presence in lives. We had myspaces, we have facebooks, we've done the whole IRC, we've joined online communities, and most of all, a lot of us have blogged. What our teachers (at least mine) in high school told us, be careful what you put online. It's there forever!

And that's the problem. 20, 30, 40 years from now, when we've matured and left the online communities, abandoned our blogs, and gone to whatever is going to replace the internet, that information will still be floating there. Will dirty campaigns be waged on what you said in your blog? We give interesting glimpses into our lives through these things. There are politicians out there with skeletons in their closests, but they could possibly pay someone off to keep that a secret. But what about people who have blogged those skeletons? It's not going to be so easy to cover that up.

Also, our generation knows how to use the internet much better than the politicians (at the risk of too easy a target, McCain can't even use the internet). How will politicians of our generation use the internet, instead of just leaving it to their campaign people?

I don't know how anything is going to change, all I know is that the internet generation is going to have some big differences between them and politicians of today.

Watching the Debate!

McCain just mispronounced Ahmedinejad's name. Not that it is super important and that he's incompetent because of it, but I just thought it was funny. Nobody can really pronounce his name anyways.

I'm liking the debate. Obama is having a pretty good showing. He's correcting McCain when he's "distorting" facts, and he's holding his own in an area where McCain has more experience. They spoke on the bailout, and tax issues and I thought that Obama won out on that one. McCain is using a lot of ethos for the war in Iraq.

*Disclaimer* I am an Obama supporter.

McCain is doing a very good job at keeping Obama on his toes. His rhetoric is pretty tricky when he's describing Obama's plans. Which is good for his side, and Obama is having a hard time fixing the misconceptions McCain is bringing up because McCain is putting a lot of the distortions at the very end of the subject, when the moderator is trying to change the subject.

In other news, I'm not sure if I said this, but I'm deputized now! I can register voters now. Total number of registered voters = 0. Sadness. But I got some friends who need to register, so onward ho!

I had a conversation on the electoral college with my roommate. I wrote a research paper on it last semester, so I think my plan is pretty solid. Oh well, back to watching the debate!

Lots of homework today. Fell a bit behind yesterday because I thought I had nothing.

But, TV on the Radio's new album came out yesterday. What canI say other than it's an eargasmic bible of sonic amazingness. It's quite spectacular. I've listened to their previous album so many times since it came out and it's still fresh. This one I know is going to do the same.

Looking forward to the new Nightwatchman album coming out next week and the TVOTR concert on the 30th of October.

Spanish and Baylor

Last night and today I was thinking about my Spanish class here at Baylor. And I realized that I am actually teaching myself Spanish. I say this because I am required to read through the text and then I'm expected to know the material well enough for a quiz the next day. My professor doesn't go through the text and teach us the conjugations of verbs; she simply comes to class expecting us to know them. So, my question is why am I paying to take a class in which I'm teaching myself the material. Admittedly, I am expected to come into each one of my other classes having read over the material, but at least we discuss the texts or we're actually taught pertinent information to understanding the text.

What do we do in Spanish class? Busy work. Pointless busy work.

Is it too much to ask that I go to class and I'm actually taught? Seriously. I'm in a university for a reason. To learn. Not teach. If I were here to teach, I'd be getting paid and I'd have to wear slacks and a tie. I'd also have to drink coffee ALL the time and grade papers.

But I'm not getting paid so I shouldn't have to teach myself!

Anyways, in happier news, I really like Baylor Democrats. I'm going to start volunteering a lot with them. There's some sort of prize for the person with the most hours of service, but that's not really my motivation.

Tomorrow: I'm getting deputized! I had kinda of a problem today when I temporarily lost my wallet. I found it behind my computer...5 hours later. So that was fun.

Also, I went to Frankly Speaking today. It was kool. We talked about Men, Masculinity, and the Media. Which was just us saying that the media and society in general puts stereotypes and pressures on men. It's nothing new. But I'm excited because next week they'll be talking about creating a "Safe Place" or "Safe Haven" for GBLT! SO exciting! I really hope they do create a group like that. It'd be nice to see Baylor doing something good for once.

For Your Consideration

I wrote this a week or two ago.


Movie Review of Into the Wild. Spoilers follow. Beware!


I recently saw the movie Into the Wild (actually I saw it last night). Let me first start this by saying that Into the Wild was a good movie. The acting was well done, the cinematography was quite stunning, the themes were wholesome without being overbearing over forced. Overall the movie was good. The one huge and glaring flaw of the movie was Chris "Alexander Supertramp" McCandless. This is of course the main character and the character with whom you're supposed to connect with. His attempt to get away from the ills of the world and society, we've experienced the urge to do just the same. He's special because he actually does it. Through him we're supposed to see our own cowardice to become free like him.

It'd be much easier to connect with this character if he wasn't such a selfish, arrogant punk. The first time we see him converse with his family he's belittling their attempts to give him a graduation present. This graduation present being a new car. He sits at dinner and patronizes his family's generosity. Sure, their into material pleasures of which he has no need since he, of course, is no longer of the man made world, but his complete rudeness at his parents attempt at being nice are just sickening. Some may say, he's just being honest, he doesn't want their material pleasures, but there is a difference between being honest and being tactful. He could have said ""Thanks but no thanks mom and dad. I'm just fine with my Datsun, and I think that a new car would just be an attempt at flashy materialism of which I don't want to be a part." But no, his response is "Things, things, things, things!" Thank you philosophical Hulk. That was very poetic.

Oh, poetic? That's another issue for me. In an attempt to bond with him, hippie lady Jan asks him a question to which he responds "I'll paraphrase Thoreau." Thank you, Supertramp. You're quite familiar with poets from long ago and can quote them at will. You are obviously better than the other people who are giving you your food. He could truly care less about the people around them, using them for shelter and food and nothing else.

Oh, sure, he does gain friendships with these people, but it seems that they're more invested in the relationship than he is. He befriends a 16 year old girl who falls in love with him (and at one point bluntly shows him that she wants to have sex with him) and leaves with little more than a hug and the advice that if she wants something in life to "reach out and grab it." I'm sorry Supertramp, but I'm pretty sure she wants you in her life. And why can't you stay there and be the friend that she needs (did I mention he met her in a hippie camp in which there seems to be no one else her age?). Oh, it's because you want to go be by yourself in Alaska.

Alaska. He leaves these people in his life, because he wants to be alone in Alaska. He leaves people who have invested their money, their advice, their love, and their time in him, so he can go be in Alaska. "Alaska, Alaska!"

Oh, hippie lady Jan, you try to be the mother figure he needs, since his mom and dad often had violent fights that were played out in front of Supertramp and his sister. Oh, wait, he has a sister? You wouldn't think so by the selfishness that he displays throughout the movie. But yes, he leaves his sister, who has had to deal with the same violent turbulence that he had to go through at home, with the parents he hates. But of course he writes this sister, who has gone through hell and back not only with the mom and dad but the fact that her brother has gone missing. Oh, he doesn't write his sister? He leaves for two years without so much as a good bye or a "hey I'm going to find myself by being dirt poor." But he does write a guy he knew for a couple months who went to jail. So let me get this straight, he writes to a man he worked for for a couple of months, but he doesn't write to his sister, who he's known for 15 years?

Oh, sure, the movie gives his sister a voice-over explaining that she understands that him not calling or writing is just him escaping not just the family but society. But the fact remains that he left a young girl with a family who he himself hated and doesn't even seem repentent about it.

But in the end, after living in Alaska by himself for over 8 weeks, he goes back home to a family torn with grief, apologizes, and finds all the friends he made over the years he's been a hobo and lives a great life as an author, his first book being about his adventures. Wait, no, he ends up dying alone in the Alaskan wilderness. And what does he do before he dies? Realizes he should be with people, quotes a poem and the kicks the bucket. Quotes a poem.

Even at death's door, he's pretentious.

Happiness is new crap

Not really. But kind of.

Yesterday, I bought the first two seasons of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. I happen to be in love with this show and I was amazed to find it. Best Buy and Circuit City didn't have them which made me sad, but Hastings did, so all is good.

And today on a whim, my roommate and I went to the bookstore on campus (I will have a rant about them soon) and I ended up getting Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs and Barack Obama's Dreams of My Fathers. I'm in the middle of a whole bunch of books, so I'm not sure when I'm actually going to get a chance to read them. I hope to read Obama's book before the election though.

Speaking of elections, I'm getting excited! First debagte is this week. I must admit I'm looking forward to seeing Joe Biden verbally assault Sarah Palin with words. Obama is ahead in the polls, and I need to get deputized to register voters. I might do that tomorrow.

I'm disturbed by how easily I'm convinced to not do my homework. Any type of distraction is welcomed by me. Currently, I'm supposed to be writing an essay, but no. I'm here typing away at some banal story of my past days. Soon though, my blogs will be interesting...one day.

Oh My! First blog!

What do you do in the first blog? Do you introduce yourself? Do you tell a witty anecdote? DO you just start off like your audience has known you their whole lives? I wouldn't know. The last time I did one of these things, I was 14, 15? I am 18 now. Is wouldn't spelled wrong? Firefox says so.

Anyways, the whole creation of a blog thing is a very complicated endeavor. You have to come up with a title for the blog and in that instant you have to decide whether you want to make a reference or if you want to be original. I chose a reference, because I can't be original on the spot. But there are so many references and it's hard to choose what you want to put as the title. You don't want to seem pretentious, but you also don't want to come off trite. I'll leave it up to you if I succeeded to find some middle ground.

Then you have to come up with an address. That was simpler for me. It's a phrase used in The Trial by Kafka. The character, Josef K., actually has an album of city sights with him when he goes to meet a client. I liked the sound of it, so there you go.

Also, the aesthetics in choosing a layout are just mind boggling.

Anyways, I guess I'll do basic intro. I'm a Political Science and Philosophy major at Baylor University. That seems like an adequate amount of introduction. So yay!

First post complete.