O like a phoenix

Okay so today is March 6 of the year 2008. Let's just go ahead and admit that I'm not perfect. I know groans of disappointment and despair are echoing around the world as people read this. In any case first things first, I believe that death is the only definition of life, therefore I must come to grips with the fact that regardless of my personal belief that science and medicine will extend life expectancy to beyond 200 years I'm much more likely to die before I'm 80. Thus I must begin getting on with the whole living for a purpose thing. Now the hard part.

What the hell is my purpose? Yes, yes, a rather esoteric and pretty meaningless question to ask, especially rhetorically, even worse when I don't know the answer myself. Well, for the time being I'm going to go ahead and examine what possible purpose I could have by exploring other avenues that are currently available. Namely, what am I passionate about? Now most people would consider this an easy question to answer, they'd spew off a list of at least five if not twenty things which they feel they are genuinely passionate about. I however was once broken up with by a girl because she said I lacked passion for anything. At the time I thought the girl wrong but she was all to right. I really could give two shits about everything. Is this really a bad thing? Well, I'll worry about that later. I've just endured another sleepless night and now that it is near 8am I"m thinking of doing something rather unproductive like veg in front of the TV watching idiotic stupidity or veg in front of the TV playing meaningless unrealistic video games. Ah, the choices of the quarter life crisised white anglo protestant male. At least I'm not out buying a sports car....wait that's because I've got about $100 and no current money making prospects....

Is anyone actually reading this?

Happy Birthday to Me

Okay, so yesterday was my b-day. I'm still waiting for all of the fabulous gifts I know everyone bought me to arrive but I'm sure they'll be here by the end of next week. And now for your thrity second update. Mid-terms were great two 89s and a 95. my other two classes don't have mids. My essay writing style has vastly improved and my creative writing (poetry) has improved in my head though I haven't actually gotten anything on paper. I'm considering joing the the Nano writers month idea in order to write a novel and be encouraged by a large group to do so in small bits every day. In any case that's your time limit on the update and I'm off to prepare for the most insane drunkfest of all time that is being covered as a halloween party and we're making the girls dress as skankily as possible and drink insane amounts to encourage less inhibition. As you all can notice I still have horrid spelling, not sure that will ever improve. Good night and good luck with your helloween partying. Pictures of tonights event will be posted unless very incriminating. Later and Night.

Happy Birthday Josh

Okay so today was my brother Joshua's birthday (10th) which means we're that much closer to my birthday (26th). I know that you are all planning on sending me some fantastic gifts so go ahead and drop them in the mail so they get here on time. So happy B-day to my bro, now moving on.

There is no real theme or central idea for this post I'm just bored and I finished most of Shakespeare exam so I figured I'd take a break and write a blog entry since I hadn't done that in a while. Speaking of which, the fact that I haven't been able to update as often as I like is now remedied. My parents decided that since my desktop was broken, and they were tired of me coming home all the time in order to use their computer for homework, they went and bought me a new laptop. Now I really can't express my gratitude so I'll just say that I'm really happy and I'm not expecting a birthday present from them, probably not even a Christmas present. So I'm slowly getting this bad boy set-up to my standards and expectations (you know removing IE and setting up firefox, installing OpenOffice, all the usual nerdy basics). Anyways, if anyone knows of any cool programs for customization or any nice desktop backgrounds feel free to drop me a line and let me know about it.

Well I'm really not sure what I was doing with this post because I got completely distracted in the middle of writing it so here's to moving on and just publishing. Hope it all goes well. Good night and be zen.


Think About It

Galactica

“You can enjoy ”Battlestar” as one of the best, well-made, written and acted sci-fi series in the history of the medium. You can also see it as the single most devastating, incisive critique of the Iraq war ever promoted in pop culture.

Substitute New Caprica for Iraq, the humans for the Iraqis and the Cylons for Americans and you won’t sleep well at night.”

-By Mark A. Perigard at the Boston Herald

This simple parallel could of course be argued for, but why couldn't one simply reverse this as well? I mean the Cylons are the ones who launch a sneak attack that undermines the Caprican defenses, similar to the terrorist attack of 9/11. The Cylons are all reborn just as the suicide bombers believe they will be rewarded for sacrificing themselves for the cause of Allah. I think what the writers of "Battlestar" are really trying to accomplish is something much deeper, they don't want to draw current political parallels, they would much rather draw broader conclusions that can be applied more generally and have a more timeless appeal. The Cylon vs. Children of Kobal war could be drawn to illustrate nearly any war in human history, simply pick a side and begin to draw basic parallels to support your argument. The writers are attempting to show the pointlessness of war – especially, I believe, from an offensive side. When one side attacks another, even if there was little, to no, hostility towards the initial attackers, the side which is attacked must then make a choice. That choice is: fight for who we are and what we believe, or, surrender to the wishes of our oppressors and give up our way of life because the fight is too much. Starbuck says, “We fight until we can't fight anymore.” She doesn't say 'we fight until it is pointless.' The immortal words of Emiliano Zapata would be of great benefit to those of New Caprica sitting on the fence as to whether they should join the Resistance, “It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees.” I do have to agree that "Battlestar" is most definitely one of the best ever conceived and executed shows, past or present, on television; however, I worry that due to being a sci-fi show it is too quickly dismissed, or outright ignored, by larger audiences. The commentary that one is capable of through the combined medium of science fiction and television allows for mind-boggling ideas and concepts to abound, one can only hope that the sci-fi channel will continue to shelter such innovating shows.


On a completely different note, well kind of, check this out.