Junior Year Musings

Yes, that's right: junior year. How did that happen? On the one hand, I feel like college is passing by faster than I would like; on the other hand, I realize that I have at least 3 more years (an extra year to finish my IR major) ahead of me, so I'm not even halfway done yet. Regardless, I simply need to make the most of it, and then there'll be nothing to regret, right? If only that were true...

I've only had 4 days of class, but I already know which one will be the best: Topics on AI and Computer Game Programming. Honestly, how could I not like a course entitled that? Two of my main interests combined into one class? And, on top of that, it's taught by a professor who clearly is a gamer and enjoys games as much as I do? Can it get any better? I submit that it can not! However, a close contender is my lone IR course entitled Rise and Decline of Empires. It's designated as "writing intensive" but only entails a 5-10 page paper at the end of the course, because it is taught by my favorite professor at Lehigh, and he's anything but conventional. The class will more or less be very similar to my IR course last semester, which was structured as a seminar where we would discuss the day's assigned reading assignment, along with any relevant, tangential topics. Since I find this set-up the most effective and engaging way to teach a contemporary issue, I loved the course I took last semester and will surely enjoy its facsimile this year.

With the amount of time that exists outside of classes, I've had to find activities to occupy that leisure time. And I have in spades. Currently, I'm an active member in 6 clubs, and an officer in 4 of them. Additionally, I do improv on Wednesday nights, regularly attend a student-faculty mixer in the Humanities Center on Friday afternoons called Winddown, play in a D&D game once a week (although that might change, i.e. increase), and go out with friends on the weekends and whenever else I can. Of course, this leads to the opposite problem: too much to do and no time to do it. Surprisingly, except in a few cases where my homework load was exceptionally high, it hasn't been a serious issue yet, but it does have the potential to become one. Next semester, I may have to consider conducting a triage and figuring out which activities I can afford to miss and which I can't. If it comes to that, that will be extremely painful, so let's hope it won't be necessary.

Now, if I'm doing all of these things, how do I have the time to type up this entry? Well, the semester has just begun, so my workload is minimal at the moment. Also, I don't play computer games as much at Lehigh as I do at home, so that frees up a lot of time, although I did beat a fantastic PS2 game called God of War earlier this week. Furthermore, classes never start earlier than 10 am for me, so I can stay up later than I normally would on a weeknight.

I must say, it really is great to be back. Here, because of my full schedule, I feel like I'm accomplishing a great deal, even if, in the grand scheme of my life, at best, it's merely preparation for more significant effects I'll have on the world in the future. Still, without these experiences, I would not be the person that I want to be (and maybe already am to a lesser extent): an active, concerned, and (ideally) well-informed citizen trying to make the best out of a mostly grim reality for much of the world.

Yet, something is missing: a female companion for all of this. Until I find someone to fill this void (wow, I'm unoriginal), I shall always be slightly unsatisfied, always slightly discontent. I wish I could stop being selfish and just learn to happily live a celibate lifestyle, but I'm afraid that's not possible for me. I've made attempts at starting a relationship, but they've been tentative and half-hearted. This needs to change. But, for now, I must live moment to moment, focusing on the overwhelming positive in my life. Love must wait.

Star Wars: Episode III Review (SPOILER ALERT!)

I can't wait any longer. I have to express my opinion about this last (?) Star Wars film before I lose my clear memory of the movie. Just a warning: this review assumes that you have seen the film so, if you haven't seen it, some surprises may be ruined. Proceed at your own risk.

Let me start by making it clear that I enjoyed this movie. After all, how could I not? I even mildly liked Episode II, and that movie wasn't very good. However, due to all the positive buzz around this film, I went into Episode III with very high expectations, and I have to admit that I was let down a bit. But before I get into how I was disappointed, I'm going to concentrate on the positives just to emphasize that, with some reservations, this was a great finale to the prequel trilogy.

What did Lucas do right? Well, except for his usual weaknesses (see below), pretty much everything. As the New York Times reviewer mentions, he expertly combines CGI and normal cinematography, representing the height of his style of filmmaking and transmuting the movie into a work of art. From a visual perspective, Episode III is a delectable treat: vivid, engaging, inviting, and enticing to the eye, leaving the viewer hungry for more. Aurally, it's fantastic as always. Where this film really shines is, believe it or not, the plot. The mix of political intrigue and betrayal is excellent. Palpatine is revealed as the downright malevolent and manipulative monster that he is, twisting Anakin in subtle but deep ways. His grand scheme to destroy the Jedi comes to fruition in a deliciously evil and satisfying fashion, and the phrase "Code 66" is certain to become a permanent part of the Star Wars lexicon. Plus, there's Padmé's memorable line, "This is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause.", a clear reference to the rise of the Third Reich, intended since the original trilogy to be a parallel for the Galactic Empire. For me, the way that Lucas clearly demonstrates the flip-side-of-a-coin nature of the Jedi and the Sith is brilliant, because that's also a theme in Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, so I was thrilled to see that. Finally, Lucas wraps up the loose ends of the prequels and ties them back into the original trilogy very well. The movie does not adequately explain why the technology of the prequels is, in many ways, more advanced than that found in the originals, but that's a fairly minor, geeky quibble; as a filmmaker, Lucas could do things he couldn't do with the original films, so it's understandable that he created all of these cool technologies that he couldn't have possibly made originally.

Ok, now for the bad. Just as with Episodes I and II, the writing and acting is sorely lacking. Overall, they're both improved from the previous films but still sub-par. Furthermore, Ewan McGregor, the actor who impressed me the most in Episodes I and II, was not at his best in this one, which was a major disappointment. Additionally, the lightsaber battles, although well-choreographed as usual, do not contain the powerful emotions that should have been inherent in them, especially the climactic duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin. After all, Anakin had just lost Padmé, the one thing that mattered to him anymore, and felt that Obi-Wan had turned her against him, while Obi-Wan was confronting a fallen pupil who had betrayed the Jedi and, consequently, his trust and love. In other words, these two people should have been seriously pissed! Instead, it just feels like they are going through the motions, driving towards an inevitable end, with a few brief exchanges breaking up the fight. Maybe my expectations were unrealistic, but I was very upset by the relatively emotionless duel and the subsequently rushed ending. These deficiencies significantly detract from the quality of the film and the enjoyment derived from it.

Nonetheless, Episode III turned out all right, considering its predecessors. Well done, Lucas. Now, stop. I mean it.

Christian Morals (Part I?)

I was talking to some of my friends this past weekend about my faith and realized that it can be hard to explain. Thus, I decided to put it into words, so that both my friends and I may understand my beliefs a bit better. Plus, it's about time that I made a new post anyway, so here we go.

The simplest way of explaining my faith is it's Christianity but without the dogma. I was raised in a fairly liberal Methodist church, where the sermons dealt mostly with how to apply Christianity to everyday life. In that way, I learned about the pragmatic use of religion to live a moral life which followed the lessons of Jesus. For me, that's the most important aspect of any religion: how it teaches its followers to live their lives. In recent years, thanks to a vocal minority, our church and its services have become more conservative. For example, the divinity of Jesus, the concept of the Trinity, and other uniquely Christian beliefs are emphasized more heavily than in the past, which (in my opinion) are unnecessary and distracting fixations on dogma and one of my major problems with organized religion. If religions focused more on the common threads between the major religions, such as the morals, then maybe there wouldn't be the conflict and tension between religions that we see in the world today. The primary belief that creates this tension is that of the existence of one "true" religion. Without that belief, there wouldn't be the evangelical drives and the lack of acceptance of different faiths that stem from a belief that others' souls are in danger unless they convert to the "true" faith. As the grandson of Gandhi said in a lecture he gave at Salisbury University (in quoting his grandfather, if I remember correctly), the major religions in the world are really just different paths up the same mountain to salvation. For that reason, these religions should all be respected equally.

So, what beliefs do I hold? Well, they mostly deal with ethics. First, I believe in a consistent ethic of life. In other words, an abortion is equal to a murder which is equal to a death resulting from self-defense when it comes to morality; they're all immoral. However, they differ in their justifiability. Under some circumstances, an abortion may have reasonable justification to be socially acceptance, given a certain set of circumstances. But, a couple (or a woman) that has an abortion performed should recognize that an abortion is immoral and therefore should only be an option of last resort. Nonetheless, since an abortion can be justifiable, I am in favor of a right to choice, since the fetus may not speak for itself, and the mother must try and act in its best interest for it. As a society, we should working to reduce the number of abortions because of their inherent immorality, but we should still respect the choices of mothers to have them in dire situations (i.e. life of mother, rape, etc.).

Now, out of this first belief naturally follows my belief that war is immoral and should therefore be treated like an abortion: an option of last resort. So, I was strongly against the Iraqi war because it was, by all measures, unnecessary. Thus, it was not only immoral but also wasteful, exhibiting a lack of respect for human life. In the current rebuilding phase of the war, the US's objectives should be to repair the damage we have caused upon the Iraqi people and to try and restore the nation to a state where it has a chance of becoming a stable country, as it was before the war (albeit run by a corrupt leader with a penchant for brutalization from time to time), and a productive member of the international community of nations. So, I'm not of the opinion that we should be trying to extricate ourselves as quickly as possible, because that would be a neglect of our responsibilities as the aggressor country that created the current situation.

Out of room. Drat. Got too caught up in abortion and war. :-P Maybe more later?

The Things I Want

Inspired by the artistic (read: depressed) mood I'm in. It's completely selfish, but I feel I need this in order to help understand myself and where I'm going in life:

The Things I Want (in stream of consciousness order)
Courage
Strength
Understanding, both for and from others
Better dance moves
Patience
Determination
Resolve
Rhythm
Creativity
Stability
Certainty
Selfawareness
Fortitude
Willpower
Self esteem
Foresight
Balance
Talent
Peace of mind and in the world
But, if nothing else,
Love

2004 - A Retrospective

Ok, clearly, as I predicted would happen, any regularity in my rants has completely disappeared into oblivion. Thus, the title has been dropped. From now on, only expect a rant from me when some event or thought inspires me to write or when I have too much free time on my hands. In other words, not very frequently.

In this case, this rant is a result of a confluence of both prerequisites I just mentioned. Although "New Year's Day" is a fairly arbitrarily placed holiday, it does create a convenient opportunity for reflection, and I've decided to take it.

Quite frankly, 2004 wasn't the best of years, in my opinion. Primarily, there was the continuing quagmire (and yes, that's an intentional reference to a certain other modern conflict) in Iraq. It seemed that, any day I checked the news, there was another story about more US and Iraqi casualties from the latest ambush/suicide bombing/urban assault. And this from a conflict in which "major combat operations" supposedly ended in May of 2003. Here's how laughable that declaration is: before May 2003, about 140 US soldiers were killed; since then, almost an additional 1200 US soldiers have lost their lives. Furthermore, casualties on both sides are in the thousands. Technically, except for an incursion into Fallujah, major combat operations arguably HAVE ended, but when the "peace-keeping" phase of a conflict involves more casualties than the actual war, it's clear that something has gone wrong. At this point (and most of the international relations and political science professors at Lehigh agree), our mission in Iraq (to create a stable democracy) appears to be unsalvageable. While election day is fast approaching for Iraqis, the instability of the region and the concerns among Sunnis that they won't be fairly represented in the government will likely keep voter turnout low, thus rendering the elections illegitimate or irrelevant in the eyes of Iraqis. Without legitimate elections (as Ukraine recently showed), democracy can not succeed. In addition, even if the elections go off without a hitch, the violence won't stop overnight, just as it didn't when "sovereignty" was handed over in June this past year. I'll be pleasantly surprised if a stable and viable government emerges from the upcoming elections, but that's looking like a dim possibility.

And what happened to the president who got us into this miserable mess? Why, he got re-elected of course! North Korea and Iran could conceivably escalate in these next four years, and, if they do, I have no confidence in Bush's administration to handle such crises appropriately or responsibly. So, it's hard for me to be satisfied with a year which involved our country causing unnecessary pain and destruction to others and saw the majority of our electorate essentially condoning it (along with other undesirable Bush administration policies) and asking for more of the same.

What else went wrong in 2004? Well, our society's moral fabric, if the media is any indication, seems to still be falling apart. Reality TV has gotten out of control. For example, a concept that was simply a skit on Chappelle's Show became an actual show in the form of Trading Spouses. Now, what is the world coming to when a comedic concept is translated into a program that people take seriously? Plus, some of our hugest pop culture sensations are also the most immoral (Paris Hilton and Britney Spears immediately come to mind). Also, if you listen to the lyrics in much of today's music, you might be shocked by what you hear: graphic descriptions of sex and meaningless profanity are commonplace.

And how did this year end? With an earthquake that generated a tsunami which killed over 140,000 people and displaced millions. In other words, I'm not sorry to see 2004 go. While there's more I could say, I'm out of room. I personally had a decent year academically and socially, but it was not a good year for much of the rest of the world.