Mormon Missionaries

There seems to be a definite trend of me posting multimedia junk lately. That's because it is easier than actually writing a well thought out post, especially as busy as I am. In any case, here is my latest find. My roommate showed me this a couple years ago, but I wasn't able to find it myself. Now I have.



I think it's hallarious.

Earth Day, Vampires, Orchestra

I didn't change my normal habits to sit around in the dark for "Earth Hour." I'm not opposed to conservation, and I certainly do my best to not live a wasteful lifestyle, but I think the "green" activists are getting a bit out of hand. I'm tired of the political nature of environmentalism. I would wager that the vast majority of "green" activists are people who have never set foot in the environment that they fight so hard to "protect." They don't really love nature; they love the money that it can bring them. I challenge them to prove me wrong.

Oh, my previous post, was a clip that I used for an English presentation on Bram Stoker's Dracula. Which, it turns out, is a really good book. In my research for this presentation, I discovered that vampires are actually real, and that many of them live in Los Angeles. This is according to the research of Stephen Kaplan. I recommend looking up what he has to say about vampires, it's very amusing.

For some reason I've been quite fascinated by orchestral music over the last couple days. The music is woven together in such an intricate way. . . I don't understand how somebody can create such complex harmonies. Here are the songs to which I have been listening that blow me away:

"At Wit's End"--From the Pirates of the Caribbean III soundtrack by Hans Zimmer.

"Across the Stars"--The love theme from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones by John Williams. "Duel of the Fates" (from Episode I) is even better.

The Ending Theme from Final Fantasy 10 by Nobuo Uematsu is quite stunning as well, probably one of my favorite pieces of music, ever.

I highly recommend listening to these tracks in a dark room with a good pair of studio style earphones. Analyze how every piece of music fits together. . . it's so astounding. Can we really experience such beauty in mortality?

Dracula Stripped of Title

Yes we can? Maybe we shouldn't.

How do you feel, liberal America, now that your golden candidate for change is proving to be nothing of the sort? How do you feel now that his spending is going surpass the previous administration's? I'll tell you what, the liberals who trumpeted the advent of Obama at the beginning of the year now maintain an embarrassed silence. I guess that's worth something. . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090321/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_budget

DanceSport, Move-Ups, and Concert

Yay! DanceSport is over! I don't know what to do with my life now. My schedule is totally whacked because I don't have to practice all the time now--though I probably still should be. . . I guess now is the time for all the homework and stuff that I have been delaying for the last two months.

As far as DanceSport goes, I only got past the first round of events that I didn't practice for: Gold Bar Pasodoble, and Novice Standard. That's why I need to spend more time. . . not practicing? Anyway, I'm not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed with myself for DanceSport. In short, I'm a terrible performer and not that great of a dancer. I can do better, but only if I totally immerse myself into dance, which I'm not sure if I can do. I don't know if--at this point in my life--I can really spend four or five hours a day practicing dance; I have school to finish, books to write, and all that ridiculously mundane stuff that life requires. Curses! Why isn't there ballroom dance in Glennallen, Alaska (pop. 500)?

Now that I'm done lamenting/venting, I shall continue. Tomorrow is the first day of move-up auditions for team (at 6:30am!). I'm not really sure how much hope I have of getting moved to the back-up touring team. I think I had more of a chance last year. Now I'm getting a bit closer (theoretically) to graduating and I haven't really improved that much from a year ago.

On the brighter side, concert is coming, and it's going to be awesome. The word on the street hints that all the guys will get capes for the finale. Woot! That should be pretty cool.

So, I'm off. Tomorrow morning is going to come much too quickly.

Here Comes the BOOM!

The U.S. National Amateur Dancesport Championships are being held this week here at BYU. I've blogged some about Dancesport before, so I shan't bore with unnecessary details. Suffice it to say that this week is going to be quite hectic, so don't expect any cool blog posts in the next week or so. Everybody that can, should at least come Friday or Saturday nights (preferably both) to watch the "Battle of the Champions" a not-so-official competition between four of the top U.S. professional couples. Included in this year's Latin event are Riccardo and Yulia--who is so gloriously beautiful, and dances even better than she looks; Eugene and Maria--who have pretty much won the Amateur championships for the last decade and are now pros; and a couple other couples that are also really good, but that I don't know that much about. If you aren't already a dancer and are interested in coming, let me know, and I shall direct you to the correct ticket office. Or you can buy them at the door.

Speaking of tickets. . . I am now taking ticket orders for the BYU Ballroom Dance Concert which will be held the second weekend of April. I can get tickets before the general public and thus better tickets than you can buy yourself (assuming you are not a fellow BDC member). So, I think they will be $10 or $12, depending on the time. Let me know if you want tickets and I will be happy to pick them up for you. Oh, don't buy them online or on the phone, it's a big fat ripoff. If you buy them yourself, be sure to mention my name when you buy them so I can get credit for spreading the Ballroom love.

Cheers!

Video Games: Training for the End of the World

This is Awesome!


Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

How Could Anybody Write This?

When my Modern Drama teacher mentioned at the end of class yesterday that she "almost had to apologize" for the play we were reading next, I knew it was going to be bad. It was.

The play is The Homecoming, by Harold Pinter.

And here is my breakdown of the plot: Basically, a son returns to his family with his wife of six years. Then he calmly stands by as his three brothers and father plan on turning her into the family prostitute. She accepts this idea and demands certain business accommodations. The husband returns home to his three young sons. The end.

Obviously I have expedited a lot of the information of the plot, but essentially every core element has been included.

So I ask, what is the point? Why did Harold Pinter feel the need to "shock" me in such a way?

These aren't rhetorical questions, I seriously don't understand why I just read this crappy play.

I'm not one to be easily offended by literature. I claim to be a writer myself and I firmly believe in presenting realistic characters and situations. Any book (play, film, picture, etc. . .) that seeks to have cathartic power must portray darkness to truly demonstrate light. Sometimes those scenes of darkness can be offensive, but they are necessary for a true portrayal of redemption.

There is no attempt at redemption in Pinter's play, only darkness.

Here's a picture from one of the play's productions. This is around 12 hours after Teddy returns home with his wife, Ruth. That's not Teddy rolling around on the floor with Ruth either. And it only gets worse. . .

It just doesn't make sense.

A Two State Solution

I recently read an article that implied that the new US administration is going to actively seek the creation of a Palestinian state. I have mixed feelings about this. On the surface it sounds good, nobody can deny that the Palestinian people need and deserve a state of their own. However, nothing ever turns out well when politicians get together to redraw the lines on a map. I can't help but think that this attempt will not go any better. . .

To Find a Path in the Dark

Quick Story: When I came out of high school I was positive that I wanted to be an Engineer, like my father. I've always had an interest in the sciences etc. . . and I was sure that an engineering degree would capture my interest as well as put bread on the table. I first declared my major as a computer engineer, but after a mission I decided that I would rather do something else, so I changed to chemical engineering. Bad decision. I've always struggled with math. . . in short, I spent several hours a day trying to keep up with my 2 credit hour introductory chemical engineering class (even though I've taken all the math). It seriously was one of the worst semesters of my college career (I was also taking Hebrew at the time). It became pretty obvious, rather quickly, that I wasn't going to be happy as a chemical engineer. . . or any engineer for that matter. I then decided to do something that I was good at. . . I'm still not sure what that is, but I'm an English major now, and much happier. I like writing, reading is fun too; I guess I should have known from the beginning what path I should take. Too bad so much of life is spent just finding the pathways that will take us where we want to go, the ones that will bring us peace and happiness. On the other hand, some pathways are hard (frustrating) at the beginning, but at the end waits a big fat (allegorical) pot of gold. We just have to ask ourselves: is that really the "pot of gold" we're looking for?

The End