Semester Nearing An End

I have a few more weeks ’til the end of this semester. Then I can relax, resume writing creatively, and some other things I have had to stop doing because of my studies. i can’t believe it’s been so long since I wrote anything here. All I can say about that is that school tires me out and it sucks all my energy for a lot of free writing. I write, but it’s for assignments. I have one more year of college thankfully. I want to start thinking on my own and not have to think a certain way because that’s what my professors expect of me. If I don’t think their way, how will I pass the class? I think it’s impossible.

Also, I’ll have more time to figure out what I want out of life. I’ll keep learning about life, learning doesn’t stop after a person leaves college. Not to say that college is bad, it has changed how I think and how I talk. But sometimes, I think I could do without some of the structured thinking. I need to and want to think for myself. I don’t want to regurgitate answers to my professors. I think more often than not, education is more about memorization than truly understanding what you’re studying, which is a shame.

Light’s Review of the Movie, Hitch

All week I’ve been on Spring break. It doesn’t seem much like break to me, since I’ve been on campus for 3 days now, but I have gotten some time to read and watch a few movies. I watched Hitch yesterday, after a friend recommended the movie to me. I really enjoyed watching it. I’d say it’s worth the two stars that it has earned.

The movie stars Will Smith as Alex Hitchens (Hitch), Eva Mendes as Sara, and Kevin James as Albert. Will Smith plays a consultant who advises men on how to win the love of their life. Albert plays the klutzy, financial accountant who is desperately enamoured with Miss Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta). He embarasses himself in front of his colleagues and boss, just to get Allegra to notice him. And does it work? Yes, quite well. From there, their love blooms.

Hitch could be termed a love consultant, but he doesn’t believe that love will happen to him. But then he meets Sara at a nightclub. She’s a gossip columnist for the standard. Right off, he can tell that she is against getting involved with other men. But after coaxing her into the first date, they both start to fall in love.

Near the end, that’s the moment that really moved me. She leaves her apartment with another man to go see her sister. Hitch chases after the car, even throws himself onto the car and then lands quite hard onto the pavement when she stomps on the brakes. His speech to her is really moving, but in a short and straightforward sort of way. Will Smith has a way with words. Another film of his that I liked was The Legend of Bagger Vance. I also wrote a review on that movie.

What do I take away from this film? If you love someone, you have to be yourself and allow them to see who you are. It’s up to them to decide if they like you. If you’re genuine with them, they’ll see that and if this person is as good as you think they are, they’ll want to get to know you better.

Busy Semester

I know I haven’t been around much. School has been busy. Philosophy is such a hard subject. It is hard on a different level than Physics. You just cannot compare the two; it is like apples and oranges. In my opinion, Physics is more theoretical and Philosophy is more conceptual. Physics is more practical and concrete (mostly) and Philosophy is more abstract and unpractical, towards the metaphysical realm at times, like if you are reading through Descartes’s Meditations. I have not read his Discourse on Method yet, perhaps I will after I graduate.

On the plus side, I am taking a course called World Politics, can also be called International Affairs. I enjoy the class. It is one of my more basic classes, basic in the sense that I think the concepts I learn are more relevant to world events. As part of the class, we are quizzed on articles from The Economist, a liberal magazine penned in the UK. Before this class, I never read it before. I found that I can read it online. You should find it if you just google “the economist.” You do not need to subscribe to read the articles. One of the articles I am reading is from last week, “Castro’s legacy”, I think it is interesting when it said that Venezuela’s Chavez is giving Cuba fast internet, “because America won’t.” Who knew? The article says that Cuba has never known Democracy rule and that the people fear change. Any actions the leaders do, the people will readily “acquiesce”. It is likely that Fidel will step down and hand his baton over to his brother Raul. Raul wants to reform Cuba, but the reforms will be slow into going into effect, while Fidel lives. Fidel still has “something of a veto over change”.  Raul does not have “charisma” like his brother, so we will have to wait and see what happens in Cuba.

Some Tech News

I have Vista. I found out yesterday that the Service Patch has come out. I believe it is for the 64 bit version. I have the 32 bit version. Apparently, all the brand name companies sell the 32 bit version. If I have a dual core processor, why do I just have the 32 bit version? Not that I need the 64 bit version (I do not use big programming applications), but I am just wondering. I think I will get the Service Patch 1 when it is available for my version. I use Vista business.

 Since I upgraded to 2 gigs of RAM, my system is running faster. I just need to make sure I install updates each week.

A song I like

Michael Buble’s “Home”. 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fDQnkYwfNfk&feature=related

I always seem to like his songs. The melody and the lyrics are good. I’ve always like music, especially classical music. I love songs that give me a warm, homey feeling. Most songs I like are played with a piano, flute, violin, or some other instruments. It sounds more harmonious if there’s more than two instruments playing in the song. I also love it if the person’s voice is smooth like Michael Buble, Peter Cincotti, or Josh Groban.

Random picture

Here’s a picture for thought:

 

Ravi-Varma: Woman in Thought

Thoughts?

Interviewing Irina

Here’s my interview with Irina, a young girl who aspires to be an actress.

Where were you born? 

I was born in the Soviet Union.

Why did you choose to major in psychology? 

It was just the most interesting subject that I could major in. I hate economics/business/biology/computers etc. Social sciences are the only thing I could go for. I chose psychology because it’s interesting to understand how humans function. It’s too bad that this understanding made me dislike humans more, haha.

What is the acting certificate? I get it after I complete a series of courses. Then I will be part of the actors union, which will earn me some privileges and make it easier to get roles. I don’t really want to do much of it, it’s for pure fun. I would like to get a role in a real movie or play any day, but I am not planning to be a star.

What is it about social rules that makes you dislike them? I consider most of them to be pretty unnecessary and they only make people’s lives harder. Human desire to label everything as good or bad is pretty annoying.

Why did you move to Canada? 

My parents and I were moving around and one day we decided to settle down. There aren’t many good countries where it’s easy to immigrate to. Our choice was pretty much the U.S. or Canada. Why my parents chose Canada I have no idea. I wasn’t happy about it then, but I sure am now.

When and how did you know that you were interested in acting?

I believe I first became interested when I was 12. Although I am not sure if it was interest in acting then. I know that I wanted to be on the cover on teen magazines, to make all the girls in my class jealous, to make all the guys regret that they didn’t date me and then marry Leonardo DiCaprio. I also started trying to act back then in a school acting group. But it was a big torture because I was very shy and insecure at that time and the stage fright was not of the normal/healthy amount, that I was almost fainting at times.

Where did you first learn about social rules?

I am not sure can answer that question. One learns social rules throughout life from the moment one understands what’s going on.

So you don’t remember what age you were when you came to understand social rules? It is one thing to know, it is another thing to accept it and understand it to be truth.

That’s true. I guess I really started to think about it when I was 18 or so.

What character role suits you best? What was your favorite role that you have acted in so far?

I am not sure what suits me best. I haven’t forced myself to watch any tapes of what I have done to decide, lol. But my favorite so far was this part where I was talking to the guy who left me for another girl. It was a big speech in the end of which I pretty much tell him that I don’t want to be friends but just want to openly hate him.
And there was another one where I was a girl who came back to her hometown and was confronted by an old friend whom she broke off contact with once she got into the whole world of drugs etc. and my character has a meltdown. I guess I like angry or emotional roles the most.  

Interview with Felix

This is my interview with Felix, a young man from California.

Where were you born?

I was born in Santa Ana, California.

What are your interests?

I think my biggest interest is art. I really like learning about it, talking about it, creating it. I like trying to pull meaning out of all kinds of things; art is what I usually do that with, but I also like doing that in a general sense through analysis. It’s not only art I like to look at, figure out, and discuss, but anything that strikes me as interesting. Books, conversations, people, movies, lol and the heavy stuff like life and reality… just talking it out with other people, So I guess that’s analyzing. That’s just where I’m coming from when I look at art, or at least where I try to be.But I’m really into symbolism and how people express how they feel about their world in different ways, on the surface and under the surface. People are a big interest of mine too, and that goes in with psychology and sociology. I like meeting different types of people, getting to know them and learning how they experience things. I also like watching documentaries. I don’t go to school anymore, so I try to keep learning about things I’m interested in. Documentaries in general, interest me a lot, it’s not just what they’re about, but how they’re filmed.

What/who has influenced your interests?

I think that growing up in my family, there were all kinds of communication barriers, and a lot of unspoken communication going on. That’s what first tuned me into languages and seeing how it’s not just the words that people say that is different from language to language. There’s a lot more going on than just that. Different types of people expect different things out of you – look at different things about you, stuff like that.
Also, the friends I’ve always had have shaped this kind of thing. I never fit in anywhere and was also on the outside of things, so those are the kind of people I knew too. So I got interested in the differences not only in a high school, but to imagine the larger level of it, of how outsiders vs. insiders view the world, interact. Getting into art too goes along with it, since most the artists I like the most were outsiders of society, and they described that place with images instead of words, symbols and colors, things like that. So I liked how you could make such a statement with an image or the way you painted an image, and that it could be so powerful it could get you killed, or feed a revolution.  

What languages did your parents speak around you when you were at home?

My parents usually spoke English with us in public and when we were all together, but if I got in trouble or was alone with one, especially my dad he’d start to talk more in Spanish the more he talked. My mom usually spoke English with us but sometimes she would speak Portuguese, but I usually only heard it when she was on the phone or with her relatives, other Portuguese ladies, that kind of thing. She didn’t really use it directly at us. But that was up until I was 16, and moved to Philadelphia with my mom and brother. After that it was just in English back and forth with her.

What is the thing that you know the most about? Lol wow it’s a little hard to say, I’m not an expert or anything on any subject. I guess though not to sound too redundant lol, probably art. It’s what I’ve spent my education on, it’s how I know a lot of the people I do, it’s what we talk about… But like I said, I wouldn’t call myself an expert on it in anyway, it’s just what I’ve devoted most of my energy too in my life, so it’s what I have the biggest lump of knowledge on. Do you remember how you found art, when or how your first experience with it was like?  For the art, there were art books, like the coffee table kind of big picture kind of deal and I had seen that and had kind of an arty grandmother, and my brother used to spray paint and put stickers up, but the thing that really hit me about art was going to New York with my mom, her sister, and my aunts husband when I was about 13. We hit up a lot of the museums, and it was my first time to really see art in person like that, and such a huge range of art. I was into history at that time and it hit me how looking through the wings of an art museum is another way of looking at the past and history completely different than reading it. And when we were done, my family asked me what I thought about certain paintings or whatever, and they let me discuss it with them which was a big thing to be included like that I thought.

My Interview with Horizon

Recently, I interviewed Horizon, a 20-year old from the UK.

 Me: Why the name Horizon?

H: Horizon is the spiritual boundary between heaven and earth, my friend Angela says it suits me with the whole bisexual thing, not quite heaven not quite earth, like not quite straight not quite gay, lol. 

Me: Where were you born?

H: I was born in Central Middlesex Hospital in London. It’s this big ass hospital a few towns over from my hometown. I think I gave my mum hell during the birth, because I was a 10 month baby, lol. 

Me: You were a 10 month old baby?

H: I was supposed to be born on around Late October but instead was born late November and as a result was a very chubby and cute baby lol.

Me: What are your interests?

H: When I’m at home, I like to watch anime or comedies on TV as well as listening to music, mainly rock, rap and R&B. I also love drinking and partying with my mates, getting so drunk you don’t remember what you did the night before, I got so drunk in the Christmas holidays, I went out with lip gloss and eye-liner and got 4 girls numbers and couldn’t remember what they looked like, only their names. I also draw designs in paint in my spare time, mostly simple wallpaper type designs. A typical geek you may say.  

Me: Who are your favorite music artists?

H: In terms of Rock it would be artists and groups like Static X, The Offspring, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Rap its mainly old school like A Tribe Called Quest, or Leaders of the New School but I do quite like Timbalands music. R&B is mixed, I don’t really have favourite R&B artists just a few random songs I like from different people.  

Me: What kinds of things do you paint and what do you use?

H: Designs, its mostly patterns just for the sake of it, I do like drawing birds though I have this poster in my room of a Silver Crested Cockatoo which was the first thing I can remember doing in paint.

Me: How long have you been doing that?

H: Doing stuff in Paint, I do a mixture stuff I paint IRL and stuff I paint using the MS Paint program, I’ve been painting IRL for at least a decade now, never too good, mostly birds and sunsets. And in MS Paint for a years, it looks better than the drawings I do in real life but it seems alot more artificial and requires much less effort, because if you make a mistake u can erase it, but with painting IRL mistakes are harder to erase. Sounds like a metaphor for life, sort of, lol.  

Me: What do you paint on? Do you use paper, canvas, or an easel?

H: Paper mostly, I’m a student after all I can’t really afford to be spending money on art supplies, but I use my painting as a form of venting, I can be at times more emotional than the average guy, I didn’t quite realize this till a friend noticed me getting teary eyed near the end of this romantic comedy we were watching. I don’t use an easel either; I like to keep it simple, although I can be a little stricter about the type of paper I use.

Me: What do you know the most about?

H: Compared to my friends, I’d say I know the most about sex. I got a lot of my knowledge of it from helldot and other knowledge from ex-girlfriends during my “experimental phase”. Overall I got how should I say… TOO MUCH knowledge, and I’m really open about talking about it, much to some of my friends dismay. But other friends love to hear about my escapades as well as learn from my experiences, he laughs. Educationally, I say I know quite a lot about Economics, being a Straight A student in the subject, however even though I know a lot about the subject it has never really given me much interest. 

Me: Would you say that your expertise about sex has helped you in your relationships?

H: It helps in some ways and it hinders me in other ways, each person is unique so no matter how much you know about sex, the results with each person will be different. On the one hand having sexual expertise allows you to know what you like and what you don’t like, and it helps you to find out more easily what your partners are into. But on the other you get to a point where you are less “experimental” than with previous partners because you have experienced so much that trying new things gets a lil harder. But sex isn’t everything and even though I know a lot about sex doesn’t mean I’ll stop being a hopeless romantic.  

Me: What advice can you offer up to people who are hopeless romantics?
  H: I’m not sure if I can give good advice to fellow hopeless romantics, I have had my fair share of heartbreak after all. But if I had to give any advice I say the cliché, “Be yourself”, if not then your feelings may come off as insincere.   Me: How did you come to know a lot about Economics? Why don’t you have much interest in the subject?  

H: Originally in high school, Business and Economics were my worst subjects and so, I forced myself into specialising in these subjects further, as a way of overcoming my weaknesses. So I attended summer and winter school programmes outside of normal school and studied the subjects in 6th form further as result I gained a broader understanding of the subjects, i even began reading text outside of school at home to further my development and as a result got Straight As, however I learnt to get into Business and found it quite interesting especially the world of Business IT and Human Resources but Economics even though becoming my best subject never really interested me because it seemed a tad too boring. But even though I got A’s it could of been to do with the fact i was hopelessly in love with one of my classmates in the subject.  

What a way to welcome the New Year!

Hey, everyone! Sorry for not being around much…been busy. Anyway…I just discovered from yahoo news that Obama (Democrat) and Huckabee (Republican) have placed first in the Iowa Caucus. I love how the article words Obama’s win: “swept him past Hillary Clinton in the opening Democratic nominating contest. ” Read more here. I can’t say that I’m surprised about Huckabee’s victory, he seems to be the most electable of the Republican contenders. He’s a baptist minister, pro-life, and for other reasons, so evangelical Christians support him as well as other conservatives. Not all conservatives are part of the Religious Right.

I will read more coverage later and tomorrow.

 I hope that you all enjoyed the holidays. I resume school on the 22nd.