I realize it's been nearly a week now since my last post so I think it's just about time to get back to business. This week's going to be a jam-packed week for this blog as I talk about new and exciting things that you probably never even HEARD of before! And by that I mean, I'll be talking about stuff that you have heard of before but ususally choose to ignore. This is the "Seinfeld" of blogs, my friends. They'll range from annoying to profound and then back again... Now as all of you know (if anyone's even reading this), I will officially be a high school graduate come Saturday at around 5:30 pm, if all goes according to plan. So basically, in addition to this serving as an outlet for me to emote electronically (clever alliteration, eh?), it will also serve as a springboard for lots of procrastination in a week where I probably should be getting ready for the most important day of my life so far. Bear with me.
Without any further ado, here's a tentative schedule for this week's blogs just to get you psyched and prepared for this epic week of blogging:
Monday through Wednesday: Comparing the Time Travel Theories Presented in the Back to the Future trilogy and the Terminator movies. A three-part entry.
Thursday: Why Terminator 3 was a better film than Salvation.
Friday: The Future Is Not Set--- Personal Anecdotes on High School, College, and life itself.
Pretty exciting, huh? I'm especially excited for Monday's blog as it's really confusing and challenges the reader (and me) to think about pretty complex ideas thrown out by movies that were supposed to be taken with a grain of salt. Stay tuned for that, and for all things "Resistance of Salvation" in the week to come.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
A Reflection on Memorial Day
I'm going to take a break from my normal, kind of daily (even though my last post was Friday) rants on the Terminator world and all that cool philosophy stuff momentarily and focus in on why most of us are here today. Veterans. Our ancestors fighting for survival in new and dangerous places--- to fight for our peace and tranquility. Unfortunately, that goal has yet to be achieved. I am a very anti-war kind of person, ala Eugene Debs (former presidential candidate and workers' reform trailblazer). I think it's rather pointless and it often starts over trivial things like land settlements or oil or some other worldly concern that the rest of the world won't care about in a hundred years. OK, I am going to throw in a Terminator reference here, a quote from Sarah's co-worker in the diner from hell in T1: "Look at it this way, in a hundred years, who's gonna care?" Alot of people argue that it is necessary just in order to survive (see Darwin's Survival of the Fittest theory), and they have valid points. I'm not saying we should pull out of Iraq right now, because in the cruel and remorseless world we live in at the moment, we'd be viewed as weak and would thus become vulnerable to attack. I'm not condemning our ancestors who fought for our survivial, because as I said before, I'm here to honor them. They WERE in war... they knew that it sucked. They knew what pain was... what it was like to lose a close friend or a dear loved one... they knew more than we'll ever know. And alot of them made that ultimate sacrifice: death for their country... but not only for their country, for their family. For their friends. For their distant relatives and for people they never even knew. War has a unique toll on familial structure that causes a devastation that can be matched by no natural disaster... no other kind of untimely death. War is death, but death can lead to life. As I alluded to in my first blog, one door closes, another one opens. That's what our heroes fought for... life in death to counter death in life. They fought for us, they fought for our loved ones, they fought for our children... they fought for an end to fighting. They fought for Alpha to meet Omega.
"And in the evening, after the fire and the light, one thing is certain: nothing can hold back the night. Time is relentless, and as the past disappears, we're on the verge of all things new. We are two thousand years."- Billy Joel, "Two Thousand Years."
"And in the evening, after the fire and the light, one thing is certain: nothing can hold back the night. Time is relentless, and as the past disappears, we're on the verge of all things new. We are two thousand years."- Billy Joel, "Two Thousand Years."
Friday, May 22, 2009
Dr. Silberman, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Terminator
Before I begin, I'd like to just preface this entry by saying that the title is once again an attempt to be clever, and I apologize to anyone who still has no clue what the hell I'm talking about.
Just about six summers ago now... I was in Kentucky for my annual trek to visit an aunt and uncle I have up there with my dad. A couple days into the trip my uncle suggests a movie (they're big movie people, they like to go at least once a week)... so I said "Yeah, sure, I'm game for a movie. Which one do you want to see?" or something along those lines. That part of the day is a little blurry for me, but what happened later on that day I still have vivid memories of. So my uncle was all hyped about "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines", and all's I could think of was: yikes. I really don't want to go see that movie--- the world prophesized by Jim Cameron in the Terminator mythos was way too scary for my tastes. Even to the point that I never even saw the first two installments. I never went in for horror flicks and I'm not really an action guy either. But, albeit begrudgingly, I went. I went and I sat and I waited, after getting my huge bucket of popcorn and 32 oz. water that I would later regret. I sat through the previews while devouring the popcorn--- and started to get just a little bit nervous at the prospect of the film I was about to see. My uncle had prepped me in the car about the whole timeline and who John Connor was, who Sarah Connor was, who Kyle Reese was... who the T-800 was. But it was so damn confusing I basically tuned him out very quickly. I soon regretted tuning him out as the film started getting underway... and suddenly, captivation. Pure, utter, captivation--- I was at the mercy of Jonathon Mostow's story within minutes. I never saw a movie quite like it... seasoned perfectly with just the right combination of bravada, thrills, testosterone, hotness (Kristanna Loken's "arrival" scene), and funniness. The action was mind-blowing even if you weren't an action junkie (and I would know, because as previously stated, I'm not an action/adventure kind of guy). The crane chase scene just had me going "Wow. This is a great film." Say what you may about the lack of Sarah Connor or Schwarzenegger's 60 year old Terminator, and say what you will about Mostow's directing style, but I thought the movie rocked... and most important, it made me crave more. James Cameron gave no words of consolation to Mostow... no support. He had felt the story had been told in the first two pictures and no more needed to be said for the franchise. All's I have to say is thank God Jonathon Mostow disagreed. Without T3, I may've never even discovered the first two glorious entries to this marvelous saga. And thank God I went to that movie theater that day. Last but not least, I thank my uncle for introducing me to what I believe is the best story of human survival ever told.
No fate but what we make. So what are we waiting for?
Just about six summers ago now... I was in Kentucky for my annual trek to visit an aunt and uncle I have up there with my dad. A couple days into the trip my uncle suggests a movie (they're big movie people, they like to go at least once a week)... so I said "Yeah, sure, I'm game for a movie. Which one do you want to see?" or something along those lines. That part of the day is a little blurry for me, but what happened later on that day I still have vivid memories of. So my uncle was all hyped about "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines", and all's I could think of was: yikes. I really don't want to go see that movie--- the world prophesized by Jim Cameron in the Terminator mythos was way too scary for my tastes. Even to the point that I never even saw the first two installments. I never went in for horror flicks and I'm not really an action guy either. But, albeit begrudgingly, I went. I went and I sat and I waited, after getting my huge bucket of popcorn and 32 oz. water that I would later regret. I sat through the previews while devouring the popcorn--- and started to get just a little bit nervous at the prospect of the film I was about to see. My uncle had prepped me in the car about the whole timeline and who John Connor was, who Sarah Connor was, who Kyle Reese was... who the T-800 was. But it was so damn confusing I basically tuned him out very quickly. I soon regretted tuning him out as the film started getting underway... and suddenly, captivation. Pure, utter, captivation--- I was at the mercy of Jonathon Mostow's story within minutes. I never saw a movie quite like it... seasoned perfectly with just the right combination of bravada, thrills, testosterone, hotness (Kristanna Loken's "arrival" scene), and funniness. The action was mind-blowing even if you weren't an action junkie (and I would know, because as previously stated, I'm not an action/adventure kind of guy). The crane chase scene just had me going "Wow. This is a great film." Say what you may about the lack of Sarah Connor or Schwarzenegger's 60 year old Terminator, and say what you will about Mostow's directing style, but I thought the movie rocked... and most important, it made me crave more. James Cameron gave no words of consolation to Mostow... no support. He had felt the story had been told in the first two pictures and no more needed to be said for the franchise. All's I have to say is thank God Jonathon Mostow disagreed. Without T3, I may've never even discovered the first two glorious entries to this marvelous saga. And thank God I went to that movie theater that day. Last but not least, I thank my uncle for introducing me to what I believe is the best story of human survival ever told.
No fate but what we make. So what are we waiting for?
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Beginnings and Endings
I have many mottos. We all do, and we always will. Most of them change daily based upon my current mood or circumstance. They run the gamut from the hopeful to the desperate to the necessary. At times my motto comes in the form of quoting a song, a poem, or a book--- but more often than not, my inspiration comes from the screen. One of the finest examples of such inspiration comes in the form of the recently discovered lyrics of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" theme, which states that "A smile is just a frown that's turned upside down, so smile and that frown'll get lost." I love that quote for so many reasons, but mostly because of its simplicity. Just smile, and that'll make your frown go away. Naturally... you can't smile and frown at the same time. So do the one that makes you happier and anything that makes you unhappy will disappear, at least temporarily. So that's one of my mottos. Another is that hope for the future makes all things in life possible. Another is that divinity in its most simplistic form is faithfulness. But no matter what mood I'm in or how Gatsby-esque I'm feeling each particular day, one of my mottos seems to have a definitiveness about it, like I'll never be able to not live by that motto. That motto is that when one door closes, another one opens. This quote can be interpreted many different ways--- the closed door can either represent something good that's gone out of your life or something bad that you want to get rid of, and the open door can either represent change for the worse or the better. But nevertheless... it's a constant of sorts in life, not even as a motto, as a philosophy--- but as a way of life. Life is unexpected and mysterious and we are constantly morphing, changing, thriving individuals seeking self-realization at even the darkest hours of our existences. We're always on the road to something else in the world--- never truly satisfied with whatever we have in the present. We try to fix the unalterable past or attempt to charter the undeniable yet unpredictable course of the rest of our lives... making idealistic game plans for where we are, where we should be and where we will inevitably be. Stillness for human beings is rarely an option.
But lo and behold, along comes the wonderful world of web blogging... forums for meditation, venting, organization, synthesis and a jumping off point for new discoveries, discussions, and dialogues. I'm a little behind on the times... blogging's been around for pert near ten years now, but I figure better late than never. Now on the blog name; I thought long and hard on this one (and by that I mean about five minutes) and in the end decided to name it "Resistance of Salvation." Why? Well if it isn't immediately obvious than I guess it was a lost cause but I'll explain it anyway. It's a direct allusion to the Resistance John Connor is destined to lead to victory in the future against the sentient machines created by evil computer virus Skynet in the Terminator mythology.... trying to lead the world to salvation. Trying to lead themselves to Salvation... just like we all try to do every single day of our lives, whether we realize it or not. We're searching for who our most inner selves are even when we don't realize it... fighting for survival and sustainment in a constantly evolving, increasingly frightening world. The wars don't have to involve big guns or huge, scary Schwarzenegger-modeled robots... they're internal conflicts that run rampant in our bodies, trying to control and shape who we are. The battle between good and evil, the battle between conformity and taking charge. Realizing that fate is a choice, not an inevitability, as most things are in this rarely comforting, cold to the touch world. Realizing who we are and who God wants us to be. It's all about the road, the journey, the discovery. It's about coming into our own, being manifestations of who we really want ourselves to be... it's about being John Connor.
But lo and behold, along comes the wonderful world of web blogging... forums for meditation, venting, organization, synthesis and a jumping off point for new discoveries, discussions, and dialogues. I'm a little behind on the times... blogging's been around for pert near ten years now, but I figure better late than never. Now on the blog name; I thought long and hard on this one (and by that I mean about five minutes) and in the end decided to name it "Resistance of Salvation." Why? Well if it isn't immediately obvious than I guess it was a lost cause but I'll explain it anyway. It's a direct allusion to the Resistance John Connor is destined to lead to victory in the future against the sentient machines created by evil computer virus Skynet in the Terminator mythology.... trying to lead the world to salvation. Trying to lead themselves to Salvation... just like we all try to do every single day of our lives, whether we realize it or not. We're searching for who our most inner selves are even when we don't realize it... fighting for survival and sustainment in a constantly evolving, increasingly frightening world. The wars don't have to involve big guns or huge, scary Schwarzenegger-modeled robots... they're internal conflicts that run rampant in our bodies, trying to control and shape who we are. The battle between good and evil, the battle between conformity and taking charge. Realizing that fate is a choice, not an inevitability, as most things are in this rarely comforting, cold to the touch world. Realizing who we are and who God wants us to be. It's all about the road, the journey, the discovery. It's about coming into our own, being manifestations of who we really want ourselves to be... it's about being John Connor.
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