LOST: Are You Watching It?

I am.

Some say the show has lost its edge, I say bull. Season 4 wasn't that great (worst out of all of the seasons, I wasn't a big fan of the Oceanic Six idea), yet I'm a forgiving person. This season is revealing a lot, and it's awesome.

Lostaway, okay?

In the Meantime

John Coltrane - Every Time We Say Goodbye - 1961



Still on hiatus.

The Speech

Here is the speech. It was a good speech, though I've heard better (from Obama I mean). But there was one part that kind of offended me, which caught me off guard a little. It is quoted below.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

…Um what?

"On this day, we gather," meaning obviously the inauguration, he won on election night and he is going to be sworn in as President. The use of "we" at first brings to mind "we" as American citizens, yet that is not necessarily what it conveys. It is “we,” those who voted for Obama, his supporters and followers. There is nothing wrong with that, and I have no problem with those specific words. Yet it is the next sort of words in where I'm a little offended, where people gathered "because we have chosen hope over fear, unity over conflict and discord." What am I to make of this, as someone who did not vote for Obama? That I most likely have chosen fear over hope and conflict and discord over purpose? From all the lines from his speech, this one will stick with me for a very long time. It will probably be the only line I will remember (which is sad, really). Maybe I’m overdramatizing the line, maybe not. Whatever the case, who is really to blame?

Obamanation: Image is Everything

I was creeped out during the primaries, creeped out during the general election, and am now equally creeped out that this cult of personality still persists. It seems to keep growing, with no end in sight. It's one thing to feel empowered, uplifted and all around excited about the prospect of a politician you can finally believe in. It's a completely another thing to have idolization take place. Where a face replaces any objective meaning, where artists make propaganda like videos, and people go damn near hysterical with obedience (When someone starts a sentence with "Obama is asking me..." or "He wants me to..." it gets to a point where one is looking more for a father than a President to lead this nation). For God's sake, we even have corporations now in the act. It's one thing to praise him, it's another thing to worship him.

Being a cynic, I’m naturally a bystander to this phenomena rather than a participant, and I hope to keep it that way.

Back to hiatus.

Hiatus

For a short period of time. I'll be back. In the mean time...

Laugh and cry at this trailer for Streets of Fire.



Oh Dafoe.

Food for Thought Three

You are a news organization and you are covering a conflict. On one side you have an established democracy that for years has been confronted with threats to its security and existence. It has a pretty large military and the means to defend itself. On the other side is a terrorist organization, which has limited representation out of nationalist fervor, and shoots rockets aimlessly into the democracy (with a focus on their civilians). Which side do you present more positively? Which side do you give leeway with when it comes to the facts? To many it’s a no-brainer, to others, it’s ambiguous.

Clearer to the point: One side intends to kill civilians while the other tries to avoid them.

Foreign Policy Magazine Expands

Foreign Policy Magazine is expanding, adding ten new blogs. Here is a link list to all of them (including Foreign Policy Passport):

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/
http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/
http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/
http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/
http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/
http://eurasia.foreignpolicy.com/
http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/
http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/
http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/
http://hillary.foreignpolicy.com/

Awesome.

The Stark Tenet 3.0

...with a new blog title design.


Lame.