Month: December 2008

Posted in Movies

Australia Oscars

Posted on by Godfather

First off, I would like to add some potential nominees for The Dark Knight that I forgot last week. I watched it again last night, and it could have a chance at Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Best Editing.

So I went to see Australia yesterday with my mom, and about 4 months ago I would have thought it to be a big contender in the Oscars. But, the golden globe nominations are out, and Australia go 0, but for good reason. It was an average film, not wonderful, not horrible. There were parts that were good, and others that were just way to cliche and cheesy. So to me, Australia has almost no shot at Best Picture, but hey, we never know for sure. Cinematography could have a little shot, though I didn’t think it was too good, since there were moments of greatness and horribleness. But the main categories to watch out for are Art Direction and Costume Design. One thing I can say about Australia though, is that the sets felt real (for the most part) and the crew did a good job at making the movie seem like the 40s.

By the way, the Golden Globes nominations were announced this week, and Benjamin Button, Doubt, and Frost/Nixon were all tied for the most nominations. Hopefully, I’ll see Button in a few weeks, and the other two soon.

Watch out for:
Cinematography- Maybe
Art Direction- Good chance
Costume Design- Good Chance

Posted in Sports

Dude, spray those things with Windex

Posted on by Scarface

So one of the things I’ve recently learned while taking baseball lessons with my hitting coach is really the secret to success. Relaxation.

A lot of times you’re just struggling, desperately, and you can’t find a way to dig out of your hole. So you try harder and harder, putting all your aggression into it. And it’s normally to no avail.

But what people don’t realize is that aggression in many cases is the problem. Your muscles get tense and you just try and force things to happen. What you need to do is step back and just breathe. Take all the time you need, and refocus that energy to what is gonna fix your problem. Then just relax, go with the flow. Give yourself some flexibility and don’t get so tense. Then you can actually figure out what’s wrong and fix it, instead of maybe succeeding a couple times on pure luck.

Everything’s in your head most of the time, it’s your challenge to control it.

This is Scarface signing off.

Posted in Issues, Politics

A change in pace (capital punishment)

Posted on by Aardvarki

Well, although I don’t think we can ever thoroughly exhaust the topics of gay rights, it really is time for a chance of pace in the social issues department. This week’s topic of discussion: Capital Punishment (aka, the death penalty).
This is an extremely controversial topic, but it seems to get a bit drowned-out in all the noise from other social issues, such as gay rights and abortion. This is a very delicate subject, and there are many facets to it. Many argue such things as “eye for an eye” and justice, as well as what a civilized community should do, the right to life, the chance to repent before death, the mortal sin of murder, and many other things. It may take hours to explain them all, so I won’t even try.
Personally, I find the idea of capital punishment primitive. It doesn’t matter how “painless” and efficient the process becomes, it is, in it’s raw form, the most primitive legal act of our society. It goes by the “moral” that humans have upheld for centuries: “an eye for an eye.” It is one of those morals (like gay rights) that needs to be rethought. We may have rethought it on the lower levels: we constantly teach our children to never respond to violence with violence: always talk it out; always forgive. But when it comes to our harshest sentence, we are blatantly hypocritical.
Another thing worth mentioning is that this is one of the few social issues (if not the only social issue) where I concur with the Roman Catholic Church. Murder is a mortal sin, and that not only goes, of course, for the murderer himself, but for the executioner, who really is forced to murder by the job description. I do not doubt that most executioners kill more people than any murderers they have put to death. The emotional toll must be rather horrific, as well.
Also on the matter of mortal sin: those who are subjected to the death penalty never really get the chance to repent (even though I am agnostic, I still think that you really ought to have the chance to reconcile with yourself and the people whom you have hurt before the inevitable end: it gives a sense of finality to the whole matter). Sure, criminals end up on death row for years and years, but I don’t know if I would be able to come to any conclusion whilst berating my horrible demise day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and, in some cases, decade after decade.
Now this brings up the point of the sense of justice that the family of the victim often desires. I can understand their anguish, but what they really desire is nothing more than petty revenge (this is assuming that they really believe that the person who killed their relative truly deserves death). I cannot begin to think what it would be like to loose a family member at the hands of a murderer, but I would certainly hope that I would retain my current outlook if I do: which is that I need to be the better person and allow that person to reconcile with himself, the victim’s family, and their god (if they believe in one). I don’t think I could ever truly forgive that person for what they did, but I would hope that I would not stoop to their level by thinking that capital punishment would be a just compromise for the loss of my own family member.

Well, I think that’s about the sum of my beliefs (and it truly is a summary – if you want to argue on the subject then you may hear more), so let’s hear your beliefs. What do you think of capital punishment? Good or bad? Necessary or primitive? Just or unjust? Whatever you’ve got to say, let’s hear it.

For now, this is Aardvarki, signing out.

Posted in Blog

Chop chop, he says I’m gonna win big

Posted on by Bri

the Red Hot Chili Peppers are weird.

So, first I’d just like to mention how thankful I am for everyone who has been blogging and commenting lately. It warms my heart to see the thoughtful, intelligent posts and debates going on. I’d also like to say that my little bro, Godfather, has come a long way. His blogs, although not perfect, like mine(obviously), are actually pretty good. I’M even reading and enjoying them. Love ya, bro.

I’d also like to talk about what the esteemed webmistress is looking forward to seeing under her tree this Christmas:

-Gift cards to either Gap, Old Navy, Barnes and Nobles, or Borders.

-Music: “We sing. We dance. We steal things.-Jason Mraz CD”, any Jack’s Mannequin CD, any Metro Station CD, or a Meg and Dia CD.

-Black peacoat (These things are freaking expensive, though. If I wasn’t so cheap, I might have bought one myself a while ago)

-Red Converse, size 8 (I prefer the ankle ones… not high tops)

-Jason Mraz Calendar (or any calendar, I guess)

-Cool, non-holiday themed socks (that aren’t too thick)

–This shirt

-Teeshirts from Snorg, BustedTees, or Threadless

-For the school newspaper to spell my name right

-Religious tolerance

-For the California Supreme Court to overturn Prop. 8

-For there to be a new human rights issue I can talk about, because gay marriage and abortion are getting old

-For either Jason Mraz, Liam Aiken, or Michael Phelps to propose to me

 

Oh, yeah, and world peace.

Actually, no. With Bart, I don’t think that’s ever possible.

Post your own wish lists! If you want me to hyperlink anything, let me know.

Posted in Movies

The Dark Knight Oscars

Posted on by Godfather

So I guess I’ll be writing about current contenders for Oscars these next few weeks, and unfortunately, there were no new real contenders out this weekend in our theaters, so I’ll have to talk about this one. Hopefully there will at least be one good looking one here next week, or else I’ll go see Australia. Anyway, to the article.

As all of you should have seen (who HASN’T seen The Dark Knight??), Christopher Nolan’s latest Batman movie has easily surpassed any others ever made, even his previous installment Batman Begins. It was a hit with both casual movie goers and film lovers alike, and broke all the box office records for opening weekends. But was it good enough for the Academy, who have surpassed many great films in the past like Fight Club, Se7en, The Usual Suspects, Assassination of Jesse James, and countless more? Well, it seems to me like most people think it has a chance in this category, and I’m one of them. So far this year, no other film has come close to matching The Dark Knight in really any aspect, except for maybe visual effects (Iron Man). But not having THE best effects of the year shouldn’t dampen it’s prospect should it? Most of the public would agree with me on this, even the film lovers are adoring it, so shouldn’t it be a lock? It should, but the academy has made some horrible choices with their nominations. Juno (Enjoyable, but Best of the year???? I don’t think so), Forrest Gump (It was one of the better films of the year, and I have no problem with it’s nomination, but in a year with Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction, there is no way it was best), and Jerry Maguire (Come on, really? Its like Juno, enjoyable but not amazing). It is definitely a contender for this spot, but I’m not so sure it’ll make it.

The other major award that it will be nominated for is Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger. Heath did a wonderful job with the great script and brought it to life with one of the greatest performances of all time, and he should be honored with this award even after his death. Oh, and Adapted Screenplay, its not a lock, but to me the whole reason the movie worked was that the screenplay was flawless, and allowed the actors to give great performances off it. So, awards to watch…

Best Picture (Maybe)
Best Supporting Actor (Lock)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Maybe)
Best Cinematography (Maybe)
Best Director (Maybe)

Posted in Issues

Ok….ok….STOP

Posted on by Bri

This is a response blog to The Maker’s gay rights blog.

I did not hear about this blog of his until the morning after, when a friend (who happens to be gay) printed out several copies and handed one to me. “Read this,” he tells me.

Of course, I’m always happy when people go to my website of their own free will, so I gave it a look over. And, admittedly, my first reaction was chagrin and anger. He misquoted and misinterpreted me! The Maker and I have recently had an e-debate over email about this very subject, and all the points in his blog were ones that we’d already fought about. Then I got confused, because the week before, in Trig, he told me that he had revised his opinion because obviously, it’s not someone’s choice to be homosexual, so why should we restrict any rights?

Then I read his blog again. It says he doesn’t “necessarily” agree with the things he was about to write. I’ll admit that this was a badly phrased pre-reading statement, but he means well, guys. In Ford Prefect’s blog about Tolerance, there was a comment from someone asking for The Maker’s arguments AGAINST gay rights, even if he didn’t believe him. True to his word, The Maker posted just these.

HOWEVER, he does not believe the things he wrote. As he said, in speech and debate, we have to be constantly reminded of the “other side”. Those arguments are the “other side” of gay rights arguments. So please, cut the guy a break. It’s perfectly fine to argue against his points, but please, no personal attacks. Especially when he doesn’t believe in those things.

Something else was brought up in the comments section by Adventure Captain Pants, how it would be beneficial for the neutrality of the site if we could get a non-bigoted religious argument against gay rights, because that’s erally the only argument you can use against them. All others, as demonstrated in The Maker’s blog, fall through. So, if anyone is interested in writing a blog from the religious perspective, KEEPING IN MIND that you have to remain non-dogmatic and non-offensive, please let me know. I’m ashamed to admit that neither I nor most of my admins are very religious and cannot offer this other side. If you don’t already have an adminship and wish to write a guest blog, email me at brianna [at] brisownworld [dot] com with your blog. Please check for spelling and grammar, because I’m not going to correct it for you.

So, once again, leave The Maker alone. Argue about his blog, but not about him.