Mostly because I haven't posted in a while

I learned recently that I've been fired. Well anyway, that's what one of my friends told me, her explanation being that she had wasted, collectively, five minutes of her life over the past month checking for new posts, of which there were, clearly, none.

I haven't thought of anything of ground-breaking significance to write about, so I'll have to fall back on something mediocre. Or maybe a disorderly assortment of mediocre things. Yes, that's more likely.

I watched Star Wars: Episode III yesterday for the second time in my life. My opinion of it has remained unchanged. Essentially, it is much like the kind of girl I try very hard not to date: Very pretty, but also very dumb.

Let me be very clear on one point--I do not like George Lucas. I don't care how great he is at telling a story, visually or otherwise. I have a feeling that there are quite a lot of much better people who, with the kind of money and power Lucas has been granted over the years, could do just as well with their own imaginations. Especially if they studied Westerns and Eastern mythology as thoroughly as Lucas has--but that's beside the point.

My problem is the writing. In each of the three new movies, the average-at-best, regrettably-silly-at-worst writing makes the story seem trite and unfortunate at almost every turn.

"The Sith only care about themselves. The Jedi are selfless."

Gee, really? This kind of on-the-nose dialog is exactly what you hope not to see in a 113 million dollar movie. I cringe when I hear that kind of thing in student films. Come ON, George!

To be fair, no one should be condemned for not being able to write well. However, to insist upon exclusive artistic control, as Lucas famously has for this franchise, including writing and directing every line in the script for a movie that meant so much to an entire generation...that, my friends, makes bad writing a shameful, damning sin.

Contrast this with the newest Indiana film. That one was right on par with the old films. Just as corny, just as silly, yes, but also just as fun, just as action packed, and just as witty. Thank you, Spielberg, for possessing some level of professionalism. You know what his big secret probably was? Collaboration. I doubt that word has a place in George Lucas's lexicon. Pity.

On a more personal note, I'm coming closer to finishing the second draft for my as yet still unnamed novel. I was coming to something of a standstill recently, so I decided to start something new. Who knows if the new project will ever go anywhere, but to any writers who find themselves reading this long, pointless post--let me here officially support working on multiple projects. No one should ever devote all of his or her time and energy to ONE novel. 'Cause that novel would end up, inevitably, as a piece of forgettable refuse. Diversity!

I believe I have now fulfilled my self-assigned quota of "a disorderly assortment of mediocre things."

Shameless Promotions (that no one will read...)

This post was going to be an anti-flaky diatribe (one in which I would make everyone, including myself, feel horribly guilty about not being dependable about anything). Instead, I want to enjoy what I write.

First off, I finally watched Pan's Labyrinth last night. Here's my short review:

The film was brutally beautiful. I put off seeing it for quite a while because of its rating (I don't often watch R-rated movies), waiting to find out if it was worth an exception. After enough research, I decided that it was. I'm glad I did. Let me first make clear that this film well-deserved its rating. I read about its content on KidsinMind.com (which is a great site for careful Mormons such as myself), and was not overly concerned about what I read. Nothing could have prepared me for the way that content was presented, however. It's a relatively bloody film, to be sure, but nothing worse than you'd see in a lot of other movies. What was difficult about this film was how emotionally jarring some of these scenes were. Rather than making me sick, the brutality displayed by some of the characters, one in particular, brought me close to tears. And in the center of all this ugliness--caused in the main by a select few--were characters of such profound goodness and depth that not once could I look away from the stark reality they had to face. The basic idea of transcendence in art is that light is best perceived when surrounded by darkness. Labyrinth is quintessential transcendentalism. We are dragged through the mud (literally, at one point) so that we may see with perfect clarity the beauty of life. This one's going to be with me for a long, long time.

This won't be news to anyone who knows me, but...Thrice is my favorite band. The 3rd and 4rd volumes of "The Alchemy Index" came out yesterday, and I, of course, bought them without a second thought. I've been listening to the first two volumes, Fire and Water, for about six months, waiting in focused anticipation for the other two, Air and Earth, to finally be released. Was it worth the wait? Yes. Let me just say that Dustin Kensrue is one of the most talented singer/songwriters of this generation, and Thrice might turn out to be one of the most important bands of this decade. I won't go into a detailed review of their complex and overwhelming project, but I will say....

Actually, I don't even know what to say. It is such a profound musical accomplishment that I am left speechless. OK, I know what to tell you: No matter who you are, at least one part of the Index will appeal to you. This is, to my knowledge, the most diverse record ever produced. So. Buy it.

That is all.

The fear of boredom

I go to college, work on films, go to church, sing in a choir, spend time with friends, date (sporadically), watch a LOT of movies, read books, work a great job, and, sometimes, when I'm being very productive, work on my novel or engage in other creative literary enterprises. And still, 90% of the time, I'm either bored or stressed that I'm not doing enough with my life. This is why I'm a film student, which both solves and worsens the problem. If I'm looking to legitimize my life, then it often seems counterintuitive to pick this, of all things, to study in college. However, I'm less confident in film's power to bore than I am in almost anything else. So it appears I'm stuck.

I'm so open now because I can be pretty certain that few people will read this. Look how brave I am.

Scotland Rocks

Not that I know very much about this cool little country, but what I do know, I love. And what I know is this dude named Joshua Barton, who is one of the most astonishingly great people I've met in the course of my life. He's a mission buddy, and we've kept in touch for a couple of years now. What motivated this post? An email.

Really, this all just boils down to a few moments of reflection on my part on how valuable friendships can be. Defying reason and lacking evidence, the naive boy still believes that my friendship is worth something. This doesn't bother me at all, because his actually is. I would describe Josh Barton's virtues, but I don't have enough time, and besides, I want more to emphasize transcendently uplifting associations, instead of soliloquizing specific people. I have a number of amazing friends, without whom my life would be as good as sunk.

That's all.

To Mayor Bates of the City of Berkeley

Mayor Bates,

It seems counterintuitive to me that a community would impose sanctions against the very government which allows and even fights for its constituents' freedoms of speech and expression. If Code Pink is allowed and even encouraged to protest according to their ideals and understanding, shouldn't the military be allowed (and, dare I say encouraged?) to promote its agenda within the same community?

I would love to spend a great deal of time describing why I believe your policies to be profoundly ignorant, stubborn and contemptible. Instead, I'll just ask you what you think might happen if every community in this nation chose the same course you have chosen in this matter? If the military finds its numbers diminished by actions such as these to the point that its viability is jeopardized, do you think that our government would (or should) permanently sacrifice our strength of arms and succumb to the hostility of our enemies? I think it would be far more likely that the draft would be reinstated. A volunteer military (which is inherently enabled by recruiting offices) is the strongest and best kind of military. However, a drafted army is better than no army. To come out against recruiting efforts is to show unintentional support for either no military or a drafted one. It's short-sighted and politically selfish.

I also wonder what the reaction will be among those who didn't already hate the Marines. Perhaps those sitting on the line of whether they would volunteer their service to the military and its current policies will be swayed by this sudden shift in positions. You have painted the recruiters as the underdog, which will likely encourage support they might not have otherwise had.

If you've gotten this far, I'll summarize by saying that your actions are both shameful and totally unbefitting a democratic leader in this great nation.

Yes, I'm naming this "First Post"

So I got this blog, here. I want to say something like, "I told myself I would never do this, but..."
BUT, I don't think that's true. Earlier today, one of my coworkers said, "I've been meaning to start a blog, but..."
And then I said, "Hey, maybe I should do a blog."
And he said, "Yeah, you totally should. It's way easy."
And I said, "Yeah, good idea, I will."
Now here I am. Do I feel dumb? A little. I'm reminded of my opinion of blogs years ago when they were emerging as the next great Internet revolution. I thought to myself, "Do people actually expect anyone to read or care about their stupid online journal?"
Well, no, they don't. I grew up a little since then and figured out why these things are useful. It saves me updating my faraway friends on my life over the phone.
That way, when people ask me, "So what's up with your life these days?" I can reply, with some amount of pride, and perhaps a slightly greater measure of embarrassment, "Oh, just check out my website. Friend." (Because it's likely that I will have forgotten this person's name.)
No, it's not a website, but I'll call it that because I've always been and will probably always be far too lazy to create the real thing for myself.
I'm feeling like this first post is proving to be long-winded and mostly pointless, so I think I'll go ahead and stop.