Tuesday, November 27, 2007

An Ego Boost from various professors....


Now isn't this promo poster for the new Terminator series kinda ridiculous? Maybe a closeup of giant breasts with the faintest hint of erect nipple is an eye-grabber, but Sarah Conner doesn't strike me as a character that screams feminine sexiness, you know? Maybe in the first Terminator you could make a case, but the progression of her character in T2 kinda destroys that entire view. And by the time she becomes the mother of the "leader of the resistance", she's pretty weathered and beaten down. Then again, maybe this is a closeup of the new Terminator, who I hear is a female. In that event, props to Skynet for mimicking the female form :)

I'm looking forward to seeing this. I'm hoping the show is great and if it is, maybe it will lead into more movie franchises adopted for the small screen. I'd love to see a Predator show, wouldn't you?

I don't know what it is, but apparently I'm some highly talented writer. During my college career, I've had three different professors either tell me bluntly that I should be doing more writing or have told me as much in lengthy comments at the end of papers. One of my film professors even suggested that a paper I did on the horror genre could be published if I beefed it up. I've always sort of just disregarded their opinions, thinking it was mainly because I had a good relationship with them that they were writing these kind words. I'm revisiting that, now. I got back 2 papers today. The first was my Gender and Communication essay and as I flipped through the pages, I noticed that there were no comments anywhere. This had me worried, as the whole point of a communication professor is to give detailed feedback on EVERYTHING (i.e. communicate!). I figured I had some horrible grade. Then I get to the last page and see this comment: "Your writing style is absolutely engrossing. As I read your paper, I was so engaged that I didn't even think about corrections or comments. That's a good thing! You should develop this skill".

Interesting. I wrote the paper so well that she completely forgot to grade it like she normally would :) I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pleased. It was nice to get feedback from a non English professor about the very thing I've been praised for (though I'm not quite sure why). Then I got my Philosophy paper back which applied Aristotle's theory of tragedy to Sam Raimi's "A Simple Plan". Once again, I aced the paper and the paraphrased comments went something like: "Fantastic writing style" and he went on to imply that it's "scholarly" without reading like a "scholarly" essay.

When I was a kid, I won a bunch of school awards for creative writing. I like to write, but for whatever reason, I just never felt I was very good at it. I like coming up with stories and ideas but dialogue has always escaped me. Anyway, this new positive feedback has made me revisit this writing thing. Maybe I should actually sit down and write a book or something? I really enjoy doing the "Disease of Death", so I'm already on that path and I wrote 2 chapters for the "novel" version of The Grand Horror last year, only to set it aside and never come back to it (busy with other stuff).

How hard can it be to be a writer anyways? If Carlin can do it, I certainly can :P

It would be pretty swell to sell a movie script or two, or even a book for that matter. Talk about the ultimate stay at home job :) Nothing will probably ever come of this newfound interest, but it doesn't hurt to try I guess. Who knows, maybe my calling isn't in making movies, but in writing them.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

"So you're saying there's a chance....."

Obama supporters are all aflutter. First it was the news that a recent poll showed him winning in Iowa. Now it's a New Hampshire poll showing Hillary dropping by 7% (though she still holds a big lead).

Working in the polling business, I know that one can't get overly excited by these numbers. One-shot polls are great for the weekly news cycle, but you need to string together sustained weeks to create a trend one can feel confident about.

Still, this is great news for Obama supporters. If nothing else, it will galvanize them to feel that their support is actually having some effect. The more positive exposure these polls bring Obama, the more voters will take a closer look. There's quite a big difference between Hillary and Barack. If Hillary become the nominee, I might just take the next election off. I used to think she wasn't the evil incarnate that Republicans made her out to be. I still don't believe that, but I don't trust that woman at all. My gut tells me that if Hillary is elected, nothing is going to change. For better or worse, at least with Obama, I get the feeling that this is a pretty good guy who really wants to change how things operate. He's a fresh, positive alternative to Hillary. For example, Hillary wants to mandate health care to all Americans, forcing everyone to buy it, whereas Obama wants to require it for children, but not mandate it for adults. The idea is that if you get employers to pay more, then more people will be willing to voluntarily get health care if it's cheaper. That's a sensible solution, in my opinion.

Obama can exploit the health care debate to his advantage. I think most people don't really understand the difference between their plans. Obama needs to take a page out of the Republican Handbook and hammer home the fact that Hillary wants to FORCIBLY REQUIRE YOU TO BUY HEALTH INSURANCE (Edwards wants to do the same, populist poseur that he is). I'm probably at odds with most liberals on this issue. I believe in "Universal Healthcare" if the definition is you have the OPTION to buy into it. It should be a public good, but nobody should be forced to HAVE to have it. It's a complicated issue, but one I think Obama can really stick Hillary with.

You know what the really sad thing about all of this is? Why the hell are there so many John Edwards supporters? I mean, he's basically taking the same "I'm not the establishment guy" shtick that Obama is, but he's so obviously a weasel. Edwards is getting 22% in Iowa. Imagine if his supporters woke up and joined Obama.

Hillary would be pissing her pantsuit with Fear! :)

Still, I'm ecstatically restrained at the moment. When Gallup starts doing surveys in Iowa and New Hampshire later this year, and the results are similar, then I'll start doing the cartwheels. Until then, Obama needs to take this new exposure and use it to slam Hillary into the ground.

Interesting paragraph from the NYT article: His aides also circulated an article in which Mrs. Clinton was quoted as saying that she had not yet proposed any punitive measures for people who do not get health insurance. An aide to her said that a Clinton White House would work with Congress to create an enforcement mechanism.

Enforcement mechanism? WTF is that all about?

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Back from the Technological Dead


I've finally got home internet access again. Yay.

Some quick thoughts:

Congress is at record disapproval levels, but America still likes the Democrats.

Florida State secured a winning record for the season this afternoon. Bobby Bowden is kickin' it with a bunch of cheerleaders in this very strange picture...

My grandparents' 50th Wedding Anniversary was today and it was boring as all hell.
More stuff to come...