Two more days...

The final day of classes is tomorrow, but tonight’s the party. Really though classes are now done, there is a class tomorrow but we’re not doing anything. I’m free!!

three more days...

I keep on saying it, three more days of classes, and each of those is really a half day. I find it hard to believe that I have lived in Honolulu for almost a year, and that I’ll be leaving in a little over two weeks. I have lived in a few places and every time I have mixed feelings about leaving. Not so much this time, Oahu is going to be left behind me. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of great things about living here. The weather is perfect just about all the time, several of the world’s best beaches are here, excellent restaurants, good sushi, shopping Ala Moana (which I can walk to).

There are some really bad things here too. It seems to me that there are less people on the mainland that jump in front of cars, I have it happen almost weekly. The attitude here, in general, is one I just don’t like. There are a lot of great people here, but there are that many more ass holes too. The beaches end up too crowded, which I guess really is the thing with any great beach. I’m not a bog fan of mopeds either, nr am I a big fan of pick ups with large wheels. That is something that I have not been able to figure out, there are people here who have the huge pick ups, when everything is a little smaller.

I recommend Oahu to visit (along with Maui and the Big Island) and I am sympathetic to many of the issues that Hawaiians face, but I don’t want to live here. One year was enough, Cassie and I will stick to the Big Island or Maui from here on out.

Four more days and still counting...

I made a mistake yesterday. Superman opens up tomorrow, and my classes really are not over yet. The man still sucks though.

I just had a finance test, and I blew it hard core, though I think that others blew it too. It was definitely the hardest test that I had to take for this program (Japanese finance). By the end of tonight though I should have all the work done for all the classes which virtually means the end of the classes part of the program, and the start of the vacation time pre-internship. There are only two more classes to finish (External Environment and Japanese Management).

The last few weeks I have been watching a lot of the World Cup and I have to say that I’m really enjoying football (or soccer as us Yankees call it). Many Americans are critical of the sport because it is low scoring, but what I realized is that they really earn each score. Most Americans like our style of football which is okay, but I think it is boring when compared to the world version of football.

I think that there are two reasons that Americans don’t like the sport. First, having a huge football fan base involves becoming more international. This would mean that we would need to pay attention to how the United States team is doing against the rest of the world. In general us Americans don’t like to be international, we like to be Americans. Second, we’re not the best at the sport. People are pissed that we got eliminated from the World cup already. Americans could not stand a sport where we would lose regularly to Brazil, Mexico, or Argentina (let alone France).

So in a sense worldwide football shows some of the worse that America has to offer.

Lex Luthor is cool

This Friday the new superman movie comes out Superman Returns. I am somewhat excited about this movie for two reasons, Brian Singer, and that date corresponds to the last day of classes for my MBA program. As a fan of comic books, sci fi, and general geekdom I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Superman sucks.

I hate superman, I am not very fond of the original movies, the comic books, Superfriends, his fucking dog, or Nicholas Cage. Let me explain something about Superman. Here is a character that is super, meaning he can do anything, beat up anyone, fly, see through woman’s clothing, all of it. Then give him a black and white view of good and evil that doesn’t change. The result is a guy who kicks the ass out of anyone who disagrees with him, is superficial, and a general ass hole. That is what Superman is, an ass hole.

Lex Luthor on the other hand is damn cool. Here is a character that has some depth, has a vision for humanity and wants to overcome obstacles. Mr. Luthor, unlike Superman, has depth. He sees Superman as a limit to what humanity can achieve because Superman is humanity’s crutch. In Luthor’s eye’s Superman solves humanity’s problems and doesn’t give much of a chance for humanity to do so themselves. Is Lex evil? Sort of, he does evil things to achieve his goals but he also does many good things for the same purpose.

I’ll watch Superman eventually. Maybe this weekend. I’ll be rooting for Lex Luthor.

Five more days...

Five more days, this phrase just rolls right off my tongue, but not as good as four more days left… Right now I have less than three weeks left on Oahu then it is time for me to return for a while to Chicago, then I’ll be flying to Japan for my internship. It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year on the island. I;m worn out, broken, but a little wiser.

My car has been sold and taken away. Right now I am driving a 300, the Chrysler that gets about half the gas mileage than my Toyoda SUV. No movie review this week because I spent the weekend studying.

the count down begins... 6 days of class...

Last night we had a dinner with several professors from the program and many of the other students. The Professor in charge of the program, Jack, informed me “In all good ways,” I was the strangest student the program had ever had. I was also called “intelligent,” which is also good. Really though I take it as a complement though, I have maintained my individuality, yadda yadda yadda….

This has been a very busy week, with midterms and finals, and assignments, did I mention that there are 6 days of classes. Hooray. I also sold my car so I don’t need to ship it to the mainland. Also hooray.

I’m going to be in Chicago (and Las Vegas) in a couple weeks afterwards where I plan to drink wine and read books about economics. Don’t you envy me?

The dream is dying

The problem with talking about economics is that it is easily taken out of context. In the United States after tax income for Americans has risen 8% in the Bush years, but one needs to look at that figure. 8% sounds good, but that is because the top earners in the United States are earning enough to raise that figure overall. In the United States that means the poor are getting poorer, the rich richer, and the middle class a little poorer. The middle class is starting to slip at the expense of the rich, and this is starting to have some consequences in the way that Americans think.

Immigration is a huge result of this. The United States has become a place where anyone who wanted to live our lifestyle can come and live (let us not debate what the United States was founded for). This is mostly true, people come here because they believe that hard work creates opportunity, they believe in free speech, free religion, the ability to disagree (and to agree to a lesser extent), have choices, and many others along the same line. What makes many immigrants different than “red-blooded” Americans is that many of them truly believe in these things, while a category of Americans really do not.

What I mean is that there are Americans out there who see these immigrants and see them as outsiders taking things away from them. This is stupid, hard work is what advances people in the United States (there are other variables too like natural ability etc…) but being born an American does not guarantee anyone a better life or the right to dictate who should receive it. This is because as mentioned the American dream is that through hard work one can achieve a better station in life, and the opposite is true too meaning that through no work you achieve a lower station in life. Nowhere does it say that being American grants you anything.

Yes, this is a little unpopular in the United States. First, there are inequalities here. In fact there are many inequalities here but this is the fault of a capitalist system, and partially an effort by the government. The education system in the United States is in shambles, the upper tiers have a much better chance to get an education than other tiers (the Economist reported last week that South Carolina decided to refuse to give money to poor rural schools). This is partially why I think that many immigrants have a leg up when they come to the United States, they were educated better. Second, this is an unpopular view because it disposes of nationalism in favor of increased capitalism. Contrary to popular belief I believe that capitalism has many merits (and more than a few problems) but adhering to capitalism erodes national borders and this is a good thing. The American Dream says that borders don’t really matter, it is hard work. Like I said, this is not exactly true because social mobility is down, but people are attracted to the dream and not the reality.

Double Movie Review

Cassie and I watched two movies this week, Nacho Libre and An Inconvient Truth (opposite ends of the spectrum huh?). Nacho Libre is the next movie by Jared Hess the man who brought Napoleon Dynamite. I am a big fan of Napoleon Dynamite and was looking forward to this movie (also because I’m a big fan of Jack Black). This movie brought me back to think about why ND was a good movie. It is difficult to make a good movie without a plot, like NP, and make it work. What made it a great movie was that it had so many lines that I found myself repeating over and over again. People also can relate to the huge loser in High School who just didn’t get it (by being that loser or seeing him in the hallways). We can also relate to the people in high school who thought they were hot shit. In total we know that high school was marginalized and didn’t matter, some learn this after high school and some way past high school. Ultimately that is what I think NP is about, how little high school matters. NP was in an isolated part of the United States where the people there are even more isolated and generally don’t know what goes on beyond their little worlds, and they don’t care. That is why I think is behind NP that makes it a great movie.

Nacho Libre (Free Nacho) has Mr. Black, but little else. There was one scene that was fucking hilarious, and it wasn’t because of Mr. Black. Jack himself acts like himself and it is old enough where it really isn’t that funny. The strange thing is that I can relate to knowing someone who wanted to become a professional wrestler (you the man Scott) but I could not see anything like that in this movie. Like NP there are a lot of long blank stares in the camera by unusual looking people, but it is not funny here because it is difficult to understand what people are thinking. The wrestling scenes themselves are boring and unfunny and without them there is little else. There were many points in this movie where I thought about leaving and sneaking into Tokyo Drift. This is a bad movie. Mr. Black, it is time to make a movie that can show your acting talent (like Adam Sandler did with Punch Drunk Love) and if this is the only “type” of movie that Mr. Hess can make please stop making movies.

An Inconvenient Truth on the other hand is not a funny movie, but the few jokes that Al Gore (The Goremeister) made got more laughs than Free Nacho. This is a good movie, not a great movie, but a movie that everyone should see. The looming ecological (economic, political, etc…) crisis is an inconvenient truth so the title says it all. The movie is bits of Al Gore’s speech on global warming interlaced with parts of Al Gore’s life. The flow of the movie is great and one can get a sense of why Al Gore went into politics and why he’s so emotional about this issue. There are a few things that I learned but the ultimate end of the movie remains the same. Global warming is a fact, there is no debate, people don’t want to recognize these facts because they are inconvenient, and this selfishness is denying our children a real future. The interlacing of Al Gore’s life works great because we can see how the world has changed and how attitudes have changed about a great deal besides environmentalism. Then we’re left to fit it all together. People have accused Gore of inducing fear, strangely these are the same people who are constantly screaming “terrorists,” “9/11”, and “radical Islam,” but Al Gore never tells the viewer what to think. The facts are presented and the viewer is assumed to be smart enough to come to their own conclusion. This is not one of the best movies of the year, or ever, but it is a movie that everyone should see.

Movie Review The Omen

I like the original Omen, it would be on a list of the top 100 movies of all time. I was a little apprehensive about a remake, this would be the second remake. In this remake there are almost no changes, even most of the camera angles are the same. The acting is better though, the shock scenes like the dream sequences are much better, and the child is creepy as fuck. Yes, I think this may be a better remake but I haven’t decided yet.

This isn’t a true horror movie, but is instead more of a thriller with some horror moments. What made this remake so good is that they didn’t use modern special effect technology to try and improve the story (like having floating and hellfire antichrist) but instead just improve the already existing story. Mia Farrow (from Rosemary’s Baby another awesome movie) does a great job as the nanny to the antichrist. Julia Stiles doesn’t do an awesome performance though, she is a little sub par but does enough to get the effect don. Live Schreiber starts off weak when he is supposed to play the ambitious state department employee, but later on when events are going on around him his performance is much better. Another excellent addition is that there are upside down crosses and pentagrams everywhere in this movie, usually by playing connect the dots and looking at how everyday objects are arranged.

This is a good movie, many people scoffed at doing a remake of the Omen but this one is really good and may be one of the best movies of the year.

Christian Totalritarianism The Biggest Threat to America

Thank the creator that the senate rejected discussion about the amendment to ban homosexual unions. This wasn’t expected to pass anyway, but the Christian totalitarians are making a big push on this issue. Several republicans have announced that homosexual unions are a threat to America. Bill O’Reilly claims that allowing homosexual unions is “part of a trend leading to marriage with goats,” because there is a huge movement to allow marriage with goats. Rick Santorum claimed, “It threatens my marriage. It threatens all marriages.” I agree with this statement, if gay marriage was banned then it decreases the value of marriage because what is the use if two people in love are banned from getting married. Of course there is Mr. Bush (Mr. Pussy) who has been threatened by groups like Focus on the Family and Pat Robertson has decided to back the amendment. Bush claimed marriage is "the most fundamental institution of civilization." It is interesting to think that marriage is more important than inventions like writing, language, and basic tools. The bottom line, if you are for restricting the rights of our own citizens by opposing their right to get married you are a bigot, period.

Die Fat Man Die!!

Roger Ebert did it again. In his review of the Break Up (a movie that I will not review this week out of respect for Vince), he discussed the meeting of the two main characters at Cubs Park. What the Fuck? Roger Ebert, as a citizen of Chicago you should know the most important building in the United States is Wrigley Field where the Cubs play. This is war; I declare war on you Mr. Ebert. I should of done this two weeks ago when you gave a blow job to Tom Hanks and gave the DaVinci Code a thumbs up, I attributed that to what in the medical community call a “brain fart.” I’m calling you out fat man…

No credit card, no problem...

I lost my wallet this week and this has reinforced how good it is that I don’t have a credit card. I have that standard debit card, which I called and cancelled. People find it surprising that I don’t have a credit card but I have found that it is quite easy. I try to buy what I need and want, but if I don’t have money then I just don’t buy it.

There is four more weeks left of the “classes” part of the program, then I’m going to be heading to Chicago for a bit, then Tokyo. Three more classes and the Japanese class are all that I have. This seems like a lot (it would be more than a full grad school load) but I have at time been working on seven classes at the same time. The dust is settling and I have learned something. I see a lot of things in a different way, especially when I am looking on how new products are marketed. I have also been humbled, I thought that this would be easy but this was much harder than the political science masters I got. Having both though is great and I think that I have better insight into some of the issues than the other students that came from a business background.

My blog has been taking a turn to speak out on more foreign policy issues and current events. I believe that there has been a slide in this country towards fascism. My father once told me that I threw that world around too often, not that he was alive during the fight against fascism. Let me point out a few things. First, there has been a definite tightening of “security measures” and intrusion into the private lives of Americans. Second, there is an overwhelming Christian Fundamentalist philosophy behind the actions of our president and his base of supporters. This base has a group of bigots. They also do not care about if what they are doing works or not, but instead want to do what they think is “right”. Third, the Christian totalitarians in this country are pursuing a populist strategy that is too similar to those used by the fascist governments in the 1920s. So yes, this is a little scary and I feel that if I don’t speak out I am doing nothing. After getting out of this program I’m planning to get more involved.