006

So as of this entry I have managed to surpass my professional blog in entries. Even sadder is the fact that I managed to do in about a month what it took me over a year to achieve with that one. Anyhow... what follows is one of the entries that I had been floating through my head during that snow storm a couple weeks ago. Enjoy.

It may just be the uniqueness of my upbringing, but there are just certain aspects of society that I just don't understand.

Before I get too far into this, perhaps I should provide some background to myself. I am the child of mixed parentage who was raised for several years of my life on a number of different Navy bases. As such I was exposed to a number of different cultures and peoples. I was brought up with the ideas that people are all equal regardless of what they look like, what they believe, or who they are attracted to.

I have never really been able to understand how something like slavery could have existed. The idea that people have ever been discriminated against based on sex, appearance or religion just blows my mind.

To the original point, it makes no sense to me that the governments (state and federal) are having such a hard time accepting the idea that some men want to marry men and some women want to marry women. Firstly, it shouldn't be up to the government in the first place as marriage is technically a religious institution. This is why christian's get married in christian churches and jews get married in jewish temples and not variations thereof. I understand that there is the need for the marriage license, but isn't that really just for census purposes anyhow? Secondly are we still so backwards a society that we can't recognize that there is no harm to our precious society if we allow gay people to marry? Maybe it has to do with where I have spent most of my years, but it seems to me that every new person I meet knows at least two or three gay people. Politicians are really only doing themselves a disservice by ignoring what is apparently quite a large segment of society.

Unless of course I am mistaken and it is either much harder to separate one's religious beliefs from your public duties as an elected official. Or maybe I just imagined reading the idea that our forefathers set down and agreed upon about the separation of church and state.

I have no issue with people's beliefs so long as they don't try and force them on other people or impede other people because they happen to disagree. The world would be a much better place if we could all just work together for the common good of the species.

005

I have had a number of things wander through my mind in the time since last I posted. I sadly do not have the time in this moment to properly organize them into anything coherent but perhaps in the coming week I will be able to do so. It had been almost two weeks since my last entry and since I actually intended to keep my updates somewhat more regular this time, I thought I would post some things.

I bought a MacBook Pro as I said I would and I love it. There are so many things I had been planning to do that I can now that I have better equipment and software. Now if only I had a video camera...

I feel that one major issue that led to Orson Welles decline in the cinematic world, in addition to his having peaked too early with "Citizen Kane", was the fact that he was too dedicated to his personal aesthetic. There is nothing wrong with making truly deep, meaningful cinema that forces people to reanalyze their very being... but sometimes one has to pander to the masses. It is fairly well known that he had quite the ego and that probably didn't help matters. I understand these things all too well as I would prefer to make the deeper, more meaningful stories myself... but I also recognize that such stories don't sell nearly as well as the average cookie-cutter blockbuster or romantic-comedy. As the saying goes, "You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs."

That shall have to be all for now.

004

So I have been meaning to be more regular with my updates, but the recent series of snow-tastrophes and ensuing chaos have been keeping me away from the internet. Thankfully I shall be getting a new computer of the mobile variety this week, so it should be a bit harder to keep me from airing random reflections.

I feel like its a bit cliché at this point to bitch about the recent weather, so I will speak my piece and move on. In pictures and through the window the sight of freshly fallen, pristine snow is something absolutely beautiful. Outside of that context however snow is cold, wet and miserable. My opinion on ice is similar, except that ice is also delightful for chilling one's beverage on a hot day.

Speaking of the computer thing.. in a few days I shall be purchasing a MacBook Pro. I know that there are those that think I am wasting my money. I have heard all the arguments for all of the various computers. Once upon a time, I probably would have cared too. I play video games. This should not be news to anyone that knows me. There was a time when I would have strongly preferred a PC. However in recent years I have become much more of a fan of console game, and that really eliminates my main reason for wanting a new PC. After a lot of contemplation over the last several months, I have decided that I want to get into the media development field. Ideally this is the sort of thing that I want to do. I know that Apple no longer really dominates the market for media development, but I am ready for a change of pace. Besides, it isn't as though I intend to get rid of my desktop PC. I intend to keep maintaining it and upgrading it as the need arises. It just won't be my primary machine anymore.

I feel like I am not alone when I say that I am sick and tired of the 3D fad. Every now and again its okay. Every few years for example. However not every single movie that comes out need to be in 3D. Especially as the only thing it achieves is driving up the prices and detracting from the overall movie viewing experience. That aside.. I kind of want a Nintendo 3DS. No glasses and a brand new version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time? Yes please.

Now to end it on a random note:
Companies with commercials that I have recently become overly exposed to and wish would die:
State Farm
Progressive
The General
5-Hour Energy