Yet another placeholder

Hey all, I know I promised that I would post a vlog today, but I realized that I really wanted a second try at recording it (the footage yesterday was, in retrospect, more rushed than I would like).  So I'm about to try recording again at a slower pace with more time for editing.  This means that the video probably won't be loaded until after midnight.  Ergo, placeholder post!

Losing my memory already

So apparently when I linked to Minesweeper the Movie yesterday, it was not the first time I had done so on this blog.  Next thing you know, I'll be forgetting what I ate for breakfast.  Wait...oh right, a bagel.  Anyway, today I'll make up the repeated video with another old classic video suggested to me by Lizzle: The Mantage.

In other news, I've recorded a vlog that I'm not going to be able to post until tomorrow.  I may or may not be going to Toy Story 3 tonight, so time is slightly crunchy right now.  But the good news is that this may be one of the last vlogs I film on my webcam.  I've decided on a camera that I'm going to get from Amazon which should make the video product much better in both audio and video quality.  Not only that, but once I get the camera I'll feel more urgency toward actually getting my video projects done.  Productivity!

Finally, I'm going to link you over to today's Hyperbole and a Half at http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/07/dog.html.   I found it particularly hilarious today for some reason.

All right, time to get things done in the real world now.  GERONIMO!

Change is coming

Some of you may have noticed that this blog has slowed down a bit.  It's not just laziness on my part.  You see,  I've started to set aside some of my better material for my vlog.  I have long intended to start up vlogging again, but life has gotten crazy busy recently, and I just got a roommate a week ago.  As you might guess, having a roommate makes filming a lot harder.  But now, I'm deciding on a camera to buy.  A real camera, not just a webcam.  And I'm going to make things with it.  I've had plans since a month before the school year ended, and they are not going to waste.  The videos are probably going to be much more structured than the blog has been thus far and probably more time consuming.  Therefore the next few weeks before the camera arrives and I fully adjust to it are probably going to be the tail end of the daily posting era.  Quality over quantity, right?

Anyway, boring post is boring.  So to make it a little less sleep-inducing, here's one of my all-time favorite YouTube videos.  Most of you have probably already seen it, but it's still brilliant.

Who are you? What do you want?

Okay, here's the thing.  This post is important to me.  I've spent more time trying to figure out how to best present it than I have with any other blog post.  But I've come up with nothing so far, so I'm just going to be as straightforward as possible.  

Babylon 5 is a damn good show and you should watch it.  

For those of you who have never heard of it, it's a science fiction show from the mid-nineties about a space station which acts as an intergalactic United Nations in the middle of the 23rd century.  WAIT, DON'T STOP READING YET.  I know that for most of you, this probably sounds about as interesting as watching paint dry.  But it's not.  Babylon 5 is a truly epic story.  It is about love, war, telepaths, betrayal, redemption, and many other things that I want to say but can't because it would ruin the show for you.  Best of all, the story was written as a television novel, or five-year miniseries.  The creator, J. Michael Straczynski, had been planning the story for years.  Every apparent loose end and unanswered question created in the first season is resolved and woven back into the story by the end.  In other words, this is a show for those of you who loved Lost or Battlestar Galactica but felt let down by the finales or the general sense that the creators had been making it up as they went along (Note: I love BSG AND the most of the finale, but it was slightly disappointing that the creators had clearly not planned some things out in advance).  

Now, the show isn’t perfect.  I’ll be the first to admit that.  The acting is sometimes questionable and the first season is not that gripping.  The fifth season was also weakened by the un-cancellation of the show.  But don’t let that turn you away.  The first season may be slow, but it is critical to setting up the rest of the series.  The sometimes shoddy acting is compensated for by the lead actors.  And the story is worth all of it.  Seasons 3 and 4 in particular kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time in a way that nothing else ever has.  The finale, which I had high expectations for, didn’t disappoint me.  I sobbed for the last twenty minutes or so at the understated beauty of it.  I can’t remember crying that much for any other work of fiction in my life.  And the character development in the show is subtle but powerful – some of the best I’ve ever seen. 

Like I said, the show has its flaws.  Don’t go in expecting greatness - you will be sorely disappointed.  Let yourself get immersed in the world and then slowly, over time, the greatness will become apparent.  The story unfolds gracefully, the characters evolve, and the ending is beautiful.  

The show in its entirety can be viewed legally at http://www.slashcontrol.com/free-tv-shows/babylon-5.  Alternatively, the first two seasons are available on Hulu.  I find Hulu slightly less frustrating.

If this post has not convinced you to watch Babylon 5, you should think about viewing the write-up about the show at http://aria.dreamwidth.org/82959.html.  Though I love what she has written, I would actually recommend not reading it except as a last resort.  There are some minor spoilers there which I would rather keep new viewers pure of.  You might also notice that my post title and her entry title are almost the same.  That’s because if you want to write about Babylon 5, that’s pretty much the best title there is. 

Now the only thing left for me to do is decide whether to re-watch it now or later.  

Classes for the Masses Part 2: Religious Studies

I'm not a religious person, but I went to a Catholic high school.  I was drawn there by the fantastic general academics the school offered, but I was initially slightly wary of the four-year sequence of required religious classes.  In retrospect, two of those classes have been some of the most important courses I've ever taken, at least in terms of being a member of society.

The class I took in freshman year was an overview of the major modern world religions.  This included, but was not limited to, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.  That class really opened my eyes.  Understanding the major religions of the world is key to understanding the dynamics of the world as a whole.  That may sound hyperbolic, but it really isn't.  Religion can act as a path to peace or to war, and misunderstandings between religious groups tip the balance toward the latter.  This is why I think that everyone should have a basic understanding of world religions.  I firmly believe that if everyone took a class like this, these misunderstandings and their consequences would drop drastically.  The problems wouldn't go away entirely - people are people, after all - but there would be a difference.

The class I took in sophomore year was an in-depth study of the Old Testament.  This is another area of knowledge that I believe everyone should have some experience in.  The Old Testament is a key document for three major world religions - Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.  Because these three religions also happen to have millennia of history of members warring with each other over religious disputes, it is especially important to understand the text that they hold as relatively common ground.  The Old Testament helps to give perspective on many things that happen throughout history up through today because it is so crucial to three religions that have shaped the modern world.

The areas of religious studies are not the only ones that are interesting or useful.  For example, I took a class just last semester which examined the role of bodies in early Christianity which gave me a totally different perspective on the early Church than my high school had.  However, I believe that some basic religious studies knowledge, particularly in the areas outlined above, is important for everyone to have so that communication between members of different religions is effective and so that mutual respect and tolerance is maximized.

Okay, I just looked back on what I wrote and I realized something a little creepy.  This four-paragraph blog post shares some striking similarities with the highly structured four paragraph essays I wrote back in high school.  STOP HAUNTING ME, JANE SCHAFFER AND YOUR BLASTED ESSAY FORMAT.

Classes for the Masses Part 1: Computer Science

I am a student of the sciences, so I could have gone to a science-oriented college and just generally avoided the humanities.  However, I chose a liberal-arts college for a reason.  I believe that the tools for a happy and successful life are scattered throughout many disciplines and subject areas.  Because of this, I'm starting a series of posts on subject that everyone should have some experience in.

First up is computer science.  Admittedly, computer science might seem like a bit of a cop-out for my first post.  I am a scientist, after all, so computer science is something I should be taking anyway.  My major (Molecular Biology, in case you don't read the blurb at the top of the page) doesn't require it, though, which is slightly baffling to me.  Just a few days ago I found my coding skills suddenly necessary for a summer job doing biology research.  What shocked me was that a semester of intro computer science a year ago was sufficient to problem-solve a real data-interpretation problem.

Computer science can be useful in ways other than just sciences, though.  Want to make your own digital Connect Four game?  It's really not that complicated (okay, three hours of coding with some guidance.  But still!).  Need to do a lot of repetitive calculations for something in your everyday life?  Write a simple code and save yourself a lot of time.  Python is a simple, friendly programming language and it's free for download on the internet.  Free.  There is a lot of power just sitting there waiting for you to use it.  Seize the opportunity!  Whether you want to code something useful or something fun, computer science is an invaluable tool in today's world, and you never know when it will suddenly save your butt in a tight situation.  If you're still in college, take a computer science class.  You won't regret it.

How to watch The Last Airbender

1) Check Rotten Tomatoes.  See that the movie has a 7% fresh rating.  Rapidly readjust expectations from Twilight ha-ha bad to Manos the Hands of Fate horrible.  Feel better knowing that you can't be disappointed now.
2) Realize that the whole group of people you're going with is dressing up for the event.  Get a Facebook message telling you which characters have already been taken.  Tear apart your room and Google Images looking  for a way to create a non-taken costume.  Fail miserably.  Figure that if you can't go in character, geek it out.  Put on your science-y M.I.T. shirt and Triforce belt buckle.
3) Watch seven episodes of Avatar: The Abridged Series while you're waiting.
4) Meet up with the group and tell them that you wanted to be Zuko, but couldn't quite pull it off.  Get attacked with eye-scar make-up and put your ponytail a little higher on your head.  Instant costume.  Zuko is now a nerd, but you realize that The Legend of Zelda probably doesn't exist in the Avatar universe.  Remove the belt buckle.
5) Drive to the theater.  Plot with the group about how to kidnap an Aang - a surprising omission in a group of nine costumes.
6) Arrive at the theater.  Get stared at a lot.
7) Watch as the movie begins.  Realize exactly how bad it is when it starts with a badly-written text scroll paired with a badly-acted narration.  Settle in for a bumpy ride.
8) Cringe every time they mispronounce a word or name, which happens at least once a minute.  Console yourself with the fact that you had enough foresight to watch Avatar: The Abridged Series first so that you can transfer some of the mocking humor from that to the horribly dull and unfunny movie in front of you.
9) Continue cringing.
10) Resist throwing things at Katara.  The theater might kick you out.  Actually, that might not be a bad plan...
11) Exit the theater and make fun of the movie with friends.  Discuss how it was a miracle that the movie got a whole 7% on Rotten Tomatoes.
12) Continue complaining and mocking during the car ride home.
13) Fall asleep feeling contented.  You had a good bonding experience over a bad movie.  Victory.