New Job! (and yes, I still watch the news)

Yeah, there have been several world events that I thought about posting about: warrant-less wiretapping, Arial Sharon, Hamas, Alito, the fall of Tom Delay, Iranian nuclear program, ExxonMobil’s insane profits, UPN/WB merger, Brokeback Mountain, etc I haven’t been able to because my current job will ending in March, and I’ve been looking for a job. As a result, starting next Monday, I will be a mentor/semi-counselor for adolescents with behavior, emotional, and mental problems. I’ll be doing this in addition to the current coding job, and when that jobs ends, I’ll probably find some inconsequential retail job. Here I am, getting another wonderful grad-school application booster and a great opportunity for real-world experience, woohoo.

However, to compensate for my lack of (blogging) attention to world events, and in the interest of my two cents, here you go:

Did anyone learn anything from the Alito hearings besides Mrs. Alito's tearducts work? I want my tax money back.

The Palestinians feel that Israel took their land, and the Palestinians want that land back. Hamas basically purports that they will do anything to get said land back. Thus, the Palestinians voted for Hamas to get their land back. It’s very “A plus B equals C”, and this is one damn scary reality we’re left with.

Brokeback Mountain is a study in the human condition—a variation on the “two-starcrossed lovers,” with a protagonist clutching the emotional reticence that society taught him. This movie would work if it was about a man and woman, and that’s the best reason to see it—in the end, it’s a good movie about people.

The NSA may wiretap someone’s phone, and either get a warrant beforehand, or 72 hours after the phone in tapped. I don’t understand how getting a 3 day retroactive warrant can hinder the NSA from getting the intelligence as soon as they feel they need it. I never want to see this country attacked again, but I also want to make sure someone keeps an eye on the people who keep an eye on us, i want my civil liberties intact, and prevent the downward spirial towards Big Brother. I love this country, and I want to make sure it doesn't lose sight of its ideals. Get a freaking warrant people, it doesn't take much, you know where the office is, you can send the Undersecretary of Paperclips if you want.

If you’ll excuse me, the President’s State of the Union is over, and while I had no interest in sitting through the hour-long speech out of fear of the possible coma it would induce (because no one can deliver an invigorating State of the Union, admit it), I care enough to get a recap of the speech. So, let’s see what you said W.

wallets

So, last night, after leaving a party, I felt a little rumbling in my tummy and declared that I wanted some fries. So at 1:30 a.m. I drove to Wendy's with my friends Jon and Britt. We used the drive-thru, paid, got our food, quickly consumed said food, and continued with our night.

Now, fast-forward to 11:30 this morning when I get a call from Jon. He was wondering if his wallet was in my car. I went to check, and indeed his wallet is there. Oops. So, I had to drive back to Raleigh to deliver the wallet; because, ya know, Jon may want his driver's license, credit cards, money, et cetera.

As I was heading to Jon's house, he told me that Britt was also looking for his wallet. Could Britt's wallet be in my car? I turned around to the back seat where Britt was sitting, and yep, there's a black wallet in my back seat.

Two wallets...left in my car...on a Wendy's run. I couldn't help but laugh.

The O.C.: An Orange pile of CRAP

Back in 2003, the world was taken aback by the phenomenon known as The O.C. During this era, you could walk into almost any college dorm room and hear gasps, laughs, and plot predictions from O.C. viewers. And what a viewership: gay, straight, male, female, fratty, independent, we all loved The O.C. It was more clever than 90210, had more drama than Dawson’s Creek, almost as witty as Buffy, better drawn characters than Melrose Place—it was pure magic on your TV screen.

Then something happened—The O.C. started to suck, and suck hard.

It began when the show started to no longer be about the unique world that is Orange County. Marissa used to be the most popular girl in high school, Summer was her number 2, and when not attending their urbane, beachfront high school, they attended extravagant yet sordid parties. These parties were a world that the dorky, friendless Seth was not part of, nevertheless, he continued to pine over the unreachable and popular Summer. He was hindered from ever realizing Summer’s affection due the social hierarchy that ruled both the school and county. Three seasons later, that hierarchy has been forgotten, the parties no longer happen, and Summer and Marissa exclusively associate with Ryan and Seth (come on writers, you can’t be popular when you only have three people you ever associate with, one of whom you are dating).

Similarly, The O.C. circa first season was sprinkled with the adults gossiping, backstabbing, embezzling, and committing adultery. Now, the adults serve as little more than backdrop for Ryan, Marissa, Seth and Summer to interact with. Even the adult-centered plots seem like mere intermissions between involvements in the four teens’ lives. This isn’t a show about the idiosyncrasies of Orange County; it’s a show about a cast of one-dimensional characters who revolve around the four principals

Not only do these one-dimensional characters exist merely in orbit of Ryan, Marissa, Seth and Summer, their orbit is so weak that they are all at risk of being jettisoned out of the O.C. universe. There was Luke, who once hated Ryan, then accepted Ryan and Marissa as a couple, then crashed his car, then moved to Oregon with his gay dad. There was Lindsay, who didn’t respect Ryan’s worthiness of being born, then fell in love with Ryan, then found out that she was Kirsten’s half-sister, navigated the tightrope of dating your half-sister’s stepson, then moved to Chicago with her birth mom. There was Anna, who was funny, smart, quirky, and an all around perfect match for Seth, but Seth will always love Summer, and instead of keeping this awesome character around to continue to spice up The O.C., Anna got shipped off. For a while there, the writers even forgot that Marissa had a little sister, but rest assured, once Kaitlin’s storyline is resolved, she’ll be gone—I give it four episodes, tops.

Why only four episodes? Well, because that’s what The O.C. does: creates a complex, almost convoluted storyline that has promise to create oodles of drama, only to be resolved in two to four episodes. Back in the good ol’ days of Season One (when the writers cared about the plots), Ryan was the only one who saw through the nice guy façade of Oliver, seeing instead Oliver’s true nature as a Marissa-obsessed, compulsively lying, NRA card-carrying, psychotic freak. It took half a season before anyone else caught on to Oliver’s craziness, and in the mean-time, Ryan came off as a jerk. Due to dramtic irony, we—the viewers—knew that Ryan was right to not trust Oliver, and as such, we were on the edge of our seats as the drama unfolded.

Now jump to last season finale: Marissa had just shot Ryan’s brother as he was about to pummel Ryan! Wow--would the brother survive, would Marissa go to jail? We got the answers in the next season premiere, and they were “yes” and “no” respectively. The entire storyline was resolved IN ONE FREAKING EPISODE. Also, there was an evil Dean of Students who expelled Ryan and Marissa, but after a pretty weak blackmailing by Sandy, left The O.C. four episodes after he came. Remember when Marissa was a lesbian for a while? No? Not surprising. I could go on, but you get the picture.

Even with the plotlines being cut so short, they are far too predicable. When Marissa had to go to public school (because, my God, NO ONE should be sent through THAT torture), and she was befriended by Johnny and his clique, it was so clear what was going to happen. There would be a spark between Marissa and Johnny, Ryan would get jealous but trust his girlfriend, Marissa would try to resist Johnny’s expression of love, Ryan will clandestinely see Marissa and Johnny getting physically close, blah blah blah, BORING.

This show has become utter crap, its noxious fumes radiate from my TV, I can no longer watch the beauty and talent of Adam Brody be so heinously misused, I can no longer witness Marissa try to express feelings beyond her body’s hunger pains (seriously, I think Mischa Barton weighs less than the box of Triscits that she’s not eating).

It’s done, over, The O.C. is dead to me. Please excuse me as I watch Battlestar Galactica.

Out of touch

I consider myself to be pretty much on top of what’s going on in the world. For example, I can hold conversations about wiretapping, the Iranian nuclear program, the current state of the mental health field, the weaken General Motors, and illegal immigration. I even know that the North Star is actually three separate stars.

So HOW THE HELL did I not know that Jamie Foxx had an R&B album?



God, I’m out of touch.

Dang, that is a sweet sidewalk you might say

Do you love The End of the World? Well, someone decided to do a sidewalk chalk sideshow of the greatest flash animation known to man. I would pity these people, but it's far too awesome.

http://www.dbrodie.photosite.com/endoftheworld/

Are you ready for some football?

MY GOD. I thought the Penn State/FSU game was intense, but my palms are still stinging after the torrent of clapping I did as Texas just clinched The Rose Bowl against Southern California. Final score 41-38. It’s so good to see the fake “USC” go down…who’s number 1 now?

Much props to Frosty, Nick (Skippy), Nate, the boys upstairs, and anyone else who helped me appreciate the greatness of football. It is because of you that I am in such a jubilant mood right now.

And I have the NFL playoffs to look forward to...nice.

It'll always be USC and Carolina to me

There are some things that I have noticed are different outside of South Carolina. For one, Strom Thurmond is even more of a joke. You also realize how beautifully simple yet awesome the palmetto and crescent moon is compared to every other state’s flag. For some reason, state and US highways are not given names in the Triangle, but rather are referred to by their numerical designation, which can make driving a little confusing. Indeed, I spend considerable time on highways 1, 54, 55, 15-501, 751, 147, and so on. Columbia peeps, did you even know that Two Notch Road is actually US HWY 1?

But the biggest difference is the USC/Carolina conflict. If you’re not from South Carolina, or have not spent considerable time there, you may not realize that the University of South Carolina at Columbia is called both USC and Carolina. Outside of the state, these names refer to University of Southern California and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill respectively.

This fact is difficult for a South Carolinian to accept, or even come to realize. When I was younger, I was so impressed and proud that Zack, Jesse, and the rest of the Saved by the Bell crew were considering going to “USC” for college. It was some years later when I realized that the Baysiders had no intention of moving to South Carolina.

So, now what does a South Carolinian do when he wants to refer to his Fighting Gamecocks? Well, let’s see; the University of South Carolina was founded in 1801, California did not become a state until 1850, and their university was not founded until 1880. In my opinion, the school that was created first should be referred to by the USC acronym—we were “USC” first. You may call the other school “Southern California,” “SC,” or freaking “So-Cal.”

Now, I concede that for the rest of the world, Carolina means UNC, especially in basketball. I also note that UNC was founded first, and their athletics are more prominent. But I’m sorry; my brain just doesn’t allow me to freely say “Carolina” in reference to UNC—the neurons just won’t fire.

So, I fully admit that outside of South Carolina, I may not be the norm, but for me and the state's other 4,200,000+ citizens, USC and Carolina refer to the same school and you non-South Carolinians will just have to deal with it.

I just noticed that I included a number of wikipedia links in this post. For variety, and since I mentioned Saved by the Bell, I just wanted to remind you how excited Jesse was…until she was so scared.