Thursday, October 2, 2008

Proud to be a youth of America

You hear all about it the news today. The problems overseas, how are things different after 9-11, and the relevant political debate over the next president. I had gotten caught up in the mudslinging to realize that the youth of America is more patriotic than ever.

I was at a football game a couple weekends ago. The student section was all riled up and ready for action. The announcer blared that it was time for the National Anthem. As usual, many people took off their hats and moved their hand over their hearts. But there were a few whose hats remained unmoved. Before I could even lean to my right to tell my friend about it, I heard people begin saying loudly, "Hats. Hats. Take off your hats." In that moment I was so moved and proud of the students. Society today has our generation pegged as selfish and uncaring about politics and religion. While our society is certainly more commerce driven, one cannot say we don't care about politics. Right now, during this election, it is the youth that are standing up and insisting their votes should be heard. I can say that I've never been more proud to be a youth in America.

Monday, September 1, 2008

My favorite season of the year

The changing leaves, the crisp breeze, and copious amounts of homework. It can only mean one thing: a new season. And I don't mean fall or autumn. I mean football season.

My two favorite teams are my school (Grand Valley Lakers, whoo) and my Big 10 fave, the MSU Spartans. I know what you're thinking. I'm a spartan fan which means over the last few years I've struggled with the team as we endured bad players, even worse seasons, and the worst coaches. But this past Saturday was the start of the new season and I embraced the return of coach Dantonio and watched what the Spartans would bring to the table.

I wasn't impressed. Sure it was the first game of the season and I knew they would be a little rusty getting back into the groove of things, but wow that wasn't a good game. With the exception of Ringer doing a good running job, I found myself frustrated. Hoyer's throwing was way off par and it shouldn't be. He's a senior and after a few years I figured he would have his throwing game down. Another issue was our defense. We lost Caulcrick this year (the man was a beast) and the defense suffered. They got mowed over time after time, with the exception of a few good stops. Next was the kicking. I had no problems with the kicker. I think he did a phenomenal job but the guy giving the ball is another story. I watched time after time as the ball was thrown too low, which resulted in chaos. My final issue was the refs. Their calls were tilted towards California nearly every time and when they realized they blew a call they made up for it the very next play which wasn't even a violation.

I've finished my competitive ranting and conclude with this: It doesn't matter whether the offense is off, the defense is crumbling, or the refs are crooked; football season will always be my favorite season of the year.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Hopelessly Romantic

I have a confession....I'm a hopeless romantic. It's true. I want a guy to send me flowers, buy me chocolate, snuggle with me on a blanket under the stars and whisper in my ear that he loves me. To me, those things are the epitome of romance. But there's one other out there more hopelessly romantic than me: Hollywood.

I went to a showing of Brideshead Revisited last night with some friends of mine. For those who don't know, Brideshead Revisited is a novel by Evelyn Waugh about the effects of Catholicism on people and their relationships with other people. It is a well written and enjoyable novel. My friends and I commented throughout the movie the different parts that weren't in the book and things that had been exaggerated. I figured the film would be off from the book, but not WAY off. I finally noticed that romance had been majorly exaggerated. (I won't mention between whom so that if anyone should choose to read the novel, it won't be spoiled) This got me thinking about other movies that had added romance for the benefit of the movie-goers.

Now as I said before, I'm a hopeless romantic and I love cheesy romance movies very much, but some movies really don't need it. For example: the amazing film 300. I love this movie. It's bit off historically, however it's well made and to put it frankly, it kicks ass. But, the added romance between King Leonidas and Queen Gorgo seemed out of place. I understand the lingering goodbye and the necklace given to her at the end, but was the black and white sex scene really necessary? As hot as it was, no, it really wasn't needed to add to the film's awesomeness. I can think of several other films that had added romance where there was no place or need of it.

I know I'm not the only one out there waiting for Hollywood to put love on the back burner. When I go to see an ass kicking movie, I don't want a lovey dovey part, I want ass kicking. Otherwise, I wouldn't be seeing this movie. There are plenty of purely romantic movies out there for me to choose. So I simply ask this of Hollywood: I know you're hopelessly romantic, but could you knock it off for a little while?

Friday, August 15, 2008

Is it just me?

Alas, the next Y2K is coming. I never would have thought the end of the world would be coming while I was still alive. It's not the second coming of Jesus, it's not the Apocalypse. It's the conversion from "rabbit ears" to full on cable. *gasp*

Grab your water and canned goods while you still can. And make sure you grab a cable while you're out. I understand that elderly folk still probably have the "ears", but do all the commercials need to make it out like it is seriously the end of world? All the commercials are doing is probably freaking out the older crowd into a frenzy. "Call this number" or "Go to this website". I'm betting anybody with "rabbit ears" probably doesn't know how to work internet. Because if you know your way around the World Wide Web, why haven't you updated your t.v.? Maybe I'm being overly cynical, but really? Does it need to be this exaggerated? Is it just me that finds this all a little insane?