a history of me

Those of you with functional auditory or visual sensory organs are no doubt aware that Pope John Paul II died last week. I'm somewhat ambivalent on the matter in that I'm sorry he got sick and died but I feel no particular grief now that he's gone. It'll only be a few weeks before a new Pope is chosen who will do everything the old pope might have done.

What I'm not OK with is the rush of American politicians (fuck it, neo-con Republicans) to bond the late Pope's opinions with their own political rhetoric, especially their buzzwords du jour "the culture of life." While JPII may have coined that phrase, it doesn't take much analysis to realize that when he said it, he also meant standing against capital punishment and war. Indeed, before he died the JPII was quite vocal in his rebuking of our little Iraqi invasion. Naturally, the ghouls who seek the Papal rub simply ignore these trivial little details and talk over anyone who says otherwise.

What's my point? I'll never ever understand how religious people support these psychos. If I were a cynic I might suggest that deeply religious people are, by definition, easily mislead to blindly following authority no matter how much evidence suggests that their authority figures are not acting in their best interest. But I would never say that.


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God damn it...I can't take this much longer. Today I got an e-mail from the study abroad department (sent out to everybody) informing us that were very few scholarships available. No surprise there, as their academic criteria were way over my head anyway. But then I read this:

I sent out an email earlier today to everyone who was
listed on the KG site as having been accepted by them. If
you didn't get that email from me but you are reading this,
then something may be missing from your file. Please look
at the checklist and make sure that everything that is
supposed to be there has been sent.

Since I didn't get that e-mail, the e-mail I've been waiting for desperately, I went into full panic mode. Fortunately I was checking my e-mail on campus so I could run directly to the Study Abroad office. I got there and asked what might be missing from my file as I was confident I had given them everything. They told me they had received everything and they sent it out with everyone else's paperwork. For whatever reason, my name is on Kansai Gaidai's list of applicants but there is no checkmark next to "complete application" or "incomplete application." The people at Study Abroad didn't know what to think so I've just got to wait and see what this means.

FUCKING CHRIST! Why am I always the anomaly? Why doesn't my situation ever just play out like everyone else's? How much longer do I have to wonder where I'm going to school in four months? The entire student body is registering for fall classes and signing up for housing right now. If I'm not going to Japan, I need to know. Now.

I'm a fucking mess right now. I have no choice but to eat more food.

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I finished my review of Sin City, hope you enjoy it. And please, see the film. Sure, it was number one at the box office this weekend, but for a "narrowcast" film like this, every dollar counts. Spend $10 and vote for artistic freedom, unless you can't wait for Shrek IV.

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Overheard in New York: A collection of totally random things people have, well, overheard in New York. Yes, they accept submissions. And no, they don't censor shit.

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I almost didn't notice but a quick check of the archives shows that this blog turned one year old on Friday. Hooray for me. I sincerely hope I can make it to five years which is how long I've reserved the rights to my domain name.

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Friday afternoon I went to see the new film Sin City based on the gritty graphic novels. You may recall I read a number of the books last summer and greatly enjoyed them. The good news is the movie is great and very faithful to the source material. You can see side-by-side comparisons here. Please note that while the images shown won't "ruin" the movie, it will reveal some elements of the story prematurely.

What amazes me about Sin City is that it may be the most faithful adaptation of anything ever made into a big budget movie. I've decided to write a review for that reason. I also decided to see the movie yesterday for the second time. When thoughts are completed, I'll put my review in the writing section.

The bad news of the day is one of the movie theaters closed in the mall, the Regal 12. Sure, the other theater (the Regal 18) has more screens and better seating, but more screens always means more options. Case in point: a few weeks ago I saw Ong-bak at the 12, a film which had a very narrow release. Now that it's gone, I might very well miss out on future underground, independent or foreign films. Hopefully someone will move in to the space and provide cinematic alternatives. It's not like they took the seats out when they closed.

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