Married Life

The best movie I've seen in a long time. I'll elaborate on why later. I HIGHLY recommended it.

The Trailer:


Chice

SOTW: 3/31-4/6

Song of the Week: "Strange Times" by The Black Keys (from the album Attack & Release)

Chice

Twist &...Scream

Chice

Literature vs. History: Part 2

The following is a continuation of my earlier post Literature vs. History: Part 1...

But what can you really learn from history? The old me would have raised his handsome eyebrows and said, "um...nothing!". There's a good reason for this. History is usually taught (at least in the classroom setting) in a horrid and boring way, reduced to mere names and dates. Why wouldn't you hate history when it's taught on a piece of paper (and nowhere else) like that? And it is taught like that by about 99.9% of teachers (at least at pre-university levels). The number of history teachers out there that shouldn't be in their respected profession is staggering.

But what can it really teach you? Can learning endless things about men who lived hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago teach you anything about our existence today? Does it contain any gateways to a greater understanding of the world around us? It turns out, absolutely.

So can it teach you anything? Can learning something about men and women who lives hundreds (if not thousands) of years ago teach you anything about life today? Does history really contain any gateways to a greater understanding of the world around us? Recently I've discovered that yes, it does.

The first time history taught me something valuable was my Junior year of high school. I had just read a couple of dystopian novels in my British Literature class (Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's 1984). As you can imagine, I had a great deal on my mind about the future and possible ways things could go wrong, and then congress (of course through pressure from President Bush) passed another national security law to "make the country safer". I remember this specific one had something to do with torture, and I started to actually get nervous about America and our safety (not from terrorists but from out own government). Throughout the rest of the year however, I learned about countless times in our history when various president's have urged congress to pass laws restricting various civil liberties during wartime. In fact, the measures passed by congress in the War on Terror this time around were nothing compared to many laws passed by several former presidents. (Alien and Sedition Laws to cite one example. Can you imagine what it would be like if President Bush tried to get congress to pass those today? It could never happen-we'd all be in prison.) I immediately calmed down: I had been relying on the dystopian futures in a couple of novels without knowing any of the history surrounding this kind of issue. This doesn't justify the passing of these laws, but it does calm one down. It's not the end of the world.

(I have to run. Conclusion to follow (soon) in Part 3...)

Chice

DS: Obama & Race in America

Video 1:


Video 2:


Chice

DC v. Heller

A lot of cool stuff has been going down at the Supreme Court these last couple weeks. This week there was yet another Gitmo oral argument, and a major foreign law/state's rights case came down (Medellin v. Texas). These are really awesome cases and you don't have to be a lawyer or an expert or anything to understand them and their importance.

Last week saw oral arguments in DC v. Heller, possibly the most controversial case this term (with the possible exception of the Gitmo cases). This is the case involving the 2nd amendment. Here's a description of the facts surrounding the case:

For the first time in seventy years, the Court will hear a case regarding the central meaning of the Second Amendment and its relation to gun control laws. After the District of Columbia passed legislation barring the registration of handguns, requiring licenses for all pistols, and mandating that all legal firearms must be kept unloaded and disassembled or trigger locked, a group of private gun-owners brought suit claiming the laws violated their Second Amendment right to bear arms. The federal trial court in Washington D.C. refused to grant the plaintiffs relief, holding that the Second Amendment applies only to militias, such as the National Guard, and not to private gun ownership. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit disagreed, voting two to one that the Second Amendment does in fact protect private gun owners such as plaintiffs. Petitioners agree with the trial court's decision that the Second Amendment applies only to militias, and further argue that (a) the Second Amendment should not apply to D.C. because it is a federal enclave rather than a state, and (b) that the D.C. legislation merely regulates, rather than prohibits, gun ownership. Respondents, although disagreeing on the merits, have also urged the Court to review the case in order to clearly define the relationship between federal gun control laws and the Second Amendment.

How profound: nine people trying to take words from another world (a world now over two hundred years old) and apply them now in a practical and faithful way. If you get a chance, I highly recommend listening to the oral argument. It'll be great to see where they come down on this one...

Oral Argument

Chice

Run! PMS!

I'm kinda sick today, so not much to share. This will make you laugh though...


Chice

Fuck You, Starbucks!

I had an interesting night. My dad and I are visiting colleges, and after eating dinner out we were looking around for a nice place to have some dessert. We found this awesome teahouse, but we didn't find a lot of good dessert inside and initially decided to just head across the street to Dairy Queen. But as I was leaving said teahouse, I turned around and looked at what I was passing up. It was a really chill, relaxing place. There weren't too many people inside, and they probably needed as much business as they could get. Not to mention, it was a tight place!! And we were leaving it behind for what? Something sweet. Something sweet from Dairy Queen, one of this country's most successful chains in the food industry. Who was in more need of our support: this awesome little teahouse or Dairy Queen? And what would we really get out of going to this huge chain? Not much.

I realized as I was starring back into that teahouse that at DQ my dad and I would be buying just a couple blizzards, but we would be giving them more than just our money in return. We'd be giving them our souls. And so without a moment's hesitation I marched right back into that wonderful little teahouse and bought an excellent Chai Tea. (Fantastic, by the way.)

Was I any less happy for supporting the little guy? Would I have gotten anything more from the big chain, from the man? Of course not. In fact, I was more happy in that little teahouse knowing I'd done a good thing.

Imagine how great this country would be if we all did this more. Imagine how great this country would be if we all did this all the time. Instead of going to the big businesses that don't need more money anyway, go to the little guy! Slap the man in the face! Everyone will be better of, both you and them. And so I'd just like to wrap things up by saying piss off McDonalds! Screw yourself Dairy Queen! And (the worst of them all) fuck you, Starbucks!
Chice

Real Emotional Trash

I highly recommend Stephen Malkmus's new album, Real Emotional Trash. It's a bit odd and mediocre at times, but it's strangeness falls on very welcome ears with me. I'm becoming increasingly impatient with run of the mill rock songs. Music that a few years ago for me would have been the best thing are now boring and unsatisfying, and this album isn't either of those.

Francis Bacon once said, "The job of an artist is always to deepen the mystery". I'm inclined to agree with him. It should be the job of not just artists but all of us to deepen the mystery, to do the different thing, to stray from the path.

If you're curious (because I'm sure you are), my top three from the album: "Dragonfly Pie", "Baltimore", and "Wicked Wanda".

A cool cat, this guy is. He was the voice for Cate Blanchett during musical numbers in last year's I'm Not There, both of which were excellent covers: "Maggie's Farm" (pretty good) and "Ballad of a Thin Man" (amazing).

Chice

Literature vs. History: Part 1

Hello Everyone,

I've been thinking a lot lately about the difference between, and the relative merits of, English and History (can you tell I'm a student?). That is to say, literature and history. I'm a lover of both, and I go through phases where I consider one or the other to be more important or more philosophically valuable, but ultimately I just can't decide. Which holds more truth? Which is the more philosophical? Which is more worthy of study and consideration? Literature or history?

If you would have asked me this question any time within the last few years, I wouldn't have hesitated to blurt out, "Uh, literature!", before laughing at you. I spent a great deal of my time (at least I intended to) reading the great works of fiction my various fine English classes had to offer, and frankly considered history to be irrelevant, stupid, and a huge bore. Where else but literature can you learn about Happiness and Ignorance than from Huxley's Brave New World? Where else can you learn about the paradox of civilization than from Conrad's Heart of Darkness? And what of Camus and his mediations on Existence and the Absurd with The Stranger (my favorite novel)? "You can't learn about any of these truths from history!" "Don't be an idiot!" This is what I would have said to you (or at least thought about you).

But then I remembered something that is seemingly obvious (but often forgotten) about literature: it's bullshit. That's to say, it's a lie. You can say a lot about literature, some of which is debatable and some not, but we can all agree on this: literature is nothing but lies. It's all made up. Now, the obvious next thought is that literature is a compilation of lies aiming for the truth. An author's intent is of course not to lie to you (the reader) but instead to convey some kind of truth or message through lies. But the word "truth" can be tricky: after all, any "truth" being portrayed in a work of literature isn't the truth, just a truth (more specifically, the author's truth). And that is all that can be truthfully be said about literature. I think people often lose sight of this fact, and take what they read for some kind of universal truth. It of course isn't and can't be such a thing-it's just one asshole's opinion. In fact, this asshole's (excuse me, author's) opinion or truth isn't even as noble or pure as that, because the mere fact that he or she is taking the time to write a novel to convey such a truth obviously means they're attempting to convince those who read it of that truth! What if this truth is of political nature, or what if this truth is some other kind of propaganda? This muddies the waters even more, does it not?

Everything I've just said it quite obvious, but it is also not often forgotten? When you pick up a novel, you're not picking up a gateway into any greater understanding of the world, but merely one person's attempts to convince you of what they'd call (in the best of times) a greater truth. None of this is to say that you can't learn from literature. This all is merely a warning and a reminder to think about what you're reading, and to think hard about what you're reading because you are reading a lie, and a lie about a world that doesn't exist (but a lie hoping to measure up to a world that does).

More to follow in Part 2...

Chice

Welcome?

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to Chice Blog! Not sure quite what this is going to be yet, but the description kind of says it all: Art, Philosophy, Politics, Life. Rest assured, all my posts will have something to do with one of these four things. I promise!

I'm relatively musically obsessed, and so I know that one of the things this blog will include is a song of the week. I hope to always feature something good and new (or at least one of them). And so there that is.

Song of the Week: "Dragonfly Pie" by Stephen Malkmus

Chice