I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes between mythical creatures. (nueve)

A little note: I am Christian, hokay? In addition, here there be spoilers.

Fiction: the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, esp. in prose form.

To make a long story short, something that is fictional is untrue, at least partially.

I digress, but that little piece of information will be relevant in just a bit.

As many people have become aware, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series has come under fire from several Christian groups. These groups claim that the series has strong anti-God messages. They even offer evidence from the author's mouth. The author claims that he wrote the books about killing God. However, however the author meant the books to be interpretted, the fact remains that the series is fictional. If a fictional series is enough to shake a person's faith, then perhaps it is not the books at fault, but the "Christian" himself.

Again, I digress.

Pullman had this to say about his books promoting atheism, "As for the atheism, it doesn’t matter to me whether people believe in God or not, so I’m not promoting anything of that sort. What I do care about is whether people are cruel or whether they’re kind, whether they act for democracy or for tyranny, whether they believe in open-minded enquiry or in shutting the freedom of thought and expression. Good things have been done in the name of religion, and so have bad things; and both good things and bad things have been done with no religion at all. What I care about is the good, wherever it comes from." What does this lengthy quote mean? It means simply that Philip Pullman's goal in writing His Dark Materials was to write a story. It is true that he may have allowed his own beliefs to influence his work, but is this so strange? What if Pullman was a Chrsitian who said that his books were about praising God? Would he have come under fire then? Of course not.

After having reading the series and the Pullman interview, I have discovered a few serious flaws in the anti-God argument. Firstly, the concept of God in the series is actually called the Authority. The Authority, in this series, actually turns out to be an angel, not God himself. Therefore, the entity that the protagonists wind up destroying turns out to be a false God, something that Christian groups should celebrate. Also, the Church in the series represents not Christianity, but an oppressive force that drives all of life. The novel represents the destruction of dogmatism, not necessarily Christianity itself.

Why do Christians insist on persecuting fictional works? The answer to this may be uncertain, but Pullman's novels, as well as several other fictional works, do not deserve the persecution.

We Don't Need an Intervention! (Ocho)

The United States, for most of its history, has held fast to a policy of isolationism. The people of the U.S.A. believed that it was better to be isolated than to be involved in worldly affairs that they felt did not concern them. For example, Woodrow Wilson was reelected after promising to keep the United States out of World War I. Even after World War I, which was arguably the biggest intervention that the United States had ever gotten involved in, America shortly returned to its biggest foreign policy. After the Allied victory in World War II, however, the U.S. began to drift again from isolationism. In revent history, the United States has invaded countries such as Vietnam and Korea, attempting to help but ultimately making things worse for the people that they were trying to assist. For this reason, several foreign countries have begun to harbor resentment for the United States. It would be in the best interest of America to return to its forgotten policy of militaristic isolationism because of the negative reputation that it has begun to earn for itself.

The United States has earned the hatred of several foreign countries because of its constant interventions, but Switzerland is the exact opposite. Switzerland lies in the heart of Europe, surrounded by countries that have fought one another several times. Switzerland shares a border with both France and Germany, two countries that opposed each other during both World Wars. However, by claiming neutrality, Switzerland has managed to keep itself out of World War I, World War II, and all other wars since 1815. by isolating itself from foreign military affairs, Switzerland has not had to spend extra money rebuilding its country after war. Switzerland doesn’t interfere with other countries, and other countries do not interfere with Switzerland. If Switzerland can earn respect as a peaceful, neutral nation, why is it so difficult for the United States to do the same?

The United States has already proved that constant intervention is not the best foreign policy. The Vietnam War is a good example of this. The U.S. believed that it could help the democratic nation of South Vietnam, but after a long time of bloody fighting, the United States withdrew, causing the divided Vietnam to unite under a communist nation. During the war, the United States was responsible for thousands of civilian deaths. Had the United States never intervened in this civil war, thousands of lives would have been saved. The same was true of the Korean Conflict. While it is true that the United States should maintain a healthy trade relationship with other nations, it is unnecessary for it to become involved in conflicts that that are not its own. Unless directly attacked, the United States has no reason to start conflicts with anyone.
Militaristic isolationism is easily the best answer for the United States. By following Switzerland’s example of non-intervention, the United States can avoid making new enemies for itself. After all, having no relations with other countries is far better than having bad relations.

Fantastical (Siete)

In today’s world, an influx of technology has made it possible to do virtually anything at the click of a button. People have become accustomed to moving fast to keep up with a fast paced world. Those who can’t keep up are left behind. Jack Johnson’s “Inaudible Melodies” attempts to get people to slow down and enjoy their lives. The purpose behind Johnson’s song is to persuade fast-moving people to take their time and slow down. Johnson urges his audience to slow down and think for themselves, using vibrant imagery and a mellow attitude to make his song more appealing to them.

Something that is considered brushfire is small in scope or importance. A fairytale, by contrast, is extremely fantastical and large in scale. By pairing the two words in an oxymoron, Jack Johnson shows the way everyday people feel about everyday life. People seem to feel that day-to-day life is mundane and unimportant, but Johnson believes it to be something more: an experience to be enjoyed. By starting off the song in this way, Jack Johnson sums up his entire message in a single line.

The chorus of “Inaudible Melodies” is, “Slow down everyone, you’re moving too fast. Frames can’t catch you when you’re moving like that.” Photographs are used to preserve hours of memories into a single frame. If the subject in a picture is moving, the picture will not come out properly. By using the metaphor, “frames can’t catch you when you’re moving like that,” Jack Johnson equates frames to memories. By moving quickly through life, people lose the opportunity to make memories with others.

Another point that Johnson stresses is that people have become too reliant on both their wants and what other people think. Johnson’s use of the phrase, “solar powered plastic plants,” describe, once again, his audience, people driven by their wants rather than their needs. Plastic plants do not need sunlight to survive, yet Johnson describes them as “solar powered.” In addition, he points out that people only believe what they see; they can’t think for themselves. Johnson first says this by saying, “Well dust off your thinking caps.” The buildup of dust suggests that the thinking caps have not been used in a while. In other words, people have stopped thinking. Later in the song, Johnson says, “I wish they could believe in all the things that never made the screen.” By saying this, he expresses his belief that there are far too many people who only believe the things that they say on the news and on television. To Jackson, these people are living a brushfire fairytale. They only give import to the things they see in movies. Because of this, they fail to realize the fantastical majesty that the real world offers.

Although his song is mellow and relaxed, Jack Johnson’s purpose is important. In fact, the mellow tone helps his argument. Through this song, he shows people the correct way to live. People should relax and view life to be a little more important. People should stop focusing on the brushfire, instead expanding their thoughts to include the entire fairytale. Most people, upon listening to this song, would have to agree; with life as short as it is, what’s the point in racing through it? People should slow down and take the time to make memories. It is more important to focus on the fairytale than the brushfire.

64 Degrees and Cloudy (Seis)

Note: I used the uncut version of the video when I was doing this...that's why some things differ a tiny bit. Please don't kill me for it.

In today’s world, it has become commonplace to hear of violence in schools. Schools are supposed to be havens for learning; instead, it is not uncommon to hear of a student bringing a weapon to school to kill others as well as to take his own life. Most can only look at that student with hatred; it is rare for someone to examine the reasons behind the actions. Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” attempts to do just this. The speaker in “Jeremy”reminisces on Jeremy's life, placing the blame for Jeremy's murder/suicide on Jeremy's parents and himself.

The video begins by phrases such as “3:30 in the afternoon,” and “64 degrees and cloudy.” 3:30 in the afternoon is around the time that students leave school. 64 degrees and cloudy describes the weather, which is cool and pleasant. Then, the lyrics begin by painting a picture of Jeremy’s feelings. “With him on top lemon yellow sun, arms raised in a V,” describes Jeremy’s sense of victory over all of those who hurt him, who “lay in pools of maroon below.” He is alone on top of the sun, showing that he feels alone in his life. His parents aren’t there for him; they don’t care about the things he did, and, perhaps to Jeremy, this means that they don’t care whether he lives or dies.

The song continues by switching to Jeremy’s life at school. The speaker describes teasing Jeremy, believing the child to be harmless. “Ohh, but we unleashed a lion.” This describes the surprise the speaker felt as Jeremy hit him in the jaw. “My jaw left hurtin’…ohh dropped wide open just like the day…oh, just like the day I heard.” This further explains the speaker’s surprise, this time at Jeremy’s final action that hurt a lot more people than just the speaker. The speaker believes that what Jeremy did was partially his fault; he believed that him teasing Jeremy, as well as Jeremy’s parents not being there for him, indirectly caused Jeremy to snap.

One of the most repeated lines in the song is “Jeremy spoke in class today.” This phrase does not refer to the fact that Jeremy, shown in the rest of the song to be a fairly isolated child, answered a question. Instead, the line refers to the fact that Jeremy’s actions spoke louder than any words he could have said; Jeremy killed his classmates and himself, shown in the video through newspaper clippings of school shootings as well as Jeremy placing a gun in his mouth. The speaker, after hearing about what Jeremy did, was remorseful. “Try to forget this….try to erase this,” shows that the speaker tried to forget about Jeremy. He tried to forget not only what Jeremy had done, but also what he himself had done to Jeremy. He tried to erase it from his memory so that he could forgive himself for it.

The video ends by showing the phrases “3:30 in the afternoon,” and “64 degrees and cloudy.” This shows that, although the speaker remembers Jeremy and believes that what he did was an antecedent to Jeremy’s actions, the rest of the world does not remember. To everyone else, life carries on. Jeremy’s speech means nothing to those who did not witness it, and if the world does not remember, will it ever really end?

“None of those freaky Virgos here." (Cinco)

I must admit that I was not excited to sit and write this particular blog. To evaluate yourself is not an easy task. It's easy to come off as arrogant, and it's also easy to come off as self-loathing. Hopefully I can strike a balance between the two.

Alright now.

Lets start with strengths. I think I have a decent vocabulary, and I think I'm pretty good at making things cohesive. I can take a subject about which I know nothing and make it sound like I know what I'm talking about. Also, I'm a stickler for grammar. Of course, my weaknesses, in my opinion, far outweigh the strengths.

One of my biggest problems is that when I sit down to proofread, I wind up changing everything. Because of that, sometimes things don't flow as well as they should, because sometimes I add things and sometimes I subtract things and things just don't flow. A lot of times, I tend to leave out words or even entire words without noticing, causing my readers to scratch their heads and wonder what the heck I'm talking about. Unfortunately, it's rather common for me to do that. Add that to the fact that I really hate proofreading and that I hardly ever do it, and you can have a big mess on your hands. Another thing I tend to do is that when I feel very dispassionate about a topic, I put it off until the very last minute and throw words together. When I start to get to the end of my essays and even my short stories, I tend to rush things out of pure boredom. Even if it's something that I really like writing about, I'm always ready for something new. That hurts the cohesiveness a lot.

How do I improve things? The only thing I can think of is to practice. I don't really have a problem with that; I love to write. It would probably help to get someone else to proofread for me sometimes. That way they will catch some things that I miss. I suppose I should also spend more time proofreading and spend more time actually writing. By spacing things out, I think I can prevent a lot of the boredom that I have become victim to, and hopefully I can improve the way that I write.

Side note: I wasn't so into this blog...only 402 words.

"I am Switzerland." (Cuatro)

How exactly does one locate an intelligent person? Is it that kid in the back who wears the dorky glasses and never wears a shirt without a pocket protector? On the surface, it may appear so. But to truly understand how to locate an intelligent person, perhaps it would be judicious to define intelligence.

My favorite definition for intelligence is: the capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc. That's a complicated definition, you might tell me, and, in some respects, you might be right. Many might say that an intelligent person is someone who knows a lot of facts. Maybe an intelligent person uses a lot of big words or maybe an intelligent person does vector calculus just for fun (I'll give you a cookie if you get that reference). Indeed, one definition of intelligent is: having understanding or knowledge. But to me, intelligence is a bit more than just facts.

To me, an intelligent person may not know a lot of pieces of random trivia, although many intelligent people may. A truly intelligent person might not be able to do long division in his head or use big words solely for the purpose of confusing his or her audience. An intelligent person is someone who has the ability to learn quickly. An intelligent person has a mind that is capable of quick decisions, especially outside of the classroom. Education and intelligence are not the same thing. An educated person might be able to know things in theory, but a truly intelligent person can put theories into practice. It's not about being able to memorize things. It's also about being able to recieve input in the form of facts and use their own reasoning to output something new. Just memorizing things is not thinking, it's regurgitating knowledge.

You can't be intelligent without thinking.

"Is this a joke?" "Only if you think it's funny." (Tres)

I think it’s quite amazing that a simple question can lead to a whole can of worms that no one on Earth wants to get involved with. No one except me, that is. This is just the kind of thing I live for.

What is the difference between knowledge, belief, and truth? It’s a simple enough question, on the surface. However, we all know that you can’t hold things at face value, so let’s jump on in and start by defining the words.

Truth is a piece of factual information. In other words, no matter what, if something is true, no piece of evidence will ever prove it to be false. If I were to say that I’m typing this on a computer, no piece of evidence you provide will be able to prove that statement untrue. Therefore, it is a completely true statement. Of course, there are subjective truths and partial truths, but for the sake of argument, we’ll leave those be for now.

Next, we’ll get into beliefs. A belief is a thought that a person thinks is true, but may not necessarily be factual. Some beliefs are impossible to prove, even though they may be true. However, there are some beliefs that exist outside of the realm of truth. For example, if someone were to tell me that sky was falling, I could believe that statement without it actually being true. In fact, a lot of beliefs are not true.

What is knowledge? Is it founded on beliefs? Or is it founded on truth? If you guessed
C) all of the above, I think you’d be right. Knowledge exists as a combination of belief and truth. If I know that my computer is a Dell, I believe that statement, and it is true. It is impossible to know something that is untrue. I can’t know that my computer is a Mac, because it isn’t. To know something, you have to have some kind of evidence to prove that it is true. I know my computer is a Dell because the word “Dell” is all over it and I bought it from Dell. If I believe that my computer is a Mac, I can’t know that fact. On the flip side, If it is true that my computer is a Dell, but I don’t believe that fact, I can’t know that it is a Dell. You can’t know something that isn’t true, but you can’t know something that you don’t believe either.

Now let me draw a picture in your mind. I’ll warn you now that we’re about to get into a little bit of controversy, so if you’d rather not like to talk about it, I suggest you leave now.

The existence of God is something that many people across the world over. Christians, Muslims, and Jews all believe that God exist. That is a belief. However, since there is no concrete proof to remove all doubt from the belief of his existence, the existence of God can be no more than a belief. It is possible that it is true, but since there’s no way to prove it, no one can know that. Hence, the existence of God may be both a belief and a truth, but it cannot be something that is known.

What is the true relation between knowledge, truth, and belief? I’m not so sure that it’s something that has a definite answer. At least, that’s my belief on the subject.

On a side note, it’s quite humorous how a 100 word assignment can turn into over 600 words.

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot. (Dos)

The London of V for Vendetta is a place marked by limited freedoms and an overly oppressive dictator. Because of this, V, a masked vigilante who models himself after Guy Fawkes, seeks violent means to end the totalitarian regime. Near the beginning of the movie, V makes a speech in attempt to get the people of London to act with him and destroy the Parliament building in order to send a message to their oppressive government. He uses all three of Aristotle's modes of persuasion as well as all three types of argumentation to try and meet his final goal-the destruction of Parliament.

V’s speech opens by attempting to break the people of London out of their every day routines. He first establishes his own credibility by likening himself to his audience, using a calm voice to relate to them. He tells them that he loves the rigidity of routine just as much as they do. However, he appreciates the fact that in order to change things on a large scale, the people of London must first change things on a smaller scale. He takes the initiative to change that routine by interrupting their every day lives with a simple message.

Soon after beginning his address to the people, V hits the people with the reality of their oppressive situation. “There are those who do not wish us to speak,” he says, indicating the fact that those in power realize that what they are doing is wrong and that the authorities do not want the common people to understand this fact. V states, “…the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation...” A truncheon is a club carried by police. Therefore, V means that the authorities would rather use force than listen to the people. According to V, words hold power that even the truncheons of the authorities can not take away. Words hold the power the power to investigate the truth, “And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there?”

As the speech continues, V becomes extremely candid with the people of London. He tells the people that they are being oppressed. Worse yet, he places the blame of the constant oppression on the people themselves. “But again, truth be told…if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror,” V tells them. This shocking statement expresses V’s belief that the oppression placed upon the people of London was self-inflicted. He uses their guilt to make them understand the way things are as well as to make them understand what they need to do to change.

Although V blames much of the oppression that the British are living on the people themselves, he also proves his understanding of them by letting him know the reasons behind their own guilt. He recognizes the fact that fear was used to manipulate them, through none other than their own High Chancellor Adam Sutler.

Finally, V gets to the purpose behind his entire speech. His main objective with the whole speech is not to simply make the public aware of what is going on. His primary objective is to get them to act with him. He wants to destroy Parliament, a symbol of English history that Guy Fawkes had attempted to destroy 400 years prior. His speech was dedicated to that sole purpose. By being open with the people and using logic to appeal to them, he makes his case to get them to act. As a matter a fact, later on in the movie, although the government makes an effort to get rid of V entirely, his speech is shown to have achieved its final end.

And so the lion fell in love with the lamb. What a stupid lamb. What a sick, masochistic lion. (Uno)

Let’s see…what is there to say about me? First and foremost, I am probably the most impatient person you will ever have the pleasure (or displeasure?) to meet. Don’t test my patience because I don’t have a whole lot of it.

That being said, along with my very apparent lack of patience, I'm anal about a few other things. Even though I have been known to make mistakes myself (Inconcievable!), I hate when people mispell words. I really can not stand when words are mispelled, and I've been known to correct the spelling of some of my friends. I'm also known to correct the grammar of my friends while they're talking. I know it's annoying but it's something that I just can't help.

Music is life. Enough said.

If it interests you to know, the title of my blog is a reference to the books Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, the three of which make up a nice little series. The title of this post is a quote from the series. Guess what? That series just happens to be pretty much the best thing to ever grace the shelves of Barnes and Noble. I love to read and there are plenty of books I have read, just as there are plenty of books that I have not read. Twilight just happens to be one of the best book series I've ever had the pleasure to discover.

I think that writing is one of the best ways to pass time. I think that I would be happy to be a writer one day. It would be pretty sweet to get paid to do what I already do anyway. Stories, poems, or songs, blogs, whatever. It doesn’t matter (although stories are my favorite thing to write). No matter if I haven't written a good story in months, there's always some ideas floating around my head. Getting those thoughts down on paper is a pretty decent way of relieving stress, actually getting some schoolwork done, or just getting the satisfaction of creating a story that no one has ever read. It’s a euphoric feeling, I’ve got to admit. Most of my inspiration comes from all the stuff I’ve read, especially (you guessed it) Twilight. If you'd ever like to read some of my stuff, I've got an account on fictionpress.com, just ask me for my penname.

Last but not least, I'm addicted to video games, and I am most certainly not afraid to admit it. I love RPGs like Final Fantasy as well as racing games, fighting games, and platform games. If you can name it, I've probably played it. My favorite game of all time is Kingdom Hearts, and I've also got the almighty Guitar Hero in my library.

So that is me, in a nutshell. You've seen my likes, you've seen my flaws, and now, in classic MTV Cribs fashion, you've got to get on out.

Peace.