PC|Bluestocking

It’s Oscar time, and no I do not mean our wonderful Chilean guest at PC, but the more annoying award ceremony that decides to take several amazing films of the year and give only a handful the awards that they all deserve.  Here are the nominations (for categories people actually care about).

For Best Picture the nominees are Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air.

The Best Actor Nominees are Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker).

Best Supporting Actor Nominees include Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), and Christopher Waltz (Inglourious Basterds).

For Best Actress we have Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia).

The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are Penelope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), and Mo’Nique (Precious…).

Finally, Animated Films: Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, and Up.

Okay, so we have some interesting choices (The Blind Side?  Really?), and a few shattered expectations (10 BP nominations?).  I’m glad Up was nominated for Best Picture, the first animated film since Beauty in the Beast to pull that off.  Still, I’m not excited about the dang awards since the main problem with any award ceremony is that it forces people to pick one good movie when there are several good ones.  Take my advice, and see all of the movies nominated for Best Picture.

You all remember Proposition 8 right?  When the election was over and Obama was in office, there was one disappointment and that was the California masses who decided majority rule should decide a minority’s rights.  But it was all for the sake of preserving the sancitity of marriage, which cannot and should not be redefined (ignoring the fact that it already has been-I’m sure you might notice some discrepancy between how we practice marriage and how the Hebrews did over 2000 years ago).  So in the interest of protecting the sancity of marriage, John Marcotte wants to pass the 2010 California Marriage Protection Act, that bans divorce.  Hey, they said ’til death, didn’t they?

“I think it would be hypocritical of us not to sacrifice some of our own rights to protect traditional marriage even more,”  said John Marcotte.  This is no joke.  About half of all marriages nationwide end in divorce.  It is a real problem, and we have a fine gentleman acting to protect the sanctity of marriage.  There are about 17,000 Facebook fans so far, and he has dozens of signatures on his petition.  It’s uncertain how California would react if it did make it to vote, but we’ll probably never know.  He needs nearly 700,000 more signatures by March to make it, and this usually costs a lot.

For those who supported Proposition 8, ask yourself a question.  If you’re really willing to sacrifice another’s right to protect traditional marriage, do you have a leg to stand on when someone comes looking for your rights?  For those who were as disappointed as I was that cold November morning last year (for the same reason–not Obama), join the club (on Facebook).  I’m certainly a fan.  If you disagree with this reasoning or have any other reductio ad absurdums for the protection of the sanctity of marriage, comment.

Facebook terrorism is a huge blot upon our civilization.  But rather than fighting the War on Facebook Terror, why not join in on the fun and bug the heck out of all of your friends.  Most people have 500 friends, and there’s gotta be some you don’t actually stay in touch with.  So prank them, and lose a friend.  Quite arbitrarily ranked, here are the top 10 ways to terrorize Facebook friends, and maybe lose them too.

10. During a wall conversation, write an off-the-wall remark or quotation.  If people are talking about the New Moon movie, maybe they’re really just begging to hear the latest Albert Einstein quotation you read.

9. Get drunk (if you’re over 21 of course), then wall them, chat, inbox them, etc.  Or do all three.

8. Defriend someone.  Then send them another friend request saying it was an accident.  Rinse and repeat.

7. Create applications and send them to all your friends.  Especially applications that generate silly religious picture gifts and tell you about them every five seconds, and to top it all off you can’t cancel it.  Thanks a lot Peter Geromel.

6.  Create a bogus group, event, organization, etc. and invite all your friends to it.  Better yet, create 10 bogus group, events, organizations, etc. and then invite all your friends to it.

5. Gift them stupid stuff.  If you play a game like Farmville, repeatedly gift them stupid stuff like bales of hay.  Sometimes it really is better to give than receive.

4. Tag them in irrelevent stuff.  Write a completely bogus note and tag them.  Write 10 completely bogus notes and tag them.  Better yet, take embarrassing pictures of them and tag everyone but them.  And then tag them.

3. Write a message on their wall.  One word at a time.

2.  The Like Blitz, as I’ve heard it called.  Go onto somebody’s page and like everything.  The next time they check their account, they’ll have upward of 50 updates.

1.  Hack their account and change everything.  Or change it according to your favorite fictional character.  Or change only one thing that they’ll never notice but wish they had.

So there you are.  Feel free to comment on other methods of social networking terrorism and go out and lose some friends.

Taken by Truman Brown

Imagine a crowd of drunken college students marching on Neville with Guy Fawkes Masks, on the eve of Guy Fawkes day as the 4th gave way to the 5th.  Now imagine them sober.

There’s a clever rhyme commemorating the day Guy Fawkes tried to blow up Parliament, and it was chanted as I and several other college students marched on Neville for no apparent reason other than it was fun.  Sure, a few cried “Free Tibet!” as the Confucius statue glared at the V’s coming out of CIH.  Others called for changing the meal hours at Springs to fit schedules better (ending dinner at 8:00 is ridiculous).  But these pleas were mostly in jest, and there was no axe to grind.  There was the obligatory 1812 Overture, however, as the small crowd approached Neville

Several people attended the event, organized by Megan Jennings, but their names are irrelevant because V is an idea, not a person.  I’m just kidding, they were Cody Lindler, Rachel Miller, Emily DeMouy, Kirsten Witry, Alison Feleppa, Elizabeth Roberts, Truman Brown, Megan Jennings (obviously), and an idiot (me).  The obligatory 1812 Overture was thanks to Elizabeth Roberts.  Cody Lindler and Kirsten Witry were the only ones with real Guy Fawkes masks, the others procured them via printer.  Truman, the official event photographer, wore no mask perhaps because it is hard not to feel stilly with paper strapped to your face.

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November…for it is the day college students marched on Neville and played music but did not lauch fireworks due to the legality issue.  Nor did they blow up Neville, which would make for a cinematic explosion, I’m sure, but would also displace some very cool teachers and students.

Taken by Truman Brown

Spirit Week. Now that is a phrase you might not have heard uttered since the old high school years. When you hear those two words you may find yourself swimming in memories of chaotic,colorful pep rallies full of cheerleader chants and themed days that allow you to wear your pajamas or Halloween costume to school. At least that is what comes to mind for me. That is why I was intrigued when PC decided to rev up Homecoming and have a Spirit Week in the days prior to this weekend’s grand events. It has  included wearing PC’s colors, wearing one’s organization’s colors, and even sidewalk chalk competitions. All to rack up points for one’s student organization and win some big bucks.

Now, even though I thought Spirit Week was just a high school thing  I suppose college kids are welcome to do it too. The only change that may be necassary is bringing back the old tradition of wearing a different costume each day of the week. Since the football team is playing the VMI Keydets (which is Cadet spelled like it sounds spoken with a southern drawl), we could have Kung Fu Panda the Keydets, King Arthur the Keydets, or even Krispy Kreme the Keydets and wear some sort of doughnut-related outfit.  The ridiculously awesome themes that allow us to embrace our inner child and wear silly outfits are endless, and it all allows us to cheer the Blue Hose to victory. Now tell me that would not be fun and jazz up the routine.

Crap, here I go with another Campus article, is there no end in sight?  Probaby not, I still have to interview the new religion professor, and I’m not allowed to be funny with that one, but that actually probably means you’ll all like it more.  In case you’ve been living in a cave for you entire life (and if so, kudos that’s impressive, Nader would be proud I’m sure) Ralph Nader, three time presidential candidate (if you have been living in a cave, he didn’t win), spoke at PC.  You may have certain preconceived notions about him, but love’em or loath’em, Nader spoke out on green issues and called corporations out. 

In a nutshell, he spoke of the unseen violence committed by large corporations.  Personally, I don’t trust any word with more than three syllables, which could explain my distaste for all things republican, libertarian, and conservative.  If you want to poke holes in this joke just think democracy, homosexuality, and adenosine triphosphate–all of which I’m kosher with.  Where was I?  Oh yes, that guy I liked.  Ralph Nader also challenged preconceived ideas.  Nobody thinks of white-collar crime when they here the word “crime,” (unless you’re an obese rabble-rousing documentary maker with a new take on COPS–look it up) but it’s devastating.  War and street violence kill a fraction of those dead at the hands of money makers.  Welfare for the poor isn’t such a bad idea when you consider all the large corporations that are carried on the backs of the taxpayers.  Why do they need it?  You can argue they’re doing a service, but ultimately they’re in it for themselves, so they should use their own money.  There was a booksigning and Q&A session afterward followed by a luncheon provided–not by GDH and that’s the important thing, as well as another Q&A.  All in all, it was good fun–if you’re a liberal.

I’d like to take a small segue and talk about the book he wrote that MFB was selling at the front of the auditorium, Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us! written as a practical utopia, possible only through the knowledge and funding of America’s top billionaires.  I’m actually nigh-on halfway through, so I thought I’d insert a quick review so far.  It’s good.  It’s fun, it’s interesting, imaginative, though it’s not easy.  In other words, the cave-dwellers out there would not like it since he uses real people and expects some degree of savvy on the subject, and I a lowly bio-bumpkin do wish the concepts were a bit better explained.  Still, it’s better than Atlas Shrugged, partly because it’s shorter, but mostly because doesn’t have characters give 50-page long monologues on the theme…yet.  It’s obvious the point he’s trying to get across, and it also makes you think about what you could do, since he names all of these strategies and litanizes the evils of Wally World.

Off that segue.  Bottom line,  Nader was here.  As effective as he has been in legislating change (something anyone who knows the word Corvair can bitterly attest to), you can’t help get the feeling that he’ll forever be screwed if he stays in a third party.  Which begs the question, why only 2 parties.  That forces us to turn republican and democrat into umbrella terms.  Think if there were only two Christian religions, Roman Catholic and Protestant, how would you choose?  It’d be easy to find something you identify more with, but Protestant would contain Calvinists and Arminianists, biblical literalists and looser interpreters, pacifists and neoconservatives.   We need viable third parties, and electoral reform is the only way that can happen, since the winner take all forces umbrellization.  Also, please comment, I love to get the feeling my articles are being read.

    I don’t know why, but I seem to be doing more campus articles than usual and it’s really annoying me.  So I’ll break my vow and try for fun with this article, which is little more than a bunch of announcements relating to two liberal groups on campus.

Announcement 1:  PC Democrats exist.  I bet you didn’t know that, considering all the conservative students on campus who drown us out, but PC Dems meets every other Tuesday at 8:15 in the CIH classroom (we last met September 29th), and we have many activities lined up including t-shirts that make fun of Joe Wilson (and other things but they’re not as important as t-shirts that make fun of Joe Wilson and really, what more could you want from a liberal group in SC?).

Announcement 2: There’s another group that exists on campus, and it leans to the left too.  You’ve probably seen their signs (the green circles with a white equal sign and it has SAFE ZONE written on it).  SPECTRUM, sponsors the SAFE ZONES (yes I must have all this in caps) on campus, and a SAFE ZONE is a room, office, or space created with teh idea of being a “safe haven” for anyone – an area free of judgment, purely confidential, and open to all people regardless of sexuality, gender, religion, age, race, nationality, ethnicity, or ability.  I really wish I had a picture of it, but like I said earlier green circle, white equals sign, SAFE ZONE.

Announcment 3: Also about SPECTRUM.  There will be a presentation about the Stonewall Riots on October 7 at 7:00 PM in Whitelaw Auditorium in the basement of Richardson.  SPECTRUM will be presenting on these riots which sparked the gay revolution in America, both the events of the riot and their significance.  It will be educational–actually it won’t be educational if that will convince more people to come, and there will be food so freeloaders are welcome.  Afterward, there will be a panel discussion with Dr. Bebber, Dr. Frey, and an idiot* who is really quick to remind people that he’s president of SPECTRUM.

Quick rundown, PC Dems exists, Spectrum does too and has two projects going on at the moment which are SAFE ZONES and Stonewall.  So if you lean to the left and aren’t suffering from an ear infection, then come.  Oh, and SPECTRUM meets Thursdays at 7:30 in the CIH Classroom, but we aren’t meeting the first of Octover.

*The idiot is myself, David Nguyen (I told you I’m quick to remind people I’m the president of SPECTRUM).

You may  have noticed something about our landscaping around campus – it hurts.  One may even go as far as to say that perhaps, among all the things that deserve conspiracy theories, these sharp prickly bushes lining our sidewalks do as well.  It’s been said that these bushes may have been intentionally planted to bring pain and hardship to our drinking crowd.  There seems to be some logic to such a claim, especially when these bushes line both sides of the sidewalks.  So, friends, you must choose whether to believe that these bushes were planted by the man in order to persecute our drinking brethren, or whether it is just a mere coincidence that painful bushes are guarding sidewalks all across campus.