Postblink

Halloween’s most obvious compatible color scheme involves mainly orange and black. I’m pretty sure that’s because the entire world is in conflict with itself.

On one hand the air is getting cold, the day is getting dark, and everything seems to slow down a bit, unless you’re studying for midterms I suppose. On the other hand the leaves change from dull and boring shades of green to bright flecks of orange and gold and red. The autumn air smells amazing.

This doesn’t seem unlike the people stuck in fall. Some thrive in the fall, staying bright, optimistic, and happy. Others? Well, they’re mood just becomes darker. There’s absolute beauty in regards to both. Here’s my list of what you should be reading, watching, and listening to this October in 2008.

Reading

The presidential political season is almost over. Of course, this means that it’s also in full swing and tougher than ever. You should stay informed by reading as much writtene media as possible. If you don’t have major papers available for you, then get online and find their websites. Remember to keep informed, and regardless of who you decide to vote for, be sure that you don’t take too much to heart on one candidate or the other. The political attacks are huge, but that doesn’t mean that they are factual. Be aware of what’s going on.

Watching

Personally, I’ve been watching the new season of Chuck. In addition to that, my television is almost always on MSNBC right now, even if I’m not neccesarily paying attention to it. Honestly? I’m just waiting for AMC to get their act in gear and start showing the horror flicks through to Halloween. I’m a bit of a movie buff in general, but holiday movies are where it’s at, whether it’s Christmas or Halloween. Get a group of friends together and rent a bunch of the classics - Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13TH, and, of course, Halloween. Then you can pull out your Saw collection or whatever else you have, personally I’m not a big fan of gorefests myself. There’s far better classics out there to be watched.

Listening

Right now I’m listening to Bon Iver’s 2007 release For Emma, Forever Ago. I’ve also got The Shins in rotation again. What I listen to will change daily through out this month, but wherever you are, whatever you’re doing - at least turn on the radio.

What a disaster it would be if you discovered that I cared
A little too much for friends, but not enough to share.

Ah. . .  October. You’re one of my favorite months. The air gets a little cooler, the leaves turn orange, and horror marathons begin to pop up on the tube. Halloween is definitely one of my favorite holidays, probably just because it feels like the first real sign of fall. Anyways, let’s catch up on October.

The month started off with a concert featuring Angels and Airwaves. Not their best concert I’ve been to but that’s okay. Since then I’ve been mainly working on homework with the occasional video game. I managed to land one of the LittleBigPlanet beta invites for last week - that game is probably going to blow some minds. The creation tools are amazing, but even without them it’s a genuinely amazing game. Think about how much fun Super Mario Bros. was back in the day, then modernize it, make it cute and approachable for a general audience, and finally stick in both story-mode AND online multiplayer. And then imagine huge giant worlds far more complex than most professional video games today. LittleBigPlanet comes out October 21ST and should finally earn the PS3 some of the cred it deserves.

In other gaming news, I started playing World of Warcraft again late this summer. Huge mistake right? Oh well, it’s been a blast. My druid hit 70 a week or so ago. Mmm. Geeky. The pre-expansion patch hits late tonight.

Anyway - every day is another day closer to Halloween. Until then I’m upping my dosage of dedicated homework time, unfortunately. I’m trying not to watch politics as the MSNBC logo was beginning to burn into my TV… And it’s an old CRT peice so that can’t be good. I can’t resist embedding a political video these days, however. Be greatful though, I’m going to spare you the horribly sung tune of Hey Sarah Palin and send you off with some thoughts from John Cleese.

The Old 97’s hit People’s Court on October 14TH. I doubt I’ll make it over but it will, undeniably, be a good show. You kids over in the Des Moines/Ames/Cliver area, make it over. Tickets are $20 a pop and you won’t be disappointed if you’ve got a decent appreciation for music, especially of the alt. country/rock type.

This first semester of the 2008 school year has me spinning a bit, in a good way. I’ve always been a member of the “you can do anything you set your mind on” pool of society. On the other hand, I was also a member of the “path of least resistance” club, which at times in the past has led me to give up on important things in life. You know, like high school?

But now, after taking the scenic route to higher education, I know only two things for sure: I want to transfer to a University after my two years at Hawkeye Community are over and I’m interested in media. That leaves me with a few variables to consider while here at Hawkeye.

The first is what do I want to achieve here? I knew that I would have to take some classes here because of my previous academic history or lack there of, but do I just want to come out of here a liberal arts transfer? I initially had planned on working towards Information Systems Management but that’s not very appealing anymore. I can try to take as many media oriented classes here at Hawkeye as possible or I could try a business major. I really enjoy my management class.

The second is what kind of media do I want to end up in? I love movies and I’m fascinated by media production. I think it’s something I could be involved in and be good at. Do I want to move out of state to attend a film school of some sort eventually? Is that feasible? Or do I want to do something more familiar. More concrete.

Do I want to write? I enjoy writing and I feel relatively skilled at it. Iowa is the perfect home for a writer. The Pulizer prize-winning Des Moines Register is the heartland’s best paper. The University of Iowa has an internationally famous Writer’s Workshop.

I’m not sure. I should probably figure it out relatively soon though. Not this week, however. Weezer concert tomorrow night!

I’m stuck in a coma, stuck in a never-ending sleep
And some day I’ll wake up and realize I made up every thing

I’m not sure what’s more annoying. There appears to be a single cricket somewhere in the building that I’m in, chirping away the following fourty minutes until my next class. On the other hand, the only sound I have to drown it out is this stupid Senses Fail song that’s stuck in my head. I didn’t even like their latest album, but it’s just this stupid chorus being sung over and over in my conscious that’s driving my crazy. On that note, here’s three random thoughts.

1. I hope the debate happens tonight. As far as I’m aware, it’s still up in the air. I wish McCain would stop procrastinating and just get it over with. After some progress Wednesday and an agreement almost having been reached earlier in the day Thursday, everything ended up falling apart Thursday night when House Republicans walked out. Obama had suggested the candidates presence might cause that outcome and that’s likely what happened.
2. If tonight’s debate does not happen, I hope it won’t it end pushing back the vice-presidential debate on October 2ND. I’m really looking forward to watching Sarah Palin get her ass handed to her by Biden. What business does she have being a vice-presidential candidate? That interview with Katie Couric was pathetic and Palin was obviously very coached on her responses, except for maybe one - I doubt the McCain campaign would be dumb enough to coach her “foreign relations” experience with Russia. . .
3. I have tickets to see Weezer with Angels and Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club on October 3RD in Minnesota at the Excel Center. Probably the biggest venue show I’ll have ever been to. I’m hoping Weezer plays the old stuff too, I haven’t heard much off their new album.

Omar, John, Adams, Benjamin, Thomas, James, Abraham. Have I offended you yet? How about Hussein? How about Barack Hussein?

These names are all Aramaic, Arabic, or Hebrew in origin. They are not, of course, necessarily Muslim in origin. Not that there would be anything wrong with them if they were. Unfortunately the name Hussein has a nasty reputation because of a terrible dictator. As terrible as that dictator was, however, he was not responsible for the attacks on our country on September 11TH, 2001 and, regardless, any link you feel there is between him and the democratic presidential candidate is, for the lack of a better term, just plain stupid.

It’s too bad you can’t find some sort of imaginary link between Barack Hussein Obama and Jordan’s King Hussein, who was a strong US ally and major advocate for peace in the Middle East, or perhaps General Hussein Kamal, former director of Iraq’s Military Industrialization Corporation. General Kamal defected to Jordan, where he assisted the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency in their search for weapons of mass destruction. He was later assassinated, after being labled a traitor, upon returning back to Iraq– despite Saddam’s promise for his safety.

Yesterday I was in a car with some friends driving around town when something spurred a discussion of the upcoming election and one of the four occupants of the vehicle asked why I would ever vote for someone who was named Hussein. As you can imagine, I shook my head in disbelief.

I responded that Hussein was in fact a name Obama was given after his grandfather, from Kenya. Although many people think the name is Muslim in origin, Obama is in fact a Christian and the name is merely inherited. I also questioned what made her think that all Muslim’s were “bad people”. She told me that she didn’t think that, she just didn’t know why I’d vote for someone named Hussein– you know, because it sounds like Saddam Hussein apparently?

Sharing a name with someone does not make you that person. It does not make you related to that person. It creates no magical affiliation or bond with that person.  Names are not a system of beliefs. They are not a political idea. A name does not make you a saint. It does not make you a sinner. It does not make you a terrorist. It’s quite a shallow decision to assume these things.

I believe in the end, many of these conclusions arise as some sort of mask for racism. People come up with wild accusations and make odd comparisons. They use these as an excuse to hate someone, but they’re not really kidding anyone but themselves.

In my state of Iowa, Obama won the caucus. We saw a predominately caucasian state vote for a black candidate. People understand that this isn’t about skin color, but about who can lead this country. Most people understand that, anyways.

Our night of cruising about comes to an end as we drop off some friends and meet up with others. We arrive at our destination and head down the stairs to a smokey basement in our search for a few games of table tennis. I’ve gone down these stairs many times before but it’s always a bit unsettling.

Hanging from the ceiling supports are two flags I had first seen in two very different but just as disheartening sections of a history book from the past. One black and white flag contains symbols from the Nazi political party and several swastika. The other is a confederate flag. The owner hasn’t the vaguest idea of how truely offensive they are to people. He doesn’t really know what they represent. He hangs them with pride, feeling some sort of affiliation as if he’s in some sort of hate club. Somewhere he thinks he belongs. Someone walks over to the stereo and places a CD containing songs ripped from the internet into the drive. The songs celebrate the klan and racial slurs. They were written and performed by Clifford Joseph Trahan using the fake name Johnny Rebel as a sort of anthem against the civil rights movement.

Three or four of the songs play until the group notices how quiet I’ve gotten. If they had tried to put this in my stereo at home, they’d have been thrown out. We leave shortly after.

I grew up with some of these kids. They’re not bad people, but horribly misdirected. They probably couldn’t name five people they knew that were not white. They’re disgustingly ignorant, but I can’t replace them.

I can, on the other hand, get my own ping pong table.