This Desert Life

remember when you procrastinate you choose last

I thought most the groups in my 1102 class did a decent job with their presentations. I was happy to see that most people did not attempt to buy an A by passing our candy or preaching to the professor. However, I did not see a lot of incorporation of the internet in the presentations. After all, the group project was to maintain a web log for the past 6 weeks, and I do not remember anyone showing their group blog. Furthermore, all of the subject matter involved new technologies, but none of the presentations so far have shown any of these new technologies. I thought my group did well. One of the aspects in which I think our presentation was effective was that our project was about the accessibility of information on the internet, so we showed the class information accessible via the internet. I did find the presentation on Commercials engaging because of the original subject matter, and the illustrative evidence they showed during their presentation. I think one thing Ga Tech should enforce on top of its engineering practicum is the ability to present all of this researched information in an effective way.

Smoke Screen?
The Internet is the worlds largest information resource and the largest marketplace. And though information should never be illegal to obtain, some products you can buy online are against the law. Regardless of my country's drugs laws prohibiting marijuana, the internet allows me to peruse endless aisles of tropical sativas, powerful indicas, and almost every hybrid of cannabis sativa ever known to stoners the world over.
It's not just the websites that are so accessible. The products themselves are as close as Pay Pal. Seed banks from Canada and Amsterdam actually run specials on cannabis seeds. Once you get the seeds you can return online to get step by step instructions to grow weed. You can purchase a growing kit via the internet. And once you've harvested your crop, your classmates/customers are an instant message away.
Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. Regardless of your personal beliefs, the electronic drug trade is a much better alternative to the pre-internet drug trade. The internet could only be dropping levels of street violence since business can be done from a living room, as opposed to an alley or the back of an Italian restaurant. People have smoked pot long before the advent of the internet, and will continue to do so. Now there are information wells available to drug users that provide rules and advice for safe recreational drug use, such as erowid.org. Teenagers do not have to rely on street knowledge for their illicit drug education. They can read studies published by Duke and Harvard Universities that tell the truth about thel short-term and long-term effects of various drugs. Furthermore, online forums and chat rooms can create a since of community, especially when centered on a controversial matter of opinion like the drug laws. Loneliness is a large cause for drug addiction and drug abuse; a since of community provides a healthy alternative for users. Of course all of this opinion is based on scope; if meth-labs or kilos of heroin ever become available online, there will be some serious issues to address, but marijuana legalization is a real issue people should become aware of. Right now the internet is the best source of information on drugs.

It's Why You Should Vote Kerry

I disagree with Don Delillo in his essay "Guardian Unlimited" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4324579,00.html].
His essay is based on the principal the terrorist who were responsible for the attacks on 9/11 were motivated by America's grandeur. Specifically he says "It was the high gloss of our modernity. It was the thrust of our technology. It was our perceived godlessness. It was the blunt force of our foreign policy. It was the power of American culture to penetrate every wall, home, life and mind."
I believe the terrorist attacks were a direct result of America's dubious history of foreign policy. America has shown in the past that it holds no respect for the international community. It is this dogmatic approach to world issues that causes resentment from outsiders, and sometimes this resentment turns towards hostility. Delillo says that it was the blunt force of our foreign policy that contributed towards the attacks. However, America use to be allies with Afghanistan when our foreign policy was as blunt as it is now during the Cold War. Americans are despised internationally because of their stereotypic selfishness illustrated by our past actions, not because the grapes over seas are sour. It is this cocky attitude that so many Americans have that led us to this point.

The Don of Modern Literature
Don Delillo's White Noise is the best novel I've read in a long time. It is extremely difficult to write a piece of fiction that illustrates such an accurate depiction of reality. Perhaps the most effective element of the book is the style in which it is written. Each page is like a written transcript of Jack's short term memory. The casual way in which catastrophic events are proposed, sections of time skipped over, and thoughts spiral to the edge of insanity give the book itself a humanistic quality. The thoughts are not logical nor archetypical, they are human. Not only is the story accurate, but the writing is witty and the themes are deep.
I wish I had read this novel earlier in the semester because I would have loved to write my research paper on some of its themes. I was going to sell this book back to the campus bookstore at the end of the semester, however I think I may keep it, or trade it in for another work by Delillo. If Don Delillo's other works are as well written and enjoyable as White Noise, he may be the best writer of his time.

The Internet Community

The internet makes the world a more perfect place because it strengthens community. Forums and virtual communities let people pursuer their passions, find friends, and communicate with those who have similar interest around the world. This popular feature of the information superhighway allows many individuals to find happiness, where if left in a closed, local community, they may become selfless or desolate. Many facets of the net help ass meaning to life as do virtual communities. The internet allows people to find more perfect jobs. People can more easily pursue their interest by looking up calendared social events. Many people like the fact that when they move to a new place, they can still talk to old friends daily. Single men and women can search for companions based on algorithmic compatibility. Perhaps some of these examples do not necessarily launch flags signaling the evolution of a utopian society, yet it is obvious the accessibility of the internet makes a large scale of the population happier and more content with their niche in life. Douglas Rushkoff once said “networked communication is the global organism that respects the individuality of each member culture” (Poster).

Inserted in the 24th Hour?

Spike Lee's 25th Hour is a movie starring Edward Norton as Monty, a drug dealer with a day left before going away to serve a 7 year prison sentence. The movie touches on issues of friendship, purpose of life, and freedom. Throughout the film Spike Lee incorporates a few themes that are important and personal to him. The most obvious of these themes is the diversity of the city of New York. Another is a negative critique of the New York prison system, and perhaps the hardest hitting is that of September 11th. However, the theme of September 11th does not seem to be imperative to the storyline of the movie; it appears more like it was inserted late in production of the movie for its societal value more than its artistic contribution to the film. The only prevalence of September 11th during the picture is in a short dialogue between two of Monty's friends were they refer to the site where the World Trade Center stood, and the camera briefly cuts to the site. This brevity never proves to be significant to the plot.
Spike Lee tried to use the American public's strong emotional attachment to the events of September 11th to establish merit for his film. It was a safe and easy method of relating to his audience.
If I had the audacity to say September 11th is meaningless, this blog would probably be shut down by the US government and everyone who reads it until that point would think I was a heartless, un-American asshole. That is not my intention. But in reality that is the very reason Spike Lee incorporated September 11th in his movie. In 2002, when 25th Hour was released, and recent to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Americans had a very passionate emotional attachment to date September 11th 2001. Spike Lee tried to use this sensitive and powerful issue as an element of acceptance by the public, and as a way to sell tickets. It no doubt helped him get a nomination for the 2002 Golden Globe award for Best Original Score. This banal facet of the film is most likely a strong contributing factor as to why 25th Hour lost out to a better picture, Moulin Rouge.
It's the same reason, but on a much smaller scale, behind the success of Mel Gibson's new movie The Passion of Christ. It has enjoyed enormous success because of its theme the story of Jesus Christ. From of artistic standpoint The Passion is an average film with a few visually effective scenes. Most Christians, the world’s largest religion by population, feel compelled to see this movie because of their religious beliefs. Not that it is written in the bible that all ye must praise the Passion for Gibson is wise, but Christians live by the story of Christ, and they could never say the chronicle of their savior is trite.
Emotion can be a very powerful tool in film, and often times the intensity at which a film influences your false sense of emotion translates into a films artistic value. Unfortunately many mediocre pictures overshadow high quality films in the box office because of cheap topic-related gimmicks. 25th hour was an enjoyable film, but its shoddy incorporation of September 11th devalues its overall substance.