Interests:I find that Facebook is a better host for this type of information than Xanga is. Add me: Chris Comstock, from Oklahoma State University. Xanga's just my personal blog. (Also, I've been blogging since July 2004, but I recently privatized the vast majority of my entries for personal reasons.) Expertise:Religion, Politics, Music, Computers/Engineering, Video Games, Military Theory and History, and Chess.
--The past 3-4 weeks have been a really, really, really insane rollercoaster. Bleh. I could go for a Guinness tonight.
--"Smart people are doing wonderful things." This is a brilliant essay that runs counter to everyone saying that internet multitasking is eroding our humanity. The idea that the internet helps our human side run more fluidly rather than detracting from it is something I've felt intuitively for quite a while, but I've never written anything to explain it like this.
--I think my Video Game Design class is probably the single most fun class I've ever taken at OSU, slightly beating out Critical Analysis and Writing II and Intro to Speech. My individual video game is based around a comic book superhero analogy to myself, dubbed "The Inventionator"....it's actually turning out out to be even cooler than I expected
--Remember the "Comrades/Thanks/Friends" page I had up on the Final Contact/Sonic Defiance website(s) waaaaaaaaay back in the day? It was basically a list that kept track of people who meant something to me in one way or another. A few days ago, I overhauled and updated it, although now I'm keeping it on my computer instead of making it public. I think everyone needs a list like this.
--THE MATTHEW SHEPARD ACT PASSED!!!It's now a federal hate crime to assault someone because they're gay, bi, or transgendered. (Christian conservative Republicans opposed it, of course.) EAT SHIT, JAMES DOBSON!
--I never have the time to write long Defiance01 essays like I used to, so I'm thinking about revamping it to make it more Twitter like (but without Twitter's glaring limitations).
--My birthday is next Wednesday, and the party is on Friday, Oct 2. I didn't drink on my 21st and 22nd birthdays, so I have some (*ahem*) catching up to do. If you're reading this, you're probably invited .
--I freaking love my Comparative Politics and Video Game Design classes. Both of them are a blast, and should be fairly easy A's. Game Design is based around 3D character modeling, CGI environments, and computer animation. Sidenote: I now have a purposely-cheesey-yet-still-thought-provoking comic book alter ego dubbed "The Inventionator", the basis for some of my designs in that class. I'll throw out all sorts of groovy details once the idea is more developed.
Very sad . Health care for the poor was always one of his biggest priorities as a Senator, and for that, he deserves a permanent place on my list of Political Good Guys.
That is in contrast to Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), who, even without the litany of evil, cowardly, and ignorant things he's said and done in the Senate, deserves a permanent place on my list of Political Bad Guys for this exchange alone.
For the love of all that is good and holy, pass this video on:
Watching this video tends to lead me to become just a little bit FUCKING INFURIATED.
The woman is in tears because some greedy insurance company denied coverage to her dying husband. She is EXACTLY the type of person Obamacare is designed to help. Faced with this, what does Tom Coburn do?
Spin like a goddamn top.
"First of all, yeah, we'll [Coburn's office] help...."Oh, peachy. So when you help this one tragic case, what do you intend to do for the millions upon millions of others who need help the same way this woman does?
"...the other thing that's missing in this debate is us, as neighbors. Helping people that need our help." Oh, the right-wing crowd ate that line up. Nevermind the fact that "helping people that need our help" is EXACTLY WHAT THE HEALTH CARE BILL AND PUBLIC OPTION ARE DESIGNED TO DO. The level of ignorance and obtuseness shown by Coburn, and the rest of the GOP, is absolutely staggering.
Help a single person, and you're a righteous man coming to the aid of a neighbor in need. Help 50 million people, and you're an EVIL SOCIALIST COMMIE NAZI OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111
"The idea that the government is the solution to our problems is a very inaccurate statement." Good god, I don't even know where to start.
1) How about Medicare? It IS small-scale, socialized medicine, and polling shows it's also one of the programs that Americans like the most. 2) He's saying this because, like most fundamentalists, he's adopted a political position and then tries to adapt reality to fit around it. "My principles say government doesn't work, so whether government actually works or not, I'm going to pretend that it doesn't". 3) Like Rick Sanchez points out, he claims that government doesn't work literally just a matter of seconds after telling this woman that his office (A PART OF THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT) will try to help her. 4) This whole exchange, it's like he's saying "I want to help you, so long as it doesn't involve me actually taking on the insurance companies who are raping your family". 5) What the hell is "the solution to our problems", Tom? The free market? Buzz! Sorry chum, free market health care is the reason this woman is in the situation she's in in the first place. The current American health care system is a glaring example of a massive, large-scale failure of capitalism. Stop spinning and making excuses, face up to the fact that your political ideology is dead wrong, fucking grow a pair, and deal with it.
I've said it before: Oklahoma's chief export is incompetent Congressmen.
My classes:
STATISTICS: This is going to be a cakewalk. Guaranteed B, and most likely and easy A. The TA in that class is pretty groovy, he's a Jamaican guy with a lisp. He spent the first week of class explaining how to round numbers, and how pie charts work.
COMPARATIVE POLITICS: I was wrong, when I guessed this would be a class about comparing political ideologies from a philosophical perspective. It's about comparing the political systems of different countries. The professor already likes me. I don't see this course as being particularly challenging, either, but it is a little drier than I had hoped for. In late September, I get to give a presentation over the health care debate. Oh, much fun will be had with that.
CHEMISTRY: By far, my most challenging and time-consuming course, but it won't be nearly as bad as I initially thought. I started with a professor named Rockley, but as it turns out, Rockley is a psychopath. So I switched to Gelder's class, and greatly appreciated the exponential increase in sanity. The workload borders on absurd, but it's just crap I'll have to put up with.
VIDEO GAME DESIGN: This is the closest thing I have to an engineering course this semester, which isn't saying much, because as it turns out the course is more about computer graphics, CGI character modeling, and storyboarding than it is about programming the games. Not that I'm complaining, because (a) it's all the fun of video game design without the work of programming, and (b) I was trying to get into a computer graphics course this semester anyway, but the courses designated for CGI didn't work with my schedule. So far, all we've done in class is talk about video game genres, and the history of video games, and about how Metal Gear Solid's cutscenes are too long. Also, the class is filled with über-nerds. Now, I'm aware that as a computer engineer I have a handful of vaguely nerdish qualities: I'm good with technology, I like video games, I enjoy anime from time to time, etc. But anyone who really knows me knows that I don't exactly fit into the category of "nerd". Not so with most of the other guys in this class. Holy hell, guys. World of Warcraft is not that important.
--I saw Fantasia for the first time today. I loved it - especially The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and the part with Satan at the end. And, as of a few weeks ago, the 1960 version of Inherit the Wind has replaced The Matrix as my all-time favorite movie.
Which means my list of Top 5 Movies is now:
1) Inherit the Wind 2) The Matrix 3) The Godfather, Part 2 4) The Shawshank Redemption 5) V for Vendetta
Firmly entrenched in the category of "nights that I'll never forget for the rest of my life".
Holy...................crap....................
(SPOILERS!)
For the most part, I actually like the musical version of Elphaba's story better than the book version. Don't get me wrong, Wicked is still one of my all-time favorite books - but the book is a noticeably stark departure from the kind of story told by L. Frank Baum (intentionally so, no doubt), and in the book Elphaba's personality is a little jarring at times. The book version of the character is definitely more complex than the musical's counterpart, but I actually think the Elphaba from the musical is a little more believable, or (using the term gingerly) "realistic".
The musical seemed to fit in better with the world Baum created (elements of the book's story were altered so that it would), but I really don't think the musical lost any of the impact, the "wow-factor", that the book had. The politics of the musical version were much, much more straightforward than the book, which I think (I can't believe I'm saying this) is actually to the musical's credit. Whoever wrote the musical took Wicked the book's politicization and hyperrealism (err....so to speak), and the Wizard of Oz's wild and colorful imaginativeness, and blended the two together seamlessly.
And then there's the one-liners. Oh, yes, those wonderful one-liners. "There's a goat on the lam!" Um, wow.
There is exactly one part of the musical I didn't like, and here's where the spoiler alert comes into play:
A trap door?
A TRAP DOOR?!
Are you fucking serious....?
So, apparently, when Dorothy threw the bucket of water on the witch, she didn't actually melt. Elphaba and Fiyero (her love interest, whose skin color the musical got wrong) had worked it out to fake her death. Dorothy throws water on Elphie, Elphie pretends to melt but actually descends into a trap door, and after everyone who thinks she's dead has left, Fiyero comes and lets her our and the two go into hiding and live happily ever after.
Yeesh, talk about stretching things for the sake of an über-happy ending.
The sugar-coating I could have done without, but the rest of the show was so overwhelming that to groan about the "neat little bow" ending seems kind of nitpicky.
Also, for the record, this is damn fine stuff:
I usually prefer red to white, but I was impressed.
I'm going to move to Indianapolis next summer, after I graduate.
Several reasons I decided on Indy. Most of my non-immediate family lives there, and I've always loved the city itself. It's not as overwhelming as New York City or Los Angeles, but it's still large enough that you never run out of stuff to do and places to go. Also, there are presumably more electrical/computer engineering job opportunities in a big city like Indy. According to some of the job search sites I go to, even an entry-level engineering job in Indy can go from $50 to $80k/year. I could deal with that
Although I'd be thrilled to death with pretty much anything above $40k/year. Even with that much, I would have all my student loans paid off in under a year and a half at the very most.
I've been thinking about the future a lot lately (because, hey, that's exactly what you're supposed to do when the present sucks). I've hashed out a plan for the next few years (actually, I came up with it a couple years ago, but this is the latest revision), and it goes something like this:
--Graduate OSU in May 2010 --Move to Indy and start engineering work in summer of 2010 --All student loans paid off by the end of 2011 --After student loans are paid, go back to college part time (IU?) and work toward a PhD in Political Science --Work with Obama's 2012 campaign to ensure that Indiana remains a blue state --Obtain the PoliSci PhD by 2016 (the year I turn 30) --Switch careers from engineering to political campaign work and writing
Not bad, no? I'll always have options open in the field of engineering if (heaven forbid!) a career in politics doesn't work out. But as far as politics goes, first you're an advisor to the campaign advisor, then you are the campaign advisor, and then (depending on the political climate of the country, the phase of the moon, the alignment of the planets, and my mood at the time) you potentially become the campaign.
For the icing on the cake, my BMI is dropping like a rock, and there's a very real chance that I could have noticeably defined ab muscles by, oh, the middle of 2011.
Some days, it feels like my life is a relatively friendly game of chess against god.
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. Health care for the poor was always one of his biggest priorities as a Senator, and for that, he deserves a permanent place on my list of Political Good Guys. 
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