To talk about Reza Aslan

Currently Listening to: Bill Simmons Podcast NBA Playoff Preview

The NBA playoffs in the West, these guys just made me realize, will be REALLY REALLY boring until the Western Conference Finals.  Sad.

Anyway, anyone who knows me, and knows me well, would know that I am emphatic about Reza Aslan’s beliefs and works.  He claims he’s not optimistic, but he’s optimistic about the state of Islam and he puts forth a legitimate reasoning, albeit a bit idealistic, for peace in the Middle East and conquering Islamic Jihadism in Arabia.

Dr. Aslan came to Pomona College today (apparently he was at CMC last year), and I went to listen to him speak and he’s remarkably charming (which, if you watch one of his four Daily Show interviews, isn’t that surprising) and intelligent.  He labels? the War on Islam, not as a Crusade but a Cosmic War highlighted by the Bush Administration and Islamic Jihadists, both of which otherize and demonize each other in a war not for religious supremacy but for moral supremacy.  The solution is the resolving and addressing of various greivances associated with the Islamic community, which includes but is not specific to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the presence of America in almost every Middle Eastern country, and so on.  He also points out the distinction between Nationalism (Jihadists are not nationalist) and Fanaticism.  Many countries (including America and Israel) use religion as a political cruch, but he doesn’t advocate the use of secularism and instead focuses on religious pluralism and religious awareness.  Again, its very optimistic, I have to read his book to understand more (unless that’s all there is to it, which I hope isn’t true) and until then I really can’t say more.

Check out his touring schedule to see where he goes, and apparently he’ll be on the Daily Show this next Monday.

- Kevin

To update about Spring Break.

Currently Listening to: Jonathan Larson/RENT/Rosario Dawson + Adam Pascal – Another Day

So, a lot has gone on.  I picked up the golf sticks for the first time in like 9 months and went to the range and did pretty well.  I got to meet some people, which was fun.  Still, I’m always going to be an outsider here at SM cause I left after my freshman year, and sometime I just miss hanging out with some Milton people, they all seem to be on the east coast, it’s kind of sad.

I also started reading Asian American X and it’s really motivating.  I’m applying for APAM Head Mentor (I haven’t made my final decision yet, but I have the application done) and I found some good stories for group discussions.  The more I think about Asian American issues at CMC, the less competent APAM looks because it isn’t an adequate venue for such discussions.  I really want to see if I can jumpstart a new movement towards developing an Asian American social program at CMC.  I think the problem is that a) it failed like 3 years ago, but also b) there isn’t enough interest because people care too much about other things, which is fair.  I’ll see how things go, perhaps next year.

Killzone 2 is great, but to save some money, I returned it with no dent to my wallet.  Great great used game program Gamespot/EB games has.  I’ll probably get it again over the summer, the online compenent is RIDICULOUSLY FUN!

Also, I’ve only watched like two or three musicals in my life, the Lion King (professionally done), A Chorus Line (Milton), Wiz (SM) but I don’t remember any of them, even though the last two I watched like 3/4 years ago.  I really wanted to watch Rent, which closed last September, and I didn’t want to watch the movie because it apparently didn’t do the musical justice.   The DVD for the last Rent Broadway show  is out, kind of, and so I watched it and I’m obsessed/sad I didn’t get to see it live.  I’m even more sad that I didn’t get to see it with the original cast.  Even more so, I dled the Rent Movie Soundtrack and am obsessed with Rosario Dawson’s voice.   Oh. And I’m obsessed I didn’t get to see NPH as Mark.  Even though he parodied it in SNL.  NPH rules.

My bracket is doomed, don’t even talk to me about NCAA BBall anymore.

To post about two comics.

Currently Listening to: QUE BILLAH ft The Cool Kids – Colors

There was another racist incident at an ivy league school, this time at Harvard University, reported by AngryAsianMan.  It’s small and petty, but here’s the link.

So really quickly because I have a huge midterm tomorrow, there are two comics with an Asian American focus, so to speak, one is an anthology by a collaboration of APA’s, the most recognizable being Parry Shen, the start of Better Luck Tomorrow. It’s titled Secret Identities, focusing on the APA’s role in comic books, because honestly it is ridiculously underrepresentated.  Is that a word?

Check it out here.

The next one is being hailed as the next Y:The Last Man, which is one of my favorite series of all time.  It’s called Chew, starring Jerry Chu, who’s a cibopathic cop, or a man who can eat anything and trace its origin.  Therefore, he solves murders by eating the corpses of the victims.  yeah….

Whatever, I’m excited.  I haven’t read a good comic in awhile, save for Amazing Spider Man.

I got the news from AngryAsianMan, here.

- Kevin

To compile a to do list for Spring Break.

Currently Listening to: N*E*R*D – She Wants to Move

This is what I want to do, but probably won’t be able to do, over the week or so of spring break.

Re-read John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice (It’s been like 3-4 years… I’ll probably have a better understanding of it now)

Read Amitai Etzioni’s The New Golden Rule, Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Asian American X.

Re-watch Crash and American History X (I think I’ll do that tonight, while writing my own history paper.)

Go work/intern at CMG/FM.

Play Killzone 1 and 2. (I think the first game blows chunks, but I’m playing through it because of a potential connection in the story.)

Find time to watch Watchmen, even though I hear terrible things about it.

Hang out with friends.

TIME TO VISIT THE LOCAL BOOKSTORE!

- Kevin

To read more books.

Currently Listening to: Kero One – Give Thanks (Ft. Niama)

I’m kind of sad that no one commented, despite the fact that I know people visited.  Yeah.

It’s okay though, I think that if you even think about these questions for about 30 seconds, and try to develop some answers in your mind, then I’ve done what I’ve needed to do with a simple post.

There are those generic questions you ask right after semester break or a vacation, specifically “So how was your break/vacation”  and the general response is “It’s good, but I didn’t really do anything…” or “It was pretty boring” something like that right?

Well my wasn’t. Kind of.

Over my winter vacation, I, among other things,  re-read the entire Harry Potter Series.  All 4,195 pages of it.  And then after all that, I re-read my favorite parts of my favorite books and watched the movies.   I’ve always had an appreciation for JK Rowling’s imagination and her ability to connect with such a diverse audience.  From that 12 year old who’s reading under his covers with a flashlight, to Stephen King reading to write a review of praise, Rowling brought us to a magical world that fascinated and challenged us.  But it is only during this epic reading that, in growing up with Harry Potter, I realized that we, as a generation (or those who are my age/generation), truly grew up with Harry Potter.  Rowling’s content, style, and prose  grew with us as we grew up around her (okay. there are some grammar and style errors. fine, but it doesn’t change the fact that I grew up with HP). That is beyond special.  We, the lucky generation that pushed a special election and saw an African American President enter the White House, got to grow up with Harry Potter.  It is that special.   I was dealing with girls when Harry was.  My homework load increased when Harry’s did. Even those who lived while C.S. Lewis or JRR Tolkein were writing cannot make that claim with those  authors’ respective books because the maturation of those fictional characters is not as apparent and as important.  More importantly,  it is not something a child can easily relate to.

It doesn’t matter where you’re from, you can find some sort of connection with one of the characters in Harry Potter’s world.  As divorce rates increase, more and more people will have to deal with single parents or parents who are living afar, much like Neville and Harry did.  People might have had to deal with class issues like Ron, or social issues the way Hermione dealt with her status as a “mudblood”.   Harry Potter taught me things about courage, love, and pain when I was having problems dealing with my own emotions, or could not look to an adult figure to help me conquer such troubles.  Harry’s lonely when you’re lonely, he’s sad when you’re sad, he’s happy when you’re happy.  We as readers, connect to Harry through our own lives and troubles, and certain parts resonate with us more than other parts.  One reader can have different view of certain issues of Harry Potter in their lives, but still, we can all say that Harry is a part of us because he helped us, even if only a little bit, through troubling times.

I don’t know.  Maybe I’m alone in thinking that Harry Potter is.. well magical.

So! my thought/question for you today is to think about your favorite Harry Potter character, and then truly think why?  It could be something as simple as Hermione ’cause she’s smart, Voldemort ’cause of his ambition, or Ginny ’cause she’s truly brave.  Mine’s Snape, because while he is seemingly sinister and evil, he is driven and motivated by true love and true passion.

HP might not mean that much to you, you might even hate it.  Why?  There are, in my eyes, clear cut connections with the problems that children and teenagers deal with the problems that Harry and his friends have to.  I’m sure I’m not the only one who sees this, so why did you (potentially) have trouble making these connections?