America's Decision

Being a white, 20-something male, there are often times such a large amount of advertisements, products and media being force-fed to me that my head spins. Buy this, watch that, this is what you should want (based on our focus groups), this is what is ‘in’ this is what is ‘out.’ Even political candidates are nearly decided for us. On the democratic side, just a year ago, there were half a dozen or so candidates that honestly had the capacity and capability to be president. What happened to them? They never had a chance. Kucinich, Richardson, and yes, even Edwards. Edwards may have held on the longest, but he never really had a shot. Our choices were narrowed down to Obama and Hillary. The other candidates were eliminated from the media and debates as their electability dropped off. And from my standpoint, this country cannot possibly be ignorant enough to elect another Republican into office at this point in time, so in all likelihood, either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton will become president of the United States.

This brings me to the point of my review. Obama’s candidacy is designed to appeal to me. Not just me, of course, as that would be political suicide, but it is aimed strategically at me and my demographic. Here is what Obama (and his staff) sees:

1) The majority of voters are middle-class. The more voters in one group, the more you should focus your campaign.

2) Obama typically wins 8 out of 10 of the black votes.

3) Hillary typically wins 2/3 of the Latino vote.

So what do these things mean? Where should he focus his efforts? Where do most of the swing votes come from? White middle-class Americans. So what does Obama do to narrow his campaign to appeal to this group? He listens to what they are concerned about:

1) The war in Iraq

2) The crippling economy

3) Healthcare

Obviously there are more issues in his campaign, and many more issues in this country on top of that, but the polls tell Obama that this is what he should talk about. So he does. He says that he will end the war in Iraq, and repeatedly states that he opposed the war in the beginning. He says that he will take tax cuts away from the rich, and use the revenue to create tax cuts for the middle class, create ‘green’ jobs, etc. And he lays out a healthcare plan for America. It is not a ‘universal healthcare’ plan, although that is what he calls it.

So Obama talks about the issues that affect the middle class. That isn’t enough. Hillary talks about those same issues. She has very similar solutions to the same problems. So how does America choose between them? What it comes down to is likability. Which candidate can the average American connect with? Who is more believable, more inspirational? As the last eleven primaries and caucuses show, many believe Obama is that candidate. A lot of people simply don’t like Hillary. Is that enough to base a vote on? We’ll see. Obama has captured the young vote, collected over a million small donations from his website, and continues to run a pretty clean campaign. Hillary has loaned her campaign five million dollars, and has consistently run a negative campaign out of desperation. Now to be perfectly honest, I would not be crushed to see Hillary in office. She is a very intelligent clever woman, with some really good ideas for this country. But I prefer Obama’s background, the very thing she attacks. Yes, he has less experience on the Senate floor, but to me that means that as president he would be less likely to fall into the same old song and dance, and would perhaps be able to deliver the change that has become the focal point of his campaign.

Review Assignment 2

The Columbia Chronicle

The Columbia Chronicle is Columbia's own campus newspaper, written, edited, and produced for Columbia students, by Columbia students. Overall it reads like you would expect a newspaper to read. It certainly has a biased group of topics, seeing as it is a college paper, the journalists tend to write more about issues that effect the lives of an average Columbia student. However, a few of the articles did extend outside the world of Columbia. I'm not convinced that the individual articles could hold their own by themselves, but as an overall publication, I have no doubt that the Chronicle is far superior to your average college-produced newspaper. It has a nice mix of professionalism blended with a laid-back, relaxed feel to it. I think the advertisements say a lot about a paper. In the Chronicle about half of the ads are from the college itself, from the bookstore, to promoting Manifest, to the Student Financial Services' direct deposits. But the rest of the ads seemed like whoever would give them money, thats who would end up in the paper. Which is fine, but its an easy way to tell the caliber of the publication just by looking at the ads. The higher profile the ads, the higher profile the publication.


I would have like to have seen some criticism of the college. For instance, the cover story was about the steady decline in the number of functional film cameras in the film cage. The reason for the declining numbers is because they are too damn old, and they dont make parts for them anymore. I understand their intention behind forcing students to use film, and I can't say I disagree with it, but the point is, I pay a lot for school, therefore I don't want to fight over equipment. That's the kind of argument I wanted to see in this paper. Another article described that Columbia would yet again be raising its tuition prices next semester. Instead of casting this news in the negative light it deserves, the article says: "well, at least its not as bad as some other colleges." I prefer hard-hitting, no holds-barred journalism, not this tiptoeing on the eggshells nonsense. That is not to say the articles were not well-written. They just didn't say what needed to be said.


I did, however, like the obituaries. No, I'm not some guy who enjoys reading about the misfortune of others. I liked the obituaries because of how long they were. In most papers, the obituaries are a short blurb about the person and where they will be buried. Usually a sentence or two. However in the Chronicle, one person takes up a half page. In this issue there were two people being honored on one page, and the additional room allowed the writer to go into some detail about their lives, who they were, and what they accomplished. I would hope that when I pass, I am fortunate enough to get half a page all to myself, and not be lost in the tiny paragraphs of the newspaper obituaries.

Post 1, Reviewing the Arts

Charlie Wilson's War


This film is based on a true story about a Congressman's initiative during the Cold War. It was written by Aaron Sorkin, the writer behind most of the West Wing series. Like the West Wing TV show, this film is all about the dialogue. The dialoge is intelligent, fast, witty and sharp. If you zone out (which would be difficult to do in this film) you will miss a lot very quickly. The performance's of Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymore Hoffman are top notch, they both really immerse themselves in thier characters. In response to the trailers and previews for Charlie Wilson's war, many questioned the filmmakers for producing a movie that essentially glorifyies the middle east at this time, with our country in its current state. However, actually watching the movie clears up those questions. This film isn't about the Cold war, or the Congressman. It is about what happened after all of that. And even though there are only about 5 mins worth of "post war" time on screen, it is apparent that this is the whole point of the film. It is a very powerful message, and we should all hope that history fails to repeat itself.

RadioHead's New Album.....You pay what you want

Apparently, Radiohead has a new album coming out on October 10. News to me, but I'm stoked. I've been a fan for a while now, and I'm excited to see what new sounds they have come up with. The big news though, is that the album, entitled In Rainbows, will be available for pre-order only through their website (click title above for link). And whether you choose the download or CD copy, and add it to your shopping cart, the cart asks YOU what you want to pay! That's right, you can pay whatever you think it's worth, or you pay what you can afford. You can pay nothing, if thats what you want. Personally, I love this idea, and I hope it pans out for them. And if it does, I hope other record labels adopt this business model. No RIAA, no iTunes DRM, just pay what you feel is right. Now, this might not work for smaller names, but who knows? Either way, we'll see how it goes.

Teaser for the Teaser

While browsing around on my favorite movie-news site www.comingsoon.net, I came across an article titled: Promo for the Iron Man Teaser! This quite literally is a teaser trailer for the teaser trailer for the upcoming film Iron Man. Now, don't get me wrong, I am as excited to see this comic book adapted for the big screen as anyone, but aren't we taking it a bit far? Perhaps we are spoiling movies a bit too much? First trailers weren't enough, then teasers weren't enough, and now on-the-set webcasts and TV spots aren't enough! After watching all that stuff, you shouldn't even bother to buy a ticket, cause you've already seen most of the movie (and usually all of the good parts). Maybe I'm overreacting, but eventually we are going to start seeing entire TV shows dedicated to movies no one has seen yet. Oops, too late.

Second Life

I must have been living in a hole since 2003, because up until this point I knew very little about the online virtual world Second Life. Of course I had heard about it, rumblings on the news and some quips on The Daily Show, but I never really researched it. Well, technically, I still haven't. Short of skimming the Wikipedia page on Second Life, I still don't know much about it. Instead of reading through FAQs and numerous forums, I have decided to create a free Second Life account, and dive right in. So I created my 'avitar,' my virtual identity named Alexx Tomorrow (a lot of names have been taken already). After giving them my real name and email address, my account was created. Now all I need to do is wait for my confirmation email, and then I can begin my journey into Second life. I will update you once I actually get into the program.

First Post

So this is just an introduction for those of you who don't know me. Well, an introduction with little or no personal information about me, that is. Gotta keep all those crazy stalkers away, you know (that's assuming anyone would be interested in stalking me. Doubtful). At any rate, my name is Christian, and I live in Chicago (vague enough for you?) where I work as an IT specialist while going to college. I will be graduating next May, and will be launched into the real world whether I like it or not. So for some reason, I have decided to create my (obviously) first blog. Yes, I'm using a terrible template, but just as I hope to change and grow while writing this blog, I hope that my html skills will also grow and change. We'll see.

What is this blog about? Well, as the title suggests, it will be about anything and everything, pretty much whatever I damn well please. I am a bit of a gadget freak, so I will probably talk a lot about technology's past, present and future. Did I scare you away yet? Well, I also plan to talk about current news and events, as well as some TV, video game and movie reviews. And I suppose I will throw in some anecdotes about my life and experiences. And hey, if anyone wants me to talk about something specific, let me know, and I'll think about it. But no promises.