For my summer digital media class final review I made this:
(Go to YouTube and watch it in High Quality!)
After the Civil War but before being shot, Lincoln decides that a big-ass building would totally unite the country. Money that would have been funneled into the military flows like a river of glorious gold into the new Tower of Freedom. FDR picks it up as the core of the New Deal, ushering in a new era of peace, prosperity, and civil engineering. Architects, far from being the dirty whores of society, become its pampered concubines. HOWEVER, all is not well: bitter pro-war agitators, angry at the tower’s diversion of military funds, plot to bomb the tower. In September 1971 Freedom Tower crumbles in a midnight raid of dozens armed with pointy sticks. An enraged President Robert F. Kennedy declares the Tower to be the very foundation of the country, and reconstruction begins anew, bringing America’s second Golden Age and manifesting its true destiny.
The best part about this project was that it was 100% the fun part (making cool things) and 0% the boring part (figuring out the practical stuff). Putting together a neo-Baroque building was surprisingly fun—it sure beats having to make something “new” all the damn time.
I just came back from seeing Indy 4, and holy shit that movie made no sense at all. It’s basically a long chain of chase scenes, which is good fun until you reach that typically “wuh?” Spielberg-ending. One of the strange things about Indiana Jones is that he personally witnesses astounding things that should force him to question the nature of religion, the fabric of reality, the very origin of human civilization itself—I mean, he’s a freakin’ professor—and yet at the end of the day he just sort of shrugs and goes back to teaching Anthro 101.
Anyway, now I’m going to brag about how the chase scene through Indy’s university was filmed at Yale. That’s right, Indiana Jones is Professor Henry Jones, Jr. of Yale Effin’ University. The chase scene’s hilarious because it’s completely out of sequence—they’re warping all over campus. They start at a nonexistent corner burger joint, go down Chapel Street, flip over to on Elm, cut through old campus, go up the steps of Sterling Library, and end up in Commons (a dining hall masquerading as the library’s reading room).
I just watched Knocked Up and holy shit that scared the shit out of me. All the relationship stuff, people getting offended and spinning little things into huge problems, jesusfuck. Look, just say you’re sorry. Fuck. That’s just terrifying, how about we all love each other okay?
Also, Judd Apatow’s the man. All his characters basically speak the same way but that’s fine because they’re using the English language the best way it can be used.
Harvard completely steamrolled Yale, 37-6. Seriously, five 2nd-graders with Wiis could have played a better game than Yale’s “football” team, which apparently consists of one awesome running back and half of Microsoft’s 2008 recruits. There was absolutely no energy, no cheer team, a half-time show involving pterodactyls representing Harvard, the complete opposite of The Big Game of my undergrad days. It was like watching a particularly bad high school game—we’ve come a long way from the days when The Game made the front page of the New York Times.
I went at half-time, stayed long enough to witness the carnage for myself, then went back to the tailgate party.
Here Jang and I knock back a coke and a Corona at Carlos’ tailgate party, just outside the Bowl. The gray-haired gentleman in the background is Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León, former President of Mexico. (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
At least the walk to the Bowl was nice.
Anyway, afterward I had dinner, took a nap, then went with nine other guys to the Hooters in Milford, where we watched something called UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), among other things. Hooters’ is pretty alright: it’s completely unpretentious, the service is incredible (no seriously), and the chicken wings totally match the hype. The one thing I couldn’t figure out is whether or not we were supposed to be ogling said hooters: on the one hand I don’t want to be a total cock, on the other hand that’s the restaurant’s point.
Tomorrow’s The Game, Yale v. Harvard at the Yale Bowl. In the spirit of not jinxing the whole damn thing, I’ll just say that both Yale (9-0, 6-0 Ivy) and Harvard (7-2, 6-0 Ivy) are undefeated in the Ivy League—the first time since 1968—so the stage is set.
Anyway, the other year-end game at my other school? The Big Game, Cal v. Stanford. Yale’s color is Yale Blue, Berkeley’s are Yale Blue and California Gold (many founders of the latter graduated from the former). Harvard’s color is Crimson, Stanford’s is something called “Cardinal,” demonstrating an unhealthy predilection for the color of Joseph Stalin and brutal Asian dictatorships. Both Yale and Berkeley are naturally big on light: Yale’s motto is “Lux et Veritas” (Latin for “Light & Truth”), Berkeley’s is “Fiat Lux” (Latin for “Let There Be Light”). Meanwhile, Harvard’s motto is “Veritas” (Latin for “Douchebag”) and Stanford’s is “Die Luft der Freiheit weht” (German for “We feast on puppies and kittens”). Both Yale and Berkeley are intrinsically good and largely Buddhist; Harvard and Stanford have their own joint circle of Hell and graduate large numbers of investment bankers and Republicans.
Most importantly, the year Cal finally won big at the Big Game: 2002, the same year some Chinese kid from Anaheim showed up. Coincidence?
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