It’s been a long time coming…

FINALLY! The Jackets won the ACC Championship! The last time they’ve done that was in 1966.

And I have to say how much I love Paul Johnson. He’s turned Tech around and has won ACC Coach of the Year two years in a row.

…oh yeah, don’t piss him off.

You know, I don’t really care anymore that we lost to the Dawgs. I think that loss is what we needed to get in gear and win the ‘Ship. And if losing to a rival means winning a BCS Bowl Game, I’ll take that any day.

-Beast

Christmas Traditions

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the music. Especially the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Mannheim Steamroller. The music just seems to make everyone happier, or it does for me, at least.

Growing up, one of our Christmas traditions was that we would go look at all of the Christmas lights that people had put up while listening to Christmas music in the car.

After that, we would go to midnight mass, and have dinner afterward. Once we got home, we would get to open ONE present.

Oh man. I remember trying to figure out which present we needed to open first. Should I open the big one? Should I open the small one?

My little sister and I were always careful to avoid the presents that we knew, like clothes. Sometimes, if we picked out a really good gift, mom would make us put it back and pick another one.

What traditions does your family have?

I hope everyone’s enjoying the Christmas season as much as I am.

-Beast

So close...

There's only 7 days until school is over! So close...

But until then, I'll be reading. And reading some more. Basically, when you become an English major, all you do is read. Oh, and write papers.

Hope everyone has a good weekend! What do you plan on doing?

-Beast

Should Gay Marriage Be Legalized?

Recently the New York State Senate voted down a bill proposing to legalize gay marriage 38-24. The state had many senators who backed the bill, but failed to get the needed Republican votes so it could pass. Because of this, some think that the gay marriage fight is over.

Gay marriage, much like abortion, is a subject where there are only two sides, for it or against it, and once someone has decided which side they’re for, it, generally, becomes incredibly hard to sway their opinion. I’ve based my opinion from what I’ve heard, seen, and read of the arguments of the two sides.

Opposition for gay marriage generally consists of religious people, mainly Christians. They argue that homosexuality is not natural, and therefore marriage between the same sex should not occur. Because it is unnatural, homosexuals choose to be gay, and therefore can become straight. If homosexuals were to be married, they argue, it would ruin the sanctity of marriage.

Generally, my opinions agree with the pro gay marriage arguments. I don’t believe that homosexuality is a choice. I don’t think anyone chooses whether they will be gay or straight, it just happens naturally. When a young boy or girl going through adolescence is attracted to someone of the same sex, they don’t choose to do so.

I don’t think that homosexuality will ruin the sanctity of marriage either. With the divorce rate in the US being 50%, it is hard to argue that the sanctity of marriage is being preserved between heterosexual couples.

But the main reason I think that gay marriage should be allowed is because I don’t think the government should tell it’s people whom they can get married to and whom they cannot. If America represents and protects all of her people, then why does she discriminate against homosexuals?

“That the desires of the majority of the people are often for injustice and inhumanity against the minority, is demonstrated by every page of the history of the whole world” –John Adams

In this world today it’s hard enough to find someone who gets you, and who is that perfect match for you, and if that special someone is of the same sex, then the couple should be able to get married and have all of the legal benefits straight couples have.

What do you think? Should gay marriage be allowed, or should marriage remain strictly between a heterosexual couples? As always, leave your thoughts in the comments and follow me if you like what you read.

-Beast

Life Updates

This will be a short post for now, but I just wanted to update everyone on how I’ve been doing.

School’s been pretty tough, but I’ll get through it alright. There’s only one and a half more weeks of school left. Over the break I’ll, hopefully, be working with my dad. I’ll also get to see my dogs!

And I’ll be frank, the main reason I got this is because I have a new program that will make it easier to write blogs. I’m testing it out now, so hopefully you’ll see more writing coming soon.

Other than that, things are going well. I’ve been keeping busy, but I have an idea of a few posts that I will work on over the break.  Maybe sooner if you’re lucky.

-Beast

What I Hate About Twilight

Before you read this post, you should check out these links:
1. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29001524/
2. http://www.youtube.com/user/nuttymadam3575?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/50/NDQ2h4hrors
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb72V_4N5ko
4. http://www.cracked.com/funny-36-twilight/

Now, I know at least a couple of people who read my blog are huge Twilight fans (I'm talking about you Jenn With 2 N's ) so this post might upset them, but Twilight is getting on my nerves. But it's not the idea that vampires sparkle which bothers me. Or that Edward is really old but is digging a 17 year old chick, or even that the book is very poorly written. What bothers me about Twilight is that girls are taking it way too seriously.

Before I start on this, I know that there are many people who simply read the books because they enjoy it, and can leave it at that. The people who understand that the series is just simply that, a series of books, are not the people with whom I have a problem. It is the large group of people who have almost begun to live by the books that bother me.

The books are written specifically for teenage girls. The main character, Bella, has little or no personality, which allows these young girls to project themselves on her. In the beginning of the novel, Bella states that she's boring and there's nothing really special about her. Everyone everywhere feels that way at some point, especially young girls who must deal with the hell that is the middle school social life. By having such an empty character, it is easy for these girls to connect with her.

Once they have made that connection, Bella's life becomes their own. Now, every book must connect its readers to the characters, otherwise there would be no point in reading books. But the problem is that many girls not only connect with Bella, but they live through her. So whatever happens to her happens to them. Through Bella they learn what true love is, the love that she and Edward share. But this isn't true love.

I've already admitted that I don't know a thing about love, but I do know that love ends. Whether it's through a break up, a divorce, or death, love ends at some point. (Taken from author John Green.) And people aren't prefect, like Edward Cullen. There is nobody who will look perpetually 17 and who has no character flaws. Everyone makes mistakes and true love takes work. But this is not what the majority of people who are reading Twilight get from it.

Basically, if you can read Twilight and take it for only what it is, a novel in which you can escape for a few hours, then great! That is what books are meant to do, and Twilight is good at doing that. But please, don't get caught up in the book so much that you forget that the characters aren't real. When you get in a relationship, know that people make mistakes, and that it takes work to make relationships last.

But if anything, at least people are still reading.

-Beast

The Moral Grey Zone

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE GAME CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW PLOT DETAILS, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM READING.

Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) has recently broken record sales, grossing $310 million on the first day, in the US and U.K. alone. Many of my friends have already boughten the game, and are loving it. I asked my friend, who beat the 6 hour game play in the first day, to show me some of his favorite missions, and I was very surprised at what I saw.

I'm not big on video games. In fact, the latest game console I have is the N64. However, I do like to watch people play the games. So as I'm watching my friend ride a snowmobile down a ridiculous hill only to jump across a gorge to safety, and see the Whiskey Hotel (White House) blown up by terrorists, and to see the ending which I won't spoil here, I realized that the main joy to this game is in realizing that you are the good guy, who is killing the bad guy. The reward is that you are the moral person in the situation. Then my friend puts on a mission but has to leave the room for a minute, so he hands me the controller. I've only played first person shooters a couple of times, but I know the jist of it, so I see what I can do.

The scene opens. You are in an elevator with four or five other guys. All of you have machine guns. You are in a airport. You casually walk into the crowded lobby and unload your guns on the civilians. Easily a hundred people fall, dead. You cannot run or sprint. There is no music. As you slowly make your way through the mall, the death count rises. You see a man try to drag a wounded man to safety. You shoot them both. You hear screams but you do not stop. The police come to stop you, but you must take them down. As I come to the middle of the mission, my friend reenters the room. He looks at me with a grim look and says, "Creepy, isn't it?"

It was very creepy. Here I had just convinced myself that the pleasure from this game was that you were the good guy. It was easy to kill the terrorist. However, in the mission you are a spy and you must earn their trust. Being forced to do that put me in a terrible moral gray area. In the end, it was for a good cause, but at what price? After this I became slightly depressed as I wondered, do the ends really justify the means?

I posed this question to my friend, which I will now pose to you: You alone are the one who must make this choice. In order to save 1,000 lives, you must kill 100. Could you do it? If the ends justified the means, it would be an easy yes, because you would save 900 lives. But could you kill 100 people? I don't know the answer to this question. He asked me if his loved ones were in the 1,000 or if they were in the 100. Would this make it easier? Would you kill a stranger to save a loved one? Or would you kill a loved one to save hundreds of strangers? And to think, it was a video game that got me thinking.

Of all the dilemmas that were going on in my head, a good thought did occur. The same game that many people criticize for mind-numbing violence caused me to really consider the reality of murder. Even though I have no intentions of murdering someone, this game made me want to do so even less. So is this gruesome, immoral scene really a inhibitor to a higher moral state? By showing the harshness and reality of just a widespread murder, it really brings the severity into play, unlike the cartoonish violence in Grand Theft Auto IV.

The moral ambiguity of MW2 is one of the best things I like about the game. I love being forced to think after I watch a movie or read a book, and to get the same feeling from a game was a wonderful experience. Besides from this, the graphics are amazing, and the story line (from what I saw) is good as well. There are a lot of twists that keep you guessing, and the enemy AI is more advanced as well. So coming from someone who has never played/seen the first Modern Warfare, I would say this game is a must buy.

I think the most important thing to take away from this experience, though, is that every once in a while it is good to question your morals. I think it's good to push the ideas of what you would and wouldn't do every so often, so that you know where you really are.

"Changing your mind is one of the best ways of figuring out whether or not you still have one." -Taylor Mali