Nephews!

I have three nephews now! Congratulations to Becca and Camden. We now have:

Christian (son of Stephen and Rachel),

Bronson (son of Rebecca and Camden), and

Alex (son of Nathan and Robin).

Aren't they all cute?

Review: Iron Man 2

One of the things that I’ve most enjoyed about the latest round of comic book hero movies is that they’ve tried to deal with more serious issues. Dark Knight was one of the better ones, but I think Iron Man 2 definitely holds its own in the realm of not just being a comic book movie, but a graphic novel movie.

Starting a while after Tony Stark revealed to the world that he was, in fact, Iron Man. In the intervening months, the Senate has tried to get him to turn the “Iron Man Weapon” over to them, multiple countries or other defense contractors have tried to duplicate the technology, and Tony Stark has become a celebrity that has “successfully privatized world peace.”

The movie does great in dealing with all of these issues. The Senate hearing felt like it could be real—what do we do as a nation if one of our private citizens has developed technology that severely alters the worldwide balance of power? Developing Iron Man-like suits becomes the new arms race. Tony is convinced that it will be decades before a similar suit is developed, but that turns out to not be true when a Russian scientist, Ivan Vanko, whose father worked with Stark’s father back in the day, develops his own suit. Turns out Daddy Stark and Daddy Vanko had together developed the technology that powers the Iron Man suit, but then Daddy Stark sent his Russian friend packing back to Siberia while taking all the credit. Ivan teams up with one of Stark’s weapons contracting rivals, Justin Hammer, but in the end turns out to be evil, and Tony Stark must man up and save the day, despite his having spent most of the movie in a self-destructive mood due to his being poisoned by the Arc Reactor in his chest.

All of these help create very 3 dimensional characters. Don Cheadle does a great job stepping into Terrence Howard’s shoes as Colonel James Rhodes, and the scene where he has to don Iron Man armor to stop a drunk Tony is great, as is his being torn between his duty to country and his friendship to Tony (and what he believes to be the right thing to do). Ivan is a believable bad guy, driven by rage and whose family has gotten the shaft for decades, and Tony slowly begins to self-destruct while he thinks he’s going to die. Gwyneth Paltrow is great as Pepper Potts, and the director, Jon Favreau, even gets to have Scarlett Johansson (as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent) wrap her legs around him. The perks of being a director, I guess.

The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that Daddy Stark hid the secret to perfecting Arc Reactor technology in a stupid model that he left to Tony. Right, like a classified memo would have not done the same thing. Felt a little cheesy and a little far too convenient.

Three dimensional characters. Fun and interesting issues addressed. Good action. Great lines: “If [this missile] were any smarter, it’d write a book that would make Ulysses look like it was written in crayon. It would read it to you.” I think my roommate Adam and I were the only two people in the audience that laughed at that joke. Just one small blip in the script with that stupid idea of hiding the molecular formula in a diorama. I certainly recommend this one.

Overall Grade: 90/100.

Everybody Draw Muhammed Day

Recently there’s been a bit of a hulabaloo about the Prophet Muhammed. South Park did an episode about him for their 200th episode, and it was a 2 parter that continued on into episode 201. The plot revolved around Tom Cruise trying to steal Muhammed’s power to not be made fun of, a clear lampoon of the fact that Muslims have been up in arms about images of the prophet, most notably since the Danish Cartoon Controversy. That reared its ugly head recently when Lars Vilks, a Danish Cartoonist, was attacked in a public lecture.



Anyway, Comedy Central censored episode 201, and whenever Muhammed was to appear there was a large CENSORED bar over him, and you never heard him speak. At one point Tom Cruise succeeds in stealing his power to not be made fun of, and a large CENSORED bar appears over both of them until someone does make fun of Tom Cruise. From contextual clues, I’m actually pretty convinced that the episode wasn’t actually censored, and that the entire thing was staged. But that’s beside the point. Whether it was actually censored or fake censored, a website called revolutionmuslim.com decided to start posting veiled death threats against the South Park creators.

Then revolutionmuslim.com got hacked, and things have escalated from there. You can’t actually see South Park Episodes 200 and 201 online anymore, nor can you see their “Super Best Friends” episode that showed Muhammed years ago, before the Theo Van Gogh incident and the Danish Cartoon incident.

I guess Molly Norris was finally fed up with what she considered giving into bullying or into terrorist demands, and so she made a comic that declared May 20th, today, “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.”
She got her own death threats, caved in and withdrew, but it was too late. Facebook already had a page for “Everybody Draw Muhammed Day.” Of course, the creator of that page is now also in hiding of sorts for fear of his life. Then Pakistan banned facebook and youtube in response. Seriously.

I was a little disturbed by pretty much all of these developments. I wanted to do a blog post on this issue, get my thoughts down.

First, it seems to me that you ought to try to be respectful to others and their beliefs. I’m all for criticizing religion when it ought to be criticized, but sometimes you’re just trying to get a rise out of people for no other reason than to do so (watching the entire video of the Lars Vilks makes it pretty clear that’s what he was going for).

Second, if someone tries to get a rise out of you, don’t respond. We LDS have a fair bit of experience in this matter.


Third, killing someone is never the appropriate response for either being criticized, or having been the target of someone trying to get a rise out of you. Write letters. Complain. Boycott. But do not kill.

So, what to do? I narrowed it down to the following options:

1. Just post about the issue, but don’t make a personal choice as to which side I’m on regarding Everybody Draw Muhammed Day. This, of course, is a choice itself.

2. Post about the issue, but state that I refuse to offend Muslims by posting any version, censored, ancient, or not, of a picture of the Prophet Muhammed. But this also looks like I'm giving in to the bullying demands of those who use terrorist tactics.

3. Post a picture of the Censored Bar from Southpark. This doesn’t (or shouldn’t) offend moderate Muslims. Dunno about radical ones.

4. Post a Muslim’s picture of Muhammed (he’s been portrayed in plenty of Islamic religious art, not all Muslims over the last 14 centuries have held that he could not be drawn, just check out his Wikipedia page). This would demonstrate to the radical Muslims that their interpretation of Islam isn’t universally accepted, but would offend most Muslims.

5. Draw my own picture of Muhammed. Offend most Muslims, but show the radicalists that I think they’re wrong, and that I for one am not going to stand for their bullying. Killing and death threats are NOT proper responses to being offended. And to those that are offended, but don’t want to kill over the issue, well, you’ve had ample time to distance yourself from the radical Muslims. I’m sorry.

I choose option 5. Sorry to any moderate Muslims who stumble across my little blog. Fixing and banning radical forms of Islam, like this man is doing, and as I’ve talked about before, is YOUR job.

Mine is to stand up against bullies when they show up, like these people. I really like Thunderfoot’s videos here and here.

So here you go:

T-Shirt Votes

Well, my t-shirt collection has dwindled until I realized that, with summer upon me, I have only one t-shirt that is not black, and it says "Jesus is a Mormon" so it's not exactly one I wear outside on a regular basis. Time to update my wardrobe. Which, of all these shirts, do you think I should get to round out the t-shirt portion of my wardrobe? (I'll probably buy 3 of them.)

1. Your Retarded.

2. The Second Amendment.

3. Wikipedia Is Accurate (Citation Needed).

4. Haikus Are Easy.

5. Infinity MPG.

6. Donuts Love Policemen.

7. Things To Do Before I Die.

8. It's Just Safer To Assume I Know Karate.

9. 20 If By Giant Robot.

10. Subliminal.

11. In Honor of This Blog.

Alignment

The Dungeons and Dragons system has an interesting way of helping you decide what kind of character you want to create-the alignment system. Basically there are two axes, the good/evil axis, and the lawful/chaotic axis. Each has three steps. In the case of the good/evil axis there's good, neutral, and evil. With the lawful/chaotic axis you have lawful, neutral, and chaotic. Good and evil are self explanatory, and lawful and chaotic are more about how you follow the rules.

Was tinkering around a while back and made this, for those of you nerdy enough to care (you'll have to click through to read all of the quotes):



I made others, if you'd like to see HAL 9000, Dr. Manhattan, Buffy, or whatever. I'm also open to arguments whether or not the characters I have selected actually match the alignments I have assigned them. I'm at least comfortable stating that the quotes match up, but wonder if the quotes are actually indicative of these characters as a whole. Thanks to Brian for helping put them all together.

Can We Just Take It Down A Notch? On All Sides?

Well, as expected, my blogging went down this semester. Lucky you, the semester is all but over (currently waiting for students to come turn in final papers, grades are due on Friday). So now I get to blog more! Anyway, I watched with interest as Obamacare passed, and the far right went nearly apoplectic with rage, including a lot of my friends on facebook.

Calm. Down.

First off, if you've going to throw around the terms "communist," "socialist," or "fascist" please know what they mean. If you don't, it's the equivalent of calling someone the boogeyman, and you look like an idiot.

Second of all, the universe isn’t ending. And I wish that you would really focus on things that are, you know, actually disturbing. The health care bill is not, especially since it’s so close to something that one of the right’s major players himself did—except that if Obama proposes almost the exact same thing, it’s bad. But if Romney does it? Well, that may come back to haunt him because Obama is clearly evil incarnate. And he’s coming to get you. And your children. And your kittens.



Trying to fix the excesses of our profit-driven healthcare system isn’t a bad thing.

Assasinating American Citizens? That is.

Or how about removing citizenship? At least there are provisions that it would require a trial, and it looks like this won’t pass. I personally am tentatively in favor of the bill, but still very wary of the implications. The worst part is an argument that Lieberman makes in his press release, “it has been reported that President Obama has signed an order authorizing the assassination of al-Awlaki. That has not been confirmed – but no one argues that a President doesn’t have the right to issue such an order. If the President can authorize the killing of a U.S. citizen who fights for a Foreign Terrorist Organization – in this case al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – we can also have a law that allows the U.S. government to revoke al-Awlaki’s citizenship.” Actually, I do argue that the President has the right to issue such an order. I’m very uncomfortable with the idea that a leader can simply, without trial, order an execution. That’s the start of a very slippery slope, and although I like Krauthammer most of the time I don't care who proposes these kinds of ideas, I don't want them at all! At least Lieberman’s statute has a trial built into it.

Anyway, with all of these things (and others) going on, the right gets all touchy about healthcare? I think I largely agree with this open letter to conservatives, or perhaps the incredulity of this post. I agree with Paul Krugman that we need two sane political parties, or with Bill Maher that the left has moved to the right and the right has moved into a mental institution. The left also has its loonies, but it’s simply not comparable. With regard to this assassination order, one commenter called it, Obama does something bloodthirsty enough to please the psychos.

Come back. Please. I’m all for small government, but not every expansion of government is bad.

But expansions that involve killing American citizens without a trial are.

What's In A Name?

Lately I’ve been wondering about names. As I just finished yet another milestone on the way to becoming “Doctor Cranney” and the fact that my brother Nathan is on his way to being another “Doctor Cranney,” as well as Stephen someday, this idea of adding titles has been on my mind.

Then there’s also the fact that I’ve been thinking for years about the western tradition of women taking their husband’s last names, which has always seemed arbitrary to me. Turns out it is, since there are cultures in which the mother’s name is the one children take.

Also, there was in my mind something really interesting I encountered in the Wheel of Time fantasy series by Robert Jordan. In a previous age of the world people were granted names according to accomplishments. For example, Lews Therin Telamon was extremely accomplished, and you knew this because he had three names.

Then there was the Common Sense with Dan Carlin podcast I listened to a few weeks ago about possibly instituting a voter competency law—i.e. if you can’t pass a basic competency test of some sort, you cannot vote. (This is an idea that I really like, however am aware of the very evil history such rules and regulations have here in America, so I’m not even going to push it. This is also what the podcast basically said.)

I also still write stories occasionally, and was thinking of trying to incorporate the idea of gaining names according to accomplishments into a culture I would write up. Maybe incorporate such a distinction into a Dungeons and Dragons campaign someday. Who knows?

But how would such a system work? Could you just assume an extra name on your own? What kinds of accomplishments would warrant the addition of a new name? Who decides what names can be given out?

I kicked around several ideas. You could acquire a new name by fulfilling certain requirements determined by the others who had that last name. Sort of a “clan-by-name” association. That would determine what kinds of accomplishments would warrant a new name. Presumably, new “clans” could be created if someone did something new and extraordinary, something that others would want to imitate. Certainly I don’t want to say you could just assume a new name on your own. You have to do something.

Perhaps reaching certain milestones in life could give one the ability to choose a new name, subject to review by a panel of some sort. I rather like this one, because it allows you to personalize your name. Perhaps a tour of duty in the military would grant you this privilege. Finishing college. Climbing a mountain. Writing a bestseller. Serving an LDS mission (or similar religious equivalent). Who knows?

However, accomplishing something seems too external. What about moments of self-discovery? A moment of realization that would help you to further your life’s work can mean more to someone than getting a piece of paper from a university. But how to judge such a moment?

In the end, I decided that the best system would be one wherein an outside accomplishment was required for an extra name—sorry, Buddha, enlightenment is too subjective for such a system. (This of course does not mean that only people with single names couldn’t be influential in society, and I could indeed see someone like the Buddha becoming so, thusly qualifying for another name, but then refusing to actually add it.) However, you get to choose your own name. So the meaningful moments in your life could mean something and be added to your identity, but some form of societal recognition is required. I have no idea what to do with marrying and taking names, but part of me feels you should be able to, i.e. if I get married my wife could add one of my names to her, or I could add one of her to mine. Or both. Or neither. (Thoughts, Emily?) Anyway . . .

So, here’s what I think I would do with such a system for my own name.

First name: Carl. It’s the one my parents gave me, and in such a system everybody would have at least one name for obvious purposes.

Second Name: Socrates. This would stem from my receiving my undergraduate education. Socrates is a man I consider incredibly self-aware. My moments of self-awareness come seldom. I do remember a moment on my mission when Brother Patrick O’Leary, a back surgeon in my Manhattan ward, mentioned that he just thought I had a lot of faith. As he explained his reasoning to me, I discovered that he was right. Interesting to suddenly turn around and realize you’ve come a long way, just so incrementally that you don’t even notice the change. (Side note on the voting thing, I think in my fictional society you would need to have a second name to be able to vote.) Perhaps a second choice for this name would be Buddha, but I feel more kinship with Socrates than with the Buddha.

Third Name: Augustine. This would stem from my receiving my Master’s, and comes from 2 moments, one directly related to the name. First, a moment where my home teachers at Yale told me how much they appreciated me for the unique things I had brought to the ward. I had been kind of bummed earlier in the day and thought that my time at Yale had been not as productive as I thought. God used Will and Ben to respond to my being bummed and to make me aware of how I had changed, again so incrementally that I didn’t even notice. Second, one of my professors at Yale told me a line from the letter of recommendation he wrote for me. Basically he said that I was an Augustine, concerned about the lived reality of God in people’s lives and how the doctrine translates into real life, as opposed to an Aquinas, who is more academic and removed from real-life considerations.

Fourth Name: Theophilus. I will have a PhD someday, but I’ve been thinking of why I’m doing this and what I’m moving forward to do. In short, I feel that this is how God would have me use my talents, and out of respect for him and deference to his will (and the fact that I really like doing theology, let’s be honest) I am working on my PhD in systematic theology.

Carl Socrates Augustine Theophilus. Sounds cool.

I’ve mentioned this idea to several friends. My roommate Adam would be Adam Coleridge Woolf Machado de Assis (from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Virginia Woolf, and a Brazilian author, yes that’s all one name). Those are for his educational degrees (including his as-yet-unobtained PhD) too but keep in mind you don’t have to add one for an educational degree—any sufficiently “I’ve earned the right to add another name” kind of event would qualify.

So, what would your name be?

Consummatum Est, Or, I Chewed It.

Yes, I'm a theology nerd.

Well, as noted in this blog entry:

Biting Off More Than I Can Chew? Or, "Sleep is for Mortals."

I was going to be very busy this semester. I still have some grading to do, but really, it's not a problem to spread them out over the next week or so before grades are due for the community college I teach at.

I would just like to announce that I'm finished with coursework for my Ph.D. Turned in the last paper earlier today. Susan took me to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate, after I almost fell asleep in her front room while she was talking with her roommate.

I learned a lot about myself this semester, and not just that I get really loopy when I'm running on 5-6 hours of sleep a day for weeks at a time. (I had to deliberately not comment in some of my classes because I was so tired I just knew the comment wasn't going to come out right at all since I was basically slipping into REM sleep with my eyes open.) In short, I bit off more than I could chew. Then I chewed it.

I'm going to sleep now. So unbelievably tired.

Edit: Just found out that I passed my German proficiency exam. Yay!