Tuesday, May 31, 2011

When Are We Liable?


When I found out that Barnes and Noble was releasing a new NOOK I knew that that was what I wanted. For the past few occasions that warranted presents I did not know what I wanted and my birthday is coming in two months. Now I know that the new NOOK is what I want with its touch screen and EInk, I do not have the NOOK yet, however I did download the NOOK for PC app along with a few ebooks.

   I am one who is interested in Christian culture and the supernatural so I typed "The Book of Revelations" into the B&N search engine. One of the results that came up was a book by that name, but had a picture of a Jewish Star and a Swastika on the cover and it was free. I went to click on the cover to see what it was about, because I knew that this had nothing to do with the biblical book that went by the same name. I read the synopsis to see what it was about, and I found it to be interesting. 
 
  The book was about a psychiatrist,Dr. Simon Panalewicz who was sent to jail for attacking  a girl for apparently no reason. From his California jail cell the psychiatrist requests that certain clergy visit him despite the fact that he is an atheist. Among the clergy of whom he requests a visit is a prestigious rabbi  by the name of, Rabbi Max Gutterman, from New York. At first Rabbi Gutterman is not sure whether he should visit the psychiatrist. In the end the rabbi decides to do so. He enters the jail cell of the psychiatrist who then begins to ask him about whether he believes in past lives. The rabbi says that he does not believe so to which the doctor responds that there have been regressions into past livesdue to hypnosis and that he attacked the girl for who she was in a past life. The rabbi and the doctor continue to their verbal exchange that ends when the psychiatrist asks offers to tell the rabbi who he was in a past life. This offends the rabbi to the point that he storms out of the jail and says that he will not come back to visit him. The rabbi, however does come back only to hear the psychiatrist tell him that he was Adolf Hitler in a past life. You can imagine how a rabbi of any denomination would take that. Obviously, Hitler the leader of the Nazi Part and the Third Reich, and is known to be responsible for the death 6,000,000 is not someone that any Jew, let alone a rabbi would have wanted to have been in a past life.

   The rabbi finally hits the boiling point and flies back to New York. He was hoping to deal with the situation on his own. However, that is not what happens. He tells his father and friends who do not believe it. The rabbi then starts finding Swastikas on their door and a threatening letter addressed to him that says that they will kill Hitler. Rabbi Gutterman soon finds out that there are two sides vying for him, the Jurors who want him dead and the Nazis who want to bring out the Hitler in him. The Nazis want Gutterman alive despite the fact that he is a Jew and is not genetically part of "The Master Race" and they think of using him as a double agent among the Jews. The Jurors meanwhile do not go according to what their names imply, instead they kill first and ask questions later, which I find to be extremely ironic. The Jurors end up taking over everything including the government and continue killing people for who they were in past lives.

   The question I have is whether Rabbi Gutterman is responsible for the actions of his past life. Rabbi Gutterman was a kind and caring man who was open-minded and gave second chances. One would never expect that the rabbi could have been Hitler in a past life. In fact I believe this shows how a person is molded by his environment, although I do not believe that it excuses Hitler of all that he did. I also think that if the rabbi was Hitler in a past life then I admire him for how he was able to keep the bad characteristics under control and use them for good, which makes me view him as a stronger person than Hitler.

   This also brings the question of whether extra-legal activities of vigilantes should be allowed. Like the Death Note manga series, it deals with vigilantes trying to bring "justice" to the world. In Death Note there is a boy who decides to bring justice to the world and kill criminals by writing their name in a notebook which causes them to die. The boy's actions are assumed to be by a death god by the name of Kira. He soon obtains a strong support base and everyone depends on him to kill all the criminals to make the world a better place. However he ends up killing innocent people and everyone who gets in his way. He soon thinks that he is God and can do whatever he wants. The Jurors are similar in that they think that it is up to them to bring "justice" to the world in ways that are not legal and they eventually gain the support of governments to do so.

   I view a new life as an escape from a past life to prove who you can be, I mean if there are new lives. Also if there are past lives and we would be judged based on them, something tells me that half of us would be dead.

Friday, May 20, 2011

My (Attempted) Review of Cannibal!: The Musical

   Last night a friend and I got on to the subject of the South Park movie, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. My friend told me that I had to watch Cannibal!: The Musical. Cannibal: The Musical was made as a college class assignment by the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. As my friend told me, it covers many of the themes that were later drafted into the making of South Park, which is one of my favorite shows.

   It is set in the late 1800s loosely based on the true story of Alfred Packer, who was accused of cannibalism.  The first scene of the movie is a portrayal of how the cannibalism supposedly took place.Alfred Packer (Trey Parker) the leader a group of Mormon miners from Utah, supposedly headed towards Breckenridge, Colorado to find their fortune in mining gold and, is accuse of cannibalism. Alfred Packer is portrayed to the jury as randomly ripping off body parts of the members of his crew. The goriness in this scene is not too different than the scenes that one would see in Monty Python's The Holy Grail. A female reporter from the Denver Post decides to interview him. He at first is reluctant to tell her, but after flirting with him her becomes an open book. The reporter mentions Leanne, who we find out was Packer's horse. Packer had an unnatural attachment to Leanne, almost as one would have with a longtime girl friend or a spouse. This is understandable, seeing as Leanne was named after Trey Parker's ex-girlfriend, this name is given to Cartman's mother on South Park. The verdict of the trial was that Packer was guilty and is sentenced to death. As Packer is waiting to die he tells her more.

   After the original guide of the expedition to Colorado was shot Packer reluctantly becomes the leader of the expedition where he, and the rest of the crew, including Leanne travel on foot. However, he changes his direction after his horse leaves him.for his rivals, the trappers. The cannibalism starts after one of the crew members sings about one of the crew members sings about making a snowman as everybody is freezing to death. He annoyed the crew so badly that one of the crew members shot him. As the crew was starving to death they decided to consume the flesh. Then Bell decides to kill the crew when Packer is away claiming that it was out of self defense. He was so freaked out by what Bell had done that Packer felt the urge to kill Bell.What was hilarious was how long it took to kill Bell, he had to be stabbed and shot multiple times. Ultimately Bell stops moving and is assumed dead. Packer goes to the town where the trappers are to find out that Leanne was not stolen but actually left him. What was probably a reference, to Parker's ex was when one of the Trappers said that everyone in town has ridden his horse, probably to reference that his girlfriend was a harlot, similar to how Cartman's mother, who as I said before has the same name is portrayed. Eventually the town's people find the crew members and Packer runs to Wyoming, where he is ultimately caught. Everyone is so excited on the day of his execution that they make a musical number about it. Ultimately Packer is relieved of his death sentence, thanks to the reporter, because of ex post facto law, it was before Colorado was a state and is released in 1901. He and the reporter fall in love he gets over the rejection he suffered by Leanne and all is well until Bell with an ax and gun in his head is actually alive and sneaks up on Packer and his girlfriend. This is similar to the unexpected ending of Monty Python's The Holy Grail, when the knights were arrested by the police in 20th century police cars in the medieval setting.

   The musical numbers including the "Snowman" song were hilarious, if you like satirical, immature humor, which is what I love.The music numbers were very similar to those on South Park, in that the singing is not random and unnoticed and is supposed to be a mockery of a musical. I loved the songs although I am just not one to enjoy a song that gives a detailed description of how someone dies when hung. It says in the introduction it originally came out around the same time Oklahoma came out, but it was forgotten because it was upstage by its rival. What was interesting is how many references it had to South Park, from the Monty Pythonesque gory humor, to the red Jewfro that is similar to South Park's Kyle, on Humphrey's, one of crew member's head, to the portrayal of his horse Leanne as a harlot like how Cartman's mother is portrayed. Many of these concepts are those that South Park fans will enjoy and be familiar with.

   To end this attempted review I will say I enjoyed this movie immensely and that those who like Monty Python will also. Another thing that I would like to say is that those who are queasy should not watch it seeing as it has plenty of violence and gore. However I love it and I give this two thumbs up.


Friday, May 13, 2011

Heaven, or Hell?


People from The Family Radio have been going around New York City saying that Judgement Day, as in the day that God judges whether you are worthy of being redeemed when the Messiah comes will be on May 21, 2011. Even if I actually believed that that was true I would still not repent for my sins and be subservient to Jesus. I would first like to know where they got that date from. I have  also decided to use my own logic into defining what Heaven and Hell would be like according to how it is portrayed by religion. Heaven is a place where all the people who follow God's way go. Despite the fact that many argue what the right way is to follow God there, I have come to conclusion that, if there is a God only one way that is the correct way to follow him. Heaven can be a place where only Catholics, Jews, Orthodox Christians, etc only have access to. If only one way is right then Heaven is not a diverse place and if one was to go to Heaven then they would be bored out of their minds, because it would be a place where there would be no intelligent thought, everyone would not question God's judgement and everything would be provided for them so there would be nothing for them to do. To conclude this thought, I have decided that Hell would be a place where there is diversity, intelligent thought and, hard work. From here I have decided that Heaven is actually Hell, and Hell is actually Heaven.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

My View of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden's Death Through the Harry Potter Series

   I was in fourth grade when the World Trade Center on September 11th (a.k.a. 9/11) was hit by two jumbo jets. It was a normal day I got on the bus to go to school in Brooklyn from my Manhattan home. During recess I heard whispers about a bomb in the World Trade Center, but I just could not comprehend what was going on, seeing as that I was somewhat in my own world. I was then asked by a classmate whether I lived near the World Trade Center. I responded to the question by saying that it was quite a walk. After recess the Hebrew principal  called for an assembly and told us about the WTC being hit by airplanes and to say Tehilim (Psalms). I am not one to believe that Psalms actually have power, but I sometimes feel like saying them when it is a last resort. However, the tool that helped me most was the Harry Potter series, since the attacks occurred around the same time as I started reading the series.

  I was told that the city was shut down and had no idea how I would get home. I went to someone's house until my father was able to pick me up. I was somewhat scared of traveling on the trains because, I was scared that the trains might be shut down when I was still on one. I could not comprehend what was going on, despite the fact that I was told. I kept asking questions and drawing airplanes going into the Twin Towers. Soon after a video by Osama bin Laden came out saying that he only thought that the top part of the World Trade Center would be destroyed. For the next few months or possibly a year all I spoke about was Osama bin Laden. I was quite affected seeing as that I was breathing in the smoke from the collapsed buildings  for months and, that I could not see the towers when I looked where they would have normally been.

  Osama bin Laden, to me was not a real person. To me he was simply a fictional character such as Lord Voldemort was, except that to me Lord Voldemort was more tangible, because aside from trying to comprehend the recent occurrence I was also obsessed with Harry Potter. The thing that made bin Laden less tangible than Lord Voldemort was the fact that, although we did see videos of him, Harry Potter, the protagonist of the series had encounters with him that were direct encounters throughout the series. Also the first Harry Potter movie came out about two months after the attacks. I did not quite understand the implications of terrorism and the philosophy of Al Qaeda. Bin Laden the leader of Al Qaeda declared war on the Western world, also known as fatawa, so according to bin Laden, non-Muslims (infidels) and Muslims who do not do Jihad are susceptible to attack, just like those in the Harry Potter series who were Muggleborns, Muggles and those who opposed his ideology. When I heard that bin Laden was killed I was somewhat shocked. Seeing that I viewed bin Laden as Voldemort I thought that he was in a way a powerful wizard who would never be caught and was impervious to death, just as Voldemort was until his Horcruxes were destroyed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

 In the first book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone, everybody everybody lost all their common sense and nearly exposed themselves to the Muggle (non-wizard) population, all because Lord Voldemort suffered defeat, after trying to kill Harry Potter as baby. They dropped every responsibility they had so they could celebrate. One wizard even said to Vernon Dursley ,Harry Potter's  Muggle uncle that even Muggles like him should be celebrating "this happy, happy day." This wizard did little to maintain his secrecy he was even donning a cloak, which is a wizard garment. I can compare the circumstances with the celebrations that happened right after the  announcement of Osama bin Laden's death. People were dancing and celebrating by Ground Zero. However like in the Harry Potter series, I believe that the enemy has not actually been eliminated, and that celebrating by screaming U.S.A. was idiotic and irrational.Voldemort had not actually been killed. At the end of the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort comes back to power and has his minions, the Death Eaters kill many more people and target Harry Potter. Although I do assume that Osama bin Laden is literally dead, I do not believe that Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations have died along with him

   In the Harry Potter series the Ministry of Magic kept the population in the dark about Voldemort's second rise to power. Today President Barack Obama decided to keep a post-mortem picture of Osama bin Laden  from being seen by the masses. What we have to realize is that there is a threat of attack just from the U.S. Government for announcing that Navy SEALS shot bin Laden down. It might quell conspiracy theorists and also discourage terrorist from attacking the U.S. Cornelius Fudge decided not to make up a conspiracy theory that Harry Potter was simply fame hungry and that Dumbledore was either senile, or wanted to take his position as Minister of Magic. When the truth was revealed, Cornelius Fudge was sacked from his position. I feel that we as U.S. citizens should be told the truth and we should have access to such proof.

   Osama bin Laden and Voldemort were similar in that if they wanted the right to live then they should have respected other people's right to live, although I do not view Osama bin Laden's death as justice, I simply view it with awe in a way that I do not know exactly how to feel besides that although everyone is celebrating.  Osama bin Laden was the poster boy for Islamic terrorism, just as Voldemort is the poster boy for evil in the Harry Potter series. What I do not like about the depiction of both their deaths is that everybody whether in real life or the Harry Potter series acted as if both Islamic terrorism and Voldemort's ideology were gone with their deaths. I feel that the celebration is irrational and that bin Laden's death will not bring back the lives that he has taken. I also find that Harry Potter was a tool that was useful in analyzing my surroundings, despite the fact that it is fictitious.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

The Fake Osama bin Laden Picture (My Version)


   There has been much hype over seeing pictures of Osama in Laden after the raid on his mansion. He was shot in the left eye and chest, but was supposedly recognizable. The CIA is supposedly going to eventually release a picture of him after the fateful gunshot. However there is much controversy over a release of that picture because it might be too gory for the public and, it might anger terrorist organizations. I do think that such a picture should be released, to satisfy the skeptic out there.  Meanwhile there is fake picture circulating around the Internet, it was confirmed that that picture was photo-shopped . I thought that I would make one of my own, so I decided to make one on www.morphster.com. I used the "Zombie Me" version. Realize that this is a fake and that I did this for fun.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Osama bin Laden is Dead; Now What?

   I was watching a YouTube video until my my mother came into the room and told me the news. I was ecstatic, I had to Google search it to confirm that that it was true I even turned on the the news channels to confirm that it was not a tabloid news piece, since there were previous theories that bin Laden was dead, apparently which were not true since he was just killed. Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. Right now as I type people are out celebrating. Although this is a major breakthrough the question I have is, "Why are they celebrating, Al Qaeda still exists and if bin Laden was not killed the CIA might have been able to get information out of him that might have eradicated the threat of Al Qaeda altogether?"

    The patriotic celebrations that are occurring remind me of the vigils and the "God Bless America" paraphernalia of Post-911 New York City and the rest of the nation. Don't get me wrong, bin Laden's death is a good thing. Al Qaeda will never be as much of a threat as it used to be, but it is still a threat. The casualties in the Iraqi war were unnecessary. What makes this good news is the fact that the poster boy of terrorism is dead. We still have others to hunt down such as Anwar al-Awlaki and many others.

    What I am waiting for are the conspiracy theories that will result from his death. I already have a few ideas such as what someone told me, which is that the Pakistani Government was harboring him the whole time. The circumstances for his death were slightly suspicious. for example he was killed in the proximity of a mansion right outside of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. What is curious about this is that one would suspect a terrorist to be hiding in a cave or a tribal area. Well I will not consider it so far fetched since the CNN anchors brought that up. I am waiting until more information is leaked. My motto is that, "only time will tell."

 What would make a really interesting conspiracy theory is, that Obama, the U.S. Army and the Pakistani government lied about bin Laden's death and, that bin Laden is still alive. The reason for that would be that President Barack Hussein Osama oops! I meant Obama is a Muslim, as many people I know would call and  I do not believe that, and joined Pakistan's alliance with the Taliban.This move was to take suspicion away from Obama and Pakistan. Also Obama decided that it would help him get reelected so it would be killing two birds with one stone. Yes I am just playing the part of a conspiracy theorist, I am not actually that idiotic.