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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Criminal Minds - Haunted

"There is no witness so dreadful, no accuser so terrible, as the conscience that dwells in the heart of every man." -Polybius


In formal affairs sometimes it's better not to discuss personal issues because in formal affairs business is the name of the game.  Personal issues sometimes gets into formal affairs.  It's reasonable that associating with people, being human, we make friends and become close to those who we relate with.  But that's the thing, there are those people who actually care about you, whether it's about you or their own personal nature, and those that will use your personal character or things happening in your life as a weakness against you.  They will use your human side against you or question it, some people balance it well.

Aaron Hotchner is still rebounding from his confrontation with Foyet, reasonable because trauma to love is personal, unfortunately to Hotchner it is also job related.  Foyet was a serial killer that became personal to Hotchner, who succeeded in killing Hotcher's wife but missed his son.  In this Haunted case, Hotchner makes a considerably reckless viewed move, probably because he is still in a post traumatic state or more so emphasized on saving the boy, by seperating himself from the team when he enters the house alone.  He puts himself in between the lines of the "Hollow Creek Killer" and his son Darrin Call who has been psychologically effected by his father's crimes. Darrin Call is now as an adult coming back to kill his father (But Darrin is hallucinating; he kidnaps a young boy who has not reached adolescence believing the young boy is from Darrin's past, Tommy, who he has helped escape).  One member of his team, Morgan questions Hotchner's leadership with Rossi because a leader should not be so reckless in action (those you micromanage may); his old colleague Rossi defends Hotchner with an explanation of trust.  The ironic thing is Morgan would have done the same thing, he has in previous situations. Agent Prentiss (another colleague) is seen at the end discussing with Hotchner in metaphoric relation about the case with a personal issue Hotchner has.  The topic is if you have nothing to lose, your actions can be reckless.  Agent Prentiss, in regards to issues with this case, reminds Hotchner he still has his son. Hotchner is left standing in the final scene standing alone in a dim dull room alone, staring as if into a deep yonder, at what should be a wall cut off by the scene.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Self-Pity

"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A bird will fall frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." -D.H. Lawrence

G.I. Jane (1997)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Russia is for Russians



Manezh Square, I can only describe, in comparison, like the other "squares" in Russia as the main area in a college campus like Columbia University.  The surrounding buildings massive, not in height, monuments erected long ago but still beautiful, non-decaying and clean. A walk down a garden buried in snow.  When I landed there was snow, when my flight was delayed, it was because of snow.  A statue of an aged bearded Russian descendant which without color can still transcend the communist wardrobe.  The riots that closed down part of the Metro on Manezh square near the Kremlin was due to anger with nationalist and fanatics (some sports).  These fanatics joined by nationalist were put down by Russian anti-riot officers Saturday but not before they created havoc, supposedly aimed at assaulting anyone non-Russian that caused numerous injuries and killed one man.  The riots were a response to a physical confrontation that took place after a sporting event.  What they call people of Armenian/Muslim "Caucasus" shot and killed a sports fan, Yegor Sviridov, from a sports organization.  The riots ended Saturday, my flight took off Sunday evening, it landed in Sheremetyevo-3, Moscow, on Monday morning.  A comment made my way is the Kremlin is safe but be careful.  I wait at the airport.  Traveling, like life is all about waiting.  In the airport I catch up on much sleep that I have been needing and have been wanting.  The reason I slept and stayed at the airport is because based on experience, I know that there is a booking policy for some hotels in which you cannot check-in until 1400 hours, unless noted.

I'm not a world traveler but flying is a basic concept, it has a simple procedure that a novice flyer can find their way.  Step one is to call the airline to find the terminal for that airport your flight will be in.  Step two is to check-in (with or without baggage and get your boarding pass).  Step three security check.  Step four is to find the gate number based on the itinerary you just received once checked in.  After finding your terminal, is simply waiting for any changes to your flight and wait for boarding.  The first gripe, though not the major, is Aeroflot airlines.  The process to get me on board was simple and routine at JFK, my departure from home.  The problem with step one on returning home is I don't speak Russian and some staff were just rude because of that, some, others were very helpful.  I had to find out which terminal my flight was to be at for my departure back home to JFK, with persistent asking more than one person because some staff members at airlines are idiots, I find it, "E".  I walk and walk, then walk some more to get to "E", it's not labeled at Sheremetyevo, I have to ask and ask again, then ask again.  The second issue, due to snow that day of my flight: Delayed, no problem, understandable because others have been Cancelled.  But they switched gates three times, walk more needed.  It's so true that the advice to get to the airport early, about two hours early before the scheduled time is important because not only for getting through security issues but issues that may come up with the flight(s).  Flying is an activity of patience, following a protocol of unperfected organization and comfort you have to adjust to.  I hate flying.  Nine hours cramped with limited brain or physical activities.

Lack of sensitivity or that soft touch is what I would consider Russian communication, especially toward one who is non-Russian.  I speak in terms of some, not all Russians.  It gets the job done and I have often liked that characteristic.  To a Russian, from my perspective, if in their mind they have a question or find something that is not to their liking, they will say or do something in a strong manner to deal with their dislike or question to find an answer.  Does this hold true for other nationalities?  Yes, but I am just being explicitly pointing out the prominence on specifics of Russian character traits, if I visited China or Korea, I would do the same.  That approach is great, it gets things done, but it can also lead to confrontation.  One example at the airport, due to the strong questioning toward airport staff by my passenger peers is a strong: where the fuck is the flight from the crowd of ticket holders.  The response is about six security officers, four of them in darker uniform with berets and guns.  Totally worth it, for culture and adventure.  My trip to Amsterdam in August went much smoother on KLM but the only gripe on that flight back home on Delta was colder and still cramped.  Maybe I'll repost and update my thoughts on it.  Schipol airport is very unorganized and the staff not too great either.

---This is the first time I ever taste caviar, always wanted to, but never splurged on such a considered luxury.  But when in the country of where it is specialized or known for and to not try it in the region it is crafted in is like going to Italy and not trying mom and pop's mozzarella or going to Hong Kong and not eating handmade noodles or dumplings.  Food in Russia is different, of course, I dined in a few local restaurants and had street fair.  I don't know how to describe it in comparison to American cuisine except it's more basic, meaning a chef's creativity.  The food is a traditional family like meal.  Meals consist on a good sized portion of bread-liked baked goods, dumpling-like confections, soups (borscht-like and Ukha-fish) and veggies are served plain, sorry no big salads of romaine mixed with balsamic vinegar and shredded cheese (basically and mainly shredded cucumbers, potatoes and cabbages.  The steak I had was good but I couldn't find a good steak restaurant (maybe it was the area I was in), most of the restaurants served the beef cuts in chunks of fatty beef.  It was great to try all these different things I never had before and could barely reiterate due to spelling and pronunciation.  Oh yes, you can get a burger and there is a McDonald's there but spelled in Russian.

---This chocolate Babaevskiy aka "Babaebcknn" (in non-Russian characters) is made of 75% cocoa (kakao).  I will put it on mid shelf, rating it a three point nine out of five.  It is not too strong, it has no after taste and they are less diluted with sugar or milk.  Hershey's I loved your dark chocolate and still do but I have fount a mistress.

---Approximately 31 rubles (руб) equals a dollar and 40.79 rubles (руб) equals a Euro

---Russia is like the all other countries, you have your luxurious areas with Russian brands and stores more expensive than Prada or Louis Vuitton.  The stores themselves shine and when you enter, if you have 1,000 dollars in rubles, you might be able to afford a watch.  Street vendors are less during the cold season but still plenty in certain areas.

---I did not stay extensively enough to find the best in nightlife, tourist attractions and restaurants; I stayed local to my hotel a few metro stations and the Kremlin.  The metro is truly grand.  The Russian stations are as well desinged as Grand Central Station. Only one problem, reading the station in Russian.

---I walked more than I normally do.  You do -alot- of walking and walking and walking.  I was very wary of people trying to rob me, rip me off or even trying to attack/kidnap me.  I was advised to be careful of taxi drivers, shady looking people/groups and stay with someone (especially at night).  Thus I stayed local and with the masses.

---It was cold.  But even in the cold, activities during the travel "shoulder" season was abundant, it's just less crowded but life is as usual.  There was already snow on the ground when I landed.  It gave a good four inches of snow with many flights cancelled or delayed on the morning of my departure.

---Russia in my opinion are full of красивые девушки, though I only had the pleasure of meeting one красивая девушка.  Russian women are beautiful and bold, many.  I'm a soft spoken gentleman, I believe in Theodore Roosevelt's model "speak softly and carry a big stick".  When the waiter didn't hear that I wanted water in addition to my Coca-Cola, when I am tired from travel my voice tends to diminish, she spoke up for me.  I'm just sad that I had to paraphrase the response "Het, my home is not Moscow".  Where is Denver, Russia?  Or is it Tver?  Maybe I heard the pronunciation incorrectly.

---Russian men have this stern look, the way they stare.  The stern part, I understand: there is a notion in most societies that men are suppose to be aggressive, strong and authoritative.  Especially so, in Russian society, the notion in the previous sentence is heightened a little more so.  In Russia, one means of traditional sensitivity killer is Vodka, in parts of the United States, it's my favorite: Whiskey.  Or if you go way down south: Aguardiente.  It's the way I interpret it as the stare is they are looking to interpret of their focus.  The second is they already have an opinion about the situation or person they are looking at with distaste or approval.  But when that stare is upon me, I don't get intimidated easily, I stare back.  So, my Russian comrade, friend or foe.  I have fount most Russians are very pleasant.

---Freaking tolerance of culture:  What's to like about "From Russia with Love" is that what they export can be nice like beauty and strength but when it comes to importing, they can pull that welcome mat back inside and leave you out in the cold.

---I had to interpret and ask because those symbols in their alphabet, I have to use another translation: "Como"?  It seems like in the Greek alphabet there are non-English characters and like Spanish you have to learn the masculine, feminine and what are called neuter, meaning exactly the scary meaning to have no masculine or feminine label to them, in wording 'tis fine but in sexuality...

-He boatan! (non-Russian characters)

-BыXOд!

Economy Shift - Part One


There's a small diner around my way, Greek, that I seldom eat in.  The reason I seldom eat there is because it's one block down from my house.  The diner is so close, why not just go home and cook my meals if I am close to home.  I like supporting things that are worthwhile.  I won't go into the theory of where I spend my money in this post.  It's worthwhile for me to eat there occasionally because I want that business alive in my neighborhood.  My neighborhood is semi-residential and semi-industrial.  My neighborhood is a good percent businesses and a good percent homes.  I will mention just one basic item on the menu: pizza.  The word connoisseur means: a person who has fine or detailed knowledge of a subject matter; the word originally was given to a person who is knowledgeable of a specific art, fine art.  I've made pizza at home before because I like pizza.  I use to consider myself a pizza connoisseur.  I've been to Europe and have tasted the breads in markets that bake them on the spot every morning and sell them much cheaper, they are way better compared to the pre baked confections in the United States.  I have tasted all types and forms of cheeses, especially of those not intended to be massed produced, stored and shipped for the stands of markets to be sold at economic prices.  I can taste what a good crust texture should be like, the sweet or tartness of the sauce and flavor of mozzarella.  Each of the basic three ingredients is not expensive at all for a pizzeria to purchase or produce.  I remember when my dad, if I was lucky enough to see him once a week because he did not work locally, managed to treat me after school in the fifth or sixth grade to a slice of pizza.  The pizza was actually made by someone who actually just immigrated from Italy.  So, I had the privilege to have tasted, at a young age what a good pizza should be like.  It was a time when the price for a slice had just shifted from one dollar to a dollar and twenty five cents, outrageous!  Right now, you're lucky if a slice of pizza cost two dollars, two dollars and how many cents?  Robbery!

I understand business owners have to manage the rent or property taxes, gas bill, electric bill, water bill, wages (in which this Diner had two cooks and three wait staff), insurance, the cost to make back the cost of equipment, supplies and miscellaneous expenses, which have all gone up.  My property taxes have increased three percent and gas bill increased another smidgen of a percent, but still a slight noticeable difference.  That's why sometimes you see a business open for a year or two and then you come by that business in a year or two to see it's closed and another is there trying stay alive.  These expenses are what any average home owner has to deal with.  I know these things because I don't rent, I have had the understanding weight of managing both of the prior mentioned, and I like anyone else who likes walls and warmth, still have to manage the latter mentioned.  The ironic thing, is I don't even make "middle class".  I can afford things because I am a minimalist spender.  I do have some luxury items like my nicer Hugo Boss suits and a few other items but when it comes to buying junk or unnecessary items, I just don't.  I was riding the subway, something I am accustomed to, but for the past two and a half years, I've been driving everywhere, even two streets down to my supermarket.  On the subway, there are two main types of riders: the one's that mind their own business by reading, sleeping or just droning out and the inquisitive ones that look around or do things, the more active riders.  I am the latter subway rider.  I look around and wonder who these people are, do they make more money than me, do they live in nicer places than me?  I assume both, some better paid and some not.  I was shopping at Trader Joe's today and wondered how much the cashier made or how much the stock boy made.  Researching, it turns out, those unexperienced make anywhere from ten to twelve dollars an hour and those promoted to managers can make forty thousand and up to six figures a year.  I'm looking at nine out of the ten subway riders in nice designer clothing.  How can this country say it is in a recession?  How can people be homeless, without a place to live?  How can someone spend a hundred somewhat on a pair of shoes or six hundred on a pair of Hugo Boss designer shoes, I mean five hundred eighty nine, plus tax, I checked, on shoes.  The headline is in bold "Recession" with a picture of a person in rags begging for money, while the body reads "Designer", "Still".  It's the same old story, those struggling will still struggle to be "Designer" and those on top will just say sorry less of you can be "Designer" because we are in a "Recession".  We are actually in "Excess", it's that we are also not so much greedy but capitalist with the reason: ---bold---I earned it, why should I share with someone who did not.  I'd rather buy "Designer" rather than putting the money I earned into a program that usually is mismanaged beyond intent.  In that we don't know how to disperse the economy properly, it won't ever change much.  The freedom to be over populated and live comfortably if privileged, that is the real democracy, but so much better than corrupted controlled dictatorship.

The idealist part of me use to strive, donate and support actively, the realist part of me just strives.

Friday, December 10, 2010

1980s Cartoons

I was watching the most popular of cartoons from the 1980s:  G.I. Joe and Transformers on television as I got up for a glass of water for the past several nights.  I watched them on weekends when they aired as a young kid.  The last one I watched was in theatres: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), before that in 2006 when my friend loaded into the DVD player The Transformers: The Movie (1986) and of course Transformers (2007).  They are great for the imagination and introduction to warfare.  Those cartoons are so straight forward, the bad guy trying to destroy something or has a plot to gain something and the good guys trying to stop them.

It's straight forward, I am a straight forward guy, it's that in the course of life, I learnt to see the snakes ahead of time and change the course of my foot steps and not be as straight forward.  In representing that same concept it's a little harder to see the enemy and where to draw the line on who the good guy is and what a bad guy is.  You can be the bad guy and your enemy can be the bad guy, your enemy may go home and be a family man, a good guy, as yourself.  Good men being the bad guys because of some differences.

I'm comparing the simple cartoon retrospective to real life, in that bad and good are not so easily laid out in real life and in the cartoons you have a simple analogy with some cool concepts and drawings written in and that is the first introduction of life's issues to a kid, to some it sticks into adulthood.

I read somewhere that no matter how much good you do in an entire life span, one simple mistake on the lineage of good can tarnish an entire career of being good.  The bad always outshines the good.  And for that impeding concept, it can change the course and then the label of your life.