I'm pretty sure I'm going to delete my music library in the next few days. I'll hold onto my Beatles, Springsteen, R.E.M. and a few others, but I think I'm ready to let go. I'll keep all the classical I've compiled too.

I don't know why I want to do it. Maybe it's just a reaction against hipsters, and maybe it's just that old obsession I have with stripping off excess. Whatever it is, I just think it's time I get rid of all of it and stop paying attention to modern music.

Haven't quite worked up the guts to actually hit the delete button yet, but I'm getting there.

Nothing is more depressing than American politics.

I have no aspirations when it comes to film making (the last video I put together was Sophomore Year for my Spanish class), but if I did have aspirations to be a filmmaker, I'd very much like to do a biopic of Dmitri Shostakovich.

Russian music was already interesting before Stalin came along, with Tchaikovsky and especially Rachmaninov doing remarkable things out East while German composers were still trying to figure out how to push music past Beethoven. But going Red made things even more interesting. The Gulag gave composers new "inspiration" for their pieces, and many met very unhappy ends due to Stalin's, shall we say, idiosyncratic tastes.

Shostakovich played the game very well, even gaining personal favors from Stalin in some instances. His music, like the man himself, was brilliant, cryptic, and not without controversy. Shostakovich's Communist sympathies are a matter of debate, but it's clear he was not about to become a martyr. He never, to my knowledge, showed any outward disgust with the oppressive nature of the Soviet regimes, and went to great lengths to please Stalin. Many of his works are blatant propaganda. Still, many have interpreted anti-Soviet sentiment beneath pieces that were meant to be bombastic exaltations of the Russian spirit. His letters are tinged with a sometimes not-so-cryptic scorn of the government control over his work, if not Communism itself.

I haven't studied his life enough to know what Shostakovich really thought about anything, though I'm inclined to believe he was a master of irony. In any case, his life would make a pretty decent flick. If any of you end up making movies someday, remember Dmitri Shostakovich.

Whatever the true meaning behind his music, I love how it makes me feel.

I'm a big fan of the Television romance. Jim and Pam (Office), Niles and Daphne (Fraiser), Josh and Donna (West Wing), Kevin and Winnie (The Wonder Years), House and Wilson (House), etc. I don't know what it is about TV, but I've always responded better to romances playing out on the small screen than ones in movies.

I watch a lot of TV shows, and at this point, I consider myself something of an amateur connoisseur of prime time romances. Here are ten rules for the aspiring television writer on how to do TV romances. If you follow them, you're sure to have a fan in me.

1. If you're going to tease me, be prepared to bring it. If they're meant to be, DO NOT leave me hanging. If The Office ends with Jim and Pam deciding they're "better off as friends," I'm going to bomb NBC studios.

2. Love triangles are lame. Thickening the plot is fine. For instance, Niles and Daphne's previous relationships were fine, because it was always clear they would end up together (some will probably disagree on this). Splitting your audience is suicide. All the will-Kate-choose-Jack-or-Sawyer nonsense on Lost is a prime example of why love triangles are awful.

On a similar note, don't make me choose between two equally deserving girls. Smallville (which I quit watching), botched that whole deal.

3. Tension is good, but don't torture me. Fix your eye on the prize. Keep backsliding to a minimum. Josh and Donna (The West Wing) took all of 7 seasons to FINALLY make it happen, but they kept up momentum (there were some rocky moments, of course). Easily one of the most satisfying relationships in TV history.

4. Disappointment is only bearable when its resolved quickly. I can take disappointment. I can take rejection. But don't disappoint me for an entire season. It's a good way to destroy me.

5. Real chemistry is a must. Don't manufacture it. Good examples: Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, Janel Maloney and Bradley Whitford, John Krasinsky and Jenna Fischer. Bad examples: Evangeline Lilly and Whoever.

6. Good girls should never go bad. Bad girls changing for the better is a good thing, if it's done right. Making a sweet girl go down the wrong path, even if it's just for a few episodes, can be disastrous. You do not want to put me through that kind of emotional turmoil. I admit, there's something of a double standard here, but it's entirely unintentional.

7. Cheating is a good way to make me lose interest. This goes with #6 pretty well. Seriously, I don't think I can last after witnessing physical infidelity. Emotional, maybe, but physical will ruin me.

8. Constantly breaking up and getting back together is lame. Off and on is okay, but the tearful breakups and the euphoric "WE'RE BACK TOGETHER!" episodes get old after a while.

9. Keep your eye on the prize. This goes with every other one on here, but I can't emphasize it enough. Complexity is a weakness in fairy tales, and the same thing applies here. Don't let me doubt it for a second.

10. Leave the bedroom to the imagination. This is just preference. But, "Should we sleep together or not?" episodes always make me want to stick bamboo shards up my nostrils.

There is no perfect TV romance, but some come darn close. Aspire to that.

Rant coming. Be warned. I plan to follow this with a post about Television romances, so you may be able to skip ahead soon.

Read the rest of this entry . . .

I hold down a steady job, I'm Dean's listed at a good university, and I wake up at 8 every morning. For those reasons, among other, more superficial rationalizations, I feel I'm entitled to my crappy TV dramas. Whenever I feel like unwinding, I drive to Blockbuster, pick out a season's worth of discs from whatever show looks interesting, come home, lie down and pop them into my laptop.

I've hit a new low. I'm ashamed of my formerly refined self. I could barely muster the cojones to bring them to the check-out desk at Blockbuster. It is so bad that I won't even say what it is over the internet, in case I ever seek public office.

Anyways, I made the mistake of going to the wikipedia page to read some spoilers after getting through a particularly stressful part of the first season. They pretty much left me in shambles. I'm literally, emotionally and physically upset with some of these characters. I can't believe how things are supposed to end up. I don't understand how I'm supposed to continue watching if it's going to turn out like this.

I have to wonder, what on earth is wrong with me? I tend to idealize fictional women (Donna Moss of The West Wing, Dana Scully of X-Files, Carmela Soprano of The Sopranos, Daphne Moon of Fraiser, Allison Cameron of House, etc.), but the women I choose to idealize don't often let me down, and when they do, it's only temporary. Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know that I have at least a whole other season of distress and disappointment. A new season starts in September, but there's no guarantee it will get better during that season.

I fully expect to dream a long, anxious, all-my-worst-fears-realized nightmare tonight. If you think I'm being dramatic, that only means you didn't see me while I was waiting for the fifth season of the X-Files to come in the mail.

None of this, of course, will stop me from pursuing my obsession to its conclusion, be it bitter, sweet, or bittersweet.

This video from Iran is pretty stunning (the last 15 seconds, especially).

(HT: Andrew Sullivan)

Reading reports from Tehran made me very sad today. There's video footage circulating of a young woman protester bleeding out as fellow protesters try to contain the wounds. It isn't yet a massacre, but if eyewitness reports are true, it could be soon.

Pray for them. Pray for them all.

My wonderful little sister turns 18 today. As one of the few people who has known her from the day she was born, I can't tell you how proud I am of her.

Happy birthday. The best years of your life are about to begin.

My dad asked me today whether I thought democracy was, more or less, the natural and right state for societies. To put it differently, do societies naturally progress toward democracy as people become more enlightened? (By democracy, I mean it in the less technical sense - free elections, relative freedom of information, etc.) Dad, correct me if I butchered the question.

In light of the recent protests in Tehran, the protests last year in Burma, and the general rise of democracy in the last two hundred years, it seems people have a desire to be free, and that desire is strong enough that more authoritarian governments will reach a point where their authority is no longer viable long-term.

I have work, so I don't have time to say what I think right now, but if you have time, let me know what you think. Do societies naturally progress toward democracy? Or have the last two hundred years been a little hiccup?

I'll write my answer later.

Mike Potemra over at the National Review predicted today that Mitt Romney will be president in 2012:

Four years from now, Mitt Romney will be president of the United States.

My reasoning is as follows. Point One: The Obama team, while still basking in honeymoon-level approval ratings today, has pointed itself in a direction that will result in disappointed hopes for the American people. They have drastically overpromised, and their policies—even if they are not outright disastrous—will end up inciting more passionate discontent than passionate support. Point Two: The Republicans always nominate for president the candidate who’s next in line, even if that person is deeply unpopular (e.g., the GOP base’s hatred for John McCain did not prevent him from being nominated; he was the guy who lost to Bush in 2000, ergo…). In 2008, the runner-up was Romney. Add to that frontrunner status the fact that Romney has credibility on economics and budgeting, and he’s the prohibitive favorite. Add Point One to Point Two, and the result is a Romney presidency.

It wouldn't surprise me. Palin is too polarizing a figure. She energizes some elements of the conservative base and scares the crap out of others. I don't think Gingrich will ever run (though I wouldn't bet against it). I suppose Huckabee could give it another go, but I doubt he'll ever be more than a nice foil in the primaries.

I guess I could see Sanford, Pawlenty, or Jindal (I don't know if he'll be able to rebound from his horrendous post-address address) making a run.

I think the Democrats will probably retain the House, Senate, and Presidency in 2012, but I'll refrain from making official predictions until the day before the election.

I just watched the season finale of The West Wing. Cliffhanger. There goes another 20 bucks.

- I've been hearing a disproportionate number of Metallica songs on the radio recently. I think I've heard "Master of Puppets" three times in 2 days.

- When I said I was afraid of war in my last post, I meant war in the abstract. At the moment, I'm worried about any war involving Israel, but lately, I've spent a lot of time thinking about war in general. It makes me feel very strange.

- Recently I've been listening to a lot of pointless crap. I almost deleted my entire music library yesterday.

- By "pointless crap," I mean: Bonnie Prince Billy, Dirty Projectors, Elvis Presley, the Lemmonheads, Tiny Tim, Patsy Cline, and my usual regiment of chamber music and symphonies.

- I'm driving to Waco Monday to visit a good friend.

- Last week, I bought the 1st Season of the West Wing with a giftcard. As naive, reckless, and patently stupid as I find the politics, it has kept me very entertained over the week. I suppose this means I'll have to continue onto Season 2.

- If I held any high-level job, I'd like most to be Press Secretary.

- My standard answer for the "What is your favorite color" question has been Green since I was seven or eight. I still use it, but I don't know why. It used to be Orange (when I was a little tyke). I think I may revert back to that. Sunkist is orange. Orange Juice is orange. Oranges are orange. I love many orange things. What Orange lacks in aesthetic value, it makes up for in it's PR skills.

- I'm a pretty crappy debater. Lately, it's mostly because everybody wants to debate politics, and I could care less at this point. But I think I'm just bad at articulating argumentative points when there's any hint of controversy.

- You should order Gattis pizza.

- My new roommate has been emailing me. He seems nice enough. I'm always worried that my sense of humor won't come across over the internet. Maybe my militant resistance to "lol" won't pay off after all.

- By the way, I felt like a tool telling this guy I didn't have Facebook. Either I'm a pretentious prick who thinks he's above everyone else or I don't have enough friends to justify a Facebook. Neither option says "Ideal BFF."

- I've never timed my pulse, but I always get the feeling my heart beats way too fast. Lance Armstrong has a resting heart rate of something like 30 bpms. Mine has got to be 3-4 times faster than that. Are heart beats like car miles? After a certain distance, do even the best kept bodies just keel over? How long until I reach the end of my allotted heart beats?

- I think I'm fairly Orthodox in my faith, but any time I talk to a college Christian, I feel like opening my mouth will just give me away. I don't know where they would catch me, or what I would be accused of, but I always want to keep my distance.

- Beyonce has this new super-catchy song. I don't understand what the lyrics mean, but I like to dance.

- I want to see the book list for next semester so I can start worrying.

- This post is longer than it was supposed to be.

- My cousin is in Florence.

- I should go now.

With the Evil Weasel's "victory" in Iran today, any hopes we had of a more workable regime in Iran were dashed for a while (yes, I know the Presidency isn't the most powerful office in Iran). Some people are saying this may make war with Israel inevitable.

More and more lately, I've been terrified of war. I've been having dreams, and the whole idea just scares me. I keep thinking, "I'm going to see THE BOMB go off before I die."

Anyways, pray for all involved.

Ave Maria:

Joseph O'Neill of The Atlantic has a new article up on Flannery O'Connor. I didn't much care for O'Neill's conclusion, but it's there for whoever wants to read it. He demonstrates, once again, that a proper understanding of O'Connor cannot be divorced from a deep immersion in Christianity. Without it, the stories are just odd anomalies in a world obsessed with its own modernness.

Terry McAuliffe lost the Virginia Gubernatorial Primary. I'm no expert on Virginia politics, but I draw a parallel between McAuliffe and a certain ill-reputed hygienic device back in January. I'd like to think I helped tip the scales.

UPDATE: I should note that I'm only joking and harbor no personal animosity toward McAuliffe. While I think his style politics is dangerous and bad for the country, I was only joking when I called him those names. By all accounts, he's a devoted husband and the father of five children.