Ramanujan Redux

Groundhog Day is one of those beautiful films with the all-around package. It’s lighthearted yet serious, contemplative without being preachy, developed without being self-indulgent. There is humor and darkness and redemption, all with Bill Murray at the center. What more could you ask for?

The film itself is very smart. As soon as the meteorologist realizes he’s stuck in the same day and the same place indefinitely, he starts to learn to take advantage of it. The character follows a classic OODA loop. He orients himself to his boundaries by breaking them (he ends up in jail, kills himself multiple times, steals a groundhog), he observes the people and gets to know each and every one of them (he uses it for a great pickup tool that most dudes wish they had), he decides whether to repeat an act over and over again (like trying to seduce his cute as a button producer night after night after night) and then acts on it (he spends one day robbing a security bank truck after observing the scene for weeks).

However, this product soon grows stale as the times pass, and he soon despairs that he will never realize the joy of love or despair, doomed to the same one-night stands and random hijinxes. Even suicide cannot save him. It is endearing to watch Murray transform from a self-absorbed blowhard to a self-pitying soul to a redeeming character. He starts thinking of how best he can make use of the time, learning all sorts of different things, helping people when he knows they might need help, as he slowly gains an understanding of what makes him happy.

Now, you might think after watching Groundhog Day, “Gee, I wish I could be given that time to learn who I am!” But you ARE given that time. Every day. Every day you can learn how to be a better person. How to be comfortable around people. How to be confident around others. How to follow your passions and dream to do what you’ve always wanted to do.

The lesson is that every day is precious. Every day might feel the same and be the same, but you can learn who you are by embracing that motto rather than running away from the situation. The situation is there. Accept it or go another day dreading waking up. Slowly and surely, you’ll realize what it is you want.

And while you might not get the chance to relive the same day over and over again, doesn’t every day kind of feel the same now?

“If our job teaches us anything, it’s that we don’t know what the next President’s gonna face. And if we choose someone with vision, someone with guts, someone with gravitas, who’s connected to other people’s lives, and cares about making them better… if we choose someone to inspire us, then we’ll be able to face what comes our way and achieve things… we can’t imagine yet. Instead of telling people who’s the most qualified, instead of telling people who’s got the better ideas, let’s make it obvious. It’s going to be hard.”
“Then we’ll do what’s hard.”

Last lines of 20 Hours in America, The West Wing.

There are times when I watch the current presidential debate and shake my head. Has anything changed? Sure, we have changed in eight years–on everything but politics. We have changed the way we ridicule our candidates, mock their stances, incite anger in our voters. Instead of yelling at each other in public, we log onto Malkin (GOP!), or Kos (Obamanation!), or the Internets (Ron Paul!), and yell at each other in the comments. You should witness the comments of badly moderated political posts. Downright filthy.

So I’m going to talk about the Senator’s speech. If the comments will get nasty, I will delete swiftly and surely.

For the first time, the Senator stood up and held his ground. He took a tough stance, a stance that will almost certainly in the short run, damage him and his hold on the campaign. Middle white America is howling its disapproval, furious at the thought that there is a race problem in this country. Nope nope, everything’s alright!

I remember the sugarcoating 2004 Democratic Speech, an inspiring one. But it was purely words and rhetoric, the same thing many in America have been protesting against. Show us what you mean. Show us how you plan to change America.

Today he took that first step. He confronted race openly. He speaks to what is real. To what plagues our country. To what needs to be fixed. To the problems that middle-class America have done their best to ignore and escape. To issues that affect those we don’t really acknowledge on a day-to-day basis.

Whether we like it or not, we cannot divorce ourselves from these issues. They are fundamental to the corruption in the Beltway and the disillusionment of the citizen to the process. We do not live in a utopia. We are troubled by race in the suburbs, in the cities, in the swamps (okay, well, not as much in the swamps). Subconscious or unconscious or conscious, it is an issue that have kept many disenfranchised minorities distrustful of authority, of refusing to peer outside the boundaries of their skin color.

Most of the people who are condeming Obama probably lack the extreme character of a Reverend Wright in their life,  and are quick to judgement. “Oh, if I were in his shoes, I’d just walk out and leave! There are so many other churches.” But where are you from, anonymous commenter? Did you grow up in the streets of Harlem or the suburbs of Madison? Context matters. Obama’s experience is relative to his own life. And this is more of an example than an excuse: At the extreme, this is what results from neglecting race.

Open, unadulterated bigotry, the things most Americans claim to shun in real life. And the cultural schism grows wider between the poor black kid and the rich white kid.

Those admonishing Obama probably have not experienced race relations first hand or have shunned it out of their minds, fearing exposure rather than walking across the lines. But this speech isn’t for them. And they’ll be voting for Hillary in any case because it’s easier to vote for a sure commodity of experience and image.

Our experiences shape us. They make us. To escape them is to deny ourselves. Obama took that first big step with that speech. To show us who he is. To show us that he is a human who really wants to fight for us. For us to come together does not mean a big group hug. It means coming to the table and arguing, mending, laughing, crying, discussing, shouting, hitting, being. Learning to be comfortable with race as we are comfortable with family, to let skin color fade and let our content speak for ourselves.

It’s the hard road to do this. But I think it’s the right road. Let’s do it.

Share your thoughts. Please try to be insightful. I want discussion, not retribution.

[amazonify]B00011CZRE::text::::Se7en[/amazonify]: This movie was gruesome, but I guess this is what you expect on a film concerning the seven deadly sins. David Fincher penned a really solid script, keeping the characters to a minimum to ensure development of the mystery doesn’t wander off-track.

The most impressive part of this film is that the killer never seems to lose focus, never loses the upper hand. This is a man who has planned his crimes well in advance and controls the dynamic from beginning to end. It’s an unconventional approach compared to the usual “take down the evildoers” approach. Even when the film reaches its resolution, it feels more chilling than satisfying.

Morgan Freeman plays a well-cultured, grizzly old veteran who can quote Chaucer and Dante, a role he has replicated in every film he’s ever been in. Brad Pitt is aggressive, and then more aggressive, then more aggressive…this doesn’t really stretch is acting capabilities. Gwyeneth Paltrow has a brief role of big-city angst talking about babies, which is never a good sign for the baby–why else would it be brought up?

The twist at the end isn’t much of a twist–you can see it coming about an hour away. For those who don’t though…it’s going to be rough.

[amazonify]B0007W7I4W::text::::Assault on Precinct 13[/amazonify]: This movie is like any typical siege film–hopeless situation, painful emoting, internal conflict casting a shadow over external conflict, and an improbable resolution. All in a day’s work for Hollywood action thrillers. Thank God Laurence Fishburne is involved–at the least he can elevate the level of discourse from mediocre to deep. Adding Fishburne is like adding Scottie Pippen to a team of “Who theys?”–you’re always going to get a respectable two hour performance from the players involved.

All your typical “hopleess situation” characters are involved. There is an intelligent psychatrist who dissolves into a babbling maniac during times of crisis. There is a grizzly old cop who distrusts any criminal scumbags in any situation. There is a kooky minority junkie who mumbles and grumbles about government conspiracy theories. There is a sexpot secretary who needs cigarettes in her mouth. There is the amoral crime lord who does what he needs to do to save his skin. There is the lead cop battling internal demons. All in a day’s work.

The film itself isn’t unique or interesting–I figure in three days I’ll have forgotten about 95% of the movie and moved on with my life. But it’s a nice study aid to keep the adrenaline flowing.

Groundhog Day: A brilliant film. I’ll talk more about it in a separate post; let’s just say for now it’s one of those films you should pick up on a gloomy day to lighten up your mood.

I have no idea what’s wrong with the background, but I’ll try my best to get it sorted out. If you just want the content you’d be better off subscribing to the feed.

Major posting will resume shortly.

Suppose we have a deck of cards with a letter on one side and a number on the other. You have in front of you four cards picked at random from the deck labelled A, 6, J, 7.

You are also presented with the hypothesis, “Every card that has a vowel on one side must have an even number on the other side.” Which cards must you turn over to test this hypothesis?

Think about it and put your answer in the comments. Answer coming in the next math problem post.