Happy Hinted Holidays

Happy Chusok, or Korean Thanksgiving! Of course, if I say "Have a good Chusok" in Korean I sound like a little baby. Everyone knows you don't actually say the name of the holiday or hope it goes well. It's just not cool or something.

Being a foreigner who spends too much time speaking foreign talk, I forgot the longer, super trendy way of greeting during the holiday. That being the case, I spent the last couple of days using baby talk. To my credit, the until-then unfriendly cab driver did smile at the greeting. To his credit, he might have been laughing at me.

Happy Chusok, everyone.

On Sarcasm

After the last post and some backtracking of previous posts, I realized a trend in my writing. When I need a handy book to mock, I always tend to pick one in particular. Mockery of it in particular is my comfort object, my tickle-me-Elmo if you will. I mean, there are plenty of awful books out there. Why this one?

I think the "poor, little defenseless white male" theme wins the prize. Even as I'm writing this, I'm supressing a giggle. But even if I do giggle, I'm okay with that.

Either that, or I'm snobbish enough to avoid reading a lot of crappy books. That's possible, too.

Either way, yes, I'm aware of the trend.

This Post Was Meant to Be

According to Time magazine, Calvinism is among the trends rising in culture these days. A better person than me argued in another blog how this could be a bad thing. In short, it promotes elitism, and I don't see that as part of God's nature.

I believe God is in control. I also believe we have free will. The mystery is both are true. Where one begins and the other ends only He knows.

To be honest, I'm glad this debate is popular again. I can talk about time travel movies, a favorite topic, and not be outdated. I hate being outdated. The point is, time travel movies have quite a bit to say about predestination.

Most time travel stories are about free will. Minority Report, Back to the Future,Deja Vu, and the list goes on. The message is usually we can change history. We have choices.

On the other hand, you have Twelve Monkeys and the Time Machine. You can't change what's already happened, and there's little if any hope for the future for that matter. Not the best idea for a date movie, by the way.

One thing that keeps me watching Lost is the endless debate between the two. You have characters saying nothing can change, and then something happens seeming to contradict that statement. It keeps the brain working while stuff blows up.

The truth is, if authors are strict Calvinists, their writing will suck. Good storytelling is about conflict, resolution, and choice. The tension between choice and plan, well that keeps it interesting.