Happy New Year December 31, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in 2008, life, personal, thoughts.add a comment
Happy New Year to all my readers, mentors and friends. Let’s hope that 2009 is a better year for everyone!
Manuel Gonzales.
A Year in Review…Immigration December 31, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in Immigration, human rights, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, life, personal, politics, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students.add a comment
Aside from more raids and knee-jerk reactions, most immigration talk was overshadowed by the presidential elections. During the campaigns, immigration wasn’t really talked about, after all, the economy going to the shitter is more important.
So, what is there to do now. Well, we have a new administration and the Latino people have spoken together asking what they want, which is sensible reform instead of more demonization. Hopefully, it will happen when I’m still around. What will I hope for? The passage of the Dream Act or something to do with farmers, since the CIR package is too big a sale. Beggars can’t be choosers.
As for me personally, well, immigration is hanging over me like a clock. My time at my university is coming to an end, I’m a junior now and will soon be a senior. I don’t know what will happen then…
A Year In Review…Video Games December 30, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in 2008, Gamecube, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo Wii, Wii, Xbox 360, entertainment, games, hopes, thoughts, video games.2 comments
It was a good year to be a gamer. It was a bad year to be a Nintendo fan only, I’ll admit to that. It was a good year for me in regards to video games. This year marked another time in my lifetime where I bought a console that was not a Nintendo one. Yeah, I bought an Xbox 360 earlier in the summer. I’m enjoying it. Very much so.
Why was it a bad year to be a Nintendo fan? Well, at the beginning of the year it didn’t look that way. Not at all. We started it off with the big, with No More Heroes arriving in January. That was followed by the biggest game of all, oh yes, Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Amazing game, but I didn’t really enjoy it, not because the game was flawed, no, but because the online absolutely sucked. But that was fine. That was March. I thought things could get better as time passed. Mario Kart Wii was released in April. And that was it for the games I was interested in. Wii Fit came and went, and than Nintendo made themselves a laughingstock at E3, because their big game for the holiday turned out to be Wii Music, a glorified sound maker. What the FUCK happened? 2006 we had Legend of Zelda. 2007 we had the sublime Super Mario Galaxy? 2008? We had Wii Music and Animal Crossing Wii, which unfortunately is not a game I wanted because it turned out to be the same game I already owned, on the Gamecube. No rumored Kid Icarus, no Star Fox, no F-Zero. Anything? I didn’t expect a Mario, Zelda or Metroid, that’s unrealistic. But what the fuck, really, this was the first time that I was not looking forward to something from Nintendo for the holidays.
Their embarrassing E3 presentation made me realize one thing, all the other games were going to the Xbox 360 and Ps3. So, what do I do? I bought an Xbox 360. And I don’t regret it at all. The ability to have demos of games, videos, other games that are not glorified noisemakers. And so, now my 360 library is bigger than my Wii one. It is quite sad.
And we move on to my picks.
My Wii game of the year is Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Amazing game and proof that Nintendo still cares about its fans, they just need to have one game for the holidays and we will be happy. Look at 2007 and 2006.
My Xbox 360 game of the year is Grand Theft Auto 4. Amazing game. Not the greatest graphics, sure, but great storyline. I loved the protagonist and there were some genuine moments of shock, which is rare in a game. My runner ups were Dead Space, Portal, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect, and Dead Rising. Not all those games were released this year, but this year was the one when I experienced them.
So, what do I expect in the future. Well, more excellent games for the 360 and for Nintendo to do more hardcore games. Another Zelda would be nice, on a console. It is about time anyway.
Who am I now? December 30, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in Immigration, depression, human rights, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, life, personal, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students.add a comment
Written March 5, 2007.
Broken. I know one day I will reach that point. I don’t know when but I know I will. One day I will get to the day that I get fed up with everything and stop giving a damn. There is only so much anyone can take. Only so many internet insults, so much of this life. My life which I consider a charade in many ways. Not with my close friends but with everyone else I know. Professors, random friends, hall mates, classmates, and others. I have to lie to all of them, I have to keep this image that I’m like them in every way.
Written March 25, 2007.
It is getting harder I suppose, to hide the sadness behind the smiles. To hide the dis-functionality behind my supposed normalness.
Written June, 25 2007.
But my biggest fear now though, it comes in nightmares. It is a terrifying thing to have it happened, and now it can happen to me. I’m afraid, and it will be my fault to some extent. A vision that keeps repeating over and over again, a vision that I will not share here or with anyone. A vision of heartbreak.
But that vision will be overtaken by something far more worse, uncertainty. Uncertainty because that is what my life is about. My days are numbered. But before then, I have some things I have to do, some things that I started working on already. If my end is to come, I’ll have it come on my own terms for as much as I can. But for now, I’ll continue living as far as I can and as well as I can. It’s about the only thing I can do now.
Written July 4, 2007.
An undocumented life is one of constant heartbreak. One of defeats that tend to be devastating. I feel that I’m making a difference for people like me, but it is also taking a huge toll on myself. There is no joy of life, no sense of enjoyment. No sense in being young. There is on sense of freedom and fun. I know for instance that this July 4, I won’t go out to see the fireworks. I won’t go out anywhere. I’ll stay home, indoors, hiding because I know I can’t drive and the police are out there. Living with this sense of fear is detrimental and well, it destroys even the strongest of us. I’m a holdout for now, holding onto what little blind hope in things changing.
I feel like a foreigner in the place I consider home. I’m considered an undesirable, an other and that just feels wrong. People tend to classify my life as a sob story and it is something not to be paid attention to. I don’t care. I don’t know for how long I can be a holdout though, this life is getting tired. I’m tired of the heartbreak and the fights, the defeats. I’ve come to question whether this type of life is worth living.
I’m sure there are other posts where I’ve written about it. Written about what you ask. That is, my end. As I said before, my days are numbered. It will be a new year soon and things haven’t changed. I’m still the same person I’ve always been, for better or worse. But God knows I can’t do this for much longer. This coming year, it will be harder to be me, specially in the latter part of the year, when I’m a senior. In a way, I have to prepare myself for the inevitable. But I don’t know how.
A Year in Review…Movies December 29, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in 2008, life, movie, movie trailers, personal, reviews, thoughts, videos, youtube.add a comment
I ended the year with a whimper. Why? The last movie I saw in a movie theater was Synecdoche, New York and I didn’t like that film. I should have just seen 007 again. But, yes, it is that time in the year again, when I go over my favorite movies of the year.
For Horror, I can’t really say that I saw any movie on regards to horror. I wish I had though, but alas, I don’t remember any. Sadness. I know it doesn’t count, but I really wanted to see Quarantine. I would say The Orphanage, but…that is really a drama with a supernatural vibe to it, and it is a heartbreaking film though.
For Comedy, I have to say that as disturbed as I was by it, I liked Tropic Thunder. There is a very interesting cameo by another big Hollywood superstar that basically stole the movie. It was amazing.
For Animated, Wall-E. Need I say more. It is Pixar. I also saw the Superman: Doomsday animated movie, and it was good, but Wall-E stole the show for me.
For Action, I have to say that the latest Bond won. Yep, Quantum of Solace is the winner in my book, only because my film of the year is not allowed to win in any other category.
For Sci-Fi, that will go to Cloverfield. I loved the film, but it is not for the weak of heart in regards to visual style. It is all over the place.
For Fantasy, I will once again bend the laws of time and space and nominate Pan’s Labyrinth. I know it came out some time ago, but fuck it, I love that film.
For Weirdest, that will go to Synecdoche, New York, mainly because I don’t know what happened in the film. Seriously.
For the best of the best, The Dark Knight. It beats all other movies this year and then some. It was amazing. I can’t wait to own it in DVD. The Joker performance was just spectacular. Most bad-ass movie of the year as well.
Favorite Videos December 28, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in ICE, Immigration, dehumanization, deportation, depression, discrimination, human rights, ideas, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, inspiration, life, opinion, people, politics, thoughts, tragedy, undocumented student, undocumented students, videos, youtube.add a comment
These are my favorite videos of the year.
Immigration Related.
Penn and Teller.
Politics of Fear, my absolute favorite video.
Bravery beyond words.
Senator Durbin.
Another Dreamer.
Stinky Mexicans taking over America.
NPR Video.
Children of Men December 28, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in Immigration, citizenship, civil rights, dehumanization, deportation, discrimination, films, human rights, ideas, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, life, movie, movie trailers, politics, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students, videos, youtube.4 comments
I have seen this movie several times, and liked it enough to re-buy it in HD-DVD. It looks amazing. But of course anything in HD looks amazing.
Anyway, while the movie is a great one because of the cinematography, it also has what I would consider a nightmare scenario. That would be the rounding of immigrants into cages like animals. Having ads that say that it doesn’t matter if they are your family, they still need to be gone.
I wonder what will people do, if they have family members that are considered less. I guess I could always look back in history, to see what happened to people in Germany back in the 30s and 40s. Did family turn against one another. I’m not afraid of the choice, I would never turn my family in. But there are people out there who could, if it was easier. I don’t know, I put a lot of trust into people. Hopefully that won’t end badly.
Anyway, since I started speaking about Children of Men, fabulous movie, I will now leave you with the trailer.
Quotes, lots of them. December 27, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in friends, friendship, quote, quote of the day, quotes, relationships.add a comment
My favorite quotes of the year.
Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them.
- John Updike
“To be acknowledged for who and what I am. No more, no less. Not for acclaim, not for approval. The simple truth of that recognition. This has been the elemental drive of my existence, and it must be achieved if I am to live or die with dignity.”
Andrew the robot from Bicentennial Man
“It’s as if we expect border control agents to do what a century of communism could not: defeat the natural market forces of supply and demand… and defeat the natural human desire for freedom and opportunity. You might as well as sit in your beach chair and tell the tide not to come in.” – Michael Bloomberg
“Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man” Fredrich Nietzche.
“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.” Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint in The Usual Suspects.
“This is the deep-dish, delicious irony endured by the Nintendo stalwart: to see their platform of choice ascendant, even as their bright God turns his face away.” Tycho from Penny Arcade on regards to Nintendo catering to the casual gamers and not people like me.
Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive. ~Josephine Hart
“Strength is nothing more than how you hide the pain.” Unknown.
Love has nothing to do what you are expecting to get – only with what you’re expecting to give – which is everything. Katherine Hepburn.
To love at all is to be vulnerable. C.S. Lewis
“It’s the people you care the most about that are easiest to hurt, and that are the most likely to hurt you…”
“Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.”Tennyson.
To be alone is to be different, to be different is to be alone. Suzanne Gordon
“If you deceive someone, you lose one of life’s greatest treasures, you lose the capacity to trust. Because without trust, love is not possible.” – Osho
Immigration Worldwide December 27, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in Immigration, human rights, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, law, life, opinion, people, politics, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students.1 comment so far
Well, it seems that the US is not the only place where immigrants are not welcomed. According to the following article, it seems that Spain has made harsher immigration laws. It seems that economic woes have made it tougher for immigrants to be in the country.
It is natural of course, and unfortunate. What can be done? I don’t know, I truly don’t know.
Read more in the following article.
Court Case in Racial Profiling December 26, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in America, Americans, ICE, citizenship, civil rights, courts, dehumanization, discrimination, human rights, ideas, news, opinion, personal, politics, quote, quote of the day, quotes, racial discrimination, racial profiling, thoughts.Tags: racial profiling
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This is a quote from the judge that argued that racial profiling is not good enough to arrest anyone.
“fear cannot be a factor to allow for the evisceration of the bedrock principle of our Constitution that no one can be arrested without probable cause that a crime has been committed.”
The case comes from the fact that 2 Egyptian men were arrested because they acted suspiciously during a flight from San Diego to Kennedy International Airport. Apparently, switching seats to be closer together, watching their watches and speaking Arabic. Just as Latinos now have to face the fact that if they speak Spanish in public, some people will say that they are undocumented immigrants.
Well, I’m glad some people still have common sense. The judge brought up what happened to the Japanese after World War II, with the internment camps as a reason as to why it shouldn’t happen again. Some people might disagree, cough*Michelle Malkin*cough, in that the internment was wrong and that something along those lines should never happen again.
Another quote from the article.
Judge Block said that “it is beyond question that perceived ethnicity alone cannot give rise to reasonable suspicion or probable cause.” He added, “Otherwise, officers would be entitled to qualified immunity for arresting airline passengers solely for conversing in their native language.”
Read more in the following article about the ruling.
Immigration in New Orleans December 26, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in 2008, Immigration, Latinos, human rights, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, life, opinion, people, politics, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students.1 comment so far
Well, after the destruction of New Orleans, guess who came rushing in to help the rebuild the city. That’s right, immigrants. Of course, in rebuilding a city there is a lot of work that has to be done, when it comes in service and construction. Immigrants are of course happy to fill in the job that no one else wants.
There are problems with that of course, mainly, that a lot of them do fall prey to drugs in the big city. Many of them are also robbed, mainly by others who are not immigrants and know that immigrants usually carry lots of cash and are afraid of telling police.
Of course, the fear comes from deportation, which the current administration has fostered. The New Orleans police has tried to reassure people that they won’t be deported but knowing the people as I do, I know many of them would never ever tell police if they have been robbed and the like.
Another aspect that changed is the fact that the demographics have changed. More people. More kids. More costs when it comes to hospitals and schools. Of course, their presence in the city is legitimized by the fact that the city needs them to reconstruct. Can’t have one thing and not the other.
More to read in the following link to the Associated Press.
A Dreamer December 25, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in America, Americans, Dream Act, Immigration, citizenship, civil rights, dehumanization, human rights, ideas, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, inspiration, life, opinion, people, politics, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students.add a comment
Not just any dreamer, one of the best I’ve known and one that I’m very happy to be friends with. I’m speaking of none other than DreamActivist of course, who was the star of the following article. Please read it and find out about one the best of us.
Here is a quote.
What is American? Who is an American? I hail from the Fiji Islands; My favorite food is Chinese; I root for Italy and Juventus when it comes to soccer; I am disappointed when India loses a major cricket tournament; I love Pakistani music with Jal as my most favorite band; I speak several dialects of Hindi, English, understand Urdu and am finally grappling with Spanish and French; the L-word is my favorite television show with Jennifer Beals as my biggest idol; I think Indian actress Anita Hassanandani is the most beautiful woman in the world; I love Maroon 5, Simple Plan, U2 and Kasabian; my best friends live in various parts of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom; the San Francisco Bay Area is my home and Chicago is my favorite city. My likes and dislikes know neither borders nor boundaries. And if my diversity of taste and pleasure-seeking avenues is not American, than I don’t know what is.
Dark Knight Christmas December 24, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in The Dark Knight, famous people, fiction, films, funny, laugh, movie, people, thoughts, videos, youtube.add a comment
This is Christmas, Dark Knight style. I loved the spoof of that particular scene. Amazing.
Merry Christmas and Thank-you December 24, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in 2008, friends, friendship, heroes, inspiration, mentors, opinion, people, personal, thoughts.2 comments
Well, it is another Christmas at my blog and I have a couple of things to say.
To my friends,
Once again, thank you putting up with me and my crazy depressed self. Thank you for keeping me company, either in person at the university or in the cyberworld, through AIM and email. I wish one day I could repay what you guys have done for me by being there for you guys. Seriously, you guys keep me sane. You’re the most amazing super awesome kick-ass bad-asses that I know. You have all had a positive influence and I hope have been a good friend through out all this time. And for those friends of mine going abroad, I’ll miss you terribly.
PS. To my friend going to New Zealand, remember, you’re getting me a Hobbit! And stalking meeting Peter Jackson to get his autograph for me. Also, I’m glad you enjoyed the book!
To my mentors,
If my friends kept me sane, you guys kept me in the right path. Without you guys, God knows where I would be. Probably not at the university though, that’s for sure. I don’t have much words to know what to say, aside for thank-you but as an English major, I know that those words will never be enough. Thank for you everything, for all the advise and for all putting up with my crazy self.
It is not easy being me, and I’m sure it must not be easy dealing with me in my dark times, for either my friends or my mentors. But for being there for me, you will always have my eternal gratitude.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all!
Manuel Gonzales, aka you know who.
Immigration in the South December 23, 2008
Posted by iamashadow in ICE, Immigration, dehumanization, deportation, depression, discrimination, hate, human rights, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, immigrants, law, life, personal, politics, thoughts, undocumented student, undocumented students.4 comments
Well, I shouldn’t say the South, but well, one state in the South. South Carolina that is. It seems that they are moving forward with the commonplace knee-jerk reaction to immigration. Kick them all out. Attrition through enforcement. This is what they are planning.
Here’s how the S.C. Illegal Immigration and Reform Act will be implemented:
• On Jan. 1, state, county and municipal governments, as well as government contractors with 500 or more employees that perform manual labor (large school building or road construction firms, for example) will have to use e-verify for new hires.
• On July 1, smaller contractors and subcontractors who provide manual labor for government entities must start using e-verify to check new hires.
• Also on July 1, private employers with 100 or more employees will have to change their hiring policies. New employees will have to be screened with e-verify or required to show an in-state driver’s license, ID card, or a license from a state with eligibility requirements as stringent as South Carolina’s.
• A year later, on July 1, 2010, private employers with fewer than 100 employees will have to start using e-verify or require new employees to show an in-state driver’s license or a license from a state with eligibility requirements as stringent as South Carolina’s.
Great job South Carolina, specially considering how well the economy is working right, oh wait–
Again, again, states taking up the mantle of immigration agents and enforcers. I believe it should be the federal government’s job.
Of course, South Carolina is not the only state in the South that is bad against immigrants, North Carolina is too because their asinine decision to not let undocumented students go to community colleges. That one is frustrating because I can believe going after adults, but not after kids, that’s just wrong.
Read the following article to know more.
