It’s strange, it’s different.
It’s not the same.
Yesterday, I was holding the key to my heart.
Today, I am letting the empty memories slip through my fingers.
One big mistake, buried under silence. One mistake. That’s all it took to pull that loose string, and unravel the monster within.
Lies, lies, and broken ties. Trust is gone, trust is gone.
But still, beneath it all, I don’t want to move on. It doesn’t feel right.
Moving along, following his steps, mixed feelings, uncertainty, rest.
Until.
Sometimes, I wonder how people cope with not being able to spend Mother’s Day with their moms. Or even the other holidays that we boarding students don’t get to go home for. Personally, holidays honoring parents or lovers or, heck, even the Easter Bunny should be spent with at least the person who the holiday has been dedicated to. Well, today is Mother’s Day and as I got off the phone with my mom I realized that it has been at least two years since I’ve spent Mother’s Day with my mom. Come to think of it, the past two Father’s Days were spent in the car driving down here, to school. If you are a boarding student, doesn’t that bother you?
It’s just that, some kids, adults, parents, don’t get to celebrate some of these holidays. To me, that’s just makes the day even more important. We get the chance to spend time with our parents, show them why we love them and that they are appreciated, but others probably don’t get that opportunity. And yet, here we are. Forced to make phone calls and the cards we buy don’t get there until six days later and we can’t go out to lunch but we can talk about all the stuff we’re going to do “when we get home”. I think we take advantage of these holidays. How do I know that when I get home there will be enough time to spend with my family before I have to start my new life? So, I say treat them, the holidays, your parents, like it’s the last day you’re going to see them. Corny, yeah, but these holidays were made for a reason. Your mom deserves a hug, so give her one and while you’re at it, can you give mine one too?
So I just watched the Social Network for the second time with my mother and sister. As it turns out, Armie Hammer, one of our neighbors in Santa Monica, played the Winklevoss twins in the movie. This fact however is there just for show and provides no bias in any way. Here’s my observation this time around when I could focus on the movie and not have an alcohol joke made every 5 minutes or the phrase “heyyyy, that’s inappropriate” made more than once.
So we know that Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is the founder of the internet phenomenon facebook.com and the main character of the movie. He starts off working with the Winklevoss twins and their associate Divya Narendra on a site called HarvardConnection.com. It basically does the same thing facebook does. Zuckerberg allegedly steals their idea and starts facebook. The movie has just as much footage of the lawsuit in 2008 as it does flashbacks to their days at Harvard in 2004. So with the movie basically summarized, here is my question: Who was the antagonist?
Now we know that we as a film audience are incensed to support little Zuckerberg against the big bad Winklebi however, look at the qualifications. Zuckerberg makes his girlfriend break up with him at the beginning of the movie and then writes a scathing blog entry about her. He then insults the entire female population at the school by comparing their looks on facemash.com. This gives him 6 months academic probation. He alienates his only friend Eduardo Saverin by almost completely removing him from the company even though he was the co founder, and of course, is accused of intellectual property theft by the Winklevoss twins. If this is truly how facebook is created, then Zuckerberg is no different than any other typical CEO who will step on anyone to reach the top.
Now in the mean time, all the Winklevoss twins and Narendra are guilty of are being the bump in the road for this creation to take place. Yet really think about it here before you either think rationally or act typical. They were only normal kids with an idea at an ivy league university who they feel had robbed from them. The idea was revolutionary and worth a lot of money so they did what they thought was right. Whether it be physical appearance that portrays them as bad guys or if you thought their actions were wrong, they were only doing what they thought was right. After all, many people agree that Eisenberg protrayed the facebook founder as a socially awkward jerk. Should all this be true, then we as a film audience have some thinking to do.
You be the judge.
Of all the moments which took place during the past 8 months, my favorite moment was watching JJ Barea drive to the basket from half court to have his collar bone meet the unforgiving elbow of Andrew Bynum. Barea’s shot would end up going in and Bynum was ejected from the game, ripping off his jersey in frustration as he walked into the tunnel. In a moment which sums up the severe frustration from the only Laker who played like a two time champion, the Lakers, their season, their coaches career, and their throne was swept away in a sea of white and blue coming from the crowd.
Quite the embarrassing way for 11 time NBA championship winning coach Phil Jackson to call it quits, swept in the second round. A 44 year veteran of the league, coach of the great Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant could very possibly be stepping down after this season. With him, the era of Lakers glory could very well be over.
Why do great dynasties fail? Why do they crumble and fall after years of revered greatness? Social crumbling, the loss of cohesion with leadership, military, and economic structure. They lose because other invading territories want what the dynasty has. They have power, resources, and control. They face decline from their super powers and henceforth, they become weak and vulnerable. The Roman Empire, the Han Dynasty of Eastern China, and most recently, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Changes in the front office represent the government going in another direction as uncertainty of the future clouded the practice atmosphere. It is a great distraction for a team. The fact that after Pau Gasol posted a mere 13 points per game and played tentatively the entire playoffs. Derek Fisher’s illustrious career has been reduced to experience thanks to the inevitable sting of time and may henceforth be replaced by a younger and faster point guard. Ron Artest‘s contract is also in jeopardy. Key components are at risk of being moved thanks to an in balance in salary and production. Changes from the front office can be felt. Other than that, Kobe Bryant played with a lack of fire, evident from his inability to close games 1 and 3. As a whole, the collective effort aside from Bynum wasn’t there. The military is your defense and line of protection from the invading enemies who want your throne. The Lakers did very little to veer off the opposing teams attack. While they scored 101 points per game during the season, in the post season, that’s what they allowed. After a valiant effort from Chris Paul and the Hornets in the first round exposing the human side of the Lakers, and of their dominant post defense in 6 games, the Dallas Mavericks defeated them in a clean sweep.
With the Mavericks now the favorites to win the NBA Finals, they have gained all that the Lakers once had: a championship trophy, dominance known through
Come next week, the Ojai Valley School varsity baseball team will play their final game against the hated Cate Rams. It’s been an eventful season to say the least and today we could have, probably should have, but came damn close to beating Dunn school. They’re playoff bound folks, they’re good. We went up there today and gave them a hell of a battle and showed resiliency and heart. I think our team is worth watching. We have a lot of talent invested in the future and we are gaining respect from teams around the league, the exact teams that once mercied us are now struggling for wins, or for their lives. So that’s Wednesday. Don’t worry, we’re at home, you don’t have to move.
Immediately following that game, I hop on a plane to NY to watch my sister get married. Mary Stevenson and Hari Mahedev are a great couple that I have known for years now. They’re both Ivy League graduates, they’ve both become doctors and they’re in love. Besides I’ll get to see most of my family again, I’ll be able to rock my new threads, I’ll get to witness a very happy moment, and maybe I’ll meet a few brides maids who I like. You never know but it’ll be great.
I’ve celebrated the end of AP exams (I took 3 in 4 days) with a healthy diet of South Park cartoons and Dominos Pizza. Plus I’ve enjoyed my guitar lately. I’m really making it sound good.
That’s my current life. What’s yours?
Just now, a freshman girl from China interviewed me about freedom at OVS. It was fascinating for me to have a citizen of a communist country pay attention to my insights about such “forbidden” topic, freedom.
The questions were pretty straightforward. Here are some: What can you do to improve freedom at OVS? Do you think OVS has a lot of freedom? What do you do during your freedom at OVS? What is your first impression of OVS?
Our school try to provide the students with many opportunities even if some might disagree.
But, are we given with the right amount of freedom?
Yes, we are given with a lot of free time. So, does that necessarily mean we possess the rights to our freedom?
Pondering for a brief moment, I found myself caught in the conflict between individuality and society.
Balancing out these two is crucial. And, here I relate these thoughts to OVS.
Integrity. Individuality. Utilitarian society. Liberty. Morals. Coercion. Censorship.
If I were to list these words to describe OVS in a certain order of relevancy, I would have to weigh out a lot of OVS student handbook regulations, American societal standard, and realistic circumstances where all these regulations would be implicated. To that end, I am not going to organize them here anyway.
What if, a girl or a boy student decides to wear a plain shirt with a single word, “gay” or “lesbian”, printed?
Would this behavior be interpreted as an act of rebellion, a violation to the profession as a student, or nothing?
Just wondering.
I’ve been to about 30 concerts in my life. From seeing the Rhianna to Michael Franti, I’ve made my way around the different genres and different venues. This last Saturday I was lucky enough to see Avi Buffalo at the Getty Museum.
I had never been to the Getty before and didn’t have much of an idea of what to expect. I’ve always driven down the 405 and wondered what that white tram led to and what wonders were inside the museum itself. All that I can say is that it’s magnificent. Every single molecule in that museum is beautiful.
From to the different exhibits, to the perfectly mowed lawns, to the magnificent water gardens, and to the city views, it’s simply the most beautiful place that I have ever been to. I plan on returning there as soon as possible to spend my day exploring all the parts that I didn’t even have time to see. But that wasn’t even the best part of my day.
My friends and I were walking to use the restroom when Charlie (pictures above) stopped dead in her tracks and said “That’s him!”[The lead singer of Avi Buffalo] We followed him down in order to get a picture or two with him and watched him walk through the crowd without being noticed. It’s so strange to watch someone so talented and known not be recognized by the mass majority of a crowd. Though after the show he was a lot more popular.
It’s also needless to say that the show was amazing. The band only has one album out, but on set they played several songs that hadn’t been heard yet and many that the crowd was yearning to hear. We were all in the front row and we couldn’t have been happier. The energy feeding off the stage mixed with the flashing colored lights, sounds of the crowd, and the smell of inscents made the prefect mixture that was blissful.
If you haven’t heard of them, please go look them up now. You can download their album here for free, and believe me, it’s well worth it. But if you can, do try to support them! They aren’t too big yet, so they could always use the money from music sales. I hope that you like them! Oh and go visit the Getty if you haven’t already as well. You won’t regret it!
OVS Journalism Blog 
