Author Archives: Albert Tong

Albert Draft

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Albert you can put your analysis here

It is I your preacher in the flesh andWe have a serious problem to address

We are huddled beneath the alter

But faith strong we shall not falter

We have all wronged in our lives before, but
be gone with that! Now we are armed with
the way to heaven.

As the end of days is approaching and
the signs are clear that lord himself is fast
approaching to clear our names.

They call us crazy, they call us fools, but in
the end it will be them and not us we who
will be maimed by the fires of hell.

We are the ones living faithfully bowing
agreeing with the words of our lord, while
the others do everything in their power to
deny others the right to worship his name.
They took away prayer from schools and
even tried to remove god from the pledge of
this fine country and claim that we are using
indoctrination.

I say to them if we are using indoctrination,
they’re doing the same. They have songs
about physical expectations, the amputation
of civil moralities, and the imposing
limitations of our children’s education about
the wonders of Jesus Christ.

Events are unfolding as we see the signs of
our rapture is approaching. God is clearly
angry from wars to shootings to the sanctity
of life defiled across the country.

But believers heed me now. Unlike them we
have repented. Jesus arrives to let us into
his kingdom and he shall smite all who have
doubted his power. I huddle beneath this
mighty alter raise my hands and say amen.

Another day another dollarScholar by day; brawler by night

There’s always an issue we got to fight

Too poor for war too small to be seen

Yet hope is there when you look at the screen

Absolved from our crimes, we remember
our past, but always look forward cause time
moves too fast.

Times changing salvation shining,
be forced to see the world, for what it truly
holds.

We’re persecuted, executed ain’t nobody
care about us. But hold fast and stay true and
we’ll be just fine.

We live small live modest never waste or
steal, yet we’re always the villains so hey
what’s the deal. Laws changing, government
new, we’ll have a leader that will fight for
the rights of all believers.

Don’t give in to commotion, the oceans

flowing with the other potion. Just breathe

and say, yes we can.

Yes we can, yes we can, hope and change.

New leaders new crew our time is here

so Yes we can, yes we can, hope and

change. I bring my hands up high and say

Yes we can, yes we can, hope and change.

 

More Than Nukes?

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When reading Nuke York, New York, I wondered if there was something more to it than America’s obsession of attacks taking place in New York City. Instead of maintaining that mindset, it is better to take a look at this in different mindset. It seems more logical that NYC is used as the setting for attacks made on U.S. soil because it is an area that’s recognizable on the global level, and using a setting such as NYC appeals to Americans because it represents the busiest cities in the United States.

Mike Broderick and Robert Jacobs use different mediums of media throughout his essay in order to provide examples of NYC being the center of catastrophic attacks. The structure of topics that his paper covers also has sections that relate to media, including magazines, books, television, film, video games, and online content, with only two sections that do not directly relate to a medium of media. The trend that the media sections seem to follow is that they all involve NYC as a setting of attack that corresponds to an attack. For example, the authors gave the example of the film Rocket Attack as a response of the Soviet’s launch of Sputnik and also the example of the 2005 novel The Nuclear Suitcase that is about an attack on NYC with a weapon from the former Soviet Union that is purchased by jihadists. Instead of agreeing with the author’s conclusion stating an attack on NYC represents American anxieties and fears from bombing Japan and the post 9-11 world, I feel that an attack based in NYC is an attack on, as the authors write, “American progress, prestige, and profit” due to the powerful symbolism it provides. This symbolism is something that causes sensationalism in attacks that take place in NYC.

This is probably done because it is something that culture and society dictates. Philip Morrison, author of If the Bomb Gets Out of Hand, followed with the example that New York is a better setting to use because of the familiarity. Even though the novel was a reference to the atomic bombing of Japan, he had to set the story in NYC in order to appeal to the American audience. Therefore, there are two ways to address this: either there is a symbolic meaning behind attacking NYC or there is a location meaning behind attacking NYC because everyone will understand where the attack is. This will be something that I will look forward to find out when I hear Mike Broderick talk tomorrow. Furthermore, I was surprised at the many culture references that I missed like Heroes and 24, which included references to a potential nuclear blast. Nevertheless as the current villain to the U.S. is based in the Middle East, we’ll be in for a few more books, games, films, and movies about them. Just think of how Call of Duty’s villain changed over time.

Relations to Viewer Means Money

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After watching the three films, I started to wonder how they were similar and different. It was obvious that 28 Days Later and Children of Men were portrayed as post apocalyptic in theme, but it was hard to relate it to Apocalypto. All of the films were also set in a different time period and I did not understand how they all fit. After reading The Days are Numbered, I soon realized how all three films fit together. However, I was left with a question: if films follow the culture of our times, can it simply be that films constantly adapt to the culture that is currently relevant in order to pique the curiosity of viewers? Continue reading →

A Leader’s Actions To Control A Group

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As I read the three chapters, I tried to figure out how they all connected to one another and make my own theory on how the readings would be interconnected. Perhaps the wise and charismatic leaders of cults are able to attract various members because they are able to attract members that are either out casted or previously humiliated by a prior event by uniting them under one cause. Afterwards, the group would be conducted in a way that catered to the way that majority of the cult wanted in order for the leader to keep their members. The violence or extreme that the cult chose to take would then be decided by the leaders, as they are in charge with the degree of a cult’s potential for violence. Continue reading →

Albertine Time

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When reading Rick Moody’s novella, The Albertine Notes, I was confused initially midway through when Kevin started taking Albertine. Yet after a while, I realized the story was non-linear and that it functioned on kariotic time, as time was never discussed when Kevin was under the influence of drugs. Another thing that I realized was that at the end of the story, he seemed strung out on drugs, yet these are his notes. How did he himself muster the effort to write everything he wrote? After all, at the beginning of the story, he is writing in the past tense as if everything had already happened already. I kept wondering how this novella could be interpreted, and in the end I settled that The Albertine Notes uses the post-apocalyptic setting with the fundamentalist ideology of kariotic time.

The character Cortez was an interesting addition because his role constantly seemed to shift. Throughout Kevin’s point of view, Cortez was a character that owns a cartel, to a man who committed his first murder through a memory, and to someone who wanted to bomb Manhattan. It was quite confusing to actually follow along with what was being said throughout the story. Another thing was the shifting perceptions of who his mom was. He was confused with the image of Cassandra as his mom. He even had memories of her being a chief chemist for the Cortez syndicate, informer for the Resistance, just a young woman, and of her as an older Chinese Woman. The memories of Cassandra were introduced as may or may not; meaning that Kevin was high and was going through different points of events through kariotic time. After all, when he was locked inside a supply closet in order getting high on Albertine, the reader was told the amount of time that he was on the drug.

Nevertheless, I found The Albertine Notes, to be confusing to follow at times when Kevin was slipping in and out of different memories. I think this was set by design by the author who wanted to display kariotic time, as anything kariotic can only be displayed in a nonlinear sense. Then again it could be like that just because Kevin was under the influence of Albertine making the confusion over memories as was one of the dilemmas that I was faced while I was reading the novella.

Hypocrisy in Todays Fundamentalists

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When reading essay 10 by Charles Strozier, I found that it was aggressively against the idea of fundamentalism. At first, it summarizes The Book of Revelation and makes the statement that it is more quoted than actually read, suggesting that the belief systems that fundamentalists cite from the bible are more selectively chosen rather than taken as a whole. Nevertheless at the end of his summary, he speaks about the fundamentalist mindset in seven different aspects starting with time and ending with redemption. Each of them strikes a blow at fundamentalists. This is probably preparation for the movie Jesus Camp, as it has to do with children who are brainwashed into being religious zealots. Throughout the seven aspects of the fundamentalists, common themes such as violence, death, and personal belief are touched upon. Continue reading →

Fundamentalist Ideas in Society

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As I was reading the fundamentalist essays, I smiled to myself because it reminded me of everyday life. Charles Strozier and Katharine Boyd’s essays resonated with me the most when it came to ideas relating to dualism and time, as we see many fundamentalist ideas in today’s mainstream and regular culture. I am surprised that apocalyptic ideas fit so readily into social ideas, leading me to think that America today has a culture that is influenced heavily by fundamentalist ideas. Although the fundamentalist mindset is seen in the apocalyptic setting, the characteristics of dualism, and the distinct perception of time, the formation of apocalyptic groups can often be seen in a non-apocalyptic settings. Continue reading →

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After watching Michael Tolkin’s The Rapture, I reread The Book of Revelation and wondered if many of the references made to the bible were legitimate. For example, we’re told that the sound of archangel Gabriel’s horn signifies the beginning of the apocalypse. However, in Revelation 8, we’re told that there are seven angels around God and each of them have trumpets. We are not told which angel sounds the first horn, or any of their names. Also, in Revelation 6:2 the first horseman of the apocalypse was Conquest. However, in Tolkin’s film, Angie cried out that the first horseman was War. Some of Tolkin’s use of biblical references in order to portray a rapture film was false and in a way, created a slightly antireligious film. Continue reading →

Watchmen Response

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As a first time reader of Watchmen as well as the whole graphic novel genre, the experience that I had was similar to a child reading their first book without pictures. In other words, I kept paying more attention to what was being said on the page instead of what was drawn on the page. I thought Moore had a great example of a postmodern apocalypse because of its use of a deity and judgment especially using the description of one by Rosen.

According to Rosen, a deity in a postmodern apocalypse questions what it’s like to be god, but in Watchmen, Dr. Manhattan seems to contemplate his existence. For example, he let The Comedian kill a woman in Vietnam and when he exiled himself to Mars, he asked himself who was it that caused him to become what he is. In fact, Dr. Manhattan stated that he is not a god and that he doesn’t think there is one, yet he believes in predetermined fate. When he was on Mars, he asked himself if he’s really able to create the world around him or if everything is predestined. He also said to The Silk Spectre that everyone including him is a puppet, but he can see the strings reaffirming his belief that everything is predestined. In fact predestination is something that affects Dr. Manhattan later in the novel.

In terms of judgment, Dr. Manhattan’s decision to leave Earth because of a possible uncertainty of what is right and wrong also resonates with Rosen’s description of a postmodern apocalypse. The first time he left Earth, he was confused whether or not he was harming the individuals around him. The second time he did so could have been because he was losing faith in humanity. Although he was able to regain some sense of faith in humanity thanks to The Silk Spectre, the action of Veidt probably caused him behave similar to a way of how a shepherd decides to leave it’s heard of sheep in search for a new one. He knows that he can leave humanity as there will be some form of peace, but he can also stay to maintain the peace as well. Although he states that he wants to create humans elsewhere, it’s uncertain if Dr. Manhattan will want to go through with it to risk another incident with another possibility of a Cold War or remain hidden on Earth perhaps waiting to stop Rorschach’s journal.

On another note, I noticed that a newspaper in one of the pages that spoke about the doomsday clock as well as a theater sign that served as a reference to the movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still” which is a movie that reminded me with the “extraterrestrial invasion” that Veidt created for New York.

 

General Confusion.

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When reading Frank Kermode’s “The End” and Elizabeth Rosen’s introduction, it was really hard for me to comprehend what they were trying to say. Personally I think it was just too dense of a reading for me. I understood Rosen’s comment about how we love the apocalypse, but I get lost in what she is trying to say. She discusses postmodernism as well as the many references to religion, but I’m so confused. The same would go for Rosen. There’s just so much going and I’m genuinely confused. It would be nice if someone could explain what their arguments were as a response as we don’t have class this week.