We're here to throw down.

[trenchkamen]

So, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters. Saw that.

It was made of freaking awesome. Go see it, right now. I would ramble about it, but I don't want to spoil anything.

I did see a preview for this crap before the movie. What the FUCK ARE YOU SMOKING? Way to rip off and butcher Battle Royale BLATANTLY and turn it into some stupid-ass testosterone-pumped mindless action film without any of the charm, originality, or political commentary of the original. They're all "on death row"? FUCK YOU, the original Battle Royale was partially so fascinating because it was about how average junior high students react in that situation, not some WWF star posing as a hardened murderer.

I'd heard rumor that an American studio was planning on "re-making" Battle Royale for "American consumption", but I was expecting some stupid high-schoolers on an island movie, not something even THIS bad. There would at least be the concept of innocents being forced to murder still intact, if nothing else was.

Somebody from Arizona Public Radio interviewed me and Philippi regarding whether or not we felt "safe" on campus in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre. It kind of went like this.

Guy: Give your name and what you do.
Me; I'm Lauren Cook, I'm a biochemistry major, and I am a research--I work in student research.
Guy: Do you feel safe at ASU?
Me: Well, theoretically, just because it's a college... statistically, just because it happened at another university doesn't make it any less safe than any other place... yes. Yes, I feel safe.
Guy: Do you think ASU makes it evident what the disaster plan in a situation like Virginia is?
Me: Uh...
Guy: Like, at orientation or anything like that?
Me: I skipped all the orientation meetings.

Yeah, I love sounding so freaking intelligent on public radio. Erghghghgh.

Comments

[benyahamin.livejournal.com]

Well, you know, in their defense (a difficult position to argue) I don't think Battle Royale was the first work of fiction to use the whole "many enter - one leaves" idea. Not that I've done any research.

Tucson local news did a "special report" on how the Virginia shootings "opened old wounds" regarding a shooting here five or six years ago. Why is local news such bullshit?

[trenchkamen.livejournal.com]

It's not the "many enter-one leaves" concept in itself. It is sticking people on an island, tagging them with an explosive, and having them kill each other as a game with a command central that monitors who is alive and who is dead. If you had seen/read Battle Royale AND seen this preview, you would understand.

And local news is bullshit because bullshit sells, and most journalists have nothing else to fill up a news day anyway.

[nillion.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel any better, I went to the orientational meetings, and there wasn't really anything about disaster plans. It would be kind of odd if they finished their enthusiastic school spirit songs and went on to what would happen if a variety of disasters happened. It would be awkward. I wish they did that, though - I would find it very cool. (And useful! I will have trust in this university!)

But I feel safe. Given the frequency of how often these things happen, the odds it will happen here are extremely low, and if someone did wander around and kill 30 or so students, that's still only a 1/2000 chance that one of them will be me.* Aurora was fretting over me, and I reminded her that I have a better chance at getting struck by lightning a couple of times than getting shot at school. (Death by lightning is a 1:35,000 chance, according to wiki, which means that I need an above 5% chance of a 30 person shooting at this school to be more likely to die of a uni shooting than lightning. I'd be more likely to die from lightning multiple times, if that were possible.)

On the other hand, rationalizing and feeling safe is kind of a cheat. There is emotional fear, and that could be put to good use in some way.


In other news, today is 2007's day of silence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_silence



*: Given the number of people I know, though, it would be 1/50 chance that one of them will be a friend, and about 1/10 chance that I'll know one of them.

[trenchkamen.livejournal.com]

I honestly feel zero emotional fear, or zero more than I felt before I knew about the shootings. Things like this happen, and only so much can be done to prevent them without turning the college into a prison camp, and even then... It's a dangerous business, walking out your door. That is the risk we accept when we choose to go out and live our lives, and there is no point in fretting.

And fuck the school disaster plan, I'd just get the hell out of dodge. That sounds like a good disaster plan to me.