Faith of Fabrication

"Sophie, every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith--acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday school. Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors." - Robert Langdon, The Da Vinci Code

I'm still trucking along in The Da Vinci Code and I'd probably finish it faster if I dawdled less with my homework and allotted myself more time to read it. I think that quote is the most important that I've read so far because it's what I've wanted to say to people who try to purposely shake my faith by making a mockery of it; I just couldn't put it in the proper words. People misunderstand faith as blind acceptance of what seems to clearly be false, but it wouldn't be a belief if it was easily proven. How much easier would be to believe in Jesus's resurrection if we had video footage from the crucifiction to the tomb? The fact of the matter is that it's what I believe and others of my religion believe because it's what we think of God's message to us of rebirth. There are so many layers of metaphors in that act alone let alone the whole bible. When people get caught up in semantics we have issues because they don't allow themselves to mature their system of beliefs.

I don't want to get too preachy though, so I'll get a couple of articles of interest out of the way. Bill Gates spoke at the RSA Conference yesterday and in his keynote speech he mentioned that their Anti-Spyware software will be offered free of charge. Apparently, they've been using something called Spynet to accept reports of spyware and through that they've developed this software to be able to find and remove such software. I have no idea how good this software is, but I don't think they'll invest a whole lot in it since it's free. The creators of TCP/IP, without which the internet would not be possibly, are finally going to be getting their dues with this year's Turing Award. This protocol specifies data packets being sent through packages over the internet so that everyone can be on the same wavelength (figure of speech) with communicating. Alan Greenspan, who will be chair of the Fed for one more year, is signalling that the economy is in good shape. I wouldn't be inclined to disagree with him since the recent inflation has been matched with continous growth in the economy and so it's not actaully an inflation crisis. In fact, we're doing better than some of the other big economic powers. I was surprised that he revealed their plans to continue raising interest rates, but there was argument last year at the Fed that clarity in their actions is key. Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut is now on sale so I highly reccomend that those of you unfamiliar with the movie or who don't already have the original DVD go pick it up.

Now for the skinny on current films. My doubts on the quality of the Doom movie are growing as the movie strays more and more from the game. It sounds like the creators of the game are only supporting the movie artificially and the fact that they'll be basing future games off of the movie is scary considering that they should be trying to mature the series independently. However, I have much higher hopes for the Silent Hill movie adaptation after reading what the plot is like. It's the standard fare of someone's journey getting caught up in a strange and menacing town, and it sounds like a mix of the first and second installments of the game (especially since Cybil was a real character in the first game). I don't think the masterful Roger Avary will disappoint us unlike the sickening Uwe Boll. If you're looking for some tidbits of information on Superman Returns you'll want to read this article, which also mentions that X3 is still on track to start shooting in July. They may actually be rushing the movie considering that they're trying to package a teaser trailer with the Fantastic Four prints. The comic book movie with some more certainty, Constantine, has an interestingly ambivalent review now and there's even an interview up with Rachel Weisz. Her interest in the film sounds genuine and she seems to have really gotten into the role. Many of you have no doubt already noticed: the trailer for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is finally online!



The trailer was definitely worth the wait and I have high hopes for this movie. Some of the early views for the movie have sounded a bit shaky, but I think it'll be at least a B+ movie (hopefully A though). While I'm on the topic of exciting movie news I should plug the new site for Sin City. It is an amazingly creative site so take a few minutes to gawk at it. Bruce Willis is on fire with not only this movie but also with Hostage, which sounds pretty cool so far. And lastly, Jet Li fans should note that Unleashed was pushed back to May 13.

On a personal note, I got my first B on a Computer Science test! My grade was a 43/50, but luckily the test is only 10% of your grade so I think I can buckle up and do better on the next test. His brain teaser for us today was how to fill an array of a certain size in O(1) time. So the constructor of this array class would take in the array size and a number to fill the array with. If you think you have the answer, feel free to comment with it. I'm finally going to go see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tonight at the Union so look for me there if you're planning on going to! It will be at 10PM tonight, and it's free as always.

Today's meme will be Cheddar X:

What's the best way to spend?

Fifty cents Err..candy bar?
A dollar An mp3
Five dollars Tapioca milk tea!
Twenty dollars Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut
One hundred dollars
One thousand dollars A superbadass computer with over a GB of RAM and at least a 3Ghz processor with a sweet graphics card
One million dollars The Villas on Guadalupe
One hundred million dollars An island in the Caribbean