Anime isn't a complete waste of time

Recently, more specifically five days ago, I started watching this Japanese anime, Gundam Seed. Unfortunately I decided to pick this "hobby" up when the holidays was about to end, and I doubt I'll have the time to finish watching it when school starts. Anyway I've watched it before many years back, and this is just to remind me of what happened (because I almost completely forgot).

To set things in context, the whole series is based on a war between two sides: The Naturals, who are pure humans; and the Coordinators, who are genetically modified humans. Coordinators, being modified to be smarter and faster, obviously pilot mobile suits better than the Naturals, so the Naturals are already at a disadvantage from the start. There are also forces, The Naturals are represented by the Earth forces, the Coordinators by ZAFT forces, and there's Orb who claims to be neutral.

The more I look at it, the more it doesn't seem like science fiction, and could very well be the problem we face generations down the road. All you need is one dare-devil to challenge the way life is made and you can spark a worldwide war. The question that came to my mind was, if this were to really happen, which side would I take? Would I side with the Naturals, as the reason stated by the government in the anime to "restore a blue and pure world", with the Coordinators, to embrace new technologies, or with the Orb to sit on the fence? I honestly don't know, and I don't wish to comment.

What if, beyond this peaceful sky, there's a war going on?

There were civilians who were with the Earth forces to help them when they were desperate for people, and when given the chance to go back to their family, they chose not to. They made a very good point. Even though they get to go to Orb, a neutral state where it is safe and not participating in the war, it is not as if a war isn't going on. Just because you don't see something happening doesn't mean it isn't happening. "We don't just disappear just because your eyes are shut" ("From Heads Unworthy", Rise Against).

There's another issue that was brought up. The Orb, emphasis again on a neutral state not participating in the war, apparently helped the Earth forces build weapons and machinery. Their stand was, "The machinery are for our own uses. When we are attacked, this is the only way we can protect ourselves and chase them out of this nation." That's ironic, considering that you're also participating in the war yourself. And when you attack them, they make more machinery with the excuse to "protect themselves". It'll never end.

The most lasting issue that I learned from the series is about victory. If you go by this philosophy that no one can win a war until one side wipes out the other, then the war will never end. If you kill someone, his friends/family will hate you and want to avenge them. They will then attempt to kill you, making your friends/family hate them, and this vicious cycle just continues on. When will it stop? In my opinion, a war will only stop when everyone single one of one side is eliminated, when one side surrender, or when there's consensus agreement. People don't fight a war to lose. They put so much effort into it, sacrificed so much, and all the want is victory. Just because you are victorious now doesn't mean you will be victorious later. We can't sustain victory forever.

In conclusion, after spending 12 hours watching anime (and I'm only about halfway done), it was worth my time.

If this were to happen, which side would you take? If you could escape, would you? 

If you had hope, why would you stop fighting?

The Apocalypse That Didn't Happen

Almost everyone made a big deal of the "21 Dec 2012", when the world was supposed to end. If you actually read about facts, you'll realise that the world won't actually end, at least not on that day.

The Mayans were the people who supposedly predicted the end of the world. However, 21 Dec 2012 was just a day in their calendar, which happened to mark significance because it is the end of a calender, and start of a new one. Historians believe that the day when the calendar first started was some sort of dooms day, thus conveniently assumed that the world would have some catastrophic disaster when the calendar ends/starts.

In a documentary I watched, they said that the Mayans scripted messages on stones. And for some reason, turned it around so that when the stones were made to form the structures, it won't be seen. I'm not sure how people found out about it though. It's not like they could remove a precious stone from the Mayan monuments. The commentator implied that they wanted to hide some secret from others around. He then went on to say, "could they be hiding some knowledge of a catastrophic event from people so it would not cause global panic"? My guess is that the Mayans didn't want that important message on the stone to suffer wear and tear from environmental factors so made it face inside to protect it as long as they can before someone finds it and protects it. Just a guess.

Another documentary depicted the possible scenes of disasters of the supposed "End of the World", like major earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, cosmic collision, famine and so on. I laughed when I watched it on the 22nd Dec haha.

In Nostradamus' predictions, he mentioned something that resembled an Earthquake, with a slight hint, adding the phrase "new city" into it, implying a catastrophic earthquake would happen at "new city". Apparently, according to American historians, they linked "new city" to the USA, and thought: Since Yellowstone has an active volcano, "new city" probably referred to Yellowstone. I don't know how they arrived at this conclusion (though I believed it was biased; Well whatever it just means that if it's true, they'll die first), but I'll associate "new city" to New York, which I doubt has active volcanoes so meh.

"Doomsday Preppers", as they call themselves, make preparations for the supposed apocalypse. For example buying an underground capsule which would provide them oxygen, food and water to survive and things like that. While some might think it's stupid to waste money on it, I guess it's good that they're prepared for the worst.

In any case, it was evident that the world didn't end.

If an apocalypse were to happen, I'll bet on December 2016 though. There's a huge asteroid that's suppose to collide with Earth then, but scientists are trying to knock it out of its orbit. They have the next 4 years to work things out, so I won't fret about it :).

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6501/smileyfacek.jpg

Music

There's just something interesting, bewildering, about music. Somehow, it just takes your mind off the current situation you're in, and takes you to another world, which most of the time is imaginary. Music isn't always good. Some music makes you calm, happy and relaxed; Others, makes you sad, angered and more depressed. It basically depends on the genre of music that you're listening to. Oh and more importantly, the memories tagged along to them.

I find it weird how we tagged a certain memory with the song. Based on experience, the image I have in my head while hearing the song, usually tags with what I saw when hearing the song for the first time. For example, I first heard most of Soda Green's songs during the concert. Thus when I hear those song, I remember that concert atmosphere and his lame jokes, and that's how I just smile and laugh to myself. Sometimes, the lyrics of the song is just too relatable that we become happy.

On other occasions, when hearing a song, you tag a person, instead of an image, to it. I don't like it when it happens. It's not fair to ruin a perfectly good, and favourite, song, just because of a sudden hatred towards the person tagged along with it. Take my advice, try to block this tendency as far as possible. I can't believe I stopped listening to Westlife.

Rock genre. Who actually listens to it? Wait let me correct that. Who actually appreciates rock? Alternative rock is pretty acceptable to most, maybe because there are melodies that are easy to follow. Metal rock is all the way at the other end with people screaming. Rise Against is pretty much the only Punk Rock band I hear. In some songs, you can sense their rebellious tendencies in their music. This might sound weird, but when I listen to rock music, it just calms me down. That's when I thought I finally understood rock.

I actually prefer rock towards pop. Pop songs are easy to follow and likable, but most don't have a meaning to their lyrics, or they're just simply "I'm deep in love" or "I can't get over him/her" kind of songs. Punk rock bands like Rise Against have much deeper meaning that they convey through their songs. They wrote songs about stopping bullying (Make It Stop), how messed up the world is (Life Less Frightening), being hopeful with life (Swing Life Away), refugees (Prayer of the Refugee, one of my favourite :)), the world's messed up lifestyle (Re-Education), and war (Hero Of War, another favourite :)). They are good people too. Labelled as the "political punks", they are also human and animal rights activists, and activists in anti-bullying projects.

Vino Alan from X Factor USA 2012 is another example. By judging him by his cover, with the tattoos all over his body, he gives the impression of a messed up, rebellious adult. His story says so much more. On Thanksgiving week of the competition, he dedicated the song "God Bless The USA" to the U.S. military. His family has connections with the military, and he plays music for them to lift their spirits. His singing was sincere and touching. I've always admired people in the military, and anyone working in the civil service.

In short, music is powerful. They mess with your emotions and feelings in ways you can never understand or comprehend. Treat it with caution.

Music can make you sad, or happy. And in some funny moments, make you feel both.