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Friday, December 06, 2002
I'll be doing some alumni admissions interviews again this year for Northwestern, so I do read over some of the cases regarding affirmative action and admissions with close scrutiny. Michael Kinsley emerges from wherever he's been with a solid argument against the Bakke decision and the current case at Michigan's Law School.
I had my own screams of affirmative action years ago when I thought some of my high school classmates who I thought may have been slightly less deserving than me got into some big-time colleges ahead of myself and one of my friends who was valedictorian and well-credentialed. (That's an odd thing about being Asian. We do face many obstacles of being a "minority" but we're often not considered minorities when talking about poverty/affirmative action/etc.) However, we all should wonder to ourselves whether we would've made some of those schools even if there weren't affirmative action/quotas/etc., not comparing ourselves to the quota-admitted folks. Worry about ourselves, not about others.
Besides, if colleges are trying to create a diverse campus, accepting lots of the same people with the same numbers and activities, where's the diversity? Then again, the whole college admission process is a bit goofy anyway. Something to discuss at a later time after I do the interviews.
posted at 6:49 PM
Hey, remember this guy?
posted at 12:57 PM
Monday, December 02, 2002
Cue Alanis???
There has to be some irony in the fact that Ads.com has shut down due to lack of funding. It's also somewhat unfortunate that the one site where people want to see ads has gone down due to lack of interest while ads we don't want to see pop up everywhere.
And unfortunately, Volkswagen has yet to put their new Beetle convertible ad, which has become a favorite of mine, on their commercials page. It's fun seeing them know that their target youth audience isn't always doing something exciting. Yes, many of the scruffy 20-somethings do have boring day jobs and a set routine of waking up, commuting, doing office work, drinking coffee, going home. It's not a glamorous life, but it's definitely functional. The peppy music that goes along with it at least gives the illusion of the corporate drone work being satisfying, that is until he sees the new car driving along -- that escape the protagonist wants but doesn't necessarily need. As usual with many ads, I wasn't too sure what the hell was being sold until the end, but I did enjoy the fact that there was an accurate depiction of what many young people are actually doing (as opposed to the "extreme" world that's being sold out there).
posted at 9:56 PM
Sunday, December 01, 2002
Holiday at the movies
While the latest Harry Potter movie waits to be watched, I ended up catching a couple of movies the past couple of days while on vacation.
I really enjoyed 8 Mile, even if it's nowhere close to Curtis Hanson's best stuff. Eminem was solid, even if he's pretty much playing himself. At least it's a start and at least it's not this classic. The story was decent, if cliched, and I guess I enjoyed the music more than I thought. Although someone mentioned that it was odd hearing more mainstream tunes at times in the background ("Insane in the Brain," "This is How We Do It") as opposed to more hardcore/underground/etc. rap.
Oh yeah, it still baffles me that Brittany Murphy (who was raised in my hometown of all things) is the same actress in Clueless.
With my dad being a big James Bond fan, it was only fitting that I saw Die Another Day with him. If you like Bond films and all of its conventions (lots of stuff blowing up, cool gadgets, two-dimensional villains, good looking women, funny but cliched jokes), you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for breakthroughs in filmmaking, you're going to the wrong movie. Halle Berry looked amazing, and thankfully was actually integral to the plot. However, there wasn't as much hubbub about Rosamund Pike, who actually played a young, attractive British agent. Then again, she wasn't playing a typical Bond girl role (nor the greatest miscast in film history -- Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones).
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