I wrote a few days ago about thoughts prompted by Accepted. In its own way, that movie is also about hope. Many movies and stories can be found to be about hope and not giving up on dreams. Our history is filled with dreamers. Martin Luther King had a dream that most people have heard. In United States history, there is a strong culture of hope. The US was founded by individuals with a hope of greater religious freedoms. There is a strong notion of the foreign individual coming to the US to pursue a dream of a better life.

Hope is powerful. Hope can stimulate a person to start a business through entrepeneurship. Hope can keep an inventor from giving up after failed attempts to make a lightbulb. Hope has its risks as well though. Hope can also make a person gamble away what money he or she has. Hope can also make a person’s mind closed to unsupportive ideas.

I have my hopes and dreams. I work toward them. I believe all people should have their dreams and work towards them. A dream without progress toward that dream doesn’t really do much good. However, I believe that progress should be balanced. A dream should not be approached blindly. In the movie, Charles Farmer is not blindly trying to build a rocket. He had in fact been in the space program. He had an education in aerospace engineering. That background gave credence to his hope. His hope was not blind. He knew what he was doing. That’s why hope doesn’t do so well with gambling. No amount of background lets you beat the probabilities. There is no credence.

Go for your dreams. Maintain your hope. Gain the background to do so.

I’d like to see a third movie, but I agree with what I’ve read Bill Murray has said about the venture: If it’s going to happen, it needs to have a good story.

As for the video game, I was rather impressed by it. I thought the story was good, tying together the plot of each Ghostbusters movie. It also was very good visually. The characters looked and sounded just like the originals. I hadn’t played a video game like this since the days of crazy pixelation, so that was impressive to me. I thought the gameplay was rather straightforward as well. There were four weapon combinations from which to choose, and you only had access to new ones gradually through the game. You only had a main weapon and a secondary weapon at any time. You didn’t have to remember what key is to shoot, what key is to throw grenades, what key is to use your knife and so forth that is the case with some other games I’ve tried playing. I liked it being simple. I do think the gameplay time was less than I would have liked though.

The premise of Glee is a teacher starting up a glee club in his school. The club starts very small but gradually grows. Along the way, there is plenty of dramatic character development.

As a fan of musicals, I particularly enjoy the many musical numbers. In every episode, there is at least one musical performance produced similar to a music video. I also like that the character development makes me really like or dislike certain characters. I think this can be a bit excessive though. I like the character of the teacher that started the glee club as well. He is hopeful and naive. He is also supportive and while life might sidetrack him at times, the students are a major focus for him.

At the same time, I’m not fond of the overall plot. It keeps me wanting things to be resolved and there to be a good ending. However, life has no good endings, just continuance. And similarly, a continuing series is a successful one in the eyes of a network most likely. I think the overall experience is too dynamic though. It changes too quickly. It’d be nice if there were some episodes where major back and forth plots did not occur.

In conjunction with my upcoming birthday, I went to Medieval Times in Schaumburg, IL with the lady I’ve been seeing now for over a year. It was a decent time, and I’d say anybody should go once. I don’t think any of the upgrade packages are worth their price though. You get to go free in the month of your birthday, so that makes it more worthwhile.

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Tonight, the new seasons of Psych and Monk aired. I have watched every episode of Psych so far and every episode of Monk for about three years. I find that the actual skills of both Shawn in Psych and Monk in Monk are very similar. It comes down to powers of observation. In the case of Monk, he describes it as both a "gift and a curse." His character has obsessive-compulsive tendencies since his wife Trudy was murdered. Shawn, on the other hand was trained with such abilities by his father, a police officer. In his case, he plays off his discoveries through observation as psychic vision. It is interesting to me how both characters really seem to work through the same means, but their presentation of their discoveries is quite a bit different.

I attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. It is a technical college in Terre Haute, IN. Until 1995, it was an all male school. By both reputation and subject matter, the school is still predominately male. The school has student organization that has many comedians and musicians perform at the school throughout the year. In my four years, I have noticed that nearly every comedian makes the same jokes. They make jokes about the male/female ratio. Those are funny the first time, but they get old when every comedian tells them. They make gender-related jokes that generally get progressively sexual due to the large male audience. Those get pretty old too. The comedians joke about the smell of Terre Haute. Though I have never really noticed it, Terre Haute apparently has a notable odor.

It seems like the jokes are either overused as in the case of those already mentioned or they rely on their distastefulness. I have noticed these comedians even make fun of their audience. I really have not been impressed by the comedians at Rose. I have found some of the musicians, mentalists, and other performers to be funnier without being distasteful. Here is my message to comedians that will perform at Rose-Hulman. Make yourselves stand out. Don’t use the jokes other comedians will use. Don’t resort to being distasteful. You can be funny without making fun of races, genders, etc. Especially don’t single out people in the audience.

I am usually not interested in reality television shows, but I am interested in musicals. For that reason, I gave Grease: You’re the One that I Want a try. This premiere episode was not particularly interesting, but I think things will get more interesting later in the season. Assuming I remember, I think the show merits watching the next episode. This show seems modeled after American Idol. There are three judges, but the decision is up to the US public. The primary difference I see is the prize. The prize in this show is a lead role in the new Grease production.

One of the shows I enjoy watching is Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel. The host, Mike Rowe, travels around the country finding dirty jobs and does them. Watching the show, I have seen him inspect a sewer, stick body parts into body orifices determining animal gender, literally squeeze the crap out of chicks and dogs, and a whole lot more. What amazes me is that people do those jobs. There is no question that many of the jobs come with great health risk. I don’t know if it is intended as a joke, but many of the guests say it is okay because it is organic. I’m sure that is not correct. Bacteria are all natural and organic, and it definitely is not a good thing for a person.

In spirit with one of the show’s slogans, here are my thanks to the men and women of the world that make civilized life possible. I definitely would not want to do most of those jobs.