JAMES RISWICK
Assistant A&E Editor
This, my friends, is the penultimate edition of Random Thoughts. Only two more to go until I retire from the world of Graphicland, but before I do, I must say it has become increasingly hard to come up with compelling things to discuss week after week. Post-election, I’ve completely lost interest in politics. My seal-saving editor in chief is taking care of issues involving my Canadian homeland. There are only so many articles I can write about baseball and how much I think MTV is ruining global culture. And does anybody really care that I’m greatly concerned about who will be the next James Bond?
So, what better way to deal with such a dilemma than to fall back on the winning formula that first created Random Thoughts? It’s time to break out the bullet points.
• The big news this week is the president and Congress passing a bill that allows a federal court to review the case of Terri Schiavo, a woman in a vegetative state whose husband wanted her feeding tube to be removed. In the wake of Oscar winner “Million Dollar Baby,” there has been an increase of national discussion about assisted suicide not seen since the days when Dr. Jack Kevorkian was roaming around.
In “Million Dollar Baby” (Spoiler alert! Don’t say I didn’t warn you), the movie’s namesake, Maggie, is paralyzed and after several months of being a vegetable, she asks her mentor and father-like figure to help end her life. He does after much consideration and after she unsuccessfully tries to do it herself. I personally thought nothing of this. Maggie’s life as she knew it was over, and she chose to end it along with her suffering – Clint Eastwood’s character was simply doing what Maggie was physically unable to do. In my eyes, it wasn’t murder, but rather an act of compassion. But I suppose people disagree with this.
In the Schiavo case, there is some question as to whether the person in question truly wants to die. Because of this, we should all let our loved ones know what we would want in such a situation, and they shouldn’t be punished for carrying out our wishes. If I don’t want to live anymore, or if my mind has degraded to the point where I don’t know who my friends and family are, that’s it baby. Time to take old man Riz out to sea and send him on his marry way to the great newsroom in the sky.
• As I was researching for the past thought on cnn.com, I came across an article called “Is Demi Moore pregnant?” Since when is news that was once delegated only to the National Enquirer suddenly worthy of one of only two “entertainment” headline spots on a national news Web site? Plus, I bet it was one of the most read stories on the home page. I think this is certainly telling of how sad our culture has become. If only Washington, Jefferson and Franklin could see us now. They probably would ask to be removed from currency.
• Has anyone seen the Michael Jackson recreations on E! Network? I certainly haven’t, and I’m proud to say I haven’t. Are people actually this pathetic and starved for Michael Jackson coverage that they’ll spend valuable hours of their precious lives devoted to watching bad actors recreate the trial? What’s next, “Law & Order: Wacko Jacko?” “CSI: Neverland?” I suppose the last founding fathers comment applies here as well. To paraphrase the Joker in “Batman,” what this country needs is an enema.
• I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to see that all outside tickets for tomorrow’s Something Corporate concert have been sold out. This just shows that even with only a little advertisement and a relatively obscure band, Pepperdine can draw crowds as a concert venue. And why not? Alumni Park as a concert venue is perhaps only topped by the gorge in eastern Washington in terms of spectacular scenery. Pepperdine is sitting on a goldmine that I doubt it will ever dig into. Just imagine a 5,000-person amphitheatre built into the hill behind Alumni Park with a large grass area set up in front of a stage that could be hidden from PCH by large trees similar to the ones already there. With a concert venue already in place, one would think the outrageous cost of set up would be slashed. A concert could actually break even allowing for bigger bands to come. The university could draw top-notch talent – particularly during the summer when it’s warmer and there’s no one filling campus parking spots – and provide much-needed positive publicity for the University in a time when we keep falling in national rankings. Sadly though, any sort of real bands would probably be deemed too naughty to infest Pepperdine’s fragile little minds any way.
In the end, it’s a shame that once again Pepperdine is retarding its potential for silly reasons and a lack of vision, although it hasn’t quite reached the point of requiring an enema.
03-24-2005