"In My Country"

Sony Picture Classics' new movie "In My Country" is being released in theatres in NY and LA this coming Friday. It stars Samuel L. Jackson and Juliette Binoche, and is about an American reporter (Jackson) who is sent to South Africa to cover the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. While there he meets an Afrikaans journalist (Binoche) who is in charge of covering the hearings for South Africa. I'm very excited about the movie, since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is the topic of my senior thesis. Check out the movie trailer here.

MMUN, Etc...

Okay, okay...sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been kinda crazy lately.

Finished my thesis and presented it to the Arkansas Political Science Association. I must admit, I was very nervous, what with two of my profs sitting in and all. But, I survived and did just fine. Didn't win best paper tho. Oh well.

The last full week in February I flew to St. Louis with some of my best friends for the Midwest Model United Nations conference. It was awesome. I represented Chile in the Economic and Social Council. We discussed combating the roots of terrorism as well as renewable forms of energy. Wrote one resolution and got it passed in committee as well as the plenary session, as well as yelled at France for trying to take out a section concerning lowering tariffs in one of our resolutions. Flying was an ordeal tho...missed my flight out of Little Rock and had to have a 4 hour layover in Atlanta, then when we were getting ready to leave the conference my flight back to Atlanta had been cancelled.

UPDATE: Apparently a couple weeks ago the USMA Model UN team won the National Championship at the Harvard National Model UN Conference for the first time in history. Way to go, guys!

Valentine's Day

Well, Happy Valentine's Day!

The History Of Valentine's Day

And this story is kinda sweet.


Personally, I quite enjoyed these 20 reasons to enjoy being single from MSN:

1. "You can have male friends without having to defend yourself and explain that nothing else is going on."
2. "Free drinks at bars! Men seem to know when you're single and tend to be very generous."
3. "You can spend as much time as you want with your family and nobody's lip will drag the ground."
4. "You can shave your legs and the razor is never dull from his face."
5. "You can talk to your girlfriends for hours on the phone without getting dirty, exasperated looks."
6. "You can spend your paycheck on what you want."
7. "You never have to worry if the milk carton had been directly drunk out of."
8. "You don't have to check to see if it's okay to tell someone yes or no to an invitation. You can accept on the spot."
9. "You can fill the fridge with fresh fruit and veggies, bottled water, one-percent milk and applesauce instead of cold cuts, beer and Velveeta."
10. "No more Cinemax, American Flyers, Steven Seagal or Jackie Chan. You are free to watch Emeril and Ming Tsai three times a day if you want."
11. "You can be happy with who you are, not who he wants you to be."
12. "If you are depressed or mad at the world for a few minutes, you don't have to worry about having your 'outlook on life' analyzed."
13. "You can eat garlic or onions without a second thought about breath mints."
14. "Not only are your dinners free when you go out on those first dates, but they take you out to nice places."
15. "You don't have to give yourself lame excuses for not devoting time to yourself."
16. "No snoring!"
17. "No one gets insulted when you spend the day at the beach checking out the lifeguards."
18. "You can have eight hours of undisturbed sleep with the covers all to yourself."
19. "You can go to bed in flannel and plaid rather than Frederick's and Victoria."
20. "The toilet seat issue -- need I say more?"

Finished...Finally

Yay! I have finished writing my thesis. Praise God! I can't even begin to explain how stressful its been trying to get it done these last couple weeks. Grrr... All that's left is a little revision here and there, but there's no rush.

Duh

So, after finally realizing that I had my comment setting to "members only" I have finally remedied this problem. Sorry 'bout that, y'all. Now anybody may comment at will

*waits for the comments to start pouring in*

Anytime now, guys... ;)

Army Uniforms Redesigned

After 21 years, the Army had redesigned their BDUs. Read the article here.

Apparently, the camoflauge pattern on the new uniforms has been totally redesigned, insignia is attached by Velcro instead of being sewn on, and the material is wrinkle-free and machine washable. Also, new boots will be made of suede and won't require polishing like the old. According to the article, the new uniforms will be issued in coming months to units being sent to Iraq, soldiers entering basic training will be issued them by October, and all Army troops will be required to wear them by April 2008.

*sigh* I guess I'm just old-fashioned. Being an Army brat, I grew up with the old BDUs, and will have a hard time getting used to the new uniforms. I don't particularly like the new pattern. And not having to polish shoes? Where's the fun in that? I used to sit and watch my dad pull out the wooden shoe polishing kit my grandfather got him for graduation and polish his boots. My parents are planning on buying my brother a pair of Corcorans for graduation. I know one thing, I'm sure he'll be happy he won't have to iron his uniform...hahaha

ABC "Family" Channel?

While filpping through channels one night this weekend, and discovering that there was nothing on worth watching (surprise, surprise) I came across an ABC (formerly Fox) Family Channel movie called She Gets What She Wants. I usually somewhat enjoy ABC Family's Original Movies, and as there was nothing else on, I sat and watched it. Basic storyline is this: Starla is Miss Perfect and the queen of her high school in Texas. She decides to host Genevieve, a French exchange student, in order to make herself look good and improve her chances at getting into Wellsley College and becoming the next Katie Couric. However, little by little, Genevieve begins taking over her school, her friends, her family, and her dream of becoming a famous reporter.

There were several things the bothered me about this movie, however: First of all, there was quite a generous use of profanity used throughout the movie. Starla's two best friends, high schoolers I remind you, were both shown smoking incessently, and furthermore were insunated to be lesbians in a couple scenes. Starla's French teacher, a married man, was insunated as having a thing for teenage girls. And her mom was portrayed as an alcoholic. What bothered me was the fact that all these things were shown in a movie by ABC Famliy Channel. I definitely wouldn't want my kids watching something like that, and I am appalled that a channel that is supposed to be geared towards kids and families would make and show such a movie.

And the Nominees Are...

The current list of law schools I plan on applying to (in order of preferance)

1) Georgetown
2) George Washington
3) College of William and Mary
4) University of Maryland
5) University of Alabama
6) Washington University
7) Southern Methodist University
8) University of Oklahoma
9) University of Arkansas-Fayetteville

How Many More Days Till Summer Vacation?

Whew....got through my first day back since Christmas Break. Looks like African Development and African/African-American Lit are going to be no prob. My African Develpment prof is Belgian and speaks w/the thickest French accent (Lindsay...where are you when I need you! hahaha) but he's been nearly everywhere in Africa, so that's really cool. My African/African-American Lit class is going to be easy. I had the same prof for Core III (Honors) last year, and this class is set up the same way. I'm kinda excited that I actually know people in that class. Hannah Johnson and Haley Heath are both in it with me, they're really sweet. And a guy who's been in some of Whistler's classes with me sat behind me, and we talked about the dreaded Dr. McInnis who I have tomorrow for Civil Libs (mental note: keep up with case briefs!)

I love being back! It's so great to see everybody again!