The Avengers: The Superhero Movie Phenomenom

Normally I reserve my critiques of movies for my other blog, but I have more commentary on this movie, beyond that of a regular critique. By far, The Avengers was one of the best movies, if not the best movie, I saw this summer or even this year. It has an excellent balance of action, humor, drama, and even some romance. Not that romance is something I am usually looking for in a movie. Just ask my little sister and she'll tell you how she has to drag me to see chick flicks and I am usually mocking the movie before we even get through the previews - - but that might be because the previews are usually for other chick flicks - - I digress . . . Maybe I think it was a perfect balance because the romance was at a minimal. Anyway . . . The script was great, the acting was great, the individual personalities were all well executed and the group dynamic/interrelationships were also masterfully crafted and executed.

By the time I finally went to see The Avengers, it had been out for months. The crowds had died down and we almost had a private showing. I had decided to wait because I had yet to see any of the super hero movies leading up to the Avengers movie, other than the two Iron Man movies. I do not regret having waited to see all of the 'prequel' movies first, I just regret taking so long to do so. Of course I had already heard amazing things about the movie and I had high expectations from how well it was doing and from all the praise it was receiving. I never expected the movie to actually exceed my, already high, expectations. Yes, it was that good.

So why is this post here in my main blog? - - Well the success of this movie had me thinking about the trend for the last decade or so to really hit the super hero movies hard. Comic book patrons have not traditionally been characterized as your . How did we get to the point where comic book heroes are widely popular and a part of mainstream culture? I'm sure there are several things that play into this, a few of which I will explore in this post.


Timing: Yeah, I think there was a time when comic books were experiencing a type of 'glory days.' Comic books were still widely purchased. The X-Men and Spider Man were popular Saturday morning cartoons. It has been just long enough for us to grow up and start making our money and have our own families. The resurgence of our favorite childhood super heroes has proved to be timely. First, we go because it reminds us of our childhood days and we take our children and introduce them to our superheroes. Teenagers and college students still go, because superheroes are always popular among that dynamic. And out parents, who are now grandparents, go because they couldn't escape developing their own affinity to the superheroes of our childhood, plus they were the generation that saw the rise of the comic book. Timely because today, the superhero movies crosses all generation gaps.

Living Vicariously: Now I know for children and those of us who have our own inner comic book nerd this may mean imagining a world where we can fly, run faster than light, accomplish incredible feats of strength, and the sort, but this isn't the only kind of vicarious living I talking about. I'm not even talking about the whole "guy gets the girl' vicarious living, although that may have been why I watched Smallville in my early college years. The vicarious living I am referring to is three fold:

First - - Being Someone Else. We go to movies, read books, listen to music in many instances to either finding meaning in our own lives by relating to someone else or we do so to escape our own lives for just a moment. The superhero life captures that escape in a way different from other media. It's the idea of watching a movie to escape life and the movie depicts someone living a secret life. A man who gets to escape the daily routine of the office and go be someone else. It's why we have gone to see the movie, to escape our realities and live, vicariously, a secret life. What better way to accomplish that than to live vicariously through someone whose 'reality' is to daily escape their reality.

Second - - Being the Superhero. I am not referring to having out-of-this-world superpowers.  I am referring to the, probably universal, desire to live a life of significance and being a superhero is the epitome and pinnacle of living a life of significance. I think for the most part we all want to think that we matter; that we make a difference in the world and in the lives of the people around us. It doesn't even have to be an egocentric desire of seeking the spotlight, seeking fame and popularity. It's the age old search for meaning and significance in our lives. It's why so many people find meaning in careers of public service - - you get to actually make a difference and your contributions are significant because they are changing lives. One reason that Avengers does a good job of this is we get to see the superheroes as human and not just superheroes. They have faults just like the rest of us, but at the end of the day, they decide to be the superheroes we want them to be. I think another thing that helps us specifically connect in this movies is that the variety

Third - - Being Rescued. Of course none of this is real, but somehow it still re-instills our hope and faith in humanity. We all want to believe that people are inherently good, that altruism exists, and, oddly enough, that humanity is humane. Even more so, at one point or another, we all want to be rescued. We all face tragedy, difficulty, and hardship in our lives and we really just want someone to rescue us from our hard times. Somehow watching a superhero movie gives us hope in being rescued, which hope itself is sometimes enough to rescue us to some extent from our own heartaches.

As I see it, that's really what it comes down to. "There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, so when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could . . ."

1L: Check

Well, it's done. My first year of law school is now under me belt, and they tell us it's the hardest year, so that's promising. Although, not to undermine the difficulty of the year, people often wondered why I wasn't going crazy and super overwhelmed by everything. I always reminded them that I use to teach junior high and after doing that for five years, there's nothing I can't do. But as long as we're being honest, I did have my moments of being overwhelmed. Finals week certainly brought that out in me, I just wished it had served better to inspire me to study more. It usually just meant wast more hours playing Words with Friends on Facebook. I guess we all need a coping mechanism. Apparently Facebook and M&Ms are mine.  Hopefully next time I will choose something a little healthier, like running.

As I reflect back on the year, I had some really good experiences. First, I really loved that the school started having the 1L professors take the students out to lunch. It has been a really nice experience getting to know the professors in a more intimate setting. Not as a part of the program, but from a fundraiser auction purchase, the culmination of these experiences was getting to have lunch with the dean of the law school. That was one piece of advice from my 'mentor' (we spoke once and never spoke again) practitioner at the beginning of the year. He said to make sure to take the opportunity to get to know Dean Rasband, and I must say that it was a really nice experience. He is a really nice person, genuinely interested in the students and bringing about positive change at the law school. It was a nice lunch.

I also had the opportunity to participate in several competitions and really had a good time with it. The Trial Advocacy competition is like playing Law and Order for a night. You basically put on a mock trial, calling witnesses and all (which my roommates played very well). I actually had the opportunity to compete as far as the Quarterfinal round. The next competition was the Moot Court competition, which is like arguing before an appellate court. I must say that this was probably my favorite of the two and I actually made it to the semi-finals. While there is on more competition remaining that takes place next week (the Write-on for the BYU Law Review), I can't imagine it being much fun. It is, after all, a week of editing and writing.

I must say that I have loved learning the law. It has been so fascinating and I think the key word is empowering. Understanding  your rights and the legal recourse available to you. Also understanding the boundaries that exist in our society. I'm sure knowing what I do now, will influence my life as a parent. I'm going to see a swimming pool left out on the front lawn and immediately think "Negligence and Liability." My poor, future kids. I fell like I have learned so much over the last eight months and have loved all of it.

Finally I must put in a shout out to my fellow 1Ls. I think I really am blessed to be a part of such a dynamic and great group of people. It has been a wonderful group of people to have class with, and their diversity really has made the experience (and laid aside some of my concerns of coming here, not perfectly, but definitely to a great extent).

All that being said, it really has been a good year and I am happy about this decision to go to law school. I'm not sure what will come of it in the end, but for now I am certainly enjoying it. I must say though, I am still a true Utah State fan and Aggie blood runs through my veins stronger than ever. That much certainly hasn't changed.

Mozart's Requiem

That's Rrekviem. At least in the Germanic Latin version. So I joined this choir last semester. It's known as the Wasatch Chorale. While I have sung in a few choirs in my life (mostly church and institute) and I even took a year of voice lessons, I am not the best singer. My skills lie mostly with matching and, to some degree, blending, which is usually enough for the simpler of choirs. A friend of mine is actually the assistant conductor of the choir and when I moved down here he began to convince me to join. I went to their firs performance last October and then my buddy arranged an audition for me. Wait, Audition! Yeah, he never mentioned that in his months of convincing me to join. One week before what would be my first practice, he decide to spring this on me. And it's an audition that requires singing My Country, 'Tis of Thee and some sight reading. Did I mention that I match? Yeah, that doesn't work so well for sight reading.

For a side note on My Country, 'Tis of Thee. That was the song I had to sing on the first day of my voice lessons. Bless her heart, my voice instructor did her best pounding out that melody in hopes that I would actually get on the right note at some point during the song. Later I would found out that she had never had someone who struggled so much with that song and who was as tone deaf as I was, especially considering I had eight years of playing the clarinet under my belt. Of course, I didn't end the year in that some condition and my instructor was full of praise of my improvements over the year, and thankfully I wasn't as toned deaf. I could now match with the [decent] of them. Still, the thought of singing that song for my tryout brought back those old apprehensions.

What I loved was that the audition wasn't the only surprise. On the day of the tryout my buddy informed me that there were dues in the amount of $100 and that I would have to purchase a tux, of over $100. I know why he held off on these details, there would have been no convincing of me had I known all this. It would have been easy to say no, but he let ,e get far enough down this road so that it was more difficult to turn back. So, I went through with it and for some reason, they let me in. Is there such thing as nepotism, only with friends instead of family?

The first couple of concerts were good, but not unlike the institute choirs I had sung in. However, in February we sang Mozart's Requiem and that was an amazing experience. I didn't realize before hand that it should have been on my bucket list, but it should have been and I can now check it off. Singing the Requiem you feel like you are part of a masterpiece that is much bigger than your small part and the feeling, emotion, spirit and energy in that music is phenomenal. Of course I must say, "Hat's off" to the conductor, Dr. Reed Criddle of UVU, who did a fantastic job. The soloists as well were amazing. It was a transcendental experience. My parents, sister, grandmother, cousins and friends all came. My parents who usually do not care for the style of music actually loved it.

So in the end, while it was a twisting-of-the-arm path getting into the choir, the opportunity to sing Mozart's Requiem really was a monumental life experience. Here is a little clip from the performance.

Turning Over a New Leaf

I came home on Monday and informed my roommate that I was turning over a new leaf. He was quick to inform me that it was too late to turn over a new leaf, they were all already covered in snow.I immediately realized that this must be a metaphor for my life, or some subtle commentary on my age and the fact that I am still single. You know what they say, "Can't teach an old dog new tricks." I'm actually not quite sure if my roommate is clever to have intended the metaphorical or subtle meanings. He often says things and then recognizes how he has unintentionally been clever. (Don't worry, we previously discussed his form of "accidental cleverness" and have already agreed to its existence, so I am not saying anything he doesn't already know.) So, of course this conversation simply confirmed my rejection of New Year's resolutions and I immediately recanted my thought to "turn over a new leaf." Yep. Sorry folks. You are stuck with the same me for another year, because of course you cannot make course corrections mid-year. Why then would we have New Year's? What would the diet, exercise, nicotine patch, and financial planning industries do if we took away their major marketing campaign? (I'm pretty sure they're the people who invented New Year's in the first place.)

So, I plan to just stick with my traditional New Year's plan. In rejecting resolutions, I have decided every year for the last few years to pick up a new vice. This year's chosen vice: Dr. Pepper. But let's be honest, I will probably make it as long on that New Year's vice as the regular person will make on their New Year's resolution. I've never been much of a soda drinker and I'll probably quickly get tired of it. Plus the one possible side benefit would be the caffeine to help me get through the afternoon studying, but for as long as I can remember, caffeine has always had the opposite effect on me of increasing my drowsiness instead of increasing my energy. Though I do have to say, that Dr. Pepper is delicious.

This whole incident was even more humorous in light of the fact that that night at home evening we each had to share our New Year's resolutions. Being that I didn't have one and had decided not to have one, even as recently as two hours prior to home evening, I had to come up with something quick. Of course I chose the first thing that I recently started and plan to do throughout the year, not as a resolution, but as a hobby. I told everyone I was taking up blogging for 2012 and the kid next to me verbally scoffed at my idea. I refrained from slugging him in the shoulder since I don't know him that well, but I doubt that I as tactfully refrained from rolling my eyes. It's a good thing I had chosen not to have a New Year's resolution, I might have felt obligated to try and be more patient with others.

Maybe next year the idea of resolutions will be more appealing, but I have a suspicion that by then the leaves will all be covered in snow again.

(So that you don't all think that I am entirely cynical and jaded, I will share one of my absolutely favorite Mormon Messages videos.)

Maybe it's not the thought that counts . . .

So, I decided to start this blog. I already have two other blogs. One that I planned on updating once a month (which hasn't happened) and another that I have never gotten around to writing the first post. However, I am realizing I have all these thoughts and experiences I want to share and there doesn't seem to be anyone around with whom to share them. This blog you have unfortunately stumbled upon is the generic "Richard's Life Ramblings." By the way, I hate pocket change.

Well, as mentioned, there are experiences that I just need to share and so that brings me to my first post.

Somewhere between two years and eighteen months ago (and for some of the it may have even been longer), I decided to put together some packages to send of to friends serving missions. It was for a wide range of people, including family, pseudo-family, friends, and former EFY participants. I purchased tie tacks, scripture marking pens, CDs, pez dispensers, jerky, gum, and tons of Halloween candy. I addressed all the packages and filled them, but set them aside since I felt obliged to write each one of them a  personal letter. After all, what missionary wants to get a package without a letter?

So there they sat and time passed by as they waited for letters to be written. Since it was now Christmas, the Halloween candy just wouldn't do. So I ate it and replaced it all with Christmas candy, thinking I will put a Christmas card in each package. Surely I could find the time to write in a Christmas card for each one. After all, they're much shorter than standard letters. But before I knew it, it was Valentine's Day and Christmas candy would no longer work.

Let's just say that I went through a lot of holidays, some holidays more than once, and I ate a lot of candy. Eventually the packages were forgotten until I moved. That's when I discovered a box containing all kinds of packages that were all lacking personal letters and were never sent. I had two years worth of packages I had thrown together with object lessons that were all addressed to former EFY participants, about eight missionary packages, some holiday cards to send to my grandmother, and a Valentine's package to send to a friend. All unsent. All forgotten in a box.

Well, needless to say, all the missionaries are home now. Every one of them and all the former EFY participants are probably on missions. So, if any of you are reading this (Matthew, Carli, Sam, Brad, TJ, Cami Jo, Jake, Sarah, Grandma, and any old EFY participants) I did think of you. But then, you'll probably never know that. It really isn't the thought the counts if nothing ever comes of the thought, that is nothing besides the cavities and weight I probably gained from all that candy.