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In the Studio
So I'm writing this on Sunday, September 5, at 12:30 in the morning as my radio show, "The Bro Show" has it's premier showing. Wait, wouldn't it be a listening? I don't know. Anyway, things are frantic here at WTBU, The BEAT of Boston University. Broadcasting live at 89.3 FM or 640 AM...
Written on September 8th, 2010 in Campus Culture
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Dead and Not So Gone
Late nights under the sky during this past summer left a lot of time to reflect on metaphysical problems that don’t have any real impact on us or society. However, sometimes they can help us internally and give us a little inner peace. The latest thought experiment I have deals with a kind of...
Written on September 8th, 2010 in Keeping Conscious
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Summer Roundup
Hey Culture Shock Readers! Do you guys feel left out because you forgot to check Culture Shock during the summer? Are you a new freshmen or transfer student and are just finding us? Well if so, here are five posts from the summer that are a good starting point for you to check out! Poland- The Nation of Strength- Allison teaches us about her Polish cooking and gives us some history from the country! Born Into Fortune- George talks about how lucky we are to be in the developed world. Thoughts on the “Ground Zero Mosque”- An anonymous writer gives us some things to think about concerning the Islamic Center being built in New York. The Reluctant Graduate- Monica helps talk about the bittersweet feeling from graduating a year early. Embrace Your Inner Dork- Eric nerds out...
Written on September 7th, 2010 in Keeping Conscious
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An Interview with BU Alum Mark Rosewater, Head Designer of Magic The Gathering
Boston University has a great legacy and community of success. With alumni in almost every corner of the world and in almost every profession, you never know who you may have that community with. As a kid, I grew up playing this card game called Magic, The Gathering (yes I'm a nerd). Part of...
Written on September 7th, 2010 in Keeping Conscious
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Taboo
I return to Boston with a tattoo confirmed and a consultation meeting planned. The naysayers dislike it not for the design, or the irrational decision making (I have sat on the idea for a year), or even for the actual process of inking my body, but only because of the stigmas surrounding...
Written on September 6th, 2010 in Keeping Conscious
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Our Generation
Mar 18th
With the end of the decade, I heard many people asking: what mark did our generation leave on American culture? For the last fifty years, every decade scatters its unique cultural remnants- from the Beatles to Cobain, from tie-die to leggings. Yet those who impatiently proclaim our generation as fruitless are too close to the forest to see the trees. Our generation thrived with one of the greatest inventions of all time: the Internet.
True, the Internet has been around for about 50 years, but it was not until this decade that we maximized its day-to-day potential. From researching papers on Wikipedia, to finding a place to eat and how to get there, all with in a couple of minutes. Or what about communicating with anyone anywhere anytime through Facebook and e-mails, or as much free music and movies at a touch of a button.
But my personal favorite is cute animal pictures: More >
LikeCCTV: Looking Out For You
Mar 18th
Spring break in “Sunny” London, and all I see are gray skies, food-stuffs in various shades of fried brown, and little yellow signs with black lettering:
And suddenly flashbacks from my high school English lit days mesh with recent blockbuster obsessions involving Hugo Weaving. 1984 and V for Vendetta have come to haunt my vacation!
But seriously, how can I not be paranoid when every store, museum, metro station, hotel lobby, taxi cab, park, apartment complex, office space, etc. is equipped with Closed-circuit television (CCTV)?
It all started in the 70s and 80s, when the United Kingdom began to experiment with camera system 
surveillance for banks. These trial periods increased in duration in the 90s, and by 1994, the official Home Office government report, “CCTV: Looking Out For You,” deemed the trial period a success.
Obviously these cameras can not catch criminals, but apparently they have led to increased rates of successful detection and prosecution of criminals. Advocates of CCTV often cite the use of CCTV in identifying the London bombers in July 2005 to convey the need for increased video surveillance.
Advocates also suggest that CCTV acts a crime deterrent, though no independent studies can back that claim.
CCTV is constantly coming up with new surveillance and implementation tactic, including traffic monitoring and using cameras to track missing children.
This may all seem well and good…but more cameras equals less privacy. And less provacy equals less freedom.
There are now over 400,000 cameras installed in London, and over 4 million in the entire United Kingdom. That’s roughly one camera for every 14 people.
So what is the the future of CCTV? One camera for every person? The complete loss of privacy for “absolute security”?
What do you value more?
Time for Reflections, Time for Yourself
Mar 17th
*Hint. I'm the asshole in an argile sweatervest.*
I am possibly the most socially driven person I know. I cannot be alone. Driven by a racing mind, drumming hands, and a hilarious metabolism, I tell everyone everything and jump from friend to friend, spitting nonsense and laughter. Essentially, this stems from a deep-rooted refusal to allow the rumination of my thoughts, but lets push all that psychology, hooplah bullshit aside.
When we spend all of our time with others, we are going going going; self-reflection is lost. I’ll spend hours with friends, fighting and joking, hours with the band practicing and mending arguments, then more hours with a girl trying to make it all work and keep shit together or attempting to slip out of the room. I’m sure I could find a way to blame it on ADD, OCD or being down with OPP (Yeaaa you know me), but I would find no peace in that – this is part of who I am and its reworking seems very intimately me. Maybe in a society where down time equals a waste of time, I need to just stop and think. Let it all settle.
For me, I’ve found solace in locking my dorm room door, blasting UnderOath and working out. Endorphins go up, stress goes out, and my mind clears. I still race from place to place, my roommate still slams the “George shut the fuck up and go to sleep button on the wall”, and I still send out the worst, hilariously-absurd drunk texts, but that single hour every other day works. I will not sit on a golden throne and tell anyone reading this to relax, to take it all in, to embrace sitting on a park bench for the purpose of sitting or taking a sherpa walk alone through the park, because, shit, I can barely do it. But I think there is something to be said in relaxing in a culture of the unrelaxed. Maybe it’s a good thing to spend a couple hours without friends, or a couple weeks without chasing girls.
Hope my rambles float your boat,
Georgie
I wish I could chill like Kim Jong Il
Stale Art
Mar 17th
This weekend I came to Baltimore to visit my friend at the Maryland Institute College of Art. I feel like I finally have a blog worthy of the traditional saying “culture shock.”
When I first came into the dorms I noticed all of the art at the bottom floor, which I expected. I also noticed the large blank walls, which probably will not be covered in something, and feel like a perpetual canvas. Finally, when I got to the dorm, the first thing I noticed was all the exposed pipes and cement blocks sticking out of the walls. When I asked why the pipes were like that, they told me it was because modern…or contemporary, they weren’t very sure either.
In addition, most of the people I ran into were making some kind of statement by the clothes they wore, or the excessive amount of equipment they carried in preparation for their next project.
Now at BU, I know we have a community of art students in CFA, and even some exposure to Mass Art kids further in the city, but since we all interact to some degree, there is moderation.
At MICA, there is only the bubble of art students, and no one leaves it. They are at the extreme of their social group, which is not going to change soon. Usually trips outside of your home make you appreciate where you reside, and this trip is doing that; I appreciate the level of integration there is among students in Boston.
Ironically, I find being among only art students a little stifling. I do like the creativity, but it seems specialized.
In Boston, biologists, writers, engineers, philosophers, economists and various other kinds of people can talk to each other. We all learn more about ourselves by talking to others because everyone is a unique artist of their craft. Boston students are passionate about their specialties and strive hard to do them in the most excellent way they can. We are even greater at what we do because of our dynamic relationships.
Serenity Now
Mar 17th
There’s that person who bypasses proper etiquette and slams the doors of CAS into your face, that friend who will not stop talking when you are trying to study and then suddenly is busy once you manage to finish, that roommate who played Celebration on repeat for two hours when you finally decided to move out - it seems as if there are people everywhere whose sole purpose in life is to annoy you.
In times like these the Golden rule comes to mind. Jesus said, “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” Prophet Muhammad said, “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” 
This rule seems to be clear-cut, but I have one problem; maybe I would like for someone to throw books at me and persuade the entire hallway of strangers to shun me after I slam a door in their face.
In Buddhism, there is a practice called loving-kindness meditation that stems from the belief that “hatred cannot coexist with loving-kindness, and dissipates if supplanted with thoughts based on loving-kindness.”
You start by learning to love yourself. (If this is difficult for you, consult with Adam).
Then you direct feelings of love and kindness towards four different types of people:
a spiritual leader or someone who you respect, a close friend or family member, an acquaintance that you know but do not have any special feeling for, and a person that you might be having trouble with.
You can connect with these people by thinking positive thoughts about each person and/or repeating phrases such as ‘loving-kindness” as you cycle through the list.
By doing this, you are supposed to begin to break down the barriers between these types of relationships and work towards accepting and loving everyone that you come across.
I personally have yet to master this form of meditation in just one week, but I think that it will come in handy whenever I have to endure the endless cycle of talking during lectures and stupid question asking in discussion sections as classes start back up this week.
Demand Excellence
Mar 16th
I used to be a hard core movie fanatic. Every week I would go to the theaters to see the newest talkie. Since childhood going to movie theaters has been an integral part of my life, but that all ended on June 24, 2009. On this day, I saw Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.
I have never left a movie theater angry before. Not angry at the story, not motivated like someone may be after a truly inspirational movie. I was angry because we are in a recession and somebody spent 200 million dollars to make this movie, which then went on and made more than four times that much.
If I were to spend 200,000,000 on anything, I would make sure that it was the highest quality possible. If I was building a $200 million dollar boat, I would make sure it’s the best boat I could get for 200 million dollars. If it was a house, it would be the best house. How can you make a movie without making sure it’s watchable? NO ONE HIRED WRITERS.
I didn’t watch any movies except for Inglorious Basterds until Christmas break. I was sick of going to movies with no story, something that is wholly visually stunning but mentally boring. At Christmas, I saw Up in the Air and Sherlock Holmes, both of which are movies that were actually entertaining. And then I saw Avatar.
I was unimpressed by Avatar. Granted, Avatar is a visually stunning picture that will change movies forever, but historically, best picture films have real stories that are moving. When it was nominated for best picture, I thought my greatest fears had been confirmed, that the critics and America had given up on movies with story. Avatar violated the legacy that movies like Casablanca, The Godfather, Silence of the Lambs, Schindler’s List, and The Departed has established. It seemed like Avatar was the favorite, and then the Hurt Locker won! The Oscars restored my faith in movies and in people.
