49) Day In The Life of Your Son

Welcome to another crazy addition of the ranting YOMcast, where we explore the vestige of the once great American middle class, economic admissions on Meet the Press by David Gregory and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, the hypocrisy of gay anti-gay politicians, listen to some Bubblegum Crises, marvel at India's newest cheap computer tablet, wait anxiously on a movie about Facebook, and look at Youtube's ambitious "Life in a Day" project.

48) Amerika

One of my favorite games ever, Fallout 3, hosts a giant, talking robot soldier in the finale, sporting a full arsenal of eye lasers and backpack nuclear grenades. His name is Liberty Prime, and his charm comes from the 60's anti-communist lines he delivers in the heat of battle. It's somewhat comforting to hear a forty foot tall nuclear robot say "Better dead, than red!" when things are blowing up around you. In case you're curious, his soundboard is here.

The robot was built in this alternate timeline world to combat communist China, but nuclear Armageddon cut those plans short, stranding Liberty Prime inside a bunker under the Pentagon. His appearance as your ally is a liberating comfort that ushers you into a satisfying ending to the game.

But more importantly, Liberty Prime is the game's personification of American anti-communist fears. Even today, communism carries a negative connotation, perpetrated by the victorious and democratic United States after the Cold War. Marx and Engels' legacy has been driven to a slow and painful death, the last embers flickering out in this modern world.

That said, we can still remember the resounding echoes of the Red Scares, or the rampant fears created by McCarthy in the past century by those that were there.

This all leads up to the story of my grandmother. She's no Liberty Prime, but she knows how to blow your head off with a rifle. Born during World War Two, she's survived the Japanese invasion of China, the Chinese Civil War, and the Cultural Revolution of Mao. Hardly a soft-spoken woman in old age, she continues to have the loudest voice in the entire room. People often regret making her angry.

She's worked as a farmer, an assembly worker in a radio factory, and no doubt many other occupations she's never mentioned. These days she lives in the United States, residing in a comfortable apartment in Oakland, California.

Like any other sagacious grandparent, she likes to impose on us her stories of experience, hardship, and secret. She hardly ever mentions anything about Communism, and I've always found it odd that her struggles for money in China never came up as a true complaint. Besides, back then you could be shot for celebrating Mao's death.

As I listen to her complain about the United States and its injustices, I can't help but think that she envies her old life back in China. Of course, she came over here for a reason, but old age and finances might prevent her from going back. I'm sure there's much more to her hypocritical complaints, but it probably justifies her being terrified during the recent Oscar Grant riots, which reached to a block from her building.

She doesn't have alot of time left, maybe a decade or two, and I can't help but think that another memory of communism will die with her, whether its a good memory or a bad one. This extends to my family on both sides, many of whom still reside in China.

I can't tell you whether or not communism is good or bad, but everyday we lose another impression of it with the death of the old. Books can only tell you so much about what it was like. We can't truly relive their memories, so I guess it really won't matter in the long run.

However, Communism is an idea, and some ideas can never die.

Who knows? Maybe when I die, democracy will die with me.

47) Scr(ew)ooge's Paradise

By nature, America is always economically associated with capitalism. Everyone knows that the biggest manufacturers will sell there, eager to make a quick penny over the most devoted of consumers. No product is too ridiculous, for someone, somewhere, will buy it.

Capitalism and consumerism is such a vital core of American life that it controls everything, from food to clothing. Starbucks, McDonald's and Nike are some example brands alot of people cannot live without. Most people can't realize just how valuable and nostalgic local businesses are these days.

The American dollar holds such value that it cannot be labeled unnecessary. As the United States grew, not only did we lose the concept of "money isn't everything", but we also lost the value of what money means to a human being. A government gets to decide that value.

It's logical to assume that the American lack of frugality is founded in the deep nationalism set by Uncle Sam. Spending defines alot of what it means to be an American, provided that you don't immediately go bankrupt afterward. After World War Two, what else could suburbia do?

This is all further reinforced by a natural hate of socialism and communism by America at large, who have an ironic audacity to complain about civil rights. Not the same you say? In America, what would you rather take: A million dollars, or fair treatment?

Truth is, you'd want both, and that's why consumerism is smiling at you. Granted, not everyone is driven by blind greed, but often there is a consensus of "more is better". Can't say the death of Crassus is something to be admired.

Charities try to upset the sad imbalance for the poor, giving money to those who can't make it on their own. It is a glimmer of hope that requires a sympathy and guilt shock when humanitarian agencies have to advertise images of dying children to get your attention.

So think, my friend, the next time you are stuck in a precarious situation of greed, given the American status quo. Which is more important to you: money or ethics?

And no, you can't have both.

46) Independence Galore

I've been working on my summer assignments for AP Government, so might as well post my opinions on here:

A failing economy, an oil spill crises, and a seemingly never-ending war are just a few things the American people have to deal with on a daily basis. The anger and disappointment in the U.S. government’s quick resolution to these issues is growing more apparent by the day. There are so many discontent citizens willing to turn to new and radical ways to satisfy their understandable desires for change. This is why President Obama was elected. Everyone believed he could solve our problems on a tight schedule, and we reeled in disgust when his administration disproved the apparent myth that they could make us happy and content.

This is why it’s no surprise that the seemingly ageless rule of Democrats and Republicans of the past century is coming to a possible end. With the current situation worse than anybody could have ever predicted, people are tired of the endless debate and bipartisan horseplay present in the Senate. They demand results now, because for some Americans, lives are literally on the line. The tide is turning for Independent candidates to work in Washington, unrestrained by political assumptions and party stereotypes.

The new generation requires a change ready to match the magnitude of their problems. Hope rests behind people like Charlie Crist, Eliot Cutler, Tim Cahill, or Lincoln Chafee. Whether they’re running for Governor or the Senate seems irrelevant; as long as they gain a voice in the higher authority of the United States, that’s all that matters. Could whole states turn away from their political benefactors for the sake of change? Only time will tell.

Soon we shall see whether this trend can gain enough momentum to sustain itself past infancy. If the people demand it, then the current government shall truly be afraid of its constituents. My hopes lie in the possible prospect of an Independent president. This dream may be centuries away from reality in American history, but we must not forget that even our nation’s first president had certain dislike of bitter partisanship. This may all be the start of a new era in American politics.

45) Me and Lunar GERTY

In June of 2009, there was a science fiction movie called Moon, directed by Duncan Jones, starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey. It made its debut at Sundance, and has received several nominations and awards since.

It is the story of a man named Sam Bell, who, in the near future, works alone on the moon for a company named Lunar industries. He spends his days with monotonous work, driving and monitoring harvesters that collect helium-3 for power supplies back on Earth.

With more than enough time for recreational model building, Sam amuses himself with week old broadcasts, occasional live talks with his family back home, and ranting at the base AI smiley face named GERTY.

As the movie wears on, you get to see Sam toil on in his depression, loneliness, and paranoia as he struggles through his three year contract in order to get back home.

I'm not going to ruin the movie for you, because even if you hate watching halfway through, the twist ending makes it all worth it.

Reflecting back on Sam's lunar life makes me think alot about my own tumultuous path. Because writing this at four in the morning, gripped by insomnia, has given me the perspective clarity I've seeked for so long.

Every once in a while, if the conditions are just right, the moon casts a pale blue light into my room, straight onto my bed. I can't fall asleep unless it's pitch black, so the light blinds me into insomnia. The window curtains don't do much.

Tonight is one of those nights. It seems a bit too much to try and move my bed into another position, but then again, the prospect of sleep has never been so attractive.

Maybe that's why I associate with Sam so much. We share a common hate of the moon, and we'd both like an AI companion named GERTY who sports a yellow smiley face.

The real reason why I loved the movie, felt so much emotion for Sam, is because I feel like him. Lonely, apathetic, and self-loathing, no one's ever given me a real reason to carry on, not even with the prospect of false hope. We're both trapped in a world of isolation, so eager to escape our confinement, yet so scared of change at the same time. We're waiting for that one event to spur us into action, to push us over the edge.

Sam finds the courage to liberate himself in the movie, and in the end, is satisfied with what he becomes. This is because he chose his path, not because he yielded to circumstance. He created his destiny.

I may believe in fate, but its important to understand that you only hold that belief for as long as you believe you are powerless to control your future. Nobody blames you for being scared to face the unknown.

But even as I stare into that pale faced moon, I can't ever sleep in peace. And I'm not willing to move the bed either.

Who knows? Maybe one day I might end up like Sam, working on the surface of the moon, pained by eternal solitude.

At least I'll have GERTY.