Jez's Blog

'According to the Mayan prediction, the 21st of December, 2012, will be the end of the world.' This is the main theme of an up coming movie called 2012. It might seems quite foolish to worry about something that happens in a movie, but what if it is real? 2012 is not as far from now as we thought. In fact, it's only 3 years later!



In the movie, there are scenes of hundreds of aerolites shooting down from the sky, buildings collapsing, ocean drowning the land, and earth cracking...etc. However, according to the information from So The Maya's Were Right After All, the Mayans had never predicted anything specific about what will happen on the day. The thing that is known, is basically that on this day, the Sun will be posited on an unique spot. Which the Sun will sit precisely on the heavenly crossroads between the Milky Way and the galactic equinox, forming a perfrctly alignment with the center of the galaxy.

Personally, I think what happens on the day, in the movie, is quite unbelievable, and unrealistic because first of all, everything just happens so suddenly; and further on, I've been thinking that maybe things are already happening right now, instead of all happening at once on the day. The climates have been changing oddly, and there are more and more natural disasters been occurring such as Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan on the 7th of August, 2009. Also, Earth's magnetic field is in a constant state of change. And so the Earth might have been gradually devastated until the day of the 21st of December, 2012. Though, what will happen specifically is still an open question. In fact, I believe that to many people, it's still a question that rather the day is real or not.

Hoever, What should we do if it is true that the world ends on the 21th of December, 2012? Should we just lay back, doing nothing, and wait for this very day to come? Should we start running around, screaming, and panic? Or, with all those highly progressed technology, and those smart brains that we have in our world, it is possible for us to do something about it?


- http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/Y2003/29dec_magneticfield.htm
[Info. of Earth's inconstant magnetic field, copied by Jez. 30th of Aug. 2009]

The movie The Last Samurai was about Nathan Algren (by Tom Cruise), an American captain who had gone to many wars; and unfortunately, these memories of wars have happened to be his tragic flaw. However, one day, he was ordered to go to Japan, and so, he started his 'hero's journey'...

The setting of the story was around 1878, when the Japanese Empire was modernizing. Nathan Algren was ordered to go to Japan to teach the Japanese how to use modern weapons such as guns and cannons; and also to teach them how to fight with those weapons in a war. At the time, Nathan was alcoholic, apathetic, and had just lost his job... so basically his life was miserable, and he had lost himself. In the 1st war, He led the modernized soldiers to fight with the samurais, who refused to be modernized. And then, in the end, the samurais won the war.

After the samurais' victory of the 1st 'Modernity v.s. Tradition' war, somehow the samurai didn't kill Nathan, instead, they took him back to their village. In the village, the they took care of Nathan. They provided him a place live, provided him food, and also cure his injuries...etc. At first, Nathan didn't quite understand the culture of the samurai. In fact, he even belittled it sometime. However, as time went by, he started to love the culture of the samurai. Which I think, it's because that he found himself in this kind of honorable way of life, which everyone were tough yet respectful.

Then, after a few months, the samurais brought Nathan back to Tokyo, for him to return to his army. Also, on n the other hand, they went to Tokyo for the 'leader' of the samurais to meet the emperor of Japan. However, unfortunately either of these went well. Nathan didn't return to his army, instead, he chose to help the samurais to defeat modernization; and for the 'leader' of the samurais to visit the emperor, and talked about the conflict between modernization and the traditional, the 'leader' of the samurais turned out to become a prisoner.

While the 'leader' of the samurais was in the prison, Nathan, along with some other samurais, went to rescue him; and one tragedy that happened in this movement, was that the son of the 'leader' died. 'Father, it is my time, please let me stay,' said the son. Then, just before he died, he pulled out his swords, ran to the soldiers, and wanted to kill them with his last breath. However, he got shot to death in the end. And then after the 'leader' of the samurais was rescued, the samurais, and Nathan, returned to the village. They began to prepare for the 2nd war against the modernity.

In the 2nd war between modernity and tradition, the modernized soldiers were no longer weak as they were in the 1st war. They have learned better skills of using the weapons, and were better trained for fighting in a war; yet, the samurais stayed the same... Therefore I believe that most of the people could predict how the 2nd war ended.

Yes indeed, the samurais lost the 2nd 'Modernity v.s. Tradition' war.

However, even though the samurais lost the war, I was impressed by their spirits. They were always proud of who they were, no matter how much things have changed, due to the modernizing. In the end of the movie, the 'leader' of the samurais asked Nathan to kill him. He told him that he was honored to die in a war. And then, when he died, all the soldiers bowed to the 'leader' of the samurais. In which, I believe it was because that they were touched by the spirit, and loyalty of the samurais, to their tradition... and most importantly, like I'd mentioned that they were always proud of who they are.