:: the end of an era

alright, maybe the term "era" makes things seem a lot longer than the actual, literal span of time that has transpired since the start of this, my spring semester in my sophomore year in college. but i would not be overstating anything when i say that it has been an incredibly long and stressful semester for me. i started out not having a job a with it no money. i'm ending it with a job that forces me to work 40 hours a week on top of the school load. not to sound ungrateful or anything, it's just a bit more than i was expecting a more difficult to juggle. but i'm very glad god opened that door for me. it's funny how, when you trust god to supply for your needs, even when it seems like things are going to get a bit more hectic than you'd like things to be, when you really trust, things do work out. i know the whole job situation isn't really huge, live altering stuff, and i'm aware that there are plenty of people with bigger problems than mine in the world. i'm just saying, from the short experience that i've had in life, when you really believe that part of the lord's prayer, when you ask god for your "daily bread", for the essentials that you need to make it through the day, and can become content with what you need, those needs get met. i don't know, i guess i needed to say that.

anyway, i've found time to distract myself again, this week with some more movies and some good music. they are really starting to like me down at the local video usa (take that, large scale big name movie rental place). i've been in there a lot towards the end of the semester, and i'm always renting a couple of movies and occasionally turning them in a little late... so, i invited my girlfriend to watch hard candy (see last post), with me. that might not have been the best idea, as it was definitely an awkward movie to watch with, well, anyone. a good movie, there are just some scenes that you need to see alone before you expose others to them. then i returned that movie and broke down and rented 4 movies. ok, i rented 3 and i rented one movie for my girlfriend. my movies: a mighty wind, the king of kong: a fistful of quarters, and there will be blood (affectionately subtitled i drink your milkshake). i've spent the time to watch both a mighty wind and king of kong, but i haven't been able to sit down and watch there will be blood yet. i've heard that it's epic, both in scale and time. i can, however, recommend a mighty wind to both fans of folk music and fans of awkward, off-kilter comedy. i really enjoyed it, along with the other christopher guest mockumenteries (see: this is spinal tap, waiting for guffman, best in show, for your consideration). also, i found myself really wrapped up in king of kong. it was a very well made documentary with a great contrast in these two main characters.

a short synopsis: billy mitchell is the guy who, at least in his mind, has everything made. he's world recognized as the guy who got the first, and to my knowledge only, perfect score in pac man. he also holds several records for the highest score in several video games. steve weibe, on the other hand, is also extremely talented. they don't really touch on this much in the movie, but he's a really talented musician who can play both drums and piano at a mastered level. he's also a pretty good athlete and family man. to the average guy looking in at his life, he's got it made too. however, he feels like he's never really put all of his potential together. those thoughts and feelings haunt him. so, he goes on a quest to master something he's good at, donkey kong. a lot of people might read a synopsis like this and think "so, who cares! sounds kinda lame", but you really start to get wrapped up in the story and you really start to root for steve to stick it too all the people and obstacles in his way. i'd recommend this one as well.

lastly, my girlfriend wanted to rent i'm reed fish, an indie movie about a guy who lives in a small town where everyone knows him and depends on him. it co-stars one of my girlfiend's favorite actresses, alexis bledel, of gilmore girls fame (yes, i've watched a lot of gilmore girls episodes with her, and it was a shame when it went off the air). anyway, it was a pretty good movie as well. i was kinda surprised how little i had heard about the movie, as there were more than a few noticeable faces in it.

well, this has gotten longer than it was originally intended to be. i guess i'll have to devote a whole new post to music tomorrow...

:: movies minus music...

it's sunday. i like sundays apart from the obvious reasons of having the day off and going to church. sundays always seem longer than the rest of the days, and i think there is a reason for that. i think we're meant to enjoy them more. i know, sunday isn't really the traditional "sabbath day" but there is the sense that god has given us each what seems to be a little more time to enjoy the day. i don't know, maybe it's just a trade-off. maybe god is saying, "look, i know that you didn't want to get out of bed today and go to church and sing all those hymns, but since you did, here's some extra time to enjoy." maybe it's nothing like that at all.

anyway, today i say down and spent some of that extra time watching no country for old men. i'd been meaning to watch it for a while, but never really got around to it. it was certainly thought provoking. the movie, which i've heard closely follows the cormac mccarthy book, barrows a lot on the themes of chance, destiny, and fate. the main antagonist, anton chigur, often calls upon one of his likely victims to call a coin toss, with the implications that thier lives hang in the balance. the movie is also brilliantly acted and directed, and the cinematography really does steal some of the scenes. dialogue is another thing that was well done in this movie. the
characters don't talk too much, and they don't need to. but when they
do speak, you want to listen. one interesting thing that i noticed about the film is it's use of silence. where most movies would have a stirring piece of music playing in the background, this movie has moments where i wondered if my speakers had crapped out. the silence really draws you into the action and the dialogue between characters.

that lack of background music seems to be a theme this week, as a rented hard candy this week as well. i didn't know it at the time, but that movie also uses silence as a means of heightening the suspense. i haven't gotten a chance to watch hardy candy yet, but i'll probably write something about it soon.

after watching no country for old men i was flipping around and landed on a star wars marathon on. it was interesting to juxtapose star wars with no country for old men. i'd always really loved the star wars movies and the music in particular. yeah, i was one of those guys who got the soundtrack and listened to it quite a bit. but it was interesting to contrast how one movie uses music to enhance the action on screen while the other uses the noticeable lack thereof to do the same thing.

and to think, all this because of a long, lazy sunday...

:: dr. seuss says, "stop making movies about my books!"

so, i haven't gotten the chance to see the new cgi adaption of dr. seuss' "horton hears a who", but i found this posthumous "letter to the editor" from the children's rhyming writer on one of my favorite news sites, the onion.

• "On the fourteenth of March, in towns nationwide,
• In every cinema, multiplex, on every barnside,
• Gleamed another adapting of one of my books,
• CGI-ed and digitized by another sly crook.

• Horton, my favorite—look how he's been treated!
• Stuffed with tinsels and tassels and promptly excreted!
• The puns! And the filler! The script fees you must save!
• While I tumble and grum-humble around in my grave.

• Did you learn all but squat from The Cat In The Hat?
• Please tell me you fired the prick who made that.
• I would have stopped writing, maybe sold Goodyear tires.
• If I knew one dark day I'd costar with Mike Myers.

• And Oh!
• Oh, dear! Oh!
• My poor Grinch, what they've done!
• They crammed in live-action and snuffed out all the fun

• It's icky, it's tacky, it's awkward, it's wrong.
• The Whos look like ferrets, it's an hour too long.
• What a rotten idea to spend millions destroying
• This masterful tale kids spent decades enjoying!

• But still you keep making them!
• Just how do you dare?
• Sell my life's work off piecemeal
• To every Tom, Dick, and Har'.

• Why it's simply an outrage—a crime, you must judge!—
• To crap on my books with this big-budget sludge.
• My books are for children to learn ones and twos in,
• Not commercialous slop for Jim Carrey to ruin.

• Have you no respect for the gems of your youth?
• To pervert them on screen from Taiwan to Duluth.
• Even after you drag my last word through the dirt,
• I know you, you pirates,
• You'd cut out my heart for a "Thing 1" T-shirt.

• For eighty-some years I held you vultures at bay,
• knowing just how you'd franchise my good name some day.
• Not yet cold in my grave before you starting shooting
• the first of my classics you'd acquired for looting.

• Mrs. Seuss, that old stoofus, began selling more rights
• to Dreamworks, Universal—any hack in her sights.
• First The Cat In The Hat and then this, that and Seussical
• without a thought to be picky, selectish, or choosical.

• So to Audrey, you whore, you sad sack of a wife:
• Listen close. Pay attention, for once in your life.
• You give Fox In Sox to those sharks who made Elf
• And so help me, I'll rise up and kill you myself.

• No Sneetches by Sony—
• No One Fish: On Ice—
• Burn that Hop On Pop II script not one time but twice.
• Don't sex up my prose with Alyssa Milano…
• And no Green Eggs And Ham with that one-note Romano!

• This must stop! This must end! Don't you see what you're doing?
• You're defiling the work I spent ages accruing.
• And when it's dried up and you've sucked out your pay
• There'll be no going back to a simpler day,

• When your mom would give Horton a voice extra deep,
• And turn the last page as you drifted to sleep.
• Instead you'll have boxed sets, {crap} movies, and… well,
• You'll have plenty to watch while you're burning in hell."

:: a haiku for the hardest working kitchen appliance...

the discussion in my lit. class this morning focused on everyone's favorite form of poetry-- the haiku. so, while i was supposed to be paying attention, i composed this haiku...

Always Running

there it runs, away
yet no one chases after
refrigerator


so, if you are by chance reading this and are bored, write your own haiku and post it in the comments section if you'd like...

:: and so it begins...

Well, if you're reading this, you must be as bored as i am. i'm kinda new to the whole "blog scene" but don't worry, i'm a fast learner. those of you who know me well know that i have a lot of strange ideas running through my mind at any given time, and i think that's what you'll find here, hopefully in a more organized form. so, this will be a sounding board for my brain, but also a place where we (yes, me and you -- you and i) can discuss the simple pleasures in life like sports, movies, and music and wrestle with the tough stuff like politics, God, and our place in this mess we find ourselves in. the best is yet to come...