:: all is fair in love and spelling bees

those of you who know me might not know of a dirty little secret that i've kept well hidden for a while. i really enjoy watching the scripps national spelling bee. i don't know why. i'm an awful speller. i rely on firefox's auto-spell checker to keep me from looking like a complete idiot. and you never really need to know any of the words they spell in the bee anyway. i mean, why would you need to know that aptyalism is "an absence or deficiency of saliva" or that kulturkampf is german for "conflict between civil government and religious authorities". but these kids know how to spell those words. i think the reason i like to watch the spelling bee is that these kids are doing something that a majority of the population would consider geeky or nerdy or wierd, but these kids enjoy spelling. sure, they stress out about the definition or the part of speech or the etymology of the word, but when they get through a round or past a word, there is a certain look of jubilation on their faces. maybe it's because i know i could do that so i'm more appreciative of what they put into this competition. or maybe it's because i'm a dork. anyway, i've been watching the spelling bee, which concluded last night in primetime on abc with sameer mishra winning it all by spelling guerdon which means, ironically, "a reward, recompense".

after that, i finally sat down and watched there will be blood, the ocsar-nominated film for best picture and oscar-winning film for best actor daniel day lewis. it's an interesting movie. it's not an action movie, as some people might get from the title. it's a movie about the slow decent of a silver miner turned oil tycoon into greed and hatred of human kind. great casting and acting, especially by daniel day lewis, for his portrayal of daniel plainview, and paul dano, who plays eli sunday, the local pastor of the church of the 3rd revelation. the movie's presentation of dano's character is one that has some very interesting parallels to today's brand of financial prosperity gospel and just the general quickness of many of us to sell out the most important things for a quick buck or the promise of financial security. sunday is quick to talk his father into selling their oil-rich land for a sizable donation to his church. sunday is seen a faker, someone who is putting on "one hell of a show" as plainview remarks, but who is ultimately a phony. even when sunday gets the money to build his super-church, he wants more. the second to last time we see sunday, he is boarding a church so that he can "go on mission", but the audience knows that he's take most of the money that he's gotten from plainview and he's off to make a name for himself and to make himself rich. the last scene of the movie shows a desperate eli begging plainview for money because he's starting to loose all of his investments in the great depression. plainview agrees to give eli money, if he first announces to plainview and to god that he is "a false prophet" and that "god is a supersistion." eli gives the idea only a little thought before renouncing god and turning his back on religion for the money. at first, i was a little condemning of sunday's actions, and quick to liken him to today's modern right-wing "wackos" like joel osteen and benny hinn. it's easy to make those parallels to the people who promise riches or that they will heal you and then ask for money. but when i thought about it more, how would i deal with things? i'm a poor college student who hopes to get married inside of two years. what would i do for money? it's definitely worth a thought. and i like movies that make you think about things. the movie isn't even about sunday, but the story is the same for plainview, as you watch his decent into greed and hatred for money and comfort. it's just interesting to take the story from sunday's perspective. anyway, i recommend this movie. don't expect action or buckets of blood, but watch the movie as an introspective story. it will challenge you to think about things.

well, only 5 more days of work here in starkville and then i get to go back home. i'm gonna miss hanging out with my roommates and the friends that i've made at work, but i really miss my girlfriend (who i found out actually reads this, at least she saw it once. that make one...) and my family and friends back home. also, i'm excited because when i get back home, me and my girlfriend get to start recording some songs. we bought a recording system a few weeks back and we only really got to play with it once before i had to leave for starkville again. so, i'll be back home on thursday, and then friday and saturday will be spent celebrating my girlfriend's sister's wedding (for which i was trusted enough to pick out the music for). so, there might be one more entry from starkville and then i'll be bringing you the blog from the dirty dell.

more to come...

:: the comeuppance

comeuppance is defined by webster in his huge book of words as a deserved rebuke or penalty. now, in my last post i lamented (or whined, take your pick) about my bad day. well, it seems that on the days when you do that, the next day is usually not as tough and you will always be reminded of how good you really have it. thus, the comeuppance or rebuke of the idea that you really have it worse off. that happened to me today. every time i took a break at work, there was some news source discussing the current crisis in myanmar in which 22,000 people are dead and in which the death toll is expected to rise to 50,000 before it's all said and done. 50,000 people are having/have had the worst and last day of their lives. it's estimated that millions of people will be homeless when all is said and done. millions of people will have nowhere to go while i live in a comfortable apartment that i don't bother to keep clean. i complained yesterday about all the problems i was having at work, in a job i don't like while i earn $7.50 an hour (not considered too terribly much by our standards) while people are dying because they don't get that much in a week. so, every break there was a tv or a radio that was shoving my selfishness and ego-centric idealistic crap in my face. what a miserable example of a human being i can be sometimes. i can really lose that focus sometimes and really think i've got it bad, but i always need reminding that i don't. that i'm fortunate. that there are people in much worse situations than i'm in and that i'm in a position where i can choose to help them. so, i repent of the attitudes that riddled my last post with selfishness and me-centric thinking, i'm wrong to think that, and i'm thankful for the reminder that things aren't bad at all.

something else i've been thinking about is the awkwardness that comes with blogging. i get the strange feeling that by blogging people get the feeling that i'm full of myself enough to think that anyone else on the planet cares about my opinions and reads this blog as much as i do. i don't. so, if there is anyone reading this, thank you. it is an unexpected surprise. i hope that you are learning things through my constant screw-ups, comeuppances, and re-focusing. if there is no one else reading this, that's alright. i guess i have more to learn from my own screw-ups, comeuppances, and re-focusings than anyone else.

in a light-hearted sports minute, the new orleans hornets are up 2-0 in their playoff series against my least favorite (and conversely, one of becca's more favorite) team in the nba, the san antonio spurs. go hornets, i'm calling for a sweep.

more to come...

:: i hate murphy

i'm referencing the murphy whose law states that "if anything can go wrong, it will." that statement perfectly sums up my day. maybe it was the fact that this day was doomed from the start (see: my last entry) with the drive home. but when i got a later start than i wanted, that forced me to do things a lot differently than i had planned. i didn't get into town until about 12:50, which gave me enough time to use he bathroom, grab a little snack, and rush to work. i already don't enjoy work (who does) but something about today made things even worse. at work, doing tech support, the higher ups would like you to resolve every issue on the first call, with everything perfectly documented, in a neatly packaged 15 minutes. today, my second call of the day lasted three (3) hours! i tried everything i could to fix the problem, but everything we tried failed. i tried to transfer him to another department to resolve the issue, but he would not be shaken off so easily. so, i stayed on the phone and finally, after 3 hours, we figured out what was wrong (turns out it was a problem with windows vista...). the great part was, after that was done, there was only another 5 hours to go... but those hours came and went. i did get to semi-celebrate cinco de mayo today by visiting taco bell for some chalupas (which turned out to be the best part of the day). finally, work ended and as i was walking out i got a phone call from my brother. he told me that my mom and sister got into an argument that apparently grew into an argument between my dad and my mom and my sister. the argument ended in my dad getting upset, yanking the dish receiver for the tv, going into his room, getting dressed, and walking out. tensions have been pretty high back home with the increasing cost of everything on top of bills and the increased cost of living in louisiana after hurricane katrina. fortunately, when i called my dad a little later on he had cooled off and went back home. that was a really stressful 30 min. for me, and with the added pressure of the rest of the day it was almost overwhelming.

sorry about all of the above, had to get all that off my chest. to make up for the mopey, venting rant, i present a few youtube videos that i've noticed myself going to over and over. they cheer me up. if there is anyone reading this and having a long, murphy's law plagued day, maybe these videos will help you out too. enjoy:

charlie bit my finger - again!

star wars according to a 3 year old.

hey jude

bruce lee - high speed painting

hope those were interesting and a welcome distraction to anyone out there. here's to the coming of better days ahead. now i'm going to get some sleep.

more to come...

:: home again...for now

this entry finds me back at home in "the dell", where i've been lucky enough to have had some time to spend unwinding after the long semester. unfortunately, i have to trek back to starkville tomorrow morning because i've still got work obligations. that means, above having to make the long, boring journey back there, i've got to leave my friends, family, and girlfriend behind for at least another month to work long hours in a job that i'm both thankful for yet unhappy in. i know lots of people who can handle a "long distance relationship" and go for a while without seeing their other half. i'm not like that, i know it wrecks any "tough guy" cred i might or might not have, but it's true. becca (my girlfriend) was in japan last summer for 2 weeks and that nearly drove me nuts. so, i'm not looking forward to the next month or so.

part of this weekend's relaxation was enjoying a movie with my friends. this week, iron man. wow. i really didn't expect this movie to be as great as it was. i guess i've been numbed by the awful quality of most superhero movies (see: the fantastic four movies, spiderman 3, hulk (2003), and even superman returns). but this movie was different. it was well acted and well directed. there weren't many "campy" moments that you've come to expect from superhero movies. i think the fact that the movie is about a superhero who isn't exactly central the the general public's core of superhero lore actually works in this movie's favor. after seeing iron man, i came home and started reading more about the character. they have left a lot of room to explore the character of tony stark. and after this weekend, and with the way hollywood has treated any superhero movie, you can be sure there will be at least one more movie exclusively devoted to iron man (and rumor has it a "super movie" featuring iron man and the rest of the avengers).

i'm the kind of movie-goer who enjoys catching the opening trailers of movies. i've found it to be human nature to become the "uber critic" and judge the movies by their trailers. you know that when you saw the trailers for juwanna man, hot rod, or college road trip that those movies were going to be awful (now, whether or not you decided to see them anyway is another story). but, if trailers are as good an indicator as they are made out to be, than i'm really looking forward to the incredible hulk (not the one referenced above staring eric bana, but the new version starring edward norton), indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull (unfortunately, not featuring for the love of god by artist damien hirst), and the dark night (but who isn't looking forward to that one?).

now, on to things i've been listening to. there has been a good period of discovery in the music realm in the past few weeks (most of it occurring during the hours i should have spent studying). so, here are a list of good albums that i've enjoyed recently.

-pershing by someone still loves you, boris yeltsin
-men's needs, women's needs, whatever by the cribs
-the seldom seen kid by elbow
-¡all-time quarterback! by ¡all-time quarterback!
-hymns for the hopeless by william elliott whitmore
-a living room hush by jaga jazzist
-the we sing and we dance ep's by jason mraz

check those out, i'm sure you will enjoy them.

on the listening list for tomorrow's journey to starkville: a few episodes of this american life, a new episode of the relevant podcast, the new album by the hoosiers, and the raconteurs new album.

more to come...