On The Fence...

....I was thinking this would be a good post, but then I also thought no one would care for it. ---plus it kinda sounds like an eHarmony profile.

I rarely ever take a definitive stand on one side of an issue against another. It's not trying to keep the peace, but it's not wanting to define myself that much.

I have pretty decent values, but I can see where being 'bad' is 'good.' I'm not so sure there is bad and good. There is evil in the world and works to undo goodness where it lives. (hope you see where I'm trying desperately to go here. This seemed like a good post a week or two ago.)

I don't work myself to death, but I do a decent amount that keeps me busy. I do what is important to me, and find it comforting to do work and stay active. I would not mind if I never had to do a day's work again in my life.

Some people have sex all the time. Many people don't have enough. I can get a little bit here and there. Some people are too obsessed with sex. Hey, sex is pretty fun, plus it's a good workout.

Money can't buy happiness. Money can buy happiness. I never have enough money for what I want, but always have enough for what I need. I would love to win the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes. I like being one of the lowly poor people.

It's good to be thin and healthy. There is nothing wrong with being able to eat food as much as you want, when you want....these days nobody cares if you're fat, b/c they are fat too. People need to stop being so fat. Fat is kinda sexy. Fat is not sexy for girls. Girls should not aspire to be stick-thin.

I love Jesus and believe in God. By definition, I'm probably not a Christian....hopefully grace works. I wonder if grace is enough. We had to come from/be created by some higher Being, that's pretty easy if you look at the way our bodies work. The way our bodies work, no one in their right mind would create something that has to poop and vomit.

I really should donate some money to NPR, b/c I enjoy their programming. There's other people that will pick up the slack.

Kids & teenagers should straighten up. Hey, let kids be kids.

I want to keep going, but I'm out of ideas.

Why DID The Chicken Cross The Road?

.....We'll never know.

Sunday, I was driving to Oxford, and just before I got to Paris I saw a pile of feathers in the road. About 10 yards from that, there was a dead chicken lying on the shoulder. Someone hit a chicken.

While it was trying to cross the road.

Apparently.

Also, I really hope Ghostbusters 3 (when it does come out) doesn't do any 'new' songs/music. I hope they use Elmer Bernstein's score from the first, and the songs from both 1 and 2. I mean Ray Parker, Jr. blessed us with the original 'Ghostbusters' song, but Bobby Brown's 'Own Our Own' was good, as was several other songs used briefly in the first one. I mean they're all '80s' sounding, but any fan of Ghostbusters would rather hear that music over anything 'new' and hip for the 2000s. In my opinion, anyway.

I Kinda Liked Wearing Contacts Again.....

.....but I had trouble taking them out. Putting them in was like riding a bike. I was more used to those hard gas-permeable ones that felt like sand in your eyes; at least you could tug on your eye a certain way and they would just pop right out.

TMI

Gonna give all my briefs one last wear and going back to boxer-briefs and boxers for a while again.

Gotta stock up first, got quite a drawer full of undies now to last for several weeks.

Oh Hey...Not only do I have a blog, but a blMyspace too, blapparently!

....blogs do NOT imitate life....stuff has been going on, just forgot to blalk about it.

Umm, so my last rave was in August, so I gotta figure out what's been good since then.

I hate that we kinda got the shaft with the snow. I mean everything was good Thursday, then it warmed just enough to melt a little, then cooled back down to turn those puddles into ice. bummer....I was really hoping for a really good deep snow with a little ice prime for sledding.

Do coin wrappers come in individual currencies? Or would someone like to trade a bunch of nickel/dime wrappers for quarter/pennies? the ratio is too high...I have two Route 44 cups---one filled to the top with quarters and the other with pennies---but no way to wrap them without purchasing more wrappers that will give me MORE nickels&dimes.

That's all i got for now....maybe more will come to me.

I Could Go On Praising G.I. Joe....

....but I'll just give some quick bytes on some stuff I've seen lately.

* The Big Red 1

World War II movie....really good. It's actually the 'reconstruction.' The film was made in 1980 with Lee Marvin and Mark (Luke Skywalker) Hamill...who's not as whiny as he was in Star Wars. As things go, it was severely butchered by the studio, and a few years ago some people restored it and cut back in alot of presumably lost footage. Pretty long, but has great scenes like delivering a baby in a tank (just imagine government issue condoms as gloves, gun belts as foot stirrups, and mispronouncing the French word for 'push' and you get a hilarious scene), and spanking a Hitler Youth sniper until he cries for his Papa. And some war stuff.

* Watchmen

I've seen the Theatrical Cut so far (bought the Director's Cut)...and since I actually read the comic beforehand, it is a pretty accurate interpretation. The only major difference is the ending, but it left me with the same two feelings after I finished the book: 1) Wow, that's kind of a downer, and 2) after all this buildup THAT's how they end it?? Nonetheless...it's really good.

* Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince

I've seen all the Harrys except the first one in theater (and haven't watched them since), so I didn't want it to leave before seeing the next to last one (actually two). It was OK, had a hard time remembering what had happened before.....with this franchise they REALLY expect you to know what's going on. But it wasn't as incredibly boring as the last one. Kinda wondering how it's gonna all end.

* Bruno

I shouldn't compare b/c they ARE two different movies, but it's definitely NO Borat. It had it's moments, but I really do prefer more real-life stuff than scripted when it comes to Sacha Baron Cohen (apparently...never seen any of the other stuff from Da Ali G Show).

Ummmmm......I really think that's it. There's been a few other things, but can't think right now, and nothing is standing out. It's been a busy couple of months, so the TV hasn't been on a whole bunch, much less long enough for a flick.

Yo Joe!.....

(DISCLAIMER: So....is this what those stupid Transformers fans felt a couple of years ago when THEIR movie came out? If so.....I respect them now. The Transformers movie still sucks, but that's mostly Michael Bay's fault. Anyway...........)

Because I was by myself in the theater, I actually didn't do it out loud....but there were several times when I was like "Yessssss..." to myself.

It was either something really neat happening, or something I wasn't expecting, or more often than not....it was something that I remembered from long ago that I saw brought to life.

I enjoyed every minute of it. I simply overlooked the cheesy one-liners and forgave the at-times bad acting......but overall...with enough to satisfy me: Good job, Mr. Sommers!!!

Now, I'm not a fan of spoilers......so if you DON'T want to know anymore, you now know enough of what I thought without the details to give anything away. And knowing is half the battle........hahahahahhaahah!

The best part of the whole thing: NOT based in reality whatsoever!

Earlier Saturday I was remarking to my brother how if I made the movie, I wouldn't have guns, they would fire lasers like in the cartoon. Well.....opening fight scene kinda made me put my foot in my mouth. I mean, the army had guns, but when a mysterious enemy ship returned fire on them....it had that sound and that blue tint to it that suggested it was NOT gunfire. I was like "yesssssss"!

Also, of course, like with the first X-Men movie, you have the problem of figuring out who the main characters are. I was OK with their choices of Joes...but the good AND bad thing was there weren't any really hints at secondary characters. For example, in the opening battle there were Apache copters, and one guy had a moustache. They could have easily been like "Hey Wild Bill, what is that thing shooting at us?" BUT....the copter got blowed up, so that would have ruled out Wild Bill showing up in a sequel. Also, that leaves it open where if new characters are introduced in sequels, they can opt for a bigger star than just a random extra. At the end, they could have turned and went "Hey, Shipwreck, tell the Admiral to take us home"----right before the camera pulled away to show they were on the U.S.S Flagg (again, I was like "Yessssss!")

There's actually only a limited number of main bad guys they can have also, so they used the big ones with the exception of a few that could show up later. Maybe Major Bludd can make an appearance later, or Dr. Mindbender can show up again. Actually, I'm sure he will b/c the guy that played him is that creepy character actor...so he could have higher billing in a sequel. Of course, once Zartan is done being disguised as ....a prominent U.S. leader....he can go round up the Dreadnocks. As long as Serpentor doesn't show up, EVER.

Oh, yeah.....I'm gonna agree that Cobra Commander's mask at the end wasn't all that great. The CG on Destro could have been a little tidier, or they could have just put makeup on him.

But all that aside, it was fantastic to see Snake Eyes in action. The vehicles and gadgets were really fun. The technology and base of operations for the good guys and bad guys were pretty awesome. The violence was incredibly stylized, and the way they made the Viper Guards was fun to see them get blowed up, but know they weren't technically people. The end credit sequence had nods to all the stickers you could put on your toys to make them more realistic.

So I can't wait for G.I. Joe 2. Maybe it'll be something like Attack Of The Dreadnocks, or I would even be happy with Slaughter's Marauders. Until then.....here's to hoping there will be an extended edition released on DVD.

Yo Joe.

Please Refer To Previous Post For Blog Title....

....So yes. Except for one scene I'm about about to go back and put video clips over, the OFFICIAL Chachapoyas video is finished. Current run time is 1:05. At this point it's up to Michael to advise on any further cuts, b/c as far as large chunks of it are concerned to get it below 1 hour, I'm done.

Test screened a 1:14 version for my brother this morning, and he suggested a few things that could go; they did, and it works.

I'm not trying to sound too selfish, but I'm ready for people to see it. Not esclusively, but generally it's been about 2 months of my life at this point.

So, pardon me for not having anything else to talk about......but if you don't care it's still all good.....just overlook anything posted after May 18th.

If you don't attend a Baptist church in Calhoun County--myself included---or can't get TV-7, soon I'll go ahead and slap it up onto our website so anyone can watch it.

But if you do go to a Baptist church in Calhoun County---make sure it's a decent one---and keep yourself posted on when they may have a screening. Or if they don't have one planned, request the darn thing, hahaha.


So anyway...besides that, almost done reading WATCHMEN. I think it comes out on DVD next week...and I am now more ready to see it than I was back when it came out in theaters. And just thought it 'looked good.'

BUT I will NOT gripe or complain about anything I do not like about it, b/c I'll still consider it new to me. Not since Lord Of The Rings 2 & 3 have I actually read something BEFORE I saw the film.

PUMMMMPED!!!

It's 11.45pm....just got back from the station. That's nothing new....been doing that almost every night for the last two weeks it seems.

Been working on my massive 6-hour Peru video.

Finally (mostly) locked it down tonight. At least it's cut.....may go back and put in a few subtitles. Part 2 needs credits on the end, but waiting on someone else for that part.

Nonetheless...I'm really excited. It truly feels like a literal for-real burden has been lifted. Besides a few programs, it's basically all I've been working on, really for the last month. I was actually pumping my fist in the air a few minutes ago, and kind of skipping a little. It was weird, trust me.

The bad news: tons of other work piled up b/c of the video......ANNNNDDDD...I'm not done with it yet, either. Still have to do the short 45-minute version for the churches. But that will be done under some direction, and will have to shoot some additional interviews and such. But...most of the video will come from my edit, so it will mostly be all about how to structure it.

Annnnnndddddddd.....did I mention that for the past two weeks the station has been without an air conditioner? It has been on average 90ish degrees INSIDE between 2pm and 11pm. Had to go outside to get cooled off.

Oh well......still totally excited about almost being totally done!

Had A Man-Crush....

....On a dude named Craig I knew for only a day in Peru.

So on that first full day we were in Chachapoyas, the manager of the hotel led a group up to Kuelap fortress....very short distance from the city, but very lonnnng drive through the mountains.

It wasn't just the 5 people in our Peru trip, but a few others added who were either guests at the hotel or visitors to the city. Well, I got as close to the front as possible so I could shoot video...and ended up with another dude sitting next to me. He smelled a bit, obviously from a day or two of travel behind him, but I overlooked that b/c later on I found out he was from England. I was mesmerized from that point on hahahah.

Actually, what I thought was cool---besides the fact that he was indeed British----was that he said he had been in South America since January 09. He had graduated from university 5 years ago, and got a job to save up money to travel, then realized he was still at that same job....quit, took his money, and with very little Spanish, came to South America by himself and has been traveling ever since.

Which I thought took guts.....I mean, I would do that in, oh...maybe the United States, or England hahahh....but not in a country where I didn't have full knowledge of the language. But...hey, to each his own, right?

Should also mention I didn't ask, but I guarantee at least a solid MONTH of his time there was spent JUST DRIVING. I mean, if not...then the further south or west he went it would take time....just with mountains and jungles, and even lack of roads in some parts of the continent.

But oh well....if anyone knows a Craig from England......let me know if he's ok.

Blogs Are A Hassle....

....but anyway, here we are again.

I went through some of the footage last night, so pretty soon I'll have some clips from Kuelap Fortress loaded, and maybe even a shot of someone eating a guniea pig. Not that fascinating, I just got a good shot of it and it looks pretty. (the shot, not the cuy.)

But yeah, not gonna have an award-winning doc on my hands here, but there is some nice footage....shot well if I say so myself. I shot it in widescreen, and there were a few moments where I really thought my framing was wonderful. For example, got a shot of Michael Waldrop quoting something from 'Lonesome Dove', with a bluish-gray rain cloud over a greenish-gray mountain in the background and a luscious green town plaza over his shoulder. Looks fantastic.

But now I'm not going to mention the quality of the road footage. There is only so much you can do while driving 40 miles an hour around bumpy mountain roads. But I do have a shot where I am even with a condor flying...actually just a few feet above it.

MULLETUDE!

Just set up where i can blog from my phone...but most likely just gonna shut off my phone and leave it at home. Oh well. At least when i get back my new phone should be better at texting.

Then There Was....

It seems as though we will always have two standard mediums for our entertainment to choose from to enjoy at any time.

In the beginning there was radio...and always will be. Radio begat records. Records begat 8Track Tapes, which sired Cassette tapes. Cassetes and Records coexisted until the CD came along. The CD or cassette was the way to go. CDs begat digital downloads. Now radio is also digital.

Film will always exist, though it begat TV. TV begat Beta, which was promptly replaced by VHS. You could watch your TV, use pay-per-view, or utilize VHS. VHS begat DVD, and DVD in turn begat Blu-Ray. Forking from the family tree is also digital downloads.

Should We ReThink Things?

So, I've forgotten most of it--therefore the arguments kinda peter out at the end----, but this morning during my shower I was going over my next (current) blog. Some of this stems from a late nite science lesson about breastmilk. I should also state at the moment, I'm exfoliating. Green goo on my face.

So.....there's this so-called debate thingy about evolution and intelligent design, right?

Well.....I think they are both incredibly faulty and extremely shaky and kinda lame.

Ok, so first let's think about 'intelligent' design. More like a beta-testing design that went into production before all the bugs could be worked out. Well, the way that I see it is that if I were awarded the Frankenstein Grant to create a new creature, there are some things I would leave out. If you think about the current design of automobiles, they are similar to human function. Cars need fuel to do the work of making the car go....and though most of it is used up there is still some excess and waste produced that must be eliminated. Same with us right? We eat food to live and produce waste that must be eliminated. We also sneeze some weird things into our hands. And in my case, my T-zone is covered in oil 20 minutes after I scrub my face until it's red. Yes......this blog is about bodily functions and fluids. Well, THERE HAS TO BE A BETTER WAY!

DON'T tell me that just b/c Eve sinned that ONE stinking time way back when we have to poop b/c of that. I mean.....if God created this wonderful creature called man, why the hell would he include in this 'design' pooping and pissing and vomiting and snot? The moment the star crossed lovers left Eden did they grow intestines and have to hock a loogey? It's all crap (no pun intended). I mean the dying thing is ok....our bodies wear out, we die. DO WE HAVE TO DIE AND SIMULTANEOUSLY RELEASE OUR BOWELS? It's not limited to poo, of course. Just think about all of the gross things our bodies do. Is all that necessary for creatures that most pleased God? When it "was good," shouldn't Gabriel or someone not blowing a trumpet should have spoken up and said '...ummm, sir....do we have to rush production on these creatures right away? You don't wanna spend a little more time working on the prototype? I mean, with all due respect and honor and glory, we're not on a deadline here. We've got, well....eternity. Go ahead and take that 7th day off, and come back on the 1st feeling refreshed and ready to get back to it."

Also...since that happy naked couple couldn't have been forgiven the first time they screwed up in, well, the existence of anything, instead of being recalled and starting fresh, they were given the go-ahead to reproduce fruitfully as they pleased. Let's get a bunch more little no-good-doers out there. With that thinking......it must have been known that a few thousand years later there would be billions of people pooping, pissing, and piling up their earwax and killing this planet. Ok, you got a tribe of 50 people....you can deal with the waste and keep it away from your food and drinking water just fine. You got a planet of people....and you have people pooping and pissing on their food and in their water, which in turn makes them poo just a little more. You now have a filthy, disgusting wasteland of excrement. Going back to the car metaphor: when you buy a brand new car do you immediately rush out and buy an ice cream cone on a hot summer day and eat it while navigating traffic? No.....b/c you'll mess up the nice car. And when you DO mess it up, usually you clean it instead of letting it all go to shit.

Then.....there's the fantastical sci-fi hooey that we all came from this big giant explosion and craweled out of slop and turned into people that created iPhones. Well, not being an expert on the topic, from what I've gathered over the years some of it deals with ideas like 'survival of the fittest' and things like that, right? Well.....poking a big hole in that is how are you going to be productive and the best at everything if you have to take a potty break all the time? About when on the evolutionary scale did it become necessary for those single celled organisms to expel their waste rather than develop a process where the body absorbs 100% of everything it intakes? And WHY intake something in the first place? If evolution is so smart, why didn't it evolve the ability to spontaneously grow and move and function without having to replenish?

So I guess what I'm saying is that the next time you pop that pimple on your shoulder or dig out that eye crust in the morning, question your beliefs.

Farts are still funny, though.

Sprung

So I'm kinda pissed that I missed it.

I saw the signs several weeks ago....the little buds on the trees signaling the arrival of spring-like things to come. Green leaves filling the treetops and bushes.

But, somehow over the last few weeks it's like they didn't wait on me. It seems like overnight----against laws of nature----all the green is here. Well, thankfully it's still that Crayola 'Spring Green' color...not full on John Deere hues. I guess I just forgot to pay attention to my favorite time of year. Oy with the poodles already.

Oh well...I can still enjoy some of it.

And it's not like finishing 2 complete seasons of Gilmore Girls in 8 days had anything to do with it....most of that was at night and on rainy days. Mostly.

Betty White Gave Me An Enema.....

.....was a dream I had the other night. And no, I'm not joking. Anyone care to interpret THAT??

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First of all...thanks to a night at Parrish's Pub in Oxford 2 weeks ago I was led to Pandora Internet Radio. It is really cool...but unless I can try to think of a different group of artists, it's basically an online iPod. I made some mixes, but alot of the stuff is already on my iPod....so it's not totally useless, only cool if I don't wanna open iTunes.

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So, just like last year, this year's movie marathon had some odd similarities. I guess I didn't blog about it last year b/c I can't find it, but if I can remember it was stuff like most of the movies took place in Chicago, were John Hughes movies, same actors, things like that.

WELLLL...I noticed some stuff from this year.

Of course, Rocky and Rambo had Sylvester Stallone in them....BUT James Cameron co-wrote Rambo: First Blood Part II. We watched Terminator 2....which was written & directed by James Cameron.

The people who produced Rocky also produced The Karate Kid. Same director for Rocky I and Karate Kid's. Bill Conti also did the music for both.

Superman 4 & Star Wars were both scored by (the GREAT) John Williams. Also, surely somewhere in the Futurama series they had to have at least mentioned Star Wars. If not...at least they're both Sci-Fi.

I don't really know if Die Hard 2 had any connections...I wasn't awake for it to notice any, and I can't think of any off the top of my head. Unless you can count Willis, Stallone, and Shwarz.....Swarz.....Arnold did the whole Planet Hollywood thing.

Oh, and I guess Turtles II kinda stands alone.

But yeah it was good.....maybe next time we'll split it up into 2 12hour days.

Meeting Celebrities Is Phun

Something must be wrong with me....I have contemplated 2 very deep issues, and I haven't been able to take a firm stand AGAINST yet:

1. iPhone
2. Twitter account

The iPhone isn't a problem b/c I barely have enough to pay my rent at the beginning of the month (oh wait....did I pay for March yet???) .....so I'm not gonna shell out chedda cheez for the stupid thing, even though I can see myself having one--but NOT be part of the iPhone crowd. I would be respectful of everyone and not be an asshole that texts and stays on it all the time.

The Twitter account.....I'm going to abstain from having one as long as humanly possible ...which will be until I get an iPhone.

I guess I just don't feel the need to know what other people are doing at every second, but it's kinda fascinating to me that we are allowed that freedom to bore others.

Plus my biggest pet peeve at the moment is when people are glued to their phones and can't take 5 minutes to just look around them. The sky...the trees....oncoming traffic.

Therefore the iPhone + Twitter would equal disaster or I would have to hate myself.

I Either Have....

....A jerk ghost or a weird non-aerodynamic house.

I'm trying to get my back & side door open, but the mean ol' wind (or ghost) keeps slamming the doors.

I Know It's Several Years Late....

....But it's about time someone wrote a new review for 'Garden State.'

Ok, so we watched it last night, I haven't seen it in a long time. And everything I loved about it is still there.

Basically....Zach Braff ruined it for everyone.




Keep reading...




So he's this young guy, the breakout star on this very good TV doctor show comedy. Somehow along the way he makes some connections or something and gets to make a movie he wrote himself and gets to direct it. The thing is....when you watch it and think about who made it and everything, it screams 'indie movie.' It's got cliches and scenes and shots you think that if you made a movie...you would do. The problem: Zach Braff did it first. The other problem: he did it better than you ever would.

First, the opening scene in the airplane kinda sets that mood where you get the idea that he either wants to die or is numb to the plane crashing around him...but so well done that about 1,200 struggling writers in Hollywood simultaneously tore up the first page of their own struggling screenplay.

The next few bits are things I would imagine someone who gets their 1 shot at making a movie would throw in just b/c they may not get another chance: The gas pump handle sticking out of the car....the shirt that matches the wallpaper....the use of slow motion....and something sad.

Yes, doesn't it seem like everyone who wants to make a movie starring themselves want to do something dark like their mom dies and they are always depressed or on medication, and they've got to meet a girl or some old friends who are equally messed up to help them snap out of it, all while having some issues with their father and coming back to their hometown? Yeah, it's basically been done before, but Mr. Zach Braff re-did it well.

Then odd scenes of a trip to an almost bottomless quarry, a hotel with peepholes in the walls, a confrontation with a customer service cashier at a hardware store, pool scenes, a guy shooting a flaming arrow into the air, spin the bottle, a knight eating cereal, seeing-eye-dog humping a leg, shameless exposure to mid-2000s music, and I'm sure much more that are not fresh on my mind.

But they are there. I mean, it's honestly like the movie is so lame and cliche, but it's so good you can't help but love it. Is it love for Zach Braff, or love for the movie? If I didn't know who Mr. Zach Braff was....would I even watch this movie? I dunno......I really don't.

But there you have it. "Garden State." If you've never seen it, you probably have in several ways indirectly before, but you should definitely see it. Might change your life.

Live 'Large.'

ha.

So I Was Just On Facebook....

......And the ad on the right of the page was for CareerBuilder.com. It's tagline was 'Find A Job In Finance.'

Upon first glance, I thought it was saying I could find a job in France.

(as what? a deodorant tester? hahaha....actually I'm kidding I'm quite sure the French wear deodorant. If not, I'm sure they smell fine.)

So anyway...my sore throat finally went away today (well, 99%), so I put off another trip to the doctor. BUT if it gets any worse than it is right now (I only notice it when I think about it) I'm out the door.

I'm a panicky hypochondriac at times....but I don't go to the doctor.

Making Youself Feel Worse....

So, it seems like people can put on some music to feel better.....something that usually works I guess.

Yesterday I kinda messed that up. I did need to feel better, but for some reason put on Damien Jurado's 'Rehearsals For Departure.'

I had teardrops swelling and wanting to break through. I know it's cliche, but he was telling it pretty much dead-on in certain places. He was breaking my heart apart even more.

That's really all I had....some things have been uneventful lately. I'll come up with more when I get inspired.