Subject lines please, no matter how meaningless they are...

To answer your questions directly - no I have never seen the show Big Love on Showtime, although I've heard good things about it. Perhaps I will rent the first season some weekend and have a marathon.

The answer to your second question is yes - it can go in any direction deemed necessary, gender is negligible.

Here's my logic (albeit, I'm still very busy, so this is abridged yet) - view the modern family: man, wife, 2 kids for the sake of argument. What is the greatest stress on this dynamic? I'm almost willing to bet in most, it comes down to money (or infidelity...). Now add in a third person, regardless of gender, that both already present adult members of the family can equally "love" - all of a sudden we have a person who can take on a third job, providing a third income without greatly increasing the cost of living for the clan...or this person can take up the homemaker position and have a more proactive role raising the kids...or free up one of the fellow members to do the same. I'm not viewing this as one man married to women (or vice verse), I'm viewing this as a true three-way marriage, where it is a mutually understood relationship between all three. This setup has the added benefit of assisting in covering the flaws of your partners, allows for more romance as there is more freedom as all members are flexible to take on multiple roles in the household.

I think I'm rambling and I've lost the plot...that's a good start though, I think. Ask more questions and I'll flesh out from there this weekend. Cheers...I mean, ta.

Big Love

Have you watched the show Big Love on Showtime?

does this polygamy go both ways? multiples of men or multiples of women?

I think dealing with one significant other at a time is all i can handle.

Thoughts on Horror, part 1 - isolation

Good Evening. So I just concluded watching The Ruins, which was not too bad...and made me think about a topic that's very...let's say fascinating to me, although "close to my heart" was a close second - horror movies.

So basically, the plot is...well, four friends get into somewhat of a tight spot while on vacation and get killed off one by one in a foreign land, by a mysterious killer. Man, we've heard that one before - right? So anyways, I say this one wasn't too bad because they played it straight. The "mysterious killer" was something natural, and didn't seem forced and they didn't try to hide it until the end for some crap twist ending. There were obviously some things they could have done a lot better...one scene in particular, could have taken a nod from their predecessors, but unfortunately - in today's horror film industry, the general consensus is that blood sells.

So the basic fear point of this film is isolation - the concept of being alone and facing an unknown danger. There are many ways to approach the isolation horror film, however the most common is to put your group of protagonists in a foreign land (see The Ruins, Hostel). This is a simple plot tool simply because it's universal - what's more frightening than being surrounded by people and not being to ask for help?

~~Unfortunately tonight, I don't have too much elaboration in me...again. Maybe my problem is that I have a million ideas that just don't go very deep...maybe that's why I want you to people, to flesh out my thoughts for me. Anyways, back on topic.~~

Now, my personal favorite (and I doubt I'd find many who disagree) isolation film is easily Jaws. This is a true isolation movie - 3 guys and a boat versus a big ass shark, who at one point you really have to ask yourself...is this shark just fucking with these guys? The true beauty of the isolation technique isn't the killed itself, but rather, the mental anguish the protagonists go through. This is because, at a certain point you realize, either you or your friend are next. You're constantly looking for a means of escape, you're constantly holding in that panic button (although too many characters in the horror movies, fail at this concept), you're constantly looking for a way out or a bargaining chip. Basically, you are forced to go through the five stages of loss on repeat until...well, you die. And then think of the mental anguish if you survive! Would you want to be that sole surviving member in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre? That's years and years of therapy and even then, I'd be hard pressed to find a well functioning adult after that tragedy.

All in all, isolation is a tricky method to use in causing fear. When in the right hands (Mr. Spielberg), it can be a useful device in not only creating that panic in the audience, but also instantly make your characters personable and they sympathize with their plight. In the wrong hands, however, isolation is just plain boring and/or sinks into the mindless void of slasher films.

I apologize for the poorly written essay, I shall take this core and clean it up a bit, I think...I'll repost when I'm done. Input?

Night.

"All the guys like her? Great...you forgot to say 'away' which makes it sound a little..."

So I'm going to say something out there and controversial. I think marriage, like many other conventional traditions that we follow we blindly, is outdated. I don't think it has properly evolved within the confines of our societal structure and families would be better suited with a strong foundation of adults (I'm talking polygamy). I will elaborate more at a later date.

Also - if you haven't noticed, I found a way to add music to our little game here, so we can listen to music that we're talking about. Here are some quick directions - create an account at Project Playlist. Search add music to a playlist and then get the HTML code and post it here.

"I'm looking for something....subtle" "It's going to be real...colorful"

Good morning! I know in my last post I said tomorrow, but...well, I distracted myself and then the day was gone. My apologies. Also, I apologize in advance as this post isn't going to be nearly as long or analytical as usual. I'm actually going to set it up and let you guys take it away and then bounce back to it when I'm a bit more awake.

Pop Culture Versus Culture - what is it that comprises a societies cultural identity? I think I could objectively define it as books, music, movies, television, video games, print media (newspapers, magazines), art (painting, sculptures, 'modern'), celebrities and sports - not only in what is produced in this society, but also what is popular. Given the recent Olympic games (which I think deserve a post of their own if someone wants to throw out their perceptions from the recent games in Beijing), I think I'd like to focus on sports for at least the first part of this post. Sports, as a whole, I think are underrated, or at least looked down upon by other "cultural elitists" as a simple clashing of two physical entities in frivolous games. First and foremost, let me get this out there - every aspect of culture is frivolous on every measurable scale. That being said, I think culture not only makes up an important aspect of every society, I'd go as far as to say that it is a required element if any society is to thrive. Culture brings entertainment to the masses, keeps morale high and everyone knows, happy workers work while unhappy workers don't...or at least don't do as good of a job. All work and no play make America a dull nation. So back to sports - sports offer society an outlet for our competitive nature. We have an inherent need to feel as if we are the best, but of course, most of us...aren't the best. Therefore, we personalize ourselves with a team or an athlete and through their achievements and success, we achieve and succeed - we feel like we a part of it. And sports and much more complicated beast than people give it credit for. Sports are constantly evolving, always attempting to find that edge over the competition, and just as one trend becomes universal (see NFL spread offenses over the next two season), something new comes along. While every other cultural medium I listed flows seamlessly with trends or fads, sports are the constant sine wave that follows our society, changing much more slowly, like our economy or our political environment. I speak specifically of football, as that's the sport I follow most closely, but I know we could find fans of every sport that regardless of the age of the sport, or the traditions we typically associate, have evolved and adapted for a greater competitive edge.

Music, I think, is the second most important aspect of a society's cultural identity and this is because music is the most diverse of the cultural aspects, which is even more impressive given the relatively similar roots all music has derived from. Somehow, between classical music and traditional, tribal drum-based music, we have achieved an amazingly eclectic tree of musical genres and sounds. In addition, music proudly utilizes the most recent technological advances to bring something new to the table...always going for the latest or the newest sound. Music also is in the unique position of having changed society, or having a major impact on large scale societal changes. Music often represents the sound of the streets, or the sound of the masses, but really - there is a music for everyone, music is universal in that it doesn't discriminate. However, this is where my topic really hits it's stride - pop culture versus culture. Is there any difference, value wise, in some indie production with strong, meaningful lyrics aimed at political or economical issues or some pop song constructed for the soul purpose of selling records? How would one even measure the worth of a cultural entity? Number of people reached? Lasting impression (test of time)? Message? I think completely excusing "pop culture" - the items produced and marketed for the sole purpose of sales over content, is a mistake. I think this is as vital a part of our cultural imprint as anything done in order to invoke change or express strong opinion.

Then there's the cross pollination of culture - the instant celebrity of Olympic heroes like Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson and Usain Bolt. Then there's the flip-side, like Ashley Harkleroad posing for playboy - positive or negative? This actually leads into my next area of discussion - celebrities and a little insight into their train-wrecks they call lives, but that's for next time I reckon.

So that's my diving board - take it from there people. I'll probably have more at some point in time, possibly even in the next week, but no promises.

Also - Heather and I came up with an awesome idea for an ongoing game or conversation starter that we can kind of finish (or start) each post with. Current song of the moment (what song do you find yourself listening to more and more these days) and this song makes me feel...(list an emotion or feeling, and what song really captures that for you)...then simply elaborate. I'll go first.

Song of the Moment: Belle & Sebastian - Mary Jo. Off their original record, Tigermilk, this little diddy closes the album with perfect ease. It's simple tune and could easily fade into any background comfortable, but where is exceeds - as with all B&S songs, are the melodies and the subtly strong lyrics. The key lines are "Mary Jo, no one can see / What you've been through / Now you've got love to burn"and then ends with a fading round of "Life is never dull in your dreams / A sorry tale of action and the men you left for / Women, and the men you left for / Intrigue, and the men you left for dead." The song is essentially about the regrettable lose of youth and innocence, which I think all of us go through in that moment when we realize...we aren't kids anymore, we are guilty beings (and I didn't even need Catholicism to tell me that one), and we've made mistakes. Our own mortality becomes apparent in that moment - we make mistakes, and through mistakes, it becomes evident that we will someday die (maybe I'm the only one who makes that connection, but either way - it's there).

Song That Makes Me Feel...Nostalgic: The Elected - Greetings in Braille. One of my top songs (actually has been in the top five since I first heard it), this captures perfectly that idea that we aren't who we were when we were kids anymore, yet simultaneously, we aren't really ready to handle what the world has to throw at us yet either. Key line - "And I miss Tara and Melissa, Allen and John. / And you'll never have friends like you did when you were young. / But our bodies were pulled away and swept out to the sea / And I'd call and say hi if I thought you'd remember me." It'll be interesting to see how the Internet effects childhood friendships as we all grow older, already we're seeing a difference as I've kept up with more people through the Internet (all of you, for example), than I would have ever imagined and definitely wouldn't have had this option not been here. However, even as the Internet is changing the way we view and react to friendships, the sentiment is the same - the friendships when we were young were unbeatable, and even if we stay in touch or we keep contact with those individuals - those bonds of friendship we shared when we were young, they will never be matched, they will never be replicated and it's very easy to miss those, to regret wasting those days away - but it was wasting those days that made them so memorable. Perhaps that's a missing lesson in all of this - the most memorable days are those we wasted.

That's all I have. I recently got the Sims 2 IKEA Stuff and the Sims 2 Apartment Life, so I'm going to fiddle around with that for an unhealthy amount of time. Ta.

Hole in the Wall

Good evening everybody - who's ready for today's post?

First and foremost, welcome to my pal Gary - the first international user here, hopefully not the last.

Next, in my pondering of what might stir up a good post AND instill a little sense of community here within the group, I came up with an excellent idea for a post, with a little help from a friend. Basically - a little personal survey because come on - who doesn't like talking about themselves? So anyways, I've swiped these 10 topics to discuss about yourself, it will give the rest of us a good idea of where you're coming from (more or less) and get us all a bit more open with each other...in theory, once again. Also, please elaborate - open ended answers drive conversations.

Personal Survey

1. First Name: Nathan. I'm not particularly sure how I feel about the name Nathan, or to be more specific - Nathaniel. The entire concept of being named by your parents is somewhat self - defeating in my mind. A name should be reflective of one's self and while I may or may not be a Nathan, in terms of generalizing a name, sometimes I don't feel like one. That being said, I anticipate naming my own children - Tori and I already have names picked out, whether we actually go with them or not, I don't know. We're assuming 2 boys (August Always, Sebastian Royce) and 2 girls (Anna Marie Kimberly (I'll call her Kayla Lynn because I'm like that), Kahlan Veda), but we'll see.
   
   
2. Age: 22, although I'm less than a month away from 23. I'm not really sure how I feel about age either - it's a tricky subject. I still have to pause and think about it when someone asks me how old I am because, frankly, I don't feel like I'm 22. I work with people much older than me, my employees are older than my mom, and I'm the youngest of my group of friends... At times, I feel older than my age - maybe it's the stresses of work, I never felt that way at Taco Bell...maybe it's just getting older and I'm multiplying the effect in my mind. At other times, however, I feel younger than my age - this is probably because I have no bearing on where I'm supposed to be at this stage...some of my friends are done with college and have moved on to good jobs, others have messed around and are still working near minimum wage jobs and then I'm there in the middle - I'm working management, going to school, where do I go from here? Where do I fit in? It's very contradicting and confusing.
   
   
3. Location: Kalamazoo, MI. The real question here should be - how long will I be here? As soon as I'm done with school, I'm hoping to find myself a job elsewhere so I can move. I've got nothing against Kalamazoo, at least something compared to how I felt when I left for college, but overall - I think the town doesn't offer me as much as other towns could. As I mentioned in various other posts, I'm looking for a suburb of a major city, I think, but where I truly land - I have no idea at this point.

4. Occupation/Education: Well, first and foremost, I work as a housekeeping manager up in Allegan, which is a good 45 minute drive to the northwest of Kalamazoo. I also go to school, ITT Tech in the programming department, in Grand Rapids, which is a good hour drive north of Kalamazoo (an hour northeast of Allegan as well). All in all, because of these two factors, I'm dropping a quarter of my paycheck ($200-250) on gas every other week. Right now work is pretty hectic and even before everything else that's going on, I was questioning my satisfaction in the work. I've never been truly unhappy doing the job (I was miserable at Taco Bell, which was my previous employer), but I'm rarely satisfied with my work either. I find myself struggling often because, quite frankly, I'm not a clean guy...I'm not a total slob, but when asked to spot little detail things that I'm expected to and required to notice. I'm currently looking, albeit somewhat passively, for something different. I'm even willing to take a slight pay cut if it's in Kalamazoo, to offset all the driving. I have a potential interview at my dad's work, but it's still thirty minutes away and it's more of a pay cut than I might be willing to take given the drive still exists. As for school - I'm about a year away from an associates and I love programming, I honestly can't wait until I'm done. On the other hand, this associates I'm getting isn't going to get me very far and the local ITT doesn't offer the bachelor program from programming, which means either I get lucky and end up with a new job in a town with an ITT that has the bachelor program, or I have to find a new school to finish off that degree so I can really make a splash in the business world when I'm done. Therefore, both of these places are in complete limbo and that's just about the short end of it.
   
   
5. Partner: I'm married! I know, crazy, right? Well, I'm married to a wonderful woman, Tori (Victoria) who loves me despite all my problems. We met at BD's Mongolian BBQ, which is an excellent restaurant here in town (it's a chain, I was familiar with them prior to them opening here). My roommates at the time and I would go two or three (or more) times a week and eventually, I got to know most of the waitresses pretty well, and overtime we met and talked and then we hung out one day and since then, we've only been apart a total of 5 nights...literally, we spent that first night together and most night since then. We've been married for over two years now and it's not always easy, but we make it through somehow. The funny part about our marriage is that 1) we eloped on our third month anniversary and 2) on our one month anniversary, she totaled my car and THAT was when I knew I'd marry her. So we're not traditional, but we're happy and that's all that matters, isn't it?
   
   
6. Kids: As I already mentioned, we plan on having four kids (right now), although we admit that the number may change as we discover the harsh reality and troubles of actually raising children. We both love children, although we both have clear flaws when it comes to children (patience, ability to be serious) that we know we will have to greatly improve before the big day arrives. Currently we are off birth control, in case you were wondering, and taking a "if it happens, it happens" approach - we're not putting any pressure on ourselves to pop one out this year or anything, but we think we're ready enough now that we're willing to give it a shot.
   
   
7. Pets: We have two wild and crazy dogs - Henri (Henrik) and Cuppie (Cummupins - pronounced like Comeuppance). The former is a Beagle/Bassett Hound (we think) and the latter is a Beagle/Jack Russell. Basically - they are the most fun on four feet and everyone loves them...even if Cuppie tends to get into people's faces all too often. We hope, when we move, to get a place with bit more land for them to run around in (with a fence because neither would hesitate to run away, unfortunately) and likely get a cat someday as well, although I think the adjustment for the two troublemakers to a cat would be a bit of a stretch, so we'll see. We'll have to be very careful as to how we approach that future. I also have fish ambitions, but no plans to implement those as of any time soon.
   
   
8. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:
1. School: As I already mentioned, this is an ongoing process in my life. When I graduated high school, I got a full ride to RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) which gave me the best 12 months (approximately four quarters) of my life, but unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot of anywhere with my time there as far as education goes. I started out as a mechanical engineer, unfortunately - it turns out, that's not what I wanted to be, so I jumped over to accounting (after my father) and then ran to mathematics (my strength) prior to calling it quits - I had lost my scholarship because of grades, I was working part time at Taco Bell again to afford things and overall, I didn't see why spending 30k/year to figure out what I want to do with my life would be beneficial to anybody. So I dropped out, moved to Kalamazoo, and now I'm going to ITT for programming, which I could have taken at RIT but alas...didn't realize my own potential in that field at the time. Write it off as a youthful indiscretion and move on. I have more friends from my time at RIT than high school, and I really wish I had kept up with more of them more often...hopefully I can trick some of them into joining me here.
   
2. Work: So I started working at Taco Bell when I was 15, before my 19th birthday I was a manager and before my 20th birthday, an assistant store manager and just after that, I worked as an interim store manager for 2 months. Shortly after that, however, I quit. I quit Taco Bell because they hired someone to take the place of store manager and after six months in a three month training they still didn't know anything, so when put in charge - everything fell apart and who was called upon to fix it? It was very frustrating that I was not thought of as "mature" enough and didn't take my responsibility "seriously" enough for consideration for promotion. In retrospect, I can see their point, but I'm still a tad bitter in their decision to pass me over when I knew my stuff better than anyone else who had held the position before me and I'm guessing, since. After a month of unemployment, which was heartbreaking for me, I landed my present job which has been a roller coaster ride if nothing else. In my two years in the nursing home business, I've been in two buildings full time - I've had 5 administrators, 6 director of nurses and countless other admin positions cycling in and out like months in a year. In my 21 months at [my building], I've become the second most senior person in morning meetings (in terms of longevity in present position), which I guess says something about my abilities in my own position, but really - the place is in constant turnover and recent events guarntee another year, if not more, of the same. Very frustrating. Also, I hate dealing with employees - hiring, firing, etc...all a big headache I'd be better off avoiding, in my opinion. Oh well, not really an option, is it? A large part of me doesn't see myself as management material, but I guess a large majority of others do...so I'm kind of stuck at this point.
3. Health: Well, overall I'm a pretty healthy guy, I'd say - I could shed a few pounds, if I'm being honest with myself. Right now, however, my biggest concern is my left shoulder which I dislocated in January of '06. When I dislocated, the doctor's told me that my cartilage hadn't healed back correctly and I would someday require surgery in order to repair the damage. Well, unfortunately, I think this day may come sooner rather than later, as lately my arm has been popping out much easier and frequently than the two years prior, which is increasingly painful, not to mention the soreness and stiffness. I have an appointment on the 5th with my new doctor and I plan on getting the ball rolling on getting the surgery done so I can have my arm back to full ability.
4. Leisure: Right now, I spend most of my time playing Tribal Wars, although I'm hoping to get back into the Sims 2 (as soon as I get Apartment Life...come on birthday money) and maybe even Spore someday soon. Besides that, I'm all about music and (American) football. Seeing as autumn is rolling in nicely, it's almost time for the NFL season and I couldn't be more excited. My other love, music, is one obsession that I hope will never die, although it has taken a recent backseat because of monetary issues. I used to buy 2 or 3 CDs a week, at one point, but recently, I'll be lucky to get that in a three month span. I'm hoping someday to get back to my new music hounding ways.
5. Miscellaneous: See I put this on here as a kind of free section to talk about whatever, however - I've already typed so much and covered so many aspects of my life, I really don't have much to go on. Feel free to put something of your own here though.
   
   
9. Family: Well - my mom works in Washington, D.C. for the secretary of defense, which isn't nearly as exciting as it sounds. My dad works in Plainwell (thirty minutes north of Kalamazoo), but lives in Marshall (thirty minutes east of Kalamazoo), so he suffers the same as me when it comes to driving. I have two half-brothers (brothers from another mother, as I like to remind them). Doug, the eldest (October 1979) lives in California, is a divorced, but now engaged and is awesome because he works for Google (which is actually more exciting than it sounds) - I too wish to get in good with Google, if through him or through my own skills. My other brother, Jamie (January 1981) lives in Vicksburg (thirty minutes south of Kalamazoo). He is married with two kids - Jessie (4) and Cody (2). Cody is cool because he's built like an offensive lineman and laughs every time he falls down, even if he hits his head on the table or something. Jessie is a character - she once stabbed me in the eye with a fork while I was napping and I plan on bringing that up the rest of my life. Jamie works for Flowserve, which produces industrial seals and whatnot, it's actually the largest international company based in Kalamazoo with a net worth well over 1 mil, or something like that (I suppose 1 mil isn't that much in modern times, is it?). Pretty neat. As for my wife's family - I went from no sisters to four (Erica - the missing one (I've only met her twice), Lexi, Lauren and Morgan) and got to add a brother (Parker). Thus far, I have no qualms with them...I probably have more beefs with my various sides of family than them, so that's good I suppose.
   
   
10. Friends: Finally, #10 - I have only one true friend of note and that's Josh. I spend all the time I can with Josh and he is my undeniable heterosexual life partner. I have other friends, in theory and in mutual respect, but in terms of spending an abundant amount of time with a person and sharing otherwise private information - Josh is only beat out by my wife and no one else comes close.

So that's it - feel free to copy down the questions and write out your own responses. Sorry for my short story worth of self promotion, but I had a good time. Maybe that's what I'm in this for - getting to see myself type up massive amounts of nothing, just for the satisfaction of forcing others to read my run-on sentences. Seriously though, something about seeing my little fingers jump across the keyboard and see my thoughts displayed so uniformly on a computer screen...something about that, I don't know...it amazes me. That's it for tonight - tomorrow, culture versus pop culture, night. I mean - ta.

Introduction

Evening all.

I’d like to introduce myself as a kind of ‘trailer’ to the future posts I hope to write for this community.

My name is Gary (Aka Razor Goz) & I am from Cornwall in the UK. I was invited by Nathan Hart, after becoming friends on the game Tribal Wars. (I was a member of RIP.)

I am not all that fantastic at philosophy (I scraped an E at A-level) but hope to learn, meet people (because that’s what the internet was made for (I would hope)) and maybe contribute my opinions and thoughts along the way.

Thanks for reading,

Gary

"It's never a good sign when your quarterback is bleeding profusely from the nostrils"

The Blog - I think we have all dropped the ball here on our initial idea. This is partly due to real life circumstances, partly to lack of motivation or coherent ideas, and partly due to laziness (on my part, at least). However – times are changing and it’s time to get back into this. As I already mentioned, I’m marketing and recruiting – don’t know how much success I’m having or am going to have, but I’m trying – and that’s worth something. I think thus far, the biggest problem here has been participation – and unfortunately, the way I see it, the more participation we have, the more participation that will encourage – kind of a vicious circle that once we get going, things will really get going.

That being said – and welcome to all new authors/readers – what would all of you like to see from this community? Obviously, my intentions have been made clear, but what would make this blog, and participating therein, more attractive to everybody else? I know I would participate more given more feedback from all of you, seeing as I can talk to myself anywhere; this is more for letting out opinions and getting feedback. So how can we change the format or the layout that would make things better for posting, better for reading, better for all around participation? Also – it is advisable to give everyone admin privileges in order to encourage more use? One might think that if we all have our friends here, in an open community, would provide the best results, however – we are tied to 100 authors (which we are far from at the moment, especially if we remove those who don’t participate), so some resourcefulness with those spots will be required.

The Hulk – well, I’ll be honest…I haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen many movies this summer…lack of funds, lack of time and lack of anything I actually want to see have gone into contributing to that sad fact. I do have to agree with you on Edward Norton – he easily fits into my top three actor’s list. As for Liv Tyler, I got nothing against her, but she does tend to fade into the background of most of her films – that could just be me, or the fact that she’s usually involved in all star casts, making her less noticeable, or the fact that she just has no screen presence and very little charisma. She’s never made an impression on me, regardless of the reason.

Summer Movies – while we are on the topic, let’s resurrect my summer movie preview and see how we’re doing thus far…(Summer Movie Preview 2008)

Super Heroes – also, while we’re here, let’s talk about these comic book heroes (and villains) who are more and more often, populating our movie screens. What are the thoughts on this new trend? What are the thoughts on these characters as…well, characters? Can we get some literary insight into that’s going on here – the struggles, the triumphs, etc…?

Atlas Shrugged – Yes, this is our classic fall back topic. I think all of our old conversation were either entirely devoted to this, or analyzing metaphors in Bright Eyes songs (a tradition I wouldn’t mind restarting, although I think expanding our artist base would benefit us greatly). First and foremost, have you read the Wikipedia page on the novel lately (Atlas Shrugged)? It’s quite a resource – I’ll have to read it more thoroughly later (I just took a peak at it to get the latest on the movie).

As for the movies, I have heard this as well – from my understanding right now, they are making it a two-part film, to negotiate with the length and many, many plot points. I know Angelina Jolie is currently slated to play Dagny Taggart…I have some reservations based on that decision, but I can see it working, so I’ll let it slide. As for the concept of turning books into movies, a) I don’t think there will ever be any satisfaction because one of the beauties of a book over a movie is everyone sees something different, the picture in my mind of what the Ents (in Lord of the Rings) would be like is much different than that which was featured in the film. It is for these reasons that I think it’s important to rationalize prior to seeing a film based on a book that the two are separate entities based on similar storylines. With the proper direction, screenplay and not too many hands in the pot, it can produce a damn fine film (see Prince Caspian), but otherwise, it can become a disaster (see The Golden Compass…wait, don’t). Either way, I’m with you – I’ll see the film regardless. I figure – more exposure (being the highest selling novel, other than the Bible, just isn’t cutting it apparently) will be good, I guess. Like Heather, however, I do encourage everyone who hasn’t read it to read it.

Gas Prices – yes, the inevitable hot button topic of the summer…gas prices. As prices (here in the States) hover around $4/gallon, and the rest of the world being much worse off than us, it’s an easy hot topic…especially in an election year. Oh the discussions. Personally, I don’t think there’s a whole lot to discuss here – sure we could delve into the politics of it – drill in Alaska or focus on renewable resources? How can we moderate our oil consumption without giving up the convenience of our daily lives? As for how much we were deluded…I wasn’t at all, but I agree – as a society, I think we were kind of turning the other way, hoping the problem would just go away (also, see National Debt).

Iowa – Let’s talk about the Midwest for something other than the storms…although word to cool storms. From what I hear from my brother, and a few others in the industry, the next computer explosion is going to be in states like Iowa because the cost of the living is much lower and computer geeks can work anywhere. I think this is excellent news, at least for me, seeing as that’s the industry I hope someday to crack into. I love the Midwest, and while I’d like to end up near a big city (Chicago, Cleveland and Minneapolis all come to mind), I wouldn’t mind ending up in a state like Iowa, Nebraska, or even someplace as detached as Montana.

Writing – I’m right there with you when it comes to writing. The power of words, more often than not, just astonishes me and I think (and I think I’ve mentioned this before) that words and language as a whole is the greatest accomplishment of the human race. Without language, society as we know it would be non-existent without the foundation of language. As for my own personal reading/writing habits – I’m afraid I’ve allowed myself to become too lazy, preferring the instant gratification of the Internet for information over the joy of discovering. Do I want to read more? Sure – will I? Probably not…I have an ever expanding list of books to read, but until I am able to set aside thirty minutes to an hour a day to just reading, it won’t happen. As for writing, I’ve gotten back into my poetry – although I’ve only put one foot in for now. I’m still conceptualizing stories on a daily basis, what comes of all these ideas however, who knows? And as for these (and other) blogs…well, as I’ve already mentioned in this post – I’m motivated to get this started once again. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Past Entries – Don’t worry about past entries, topics, or anything if you don’t want to – however, if you (or any of our new members) are bored one day and decide to rehash some golden topics (and there are definitely some gems that got overlooked) – feel free to do so. I am always up for discussing something already discussed and given the time element, there’s a good chance my opinion has changed…so you’d be getting a new discussion participant as well!

NPR – I too have occasionally found the pleasures of listening to NPR during my over abundant time spent in cars, driving nowhere. Sounds Eclectic, in particular, hits the spot in this time when I can’t afford as many new CDs as I’d prefer (at one point in time in the somewhat recent past, I was getting 3 new CDs a week, now I’m lucky to get that in a three-month span). My latest obsession has been podcasts, I can download something to my laptop and then listen to it during my long drives and because it’s controllable, I can pause it and not miss a beat, or refer back to something later. I will likely, now that I’ve discovered them, subscribe to more podcasts than I can listen to in a day, and then get rid of them all, but for the time being – my car rides are filled with talk radio and I don’t think I ever thought I’d say that.

Music – finally, a topic of my own…recently I read somewhere that people often stop following new music around the age of 23 and just rely on old favorites for any “new music” fix they may have. This frightens me, not because I’m quickly catching 23, but because I can feel this happening and I like to argue that it’s due to external conflicts, not internal desires (I have no money, it’s not that I don’t want new music), but how honest am I being with myself there? I have a mile long list of CDs I want, and that list grows more and more every day, but most of the CDs I’m adding to the list are…from that old group of favorites I know I like. When I can afford a new CD, I get one I know I’ll like, I’m not willing to take a chance at a crap CD from a new band because I get so few new ones – I have to make the most of what I get.

Lego – the Lego mini-man (you know, the little yellow guy), is turning 30 this year. Discuss Lego’s, their effect on society and their outlook as we head into a more and more digital age.

That’s all for today people, more later as I have lot’s of ambitious posts sitting in the wings, but no promises (as you see – post Friday night became post Wednesday afternoon).

Ta.

Marketing and other new beginnings

My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of the pessimists.
- Jean Rostand

That is, by far, one of my favorite quotes of recent times. Anyways, so I have recently discovered a new source of people...not just people, but many intelligent people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures, not to mention ages and nationalities. Thus, I am going to start a heavy "marketing campaign" to get people to come join us, so we aren't talking to ourselves for months at a time. Will I succeed? Probably not, but I'm optimistic in this new group of people I have found.

That being said, hopefully sometime tonight (or tomorrow, or Sunday...let's be honest here), I am going to rewrite my mission statement of creating this blog and post it right there at the top so everyone can read it when they first find us. I'm motivated once again to give this thing a go because I'm starting to miss intelligent conversation and this place, in theory, is the best place for it.

More later - Nathan

Please Excuse the Mess

My disappearance was not on purpose.  I find myself making that excuse a lot lately and I don’t know that it is an excuse, so much as the truth.  My job doesn’t allow me to plan, sometimes even for the next day.  I have tried to accept that and yet I find it harder and harder.  I schedule an appointment and then find out that I can’t make it.  As far as my writing, I work 10-12 hour days when I’m on the road and so I can’t always make myself sit down and write after a long eventful day at work.  When I can I write during work to try and make up for the fact that by the end of the day I don’t have the energy to write it is sometimes difficult to find the coherence that one needs to write sensibly. 

Enough with the excuses and apologies.

The Hulk-I thought it was an excellent movie despite the bad date that accompanied me on it.  I thought that although the cg graphics were not seamless I was able to go with it anyway and enjoy the movie thoroughly.  Edward Norton as usual is flawless (in my opinion) and I even found myself liking Liv Tyler a bit which surprised me.

Atlas Shrugged-I know I occasionally bring this one up when you and I are talking Nathan, but I thought it was high time that it made it to the blog.  In my opinion this book is the one to read.  Even if you don’t agree you have to see the big picture that this book is able to paint and I think that everyone stands to gain from it.  The reason I am bringing this up is because there is still talk about making it into a movie and while I will be there to see it, no movie will EVER do this book the justice it deserves.  It is a long complex book that encompasses an entire philosophy.  There is an ultimate reason that the book is as long as it is.  My message therefore, is please, please, please go read the book.  It is worth it.  The only requirement is for you to come to the table with an open mind and truly think about the message and not just the plot (although I completely love the plot).

Gas Prices-we all knew it was coming.  The question is how much did we all delude ourselves into thinking that oil was a never ending resource.  Please tell me that as a whole we are smarter than that.

Iowa-This is where I am right now.  The storms here are fantastic.  I watched lightening in surround.  From one end of the sky to the other, like a chain of lights that circled on itself.  The scene reminded me of a skit from Fantasia.  The one where instead of the orchestra you see the screen light up in time to the music.  Or a visualizer from your computer.  I just couldn’t figure out which music it was in time to.  Pretty awesome in my book.

 

Writing-When I turned 23 I wanted to recommit myself to the things that I love.  Writing, reading, pursuit of a new calling in life.  In the few months that have passed I have done reasonably well in some areas while letting other go still.  One of those areas that is still lacking is my writing.  I haven’t tried hard enough to make posts here and in the other blogs that I am a part of/am the soul writer in.  This is somewhat discouraging to me because I really love writing.  I know that my posts here aren’t always the most eloquent or interesting to read but the fact that I am able to put words together and get them out in the open is amazing.  I absolutely love it.  I love words and how changing a word choice can change the meaning of an entire passage.  That is an accomplishment in my book.  But yet I haven’t made the time.  I think in some respects it is a way of protecting myself.  I tend to write the most when things are going wrong (nothing like a little drama to spice things up) or when they are going really, really well.  However my writing drops off when things are just going.  I do believe that some people call it writer’s block.  I have trouble getting the juices going when things are just plodding along at a nice little pace.  So inspiration and drive are what I have to find within me these days. 

Just a few thoughts that I’ve had floating around in there.  Kind of incomplete, so please excuse the mess.

 

Oh and last but not least I wanted to comment that with my absence you have written many an entry about many a thing, and while I was looking through them I wanted to comment on every single one, but I don’t have that type of patience or time, so maybe I’ll revisit them sometime soon in the future, but for now, lets try for regular entries J

 

Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me

NPR-I want to dedicate this entry to NPR.  I have fallen in love with the magnificence that is NPR.  I know that it is a traditionally liberal media, but I know that up front so the bias is easily spotted.  Getting passed that for me is half the battle.  Then you have great programs like Science Friday and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, along with so many others that make my time in the car and my time during the day just fly along.  Every time I listen it’s a new discovery.  Africa, China, even the U.S., they report on them all and I feel like I actually know what’s going on in the world (which is hard considering most media only covers the U.S.) when I listen to NPR.

No-Bakes

Sorry for the absence, been getting my ass kicked with school and work. Hopefully, meaningful post this weekend.

No Bake Cookies - is there a reason these aren't being mass produced yet? Not cost effective? Freshness issue? Seriously - these things are amazing and I'd buy them from Keebler if I could.

More topics to discuss another time...

Marriage - just an institution for people who belong in...an institution, or a valuable and necessary part of society?

Innovation - if necessity is the mother of invention, competition is the father of innovation. I want to hear some respectable innovations you've seen made by companies in the business world.

I've got a lot on my plate today but tomorrow morning I should be able to get off a very worth-while post. Ta.

"I heard you just saved Meijer a lot of money"

A couple of ambitious topics, more than likely they'll be cut short and have no actual substance. I'll try my best though.

B-Movies - I forgot Evolution. What a great movie.

Weezer - So I picked up the seventh album (you know, Weezer (The Red Album)). I think it's time for a review of said album and also a complete retrospection of the band. That's a lot of typing for me...and I'm lazy, keep it in mind, maybe I'll do it later.

The Fiery Furnaces - Alright, so many of you may or may not know that this is one of my favorite bands. They have released 6 albums to date (since 2003) with a live album planned for this autumn. Now one of the things I like most about FF is their complex albums and song structures. Therefore, I plan on also going through a doing a complete retrospection of their albums as well - I'll be looking for common themes, concepts and whatnot through each album and then try to tie it all together and maybe (but doubtfully) get a direction for the band to travel (right now they are on a Democ-Rock tour where the details of your life can become details in new songs and they also recently had a poll on their website for the next album...title and style). Again, this is a big project that I'll likely start and never finish. If you want to read some interesting stuff on Blueberry Boat though you could start at the Clap Clap Blog or The High Hat.

Government - Is Democracy really where it's at? I mean...give people freedom and they generally choose to follow or conform. Is that really a way to run a government? Another topic for later discussion.

Horror Movies - What makes a good one? What makes a bad one? What's better - gore or suspense? Name the best and what made them that way. I'll try to make a nice long post (similar to the B-movies post) later.

So that's it...a bunch of stuff to think about, but nothing with soul. Enjoy that worthless post everybody - POST something - ta.

"But I don't want to go on vacation, I want to be a citizen"

Federation - Okay, so after writing about it the other day, I went home and watched Starship Troopers just to remind myself a) how terrible it is and b) how much I love it. Now, in the movie, there is one global government (an inevitability if you think about it). Now in the "federation" people aren't born citizens, they can apply for citizen and it's granted to those with the most civic responsibility...basically, serving in the military guarantees citizenship and that's the end of it. You know, upon further inspection it seems that the movie is based on a book of the same name, but apparently the book is actually good. Who would have known? Anyways - I'm going to read that and continue this topic later.

Taxes - so I was thinking more about taxes, what they pay for and how to improve the situation...because our government is broke and it's isn't our fault (us, being the civilians - it is the politicians' fault). So before we were talking about privatizing everything to make more money and do things more efficiently and plan and simple - this is the best way to do anything, but it's also somewhat impractical for certain things, but we have other choices too. Some countries pay upwards of 50% to taxes and everything is taken care of...medical, roads, schools...everything good. However, what I'd be interested to see is a completely independent nation where everyone is free to choose what they want to pay for. Let me try to explain - you pay no taxes...okay, you pay some taxes, but minimal - pay government salaries and probably the police and fire departments as well. Anyways, you drive on a road - you pay a toll. Your kid goes to school - you pay for it yourself. Everything is paid for voluntarily, so if you don't use it - you don't pay for it. Free to choose what you pay for. Would it be complex? You betcha! Would it be expensive to set up? Unfortunately. Would it be preferred? Hard to say - what do you think?

I've wasted too much time on my blogs today...I'm getting back to work now. Ta.

B-movies and the movies that honor them...

B-Movies - if you try to make a bad movie, and succeed, did you make a good movie? Further more, if a movie is funny - intentionally, or not - does that deem is worthy of viewing? Generally speaking, I'm going to talk about horror or science fiction movies simply because those are the most likely to jump off the deep end as far as plot and characters.

Let's start with the 1989 classic, Tremors. You know...Kevin Bacon, Reba McEntire, graboids? Now, to be honest, I have no idea if this movie was intentionally bad or if it just turned out that way, but it's hilarious! The movie itself isn't that bad, just preposterous and provided no explanations for most of what was happening on screen, plus I think we've all seen Kevin Bacon is worse roles. This brings up, what I think is an important point - does the audience have to be in on the joke for it to work?

A lot of comedies these day are self-referential in that they are movies and we are the audience - they refer to us as characters enjoying a comedy instead of staying in character in this alternative universe. Obviously, this is a very hit or miss technique...usually miss. That being said, this is an important element in these homages to B-movies, as they give the viewer that inside look into the joke, saying - yes, we know it's bad but it's intentional so you can laugh.

Of course, when I'm referring to homages to B-movies, I'm moving beyond Tremors into more recent endeavors like Grindhouse and Mars Attacks! Now these two (okay, three movies) took very different strategies to paying homage to the movies the directors loved in their youth. Let's start with Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! This is obviously a direct nod to the shitty alien/monster movies of...well, every generation up until late and Burton follows every whim he can think of while producing this faux blockbuster. He pulled in the stars (Tom Jones? Yes. Jim Brown? You betcha! A young Jack Black? Oh yeah! Natalie Portman? We got her before she was famous! Oh yeah, then there's Glenn Close, Jack Nicholson in a double (or is it triple?) role, Danny Devito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, etc...) Next, he took the story of the most recent big blockbuster of the time - Independence Day...basically, aliens invade Earth and attack the planet's most populated areas, starting with D.C., L.A. and NYC. The shit hits the fan, Las Vegas becomes a last refuge and a farm kid from...I want to say Oklahoma...saves the day by playing his Grandmother's polka music. Wait...what? The aliens are laughable in most scenes, and purposely hilarious in others ("we come in peace, we won't hurt you..." while shooting wildly into crowds). So the question remains - is this a bad movie? Burton and company set out to make a bad alien movie and they succeeded beyond anyone's possible expectations. Is it an enjoyable watch? Depends on who you ask - I find the movie fun and funny, while others are disappointed because the filmmakers clearly didn't take the story seriously. Here's where things get tricky - I'm in on the joke, I know the filmmakers intentions...does this make the movie better? It's hard to say because I enjoy it and whether or not me knowing that it was a parody to begin with affected that opinion is impossible to say. I have a friend who hates the movie because it's a bad movie...his logic - a bad movie is a bad movie whether intentional or not. I see his point, but if it's intentionally funny, we can laugh and enjoy the film for what it is, correct? I'm sure a similar argument could be made for Snakes on a Plane, but I never saw it so I won't bother.

Next we have the Grindhouse films - for Robert Rodriguez's entry, Planet Terror, it is a clear nod and smile to the cheaply made exploitation films of early Hollywood. From the missing reels, the over-exposed look to most of the scenes, the bad special effects, the wickedly taboo topics, the grainy film and color, to the terrible, terrible story with horrible dialog...but again, we knew about it going in. We knew this was a nod to the bad movies of the past and therefore, would be purposely bad and therefore...good, right? Maybe it's just my taste in movies that allows me to freely enjoy things like this, but I thought it was damn good.

I think it's worth mentioning Taratino's Death Proof only because instead of paying a straight homage, Quentin continued his own personal style of borrowing elements from various other genres and combining them with strong dialog and a stressed storyline that could go over the top at any point in time. This is almost the exception to the rule - if his aim was to make a bad movie, like the movies he saw growing up, then he failed...none of those film makers had his wit or ear for characters like Taratino, none of those films managed a chase scene nearly as exhilarating (nor could they likely afford to stage one), and none of those films were held together with such a solid storyline. Plan and simple, Taratino started out aiming to make a bad film and instead made a classic Taratino. He technically failed, but it's still a good movie.

Along those same lines, I think I'll mention Scream because it was originally intended to be a spoof, but instead Wes Craven ended up with a decent slasher flick.

Now, I think I'll bring up the movies that failed under their original intentions, but could be seen as successes under this B-movie light. The first is Dario Argento's Opera. I've decided here and now while typing this up that I want to remake this film as a horror, as it was intended. The problems bogging down this film are...well, it could take me all day. Argento has always had off the wall stories and had it been executed correctly, this film might have had the most cohesive - but seeing as it took me three or four views to actually figure out what was going on, and it was still disappointing once it all clicked...this movie needs a remake. The first thing wrong with the movie is the soundtrack - why? Because they criminally under use opera itself (or any classical in general) and when it would be most effective - namely in the killing scenes, they switch to this horribly obnoxious metal that doesn't fit anywhere in with what's going on...it's just there! I can see some ELO or something like that in the background during other scenes...but the murder scenes practically require opera during these scenes. The soundtrack is laughable, it's terrible. Next - we have the time line which bounces seamlessly from childhood to adulthood, to dreams and memories...all without bringing the viewer along for the ride. Finally, and probably the worst part, is that they don't utilize the creepiest character (the little neighbor girl who lives in the air vents) as they should. I have a scene in my mind specifically for her. It will go in my remake.

The next movie is Starship Troopers. Okay - some may argue that this is actually a good movie, and I'll agree with you...it's a fun, thrilling and exciting movie about bugs in space. It has practically everything I'd want from a science fiction movie - bugs, guns and boobs. It's got all the classic characters, the stereotypes and archetypes co-mingle seamlessly as the chauvinist and the sensitive smart guy battle it out over the 'has it all' girl while the outspoken tomboy attempts frivolously for the man of her dreams, and she obviously dies right after he realizes this. The movie even has Earth getting attacked! Come on? What's not to love? Okay - so the plot is pretty much pointless, the dialog goes no where and the characters couldn't pass a personality test...it's also very hard to figure out if the filmmakers were taking this seriously or not. Hell, it's impossible to tell what their intent was to be honest...there doesn't seem to be a moral or anything, it just is. But I love it because of what it is - meaningless special effects. It's funny and fun to watch, and sometimes that makes the perfect movie.

So what do you think? B-movies A okay by you? Gotta run - ta.

Time after time

Time Travel - As anyone could probably tell, I've really been contemplating the concept of time as of late, although for no particular reason so don't try to read into it. So the other night I watched Bender's Big Score (you know, the Futurama movie), again. I had seen it a couple of times before, seeing as I own it and all, but this time I really put some long thought into some of the time travel concepts proposed. So I will try to examine the scenes and paradoxes held within - now, of course I realize that not only is it a cartoon and entirely fictional, but I know that when they originally conceived the show they made it a point to not limit themselves to reality.

Scene #1 - the scammers reveal the time code on Fry's butt which opens a time portal. To test it, the head scammer, who we'll call todayScammer (a little variable dictation there) goes to yesterday. A few moments later, todayScammer walks into the room with yesterdayScammer. Okay - when todayScammer first goes back to the yesterday and finds yesterdayScammer, wouldn't he have to explain the time code to yesterdayScammer and hence, the time code would be discovered sooner than originally implied? Second, why did yesterdayScammer walk into the room with todayScammer - shouldn't he have already been in the room?

Scene #2 - obviously, all of these issues are paradoxes, how can we travel back in time without altering the past in a way that would prevent the creation of time travel or somehow changing the future? If we could go back in time, we'd know we could go back in time already because we already would have met someone from the future, if that makes sense. So the Harlem Globetrotters help the professor figure out how paradox-free time travel is possible, although it leaves the duplicate bodies to be inevitably doomed.

Scene #3 - this is where the time travel gets confusing...1) the time code is on Fry's butt, therefore after Bender is finished stealing everything valuable from the past, he is ordered to kill Fry. 2) Fry escapes to the year 2000 and Bender follows. 3) Fry duplicates himself in order to get warm pizza and Bender duplicates himself to go to the bathroom. 4) The first Fry (not the duplicate), freezes himself with the original Fry. 5) The duplicate Fry pushes the duplicate Bender who is about to self-destruct into another cryogenics case and freezes him. 6) The original Bender chases the Fry duplicate for the next 12 years. 7) Bender blows up Fry's apartment above the pizza place where he worked, but the explosion doesn't kill Fry, but merely singes off his hair and the smoke damages his larynx. 8) After the explosion, Fry realizes he is Leela's new boyfriend, Lars, by way of a picture he brought back with him from the future so he freezes himself. 9) Bender returns to the future by way of the cave beneath the Planet Express with all of the other waiting Bender's with invaluable artifacts and announces that he killed Fry. 10) At the funeral, Fry shows up and explains the duplicate story, so Bender merely killed the duplicate. 11) The crew decides to remove the time code from Fry's butt. 12) Lars leaves Leela at the alter after realizing that he, himself, is a duplicate and therefore doomed. 13) In an act of courage, Lars sacrifices himself by defrosting the frozen Bender duplicate who is about to self-destruct. 14) This explosion singes Lars' clothes revealing another time code. 15) The original Bender removes this tattoo from Lars and uses it to travel back in time and put it on the original Fry's butt.

So here's the question - where did they get the tattoo from in the first place?

That took a lot of typing, so I'll probably continue this topic tomorrow - but what are your thoughts on Time Travel? Possible? How? We could also discuss Donnie Darko if we were ambitious. More tomorrow - ta.

"Resurrected, living in a lighthouse - if you leave here, ships are gonna wreck"

Time (part 2) - so yesterday I reeled on and on regarding our insignificance in time. Well today, I'm going to stick with time as my topic, but not time the cosmic concept, but rather time the resource and I'm going to scale it back down. If a man lives to be 100 years old, he will have lived about 876552 hours. Looking at that number, it initially seems long, but then you think about it and it really isn't. Let's continue to break it down mathematically. 100 years is about 36523 days and you sleep and average of 6 hours a night? Sounds good for a lifetime, it's probably more, but for the sake of argument. 219138 hours of our life gone right there just sleeping...not that I'm putting down sleeping, I'm just saying that we sleep more in our lives than we work and that is a major time drain. So 657414 hours left in our waking lives. Of course, you have to work from the time you're 20 (approx.) to 65 (it's going up, but for now we'll stay there)...so 40 hours a week, minus two weeks for vacation for 45 years? 90000 hours working in a lifetime. 567414 hours left. But we went to school for 12 years, plus college - about 35 hours/week for 36 weeks/year for 16 years? 20160 hours spent learning, worth it sure, but it still adds up. 547254 hours remaining...about 62% of our lifetimes remaining.

Now to venture off on somewhat of a tangent - I drive to work five days a week. It's 45 minutes one-way. I drive to school two-three times a week. It's 60 minutes one-way regardless if I'm driving from home or work. I'm currently driving at least 690 minutes a week just for work and school, that's ignoring the fact that I drive elsewhere as well...so we'll round it up to a good 750 hours a week and that should handle vacation driving and whatnot. I've been doing this for two years now, approximately, meaning that I've spent 78000 hours over the past two years in the car! This stuff adds up, people, it's ridiculous - the average American watches four hours of TV a day. Nevermind that this takes up a quarter of a person's waking life (if they get 8 hours/night), but think of what that extrapolates out to! 1456 hours a year doing nothing! Granted, I enjoy watching TV myself but you can't let it control your life and you certainly can't sit in front of it for four hours a day. Time is a lot more precious than I think any of us truly appreciate and that's another thing we, as humans, should improve ourselves on.

"The lions and the lambs ain't sleeping yet."

That's what I've got for today - more tomorrow? Ta.

Time and Space

Time - on Friday I posted about the mind-boggling concept of space. Today, I think I will continue on that theme, but this time ventured towards the mind fuck orgy that is time. There has been life on Earth for, what did I say Friday? 3.7 billion years, with man barely breaking the 15,000 mark at this point, if it is even that high. We are merely a blip in the grand scheme of life on Earth - yes, I am only going by time versus life on Earth because if I go with cosmic time, I'll barely be able to wrap my head around it.

Ironically, I'm short on time here at work, so I'll make this brief.

Dinosaurs roamed the Earth for 160 million years, give or take a week or so. Now during that time they obviously evolved greatly and some theorize that they continued to evolve into modern day birds but that's neither here nor there in terms of this discussion. The point is, as a species - or, I suppose more specifically, a class of vertebrae animals they survived 160 million years until some global catastrophic event probably occurred, more than likely something of a cosmic nature that was of no consequence of something done here on Earth but rather something that unpreventable. Mankind, on the other hand could essentially destroy ourselves effectively within 10,000 years of existence. Granted, we've had 70 millions years of mammalian evolution to back us up, but how much progress have we made in the past 10,000 that makes this truly possible? Exactly - it's like iPod memory sizes, how quickly we figured out how to build a society and then destroy it. Impressive, humans.

I think the point I'm trying to make with both of these posts is truly how insignificant we all really are. Now I'm not saying that we are a meaningless and pointless species, I just think we take ourselves too seriously and hold ourselves in too high regards for many of our own limitations which we are practically blind to see. What do I suggest? We need to work towards utilizing more of what was given us, and I'm not just referring to natural resources here on Earth - I'm also talking about brain power and skills. If the most effective use of our opposable thumb thus far is hitch hiking than we aren't trying hard enough. Just my two cents, of course. So that's what I've got - we are all insignificant. Tomorrow - there is no God and other common human beliefs destroyed by logic! Ta.

Cosmic...

The Universe - so for the Hubble Telescope's 18th birthday, NASA has released high definition pictures of galaxies colliding (see Hubble Gallery at Wired). A couple of things I would like to discuss here, the first being - how dangerous of a place is the universe? I mean the fact that life has remaining somewhat stable here on Earth for some 3.7 billion years is amazing considering everything that could have happened, cosmically, that could have ended it. Think about it - let's say you are a species on a relatively unimportant planet orbiting around a minute star (like us). Let's say, hypothetically, that our great galaxy which has no regard whatsoever for our well being, is pulled towards, or pulls towards us, another galaxy. What happens to us? All of a sudden there are stars everywhere! And how close could these stars get? Who's to say? Just judging by those pictures, it would definitely fuck some things up. And what's more, speaking universally, some of those galaxies are 500 million light years away! That means that if the dawn of man (approx. 10,000 years ago) had someone built a rocket that could travel the speed of light and left towards these colliding galaxies, they would only be 1/50,000 of the way there! That is mind-bogglingly insane to think about the size of the universe, and for those who think that we trashed this planet and just need to move to another solar system and start over - Alpha Centauri is 4.37 light years away, the fastest object in space we have ever successfully launched traveled at a tenth of the speed of light - 43 years to get there. And who's to say there is even a habitable planet there? The closest one THOUGHT to be able to support life is 10 light years away. Long story short, we're boned. In other news, the concept of life outside of this planet - how could it not exist? I mean, yes there's no evidence (there isn't - if you think there is, then you're crazy) - but what are the odds in the enormity of the universe that life only was able to form in a stable environment in one place? Really? Think about it - we're not alone and odds are that any life is so far away, even in cosmic terms, that we will never ever know it and their would they.

So those are my words today - have a nice day. Ta.

2008 Summer Movie Preview

Movies - these are all movies I am at least quasi-interested in this summer.

The Ruins (4-4) : pros - Jena Malone, looks to be an interesting concept; cons - horror movie made in the past five years with an 'interesting premise; verdict - would like to see it in theaters but honestly, it probably won't be worth the extra money versus renting it.

My Blueberry Nights (4-4): pros - Natalie Portman, Jude Law; cons - Norah Jones (seriously?) in the starring role, looks pretentious; verdict - I don't think this is even in full release yet, so it'll be a rental for sure.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (4-18): pros - Judd Apatow productions, who doesn't love a good break-up comedy?; cons - none that I can see, although comedies have a tendency to disappoint with their hit-or-miss nature; verdict - if money is available, would love to see it but no real pay versus renting it.

Baby Mama (4-25): pros - Tina Fey, remember Mean Girls?; cons - Amy Poehler has a tendency to irk me; verdict - rental.

Harold & Kumar... (4-25): pros - sequel to a cult classic, premise has potential; cons - marijuana humor tends to run thin quickly, really a second one?; verdict - rental, make a marathon out of it.

Iron Man (5-2): pros - another comic book to major motion picture (see Batman, Spiderman, X-men); cons - another comic book to major motion picture (see Daredevil, Spiderman 3, Catwoman); verdict - this one might not even get rented...who casted Robert Downey, Jr.?

Speedracer (5-9): pros - theatrical firework show, Christina Ricci (she's a cutie!); cons - high risk, this could be terrible; verdict - still out, I'll have to keep an eye on the reviews and any more trailers that come out. I'm interested and it should be amazing to watch, but so was Beowulf and that was a big snore and I didn't even have to see it to realize that.

Prince Caspian (5-16): pros - one of the top three (in no particular order) or the Chronicles of Narnia series, Disney looks to actually be doing these right; cons - only that it's impossible to translate books to the big screen seamlessly and thus I'm sure to be disappointed about adding or removing something; verdict - will probably see it opening weekend.

Indiana Jones (5-22): pros - it's Indiana Jones! Those movies are all good! Shia LaBeou; cons - Harrison Ford isn't a young Han Solo anymore...; verdict - will see, eventually, probably soon after it comes out.

The Happening (6-13): pros - M. Night Shyamalan at his most mysterious since the Village, Zooey Deschanel; cons - M. Night Shyamalan at his most pretentious since Signs, Marky Mark (without the Funky Bunch); verdict - we'll take a wait and see on this one as well.

Get Smart (6-20): pros - Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway; cons - none as of yet; verdict - opening night, be there or be square.

Wall-E (6-27): pros - Pixar+Disney=Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., the Incredibles; cons - Cars; verdict - looks promising, but you can tell that Pixar's original idea bank is starting to run a bit thin. Will see in theaters, but not right away.

Hancock (7-4): pros - Will Smith (on 4th of July weekend where he never misses) and Justin Bateman; cons - there is no intel on this movie as of yet; verdict - still out, who knows what this is going be like.

The Dark Knight (7-18): pros - the reincarnation of the darker, more faithful (to the comic books) Batman, Heath Ledger's last film which he was getting raves for before he died; cons - they cut out the Joker's body bag scene because it might "upset" people; verdict - opening weekend if not knight or night...get it?

The X-Files: I Want to Believe (7-25): pros - dude, it's the X-Files! Original cast!; cons - the first movie wasn't all that great and that was 10 years ago, how high can our expectations be?; verdict - wait and see.

There is also Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, Pineapple Express (8-8) and House Bunny (8-15) but there isn't enough on any of them to make a reasonable analysis.

What movies are you going to see this summer?

Giraffes today my friend, giraffes

Sorry for the lack of posts - it's been crazy busy, here's a short one.

Economics- let's talk about economy, that sounds productive. It just occurred to me yesterday that success breeds success, but not necessarily in the terms that you might be thinking. Let's take an example of a hot dog stand - now, for argument's sake, let's say this hot dog stand could have an infinite number of customers. You open your hot dog stand and you sell 100 hot dogs at a $1 with a $.10 profit on each dog, or you just made $10...pretty sweet deal. Now, let's say you sell 1000 hot dogs at the same price, so now you made $100 but you could also, if you knew you'd sell at least 1000, lower your prices to $.91 and make the $10 you originally made. Here's the good news about that - you lowered your prices, you get more customers - you get more customers you can lower your prices, decreasing your profit margins without decreasing your total amount gained. Now, I know what you're saying - you can't lower the prices under $.90 because that's the cost of producing each dog - and I say, you're right, except when I have more customers, I can buy all my ingredients in bulk which...you guessed it, lowers the cost per dog. Under this scenario, one could eventually be paying only $.01 per dog and selling them for $.02 and you'd only need to sell 1000 to make the original $10, but of course you'd be making more than just that because come on - how many hot dogs would you buy for $.02? Cosmic.

Cover Songs - I heard a terrible cover song the other day. As a matter of fact, I've been hearing more and more bad cover songs recently, so I think it's about time we write some rules of cover songs.

1. Don't cover the Beatles unless it's for a Beatles' tribute album, in which case one band should record one song per album and the album maintain it's original order. Come on people, it's the Beatles - let's not rape their genius. Also, playing Beatles' songs live is strictly forbidden unless you are a Beatle (looking at you, Panic! At the Disco) except "Birthday", but only if you're shamelessly promoting someone in the audience and you acknowledge that it's a Beatles' song which you fail to do justice to.

2. Don't release your cover song as a single (The Ataris - Boys of Summer)! This will overshadow the other songs on your album and will cheapen the effect of the cover.

3. If you record a cover song, add something to the song - make it different. If someone listens to your version of a song and says, "this isn't the original, is it? It sounds a little weird..." this means you fail. People should know that it's a cover because it merely references the song, doesn't make a carbon copy of it. This is particularly true for Christmas music...if your "Jingle Bells" sounds like the million other versions of "Jingle Bells" out there, then try again.

4. Don't cover your favorite songs...this one is tricky as there's something to be said in paying homage to your inspiration, but don't pay tribute by butchering your favorite song! Pick a song you like, but you feel you could add to with your years of listening to it...this song is missing a second bass line playing the riff in round with the first. If it's perfect in your mind already, what are you going to prove by recording it again?

5. Acknowledge the fact that it's a cover, as in don't take it so seriously and give some indication (probably in your liner notes) that this song was originally done by so-and-so and if you really respect whoever, listen the album it's on so that anyone who likes your version can go back and grab the original if they want.

Let's end the crappy covers now! Ta.

"If I could get a hamburger everytime I was right...man, that'd be great."

NOTE: I wrote this yesterday without an Internet connection and then forgot to post it later.

Obesity - today, I want to talk about fat people. Now I'm not talking "heavy" people who are probably a little unhealthy and could take better care of themselves, some might even argue that I fit into that category myself, so I'm not going to talk about them - no, I want to talk about the kind of people you see at buffets that make you stare. The kind of people who inspire you to say things like, "if I ever get like that - roll me off a dock" I'm talking 300lb plus and not being exceptionally tall or a football player or something. We have some residents here who are here because they are too fat to take care of themselves...what? How do you let yourself get like that? And then - they don't even do anything while they are here, they aren't trying to improve themselves or their sickening situation - they sit there and beg for food and candy and pop or just lay in bed all day because they don't want to get up. Honestly, I can't understand how someone can be so lazy they don't want to get out of bed, what level of lethargy have you reached where that becomes too much of a chore for you? Now I understand liking food, I love certain foods, but at what point do you have to say no? Now the reason to bring this up is because we are currently raising a generation where obesity will be an incrasing problem. Now, I'm not going to point fingers at video games, I'm going to blame the parents - nothing is wrong with video games, the trouble is just getting your kid a game system because you're too lazy to spend time with your kids yourself. All too often, you hear of bad parents who were "shocked" by the time responsibility that goes along with having a kid...really, shocked? How is that surprising - they aren't self-dependent for at least the first eight or nine years of their lives, if not longer, and even then you have to supervise them because their decision making skills lack common sense! Right there that's a minimum of twelve or thirteen years of constant supervision...yeah, that seems time consuming to me. Idiots. We currently live in a society that all too often rewards laziness, as long as you know how to fill out a form and work the system, maybe throw in three months of employement here and there to make it look like you're trying than you're banking. How is someone supposed to learn responsibility if the state pays them either way? Obviously I have drifted off on a tangent, but weight is a serious issue in this nation and I think it stems from laziness. Of course, I couldn't go without complaining about the flip side of the issue - eating disorders. People so concerned with image that they literally starve themselves...how important is appearence, really? Now I can respect a diet - shed a few pounds, fine, but you still have to take care of your body and provide all the necessary vitamins and protiens to ensure a vital life. It's a thin line people, you have to eat and live right, or else your body - which is suprisingly more fragile than I think we would like to think - will break down. I try and I probably could do a little better, walk to dog more often...I'm not immune to this laziness that I complain about, so am I a hypocrit? At least I'm putting some effort...not sitting in a nursing home, because I'm too fat to do anything, begging for hamburgers and peeing on the floor because I'm too lazy to be toileted - you don't even have to do it yourself, someone lifts you and puts you on the toilet and it's still too much work for you? Seriously? Sorry if I seem a little bitter, but I just don't understand these people and how they could care so little about their bodies. If anyone has a hint - let me know - I'd appreciate it.

Sorry for the somewhat pessimistic, angry post...I'm actually in quite a good mood today, but once I get on a ranting topic, I really need to rant - songs tomorrow and possibly some "Root of All Evil" - we'll see. Ta.

He has eloped from this world...

Luck - Today's topic will be a bit silly to help me deal with what is becoming an increasingly stressful day - luck. I bring this up today because I am wearing my boxers with elephants on them because, although not directly, I have a job fair this afternoon. Now, while getting dressed I didn't seek them out - I saw a pair of boxers that made me say "meh" and then I saw the elephants buried a little bit and I said to myself "I always do better in elephants." Is this my lucky underwear? Does the underwear I'm wearing truly effect the course of events on my day? I have no idea - I doubt it, seems a bit...far fetched, to me...but some people believe. Luck in general I think is a misconception we label things we don't want to figure out - a guy heaves a basketball from half court and it goes in...he wasn't lucky, he happened to throw the ball at the right angle with the right velocity and spin on it - it was physics people. Granted, he probably didn't sit there and figure out all the figures he would have needed and he probably couldn't do it again exactly the way he did it before, but more than likely he has at least some experience with a basketball and basketball physics. Furthermore, if he did just happen to guess - like we did in elementary school - can we really call it luck that he got it or a successful calculated chance? On a multiple choice examine, you don't know an answer so you guess - are you lucky if you get it right, or did you use logic to determine the answer that was most likely? I think tomorrow I will continue this discussion (I'm a little busy today, and on second thought tomorrow isn't looking good - but I'll try and if not tomorrow, Friday) and expand it into other superstitions like black cats, mirrors and ladders, etc... What do you think?

"It's okay to eat fish because they don't have any feelings..."

Food Chain - Yesterday I got in a somewhat joke conversation with my supervisor regarding my former vegetarianism and what led me to that lifestyle. Here is a train of thought on the topic...

Why did you become a vegetarian? Because I felt there was no need for another living thing to lose its life when there is a completely viable alternative.

You eat rice, don't you, is rice not a living thing? Way to catch my wording there, yes - rice is a living thing, but it is a plant and not an animal.

What's the difference between a plant and an animal and what makes a plant's life worth less? I'm going to have to go with the brain is the primary difference, the ability to adapt one's environment (to an extent) versus adapting to the environment.

So what makes other animals different from humans? Technology, the ever challenging task of manipulating current technology and innovating to make our lives easier. Other animals can be argued construct technology - a bird's nest for instance, is the use of resources and knowledge in order to construct something for use in daily life - however, it is nothing compared to a physical building which not only requires resources and knowledge, but year's of human history has gone into efficient and effective construction methods and purposes maximizing the use of said resources and uses of the building. So in many ways, I suppose one could conclude that history is what differs animals and humans.

Now I'm no longer a vegetarian, although I still feel strongly for it...just not as strongly as I once did. The decision to return to meat has a lot to do with the fact that I'm no longer the sole provider of my own food, although I'm slowly turning her onto the idea of at least eating less meat. Anyways - how do you feel about the relationship between plants and animals and humans? Is there a set food chain that we should respect or follow? I don't know. Ta.

"Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"

Because I was in the mood this weekend to rent some Futurama (no, I don't own them...yet), I've decided that my Monday post shall be Nathan's top ten Futurama episodes. This week is going to suck at work, so forgive me now if I phone in my lunch posts with laughable topics, at least for now.

(in no particular order - at least for now)

1. Space Pilot 3000 - the first episode, loser Fry is frozen and reanimated in the year 3000. Introducing all of the characters, in addition to the future itself, hilarious.

2. The Cryonic Woman - Fry gets a job at the cryogenic building he himself was frozen in only to reanimate his 20th century girlfriend. Pauly Shore and hilarity ensues!

3. War is the H-Word - Bender and Fry are enlisted to go to war, Leela enlists to help her friends. We learn Bender's top ten most used words.

4. Roswell That Ends Well - A Supernova and metal in a microwave send the crew to the 50s where Fry accidentally becomes his own grandfather.

5. Jurassic Bark - the sentimental episode, Fry finds his fossilized dog from the 20th century and debates whether or not to clone him.

6. Spanish Fry - probably the best bad plot to laughs per joke ratio, Fry's nose is stolen to be used as an aphrodisiac, but while retrieving it Bender reveals that the real aphrodisiac is located downstairs. Best running gags throughout the episode in any show, ever.

7. The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings - The Robot Devil is one of my all-time favorite characters and when he loses his hands to Fry in a deal, he must pull off a ridiculous plan to get them back.

8. The Farnsworth Paradox - The Professor builds a box that contains a parallel universe. The crew must then follow Zoidbergs (A + 1) through other universes to get back their original universe as Hermes (A) plans to destroy the box containing the universe in the sun.

9. Parasites Lost - Fry eats an egg salad sandwich from a space station truck stop and ingests parasites which work to improve his body. When he discovers that Leela only loves him because of the parasites he vows to destroy them by traveling into his own body.

10. Hell is Other Robots - Bender gets addicted to electricity, finds religion, then is sent to hell after being tempted in Atlantic City. Who'd have known that hell was actually in New Jersey? Well actually...

So that's my list - enjoy. Ta.

Root of all Evil!

Root of All Evil - Has anybody else been watching Lewis Black's new show on Comedy Central, The Root of All Evil?? Let me give you the basic premise - they set it up as a court type environment where two comedians attempt to persuade Lewis Black that two popular items in modern American society, usually people, are the root of all evil. For example, last night's show was Paris Hilton versus Dick Cheney, last week it was beer versus weed, etc...

The show's premise makes for enough laughs to make up for time spent watching, although it's rather hit or miss depending on the comedians presenting their respective cases. So anyways, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to discuss the two topics weekly, although perhaps in a more serious tone for the sake of proper argument. This will also help me not dry up topic wise (although I don't actually foresee that happening for a while).

Paris Hilton versus Dick Cheney - on the one hand, Dick Cheney is in a position of power and clearly abuses it without any sign of remorse, but then there's Paris who's famous for being famous...how did that happen? I'm too busy today to discuss this...we'll keep this on our "to talk about later" list.

The Riches - Anybody watch this show on FX? It's pretty interesting...it's all about these con artists who kind of happen upon this fake life that they set themselves up with, constantly attempting to get out of people discovering their real identity, etc...it's pretty interesting and I have to say, wickedly well acted. I kind of came in during season 2 (on right now) so I'm thinking of renting season 1 to catch back up.

Anyways, today's been another hectic day at work so another half-ass post. Hopefully more tomorrow. Ta.