gifts of giving
There is nothing like eating sausage & beans and drinking a beer while watching TV in my pjs to make me really feel like a bachelor. But bachelor life isn’t the subject of this entry, I got my first birthday gift!!!! I’m so excited!
Kel-lee picked me up the ENTIRE Calvin & Hobbes collection!!! These three massive books weigh like a hundred thousand pounds! The sad part is I have no time to read them!!! I’m so backed up with skool that I dont know when I’ll have time to start them!
It’s not often I actually get something for my birthday that I want. And this brings me to the subject of gift-giving. First off, I believe the best holiday in the world is the birthday. It’s a day to honor your life and to celebrate you being alive another year to make the world a better place. But I’m a hypocrite. I’ve been known to forget my friend’s birthdays. And I’m not the greatest gift provider when I do remember. A lot of that comes down to money. In the past, with some of my friends, there was a secret, unspoken pact that no one gets anyone a gift and if we did it was a case of beer or something.
However, there is just something magical about having a gift, picked out especially for you, sitting on your lap while your anticipation and curiosity piques seconds before you tear into it. I had that tonight and it was awesome!
It’s not about how much you spent, it’s about you taking the time to think about someone and choosing a gift you think they would enjoy. This is the reason I believe cash and gift cards are a total cop-out and personally will never give them as gifts. These things take no thought and it feels like the gifter felt obligated to give you something and this was just quick and easy. Give me nothing over quick and easy any day.
“It seems like once people grow up, they have no idea what’s cool.”
—Calvin
Current mood: ecstatic
Currently reading: The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
hulk hogan for president!
Wow! How special am I? Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Warren Beatty called me today! They wanted to tell little ol’ me to vote! And of course I will, because the future of the world depends on it.
Now the problem arises when each actor is asking me to vote a different way. Damn. Do I vote for what Arnie believes or Mr. Beatty? Sigh. I love how we are expected to blindly follow the word of someone just because they are a celebrity. But then how else did Arnie become our governor? I truly think people really thought, ”Haha, hey, wouldn’t it be cool/strange/funny if Arnold Schwarzenegger was our governor?” And then voted for him. How sad we’ve become as a nation. I mean I’m not a hardcore C-Span watcher, but when I vote, I’ll take a ten-minute break from my Hulk Hogan reality show and look up the propositions to see what my potentially meaningless votes actually mean.
It’s funny and sad how it seemed even in the ’60s and ’70s when kids were flying high on all sorts of drugs and having sex with any naked person that walked by them at the party, that they still managed to hold huge demonstrations and were very much involved in the politics of the time. I just don’t see that kind of spirit in today’s apathetic youth. Although, maybe there are some who still care, the ones hiding in basements having livid debates on these new propositions or even having secret C-Span parties (with gift bags of course). *sigh* I can only hope.
Bah, who am I kidding? I don’t care either. Hulk Hogan is back on; someone pass me a beer.
See ya at the polls.
Current mood: thirsty
paths cross, but intentions rarely do
In the Mood for Love is probably the most breathtakingly gorgeous film I’ve ever seen. It’s a sad, achingly beautiful love story that asks us not to identify with the characters so much as to empathize with them. The director, Wong Kar-Wai, is known as cinema’s premier poet of heartache, and he delivers just that. I cannot recommend this film enough.
“He remembered those vanished years as though looking through a dusty window pane. The past is something he can see, but not touch. And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct.”
—In the Mood for Love
Current mood: melancholy
Currently watching: In the Mood for Love
KUNG FU HUSTLE
I don’t buy movies anymore.
I will buy KUNG FU HUSTLE.
First, let me say if reading subtitles turns you off from seeing a movie, you’re a moron. And if you want to stop being a moron, KUNG FU HUSTLE is the best movie to begin with. Now, even being a huge fan of Kung Fu movies, I wasn’t very excited about seeing this movie due in part to the seriously dull Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon whose huge success is still a mystery to me. But now I’m kicking myself for not seeing Hustle in theaters. And kicking hard.
KUNG FU HUSTLE is easily the most entertaining movie I’ve seen all year and there hasn’t been a martial arts film this good in a long, long time. Some of the clashes between the people of the slum and their attackers are so visually stimulating that I shall never forget them. The humor was perfectly balanced with the action. Everything worked perfectly, the beautifully choreographed fight scenes, the acting, music, cinematography… I could go on and on. If you’ve seen the previews, Kung Fu Hustle, it is not the cheesy, campy, cartoon-like martial arts flick that it was promoted to be. Yes, it is silly at times, but it fits. This movie is perfect.
Rent KUNG FU HUSTLE now!
And if you don’t like it,
You’re no longer my friend.
Current mood: vivaciously vacant
Currently watching: Kung Fu Hustle
books = good
I’ve sat through many nights so engrossed in a novel that time virtually disappears. However, one author, in particular, transports me utterly and completely beyond all others. The irony is I’ve never ventured into reading the genre of novels that has brought him his fame and notoriety. He is Stephen King, the Master of Horror Fiction.
I was handed “The Gunslinger” by my friend Jeff in the Fall of ’97. King’s venture into Fantasy Fiction. The book was interesting, but slow and not too compelling. He told me to read the second book, “The Drawing of the Three”, before rushing to a judgment. I did. It was unbelievable, and so were the books in the series that followed. But the book I just finished isn’t (directly) part of the Gunslinger series, which everyone should read. The book I finished was the follow-up to another fantastic book, which together, completes an awesome adventure. I’m referring to “The Talisman” and “Black House.” In these books, there are such vivid, well fleshed-out characters that are immersed in such a fantastical story that it completely consumes the reader. Damn, am I building it up too much? Sometimes it’s difficult to explain something so deeply affecting that I believe only a great novel can give you. And unlike any other forms of entertainment, a novel is the truest escapism.
Now, people always say when referring to a movie, “The book was better.” These people obviously don’t understand the nature of the novel to that of a movie. There is no comparison. Novels have the uniqueness of transporting you farther away than any movie. This is due partly because you must commit to the physical act of reading and comprehension which is unlike film & television where light is blasted at your yawning eyes, numbing up your mind, and does not care if you comprehend it or not. Ah, look at me and my ranting.
I came here to say two things.
1) Read.
2) Read “The Talisman” and “Black House.”
1.42) Read all the Gunslinger Books.
1.76) Eat tater tots.
Current mood: cold
Currently reading: Talisman/Black House by Stephen King
house of sand and fog
After I began watching House of Sand and Fog and started picking up the gist of the storyline, my stomach started turning in knots. From the very start, you know bad things are going to happen because it’s stupid people making stupid mistakes. And that’s exactly what happens.
Before I say anymore, let me state that the performance by Ben Kingsley is flawless as usual, Jennifer Connelly is okay, just not very believable in her role. However, the worst is Ron Eldard; the awkwardness of his performance is distracting and destroys any believability of romance between him and Jennifer Connelly.
That said, I ended up really enjoying this movie. It starts out a little slow and contrived, but it took me to a place that I didn’t think it could after watching the first 45 minutes. No character in this movie manages to escape unscathed and ultimately neither does anyone who watches it. Prepare yourself for a riveting ending, where you will realize that all the things we think are so very important, ultimately don’t matter.
Current mood: contemplative
Currently watching: House of Sand and Fog
the apartment
I was cheated. First, if you don’t watch older movies you’re doing yourself a great disfavor. And if you ever want a list of some top-notch movies sans color, let me know.
That said, let me tell you one to avoid. I just watched The Apartment and was extremely disappointed. I was even more shocked when I found out it was 1961’s Oscar and Golden Globe winner for best picture with a lot of other wins and nominations.
First, let me say I’m a big fan of Jack Limon and his acting was great in this picture along with the ever captivating and surprisingly short-haired Shirley MacLaine. But I just didn’t buy into any of it. The story begins disturbingly with many businessmen committing adultery and using our protagonist’s apartment to do it. And it’s not till the end of the movie that he ends up having a problem with it. Not to mention the lack of romance between our two romantic leads throughout the entire movie. It is only in the final moments of the film that MacLaine decides she is in love with the wrong man, but only AFTER she hears that Limon has quit his job for her. Bah, poor movie and a waste of my time. I’m watching My Fair Lady tomorrow and praying it doesn’t let me down.
If you’re interested in a great romantic classic movie try Charade, His Girl Friday, The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, Roman Holiday, An Affair to Remember, or even Arsenic and Old Lace. Just forget about The Apartment.
Current mood: disappointed
Currently watching: The Apartment
extendant
I feel like more of an anomaly than usual. I don’t know. I often feel like I do tonight…it is as if I exist on a different plane of reality. I walk through people’s lives. It’s just I feel everyone is living a life that I’m observing. I’m an outsider. Life will go on and if I interact with it, great. If I don’t…it does not matter. Life and people find their own way. It makes one feel so small and insignificant. Like you have to try so incredibly hard to make a difference in someone’s life and then you never know if your actions were for not. You’re left wondering and contemplating everything you’ve done. It’s very…
Current mood: blank
nowhere man
Uuuuh. The lack of sleep combined with six hours of inhaling developer, fix and stop has made deano beano quite queasy. I can’t for the life of me get the smell off my hands. And I keep getting a whiff of it every few minutes. I think it’s time to pass out. I’m writing this in case I never wake up. Or I wake up and someone has erased my life, like in that one show with the guy… who… was erased… because of some photo… of some dead people…in a jungle…and he was forced to run…and hide…because…his life…was erased…
Current mood: drained
Currently watching: Nowhere Man: The Complete Series
untitled
“Life’s a journey, not a destination
And I just can’t tell just what tomorrow brings.”
Current mood: cold
Currently listening: Amazing by Aerosmith