I saw the Craziest thing this Weekend

A car tire in the air over the parkway. Bizarre. Turns out it went to the other side of the parkway and flew into some womans window. You might've heard about it by the time I remembered to post this.

Moving Time

After working on WordPress for my internship, I think I want to move all of my blogs here with the exception of the video game one because it’s too far removed from the others. There’s no date set for this yet because, as many of you know, I haven’t been updating it in the past couple months. Hopefully that will change once everything is sorted out.

The video game blog, 8 Bit Nice, will be one blog and the other, Ridiculosity, will be another. Ridiculosity will cover my random ramblings (let’s be honest, that’s mostly what they are) and my Kung Fu.

Also, the layout for 8bitnice is hideous. Don’t expect to see it once everything is set up.

I think that’s all. Until you hear anything more from me, keep checking out what I have here on Blogspot; I have at least 5 posts that I’m working on so expect to see them soon.

Really, I should be doing homework…just goes to show you where my priorities lie. Kinda.

Peace.

Avatar Has Irreparably Ruined Movies

I know I've made my hatred and disappointment in Avatar made known time and time again, but this is a completely different problem I have now. I haven't seen it in 3D, but I hear that it's so much better to watch in that way; and the fact that it's a mash up of Ferngully, Pocahontas, and Dances with Wolves is easily forgotten.

This is bullshit. But that's not the point.

The real crime that Avatar has committed is far worse than a mash up. It's started a wave of retarded 3D movies like Piranha, Step Up, The Last Airbender, Jackass, Clash of the Titans, and a whole slew of other movies all in 3D. The problem with this is that not one of these movies, with the exception of the Last Airbender (and not even for a good reason) wouldn't sell well in the theaters. Piranha and Step Up are almost definitely movies that could go straight to DVD and BluRay, and the other 3D movies are just not going to do as well as Avatar in justifying 5 extra dollars to see a couple letters or leaves pop out of the screen. But no one is gonna think about that when there's 3D involved.

So now movies that wouldn't get any attention, instantly get love because they'll be in 3D, and they don't even have to be good, which allows for everyone involved in the movie making process can get lazy and just tack on some 3D effects and call it a day. This is unacceptable. There have been shit movies out all summer and now, there are going to be shit 3D movies out for the rest of the year.

I don't mind 3D movies, I really don't, but I'm not going to help support the shitty 3D movies so that they can get better. Why don't we actually TRY and have some standards for our film going pleasures and see what happens? God forbid the movie industry gets wise and realizes that they can't make shit movies and expect us to sit there and take it.

TBC...

Fox News is Staffed by a Nest of Dickish Morons

According to Fox News Mr. Rogers is an Evil Man which is also according to another source, Don Chance, a FINANCE instructor at Louisiana State University. If he were a psychologist, maybe I would understand where his logic came from, but what does he really know about that?

Apparently, Mr. Rogers has given American students a sense of entitlement that doesn't allow them to accept the fact that they didn't do A work. I'm not buying this and Mr. Chance is an idiot at best. Studies showed that narcissism has increased in the past 25 years, not that Mr. Rogers was the reason behind it. For a lot of kids, he was probably the only encouragement they had. Let's not forget that he taught kids all about things our parents couldn't, like where toilets, musical instruments, and other things are made.

But let's forget about that for a second. Mr. Rogers is an evil man for giving kids self-esteem and whatnot, why don't we just scrutinize all our childhood shows? Sesame Street is a den for deviants of all kinds. The Count is a pimp, Cookie Monster's a fiend, Snuffleupagus is a pot head, and I'm pretty sure the Grouch is a sexual deviant of the worst kind, who knows what happens when unsuspecting children walk past his trash can?

The flowers are a trap. Keep walking, kid.

If that's what's at Sesame Street, I don't wanna know how to get there, I'd much rather take a leisurely stroll down crack alley. Also, note that there's no song asking how to get out of Sesame Street. That's because you can't.

What this really boils down to is parents not establishing clear boundaries for their kids. Yeah, Mr. Rogers told me I was special too, but my parents told me that I still had to work for what I wanted and that being special didn't mean that I was an exception. Instead, I'm guessing a lot of parents let TV raise their children, which is such a terrible idea.

Regardless of who raised these people who grew up with a sense of entitlement, Mr. Rogers is probably the only one that gave them any useful lessons on what it means to be a good person. So, Fox News, stop talking about how evil a good dead man is. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't say any of that to his face, because if even a sliver of the rumors are true, you won't even know you've been owned by the nicest children's role model ever.

Don't let the sweater fool you,
 he can hit you in the face with that shoe from 100 yards away.

Updating in the name of Consistency

So there's almost been nothing I found worth talking about recently. I'm not the one to put my life up here because honestly, it's not that interesting. Even I'm bored by it. But when recent events are boring too, I find myself in a truly monotonous world. Monotone, even.

Hm...maybe it's not all boring, there was the bedroom intruder song by (well he didn't really write it, but I'm giving him credit) Antoine Dodson that was absolutely hilarious in all it's different forms. But that was a while ago in internet time.

For anyone that doesn't already know about it, you should really check out Cracked.com, it's an almost constant source of entertainment based on real life things that you wouldn't believe if they hadn't backed most of it up with news sources and such.

There is one thing that I want to mention. The state of movies recently. The piece of garbage The Last Airbender was, along with the misleading hype surrounding the movie Salt and the overall lack of real summer blockbusters has led me to realize that our standards for movies are circling the drain. The Last Airbender shouldn't have made money, but it did, and that's everyone's fault. M. Night Shamalayan is now getting full control of a trilogy of what is guaranteed to be shitty movies. We only have ourselves to thank.

We're distracted by cool guys that don't look at explosions and 3d effects and beautifully rendered cgi. Meanwhile the plot, story, and acting among other things are borderline decent at best, and if it wasn't for the shiny cool things, the film probably wouldn't have done that well at all. In the end, I can't be that mad at Hollywood, they recognized they had a money maker in their hands and exploited it. The result was Transformers 2.

If people hadn't gone around watching these movies, guess what? We might have some quality movies that made us want to see them over and over, no matter how bad Christian Bale's voice was in The Dark Knight (and yes, I'd watch it again).

In Hollywood's defense, when you have movies like this on the horizon, I'm not ashamed to admit that I would go see it strictly for it's entertainment, but hopefully it surprises with a decent story as well.

Just think of what movies like this could accomplish if everything about it was good. But that's a whole other topic.

I don't know if this is awesome or ridiculous

A blind man targeting a speeding record.

It's probably a combination of both. This man is badass. Ridiculously awesome. Who do you know is gonna get in a car and try to break speed records? Nobody. The closest you can hope to get is that you can break the speed limit on the turnpike without getting pulled over by the state police. Try doing that shit when you can't see.

The amount of testicular fortitude this man possesses is staggering. He probably can intimidate anyone just by walking down the street with said fortitude and one glare from his blind eyes. You know he can't see you, but that doesn't change the fact that he's owning you. I guarantee it.

He's lost the ability to see but what he's gained goes far beyond the heightening of his other senses to compensate. For some reason, a heightened sense of I-can-do-whatever-the-fuck-I-want came with it. This guy isn't a stubborn blind person that doesn't realize he can't see and therefore can't drive. He most likely knows and full well understands that, but ask him what part of himself gives a fuck and he'll tell you it's certainly not his eyes.

Unlearning Generality

This isn't really in the same vein of what I've been writing so far, but it's a blog, who cares?
On and off I've been reading this book called 48 Days to the Work you Love, and it's always been able to lift me up when I wasn't in the best mood; especially when I was pissed because I couldn't find a job. Reading this book has helped me define some of my more obscure desires and abilities, and I'm glad for that-though I could say that it was the hand that pushed me off the cliff of vague ambitions and into the realm of clarified desire and caused me to want no other job than one that will actually help me in the future.

Though, when I landed at the bottom of this realm, all I found was a bunch of broken or useless shit. So I got pissed. I damn near hated everything and wanted only what I couldn't reach because of my experience or broken links (literally). The whole time I thought, "There ain't shit here that I want, how is this defined in any way?" Though what I said was actually heavily saturated in obscenities and vulgarities, that was what I was trying to say.

The funny thing about all of this was that I was actually in a place to specifically identify what I could and could not do, what I was and was not willing to learn to do, and what I didn't want to do. Before, I lived in a land of generalities that only allowed me to think in terms of a wide ranging occupation or careers without ever investigating the details, now I'm posting in the land o being. Meaning, I want to be a novelist, a video game script writer, and a damn good martial artist. All in my lifetime. Who says we should limit ourselves to one thing? That person should be shot. Repeatedly. Revived. Then shot again. Because he's just wasting his life and other's as well by spouting that bullshit.

So yeah, all that's to say, don't limit yourself.

The Plight of the Sojourning Hero

I saw Predators the Saturday of its release at 2:40p.m. Given the time of day, it wasn't particularly packed, and I suspect that people were still finding out that The Last Airbender was a terrible movie undeserving of even the smallest praise. To say that I was surprised that the movie attempted to make steps towards the strengths of the first Predator would be a lie, but I enjoyed that aspect of the movie possibly more than any other. The strongest showings of the film would have to be the characters. They showed such a strong diversity even as they discovered that the only thing they really had in common was that they were all "monsters", people who reveled in humanity's more violent tendencies, and survival.

Still, the movie didn't reach the realm of great summer blockbusters, I think that its return to a more balanced and structured form was a good move. It created a world that allowed for other creatures to exist with little explanation as to what they were or where they were from, and I was cool with that. What I wasn't cool with, and what seems to be a trend that spreads across every movie I have ever seen where a group of people are trying to survive, is what I'm calling the Sojourning Hero.

The Sojourning Hero is by far the most experienced and longest lasting character any movie, whether it's through intelligence, tactics, physical skill or training, or just plain common sense in overdrive, they've survived situations more dangerous and bowel loosening than anything the protagonists have seen so far. There's no way they'll be killed anytime soon, right?

Wrong.
*Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen the movie and don't want to know certain details then don't read on*
Time and time again these are the people who for some reason or another are used as fodder for the protagonists. Predators is no exception. Nolan, an insane remnant from a previous hunt 10 years ago, 10 years, suddenly gets his noodle blown off by a predator when he tries to suffocate the people he's saved so he can scavenge their supplies. I get why he's killed off. He tried to kill our heroes, who at this point we've begun to feel some connection to--even the prison inmate who wants to get back to "rapin' bitches" as soon as he gets back to earth--so he should be punished. The problem is, now it's expected. We know now that if you've survived this long without being found or killed, you can kiss your hero rescuing ass goodbye cause you're as good as dead.

Think about it, Nolan wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was a survivor, he had to know that the predators would have heard the explosion. You don't survive 10 years and kill 2-3 predators without learning that much. You would think he would have booby trapped the place at some point. He should have known that they'd find him. He should have been ready. But he wasn't.
When I said that Nolan wasn't the sharpest, I meant it. He himself said that he never thought to try and steal the pred's ship and fly back home, and based off of his actions leading to his death, he must have thought he was safe, even when he had been compromised. His lack of imagination was his undoing. So like I said, I get why he was killed.

Fuck imagination. Nolan's lived 10 years without being found by a predator, and he's killed at least 3 (he doesn't remember, because he's too busy being a badass). I wanted to see why. I wanted him to run into a predator and after 10 years of fighting these "ugly motherfuckers" show us why he's the shit. Instead of owning a pred like he'd just run into a kid with a rocket launcher pointed in the wrong direction, he gets his head blown off. I call bullshit.

The Boondocks on Prison

I'm a huge fan of The Boondocks. It tends to appeal to my more intelligent impulses while entertaining the fun zone of my brain, which may or may not have a majority vote in what I do. I'm not sure. A few weeks ago, there was an episode called "A Date with the Booty Warrior" and it obviously had me dying with laughter and even after I watched some scenes on YouTube until I saw something curious. There was a man named Fleece Johnson that it also claimed was the Booty Warrior.

So I click on it. To my sincere joy and horror, I find out that Fleece Johnson is the actual Booty Warrior. This was the man that the Booty Warrior in the show was modeled after. What's more, he's a direct representation. The line, "I'm gonna tell you what. I like ya, and I want ya. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The choice is yours." is straight out of his mouth verbatim.

Interestingly enough, this inspired a conversation between a friend and I about the reasoning behind homosexuality in prison. From her perspective, because it doesn't occur as an act of love or affection between two men, it's not real. In this instance, I'm agreeing with the Booty Warrior (I can't believe I just said that). You get a bunch of men that have sexual desires and no women and eventually someone will get it in their mind to go to another man to satisfy that desire. Usually without their consent. Do I agree that you should rape a man in prison? Hell no. The words "man" and "rape" should never come up in a conversation. Neither should "women" and "rape". But I digress. I understand how it can come to pass. Homosexuality in prisons is largely a situational behavior. If they had the option, I'm pretty sure they would not be looking to each other for sexual satisfaction.

Which brings me to another point. Prisons sometimes called Correctional Facilities, don't really appear to be facilitating any correction. If anything, they seem to create circumstances in which bad things can happen, or even worse, where nothing happens. We all know that prisons are over capacity, and it would make some sense to rehabilitate some of these convicts while it's a possibility before they become institutionalized and unable to be reabsorbed into society. Also, there's the added benefit of having room for people that need to be in there. I know there's a lot of them. I know that from the perspective of a victim, the last person you want to see doing better is the one that wronged you, but at some point, the idea that convicts should suffer forever has to be done away with, and they have to be able to live as law abiding citizens in order for prisons to function.

Comment.

Between Twitter and Facebook, we'll all be fired at some point

I'm all about maintaining a professional stance in the workplace, especially if you work in customer service, that mess can get out of hand so quick you won't even know it happened. But there's should be limit to how often and for how long one should uphold the views of the companies and organizations we work for, especially when the line is getting thin between our personal and professional lives.

Firing someone because of what's on their facebook or twitter account is getting insanely close to that line. That said, where does a situation like this one fall? I'm of the opinion that unless you happen to be complaining about your job or revealing undesired information about it, employers shouldn't have a leg to stand on. But if you happen to have the power to sway public opinion, you should probably be really careful about what you say, especially when you work for a news station. So that adds occupational relevancy to the list of things that can get you in trouble on a social networking site. Though I'm still going to be of the opinion that employers should just man up, people aren't always representing the places they work for; I'm pretty sure they have their own identities.

Comments?

College Spending

Being a college student (still, unfortunately), I wonder about what it is that I pay for entirely. It can't all be just to learn, there are so many groups and events and societies that some of it has to go to them. Supposedly though, according to this article in the New York Times, colleges spend more money on recreation than education. For some reason, I'm not surprised. I've seen more groups and events and activities in the past couple years. I'm tired of hearing about homecoming and electing the new president of SGB, but I never thought about why that is, and now it dawns on me that they have the money to keep getting on my nerves.

With that thought, it's not so great that colleges are spending more money on recreation, but it's also a part of the college experience, maybe more than actually learning in some instances (it's all about networking nowadays). I'm a part of at least 2 groups that are benefiting from this kind of spending and I really wouldn't have it any other way, they enhance my college experience.

I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but I wonder if I would be smarter with more recreation, or more education? Who knows.

Comments, comments

Newness, Newness

Ok, so I looked at this blog and it's really boring. And it's strange because I'm amazing (well at least in person) so I'm gonna switch things up real quick, and by real quick I mean tomorrow, so anticipate something a little more interesting. And if it's not, don't hate me, I'm trying to get the hang of it here.

Alterations

So I've had some time to think about some things, or at least realize what I couldn't have realized on my own. When things such as how I come off to other people come to my attention I really have to think about it because it's important to me that the portrayal of myself be accurate. Forget dreams and aspirations and all those ideals, I just want to look back and say, this happened, that happened, and this is how I've grown. Nothing less. Hopefully, I would get something more than I anticipated from it. Hopefully.

Changing the pace and tone a little...

A friend of mine is leaving soon, very soon. I wish her all the success and happiness. And I'm not as together as I thought I would be. I'm not a wreck, but I am emotional. Which is a weird moment for me.

Updates, I guess

Seeing how I created this on a whim, and was under the assumption that I could change the title at my leisure, which turned out to not be true, I guess I can use this part to update random things such as what interests me.

So, as a first update on what I've found interesting lately: Nothing.