I am loving being done with Finals, but I still have many an errand to acheive before vacation time begins. I need to finish my packet, Get somebody to work for me saturday night, clean the house, get an oil change, sell my textbooks, finish registering, cancel the milk service for the rest of the month, and figure out what the heck I am going to do in California for 5 days while I wait for the rest of the family to get there. I am thinking of literally becoming a Hobo. Just to see what it feels like. Gonna sleep in the car with a loaf of bread and peanut butter and read a book and not shower or shave at all... That sounds pretty fun. Also I am sure I would enjoy just sightseeing a bit. Maybe I will go see a movie or something. I will try to spend Christmas day with some family down there though.
My sister had a cornet through High school that she does not play at all anymore, so they are supposedly bringing it to me at Christmas. That will be great. I can play just a little bit and with some practice can probably become decent. I just dont know how I am going to practice because the walls are just to thin in the condo. Maybe I will take it up to the institute building a few times a week. That should be something to keep me busy, aside from School, DAT study, and the guitar I want to get.
David's parents are in town for his graduation. The apartment is pretty messy, but they are staying at the Crystal Inn so probably wont be here too much. I think they leave Saturday night.
Oprah is claiming she has fallen off the Health Wagon again. I hate that Health Wagon. People are always falling out of it. But nobody more than Oprah it seems. Its like everytime she gets on, she is off again..so she gets some product that supposedly will fix the problem. Everytime she gets obese again, it seems she gets some new "sponsor" to help her get rid of the weight. I bet nobody knows more about the different weight loss plans than she does...she has tried about half of them. Speaking of Health Wagons, here is the world's fattest cat. Are people shoving food into these animals intravenously or something? Just give them less to eat!!!!
Here is a dang funny video from The Onion's website...probably my all time favorite fake report from then. I especially like the little kid with the candy. This was pretty clever.
So Sorry for the lag time between posts. I just figured I had to put my mind focused on Studying for Finals. Things went ok. Could've gone slightly better. I think I ended up with a B+ in Corp Finance, A- in Marketing, A in Physics, and an A- (crossing fingers) in Physiology. Man the Physiology final was brutal!!! So much information to know. He never goes easy on the tests it seems. I had an extremely late night studying for that one. I thought I pulled a better grade than I actually did, but thats the way of things sometimes. Needless to say I am extremely tired.
The other day I bought this great album off of Itunes. Its a bit weird, but its amazing, its called "The Sinking of the Titanic" and is a very long orchestral piece by Gavin Bryars. It is basically a repeat of the same melody over and over again with varying instruments and sounds of water. He basically wanted to simulate the sinking of the titanic, with the string quartet playing as the ship sinks into the ocean slowly. So year hear really strange sounds like screeching metal, water rushing, clanks, soft shreaks...all kind of breaking ship sounds. And then he mixes in very muffled accounts of the story by various survivors. It makes for a very interesting hour of music. Some people probably wouldn't care for this little experiment, but I think its a great idea. In fact, without exaggerating, I probably listened to that thing at least eight times this week so far. Mostly because it was excellent to study and try to memorize things to, but I would listen to it alone as well. And if you fall asleep to it you will have some crazy ship sinking dreams. I guess a while ago he recorded a version in a water tower and its hard to find...but its on vinyl. I think I will have to look for that one. He also does a similar thign with another song "Jesus Blood Never failed me Yet" and mixes in some Tom Waits vocals...which is never a bad thing.
I bought that album because I got a 25 dollar Itunes Card from the Village Inn Christmas party. I also go two others with it...a Howlin' Wolf compilation, and a "Best of Burl Ives" album. I know those may seem like some strange choices, but I am really getting excited about some of that older stuff these days. Howlin' Wolf does Blues like nobody ever does, and Burl Ives actually writes some great sad love songs. I think "Funny Way of Laughing" is like what an angry teenager today would write if he were clever enough to come up with the lyrics...just expressed differently. I always thought it was a little goofy when I was younger...but tastes and opinions change.
I like how Howlin' Wolf holds up that dollar up while he is looking so seriously at the audience. Such a weird captivating performance. And here is Burl...
There voices sound great together. I know some people might say it was a bit prideful to have his own show...but I think this would be the type of thing I'd like to watch today even. Instead you have to watch Pink sing on Saturday Night Live. I heard Elvis Costello has his own show on some channel, I should look into that.
Speaking of the Christmas Party, my group played for it, we did about a 50 minute set with a ton of originals and some covers too. Andrew a. played with us and I added some bells to the tunes. We actually plugged a friend's Minidisc recorder into the mixer and recorded the show, so we have a pretty good mix from the soundboard. I will get it uploaded for you to check out, but that probably won't come up until January. Some of it sounds pretty good...some of it sounds cringe-inducing. But it is what it is.... I also won 10 dollars to Hamiltons STeak House.
Tomorrow the goal is to finish off the Dental Packet and be done with that. So its not over yet. That will take some time. Friday Coltan is coming and I have to get ready to leave that night for California and the cruise. That is going to be awesome. I just have to figure out what I want to do during the few days I will be there all by myself. Maybe I can pick up one of these while I am down there.
Last weekend I did have the chance to watch the newest Herzog film. Its called Encounters at the Edge of the World and is about the people who work in Antartica. It was pretty interesting...its like only a certain type of person is willing to leave society and go that far into nowhere. They are like today's pioneers...they are looking at things very few other people see. It was pretty well done. Here is the trailer incase your interested in it.
I will try to post something funny tomorrow if I get time.
Things are busy. I am trying to put together my packet for the Dental Board at Utah State and it is not really all that fun. I am supposed to write an Autobiographal Statement. I now understand that it is important to do that once in a while to realize exactly how PATHETIC you are. I dont know if I have accomplished anything important in at least that last 3 years. Or maybe ever. Leastwise, thats the way it makes you feel. You are supposed to talk about all the awesome stuff you have done, but who has time for that when they are trying to work and go to school at the same time. Maybe Einstein. If I were Einstein I could write something like "I came up with the theory of Relativity in my spare time while working at a patent office." My mind doesnt work like that. The only comforting thing is that, no doubt, nobody I know is all that fascinating either. In fact, although I may be boring, there are people out there who's life is Wake, Eat, Work, Sleep. My Roomate David is a good example. He won't read this so I am safe writing this...if I went school to become disinteresting for 10 years and worked hard at it, and my mother was the most disinteresting person on the planet and my father was a zombie, I still would be more interesting than that. I am annoying myself now.....
Practiced last night for Sunday. It will be an interesting show. I borrowed some Bells from Andy to play for a few of the songs. He will be playing guitar with us this time around as Tyson T. will be in Wyoming. This afternoon I am going to go learn about Contraception from Andy Anderson's wife for my Physiology Lab. Should be a hoot. I will tell you all about it sometime. Speaking of Andy, I went to check out some questions on the last test and gave him a copy of the song "The Death of Elvis" which is a little rap I wrote inspired by one of his lectures...he was talking about the medical reasons for Elvis passing away. He enjoyed it I think, so I gave him the copy. He thought it was pretty funny.
I am listening to "A short history of nearly everything" on my ipod. It is alot more interesting I think now that I have taken classes that have gotten into the subject matter at a great depth. I understand what they are Bill Bryson is saying and recall the experiments and scientists he mentions.
Its infomercial Wednesday.
Yeah. If someone was wearing that when I walked in the house after school I would think that I was about to die. Could not they have gone to the trouble to make the mask look less like Jason's? Geez. I hope nobody bought that one. I'd rather have the Hula chair.
Man I am hungry right now. Subway is in order. But first I need to meet with my corp. Finance group and do some studying for finals. Sheesh. Its coming soon. My last one is on Wednesday, a week from tomorrow. I have alot to do before then, so today I will keep this short.
We are playing at the Village Inn Chirstmas Party on Sunday and have a pretty good setlist just about ready. WE just need more practice and it should be a good show. I am excited for the Hamiltons Catering. Their food is the bomb.
This news report makes me laugh. Its as if "Bubb Rubb" can't help but imitate the whistle everytime he talks about it. I like how he also says, "You supposed to be up cookin breakfast!" Its like an alarm clock!
So the weekend was nice. Did the whole rest and relax thing for the most part. I read quite a bit, went to Thanksgiving at the Cook's house, among other things. Really good food at the Cook's house, especially the candied yams. I cannot believe how tastebuds change. That stuff is amazing. Now it is time to buckle down and get to work. Finals are next week and I have alot of preperation to do before then. And then comes the cruise to Mexico and Christmas in California. This will be awesome.
I decided to do some cooking during the break. I made Frogeye salad as I said I would, and it went pretty well. I made a few mistakes, first when I bought pineapples, I accidentally bought crushed pineapple instead of the slices, and also one can of big slices. So that was a bit weird. And I added about twice the amount of pineapple juice as I should have. But it worked out alright. I had no idea how much it was going to make though, after weighing it on scale I discovered I had made 10.5 pounds of pasta salad. I also realized that nobody was very excited about it, and as much as I tried nobody wanted to eat it. I guess its not all that popular of a salad, they think it looks gross and most people dont like the consistency. I ended up eating a little over half of it over the past 3 days before I had to chuck it out. The effects it had on my digestive system were not pretty. In fact, it reminded me of this day in high school where I attempted to eat an entire watermelon over the course of the day. That night I had to attend a court of honor for boyscouts, and I remember having to run to the bathroom while I was standing in line waiting to get some merit badges. But now things are starting to normalize.
Last blog entry I mentioned some of my favorite Christmas Albums. Well, here is one to add to your list. Think of it as an early Christmas present from me. Free to download, the incredible Christmas LP was recorded in about four hours or so. 9 classic and not so classic Christmas tunes for your listening pleasure at www.myspace.com/nocouponnopizza. Just a little something to get you into the spirit of Christmas early. That is another thing I did during the break. Its called Nocouponnopizza saves Christmas. I like the Jingle Bells song.
Had to work last night and Saturday night. I hate sunday nights at Village Inn. If you ever go to resteraunts on a late sunday night, then shame on you. Especially if you dont think you need to tip. I got stiffed 3 times last night. I am definitely not cut out to be a waiter. That is for dang sure. I feel like Bruce Banner half the time...on the verge of explosion.
Real quick, I really don't care for that CSI Miami Show. This is the reason.
David Caruso may be the worst actor on T.V. Its as if he thinks his job consists of putting his sunglasses on and off and saying a one-liner. I like how he always pauses before he hits you hard with punchline.."Our accident.....is not an accident at all." Its as if he applies that formula to every line in the script. Then he walks away as fast as possible. A man on a mission.
If David Caruso was acting in a comedy, it would be a different story. Its as if he saw an over-the-top cop comedy, and thought that was how all cops really act. Its so bad that you would think he is playing a person who is supposed to be a horrible actor playing a cop in a comedy. Maybe he saw this clip from Seinfeld and based Horatio Caine's character off of it?
Its officially Thanksgiving Day. So now its time to break out the Christmas Music. It seems to be a clique thing for people to comment, "I hate people who try to bring Christmas music early!" They whine about how Christmas cannot officially begin until Thanksgiving Turkey has been given a few days to digest. They don't want any decorations, music, themes, shopping, ect. to begin until December rolls around. I don't mind telling you that I am one of the people that you lot hate. In fact, you may be really mad when I tell you that I think Thanksgiving is a snoozer anyways. You just eat alot of food and sleep through the rest of the day. Christmas lasts much longer then a few hours, and if I want to eat alot of food I can go to Royal Fork whenever I feel like it. So, don't be mad, but here are some of the albums I will be playing for the next 35 days or so....
Sufjan Stevens "Songs for Christmas" This is one of the best there is. Its pretty un-traditional sounding, with lots of Banjo and Wind instruments. It's a double disc, so it lasts a long while, and it also has a good mix of old favorites and original tunes from the genius who is in the process of writing an album about each one of the 50 states. 2 down, hes got 48 to go. The fact that he even had time to make this album blows my mind. You will have to just take my word on this one, it is a fantastic Christmas album.
Vince Guaraldi Trio "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Vince Guaraldi made an excellent soundtrack to the special. And it is about as Christmas can be felt. A great version of all these songs was released last year. Its great background Christmas tunes and brings back childhood memories. The recording quality on the album is great by the by. And who doesnt love this song?
James Brown "Funky Christmas" The king of soul had a special place for Christmas in his heart. In fact, he died on Christmas day. He also made an amazing Christmas album, but its not the kind that your parents will want to listen to. This is not sipping cocoa by the fire music. This is typical James Brown. Shreiking "Merry Christmas!" and "James Brown Loves YOU!" There are few traditional songs on this album, and those that are traditional are hardly recognizable as such. But I love James Brown. And he gets me closer to wanting to dance than any other performer. So if your having a Christmas party, and need some jamming tunes, this is your album. I have it in my car during all of December to wake up to. Just watch this clip of "Soulful Christmas". Is that the Funky Chicken dance I spot at 29 seconds? I think so.
Bing Crosby "White Christmas" I dont have to say anything about this hopefully. But here for your viewing pleasure is something you probably had no idea existed. A christmas duet with Bing and the one and only David Bowie. This is a match in made in heaven.
And no its not on the White Christmas album. Sorry.
James Taylor "A James Taylor Christmas" This maybe doesn't really merit the list, but its just that I like James Taylor so much. So I am a bit biased. His voice is pretty amazing and its as if he were meant eventually to make a Christmas Album. I really like his version of Aud Lang. But he could sing pretty much anything and I would probably like it. Here is a good clip that proves his voice is just as good live as in the studio.
Low "Christmas" There are only like 2 traditional Christmas songs on this album, and that is probably the reason I love it so much. Usually when people write their own songs they are a bit cheesy, but these guys managed to do it without destroying the feeling of the holiday. This is really pretty different from what you are probably used to, but I think you would enjoy it. Here is a music video with some of the song "Just like Christmas"
I have a few more I might post later, but those will give you some options to get into the spirit. But before I go, and I know I have posted lots of videos already, but this may be the best Christmas song ever. By Tom Waits of course.
Don't pretend you don't love it.
Let me know if you agree with any of my choices or think of something that I definitely missed. I'd be happy to spar with you.
Alright Ok. Thanksgiving break is finally here thank goodness and I am going to lounge like I never have lounged. I have some big plans. I am going to read a book. I am going to write some tunes. I am going to eat Turkey at Angies and make some frog-eyed salad. I have not looked forward to something this much in some time. Its going to be a great vacation. Last night I had kind of a quasi-Thanksgiving dinner with the ward and that was pretty good, lots of Turkey to go around. I also decided that Ginger Ale might be one of the best Thanksgiving drinks. Look at how delicious that salad looks Rita? You are such a commie. I just have one more class today and it is Marketing. That class is incredibly boring but rather that than difficult right? I will have to think of something fun to do tonight though because as of right now I will home doing jack squat. I read in the paper today that Paul Mcartney has decided recently to release a previously unknown Beatles track. It is supposedly pretty abstract, its called Carnival of Light, and is 14 minutes long. It was recorded during the time they were working on Abbey Road. I guess Paul just told them to run around the room and bang on things. I hope its at least slightly melodic. Anyways, I will be excited to hear that when it is finally released. Here is the 2003 World Champion Air Guitarist, C-diddy, doing the performance that won it all for him. It was the first time the U.S.A. had competed and he took home the gold. Its pretty amazing how seriously they take this stuff.
Pretty amazing eh? This looks like something I could actually do. Maybe USU should have an Air guitar championship. That would be an entertaining show to watch. I need to get that idea to the right people. Oh, by the way, the above clip is from the documentary called Air Guitar Nation, which chronicles the battle for the cup. Its a cool show, but near the ending, suddenly a guy decides to be completely naked while he is jamming at the competition. For some reason, the filmakers did not feel the need to censor this. The competitors are funny though, they act as if this is a legitimate art form, and sometimes, you partially believe them.
Friday I went and ate some dinner with my friends Brad and his wife Catherine. It was really good food. During the course of the conversation I discovered that Brad started to write a book after his first year at College. He spent 2 months in his treehouse in the process. The book is called Moratorium and is about 200 pages done. My new goal in life is to harass him enough until he lets me read that thing. I can't think about anything else unfortuneatly. I just keep wondering what in the world this book could be about and how it could be so important to write that he took 2 months out of his life to do it. He says he doesnt have time to finish it yet, so it will go unpublished until he finishes Dental School in 5 years or so. That is too long to wait. So Brad, if your reading this, I will never let up until I get a copy of the beginning of the book. I will make your life miserable trying to get it. I will go to Cokeville and get it off your computer. I will succeed. What could his twisted mind have thought up as a narrative? I will let you know about any progress in this area.
After eating with them I went with my friend Clint to go see the Whysound show. It was pretty entertaining. I was not a big fan of the first two bands, but Ben Johnson was great. I am not even really a fan of that genre, but those guys put on a fantastic show and could really play. They have a CD on itunes called Make it Bloom which is pretty good. Special props to their keyboard/trumpet/backup vocalist. That guy was the man!
So Saturday was pretty chill, I had to work at Village Inn until late though. Ran some errands and what not. Also did a bit of study. Oh and I watched this awesome film by Werner Herzog about Klaus Kinski. It was called "My best Friend". It basically chronicles the five German films they made together, (which are all awesome by the way) and talks about the crazy relationship they had. Kinski had this acting method in which he would try to stress the entire crew out...to the point of a nervous break down, and that would supposedly induce amazing performances from everybody, including himself. If he could rile himself up and become enough of a raving egomaniac, supposedly that drove his performances to new heights. Werner realized this and as difficult as it was to work with Kinski, he figured it was worth it for the performances that were created when the two of them teamed up. Out of all the directors, only Herzog really understood what was happening and was willing to put up with it, but it about drove him insane. At one point they both had plans to kill each other that they were going to enact. Werner even threatened to shoot him in the back if he tried to leave the set one day. And he claims that he was dead serious about it at the time. Everything about Werner seems larger than life, he really lives a different way than the majority of people. This documentary was a good intro to his madness. It also made me want to buy the Klaus Kinski autobiography. Would be entertaining. So study up...check it out.
The new Star Trek is coming out soon. I never watched the Shatner ones. But I enjoyed The next Generation, that was an entertaining program. I'm not a trekkie, but I think Patrick Stewart is just cool. So I dont know what to expect with the JJ. Abrahms remake. I will say that I liked what he did with Mission Impossible 3, but am not the biggest fan of Cloverfeild or the T.V. Show. The other thing is that this clip from its "base" material leaves me hoping they will do an updated version for the movie. This is one of the top 10 fight scenes I have ever scene. Talk about an adrenaline rush!!!!
Ok to make up for having to watch the worst fight scene of all time, here is one of the best. This is Tony Jaa in the Protector. He is insane. But although he is good, the fact that this was all done in one shot is amazing. The camera never cuts away. So this whole long process had to be just perfectly done. This one is not for the faint of heart...there is alot of throwing people around, but no blood.
Well the long wait is over. Twighlight is in theaters for all you girls with a pre-teen mindset to obsess over. But just so you know, its getting some pretty poor reviews, so it might not be worth standing in line at the box office for an hour and cramming yourelf into a theater with other 13 yr. olds who are screaming everytime Edward appears on the screen. Instead you should stay home and rent a good vampire movie...like this old silent film Nosferatu. Werner Herzog actually did a remake of this with Klaus Kinski that was pretty entertaining.
Seriously though, I read a review for twighlight that said it was the funniest movie of the year. That almost makes me want to see it. I love funny movies. If you haven't ever read twighlight...below are some spoilers that make me laugh.
-The story follows Bella and her Vampire boyfriend Edward. There is also some sort of scandal love triangle with Bella and a Werewolf named Jacob Black. Jacob is very passionate and Edward is very cold and shows little emotion. Both of them are supposedly irresistible. -Bella has to make a choice between the two of them, and when she chooses Edward, it creates an even more important choice...become a vampire...or stay a human and eventually die, leaving Edward all alone. It is very dangerous to even be close to Edward as a human because he does not know his own strength. When he brushes his hand through her hair, it might crack her scull. I'm not making this up. It truly is a forbidden love. -In the final book Edward and Bella get hitched, and they do the deed. The bed breaks and she ends up with bruises all over her body...her friends suspect abuse. But Edward is just too strong for his own good. -Bella gets pregnant with a Humanoid vampyro baby. Its basically a super baby, and it wants blood. It is so ticked off about not getting it that it kicks and breaks Bella's ribs. (again I am not making this up). She begins to drink blood to satisfy the humanoid vampyro's needs. The baby calms down a bit, but the birthing process is going to suck! -Baby is born in an intense way. Pretty much coming out, the baby rips Bella to shreds, much like an Alien in Ridley Scotts movies. She is dying, and Edward can't handle it. So he bites her to inject the vampire venom and give her immortality, even though he told her earlier he would never do it. She survives and becomes a vampire mother to the humanoid vampyro toddler. -Finally, and this is the best part, Jacob Black steps back onto the scene. You see, werewolves have this thing where they can imprint with humans. They can't control it. When they find who is supposed to be their soulmate, they look at them and then destiny creates a way for them to be together. So when old Jacob sees the humaniod baby, he can't resist. He imprints her then and there...so in the future they will fall in love and be married and be soulmates. Everybody wins in twilight, even peodophile werewolves. I just think that it is going to be hard to explain to that girl that he used to be in love with her mom and kissed her a bunch. Nasty.
There you have it...part of the twilight plot. If your wondering how I get so much information without reading the books, its because wherever I work at there are always some females that are into that series, and I can usually squeeze some of the best parts of the plot out of them with enough harrassment. If you haven't read the books yet and don't believe that these things can be true, then just ask someone who reads them about the above synopsis. Usually they will say something like, "Yeah thats true, but the way she writes it doesn't make it sound so cheezy." The weirdest thing is that this nasty bloody book is all the rage for Utah girls. I do not understand the appeal.
Here is some advice that Dr. Phil came up with that really is sagelike. Nobody has ever had this thought. Its completely unique...all he has to do is tell his guests this, and it will solve their problems. If only they could have heard this before!
This is a picture of my sister Rita. Commy Commy traitor to our country!
I watched Hellboy 2 last night. The story is not all that great but it was incredibly entertaining to watch. Lots of really strange looking creatures. My favorite was the winged creepy death guy I have pictured.
Thanksgiving is coming soon. I am going to make frog eye salad at least. Maybe even some devil eggs. Love that stuff. I probably will skip the turkey..or maybe get some from village inn. Things to think about.
I just got done writing an outline for a graduation speech for David. He is the engineering Valedictorian and they wanted him to do a speech. He had to turn in his outline today. I could have told them that this was a mistake. Why in the world would you want an Engineering student to give one of the speeches? Even I am smart enough to figure that out. Anyways, i zipped through it pretty quick and made some cheezy analogies about climbing a mountain. Hope its what they wanted.
In a little while I am going to go eat lunch with Mark and study Physics. We have a bit to go over there. I hate how you start to celebrate after a test by not paying attention in class and falling behind. Some form of celebration that is. We are now learning about Diffusion. Its fairy interesting.
I am entering Battle of the Bands in January with my friends from the band armorie. You can check them out at www.myspace.com/armorie. It is going to be like a supergroup. We have been putting some songs together for a while, and I have some new rap tunes to try out. I think we are practicing on Thursday afternoon. We really want to win it.
Britney Spears recently said she feels like she is living in a jail. She must have only been to those jails where you get to keep all your money and you can leave when you want and eat whatever you want and pretty much do whatever you want. I love those kinds of jails. Also in celeb news, Lindsay Lohan said the other day that she was so excited that we elected our first "colored" president. What planet is she living on to have decided to use that term?
Oh I almost forgot that it is informercial Wednesday. This probably beats them all in terms of uselessness. In fact, I thought that it wasn't even real when I saw it...looks like an SNL sketch. But nope, its legit. There is even a website that sells them. Can you imagine the look on your boss's face if you brought one of these into the workplace? You would automatically be classified as a lunatic. Which you would be for buying one. I present, The HAWAII chair.
I love the jingle they wrote for it. If you can sit, you can get fit! It looks like the most annoying thing ever to sit on especially at work! But I have to admit I slightly have an urge to try it out. Then I found this more realistic review of the product.
Looks about right to me. Retail Price? 149 dollars. Informercial? Priceless.
Oh man, I am so relieved that test week of doom is over. The final one took place at 10:30 this morning and I literally have no idea how I ended up doing. It could have gone anyway, since it was all math its hard to say. I ended up with a 91% on the multiple choice part of the Physiology test, so hopefully that is a good sign. I will still be busy, but, at least nothing big looming in the future. Can relax again for a bit.
Thanks to my mother, I am about to go to Subway and get a Chicken Cordonbleu sammich. She sent me and my brother a gift certificate the other day. I love that stuff.
Today I have decided to write a little bit about spelling Bees. They are pretty entertaining I have decided, but probably not the most healthy pastime for young children and the parents that are involved in pushing them toward it. It is basically the opposite of a Hollywood parent, instead of a parent pushing for their children to have fame and be thought of as "cool", they are pushing them hard in the other direction. The tendency of parents to want to live through their children is present everywhere in our society...and I dont think there are many parents that are not guilty of it to some extent. For example, take the parents who think that when their child is playing a sport he/she is curing cancer. Go ahead and lend your support to what the kid wants to do, but don't push them into something because YOU think it is important.
This of course is a pretty broad generalization, but I think its got to be present in the parents involved in these spelling bees. There is so much work into winning these national contests. It must damage the kids in some way. All that stress... Also, working so hard for something so unimportant. Sure its good to be able to spell decently, but the words in the national competition are usually some strange disease or recently made up word. Most these kids are early geniuses...put them to work doing something worthwhile. Teach them to be able to socially interact with other human beings! Take for example Evan ODorney.
I actually feel bad for this kid. I don't think its his fault that he doesn't understand how to communicate. He has been studying a dictionary for 2 years and he should be climbing trees. That video has to be one of the more awkward exchanges between a newscaster and interviewee that I have EVER seen.
I went a little overboard this time and decided to look up more on Evan. Evan also composes music when he is not trying to spell scrombridae. Best part is that he does it his head..... And what a singing voice! Maybe that is another savaant like talent. American Idol here he comes. Skip to about one minute to hear the most beautiful sound in the world.
All jokes aside he is obviously a genius of somesort. I mean thinking of notes as numbers? Its sad that with that intelligence comes the social awkwardness. This is personal to me because my brother-in-law Richard is also an Idiot Savaant and has similar strengths and weaknesses.
Here is proof of the the stress and insanity these kids go through.
AND NOBODY RUSHED TO HELP HIM UP! And he still got the word right!
And finally...proof that the words these kids get will probably never used in volcabulary and are a waste of time to learn the spelling to.
I hope that kid won.
If that intrigued you at all about the world of competitive spelling, there is a great documentary called Spellbound that follows some of the competitors through the rough world. But I can't get over that Evan interview.
Pretty grossed out right now....just had to watch a video about giving birth in the squatting position in Physiology Lab. Seeing it once is okay. This video shows it like 10 times simultaneously. I do not need to see that. I finally said "I've seen enough!" and walked out of the lab. A few people did the same afterwards. The lab instructor just laughed. The weird thing is, the women that were giving birth did not seem really all that fatigued during or even after childbirth. They just popped the baby and out picked it up and stood back up. I guess the reason is that evolutionary speaking our pelvis shrunk as we began to walk more upright and so the baby doesn't fit so well, but the squatting position allows maximum space and the muscles work more. Also these women squat to rest as they are walking around, so the muscles are extremely strong. Supposedly the social idea of lying down to make yourself comfortable for birth is a lie. You would be more comfortable squatting. Whatever, I'm just glad I dont have to do it. But what would you choose? I nice bed or this wooden stool thing? Speaking of Physiology, I had a huge test today. I think it went Ok. I didnt realize how bad it was until last night at about midnight and I still had loads to go over. I began to get a bit discouraged. In fact I was literally getting depressed and sick to my stomach about it. So I took a late night drive and kept repeating to myself that I was going just plow through it all. I also kept thinking that I couldn't let Andy Anderson (the teacher) beat me...because I think his goal is to totally dominate his students and make them just finally quit. So anyways, after driving for about 15 minutes I got an energy drink and layed waste to the stuff, it was pretty complex information. But I think I got the A, so we will wait and see until next week. I have another test tomorrow and right now I am pretty dang exhausted unfortuneately. But after this things will cool off. I saw Bond this weekend. It was good but not as good as its predecessor. I felt like they just went back to the old Bond structure for some of it. Random girl, weird and highly unrealistic plot. But the action was good and the beginning was really well done. I actually liked it alot up until the crashed into the sinkhole and discovered the water...at that point things began to get hazy. But go see it, its the best action movie out since The Dark Knight. And how can you beat that? Its like the Godfather 2 of superhero movies.
I read today that the live action version of King of Kong is well on its way to production. I can't wait to see who they cast as Billy Mitchell. I am rooting for Daniel Day Lewis. Yeah right.
Oh and I recently watched a documentary about the band The National that was pretty good. Its called "A skin a Night" and is by Vincent Moon, who films all the Take Away shows. If you are not familiar with his work, he basically documents bands performing some of their songs in strange places...like in the middle of the street or in a boat or in a barbershop....you name it. He has recorded some awesome stuff... This performance by Beirut was one of my favorites he has done. Cool idea.
Gotta work tonight. Village Inn yo. So not much time to write. But I thought you would enjoy this informercial. I couldn't actually see this being real, but it is I guess. Although I identify with the discomfort, I don't see how the Bear factors into the utility of the product.
Yeah baby....did pretty well on the Physics Test. Today I had one in Marketing that I think went ok, hopefully the A range or at least high B. Two more down, two incredibly intimidating ones to go. School does not let up.
I have been listening to Randy Newman's new Cd quite a bit lately. Its called Harps and Angels if your interested. He is a great story teller. Most people hear that name and think Toy Story/Pixar films, and although I think the songs he wrote for those films are amazing, it not close to his best work. Sail Away is probably his very best stuff, but I am fan of all his phases because the writing is always incredible. Sail Away is particualarly good. I am a big fan of the song Memo to my Son on that one. Randy Newman also has this thing about writing love songs, he hardly does it at all. But when he does they are amazing. Here is Feels Like Home from his latest record and it is pretty amazing. I want to learn to play it, so I got the music.
Still good even in old age. Few artists like that.
I am going to start updating you periodically with a few different types of updates that I find interesting. The first type of update that I will present today has been inspired by my Physiology class. I am part grossed out and part intrigued by unique deformities in Human Physiology, and how they are going about being cured or fixed. This may be a bit graphic for people, so you may not want to watch these clips
THE TREEMAN This really interested me. This guy Dede from Indonesia cut his knee as a teenager and was exposed to the paplliae virus which caused root-like warts to spring all over his body, making him appear to be a tree. In one interview he claims to have had dreams as a child about becoming swallowed by trees. That is pretty spooky, I am sure he is a very superstitious guy. Anyways, the sad part is that he couldn't do work anymore, his wife left him, and he had to get a job in a travelling Freak Show to support his kids. When doctors initially tried to cure him, he figured that he was better off just keeping his freakshow job. Eventually they convinced him to undergo some tests. Turns out, he has an extremely rare immunity deficiency and the fungal growths invaded the cells with absolutely no resistance whatsoever. See for yourself.
The good news is that they figured out how to help him. An American doctor was watching a documentary about him and thought he could help. He discovered that high doses of vitamin A are for some reason helpful in eliminating the papillae virus. Dede agreed and has made much progress since then into eliminating the tree like projections. Here is an update,
I am glad to see he is getting better. That is a really sad story. I am sure he was ostracized from alot of his community. It happens in the U.S. all the time with deformities to a much lesser degree. His dream about becoming a tree as a child reminded me of the final seconds in this music video of one of Radiohead's best songs. I wonder if this is inspired by Dede?
Physics test went well. May have missed one or two, but I am guessing at least an A...I will find out tomorrow afternoon how it really went. Quite a bit of studying went into that one. OOOOKAAAAYYY...... Turns out that Outkast is releasing 3 albums this year. One solo album for each member plus a dual album. That will be be some good for the mainstream hip hop community. I have to say that I am not the biggest fan of the whole Lil' Wayne, Kanye, T-Pain takeover. I do not understand the obsession with the auto-tune. Every single song they have to put that in there somehow. I much prefer Andre's style so I hope he stays kicking. Just look how he shows up fonsworth and kanye in this video.
That guy can dance smooth. Outkast is one of the view rap groups everyone can enjoy. At least some of their songs.
Speaking of dancing...The only guy to every do it perfectly....James Brown. The mashed potato. The Boogaloo, the ol' James Brown, the Funky Chicken. The dude inspired Micheal Jackson, but Micheal didn't ever live up to what James did. Wanna a quick lesson? James was happy to oblige. This is from some old T.V. show.
I like the open orange shirt. I often wonder if some of these performers are actually crazy. I mean, I do not know anybody who would feel comfortable wearing that type of shirt around. But somehow performers are comfortable wearing the weirdest stuff....Funny.
I am registering for school. I think next semester will be the hardest for me yet. Going to be very busy. It seems as if I've got the studying thing down. Its not as hard as it could be...like if I was married or had some sort of outside commitments. It just takes time and concentration.
I hope you are enjoying the new tunes...we will keep it cracking out. I still have alot of ideas to messa around with but writing lyrics takes time. I am reading good poems and watching some cool stuff that is giving me some ideas. So stay tuned.
I'm watching the Wire season 2 now. Dexter kind of got stupid real fast...but the first season was good. The Wire is the same way. I guess its hard to follow characters and make them continually interesting for that many seasons. Most people don't change or have continually and increasingly interesting lives, so its hard to sustain the suspense without making them unrealistically cheezy. But there are plently of shows out there, so alot of first seasons to watch.
Ok, I am doing this one a bit late today. But its been a busy one. So as a reward for staying up all night by your computers waiting for me to post something like an addict....there is a reward. New batch of killer demos released by yours truly and my collaborator Russ in Nocouponnopizza. Free to download. Think of it as your sneak peek into some songs that are works in progress. We layed these down Saturday. Here is your link. www.myspace.com/nocouponnopizza All three little sessions we have done are available there, the addresses for the rapidshare links are in the bio. I am excited for some of the new stuff to evolve a bit. Especially the rap stuff. Doing it has reinvigorated my love for old school hip hop. If you dont have much time just check out "Man says no you say yes"...I think youll enjoy it. Its probably the coolest beat I have ever made. And I hope you dont mind my singing.
Amy and Lee head up to Alaska tomorrow. It is sad. But mostly I am sad because they are taking Dane and Ty. They are some pretty cool little dudes. That is going to be one very long drive I have a feeling. I just put a ton of music on lee's ipod for the trip. I have alot of stuff I found out, it took a long time to sync it.
I am pretty excited for the new James Bond movie. I think I just really like the whole reinvention, I am not a huge fan of the franchise. I think I will hit that up this weekend. Who was the very worst Bond Girl ever? Probably Denise Richards. In The "World is not Enough" she plays some bird name Christmas. Obviously the writers tried to have alot of fun with that. How many puns can we fit in the movie with that name! "Your not all that merry of a Christmas" "Keep Christmas with you!" I think she may have even punched a badguy and shouted out, "Its Christmas time jerk!"
Speaking of bad movie puns, I think the Batman and Robin takes the cake for highest number. My nephew Andy is obsessed with Batman and so I actually saw that movie this summer. Its so horrible, but the Governator does get in some great lines that use the word "ice" or "freezing". "Hey! I'm an "ice" guy!" "The iceman cometh!" and best of all "Always winterize your pipes!" If you never have seen it, here is a very short version of all you missed out on. One reviewer wrote that it was as if Joel Shumaker hated Batman and was trying as hard as he could to sabatoge it. I dont blame you if you cant make it through the whole thing.....
Big Physics Test tomorrow afternoon. I am ready for it I think though. Just a few more hours of study will do the trick. Tomorrow morning.
Oh and here is another beloved infomercial. Call it weird, but I am pretty sure a lady in our ward used to wear one of these things to church. It looks comfortable enough for that. Thanks to Rachel for the tip.
This was up at Passive Aggressive notes today. I always hated having to feed animals. Probably some of the biggest family fights, including the trial for Rachel resulted from laziness in this area. This weekend was alright. I did go see that Man on Wire show at the Logan Arts Cinema on Friday night. It was pretty entertaining and I would reccommend it if it is playing at a theater close to you. The guy who walked across the towers is pretty eccentric. and enthusiastic and it makes for a good narrative. He also walked across the two towers of Notre Dame. After all was said in done he didn't even spend a day in jail. So check it out you will enjoy it. Also had to work on Saturday and Sunday. People did not tip all that well this time around. I have decided to keep working at Village Inn next semester though, just a weekend shift. I waste alot of time on weekends anyways. And this way I can always pick up other people's shifts if I need more work. We have these new pancakes there that are pretty good and I like getting restaurant food once in a while. Hippies here at school make me laugh. I am sure they are fewer in Logan than in other places, but you have to have them. I am sure this is a sweeping generalization, but you wonder why they are even at college, because they do not seem to enjoy learning, unless they are in an English class reading Hermann Hesse or in some Poly Sci class arguing with "Bald Heads". The reason I am saying this is I had a couple of dredheads stay very late at Village Inn even after we closed so they could dicuss philosophy over their coffee. Anger. This video really cracked me up. I like how Andy Sandberg goes from pretty decent parody into absurdity in just a few minutes. Each of his digital shorts starts out poking fun at something and then just goes into random nonsensical pop culture references.
I was going to go see this concert tonight in Salt Lake of this group called Subtle, but school is cracking down so I need to stay here tonight. That annoys me. Its a crazy rock/rap group and I have been listening to the rapper Dose One for a long time. Oh well, sometimes academia takes precedence. I took a Physiology Lab test today and I think I did pretty well. Physics Test is Wednesday and then Marketing on Thursday, Physiology is next Monday and Corp Finance is next Tuesday as well.
I did a bunch of recording this weekend that I am pretty stoked about. Cant wait for you to hear it...maybe within the week I will have it available to download. There is a song about laziness and one about Ipods ruining the album idea, there are a few love songs and a rap song about Sesame Street. Speaking of Sesame Street, a while back they released DVD's of the old episodes and put a warning on it that some may not be suitable for kids. This is really odd to me. Some of the reasons cited were because cookie monster smokes a pipe in the "Monsterpeice Theater" skits, and that Ernie and Bert's apartment is always messy and Ernie was a bad influence. Good Greif. Rather Sesame street than the Wiggles or Yo Gabba Gabba. Even Dora and Diego and the Backyardigans. Barney! Nothing has surpassed Sesame Street as a kids show.
I like weird video mashups of Kids characters doing things they would not actually do. Here is Bert and Ernie Singing Ante up by M.O.P. Funny, it almost sounds like their voices if they were actually rapping. For some reason this makes me laugh.
Going to go see Man on Wire tonight. Excited for that. Also, I am about to record some new music with Russ. Crazy plans. Hannah Wardle did a review on the last NoCouponNoPizza album. Its at www.hanzwardle.blogspot.com. I have been staying on campus way to late these days. Here quickly today is a video of an emotional Jessica Simpson moment.
I am sure she told the band...then at this point we are going to stop the song and I will cry a bit. I want it to be very emotional. And we should try to make it look unplanned. That will really drive this song home. So annoying.
Remember how insanely scary these things were in that movie that long ago? Now we laugh at animatronics. Micheal Crichton died the other day. I think I only ever read Jurassic Park, and that was in middle school, but its sad. I wish it had been that show ER that he created that died, because that is going on waaaayyy to long. I really can't name one person I know that watches the show. It sounds like George Clooney is rumored to be making a guest appearance soon, that will be the largest ratings jump in history probably.
In other Micheal news, they recently confirmed the fourth Jurassic Park movie, with all original cast members...that is sad. Everyone of them is washed up except for maybe Newman, who died in #1, so can't return, and also Jeff Goldblum, but he is usually just a very small supporting character in films today. A few friends and I were talking about how Hollywood is running out of ideas these days and therefore must throw together sequel after sequel. Proof of this? The fast and furious 4 comes out soon, with the original cast. Spiderman is getting a 4th and 5th installation. The matrix would have been a perfect film if 2 and 3 weren't tacked onto the end of it. Ghostbusters is soon getting another film. Its all about the franchise these days. Anyway, while we were discussing this I lied and mentioned that Bill Murray had not only signed on to do Ghostbusters 2, but also Groundhogs Day 2. I then amused myself by trying to come up with the preview narration for it. I can only imagine it would be something like "He's back! And this year, its Labor Day!" Then it would cut to Bill Murray sitting up in bed with grey hair yelling out "Nooott agaaaiinn!" You can call this far-fetched, but I have seen worse things than this. Remember Josh Brolin in the Goonies?
That has to be a joke. But its a good one.
So much talk of movies, but I am not done yet. There is a movie at the art theater I would like to see. Maybe on Friday. It looks pretty crazy and is called Man on a Wire. I am incredibly scared of heights, and I think that this would be the scariest thing in the world to actually do. I cannot believe he actually did it. Here is a trailer for the documentary. I will tell you how it is later.
Well I had better split today. I have alot of studying for several tests next week to get done. Peace.
Hail to the Cheif baby. In all honesty, although I disagree with alot of his ideas about what the government should and should not do, I think that this will not "destroy" our nation. The reason I point this out is because I can't believe how many conservatives are acting like the world has come to an end. Facebook statuses are ridiculous...things like "We have officially elected a Muslim terrorist into the Whitehouse", or "Better get your guns now." or "I'm moving to South America" or even stranger things. Its as if they think Obama is the devil's surrogate, and it is pretty stupid. The thing that annoys me most is that the Democrats did the same thing when Bush was elected those two years...the response was so ridiculous, I am over the whole "I'm moving if such and such happens." It was annoying when the dems did it and it is annoying to me now that the conservatives are doing the same thing. Go ahead and move already. I don't care to which party your loyalty swings. Your dramatic despair is not helping anybody. And you know what? I do think it is amazing that America elected its first black president and I do think that he is right about some things that Mccain is wrong about. So whether I voted for him or not...its shut up time. Its one thing to be critical and have a healthy distrust...but its another thing to drink the Kool-Aid of the far reaches of either party. I thought Mcain's concession was good and it annoyed me that people were booing at the beginning. I'm not talking about this anymore.
On a lighter note...there is this great website you should look at, http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ You will laugh your head off. Its a collection of angry notes that people have left in breakrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, refrigerators, ect, in leu of confronting the offender. They are all pretty great, but here is one of my favorites. This is dramatic as it gets. My sister Rita says she knows just how this woman feels. She claims that when she was preg, some guy at work kept eating her oreos and it was ticking her off bad. Not because she was hungry of course, but because he was stealing an unborn child's food. Taking oreos from a baby! What kind of sick son of a ... would do that!
Here is a video of Big Mama Thornton singing Hounddog. She is my favorite of the old soul singers, with the exception of James Brown. Some people think that it is impossible for women to be good entertainers...but obviously this idea results from performances like Jessica Simpson's. General Society has decided that the way you look is more important than the ability to sing and write. I even like this version better than Elvis'. It actually makes since, the Houndog is some guy that keeps coming around with no intention of commiting to a relationship. Great stuff.
Long day yesterday. That corporate Finance Class is killing me. Oh well, just about 1 month left. I have got to get my head right though. Yes sir. Everything else is going real well though. No complaints. Tom Waits and Kool Keith are in a song together on the new NASA CD and it is pretty crazy. I am obsessed with Tom Waits and to hear him singing the chorus for a rap song is pretty bizarre and therefore kind of expected. At one point he yells the word "Ghetto Booty" which made me laugh a bit. This is nowhere near the better stuff he has done, but I occasionally like Kool Keith and he hold up here. Anyways, here is the link if you are interested in this bit of weirdness. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/146657-premiere-nasa-ft-tom-waits-and-kool-keith-spacious-thoughts-stream
I think I am going to go the the big election bash they are having at school tonight. Free Pizza, hot dog eating contest, Live results, ping pong. I am pretty sure we all know what the outcome will be, but the question is how large will the gap be? My estimate is 6 points. Anybody else care to guess? If you get closer than me I will give you a special Blog prize. By the way, Ben Affleck as Keith Olbermann of Saturday Night Live was pretty funny. I really dislike Keith. THey got it right too, with the chair spinning, camera angles, and especially the rearranging of words to sound smart and over dramaticizing of events. I didn't even think Ben could pull that off.
That Dexter show is freaking addicting. I finished Season 1 late last night. Too Late. But I was doing laundry so I justified it. I am going to try and put off getting into season 2 until the weekend. I cant control myself otherwise.
Oprah is continually endorsing the strangest products I have ever seen. First came the old Pedegg (see earlier post) then this think called the Neti Pot. This is really odd. And the lady that is the commercial's model really has to start using expressions someday. Its as if she is indifferent to the product. I guess that is all there was to do...you can't be smiling while pouring water up your nose, that would be creepy and unnatural. But frowning would seem like you weren't enjoying it. So she opted for disinterested.
This was a crazy weekend. I got off work at 5 in the morning saturday. That was insane. Losers kept piling into the pancake house. It was three in the morning and we still had people on a waiting list becasue all our tables were full. One of the computers broke and the line to cash out wrapped through the restaurant and made it very difficult to serve. Most people didnt tip too well, because they were getting all you can eat pancakes, so all it all it was bad. Also, some doofwad decided to give me a poor comment and stiff me altogether because his burger fell on the floor and he had to wait while the cooked him a new one. If I find that guy...things will not go his way. Oh well. Money money money money. At least my costume was cool. I will post some pictures of that goodness later. It was pretty epic. Because of the crappy Friday night, I slept alot of Saturday. Then I did some homework and watched Incident at Loch Ness...which was really really weird. It is a strange mockumentary that kind of studies the differences between reality and myth. I rented it because I really like Werner Herzog and he is the main character. The movie is kind of surreal and its hard to tell if its supposed to be a comedy or something a bit deeper than that. The writer/producer Zach Penn was kind of annoying in it. Anyways if you are looking for something different you might give it a try. David's girlfriend was also in town this weekend...so I had to deal with their shmoopiness all weekend long which was a chore. Gross. Oh and I kind of got obsessed with that T.V. show Dexter, its about a guy who is a blood spatter analyst and also a serial killer, killing the criminals when they get away free. Its pretty addicting and well written. I would get the edited version though, its pretty bloody. I thought it was a pretty good idea though. I am about midway through the first season. Did well on my Physiology Test...I had to go argue with the teacher for a couple extra points and I ended up with a 93. Could have been better but its a hard test. This week is going to start piling up very quickly I have a feeling. I have a lab test monday, A physics test next Wednesday, and a Marketing and Corporote Finance Test next Thursday. Suck. Oh, and I have been working on piles of new songs. They should be floating around soon on handpressed CDR's, but they need some more work before that days come. In the meantime, familiarize yourself with www.myspace.com/calvinsmooth and www.myspace.com/nocouponnopizza. The NoCouponNoPizza stuff is all free to download on the myspace site and is really lo-fi rock, rap, folk ish. Quickie on the video side today....How many of you ever watched Fresh Prince? Well here is some cool recent pop culture making reference to it. First off you have the original Fresh Prince opening, you may not remember how cheezy and 80's it was. So refresh yourself. And say what you want about Will Smith he used to be able to rap circles around people...LL Cool J said so. Then check out Shad's new video underneath it, which is kind of a spoof of the opening of the show. Shad is a Canadian rapper who lives with his moms still while he is going to college, but man that guy can bust a verse. He was recently nominated for the Polaris Prize and is one of the few MC's that can do it without acting all hard. I find it amazing how much attention to detail was put into his imitation video...they got it about spot on. Crazy Creative Idea. Enjoy.
Happy Halloween everyone. I am getting excited to work all freaking night long serving pancakes to ingrates. Whoopeee! If you missed it, I am going to dress up as Billy Mitchell for Halloween. I have the costume all worked out now, so it should be fun. My brother is being Waldo and my sister is being Dora the Explorer. I am jealous of only one costume this year, and that would be Karl Pilkington's. Best costume I have ever seen and how it fits him!
Since this is a special Halloween Post, I thought I should post some Halloween clips. First up, perhaps the scariest death scene of all time from some 80's film featuring Anne Ramsey of Goonies and Throw Mamma from the Train fame. Man she was an awesome actress. The question is...what is she saying...Damn Shids?
Next up is some guy getting spooked pretty bad and having a poor reaction to it. This cracks me up.
And finally, for nostalgic purposes, this is from the Trilogy of Terror. I watched this when I was like 5 on T.V. and it scared the pee out of me. I was thinking about it recently and found it on youtube. It cracks me up the noises this little voodoo doll makes as its trying to kill her. Especially as it comes running yelling through the door towards the end. Little Psychopath voodoo doll reminds me of the Tasmanian Devil on a sugar high. Its just really funny stuff. You only need to watch like the first 4 minutes of it though. the rest is quite boring.
3 videos today! Triple Bonus Pancake house here I come.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Hello All. Today I gave a presentation in my Marketing Class about Rosehill Dairy, which is a local milk delivery service I have been addicted to for the last couple of months. I had to dress up for it in shirt and tie. Right now though, I am growing a nasty beard and moustache for Halloween. One of my friends commented that I look like a homeless guy that somebody gave their nice clothes to, that I reminded him of the "fake teachers" on that show Drillbit Taylor. I said thank-you. Anyway, the presentation went well and I think I probably should get paid for how many people I convinced to suscribe to their product. It was more like a salespitch than a presentation. But it is dang good milk for a dang good price. rosehilldairy.com if you live in the logan area.
I had a bet with my friend Mark about who our mutual friend Brad Grandy was going to vote for in the election. He has been very hush hush about it and said he would tell us after he filled out the ballot. I sincerely thought he was going to go the Obama route, and secretly we were "campaining" for him to vote for the canadate that we had individually predicted. I had to play Devil's advocate for a long time and push him in the Obama direction, which was really hard. He must have noticed something was up after a while, because last week he said, "All you to talk to me about anymore is politics!", and this got us both laughing pretty hard. The bet was for a peice of pizza from the Hub, not the crap kind...I am talking bout the BBQ chicken pizza. Anyways, come to find out, for him it came down to a coin toss. After studying both sides for a long time he was just too indecisive. And he voted for Mcain. I could have sworn he was going to go Obama. But anyways I ended up having to buy lunch for Mark today and am pretty mad about it. I think that the bet should be off since the coin decided, and not Brad.
Speaking of Obama...anybody watch that half an hour long ad last night? I made it for about ten minutes and it was just getting too cheezy for me. I thought I had better watch it since he is going to be the next President of our country more than likely, but it was just to self-aggrandizing. You would think he is the second coming of Jesus Christ the way that ad spoke of him. I mean come on!
Does anyone else think that John Mayer is just plain creepy? And him getting with Jessica Simpson...and then Jennifer Aniston doesn't help matters. In this picture he looks like a fat Johnny Depp in the Edward Scissorhands role...agreed?
The video today is just weird and slightly disturbing so do not watch if you are extremely sensitive to stupidity. Its no secret that I have followed Dr. Phil's career closely, his show is the best bad T.V. around. His advice to people in trouble is either to read one of his books, or non-existant. Exploitation is his game. I am sure there exist many Dr. Phil posts for future blog entries. This summer was a plethera of entertainment from Oprah's pal, from Brat Camp, to House of Greed, to a man who wrote a book called "Men are better than women", but lets start this off the right way, with the absolute weirdest one of all. A little setup is necessary for this clip. Dr. Phil is going to interview this guy who makes these videos called "Bumfights", in which he pays money to Bums on the street to fight in front of his camcorder. Dr. Phil is ticked about it and is going to tell him off. But then Dr. Phil throws an unexpected curveball. Beware, the bumfights stuff is disgusting and violent.
Now this is what is so awesome about this clip. First of all, why the hell is the guy dressed like Dr. Phil with the same haircut? Is that odd to anyone else? Was he going to claim that he is the Dr. Phil of the streets? Secondly, this was obviously planned. Dr. Phil had seen the footage before, his crew put together the montage! He knew it was graphic! But then he acts like it was the first time he had ever seen it and pretends to be so shocked that he will not talk to the guest. The bumfight guy is right in that Dr. Phil deals in exploitation of the worst kind, but pointing to bad behavior does not justify bad behavior. The best is when Dr. Phil claims that he is not going to advertise for Bum Fights, he will not have that on his show. But he did have it on his show! And knowingly! He had to have seen that video before. So the whole thing is just another publicity stunt! This thing would be funny if it were not so odd. Or just maybe Dr. Phil was angry that the guy looked just like him and decided to make up an excuse to not put him on the show at the last minute. Oh television. More Dr. Phil news for a later date.
Sorry, it was a rather long post today. Lots to rant about.
Also I am sure I would enjoy just sightseeing a bit. Maybe I will go see a movie or something. I will try to spend Christmas day with some family down there though. 
My sister had a cornet through High school that she does not play at all anymore, so they are supposedly bringing it to me at Christmas. That will be great. I can play just a little bit and with some practice can probably become decent. I just dont know how I am going to practice because the walls are just to thin in the condo. Maybe I will take it up to the institute building a few times a week. That should be something to keep me busy, aside from School, DAT study, and the guitar I want to get.
