Blogs aren't fun when you don't update them. I guess life is just to hectic now. Or maybe I've found more important things to do. I tried to use this as a way to get me to write SOMETHING at least once a day. I think it helped, even though I only posted like 4 times. I thought about posting, which made me think I should write. And I did. Most of the time.
I think I should just use this as my personal journal. It's not like anyone is reading it. or maybe they are. Does it really matter? No. I just need to write.
I wish I was an 8 year old boy again. I think heaven is going to be a big mixture. Like, I'll have all the great qualities about being 8, 18, 23 and whatever else I pick up along the way. There's so much about being eight that I miss. I think it's the innocence more than anything. It is. I miss not knowing what murder and rape and greed and envy and anxiety and worry and doubt and lust are. I miss just knowing that the sun rises and it sets, all of nature is beautiful and that soon I could go to bed and listen to the crickets through my open bed room window.
God I miss those days of growing up, before it got painful. I would just ride around in the truck with the windows down, going slow, riding through town and through the country. With a nice cool breeze and sunshine most days, I can remember squinting me eyes, just barely, and feeling the wind blow over my arm and through my hair. I miss the way the tips of my fingers would feel after keeping my hand outside the window for the whole ride. I miss being swallowed by the big red seats.
If i could just go back to that, driving slow, not worrying about getting home on time or paying bills. There would never be anymore news, no more guns or bombs, no more abuse. It's like being weighed down when you find out how the world is. There's a force that pulls you down and so many kids get swallowed up by it. The rest of us spend the rest of our lives trying to get out of it.
I've already begun to rise above it, but I dip back down sometimes. It's hard.
I just want somebody to trust. I just want something beautiful to live by.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
It's times like these that I love being a dork
I just saw Iron Man and all I can say is wow. The nerd inside of me was jonesing for this movie so bad. I've always had a passing fascination with Iron Man, which I think helped put me in the perfect mindset for this movie. It wasn't my beloved Spider-Man or Green Lantern, it was just a really cool hero that seemed to have a great origin and possible story line.
What made the movie so perfect was the fact that it stayed true to the comics. Not so much in a story sense (all though it seemed to be pretty spot on from what little I knew), but in a comic book sense. It was like watching the comic book come to life in a movie, because for once, someone took the source material seriously and did what comic books have always tried to do - make the impossible real. From the beginning, comics were about telling impossible stories, fiction, made to entertain. And all this super hero stuff has held up over the years for the same reason The Lord of The Rings and so so many other great works of literature and fiction have - because it made the thoughts and dreams of someones imagination real and it connected with someone.
If people can connect with something, then it's golden. That's why there are nerds and dorks that just love this stuff - that's why I love this stuff. You can connect to it. I can connect with some movies and characters and heroes and villians and made up things more than I can with a lot of people. I'm not sure what that says about me, but I think it's a good thing. I have a huge imagination and I love stories and the endless possibilities that they bring.
This movie made Iron Man "possible." It made Tony Stark a real person, Stark industries a real company, Obediah a real person/villian, the world and all the problems that filled it, all the people, were real. Even if it was only for two hours, it was real.
And that's all us nerds have ever wanted. Was for something cool, something we can connect with, something we can relate to or just be in awe of, real. It's like fireworks or butterflies or waterfalls or stars - it's amazing and spectacular and for it to be real, even close to real, is a treat.
Aside from all that, Iron Man was just a bad ass movie with enough nods to the dorks to make it great. Faverou or whatever his name is (I'm to lazy to look it up right now) is a genious - he handled this movie perfectly and as far as I'm concerned, neither he nor anyone else could have done better. My hat is off to him and I hope other film makers will follow suit.
STAY TILL AFTER THE CREDITS!!!! That's the most awesome thing I've seen on film since Yoda went all bad ass. Just to hear his voice and to see his face (and the eye patch, and the scar!!), oh my God, I know it's silly but it made me feel the same way some sports nut feels when his favorite teams scores the game winning touchdown or when Lebron just dunks on somebody and everybody is like "Oh man, did you see that, that was awesome!!" and they high five and spill their beer. Yeah, that's how I felt when I saw Nick freakin Fury standing in Starks home, talking about the Avengers. The freakin AVENGERS DUDE!!!!
What made the movie so perfect was the fact that it stayed true to the comics. Not so much in a story sense (all though it seemed to be pretty spot on from what little I knew), but in a comic book sense. It was like watching the comic book come to life in a movie, because for once, someone took the source material seriously and did what comic books have always tried to do - make the impossible real. From the beginning, comics were about telling impossible stories, fiction, made to entertain. And all this super hero stuff has held up over the years for the same reason The Lord of The Rings and so so many other great works of literature and fiction have - because it made the thoughts and dreams of someones imagination real and it connected with someone.
If people can connect with something, then it's golden. That's why there are nerds and dorks that just love this stuff - that's why I love this stuff. You can connect to it. I can connect with some movies and characters and heroes and villians and made up things more than I can with a lot of people. I'm not sure what that says about me, but I think it's a good thing. I have a huge imagination and I love stories and the endless possibilities that they bring.
This movie made Iron Man "possible." It made Tony Stark a real person, Stark industries a real company, Obediah a real person/villian, the world and all the problems that filled it, all the people, were real. Even if it was only for two hours, it was real.
And that's all us nerds have ever wanted. Was for something cool, something we can connect with, something we can relate to or just be in awe of, real. It's like fireworks or butterflies or waterfalls or stars - it's amazing and spectacular and for it to be real, even close to real, is a treat.
Aside from all that, Iron Man was just a bad ass movie with enough nods to the dorks to make it great. Faverou or whatever his name is (I'm to lazy to look it up right now) is a genious - he handled this movie perfectly and as far as I'm concerned, neither he nor anyone else could have done better. My hat is off to him and I hope other film makers will follow suit.
STAY TILL AFTER THE CREDITS!!!! That's the most awesome thing I've seen on film since Yoda went all bad ass. Just to hear his voice and to see his face (and the eye patch, and the scar!!), oh my God, I know it's silly but it made me feel the same way some sports nut feels when his favorite teams scores the game winning touchdown or when Lebron just dunks on somebody and everybody is like "Oh man, did you see that, that was awesome!!" and they high five and spill their beer. Yeah, that's how I felt when I saw Nick freakin Fury standing in Starks home, talking about the Avengers. The freakin AVENGERS DUDE!!!!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
One of these days...
I've got soooo many things I want to do. I know I'll never be able to get them all done and I'm ok with that, i just hope I can get as many done as possible and most of all, I hope that the things I do can affect others in a positive way.
One day I'm going to write a book about all the bands I love. I want to tell a story about not only the music they play, but the people that play it and how they live day to day, writing and playing songs for themselves and for others.
Music has touched my life in a special way and I know I'm not the only one that feels that way. I was listening to The Appleseed Cast and Yo La Tengo, that's what got me thinking about it again.
One day I'm going to write a book about all the bands I love. I want to tell a story about not only the music they play, but the people that play it and how they live day to day, writing and playing songs for themselves and for others.
Music has touched my life in a special way and I know I'm not the only one that feels that way. I was listening to The Appleseed Cast and Yo La Tengo, that's what got me thinking about it again.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Video Killed the Arcade
I can remember visiting the arcade when I was a kid. Or at least my version of an arcade. Where I lived, going to the arcade had many different connotations. It meant that every time I would go shopping with my Mom, I would beg her to go to Wal-Mart. Because her shopping at Wal-mart meant me playing Primal Rage, Street Fighter II, Virtual Fighter or that light gun game with Aerosmith at the local Wal-Mart.
Or it would mean me always, ALWAYS, begging to go to Pizza Hut. And it wasn't because they had good pizza. They had Misses Pac-Man, the kind where you lean over the top and play. The kind with the greasy joy-stick and the booth cushion for a chair. Growing up when I did meant nothing was cooler than pizza, so said the four wise ninjas - Leo, Ralph, Mike and Don. Whether the pizza was good didn't matter, it was just luck - or I like to think, fate - that Pizza Hut made the best damn pizza I had ever had.
Going to the arcade was every trip to ice skate, every roller rink visit. Putt putt? All I took was quarters. Skate? Why would you skate when you could play Time Crisis or Metal Slug (oh Hometown Pizza!!) or, I'll never forget, the Marvel VS. Capcom at Iceland - the only one I ever played.
And then they built an arcade in the mall, which had all the games, but by that time, I was getting older, I had a Playstation, games cost 75 cents for one credit, Crusin USA was EVERYWHERE, along with those big loud Dance Dance pads and generic crap that took up the room the Virtua Tennis's, pinball machines and Galaga's used to occupy. I couldn't play Street Fighter anymore, it was all Tekken and...Tekken.
But I digress...every trip to the movies was also a trip to the arcade. I remember when they got House of the Dead and I spent hours playing that game. I would get my allowance in quarters, cut yards for quarters, recycle aluminum cans for quarters. When I could play Time Crisis, House of the Dead AND Virtua Tennis all in the same place, I was in arcade heaven.
So playing House of the Dead 2 and 3 on the Wii was a bit of a nostalgia trip. There was no slot to put the quarters and no germ covered plastic red and blue guns, but shooting zombies in my living room with my Wii zapper was a lot of fun. I'm going to get the Handgun made by Nyko for the Wii for that authentic feel, but the zapper is still fun.
I just hope they put out Time Crisis 1, 2 and 3 for the Wii. Imagine, all three on one disc. I would pay $50 for that easy. The Wii could be a revival for the hardcore gamer, making light gun games and arcade titles available that may be hard to come by or nearly forgotten. I'm excited, I want to see more Sega games, more 3D0 and all that other stuff that was great but so many people have forgotten.
Or it would mean me always, ALWAYS, begging to go to Pizza Hut. And it wasn't because they had good pizza. They had Misses Pac-Man, the kind where you lean over the top and play. The kind with the greasy joy-stick and the booth cushion for a chair. Growing up when I did meant nothing was cooler than pizza, so said the four wise ninjas - Leo, Ralph, Mike and Don. Whether the pizza was good didn't matter, it was just luck - or I like to think, fate - that Pizza Hut made the best damn pizza I had ever had.
Going to the arcade was every trip to ice skate, every roller rink visit. Putt putt? All I took was quarters. Skate? Why would you skate when you could play Time Crisis or Metal Slug (oh Hometown Pizza!!) or, I'll never forget, the Marvel VS. Capcom at Iceland - the only one I ever played.
And then they built an arcade in the mall, which had all the games, but by that time, I was getting older, I had a Playstation, games cost 75 cents for one credit, Crusin USA was EVERYWHERE, along with those big loud Dance Dance pads and generic crap that took up the room the Virtua Tennis's, pinball machines and Galaga's used to occupy. I couldn't play Street Fighter anymore, it was all Tekken and...Tekken.
But I digress...every trip to the movies was also a trip to the arcade. I remember when they got House of the Dead and I spent hours playing that game. I would get my allowance in quarters, cut yards for quarters, recycle aluminum cans for quarters. When I could play Time Crisis, House of the Dead AND Virtua Tennis all in the same place, I was in arcade heaven.
So playing House of the Dead 2 and 3 on the Wii was a bit of a nostalgia trip. There was no slot to put the quarters and no germ covered plastic red and blue guns, but shooting zombies in my living room with my Wii zapper was a lot of fun. I'm going to get the Handgun made by Nyko for the Wii for that authentic feel, but the zapper is still fun.
I just hope they put out Time Crisis 1, 2 and 3 for the Wii. Imagine, all three on one disc. I would pay $50 for that easy. The Wii could be a revival for the hardcore gamer, making light gun games and arcade titles available that may be hard to come by or nearly forgotten. I'm excited, I want to see more Sega games, more 3D0 and all that other stuff that was great but so many people have forgotten.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
There Better Be Blood
I went and saw There Will Be Blood a few weeks after it opened in movie theaters. Wow, I was impressed. Not only with the story and the acting but with the visuals and the colors. For the first time in a long time, I found myself mesmerized by the look of a modern film.
The only films that have really drawn me into their look are old foreign movies, Japanese especially, and most old noir and American films. There's something special about black and white.
But There will be Blood was astounding. During the first thirty minutes, I found myself wondering how the film would transfer into HD and how it would look on my new 40" Sony XBR4. I couldn't wait to get the movie on disc and watch it again in my own home.
I enjoyed the rest of the movie and was truly marveled by some of the visuals towards the middle and end of the film. It brought to mind stark and revealing scenes from movies like Citizen Kane. I walked out excited and satisfied. I was totally mystified by the world that movie created. It was like seeing a ghost of America's past and the people that built what has become the country we know today.
It all got me thinking and the announcement about the movies HD copy got me thinking. HD and Blu Ray have raised the bar, like it or not. They are better and worthwhile technological advancements worthy of your consumer dollar. Now, because I work at Circuit City (blAh!) and am a total geek, I'm hooked into all this latest technology stuff. Plus I'm a total movie geek, the kind of guy that will buy three editions of the same movie if there are extras and junk that I think's worth it. If there's improved picture quality or sound, I'll snatch it up.
The recent announcement by Paramount sucks. They announced they would cancel the HD DVD release of There Will Be Blood, opting instead for a standard DVD and an eventual but more than likely delayed Blu Ray. Or even worse, a bare bones, weak Blu Ray release. After hording HD DVDs over the past few months, I've really been convinced that right now, it is the better format. That may change once the new Blu Ray players hit this summer and fall. It's funny because they will be adding features found on HD DVD players, the biggest being an ethernet port and on board decoding.
So I still wish that HD version of There Will Be Blood Was coming out. I'm still scrambling for an HD copy of Pan's Labyrinth (even though I heard the Blu-Ray edition was fantastic), the new Justice League movie, I Am Legend and that Assassination of Jesse James movie. I hope the Blu-Ray copy will up to par with what would have certainly been an outstanding HD DVD release. It's almost like Toshiba had their stuff straight with movies more so than Blu-Ray. I don't know, they both came out too early, they needed to get more of their stuff straight. It's just a bummer that one of them will be gone forever because of it.
The only films that have really drawn me into their look are old foreign movies, Japanese especially, and most old noir and American films. There's something special about black and white.
But There will be Blood was astounding. During the first thirty minutes, I found myself wondering how the film would transfer into HD and how it would look on my new 40" Sony XBR4. I couldn't wait to get the movie on disc and watch it again in my own home.
I enjoyed the rest of the movie and was truly marveled by some of the visuals towards the middle and end of the film. It brought to mind stark and revealing scenes from movies like Citizen Kane. I walked out excited and satisfied. I was totally mystified by the world that movie created. It was like seeing a ghost of America's past and the people that built what has become the country we know today.
It all got me thinking and the announcement about the movies HD copy got me thinking. HD and Blu Ray have raised the bar, like it or not. They are better and worthwhile technological advancements worthy of your consumer dollar. Now, because I work at Circuit City (blAh!) and am a total geek, I'm hooked into all this latest technology stuff. Plus I'm a total movie geek, the kind of guy that will buy three editions of the same movie if there are extras and junk that I think's worth it. If there's improved picture quality or sound, I'll snatch it up.
The recent announcement by Paramount sucks. They announced they would cancel the HD DVD release of There Will Be Blood, opting instead for a standard DVD and an eventual but more than likely delayed Blu Ray. Or even worse, a bare bones, weak Blu Ray release. After hording HD DVDs over the past few months, I've really been convinced that right now, it is the better format. That may change once the new Blu Ray players hit this summer and fall. It's funny because they will be adding features found on HD DVD players, the biggest being an ethernet port and on board decoding.
So I still wish that HD version of There Will Be Blood Was coming out. I'm still scrambling for an HD copy of Pan's Labyrinth (even though I heard the Blu-Ray edition was fantastic), the new Justice League movie, I Am Legend and that Assassination of Jesse James movie. I hope the Blu-Ray copy will up to par with what would have certainly been an outstanding HD DVD release. It's almost like Toshiba had their stuff straight with movies more so than Blu-Ray. I don't know, they both came out too early, they needed to get more of their stuff straight. It's just a bummer that one of them will be gone forever because of it.
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