Moonlight Swimmer

Conclusions from 2011

2011-12-23T22:53:00.001-08:00

My first journal entry opens, "2011 began with me on a couch watching a movie alone." And funny, that sums up the year (thanks unemployment).

Final thoughts on 2011: The last five years of my life has consisted of various personal journeys and as it stands now, the things I was most obsessed with are starting to be viewed as things I am starting to feel frustrated by. I am becoming increasingly frustrated by the divisions politics and religion make in people's lives. I wish these subjects weren't as important to people as they make them out to be. There's so much more we can gain from one another.

My family (close and extended) hold various differing political and religious beliefs and yet every year we all get together and enjoy the company of one-another and there are never those fights you hear about when family gets together on holidays, and for this I am thankful, grateful.

My mother and father do not see eye to eye on everything, especially religion, and yet they have one of the strongest and happiest relationships/marriages I know of. They are not together because they both think they will be re-incarnated, or that Muhammed flew on a magical horse to Medina, or Jesus rose from the dead, or anything to do with Ganesha, Lord Shiva, or the coming of a Messiah to re-build the third and final Jewish temple. They love each other and enjoy the company of one another and get pleasure from being around each other, and that sounds pretty good to me.

My parents raised my brother and I on common moral principles, not on dogma. I don't think it was too important what road we were on to come to the conclusions to be decent people who care about others and try to treat others with dignity and respect, but just hoped we would arrive at that destination.

I have too many friends that are atheists and outstanding people to try to suggest they change their lives to fit one of the various religious dogma's and I also have too many friends who are loving and amazing religious people to criticize the beliefs they have that strengthen their character.

I have had some passionate debates about wars, social classes, divinity, and many other political/religious topics, but none of those have brought me as much pleasure as laughing side-by-side with somebody, regardless of their beliefs, and enjoying the company of one-another in the activities of life that actually are a part of day-to-day living.

So 2011, though surely not my favorite year I've ever had by any stretch, you have been another great year of mental inquiry, and we shall continue the adventure in 2012.

2011 in Review

2011-12-23T22:52:00.001-08:00

My 2011 Re-cap:

Top 10 Albums of 2011:

1. Washed Out - Within and Without

2. Bon Iver - Bon Iver

3. Blue Sky Black Death - Noir

4. Chad Valley - Equatorial Ultravox (EP)

5. Cults - Cults

6. A.A. Bondy - Believers

7. Blind Pilot - We Are The Tide

8. Cold Cave - Cherish The Light Years

9. Digitalism - I Love You, Dude

10. Cut Copy - Zonoscope

Honorable Mentions: Active Child, Blackmill, Chain Gang of 1974, The Drums, Dustin O’Halloran, Junior Boys, Memory Tapes, Millionyoung, Raveonettes, Real Estate, The Rosebuds

BIGGEST disappointment: Radiohead.

Top 5 Concerts in alphabetical order:

AA Bondy / Blind Pilot / Chain Gang of 1974 / Dustin O'Halloran / Kings of Convenience

Stand-out Books:

The Brothers K / Native Son / Lolita

Books read: 16 (and probably 18-19 by the end of the year)

Concerts attended: 11

Movies watched: 153 (and it will probably hit around 160)

2010 In Review

2011-12-23T22:50:00.001-08:00

This was my 2010 re-cap:

Read 18 books.

Read 2 short stories.

Watched around 85 movies (waaaaaaay down from previous years).

Went to 24 concerts.

Went to Tokyo, Japan.

Favorite albums.

This was hard, not because there was so much good stuff, there wasn't. It was actually overwhelmingly mediocre which made it hard. I don't even think I can do a Top 10.

Standouts:

Two Door Cinema Club

Tears Run Rings

Toro Y Moi

Groove Armada (very very surprisingly)

Worth Mentioning:

Beach House

Crystal Castles

The National

Phantogram

Radio Dept.

Surfer Blood

The Thermals

Villa Nah

Wild Nothing

Concerts:

A lot of good gigs this year. 10 out of 24 are stand out shows.

AA Bondy @ The Echo

El Perro Del Mar w/ Taken By Trees @ Troubadour

Bear In Heaven @ The Echo

The Antlers @ Detroit Bar

Washed Out @ Echoplex

Two Door Cinema Club @ Bardot

Phoenix / Grizzly Bear / Girls @ Hollywood Bowl

Belle and Sebastian (both shows, Palladium & Hollywood Forever)

Starfucker & Octopus Project @ Echoplex (surprise of the year.)

Honorable mention:

Cold Cave w/ Abe Vigoda @ Detroit Bar

I didn't keep my main New Years goal.

J.D. Salinger died this year.

Weddings, births, and deaths of people I know and knew.

I only wrote in 14 pages of my 2010 Journal, which probably says more about this year than anything else.

Lived in two different apartments.

Revolutionary Road & The Reader

2009-01-15T17:37:00.000-08:00

Two movies featuring Kate Winslet. Both up for awards this year. What I find interesting is Revolutionary Road is a book that is 368 pages and The Reader is a book that is 224 pages, yet The Reader seems like a far more detailed story that would require far more length if you are comparing it to what Revolutionary Road is. It makes me wonder how much was cut out of the novel Revolutionary Road to make the movie. I guess I will have to read and find out. But I was just thinking about that concept. The length of the book in comparison to what ends up on-screen.

I found The Reader to be a more enjoyable movie and it deals with so much stuff over many different periods of time that I was, frankly, shocked to see the novel is only 224 pages. I would have expected it to be far longer. Yet, Revolutionary Road, is a rather simple story all told in a single time period, and a rather brief time period at that, yet it is 368 pages.

Lastly, I had always thought Sam Mendes was gay. I was surprised to hear he was married to Kate Winslet.

Movie Update

2009-01-14T22:22:00.000-08:00

Today I went and saw another three movies. I saw Gran Torino, Doubt, and The Reader. I had not planned on seeing any of those movies until basically yesterday and then I went and saw all of them today.

So, for the Oscars, based on what I'd seen my vote was for The Dark Knight to clean-up (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor). However it now has competition in my book. The Reader and Doubt are unbelievably good. Excellent I would say. Any of those three movies can win anything they want and I shall be happy. Doubt and The Reader can battle it out for Best Adapted Screenplay (hopefully) and The Dark Knight can hopefully take Best Original Screenplay. However, stupid-ass Slumdog Millionaire may ruin all of my hopes for this years Oscars. I'll be seeing Revolutionary Road tomorrow.

So here is the breakdown of what I've seen based on what Entertainment Weekly says you should see before the Oscars. What I've seen will be marked by an asterisk.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button* (Good)
Slumdog Millionaire* (Okay, decent)
Milk* (Good)
Frost/Nixon
The Dark Knight* (Excellent, Exciting)
Doubt* (Excellent, Engaging))
Revolutionary Road (seeing tomorrow)
Wall-E* (Okay)
The Wrestler* (Really Good)
Gran Torino* (Enjoyable, good story, not so great acting, very funny)
The Reader* (Excellent, Amazing)
Rachel Getting Married
Changeling
Vicki Cristina Barcelona* (Enjoyable)
Tropic Thunder* (Okay, funny at moments)
Happy-Go-Lucky
The Visitor
I've Loved You So Long
Frozen River
Nothing But The Truth
Man On Wire
Syncdoche, New York
The Duchess
Defiance
Australia

So I've seen 12 of these, or will have seen twelve tomorrow.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

2009-01-06T17:42:00.001-08:00

Let me start by saying I am going to talk about this movie as if you've seen it, so if you have not seen it you may not wish to read it.

The length of the movie did not bother me and I never wondered what time it was. I don't think it felt like it was as long as it was either.

There are probably a number of things I could say or talk about in regards to this movie but I will just mention a couple things.

The scene where Benjamin and Daisy are falling in love and Daisy is in her early twenties and a dancer and is in a state of just enjoying life, and living freely, that scene to me is great, specifically when she is dancing at night in her red dress. Daisy was throwing herself at Benjamin and Benjamin did not give in to the fling he could have had. Daisy to me was a very unattractive girl in character during that time period and it really says a lot about the age and maturity of a person when you meet them and where they are at in their life when you meet them.

There were a number of scenes that were really hard to watch in the sense of not wanting to shed any tears but when Benjamin is around twenty and he returns to Daisy and his daughter runs into the room is the most heartbreaking scene I have scene in a long time. I couldn't hold back to save my life at that moment.

The idea of being able to change your life at any point and any moment is a nice topic, but... the choice he made to abandon his wife and child... though it is true, he is free and an individual and able to make that choice, I think it is a horrible thing to do. This may be one of the themes of Revolutionary Road which I plan on seeing as well.

Things I did not like about the movie. I do not enjoy movies where they take place in present time on a hospital bed and the entire movie is flashbacks to the past. I understand it as a device to be able to jump through time, but I hate that device. Another thing that bothered me at times was when things would be said or assumed as to how Benjamin would be when he was older but looked so much younger. He would not have had the mind of a child and yet at times things were said and justifications were made as if he would have had the mind of a child. That is not the case, he had the mind of a child when he was a child, he'd still have the mind of an adult when he was older. The only thing that changed that was dementia, but nobody knows that they will get that. Also, why did he shrink to the size of a baby? He was born the size of a baby, you don't go back to being the size of a baby. Under that logic he should have been born 6 ft tall.

Overall, a good movie. It is EXTREMELY emotionally draining though.

Six Days In

2009-01-06T10:37:00.001-08:00

Six days into the New Year. I don't think this will be much of a year for me. We'll see though.

I never make New Year's Resolutions because I figure I'll never keep them. However, I have made a resolution for this year. I am going to try and dress nicer more often. Less black t-shirt and jeans, more collared shirts, etc. Wear shoes other than converse. I would like to exercise as well. I tried that last year but with never having a single day off between school and work I got burnt out on using my free time to drive to the gym and work-out. However, I found out my city has a gym and it costs like $35 for a year! Instead of for each month. I may sign up.

Also, this year I am going to look into going to teach English in Japan. Maybe I'll live there for awhile. Depends on a few things.

I am going to probably see Benjamin Button today.

Best of 2008

2008-12-31T13:22:00.000-08:00

Here is the list I came up with for 2008:

Best Albums:
1. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
2. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (though not 100% a 2008 release)
3. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
4. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
5. Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
6. My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
7. Sigor Ros - Meo Suo i eyrum vio spilum end
8. Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
9. Ladytron - Velocifero
10. The Sea and The Cake - Car Alarm

Best Live Shows:
1. Digitalism at the El Rey
2. Cut Copy at the Echoplex and Glasshouse
3. Radiohead at the Cricket Wireless Ampitheatre

Other Favorites:
1. The Closing Of The American Mind by Allan Bloom (book)
2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (book)
3. The Dark Knight (movie)
4. Let The Right One In (movie)
5. The Wrestler (movie)

**(side note: I only saw three movies in the theater this year, so all three made the list, but they were all great)

The Wrestler

2008-12-31T11:41:00.001-08:00

I went and saw 'The Wrestler' last night. It was a very good movie. It is not a very uplifting movie, but it is good.

Everyone seems to be talking about Mikey Rourke's performance, which I felt was a good performance, he definitely played the character well, but I wondered if had it been a no-name actor if the same attention would have been paid. I felt Evan Rachel Wood's performance was very well done.

Christians Offer Beauty At Christmas; Atheists Offer Nihilism

2008-12-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

(from a radio transcript)

And I now see what the reference is to. I was thinking, I still responded, of course, but I have more of a response now. This Olympia, Washington...this is from the atheists joining the Nativity scene and tree. An atheist group has unveiled an anti-religion placard in the state capitol joining a Christian Nativity scene and "holiday tree" on display during December. The atheist sign was installed Monday by Washington members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national group based, shockingly, in Madison, Wisconsin, the Berkeley of the Midwest. With a nod to the Winter Solstice, the year's shortest day occurring in late December, the placard reads in part, "there is only one natural world, religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Now this is a good example of how what a bad, bad representation these atheist activists do for their own movement. There is almost, I mean, it's disgusting that it hast to be put up, but whether or not it does, I won't debate the legality. I just want you to understand that whereas the message of the religious symbols are purely beautiful, both aesthetically and morally, the atheist message is just filled with propaganda and hate. Just know that. And it's...not all atheists are on the left, but these are, and it is typical of the left. It is far better at destroying than of constructing. It doesn't offer something beautiful except an imaginary beautiful future somewhere down the line. It doesn't offer an alternative to the Boy Scouts. It just knows how to destroy the Boy Scouts, the left. It doesn't offer an alternative to religion except its own religion, which is left wing politics. But there's no beauty.

Now if the atheists want to put up an atheist tree or an atheist symbol of the Winter Solstice, a beautiful picture of the shortest day of the year in some way, that's fine. But they have no beauty to offer. They just have contempt. That's it. Religion enslaves minds? It was the religious mind, in fact, that opened the mind to opposing slavery, just to use the word enslave as an example here. Religion enslaves minds?

The religious people put up something beautiful, whether it's a Nativity scene or it's a menorah, or whether it's a Christmas tree. It's something beautiful. It's all positive, it's all beautiful, whether you share its belief or not. The atheists have nothing beautiful to put up. What are they going to put up? A picture of nothing? After all, that's what they believe in, theologically anyway. There is nothing out there, so they should have a picture of nothing. But if they want to celebrate nature, fine. They should put up a beautiful picture of a solstice. I'm not kidding. But they're not interested in beauty. They're interested in destruction. They're angry. The angry should never run any movement. Not a healthy group of people, this, what is it? Freedom From Religion, yes, very important book. Yup, yup, yup.

And then of course there is this other story about the woman who wanted an impeach Bush decoration for the Christmas tree at the White House. I tell you, the left, they're really beautiful. Why didn't the right ever do these things? I don't get it. Because they're too busy living their lives. They don't...the meaning of their lives, by and large, doesn't derive from anger, from willing desire to destroy institutions.

But this one is amazing. I mean, if this is a giveaway about this Freedom From Religion group, that it has nothing to offer. The religions have a beautiful symbol, and all they have is anti-religion. But remember, the religious folks didn't put up anything anti-atheist, right? They didn't have a sign that said Stalin was an atheist, the greatest mass murderer in history. Excuse me, the two greatest, Stalin and Mao were atheists. Or that with the collapse of Christianity in Europe, we got Nazism and communism. They should do that now.

Justifying Evil

2008-12-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

(Transcript from a radio show):

How Bad People Justify Evil

Sunday, September 14, 2008 at 7:08 PM

Carl: I’m a psychologist here in Philadelphia, and I work with prison inmates. And I wanted to answer your question, or raise a question, either one, on what would possess someone to fly a plane into a building. And what I’m finding is, and this is consistent, and I’ve been doing this for fifteen years now, guys who do terrible things, in order to have the ability to do those things, to justify them in their mind, they don’t see themselves as doing something evil or mean.

DP: Right.

Carl: So human beings are basically capable of anything if they can find the right justification for their behavior.

DP: That’s right. Well said, Carl. That’s right.

Carl: So yeah…

DP: So when you work with inmates, let’s say a guy has gone into a home and murdered one of the people during a burglary. How does he justify it?

Carl: He would say something like he was just trying to survive.

DP: Okay, very good. That’s helpful.

Carl: Yes, it wasn’t his intention to kill anyone. Circumstances dictated after he got in. It’s almost like the proverbial alcoholic who’s going to the sports stadium, but he stopped at the bar on the way to the sports stadium to get cigarettes, and he went up to the bar to get change for cigarettes, and that’s when he started drinking again. It’s always like a stepwise process to get to a certain end. So they necessarily kind of compartmentalize their behaviors in their mind, but there’s always a justification for each step in their behavior.

DP: All right, but…and how does he defend or justify, which is a more appropriate word given what you’re saying, his original burglary?

Carl: I would…they had more than I did, I had less, therefore I deserved it, and they would have had insurance, or they would have had something to compensate them, and it wouldn’t hurt them in any way at all, so why not?

DP: Carl, one of the most helpful calls I ever received.

Carl: Thank you, a pleasure.

DP: Thank you very, very much. That’s right. That’s exactly right. And you know what the lesson of all that is? The lesson of all that is how important it is to have an objective moral code, because once you rely on your own thinking alone and your own heart, you can justify anything. And that’s why I worry for the breakdown of the Judeo-Christian value system, because I don’t trust the human heart.

Work Party

2008-12-29T10:27:00.000-08:00

Last night my work had their Christmas Party. It was a nice evening of food and fun. One of my favorite co-workers is pregnant and she could not drink, which she quite enjoys doing, so I also spent the night not drinking (so she wouldn't feel left-out) while everyone else got toasty, or bombed.

We had some good Chinese food and played some pool and other games. A very enjoyable night. We also road around the town in some converted school bus that one of our co-workers owns when he does tours. It was very cool.

I won a gift certificate and a Jesus & Mary Chain box-set which is AWESOME!!!

A personal note.

2008-12-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

I had a boy come up to me and ask me if I could recommend some music similar ro Depeche Mode for him. I was a little surprised, but happy that a young skater-looking kid was finding the joy in 80's synth music. I started naming off some other bands and then asked him what style of music he was trying to find. He responded, "I'm just trying to find something my mom would like."

I wasn't too excited back when I turned thirty, as I started to realize I was getting older. But when now my musical taste is being compared to teenagers parents taste, I know I am getting old.

Christmas

2008-12-25T00:33:00.000-08:00

Well, it's officially Christmas right now. I spent my Christmas eve reading about Catholicism and the fallacies of Christianity. Also did a little reading on the history of the world.

Anyway, so here is what is interesting about Christmas time. I hate shopping (not just Christmas, always) and I try to avoid it at all costs and I enjoy avoiding it because I am not tempted to buy anything and I save money that I can't afford to waste. Then, Christmas comes around and I have to venture out into the world, the retail world. I start looking for things to buy people and as I am looking I start noticing that I am lugging bags around malls or shopping centers, yet I mysteriously have not even bought anyone a gift yet. How does this happen?

Next, with no luck at the outdoor retail locations, I hit the internet and start browsing and I see a jacket or shirt or sale that is going on, and I think... oh, I would like that, maybe I can find so-and-so a gift while I try on that sweater at that store. I leave without the sweater, but I did find a nice jacket that I bought, and I am still trying to find Christmas gifts for people. Finally, about 36 hours before Christmas day, I buy gifts for everyone, and everywhere I go is within a one-mile radius of everywhere else I need to go, or am willing to go for the people I love.

Merry Christmas, I have a new wardrobe.

The Alchemist

2008-12-18T15:12:00.001-08:00

I came across this book about a year ago in a stack of books that were being given away. It had crossed my path several times and I had heard rumblings of the book and so I decided to take it and read it. Time went by and it sat on my shelf and then a friend of mine got it for herself and said it was great, and so I took it from my shelf and opened it.

The book is a very simple tale and is not what people in the past had explained it to be. I was told it summed up all the philosophies of the world, and so that interested me. It is not that book. It is a simple tale of a young man who decides to follow his heart and do with his life what he has always wanted to do. Very simple. It may speak to you if you have held yourself back from going after something in life you wanted. This book had the same effect Into The Wild (the book and movie) had on me, but I enjoyed Into The Wild way more than I enjoyed this book, maybe because it was realistic and not fantasy.

It's a quick read, but it does present a philosophy of life that I do not believe in. The idea of everything is everything, we are all one and everything that exists is equal to you... the, "we are all stardust" type of belief. It seems like a good book to motivate somebody to take that journey, but not a good book for somebody who is looking for any sort of answers to life or searching for a personal philosophy to live by.

Jon Stewart show and Gay Marriage

2008-12-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

Somebody sent me this video of Jon Stewart and Mike Huckabee discussing gay marriage:

This is my response:

Social conservatives do not want to keep homosexuals from “buying in” to the stable relationships that heterosexual people have, as Jon Stewart suggests. They do encourage stable and single partner committed relationships, and they believe homosexuals should have every single legal right that heterosexuals have, it’s just that a man being with a woman or a woman being with a man is different than a man being with a man and a woman being with a woman. Because it is different, they just feel it should have a different defining term. But all the legal rights should be granted.

Now, Mike Huckabee brings up an issue that I don’t feel has any relevance to the question he is asked. He brings up procreation. The fact that men and women are what make babies seems to have nothing to do with allowing homosexuals equal legal rights.

Huckabee mentions the tradition of marriage and upholding what marriage has always been. Jon brings up side-factors such as polygamy, women being property, the ban on inter-racial marriage… though these are aspects that have been in the marriage union, marriage has still always been an opposite sex union. In polygamy, men always married women, when women were property, they were always the property of men and though blacks could not marry whites, they could marry the opposite sex of the same race.

Now, Mike Huckabee says if you change the definition you have to accommodate all lifestyles and then he brings up allowing a man to marry twenty-seven wives like with what happened in Texas. Allowing one homosexual to marry another homosexual does not mean allowing one man to marry twenty-seven women. However, I do understand his fear of the “slippery slope” of legalizing to accommodate every individuals desire, but that is not what is being argued about and that is a separate debate.

Jon Stewart brings up equality and suggest Huckabee says in his book that allowing same-sex marriage is corrosive to society, I can not comment on if that is the case as I have not read Huckabee’s book, but the United States is not about equality. The fact that Huckabee may say in his book all people are created equal does not therefore mean from the moment of birth on all things will be equal for all people.

Jon then saying, “well, then what if you make it that Hispanics can’t vote” has no relation to the issue of same-sex marriage. The US Constitution gives all people the right to vote, provided you are a citizen and have not committed a felony; the US Constitution does not give all people the right to marry.

Now, the issue that Jon brings up about the difference in belief of what gay people are is a great point. Some people feel sexuality is a choice and some people feel it is biological. And the problem with this debate is there is no evidence supporting either side of the issue. I have known people who said they have chosen homosexuality and I have known people who say they have not chosen homosexuality and were born that way. So, here you have two different view points that can not be resolved and that is an issue that will make this conversation a tuff sell to some people who believe homosexuality is a choice, or influenced by environmental factors.

Jon says that it’s a travesty that gay people are being made to have to make the case that they deserve the same equal rights. If that were the case I would agree with him, but from what I am hearing and reading, people are not trying to deny them any legal rights, they are actually willing to grant them legal rights (all of them). The battle is over what the term for gay unions will be, or rather, it’s social conservatives saying the one term it won’t be, marriage. But the rights, they can have.

Again, Huckabee brings up raising the next generation and says to make the next generation you need the chromosomes of a man and woman to do that. That has nothing to do with the issue. The issue isn’t over who has the right to breed. Jon responds to this by bringing up gay parents vs. straight parents and this is an issue that I feel deserves more attention than this marriage issue. Gays should be given these rights and they should come soon. But, what happened in Arkansas, where a law was passed that is now going to stop unmarried people from adopting, which means gay people can no longer raise children, is an issue that deserves more attention than this Prop 8 issue.

Men and Women

2008-12-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

Was listening to a discussion about men and women today, here's some of what I heard.

Men:

Mono-focused on the present

Have 3 points of focus, 1. What they're getting, 2. What they're trying to get, 3. What they need but have given up on getting. When a man has given up on what he is trying to get in a relationship it is when he leaves the relationship.

Men have three needs, 1. admiration and appreciation, 2. a physical relationship (this is how a man knows the woman loves him, a woman can say she loves him until she's blue in the face but the physical relationship is what seals it for the man), 3. for the woman to be happy (when a woman is happy it shines from her and the man feels great about it, when she is not happy the man feels responsible for her unhappiness). A man can go without any of these three things he needs but will leave the relationship when he decides he will no longer go without one of them.

Believe that what they need is already known and won't say it because there is no need in stating the obvious.

Women:

diffuse awareness (multi-directional focus, past, present, future and how they interplay).

Focus on what's missing.

Feel a man will only love and protect them if they are "perfect" to that man.

Self-criticize so much that they can't take criticism from their man.

Use their bodies to compete with other women.

A woman will leave a relationship if she loses affinity and respect for the man. When a woman loses her affinity and respect for the man she stops feeling safe and can't count on him to care for her. Women need to ask themselves what their husband is doing to cause this loss of affinity or respect and also ask husband if there is anything he needs from her that he is not getting from her..

Women need a man who is responsible, has integrity, is dependable, and is a provider.

Other things mentioned:

Women want men to be responsible and accountable and will ask for a mans insight but will emasculate him in her response to his answer if it is not the answer she wants.

Men focus on what is there. Women focus on what is not there. Men do not compare women to the pictures they see. Men are just focusing on what is there that they like but women (who focus on what is not there) feel men are looking at the images and focusing on what is not in themselves. This is not the case.

Zelig

2008-12-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

This Woody Allen film is presented as a documentary that supposedly uses archival footage from the 1920's. Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen) has a fear of not being liked by people and as a result he pretends he like whatever anyone else likes. As a result he literally starts becoming whomever he is talking to. If he's with musicians, he becomes a musician. If he's around black people, he becomes black. Around fat people, he becomes fat.

Leonard Zelig ends up in a mental institution and is studied for awhile but everyone but one doctor, Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow), gives up on him. Eudora has to hypnotize Leonard to get him to reveal his inner-self. Leonard becomes a cultural icon and is eventually thrust into fame. However, eventually his past comes back to haunt him and the public turns on him, as a result he begins to become the chameleon he once was. Eventually things turn around for him again and as a result he comes to the conclusion that people should be whoever they are inside and not try to be like anyone else and that love can change you and bring out who you really are.

Some thoughts on the movie:

In the movie Leonard was raised in a religious Jewish family and was led by the Jewish belief system but when Leonard sits next to his father who is on his deathbed, Leonard is told that there is no God. The result is that Leonard comes to believe life is meaningless. So, if you take the religious structure of God, then man, then animals... and you remove God, what does man have to look to? Well, the next thing on the list, man. So, Leonard directs all his effort to being like man, he is "other-directed". When Leonard reverts back to his "other-directed" self due to embarassing circumstances he ends up falling in with the most famous "other-directed" crowd, the Nazi's (people who blindly follow somebody else). So what is the message? God is dead, life is meaningless, find value in yourself, look inside for meaning. But if everyone looks into themselves with nothing to look to as an example, what type of world are you creating? Everyone will find something different in themselves and not all of it will be good.

Another somewhat amusing factor is that Leonard is trying to be like everyone else. However, though he is trying to be like everyone else, everyone else becomes obsessed with Leonard and start to try to be like him, but then he's trying to be like them, it's a vicious cycle.

Overall, the movie is okay, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Prepare your Best of 2008 lists!!!!

2008-12-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

2008 is coming to a close and the Top 10 lists are going to surface. Here are the albums i must choose from:

Atlas Sound - Let The Blind Lead...
Bauhaus - Go Away White
Beck - Modern Guilt
Benji Hughes - A Love Extreme
Black Angeles - Directions To See A Ghost
Bloc Party - Intimacy
Blue Sky Black Death - Late Night Cinema
Bodies Of Water - A Certain Feeling
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
Brendan Canning - Something For All Of Us
Brian Jonestown Massacre - My Bloody Underground
Cat Power - Jukebox
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
Constantines - Kensington Heights
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
The Cure - 4:13 Dream
Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
Dandy Warhols - Earth To The Dandy Warhols
Daniel Martin Moore - Stray Age
Dead Meadow - Old Growth
Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
Deerhunter - Microcastle
Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea...
Envy/Thursday - Split CD
The Faint - Fascination
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Foals - Antidotes
Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
Ghostland Observatory - Robotique Majestique
Gregor Samsa - Rest
Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy
Haley Bonar - Big Star
The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
Hercules And The Love Affair - Self-Titled
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Hot Chip - Made In The Dark
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
Joseph Arthur - Vagabond Skies
Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
Ladytron - Velocifero
Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of Understatement
Local H - 12 Angry Months
Loquat - Secrets Of The Sea
M83 - Saturdays = Youth
Mates Of State - Re-arrange Us
Moby - Last Night
Mogwai - Hawk Is Howling
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping
One For The Team - Build It Up
Pacific! - Reveries
Portishead - Third
The Presets - Apocalypso
The Rosebuds - Life Like
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology
The Sea & The Cake - Car Alarm
She & Him - Volume One
Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum end
Sons & Daughters - This Gift
Spiritualized - Songs In A&E
Starfucker - Starfucker
The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
The Submarines - Honeysuckle Weeks
The Subways - All Or Nothing
Supreme Beings Of Leisure - 11i
Tapes N Tapes - Walk It Off
Tilly And The Wall - O
The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
The Toadies - No Deliverance
Van She - V
The Verve - Forth
The Walkmen - You and Me
The Watson Twins - Fire Songs
Whispertown 2000 - Swim

Bonjour Tristesse

2008-11-27T16:16:00.001-08:00

This movie was rather interesting. When the movie is in the present-tense it's in black and white (dark, sad) and when the main character reflects on the past it is in color (bright, joy).

Cecile is seventeen and vacationing on the French Riviera with her father who is a womanizer. Both characters live in an a-moral, do as you please, world. Then one day Cecile's father has one of his female friends come to visit who does not share these "free-spirit" values. The father becomes enamored with his friend and because she is not so "free-spirited" decides to marry her. Her presence brings in a moral value system of which Cecile has grown up without and rejects. Cecile, determined to live her self-centered life of self-determined values plots to destroy the relationship between her father and his fiancee. Only after her success of destroying this "moral overseer" does she fall into a realm of somewhat meaningless despair.

Brilliant film.

Of Montreal in Los Angeles

2008-11-26T00:27:00.000-08:00

Jeff Weiss reports, "If you were a 17-year-old, sexually confused kid on ecstasy, it stands within reason that Saturday night's show at the Palladium would've ranked as one of the greatest moments of your entire life."

How could I have forgotten how completely amazing an Of Montreal concert was? I almost didn't care if I went or not when the night rolled around. What a joy to have seen them again. So amazing. There were some lulls as they played for 2 hours but still, great. Ended the show with 'Take Me Out' by Franz Ferdinand and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana.

Movie: Weekend -Jean Luc-Godard

2008-11-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

I absolutely LOVED this movie. It was so insane. This movie is an attack on bourgeois. You can see that Godard is play favors to the communist ideal, which I don't agree with but the attack on commercialism and capitalism is great and entertaining, very entertaining and absolutely insane.

The main actors in the movie, a husband and wife, are trying to get to Oinville to kill the wife's father and get his inheritance. However, the husband hopes to kill his wife after they get the inheritance. It's all about trying to build your own personal wealth with complete disregard for anyone else and the couple has no regard for anyone in this movie as you will see. Loved it!

Picture of the day:

Post Twelve

2008-11-15T10:29:00.000-08:00

Listening to: Milli Vanilli

Dream: When I awoke this morning it was right after having a dream about this Swedish band that was on Conan O'Brien. When their performance ended Conan realized the drummer wasn't playing the drums for real and noticed the singer/guitarist had his guitar plugged into his phone and the phone was streaming a sound signal from somewhere which made it sound like he was really playing the guitar. Then Conan did some kind of skit to make fun of the band.

I don't know what that dream has to do with anything, but maybe that's why I am listening to Milli Vanilli right now.

Anywhere I go on the net I am seeing ads for the new James Bond movie. I had given up on this series but after the last movie I was back in because it was soooo good. But I am reading bad reviews of the new one which scares me.

(Movie) Let The Right One In

So last night I went and saw this movie, Let The Right One In. This film was made in Norway (which may be why I was dreaming about a band of Swedish people). So this is a vampire movie, but it is not really like any vampire movie I have seen before. It was actually REALLY good. However it was long, too long, and too slow. That is my only complaint. The movie could do with some editing and pacing improvements, but outside of that I loved it.

Essentially there is this lonely kid who has no friends and gets picked on at school. Then this man and ummm, well, lets say, twelve year old person move in next door and there are a couple killings that start going on (not by the vampire). The lonely boy and the 12-year-old neighbor meet and form a bond. A lot of the movie focuses on this budding relationship and family life and struggling with peers at school. But at the same time, this 12-year-old is having to kill people to stay alive. It's really interesting. The sound effects were cool. I love that there's no priest and crucifixes or holy water type of stuff. Well done film and I guess the U.S. is re-making the film because IMDB shows a release date for 2009 and Fandango shows a release date for January 2010. I hope they pick up the pace in the new one. The movie is two hours but feels longer.

Image of the day:

Post Four

2008-11-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

Listening to: Gregor Samsa

Movie: The Free Will

Summary: When a convicted rapist (Jürgen Vogel) takes a job at a German print shop, he befriends the owner's daughter (Sabine Timoteo), a young woman who's been sexually abused by her father, and an intense but complicated bond forms between them. Matthias Glasner directs this Tribeca Film Festival selection that explores the boundaries of an unconventional romance between a former victimizer and one who's been victimized.

I found this to be quite an interesting film. It made me think about the power of a man's sexual nature and what if you could not control it. I wish I could know what a female thought of the female's role in this movie. How relatable it may be. This movie is a German film that is nearly three hours long, and the subject matter may not be for everyone. At times you wish the best for the man of this film, but I enjoy that the film does not try to get you to sympathize for the man, after all, he is a rapist. The movie also does not try to tell you why this man is like he is, which I appreciate. They just present you with what he is. This is a movie I'd love to watch with a few people and then get their thoughts on it after it was over.

Picture of the day:

Post Three

2008-11-11T20:49:00.000-08:00

Listening to: Cut Copy

Well, the new World Series Of Poker winner has been crowned. Congrats Peter Eastman. What I love most is that he has broken a record held by Phil Hellmuth, whom I can't stand.

So, my friend Michelle emailed me today. She moved away to San Francisco to bring some change and adventure to her life. She was having fun in San Francisco, then took a trip to England, and today I received this from her:

"I am actually in New Zealand at the moment - I just arrived here Monday by boat. I had been going around the South Pacific for the past 5ish weeks on a sailboat and I'm here now. I'll probably stay here for a month or so - see what's up with the kiwis... then maybe to Australia for awhile. Then I think I'll be back in the states - that was the original plan at least."

I am SO jealous of her. She went for it. We went and saw 'Into The Wild' together because we both have a passion to just travel around, but I keep having excuses not to go. School, work, whatever. Here's somebody who said "I'm doing it" and she did.

I am in the process of watching the movie 'The Free Will'. I will discuss it when I am done watching it. It's quite interesting.

Today I filled out my application to substitute teach. I will mail it in tomorrow.

GOOD NEWS!!! Cut Copy is doing three nights in Los Angeles in March. YES!!! I will try to be at all three shows. They are my FAV-OR-ITE!!!

Looks like there's a full-moon out tonight. It's great to think my friends around the world are all able to look up and see the same beauty.

Picture of the day:

Post One

2008-11-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well, here is my new blog. What a waste of time.

Today: Sunday, a work day for me.
Listening to: Ambulance LTD

I am getting close to the end of this school semester. I am working on a single-subject teaching credential.

I am in the progress of putting together my application to get an MA in Political Science.

I need to find a new job. I am spending three times more than I earn. (note: it means I make VERY little, I don't spend a lot)

Picture of the day: