The Hall Of Marks...

I just saw a guy acting on a TV show Midnight Masquarade (sp?) that seemed like a 3-D cartoon.  His voice was snakeoil-smooth, his hair looked like it came out of Chicago Int'l Airport and he walked like Robocop.
The rest of the cast looked and gave off the feel of not having much to offer.  A lot of people in real life give off such a vibe, based more on people's stereotypes and misconceptions about the nature of human beings, but a movie is a bit different - when someone in real life tells you something, you have no idea what to make of it - how much of it is embellished, exaggerated, or flat out untrue?  When someone says something in a movie, it's true.  If it isn't, you find out that it isn't at some point, usually soon after the lie is told, unless it's a murder mystery, and then of course the film just strings you along until the end.
A list actors are ones that have the unique ability to speak to the audience without saying a single word.  Soap operas and Hallmark TV movies have gained popularity the same way Bill Clinton, George Bush (both of 'em) and Barack Obama did - they make a plea to the country to lower expectations, when expectations are already lowered to begin with.  George Bush said "You may not like me, but at least you know what I stand for".  Barack Obama pleaded with people to trust him, because trust is key.  Both politicians betrayed this country before their first term was up and both got re-elected.  Bill Clinton's impeachment is often argued as having been insignificant and a minor slip up.  And it is.  But the FBI was investigating Clinton years before he became president.  Same with Obama.  Investigations don't always mean something.  But they usually do.  If they didn't, then law enforcement would be a total waste of time and money.  And if that were true, society would be a total wreck.  I'm sure within almost every level of law enforcement, there is a person within who tries and sometimes succeeds at blockading the efforts of good.  The DEA would be a lot more successful at its efforts if this were not the case.  Even the FBI would be more successful.  But the Italian mafia no longer wields power over the streets of New York.  As more and more people live distracted and busy lives, our city counsels have put in stop lights at more and more intersections to help people avoid car crashes that sometimes lead to death.  And despite the growing popularity of illegal drugs, the DEA does *try* to do its job of limiting the flow of drugs.  And the NSA, although a violation of privacy by nature, does get funded to try and stop terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and abroad.  And there have been, as reported on mainstream television news, at least a couple of planned attacks thwarted by the gov't.  And that "doomsday" internet shutdown from a year or two ago DID NOT HAPPEN because the FBI did its job and stopped it.  Yes, there's laws that give rich constituents special treatment.  Many of those laws predate my mother and father.  And because of reckless D.C. politicians, Medicare and Social Security will eventually cease to be.  And this entire nation may eventually have its debt paid by the Antichrist, or, as an Atheist or a Buddhist might prophesize, this nation may end up being taken over by China, which would be more predictable, assuming ISIS doesn't come off with a full on invasion...which, IMO, is a little more likely given China's diplomatic stance with the U.S. - they sure seem a lot more willing to cooperate with us than Russia - vs. ISIS' sheer hatred of non-Muslin people ESPECIALLY "Americans" (citizens of the USA).
But back to what I was saying, before I felt I had to explain my startling trust in law enforcement
- just because something is popular doesn't make it ideal.  Does ANYONE still rave about 1997's 11xAcademy Award winning action/drama TITANIC???  That movie stood as the TOP GROSSING film according to people that get sick of citing GONE WITH THE WIND as being just that when you factor in inflation, up until AVATAR outdid it (which, again, isn't fair because movie ticket prices have skyrocketed in that time whereas minimum wage hasn't really).  And don't tell me it sold so well because it was the only good movie that came out that decade.  FORREST GUMP stands as a modern classic and the peanut gallery saying "It's not believable" have no leg to stand on.  It's like saying GHOSTBUSTERS isn't believable.  Which a lot of people did say that, but not in regards to the giant roll of food filled with intent to kill, but because Bill Murray's character didn't have as much gunk on him as the rest of the cast members did after the Ghostbusters defeated the giant food-man.
  So is it better just b/c MORE people like it, even if they don't LOVE it?  I can tell you firmly that after all these years, I LOVE Forrest Gump.  I never did like TITANIC, and having no friends at school to tell me they were going to "unfriend" me if I said so, I was not ashamed to admit my confusion over the hype surrounding the movie.  I finally did try watching it around 2003(?), but I turned it off after less than 20 minutes into it, not having gotten "Far enough" into the film to find the beginning of the story taking place.  There was WAY too much "prologue" - which if I remember correctly was like 5 minutes or so of divers finding the ship in the ocean and bringing it up, then there was this excruciatingly drawn out scene of some old lady talking.  And this is in addition to the necessary set up of the story itself, which rarely is "all that", and usually is just an excuse to tell the end of the story, which is almost always where the most memorable scenes come from.  99% of my movie watching time is spent looking for a movie that has a beginning and middle that makes the 5 minutes that make up "the end" actually peak my interest.  Someone complained about my condemnation of John Carpenter's "come back" THE WARD.  They said I couldn't say nothin' without having seen the ending.  They seemed utterly confused when I told them I didn't care how it ended.  Part of that may have been my own fault, granted it's a supernatural (horror) movie and I don't usually find myself scared by things like ghosts and stupid horror movie staples of that sort.  Telekinesis, ESP, ghosts, invisible forces, none of that scares me.  Yes, it would be worrisome if I saw it happening in front of my eyes because I have not seen it actually happening before and I've always been informed that it was only something that happened in the movies.  I know it's not true, I know God is capable of things beyond imagination and before I believed in God, I did not discredit people's UFO and ghost sightings.  I didn't believe them without a doubt, but I didn't try to tell myself or them that it was a figment of their imagination or that they were crazy or they saw something else that looked like a UFO or ghost, even though obviously many things can be perceived as UFOs.  It's the people who claim to have been abducted by aliens that I'm interested in.  DO all of these people suffer from mental illness?  Do the ones that don't suffer from mental illness have some reason for imagining all of these crazy things?  In THE EXORCST, the psychiatrists involved in the possessed girls' case believed she was suffering from guilt over her parents' separation.  Of course, the author of the book was writing a fictionalized account of a real life exorcism that he'd read about, but as out of it as these psychiatrists seem to be, how is that any more out of it than the mere existence of mental illness, which can often take the shape of things most people don't understand?  And obviously, either The Bible is true or it isn't.  If you believe these alien abductee's testimony, you're not reading your bible very closely.  Perhaps demons are making these people hallucinate?  Again, there may be some guilt factor or some trauma that prompts these elaborate hallucinations.  The concept of an exorcism is not against The Bible, but it's very different than what is shown in THE EXORCIST, as William Peter Blatty is a Catholic, and I don't believe the Protestants protested The Church for any small reason(s).  It is possible that demons have possessed and exited human bodies for the same reason demons try and discourage people from doing anything righteous.  The presence of a Catholic official may or may not intimidate a demon.  Catholics, the lower level ones, some of them, do have good hearts and very good intent, and their Bible is somewhat similar to the protestant bible, and it used to the identical before the protestants existed, so maybe the heart of a demon is a little frightened of Catholic robes and such.  I mean, the demons are eternal.  They don't breed.  The sheer memory of when the catholic church was pure, or mostly so, is probably still fresh in the minds of the demons.  And they keep using words like God and Jesus - even if the Catholic understanding of those words is limited and obscured by various other idols - and The Bible states demons are afraid of God; there's a passage where Jesus commands a demon out of the body of a man, and they ask Jesus if they can enter the bodies of some pigs nearby.  I suppose anything is technically possible, but I also believe Jesus could have killed those demons.  He is God in the flesh.  Yes, I know, there's a lot that he's Not doing, probably because the sins of mankind keep him from seeing our needs.  And people do ask for a lot that is not needed and is counter productive.  Prayers to win the lottery go against "the love of money is the root of all evil", prayers for God to strike down your enemy go against "love they enemy" - God provides what is needed.  And sometimes what people need is a good kick in the ass.  Yet people continue to whine and complain.  And yes, there are people starving in the world.  Their death is a door to a better life, a better world.  And it is a tragedy that so many "Christians" rebuke the idea of letting this be known to civilizations that have not yet heard The Good News.
Again, I got soooo off topic....but yeah.  The ending of a movie that doesn't start off on the right foot is irrelevant.  In a lot of cases, it's just me being too grim headed or not in the mood or just incapable of wrapping my mind around it, but there is a difference between a movie that is good and a movie that isn't.  If you believe that Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton are both Good, then obviously you're freakin' crazy and you don't know enough to warrant having an opinion.  Obviously, most democrats hate Nixon, whereas Republicans' choose Clinton as their villain.  Which means political parties are meaningless.  Unless of course the "meaning" of political parties is to bicker and whine about the other side and avoid getting anything done.  The important thing in politics is the individual.  Each individual voter can interpret Democrat to mean various things.  Same thing with Republican.  Some people hate Republicans because of their affiliation with Christianity.  Some people hate Republicans because of their affiliation with rich people.  Some people hate Republicans because of their affiliation with guns.  All of those three things are common complaints from Democrats.  They are not the same complaint though and although it may be common to hate Republicans for all three of those reasons, it's not a scientific fact that all Democrats hate rich people, Christians and guns.  There's no concrete rationale for either one of those hatreds of Republicans, because despite a lot of misunderstanding and misuse of The Bible, Christianity is not Evil.  Despite a lot of connotations that people hate about guns, it is the person holding the gun that makes all the difference and society needs to do a better job at making sure our young people understand the value of human life and how to safely use guns against those who mean us harm.  And despite people's lack of understanding on the complexities of the economy, not giving 90% of your money to the poor and needy is not a crime against anybody and in fact strengthens the economy as it currently is.  Without Capitalism, rich people would never have gotten where they are today and there'd be no wealth TO distribute!  People, of all income brackets, need to do a better job of accepting their lot in life, or improving it when/if they can.
But again, back to my main topic - only if... - too much junk out there, too many people without a sense of style, without a sense of purpose.  Too many minds without heart, too many hearts without mind.  Art - graceful in approach, stimulating to the brain, and worth your time and money - has become archaic.  Reality TV, tabloid magazines, movies that have absolutely no business being made in the first place being heralded by critics and audiences alike and, as always, Hallmark Channel original movies and TV shows - yes, it's not Reality TV, yes it's not tabloid trash.  It's actually filled with nice people saying nice things to each other.  Perhaps we could use more of that in our own lives.  People who watch movies 24/7 don't have anyone to say nice things to.  But for those with a life actually worth living, how about watching ONE movie per week (less is good), and turning off the TV if all you can stomach is a formulaic cartoonish portrayal of romance?  If you can't meet face to face, there's always the telephone.  And now there's Skype!  And Facebook...

ghost of ghostbusters (blu ray)

Wow.  I feel a hole in my soul.
GHOSTBUSTERS and GHOSTBUSTERS II came out on Blu ray on the 16th.  I've not only not yet bought it, but I have no immediate plans to.  I'm not even sure I want to.  The transfer is supposedly vastly improved, which is more of a big deal to those who are looking for a "True Blu" experience rather than those, like me, who noticed some serious room for improvement when watching the Amazon Instant Video presentation.  I was watching some of it a few days ago, at night, and didn't notice anything wrong w/ it though.  I don't know if Amazon swapped my old digital copy w/ an upgraded version or what...it may have just been that I wasn't continuously watching the screen enough to really notice...
Anyway; I bought GBII on Instant Video @ Amazon earlier this month, on a whim, b/c A) I already owned GHOSTBUSTERS on Instant Video (via Amazon), and it was on sale for $8, which, compared to buying the twofer, was $10+ cheaper, although it was actually more like $5 or $6 cheaper, since BestBuy has it for $18 + tax, and I have a $5 off manufacturer's coupon, which makes it...a little under $15 w/ tax, vs. $8 = $7 apprx.  Eh, close enough...maybe...
The whole idea of owning media (cds, dvds primarily) lost its meaning a long time ago.  Its appeal had remained long after though - I'd buy something "cool" or quasi-useful, and get rid of it shortly after.  I tried to hold onto my CDs for as long as I could.  I think I broke a record w/ the umpteenth copy of Phil Collins' NO JACKET REQUIRED - I bought it in December or late November of 2012, and just got rid of it about a week ago.  That's **almost** two years !!!!!  Gosh, yes, I'm pathetic.
I got rid of a bunch of other CDs at that same time or thereabouts.  I just don't see the point in owning 8-12 songs by the same band that I rarely want to listen to.  You can fill a 30-CD holder rather quickly doing that.  This "artistic achievement" and that "emotionally charged" album, and before you know it, you've bought just about everything you've ever had the presence of mind to stop and look at.  Truth is, "Losing Your Memory" by Ryan Star is the greatest song I've ever heard, and I discovered that about 2 years ago and have been sick of it for at least the past year now.  Matthew Mayfield's "Element" comes close.  I tell Pandora radio to play a station based on those two songs and they start playing every "adult alternative" song in existence.  The Fray and The Script are OK.  The Fray are more of an "album" band, with one or two, maybe three, songs that come across as being stand-alone achievements that I'm not sick to death of by now.  The Script have a large handful of songs that range from "A-Ok" to "Great", but only two or three that are great, and I'm sick of those now, too.  Vertical Horizon's EVERYTHING YOU WANT was a good CD, I think there's a reason the band hasn't replicated the success of it, and that album offers a hint as to why.  It's just not **that** good.  It's got little pockets of greatness and a bunch of serviceable-if-you-don't-expect-it songs, but repeat listening isn't something I can do much of with that album.  The song "Everything You Want" was a great song that took a lot longer to get overplayed than other songs.  But it did eventually get overplayed and I'm still sick of it.  I guess I shouldn't say "sick" of it, it's just boring.  I've heard it so many times, it's nothing more than a late 90's/early 00's nostalgia song.  I have no reason to feel nostalgic when I hear that particular song.  That's probably because there was absolutely nothing going on in my life that's the least bit noteworthy.  I tend to feel what I would consider nostalgia about songs that I hadn't heard in a while.  I went like 5 years without listening to Aerosmith's ROCKS.  Then I heard "Combination" and suddenly it was like I was transported to another time and place.  Same deal when I heard "Long Long Way To Go" by Phil Collins from NO JACKET REQUIRED after what at the time felt like a lengthy absence from my life.
but anyway; I still have probably at least a dozen CDs, maybe not quite that many, I'm not sure, but there's plenty of times I have no idea what to listen to.  I think of something I don't have that I would like to listen to and nothing comes to mind.  How can I buy something that I don't know I want?  Most of the stuff I own sounds akin to something else I own.

ALL YOU NEED IS KILL - what?

I cannot believe Warner Bros almost kept the title for the movie EDGE OF TOMORROW (2014) the same as the book it's based on - ALL YOU NEED IS KILL.  They changed it supposedly because they heard some negative buzz, supposedly surrounding the word "kill" in the title, which is total bull.  The word "kill" does not equate poor reception at the box office.  Did everyone forget KILL BILL Vol. 1 AND KILL BILL Vol. 2??!  Or how about A TIME TO KILL (1995)?
Yeah, people can be really stupid sometimes.  The word "kill" was not the problem.  The problem was the entire title doesn't make any sense.  It's an entire sentence, in statement form, stating an opinion that is hugely debatable and has very little to do with the movie.  EOT is about practice making perfect.  Killing the aliens is the ideal goal, but it's not the central plot point.  Not to mention the concrete pessimism the title evokes.  All you need is kill.  And the admission fee.  Nope.  I'd rather wait for its video release.  Maybe even then I'd pass it up.
EDGE OF TOMORROW as a title lends the feeling of something bigger than one's self, the expansive, earth-crushing weight of time.  In the context of any additional knowledge one can gain about the movie, be it a TV spot or a theatrical trailer, it's even more intriguing.  You can take the title and add in with your own mind "HANGING ON THE EDGE OF TOMORROW", and picture a gigantic city structure surrounded by other city structures that have fallen, and on the surviving one there's a comparably small being, a human, grasping on the last sliver of civilization as he once knew it, unwilling to let go; and you know that when his grip loosens and he falls off the structure, it'll be a long hard fall.  There's so much mediocrity in life, so much monotony, that such a scenario can only be candy for the brain for anyone with a brain that has any active cells in it.
  anyway.  It's good for the studio and good for the viewers that they changed the title.  I just hope the actual screenplay isn't as half assedly written as the title they were once intending to attach to it.  It's still got very favorably reviews by a large qty of Amazon.com customers, so I'm thinking the people attached to the project were just a bunch of nerds who were fans of the book and didn't want to "ruin" such a great book be re-titling the movie - as if such a thing is even physically possible, how does a book become anything other than what it always was just because someone adapts it into a movie???

Martial Morality

I saw this shirt at Lifeway.  It says (in case the pic didn't turn out...) THIS SHIRT IS ILLEGAL IN 53 COUNTRIES.  It's crazy the way people act.  When Christianity was the reigning religion of choice, people joined together to ban anything and everything that offended their religious views.  Now we have a divided nation, where the only un-Christian thing a person can do and still be jailed for is get married to someone of the same gender.  Abortion is legal, divorce is widely accepted as commonplace...drug usage is treated like attempted - genocide and I don't think a whole lot is mentioned about cannabis in The Bible...although The Bible does say you should not damage the temple of Christ - which supposedly (I haven't read enough of The Bible to verify this) is a heavy way of saying "don't jinx your health"...of course, that's not why "recreational" drugs are illegal...they're illegal because it creates unmotivated, uncaring people and unmotivated, uncaring people are not productive members of society, and by productive members of society I am referring to the notion that if you don't have a job, you are a waste of God's talent because you are not contributing anything to anybody else's interests.  If mental illness were not an excuse for crime, I'm sure I'd be in prison by now.  Thankfully it was detected early in my life, so I didn't bear the responsibility of explaining my case to a jury and a judge.  If I had to explain my circumstance, I don't think I'd do a good job at gaining sympathy from a jury.  People would look at me and they'd see a selfish punk who has no soul.  All the appreciation I should have for hard work, my fellow man, etc.... would be replaced by an aloofness that nobody understands, and would have a red dot hovering on it, until the time came for the jury to pull the trigger with its verdict of "Grow a pair and quit asking for our money". 
Anyway, the law has no interest in God.  The homophobic law of DOMO is not Biblical.  It's justified by little pieces people taken from The Bible, but singling out gays and letting every other sin run rampant in society is not what The Bible says to do.  All sins are equal in the eyes of the lord and all sins are forgiven by Jesus Christ.  Yes, you should repent, and yes you should be grateful enough for God's gift to the point where it's not a constant battle to keep from relapsing.  But judging people's behavior is not spiritually productive.  The quote that says something to the effect of "don't judge 'elsewise you'll be judged" = that means judgement creates judgement.  You may be well off and on your way to Heaven, but do you think it's OK to give rope that you know will be used for suicide?  If bitterness is given, it's going to be taken, and it's not going to help anybody.  Yes, you have every right to be offended by the lack of righteousness in people's lives.  But you biting the sinner's ear off is not the answer.  Jesus will take care of what he can.  And he's a lot more powerful in his methods than some preacher who has it out for gay people.  Perhaps this is a large part of why "This shirt" is illegal in 53 countries.  Obviously, it's more to do with tradition, i.e.: China and the middle east - they have their ways, their own culture, they're proud of it, they don't want it taken over by what they perceive to be outsiders.  But if this list of countries grows, it's not because of tradition - it's because of spiteful folks who use their religion a vehicle for hate coming up against a society that largely has no interest in The Bible.  The Bible, unadulterated, 100% concentrated, does not condone spite.  Yes, you can still go to Heaven despite a bitterness that may remain in your heart, but it won't be any sweeter the taste just b/c you willfully go on defending your spite with "well, he started it...".
  Many churches have their own policies - The Baptists, The Methodists, The Church Of Christ, the Penticostals...none of them have a clear concentrated view and/or acceptance of The Bible.  People say "Christians are...", they have no idea really what they're talking about, because "Christian" means about half a dozen things all depending on who you talk to.  Christian isn't even a Biblical term.  It's what Disciples of Christ got labeled with by onlookers after The New Testament was bound and ready for distribution to all the churches who wanted a copy...

Meryl Streep playing Anne Hathaway who did such a good job playing The Every Woman in some movie that you're not watching...

...because you're busy at the moment watching Meryl Streep playing Anne Hathaway preparing to pretend to be Ms. Every Woman in some movie that you're not watching because you'd rather watch Meryl Streep pretend to be Anne Hathaway who pretended to be Mrs. Every Woman in some movie that you're not watching because you'd rather watch Meryl Streep.........

Or better yet, when Meryl Streep starts playing X Actress [XA from here on] who plays Mrs. X [MX from here on] in some GREAT MOVIE that never got made b/c Mr. Scribe [MS from here on] was too busy writing up some made up person who took credit for it, but in reality MS took credit for it and the actual product that he was writing, which, as I already stated, CONSISTS OF XA getting ready to play MX...in a movie that IS SO GREAT but never got made.
Everybody's getting paid to get excited about some movie that nobody in reality wants to make.  And if they did want to make it, LET'S WATCH IT!!!!  Why does some scribe need to detail some fictitious account of the making of it???  Furthermore, why does anybody want to see it?

Kinda like The Bible Part 2.  Where Jesus meets himself and starts carrying on a conversation with himself.  Meanwhile, that woman from Sumaria goes to the well and walks away, dying on her death bed without the historical encounter w/ God's son b/c Jesus was too caught up talking to himself...

Movies have gotten way too self serving.  Movies are for the common man.  Common people have no justification for wanting a fictionalized account of Hollywood.  It's a job.  If you're qualified to be a part of it, go out to California and do it.  If you're not, you can read non-fiction books detailing all of these worthless facts.  Movies about movies are a waste of time, and do nothing but service the egos of those who work in Hollywood movies.

Your butt-kissing to admire...'cause it's all the rage back home, ya'know...

If you like Interpol, I suppose there's worse music that one could listen to, and I get the impression that as boring and scragglyassed as their music sounds, that the people in the band are up to no ill.  So whatever.  But so many people are raving about it and all they can say is "a return to form".  Does NOBODY except me notice that 75% of the lyrics consist of the same sentence?  "It's all the rage back home".  WHAT is all the rage back home?  WHY do we need so much emphasis on the fact that whatever the other lyrics are pertaining to happen to be all the rage back home?  I mean, did they write the track list to the CD prior to writing the lyrics themselves?

nothing

Hmm...nothing new today?  I lifted weights for about 20 minutes at the Osage Ctr, first time in at least a month, maybe three?
So...
...ideally that would result in 3x the calorie burning for today, but I ate way more than I should have.  Went to Cape's newest grocery store (Eyes rolling), bought a bunch of food, blew through all my money...
I have $3.75 for the entire month not assigned to a specific need.  When I go window shopping, and I find something I sorta kinda really need to sorta wanna have, then I can maybe buy it.  But...

I hopefully will be getting a $35 check from Inbox Dollars.  I signed up for "Cellular"-somethingorother...haven't been credited for signing up yet.  It's a free trial, but I need to stay signed on beyond the trial date, meaning I'll need to cough up $10.  cool thing is the credited amount is $20.  ***AND*** I have $9+ built up in paid emails.  I would have requested a check when it got up to $5, but you have to have ***$30*** before they'll send you a check.  Right now I only have $19.54(?).  So I'll have $39.54 + whatever else I acquire from paid emails in the meantime it takes to get my credit posted, but $3 will be taken from that for "processing" or something like that.  So it'll be a little over $35.  It might take up to 2 weeks to credit, then I have to go to the site and wait for the check to be mailed, then wait for the mail to deliver it....
so it may be October before this mega-$ gets here....

Yeah, I'm way too obsessed with money.  I never have a clue what to do with it, yet I spend it anyway.  I keep thinking "something bigger", but I'm always so disappointed in the lack of opportunities to buy something big and thick and phat, so I just hunt and peck at tiny microspek desires, little things I used to love but haven't relished on for quite some time, and so on and so forth...I spent $2.16 at Family Video on movies that I may or may not watch.  I spent $16 at Firehouse Subs, which provided like 2 minutes of surprising pleasure.  Probably the best use of my disposable income this month.  That's freakin'...urgh....I bought FIVE CDs, a digital copy of GHOSTBUSTERS II,...wait...lemma put it this way: I started out with $174.  I spent $30 or so on stuff that needed to be bought - medicine, food, etc.  I now have $5 or so to my name.  And the only thing that came anywhere close to being a worthwhile purchase was a $16 visit to Firehouse Subs.  Actually, I take that back - I spent $16 at Chick-Fill-A earlier that day.  I don't think I needed to spend **THAT** much, but you take $3 off of that, you have a very bountiful and delich meal.  As it was, it was TOO MUCH food, I could barely contain it all.  Some of it was for an iced coffee, which I really wanted, was thirsty when I finished and it was hot that day...but yeah, I got 4 chicken sandwiches.  And they were CRISPy!!!!  I wasn't even thinking.  Shoulda got grilled, which is a little more expensive, I think...not a whole lot, though, maybe $0.80? per sandwich...

Hmm...

White Bird In A Blizzard - so close yet so far away...

I could have sworn I had read the opening theatrical showings were slated for Sept.  Now they're saying October.  Frrrrr!!  And there's apparently only like 14 cities/towns that are showing it.  DVD release may be well into 2015 or maybe even 2016...and it's already taken 4 years for Gregg Araki to make something since KABOOM, although I honestly cannot believe it's been 4 years; it's probably been 3, 'cause KABOOM probably took forever to come to video after its first public sighting, wherever that was (Sundance, Cable TV, etc...) and I didn't see it outside of my abode...
He has this annoying habit though of following his masterpieces up with seriously dull movies.  He followed up 1997's nowhere with 1999's SPLENDOR and 2004's MYSTERIOUS SKIN with 2007's SMILEY FACE.  KABOOM (2010) was kinda somewhere in the middle, so maybe that's good news for those hoping to enjoy WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD (2014).  For those who think KABOOM is one of his masterpieces, maybe that's very very bad news, considering all of the possibility that lie in the sheer idea of the film WHITE BIRD IN A BLIZZARD...it's one thing when an idea gets botched by hack screenwriters but you can watch someone else do it better, like an idea that isn't particularly intriguing to begin with, but could have been turned into a mind blowing cinematic masterpiece, but it's not like this is uncharted territory for Araki - and, although I would fail on many levels, even I, a total outsider of the cinematic process, can probably write a fairly compelling and somewhat re-imagined adaptation of Lauren Kasischke's novel.  OF course, knowing the basic premise, I could probably just rip off David Lynch like everyone else is doing and make my own "original idea" of it.  How can someone be accused of plagiarism simply because the premise is the same as someone else's?  I mean, I'd probably have to revise a couple or so details - for example, instead of it being a 17 year old girl, I could have it be a 21 year old guy - just like in LAKE PLACID, instead of it being a ocean dwelling man-eating shark (JAWS), you have a lake dwelling man-eating alligator...I mean, it's not like Gregg Araki doesn't know how to make a good movie.  SMILEY FACE was flat out hilarious, although it's very lacking in cohesion and narrative and kindofa waste of time...mainly, I just kinda scratch my head at SPLENDOR, which had some interesting bantor between characters, maybe, I don't really remember it that well...I just remember the plot being so lame and pointless.  The two guys that this girl is dating are like total slobs who end up depending on the girl to carry out all the duties of the real world and use the idea that the three of them are in love with each other as an excuse for acting like toddlers/spoiled brats, and she's trying to date someone else behind their backs b/c she doesn't know how to tell them anything b/c they don't listen, maybe I'm mis-remembering that part of it...idk...but the whole thing just struck me as a run-on sentence with nothing to say.  I think Araki has gotten better at filmmaking - THE LIVING END and TOTALLY F***ED UP are not exactly exhilarating masterpieces.  THE DOOM GENERATION (1995), although very low budget, was his first movie where the whole thing came together as being a cohesive presentation.  I still don't see the point of it, I guess it has some interesting insights or something, idk...but regardless, scene 1 and scene 2 and so-on didn't feel so disjointed.  THE LIVING END was OK, but, like SPLENDOR, the lack of the characters' reasoning capability just seemed so pathetic...  Some guy like to kill people and civilized man runs into him and c.m. doesn't think k.p. man is a good idea to keep around him.  But he's sexually attracted to him and sees a thread of logic in his "nothing to lose, let's kill everything" mentality...freakin' annoying.  But I guess that just shows where society is at - the moral code that most people have is not ironclad.  Of course, when you take God out of the equation, why would it be?  I mean, people make mistakes regardless of their religious affiliation, and that's why Jesus came to earth, but from what I can tell, being infected with a terminal illness and having a strong sexual attraction to someone who has no moral code is not a strong enough reason for someone who is a Christian.  Yeah, there's tons of people that call themselves Christians and do whatever they want anyway, including murder, but if you read The Holy Bible, understand it and don't weasel your way out of living by it, or simply reject it, then you have all the deterrent you need to say "no" when someone gives you a gun and tells you to shoot someone or says "hey, I'm going to go bash someone's head in, I'll brb".  I mean, if you WITNESS a murder, it's common decency to call the police.  Yes, the justice system is flawed and highly ineffective, but one good thing that comes out of prisons are indeed prison ministries.  People who get into those don't generally remain the same cold-blooded types they were when they entered prison, and when you're in prison, what better things do you have to do with your time?  Watch TV?

Too Weird To Live...

For Crying Out freakin' loud!  When I saw the title of Panic! At The Disco's newest CD I thought "they broke up and have left-over recordings/B-sides to release ['rarities']".  Now, almost a year later, I find out that it's a all-new collection of music.  Oh well, better late than never.  So far not that impressed, basically pop music, but if I were to judge VICES AND VIRTUES by the first track, I would never have heard the 3 or 4 really really good songs that were on that album and the other 2 or 3+ songs that served as mildly stimulating buildups...

Larry J. Ables, I must say, I may have over-reacted...

As much as I detest hypocrisy and lies, I don't think it's entirely fair to put all the blame on any one or more people.  How many times have I exaggerated to the extent of implausibility, for unsuccessful comic effect, or to display an emotion in a way that I felt made it more clear what I felt?  I don't even know.  I don't really idolize Ozzy or Def Leppard or any of those 80's "hair band" folks, and I think a lot of those bands are on the wrong path in life, putting sin and sickness on a pedestal, but I can't really complain too much, because most of the music I enjoy doesn't even pretend to be positive..."having a good time" doesn't really compute with me.  "Good time rock n' roll" seems ludicrous to me.  But that's a sickness in and of itself.  If Larry J. Ables is so thrilled at the prospect of owning a nicely packaged and mostly complete Ozzy collection that he's willing to oversell the product as being "the ultimate", I cant' really begrudge him.  It's not right.  It's hypocritical.  I hate that I have become what I despise most.  I'll have to keep watch on that in the future...

are you smarter than a pastor?

My pastor realized for the first time in his entire life (I think he's under 40?) that sin was in the world before Adam & Eve ate the fruit from the forbidden tree.  I was just kinda like "what?  How is that not obvious?"  I mean, unless there's some possibility that they could have taken the fruit and put it toward their mouth and then put it back before taking a bite out of it, I mean, the intent to disobey God was there.  How can someone be tempted to commit sin if sin is not in them?  That's kinda like turning on the faucet when your water supply has been cut off...
I do appreciate his spiritual weight though.  He seems more motivated to do right than I am.  I guess being in a post-Christ earth makes it easier for my short attn. span to take stuff like that for granted.  For one thing, I still don't understand how sin is such a big deal.  I mean, I understand it from a text book stance, but the text book stance says it keeps us from being close to God, thus our access to the fountain of eternal happiness, so to speak, is on hold until we leave our fleshy vessels.  The thing I have a hard time with, is I don't know what happiness is like.  I know what feelings I prefer, some of them aren't exactly "positive" - the oceanic melancholy that some concepts wring out in me is not something I shy away from.  I wouldn't want to feel that way all the time, some ups are needed, but my ups are not very high.  When they are high, it's usually as a result of anticipation of an oceanic sadness, i.e.: "I rented this movie that's supposed to be drenched in melancholy, can't wait to see it!"  Reading Michael Crichton's JURASSIC PARK brought about a fire in my belly that makes absolutely no sense.  Seeing Ian Malcolm (the "chao-tician"(sp???)) being proven correct in his assessment that the park was a disaster in the making is not good news.  But it's nice to see a bunch of dumbasses like John Hammond and his soldiers being given a gigantic "I TOLD YA!".  But the solution is really non existent.  How does one keep stupid people from making mistakes?  Heck, I'm not exactly an idiot, but I'm extraordinarily ignorant.  So I'm probably just about as likely to make the mistakes Hammond made, supposing the premise that you can abstract enough DNA from fossilized tree sap containing mosquitos that bit one or more dinosaurs isn't too far fetched to be realized and I had enough money to make it a reality and hadn't already been warned by Dr. Crichton not to...

AS I WAS SAYING...man, how do I get so off topic?  JP is based on the idea that the Earth was NOT created by God, and, with that in mind, the earth MUST BE 4.? billion years old.  Obviously, the Earth is pretty old and it may be a million years old for all I really know, but anyway...along with the idea that the earth is super-ancient, the idea that the dinosaurs died out before man kind came along etc. gets tagged along with it, so it's, really a non-issue.  But, as I was saying, the EMOTIONS that come from reading the book make no sense, unless you believe that judgment and anger are positive things.  Obviously, they aren't; to say they are is to openly disagree with my source of happiness for all time.  Hell may not be as bad as they say, but do I REALLY want to go out of my way to find out??  NO!!  If I do go that far south, I guess come what may, but I'm not going to put a gun to my head for no reason...I mean...yeah, you ought to know how much of an understatement the words "dumb" and "pointless" are to describe such a thing...
  So...seems like I had more to say on something I had sorta started saying, I don't remember what it was...xx