UPS Dispatch!

Jonathan, you have a package coming tomorrow.

So begins the confidential email I got from UPS My Choice, in regards to the stuff that Amazon didn't mail until the wee hours of this morning.

CAN YOU FREAKIN' BELIEVE IT???
And it's not UPS Next Day Air, either.  It's UPS Ground, which is like the UPS equivalent of a USPS postage stamp.  ONE MO***RF***IN DAY, MAN!!!!

Stupid that I'm this excited about it, given I probably won't watch the movies 'til heck freezes over.......

Rented GODZILLA last night courtesy of a freebie coupon code from Redbox.  Didn't care for it.  Might've made more sense the further along I could have got into it.  I don't like puzzles.  My mom's watching it now.  I'm in here listening to "6th Avenue Heartache" by The Wallflowers.  I've been marveling over the oddness of the '90's lately.  So many bands with so many hits, most of them forgotten.  Somebody on Rdio posted a 300 song playlist of 90's hits and despite a few repeats,it was mostly jam packed.  I remember this song "Groove Is In The Heart".  I can't remember who wrote/performed it, but I don't think whoever it was is still makin' hits.  And then "6 Underground" by the Sneaker Pimps.  That song was used in that movie THE WATCHER with Keanu Reeves and I was thinking "I know that song!  What's it called?"  And then eventually somehow someway - don't remember... - I found out the name of the song and band.  I'd heard the name Sneaker Pimps but was not aware of their claim to fame.

I ordered HOME ALONE. What? I AM Home Alone!!!

Here I am, having just ordered HOME ALONE (1990) on DVD, since, as if Swagbucks heard my pleas from within my heart, they awarded me the aforementioned Amazon gift card I needed to pay for it...all the while, I've been home alone myself unless you count a few cats (pffft) and two dogs that aren't yours <> as company, as my mom is visiting her terminally ill biological brother Joe.  The docs said he has 3 days minimum (which have already passed) all the way up to three months at max.

So my threeeeeee Christmas mo-vies are now all lined up, ready to shoot!

threeee christmas mo-vies!

I signed up for an Amazon Prime 30 days free trial a few days ago.

Ordered SHORT CIRCUIT and THE LAST UNICORN last week the day I signed up.  Got 'em two days later as I was promised (Saturday via FedEx).  Got refunded on SHORT CIRCUIT, since, like the time I ordered it from Sears.com a few+ months ago, the cover-art is NOT what it once was but, again, the stupid looking one @ Amazon still has the glorious original on their site to represent what it is customers would/will order...Amazon LLC did not require me to send it back, so I guess I'll keep it...it's not horrendous, just disappointing...and for free?  Heck, why not?  I do like watching the movie once in a while...which was mainly why I bought it...

Just ordered GREMLINS on DVD.  It's from the Amazon FBA program, it's used..."very good" condiiton...I'll see how "very" good it looks sitting on my shelf.  It's the old 1999 DVD, so it's a snapcase, since Warner Bros. didn't put their stuff in keepcases until the mid-2000s.  What I like about the 1999 snapcase is it has the original horror-y cover-art featuring a GREMLIN (as opposed to a mogwaii, which is what is shown on all the newer pressings of the DVD).  However, being a snapcase, I'm going to have to trust that the people who put together the DVD case knew what they were doing...I always used to be like "what?!!  It's made out of cardboard!  The weight of the keepcases surrounding it will crush it!!!!!!!!!!"  But if that's a problem, I can always buy the newer pressing and just deal.  Or better yet, use one of my blank/replacement cases and just stuff the disc in there.

Also just ordered END OF DAYS, the Ahnold movie from 1999 that people all across the USA didn't see because they got doped up on something or other and ended up seeing only God knows what during playback...it's not a Christmas movie, the bulk of the movie takes place a couple or so days after Christmas, but it does have a chilly day in NYC feel to it, with rich people wearing expensive comfortable coats.... which is really what the Holidays are all about, am I right?  Well, some people insist Christmas is all about Jesus, and for those that feel that way, whatever.  I'd like to think I'm doing the right thing, but if being consumed by Jesus and his ways is the meaning of life and doing otherwise mans I'm going to Hell, so be it.  I feel much more alive looking at NYC in END OF DAYS than I do singing songs in Church.  Yes, that's my fault.  I don't pray enough.  My priorities aren't straight.  The same can be said about 95% of the world.  Christmas is, for most people, all about big shiny boxes with big shiny things inside them + snow.  Yes, I realize those big shininings will not mean anything when the economy collapses and the less economically fortunate (i.e.: me) have no electricity...and when the Antichrist takes over, I will need to be aware and remember to say "no" when it comes time for Satan's helpers to implant his mark on the public.  Otherwise there's no hope of anything good coming out of my future.

I should be getting a $5 Amazon gift card courtesy of Swagbucks anytime within 7 days from today.  With that, if my shopping cart contents don't get bought by someone else, I will buy HOME ALONE on DVD.  Almost everytime it gets to be late fall, I think of that movie.  That movie also has a distinctly Christmas feel to it.

Someone wrote a list of movies you might forget take place during Christmas.  On that list, they put GREMLINS on there.  I was like "WHAT????!!!!!!!!!"  How dumb can a person be to FORGET that Gremlins takes place during Christmas?  I mean, I can see someone who hasn't seen the movie in 30 years, or 20, but if you forgot the movie takes place during Christmas, you probably don't remember much if anything of the movie....

moves coming soon...the only ones...left...

Have I seen every GREAT movie ever made that isn't made for people who aren't me?  Hmm....that depends if FARGO is for me or not.  I tried watching it.  I didn't "give it my all", but I did try.  Didn't like it.  Didn't like RAISING ARIZONA either.  I'm not sure if I've seen any other Coehn Brothers movies...unless you count the agonizingly unintelligible few minutes of BLOOD SIMPLE that I tried watching.....
So, for the future, since I can't hop over to my local Cineplex and watch ANY of these movies, here it is:

THE JUDGE - looks worth a peek.
GONE GIRL - Almost certain I'll at least enjoy this movie.  It probably isn't mind-blowing this-is-what-I've-been-waiting-for-all-my-life material, just like Fincher's re-make of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO wasn't either, and neither was FIGHT CLUB or SE7EN...all of which were good movies, outrageously stylized and full of an almost breathing presence...
IF I STAY - haven't read the book, rarely do, although I did start reading it on Amazon's "look inside" feature, not terribly boring, should improve as it goes on, a lot of books don't, at least not quickly enough for my liking.  I don't read very fast.  It takes like 30 minutes for me to read 5 pages of THE BIBLE.  For an ordinary fiction book of modern day style, it takes me probably 10 minutes to read that many/that few pages....Either way, the subject matter does show potential.  And no, I'm not a teen girl.  I'm a 30 year old male.  But I'm part Irish, so I'm prone to melancholy.  Don't judge me!!
JURASSIC WORLD - The Park is OPEN.  THIS is the BIG movie I'm so looking forward to.  Too bad it isn't anywhere NEAR June 2015!!!

Freakin' crimany is that all?  I thought I have more on there...guess I'll revise it if needed...hmmm......

PEPSI True - not so true....

Pepsi True has 27 grams of sugar in one 12 oz can, whereas regular Pepsi has 41.  An improvement, but to what end?  27 grams is still a lot of sugar!

Wait...Seriously??? [foreign aid...]

What strikes me about the oft neglected debate regarding foreign aid from the USA is that the USA isn't paying for it.  We will pay for it.  But only when there's no other choice.  If that doesn't sound right, when will it be paid for?  Anyone with a reasonable answer would you please stand up!  I mean, c'mon.  We keep borrowing money with no intention to stop borrowing.  We keep paying interest and a little smidgeon on the principal, with no plan on how to pay more on the principal.  How is this going to continue to work?
Yet this country, the United States of America, thinks it is RESPONSIBLE for spending boatloads of money on foreign issues.  Welfare is one thing, although I admit the USA's love for its fellow American is rather small in general, so if a vote came to toss out welfare, I wouldn't be surprised; the people of this nation are so concerned with our individual accomplishments and struggles there's only a vague shadow of patriotism for many of us.  What's worse, a lot of people really don't struggle to accomplish anything.  So they feel like all that matters is the payoff.  What is the payoff?  Hedonism and fornication etc. for the most part.  Love comes from God.  God is increasingly being relegated to Sundays at best, often times denounced altogether.  As this trend continues, I'm sure welfare will be cut off.  I'd give it another 20 years.  Certainly no reason for folks like me to worry just yet, but that's what I do best, so who cares if I don't have a reason?  Do I NEED a reason?  I wish that was a joke...

Anyway, still not sure why Obama insists upon running this country into the ground by using Air Force One every chance he can.  Thank God for the ebola virus, or there's no telling where the hell Obama would be sneaking off to now.
Here's one mathematical riddle: The federal deficit has tripled since Obama took office.  How is this George W. Bush's fault?
Next I'm sure I'll be written off as another mindless Bush "patriot".  No.  I don't support Bush.  He may be a "good guy", I don't care.  He was a terrible president.  If he wasn't responsible for all the terrible things he did, then you still have a story of a bad leader.  From the extensive use of torture to the pardoning of Scooter Libby and a million small things that nobody talks about because nobody cares about, the guy is a disgrace to this country.  It's sad that as hated as he was in 2004 even, he still won because of that dimwit John Kerry who ran his campaign as if it were a school yard.  "You're wrong".  "No, YOUR'E wrong!".  "Hey, you take that back".  "No.  You're wrong".  "Well, you're more wrong than I am".  "No, you're wrong x infinity!".  "Yeah, well I know you are.  What am I?".  The guy thought he could win on the strength of how wrong everybody knew George Bush was.  That's mistake #1.  Mistake #2 was all his damn back peddling.
I'm tempted to say we haven't had a good president since Ronald Reagan.  But if he's so wholesome, why the heck did he choose George H.W. Bush as his running mate?  That guy was the leader of the CIA in the '60's.  The news didn't hammer this and related info into the public's brain, so most of the people my mom's age don't know or don't remember.  They cleaned up the CIA after he left, supposedly.  Of course, cleaning up wouldn't have necessarily meant a floor to ceiling bright shining clean, from the little my mom has told me...

"Health care isn't a right!"

I don't know, I doubt if, I will ever lose enough weight to be considered healthy.  That sounds tragic, on one note, but also, why should I be so concentrated on these efforts?  What is it going to gain me by living healthy?  I waste so much of my time listening to songs I'd rather not hear because I can't find something new and refreshing...(Pandora hasn't quite figured out what I like, it seems...).

But then what?  I go to the doctor and find some way to "manage" or "treat" a "disease" that I, for all intensive purposes, created by my own freedom of choice.  And someone else pays for it.  I don't have insurance, at least none that I pay for.  I'm on welfare.  So what's the point?  If I'm unwilling to do what it takes to be healthy, what can a doctor do for me except extend my life by another excruciating 20-40 years?  Death should not be so vilified.  Death = eternal life.  Or, in the case of people who scoff at that, it equals eternal damnation.

Not sure I will actually abide by these words when the time comes.  I might find myself pressured into it by my family and acquaintances, and gravitating to it based on my sloth-y ways and mindset that I sometimes refer to as "comfortable living"...I sit in a chair most of the day and surf the web.  How much easier could life be?  Life isn't supposed to be easy.  Enjoyable, ideally, yes, but not easy.  Intensity - good and bad - is hard on the heart.  I'd rather die at 40 because I lived life to the fullest, not because I sat down in a chair daily eating candy bars and baked goods...

byby

"I don't know about you, but I feel empowered" / Dude, did you just say that?

I bought GHOSTBUSTERS 1 & 2 on Blu ray digibook on Sept 30th.
I watched about 26 minutes of it last night.  Very gorgeous transfer, very clear and detailed.  Yes, there's film grain, but it's not like the whole screen is covered in snow or anything remotely close to that.  I don't know how close to presenting the film as the director envisioned the film the disc comes, but, IMO, it's just a gorgeous transfer.
It's also cool to own.  Looks good on my shelf.  Feels right(!)

I also own FORREST GUMP on blu ray.  I had bought THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 40th Anniversary Edition on blu, used at Amazon's Marketplace, but sold it yesterday for $8.50 Hastings store credit.  FG I bought brand new at Target for $9.90 w/ tax and a 5% REDcard discount.  Now the price has gone down to $8.00 + tax - $5%...dang it!

I listed 'GUMP on Amazon for sale.  Thinking about removing it...idk...if it sells, what would I really lose?

Hmm...

Spike Lee's adaption of Richard Price's CLOCKERS, from 1995, is probably a close second favorite behind Martin Scorsese's BRINGING OUT THE DEAD (1999).  I can sorta see why, seeing as Martin Scorsese was originally slated to direct it, staying on as executive producer if I remember correctly.  The look and feel of that movie just captures so many moods, as does the soundtrack.  I just got rid of the movie a few months back after owning it for 3 or 4 months, so I don't know what the point of owning/buying that (again) would be.  Same deal w/ FORREST GUMP.  It's a great movie, probably one of my favorites, but I used to own it on VHS, bought it on DVD at WalMart eons ago, and now I bought it on Blu ray.  do I really need to keep it?  If Robert Zemekis and his crew are hard up for money, they need to manage it better next time they create a box office hit.  The crew is probably fine, they don't make anywhere near the kind of money that big name director's like Zemekis do.  Zemekis and Hanks probably ate up most of the profit the movie made as well, although I don't know if Tom Hanks was being paid Big$$$ prior to the release of FORREST GUMP like he eventually did...when THE GREEN MILE came out, the poster had an image of Tom Hanks and nothing more.  The basic DVD edition has that same image.  Part of that is because Tom Hanks was the only heavyweight name in the movie, part of that was also probably the intricate yet kind of simple story the film presented.  How do you capture the spirit of such a movie in a poster without neglecting to make it known that the great & powerful Tom Hanks IS IN it??

Anyway.  So I guess my movie collection, on disc anyway, is down to BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, GHOSTBUSTERS, GHOSTBUSTERS 2 and Gregg Araki's NOWHERE.  And if you count GENESIS - LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM as a "movie", count that in too if you will.  I certainly don't count it as an album.  Albums don't have FBI warnings and "Main Menus" with music of their own to plow through before enjoying them.  Also, thanks to the video portion of that disc, the first two minutes of "Mama" (the opening song) are not utterly annoying.  Seeing the band make its progress from off to on the stage and getting ready to being ready to play makes the extended drum machine intro a little easier to stomach.  Musically, it's monotonous and the crowd noise doesn't help...

As far as CDs go, music as it is experienced by people who "actually like" music is a multi-faceted thing and can almost change definition depending on who you talk to.  I prefer emotionally stimulating music.  I also like nostalgic music, much of which was passed from my father to me by osmosis, but does not awaken any emotions.  I also like owning CDs with absolutely stunning album covers.  After all these years, SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET: THE BEST OF OINGO BOINGO still is a striking album cover.  And I can almost fall back into my early childhood (1987-1989) when seeing the album cover for Genesis' INVISIBLE TOUCH.  When I first heard "Say It's Alright Joe" on Yahoo!'s Launchcast customized radio (before it went defunct) from Genesis' ...AND THEN THERE WERE THREE..., I almost woke up on that hillside depicted on Crosby Stills & Nash's DAYLIGHT AGAIN.  I suspect my father played a lot of Genesis records when I was a baby/toddler.  I had kind of a blind flashback when I heard this one series of notes in "The Battle Of Epping Forrest" on SELLING ENGLAND BY THE POUND.  It was like I'd heard it before, but since it sure as heck wasn't on the radio, where could I have heard it?
But anyway...music - especially music that brings out the past - is a long and twisted collection.  On one hand, there's my teenage years, when I was 14 and 15, then there's my high school grad years, when I was 17-19, and then there was my still-youthful existentialist wannabe college kid when I was 21-25, and the winds of change during 2006 and 2007 when many emo bands were trying to expand their sound so they wouldn't be spat on by happyhappy "chin up kid" arrogance in the flesh...it's almost like it became a trend to hate emo.  Stupid.  Yeah, it's not for everyone.  Yeah, a lot of people joined the pre-hate-emo emo trend for reasons that don't make any sense.  Those people should be cowering in the corner awaiting discovery of their fraudulent behavior.  But for people who really do just like sad songs and don't want to listen to R.E.M. every hour of every day, the emo movement was a friend indeed.

My book "collection" is hopeless.  Basically there's The Bible and Elliot Perlman's SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY which I STILL have not finished reading (!!!).

So that's the story of my life presently.  Trying to make my stuff more meaningful and less meaningless.  Not that it matters.  I could have a dead body in my room and nobody would know.  Except whoever shipped it...unless UPS opened the package...ANYway...And of course, it's just inanimate materials that will outlive me by at least 50 years and become obsolete in 25 years when blu ray is like VHS is today.  And what difference does it all make?  My happiness and lack thereof is fleeting.  Yes, I know all of this.  That's why I'm hoping God overlooks all of my weakness and sin, and lets me into His kingdom.  As I expressed last night tho, it seems like there's something I need to be doing to "earn my keep" as they might say(?), but I don't know what that is and if it's just prayer, I don't know if I can do it.  I tried praying this morning for God to give me strength and guide me in the right direction.  That direction has not become apparent.  Not yet.  Maybe tomorrow?.
...

oh shoot I pi**ed off Kevin Sorbo...

I rented GOD'S NOT DEAD (2014), finally.  I wasn't expecting anything out of it.  I don't like Kevin Sorbo.  I don't know if he's been on any "day time soaps", but if he hasn't, I don't know why.  They are not beneath his acting chops.  The story itself I'd already heard from my mom, and it sounded intense and edge of your seat awesome.  The opening credits were drenched in simplicity.  The people who made that movie failed on so many levels.  Did they even hire a cinematographer?  Or was the sun-soaked day seen in the opening credits just filmed and presented as-is?  Set designing was also not a strong suit of the film.  The tone and atmosphere were non existent.  The song played during the opening credits was randomly chosen, it seemed.  Storywise, it would have been better as a book.  And I would not have read it, because I'm still (very very slowly) going through The Bible.  I actually haven't picked it up in over a week.  (rats!).  I keep thinking I'm not getting anything out of it.  I need to pray more.  I don't know if I know how though.  I can think.  I can talk.  I can believe God is listening.  But if God started talking back, and I was aware of it, what would it be like?  It seems like it'd be like falling out of a helicopter and landing in the ocean and then continuing to fall until I hit the other side of Earth...in other words, scary as all get out...much like death itself, which, if I would actually put my instinctual fear aside and just do it, wouldn't be such a bad thing.  If God intends to remove the sin from my soul at some point (probably during or after entering Heaven), it would probably be enjoyable to spend time with God and all his people.  For some reason I can't figure out, I don't like spending time with people, just hanging out and talking about things that don't matter.  Even talking about things that matter makes me sick to my stomach eventually.  Talking about politics, for example, it doesn't do any good.  It just establishes common ground between you and the person you're speaking with.  And then once you establish that common ground, then what?  You sit around watching 60 Minutes and getting ticked off about how politicians are running this country into the ground?  And when the "way of the world" becomes obsolete - politics, commerce, etc. - what important things are there to talk about?  "How was your day?"  "Oh, I had a lovely time walking in the garden with God"  "Oh!  That's great"...I suppose Heaven might not be all God all the time...I don't think people become omnipotent when they enter Heaven, so if I were to have any friends...well...maybe God will be a part of every conversation, since He IS omnipotent...which if the case, every day would be the same.  But maybe the craving for variety is a symptom of our sin curse?

Anyway, watching GOD'S NOT DEAD is not required viewing for Christians as it speaks what Christians ought to already know.
  And I would not recommend it to agnostics or atheists except maybe the ones that don't have functioning eyes.

I also rented THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.  Also a new release.  I thought the chances of it being a good film were pretty good, given the pretty good (500) DAYS OF SUMMER and the almost great THE SPECTACULAR NOW were written by the same people and so was THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.  Well, third time broke the charm.  It's a very shallow film.  The dire situation of a 17 year old dying of cancer was not well expressed, thusly the aggravation she felt toward her parents for being her parents and all that entails did not compute fully, and then practically two minutes after all of this is being explained, she meets the man of her dreams, who tries to get her attention by staring at her and smiling at her.  Also, I know I'm watching a movie when I'm watching a movie.  I'm not one of those people who just forgets about the outer parameters of the screen.  When a character talks about her fictitious life "not being like the movies", that makes it that much harder to swallow the fiction that is presented.

Well, I tried.  Twice in one day.  Failed both.  That's $7 apprx down the drain.  Fuuu.
I will return both of them tomorrow if the rain can hold off 'til noon or so, and get $3.50 rental account credit from Hastings, which is enough to rent 3 old release movies and if I return just one of them the day after renting it(?), that'll leave me enough to rent a 4th movie.  If I return all of them early, that's enough to rent 6 or 7 movies...dang, I'm tired.
I wanted to rent GODZILLA.  I'm sick of every good movie being an adaptation of some classic iconic idea.  X-MEN, BATMAN, GHOSTBUSTERS, GODZILLA, PLANET OF THE APES...GONE GIRL looks very promising.  I was so looking forward to the sequel to THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO, but I'm starting to think it's never going to happen.  Although I wasn't impressed with THE SOCIAL NETWORK, kind of confused as to why so many highly regarded critics were going ga-ga over it.  Same deal with THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON...  GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn has been a high ranking bestseller since it came out though, and I think given the apparent strength of the material the scribes had to work with, and David Fincher's penchant for the grandiose (i.e.: FIGHT CLUB), the film probably won't disappoint.  I thought about seeing it in theaters sometime soon.  I'm pretty much out of money though.  Maybe in November tho, if it's still playing then...
It does feel like the world is falling apart.  On one hand, the world has always overall rejected God.  Noah was the only one out of an entire planet who was deemed worthy to survive the flood and that was probably several thousand years ago.  I think the end is probably more distant than anyone thinks.  It's so easy to see the prophecies unfolding though.  Ebola could very well spread throughout this entire nation and kill a large segment of the U.S. population.  And given our political situation, what with congress not doing anything and our national debt mounting and then some, and all the anti-American Jihadist movements taking place throughout the middle east, the situation in Russia...also, whereas Christianity once held prominence in most of the world, it now is being scrutinized and rejected by much of it.  The USA was founded on the ideas present in The Bible, but much of the USA has forgone those principles.  The first and second amendment are being stripped away very slowly, but surely.  USA Soldiers aren't allowed to carry The Bible on them.  But every pornographic thought and image is fought tooth and nail with victory after victory.  Not that I think porn should be illegal.  Outlawing immorality is pointless.  If society did its job, it wouldn't be an issue.  The few oddballs who engage in beastiality etc are not hurting anyone except maybe God.  And God will do what he needs to do when he's good and ready. 
Anyway, I just mentioned that b/c I often wonder what the point of commerce is.  I bought a $1.99 clearance rental copy of THE SPECTACULAR NOW.  Yeah, my $1.99 didn't go directly to the filmmakers.  Yeah, it's only $1.99, the video store probably doesn't care.  BUT: if I hadn't bought it, someone else would have.  As things stand, with me having bought it, someone else who would have bought it had I not, being unable to buy it used, may very well buy it brand spankin' new.  I wouldn't.  But not everyone is living on a $720/mo income.  Actually, I probably buy a lot more movies and CDs compared to most people in my income bracket...largely because I've been blessed with a fixed rent via my sister who owns this house I presently live in, and I've never succumbed to nicotine or alchohal(sp???what the heck spell check, get with it!!) addiction...

Ug.  I need to get to bed so I can walk to Hastings tomorrow morning before the rain starts falling all around us.....not sure if I'll succeed.  But here's to hoping......

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...