End of the Century or Lotsa Movies

Alright, it seems like I've been delaying entries for longer and longer periods of time, so that I have to do a lot of catching up... well this time is no exception!
So, what have I been doing? Well, Wednesday I played some "Dungeon!" (a totally awesome board game from the late 1970's that I used to have as a kid and have since re-bought off Ebay) with Erin, Ryan, Tina, and Rob. It was a blast, as the game still holds up to today's high board game standards (ha!). Erin ended up winning, despite spending 5 turns locked in a cage. I'd say the highlight was Ryan continually being defeated by the same Werewolf. Now THAT'S comedy! Thursday consisted of a long and hellish shift at work, where I was stuck working non-stop outside for 6 hours before any breaks came. We had to finish what we were doing (Avon) and it was greulling (that kinda rhymed!). Afterwards, I went with Erin to see "The Real Thing: Coca, Democracy, and Rebellion in Bolivia" which turned out to be a doc made by a local dude. The beginning was pure awful as it had a scene with some guy talking about cocaine in the most grandiose terms imaginable... it didn't help that he was a terrible actor. The next ten or so minutes were basically movies from a vacation and almost put me to sleep (Erin had to nudge me awake). Once the movie found its point though, it got good. Lots of interesting stuff about how the U.S. is fucking over Bolivian coca farmers because of its war on drugs/terrorism. The old stalwart Noam Chomsky even made an appearance (and doesn't he always!).
Last night Erin, Lee, Jay, Megan, and I all checked out the Ramones biopic "The End of the Century" and I must say that if gave me a new appreciation for the Ramones. Not being a huge fan or anything I wasn't nearly as excited to see it as Jay was, but it won me over. They had such an interesting career and Dee Dee was undoubtedly the oddest drug addled old man I've seen in a while (not counting Brain Wilson's scene in "Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey"). Johnny was a twat, but he's dead now and Joey was easily the least attractive man in all of human history. It was sad to hear about how Johnny stole his girlfriend and about his near crippling OCD. I still think that most of the Ramones music is, ala AC/DC, the same thing over and over again, but I definitely have a better appreciation for their influence (especially on the punk band that I consider far superior, The Clash).
I've rented a ton of movies with Erin over the past week as well, they include: Daredevil Director's Cut (much better than the celluloid poo that was the theatrical release), Willard (really twisted and bizarre), Godzilla 2000 (the funniest ending in movie history), Screwed (Norm MacDonald is the greatest), Fahrenheit 9/11 and Saved! (I've already written up those ones), and Winged Migration and The Good Thief (I've yet to watch).
Oh yeah, I also finally picked up the Daily Show's novel "America: The Book" at McNally (stupid impulse racks!) and all I can say about that is DAMN, she be funny!

Angry Drivers or SpongeBob Squarepants the Movie

Not a ton to report recently, but enough that a new post was in order. Sunday I checked out the SpongeBob movie with Erin, Andrew, his sister, Jay, Ryan, and Tina. Not knowing what to expect, I was a tad wary of the film. There was a worry that it would try to be too hip or something. In the end, all I can say was WOW! Totally hilarious and ridiculous! Everything I could have hoped for/wanted in a SpongeBob movie. The use of Twisted Sister and Motorhead music was boss as well. GO SEE IT!
After the movie, I hung out with Erin and we saw Ebert and Roeper. They just happened to be reviewing the movie we'd just seen. Ebert thought it was a funny and harmless little diversion while Roeper said that any adult who laughed at it was on drugs. He tore the thing apart and called it a waste of time and money! The man has no sense of humour. His inner child must be incredibly boring... I pity him...
It's rare that I'm able to both open up and be comfortable with a girl... I can do both of those things with Erin.
Monday was a day filled with a crazy ice storm type of thing here. The power went out for about an hour long stretch. I was trying to cook lazagna at the time... It was a bitch to find my way around the house in the dark and an even bigger bitch to try to find candles... Luckily the ones I DID find were vanilla scented, so the whole house smelled awesome.
On the recommendation of the Free Press, I picked up the obscure new release by the Crash Test Dummies. Recorded in a haunted church, the sound is very ominous and folky. Totally worth tracking down and a huge departure from their last album, which was almost funk-pop.
Funny story. While Rob and I were driving down Roblin today, some guy came up behind us. He changed lanes, but the car in the other lane was going slow. Thinking we were funny, I slowed to match its speed. The dude in the rear was clearly not impressed. He was swerving between each lane and honking at us. I'd let the other car get a tad ahead, then speed up to match its speed when the guy in the back thought he could pass. When circumstances finally did allow him to pass us, he proceeded to give us the finger and throw garbage out his window at us! It was seriously the funniest thing in the world. Deciding to follow him, it turns out he was on his way to Royal School. Why he was in such a hurry I have no idea...
I bought Metroid Prime 2 and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel for the GC and Xbox respectively. They are both fun, but for different reasons. (That and they were both cheap at Future Shop!) Metroid Prime 2 is an amazing single player experience, easily akin to the first one, while Fallout is another Dark Alliance type of game for Rob and I to play through cooperatively... (and we all know how much I love co-op modes!) (that wasn't sarcasm).
The desire to do school work, let alone attend class is at an all time low right now... Stupid already graduating...

Fun Times or The Incredibles

Catching up with things in point form: The week was filled with the following activities: School, watching an incredibly obtuse and boring Italian movie "The Red Desert" (that I fully admit to not "getting"), receiving horribly negative feedback on my screenplay from my prof, hanging out with Erin whenever I could, checking out what I think was my favourite Pixar movie, "The Incredibles", and some work.
Elaboration on key events: My teacher totally did not like my screenplay... She hated how it used "old-timey" jokes (like banana peels and pies) and didn't understand the point... The point WAS to be "old-timey"... now I have to bs some crap about artistic merit and whatnot... Luckily I can do that, because I rule, and because surprisingly the movie fits if you look at it as all being a reflection of a characters subconscious! I made some art without even trying!
Let's see, I picked up Erin from school one day, made some lunch for her another (note to all readers: NEVER use bread that has garlic inside of it with dijon mustard... it's SOOOOOO gross), and watched some "Back to School" on Friday. At the risk of jinxing it, I'd say that things are progressing nicely. We've shared some terribly awkward moments that, to an outsider, are ridiculously cute... We've also shared some non-awkward moments as well!
I totally dug "The Incredibles" as it had a lot of adult content on the periphery and some crazy amounts of killing... It also comically played around with the same themes dealt with in "The Watchmen" (one of the best comics of all time). I would have to say that it might just be my favourite Pixar film... With that in mind, the short that led it off was TERRIBLE. If that is even nominated for an Oscar then the world is coming to an end... It was the worst piece of crap I'd ever seen... If Richard Condie took a dump on some looseleaf and then moved it around for 5 minutes, he would have a better short film than "Bounding." It made me want to puke, and I NEVER puke... (except in Tyler and Kari's sink :) )
I had to go to my niece's baptism today... which was a whole bag of fun... I'm not one for religious ceremony, but it wasn't anything to do with me... If it makes my bro and his wife happy to dunk their baby in water to wash away "original sin" then so be it. I DID get to play around with the camcorder and film the whole thing... Hey, that was my first real film gig! .... Ack...... Anyway, all the family types seemed to enjoy the thing, so who am I to judge...
I need sleep, as I was up till 5 am with Erin, was woken up at 10 to watch infants drenched by a preacher, and then had to work for 8 hours.... Soooo tired....

Stupidity The Movie Makes Me Mad or Parents Come Home

I just finished watching "Stupidity The Movie" with Lee and Jay and all I have to say is ACK! That movie blew! It COULD have been good, if the filmmaker had any sense of what a documentary is and knew how to edit. First of all, the interviews were far too short and chopped up into soundbytes. There was far too much useless stock footage (although some really good stuff too), far too much (ie) all of it) filmed skits done by the director, and most importantly, no real point to the whole endeavor. You can't make a proposition if you don't have an idea in mind of what you are trying to accomplish... The thing was also way too "music-video." Meaning it was all fast cuts and fancy effects. They did more harm than good... It essentially was a bunch of brief snippets of nothing surrounding the occasional interesting fact... like how the word moron was originated in New Jersey in the early 1900's. In my opinion, if you chopped off about 50 of the 71 minutes of running time, then extended the interviews and slowed the pace down about 5000 percent, you'd have a pretty decent 20 to 30 minute film... You would still have to choose what it was you were trying to say though...
It's possible to look at the film another way, perhaps it was trying to show how culture is by BEING what culture is... Perhaps it was attempting to be subversive and coy... If so, they still did a bad job of it because there was not enough information given in the 70 minutes... But if that was the case, then I have a LITTLE bit more respect for the filmmakers, as they truly did make a film that functioned in 5 second bursts... All in all, HUGE disappointment... I want my $5 back...
Oh yeah, I picked up "Kids in the Hall: Season 1" and "Taxi: Season 1" yesterday... The still cutting edge comedy of the Kids and the warm nostalgia of Taxi washes over me as I type...
Ouch, lest I forget... last night I checked out "The Day the Earth Stood Still" with Lee and Dave. None of us had seen it, but all of us had heard how influential and revered it was... My opinion was one of "meh." Not bad by any means, but it needed more Gork! Gork was cool...
My parents got home today from their cruise in the Caymans... They had some neat stories and some cool schwag. If I had a more talkative relationship with them I might be able to relate more... But that's a little unfair... there are times when we relate well... just not when I'm alone... If someone is there with me (as Jay was today... we had burgers!) then I'm pretty good with them... What does that say about me? That I'm afraid to open up to my own parents unless I have a friend there to make me feel comfortable? I really need to change that....

Saucy Jack or The Best Day Ever?!?!

So it's 6 am and I just finished having quite possibly the best day in my whole life. It began with an uniterrupted sleep in. I woke up at about 12:30pm and then did a kick ass biceps/triceps workout using the Arnold Schwarzenegger book I have. Following that with a shower, I then cleaned the whole house to be ready for when the parents come home.
The real fun started when I took Erin to this Caribbean restaurant. Neither one of us really knew what we were getting into. The food was crazy spicy! It was also crazy good! After our little foray into jerk-ville we attended a fundraiser for Canadian Dimension magazine that was featuring Jack Layton as a keynote speaker. Neither one of us had ever heard of the magazine (which is apparently a long running independent magazine of the left) and had to sit through the publisher's horrible speaking skills and an award presentation to a super grateful old lady. Once that was over, it was time for good old Jack. He totally delivered the goods, sounding passionate and articulate. He came across way better live than on TV. He ran down the liberal government record, mentioned how the NDP can affect change in the minority parliament, and condemned the Star Wars plan of the U.S. Afterwards, I mustered up the courage to talk to him. I made a complete ass of myself (but in a good way). You see, people I know always say that he looks like a guy from a late night infomercial about learning how to use a computer. I decided to tell Jack this. To my surprise, he already knew! He even made a super lame, yet super awesome joke about wanting to Control-Alt-Delete the Liberals! He then signed my copy of his book and we were off.
Erin and I then decided to watch both Ghostbusters movies in a row. Pointing out all the logic problems and plot holes. After those festivities, we listened to a Steve Martin comedy LP and some Funkadelic albums. By the time all was said and done, it was 5:30am! Needless to say, she needed to be home. So I took her.
As I sit here, I'm feeling pretty darn good about how things turned out. I have to say that Erin is super cool. She shares my cynicism, sense of humour, political leanings, intellect, and overall uber-nerdiness. She receives my personal thumbs up!

So Very Angry or The Great Slight

So I'm usually pretty calm, cool, and collected... It takes a great deal to piss me off. Tonight, something pushed the right combination of buttons to make me mad. I'm sitting here stewing in my hate-filled juices.
The day started off ok, with me sleeping in. I checked out Future Shop and was peeved to find that every DVD set I wanted was overpriced. Needless to say, I didn't buy anything. Nearing the end of a pretty good workout, I was interrupted with a call for work. I obliged! (I also received an 8 hour shift for tomorrow, which is double time and a half!) Work was fine and dandy like some sort of imported candy (oh god....)
The real meat and potatoes of today was to be (hopefully) had after work with my attending a party at Anna's. Longtime readers (if there are any) know the story of Anna and what transpired there. It's been nigh impossible to meet up with her since she got back (in fact I would say it's been impossible, since it has yet to happen) so I was hoping to do some catching up/flirting. Here's where the anger came. Every time I was trying to talk to her, someone would walk in and interrupt. They would then take the conversation over and leave me on the sidelines. I would literally be in mid sentence and someone would be all "hey Anna, blah blah blah." Or she would be in mid sentence to me and the same thing would happen. It didn't help that she was drunk and therefore more succeptible to distraction. There were like 5 minute stretches where I was shut out... I felt like I was invisible and shit. It was really frustrating and annoying.
Now that I stop to think about it a little more maybe I'm mad because I realized that any chance I might have had with Anna was blown WAY back in January. I never made enough of an effort to show interest and she "moved on." I don't want to take full blame for that though, as she was impossible to get in touch with... And really, what do I care anyway? I mean, I didn't really even get a chance to get to know her or anything... I was more of the train of thought "she's cute... might as well." That and I heard that there was some mutuality (is that even a word?!?!) in the sentiment... Once again, the story of my life: You Snooze, You Lose. That's probably the root of my minor anger... The continued realization of the fact that I freeze and become inactive during times when action is required... Hopefully the road to clearing that self-imposed hurdle is being trod upon as we speak.

Halo 2 is Good or Home Alone

Rob's dad decided to buy him Halo 2 (which is funny because he doesn't own an XBOX). Rob and I decided to play Halo 2... Add those two together and you get the fact that I've been playing Halo 2 a lot over the past 20 hours or so... I think we're almost done the campaign mode, which has been fun, if a little disappointing. The multi-player mode will have to really wow me in order to earn my purchase. After all, EVERYONE I know will have it, so it's not like I'll really NEED to buy the thing.... it's only if I can see myself playing online a lot...
Being home alone has its advantages; like the ability to walk around in your underwear... it also has its disadvantages; like having to do all the house work... This is not the first time I've had the house to myself by any means... it's just the first time I've written about it.
Jay came over Monday night to do some laundry and we ran into a weird problem. Not being too versed in how to use my dryer, I found that the clothes we put in did not dry... they just because hot and wet! I seriously don't know what I did wrong... I had them in for a long time and different heat levels and all... Mystery of the ages I suppose...
Watched Dogtown and Z-Boys sunday night with Lee... SUPER interesting movie... I never knew about the crazy roots of modern skateboarding in 1970's LA. Not being a boarding fan, did nothing to diminish my enjoyment of the movie. It had a subtle layer about the aging of rebels and mavericks and how they become part of the background after their flame burns out that was super touching.
This post was written in a non-continuity form. That makes it art!

Having a Party or I Can't Stand Annoying Drunks

So last night was the big night... the big time party that I had at my place to celebrate no parents. I sent out a ton of invites and was a tad worried that too many people might show up and take the event out of my control. In the end about 20 people were there, so it wasn't too bad at all.
To prepare, I baked 2 cakes; each confetti but with different icing. One had pistachio pudding and chocolate chips while the other had lemon pudding and coconut on top. From the reactions of those who ate some, they were delicious. I also had plenty of chips, salsa, peanuts and a few other assorted cakes (orange meringue, chocolate peanut butter cream, and double chocolate). Food wise, we were a go. I had also ripped a ton of my CD's to the cpu and set the thing up downstairs for a good musical selection.
The whole thing started about 9 o'clock when Brad, Ashleigh, and Erin showed up. They are really more Stobart's friends then mine, but they are cool enough. Now Erin was a girl who I was starting to become interested in last year when she was with Brad and Ashleigh at a few events. I never got around to asking her for her number or anything back then, because I assumed that she'd be hanging out with us more... Well that kinda never happened and I hadn't seen her in a year. She's definitely more attractive now but unfortunately has a boyfriend.
Ritchie, from work, was the next to arrive and he brought some homebrew beer that I never got around to drinking... Rob then showed up after work and we had a small crowd happening.
Once the entire Stobart youth showed up, the thing really started to kick into high gear... It was mostly chilling and chatting though. Then Lee, Dave, Jay, Megan, and Kari came and we officially had a party!
People were eating, playing Donkey Konga, and DDR, and drinking... The place soon split into two camps, with stoners being in the basement playing Donkey Konga and the drinkers being upstairs... drinking...
I had a good degree of trust in the stoners to not break anything or do anything stupid, so that meant that I had to monitor the drinkers... They began to play a drinking game.... I knew it was downhill from there. Ryan tends to get really loud and obnoxious while drunk. So while they all played their game, I was chatting to Erin which was pleasantly stimulating. When one of the drinking game rules became to give me a purple nerple, I decided to leave the area. Erin and I adjourned to my room to listen to some comedy records... That was my first mistake... I had an inkling that the drunks would soon make that uncomfortable and awkward. We were just sitting and talking, you know having a mellow time, when the drunks would come up and ask things like: "Are you making your move yet?" or "You guys DOING it yet?" They would also peek around the corner occasionally. Where I got really mad was when Ryan came into the room with Mark and proceeded to try to demonstrate how to put the moves on a girl in front of us. If that was all that happened, it would have stayed in the realm of annoying and embarrassing... but then Ryan blurted out some things that made both Erin and I mad. First of all, he asked her if she had a boyfriend (to which she replied yes) which prompted him to say "but I heard he was a big asshole." Now, he had this info given to him second hand from a direct source. Erin did not know that this source felt this way about her boyfriend, so she became understandably upset. Ryan then tried to blame Andrew for the gaffe. After that he started to talk shit about my past relationship with Karla, saying that I didn't know what I was doing sexually and he was going to help me out with Erin... Luckily I don't think she really picked up on what he was talking about, but it was quickly apparent that if we remained separated from all of them, things would not improve.
We joined to stoners at that point and continued to have a great conversation about philosophy, politics, martial arts, and God. Measured by my talk with her, I had a great time. It sucks that she's attached, but oh well.. you snooze, you lose.
Anyway, during all that nonsense, the stoners were having a heated Donkey Konga tournament. They made a tree and everything! I wish I could've joined in, as it seemed like a lot of fun... that and I really like hanging out with Tyler, Kari, Lee, Rob, Jay, etc.
Throughout the course of the evening, the drunkards, which included: Ryan, Tina, Andrew, Mark, Nicole, Ashleigh, and Brad were continuously setting off Ryan's car alarm. This might be funny at 12, but not at 3 am... I'm surprised no neighbors complained... At about 3:30 ish, that group began puking (only in the toilet and sink!), and passing out, so became no more of a problem.
I ended up driving Erin home and we exchanged MSN names to have future discussions and at about 4:30 ish began kicking people out. I had originally said that people could crash here, but changed my mind after some of their behavior. I had no desire to make space, or cook for them in the morning. Lee drove the downtown people home (which was awesome) and Tyler and Kari got a ride from this girl they brought (whose name I never really had a chance to get). Ashleigh and Brad were ok enough to drive home, and the Stobarts all live within walking distance. I gave Tina a ride and booted Ryan out the door (sort of). By the time I got back home and cleaned up the mess, it was 6 am.
All in all the thing was a rousing success! Although I'm a little peeved that some promised attendees were no shows (Melissa, Anna, Kaylyn, and some of their friends...) Their presences would have upped the girl quotient at the party immensely! All I really wanted was to not have a sausge party... and it while wasn't quite that, I would have preferred more ladies in the house.
I am now tired... luckily I got called into work for 8 hours tonight! Yay!

Ahhhhhh Crap or I Seriously Can't Believe He Won

Well... that's it..... barring any crazy revelation of voter fraud or something, Bush has officially won an election... You might as well sound the death knell for a whole lotta shit right now because it's all going down the toilet... Of course I'm talking about: the environment, the American dollar, international opinion of America, any hope of slowing terrorism, any hope of getting UN help in Iraq, pro-choice, alternative fuels... fuck, I could go on and on...
I honestly never thought that he would win... Lee kept saying that it was going to happen, but I kept believing that he was just being a pessimist... I mean how in their right minds could anyone look at Bush's record and say "he's doing right by America"... I don't get it... Oh wait... I guess this IS America after all... people aren't in their right minds...
It should be said that one of the few things that was keeping international opinion of America in check was that people felt that Bush couldn't possibly win an election... all the controversy from last time and whatnot... International sentiment was "at least America will do the right thing in 2004." Well, now that they DIDn't, you can kiss any sympathy goodbye... Bush has probably done more to damage the view of the U.S. than anyone can imagine... their is going to be such a uniting of terrorist intentions now... I mean it was said that Al Qaida WANTED Bush to win because he makes it so much easier to recruit new members...
Fuck, I mean, didn't people down there SEE the Osama tape... where he pretty much pointed out how Bush has been lying to them about his intentions and where he totally brought him down again and again... (He must have seen Fahrenheit 9/11). Now I'm not defending Osama or praising him or anything, but it was a pretty funny video... he cracked jokes about how if he hates freedom so much, why isn't he bombing Sweden, and how Bush's response to 9/11 was to listen to My Pet Goat. How could people in their right minds take that as a reason to VOTE Bush.... It was said that the video united people behind Bush because it made them afraid... Bush was seen as the only candidate to protect them...
With this win, you can pretty much toss any ideas of a moderate or liberal America out the window... with the law soon to be changed to allow him to run, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be the next candidate. From what I understand, the Dems were going to get Hillary Clinton to run next time because of her star candidate quality... She WOULD have been a shoe in... Now Arnold will crush her easily... The Dems don't have a hope in hell for at least 12 years.... Any ideas of real reform to the system is dead, any real progressive policy idea is dead, any hope of restoring worldwide dignity is dead... Fuck me, we're all dead!
I can be thankful that I am Canadian and don't have to suffer through this, but I'm stuck with Paul Martin who wants to rub Bush's balls or Steven Harper, who wants to give Bush a big, wet rim job... If either one of those guys gets the chance, we're going to be sucking on Texas titties.... The one faint hope is that SO many Canadians are united in hatred of Bush that they will not stand for any crap shoved down their throats by Martin or Harper... HOPEFULLY we can do alright... Well...at least our dollar will soon be worth more than theirs again....

I Heart Huckabees or Election 2004

Last night I saw "I Heart Huckabees" and I must say I'm not totally sure what I think of it. It was definitely off the wall and different, things that I usually applaud... but it was also somewhat confused in its message... Part of that was intentional, the film was making fun of the search of answers, but another part of that was because everyone was talking so much philosophy that it became a lecture. It's always better to communicate things in a movie through visuals rather than dialogue. That's like the first lesson in screenwriting! On the whole, I was fairly entertained, but I think that I'd need to see it again to really know what was going on.
If any Americans read this blog (which I doubt) then tomorrow is the big day! You guys get to chose the fate of the world for the next four years (and possibly much longer). Are you going to "go it alone" and chose someone who disregards the fact that this is ONE world and we are all connected? Are you going to chose someone who feels that America's is the only will that matters and screw what anyone else thinks? Are you going to vote for someone who is very close to bankrupting your nation and sending the world spiraling into a global recession? Are you going to vote for someone who thinks God chose him as president? Are you going to vote for someone who (in 2 years) will replace retiring supreme court justices with radical conservatives who will overturn abortion legislation and make it a federal crime again? Do you really want someone in office who has inspired more hatred in terrorists than he has eliminated? What about someone who is systematically dismantling and destroying all environmental legislation in your country, dooming you to vast amounts of pollution and concrete?
I don't blame Americans for not really knowing how the rest of the world feels about Bush. The rest of the world gets its news from outside, and can therefore filter the partisan crap and see the real story. The media in the U.S. is all owned by private corporations with their own agendas... stories are biased and incomplete. You only see one side. You have no idea how much Bush has united "your enemies" in hatred and how much damage he is doing to the rest of the planet... 99% of non-Americans KNOW that Bush is a terrible president and can't understand how the election is even close. The worst part of all this is that he's probably going to be in power even if he loses... There is so much voter fraud going on right now that if the result is close, the supreme court will probably decide the winner again... We all know how that went last time....
In closing... FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T VOTE BUSH!