Finally just about done

I am getting ready to turn in my last assignment for my English 100 class and with that I will mark the end of that class. I will then only have one class left after I turn in the assignment. I already feel a little less stressed and more relaxed. I already have big plans this weekend to just chill and relax before I do my final for my Native American History class on Tuesday. My final for that class is split in two parts. The first part is a three page paper on the meaning of "the Indian problem" and how that meaning has changed over time. It is probably going to be boring because for some reason he wants you to take one word or maybe even a sentence and write a three page paper on it. I would not be to difficult normally but he wants to take that one word or sentence and find exactly what he is looking for. For example on the last one word topic essay he deducted some points because it wasn't right. I don't really like him so I didn't want to bother arguing about it, but I should have because you don't make an assignment that is essentially your interpretation and then say it is wrong. Perhaps if he gave more detail on what exactly he was looking for then it would make it a little bit easier. Also because of this craziness I don't really care what I write and don't put to much effort into. It is because I don't want to waste my time and effort to write a three page paper on a one word topic and have it end up being wrong. For the second part of the final he essentially just said don't worry about it. Why would you tell people not to worry at all? Why not just not say anything and make it a surprise? That's basically what it is. I just can't wait to get that one last day over with. This class is so annoying and his lack of information gets on my nerves. That's enough about that class though. I can already feel that I am getting tense just writing about it. Now back to the more calm topics. I am feeling better now that my research paper final is done for my English 100 class. I cannot wait for some to come. It cannot get here fast enough. I am glad I decided not to take summer school. I don't think I could have handled it especially since this semester was so difficult for me. I really need these few summer months to recharge my batteries and get ready for next semester. I know i have said that same thing in previous post but that is how much I need it. I need it so much I have to keep repeating it because it can't get here fast enough. Now off to bed to get some sleep finally.

The X-Files

The X-Files is one of my favorite shows of all time. It is pretty much the combination of just about everything I love. It combines monsters, paranormal, and extraterrestial things all rolled up into one big ball. Also there is a great partner/odd couple thing going on. The two main characters are Agent Mulder and Agent Scully. There are just about the complete opposite of each other. The first and most obvious thing would be that Agent Mulder is a man and Agent Scully is a woman. Also Agent Mulder is significantly taller then Agent Scully. Agent Mulder believes in every unexplainable phenomenon without really questioning it. While Agent Scully is a scientist and doctor so her first instinct is to find an explanation for what ever happened because there is always a logical explanation. The two were made partners for the precise purpose of Agent Scully investigating and determining a reasonable scientific explanation for each X-file that Agent Mulder investigates. This was very prominent in the first few seasons because they were new partners and just getting to know each other. As the seasons went on this became less of a factor of the show. The show then became more of a partner mystery type of show. The other thing I like about the show the way the seasons were structured. The episodes were very new watcher friendly. Each season was about twenty four episodes long. The first couple of episodes and the last couple of episodes were the episodes the strung together the overall mythology of the show. The around twenty episodes in the middle of the season were usually all stand alone episodes. This means that they two would be assigned a case. They would take the case and spend the episode trying to solve it. Usually by the end of the episode they would have some sort of conclusion. The most common type of ending would be one were it is possible that the phenomenon they are investigating was caused by explainable actions but it would leave it open ended enough were it is equally possible that the phenomenon was natural or unnatural. This is one big part that I enjoy. I am the type of person who pretty much believes in anything because unless it is 100% scientifically proved to not exist there is the possibility that it is real. That's why I like the show because they have no problem saying that the unimaginable might be the cause of unexplainable phenomenon. Another thing that the show has going for it is that it has very good humor between Agent Mulder and Agent Scully. While it can be serious they find ways to realistically add humor to the situation that the agents are in. I still have not finished watching the entire series but I have watched most of it, around seven out of nine seasons. I hope to finish off the show this summer so then I can truly say I love the show and how amazing the show is because I would have seen all the episodes of the show. Well that is pretty much all I have to say about the show. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys the unexplainable mystery type of thing. That is it for this blog. I don't really have mush else to say about the show besides how much I like it.

What Happened to the Maya?

This is an essay I had to do for my Native American History class. I thought it was pretty interesting and thought this would be a good place to show it.

The Maya are probably the most well known native people of the Americas. It is most likely because of the many advancements that the Mayan people made centuries ago when they were the top power of the region. The other major thing that is a major factor in popularity of the Maya is their fall as a civilization. It has stumped a lot of people as to the cause of their decline. The difference between the Maya and some other native people of the Americas is how big and powerful the Mayan civilization was. This is what baffles a lot of people. How can a civilization as big, powerful, and sophisticated as the Mayan go into a great decline and loss all of its previous dominance? There have been many opinions as to the cause of the decline of the Mayan civilization. Some of the common explanations are disease, overpopulation, or self-destruction.
Disease is possibly one of the many factors involved in the decline of the great Mayan civilization. While it is a factor it is a smaller one. There was disease that affected the civilization but not to the degree where it would wipe out the entire civilization. Diseases were common of the time but because of such the massive size of the civilization it would take a major disease to wipe the whole civilization out. So while it was a small factor it was not the only cause of the decline of the civilization.
Overpopulation was another factor in the decline of the great Mayan civilization, but just like diseases it was not the main cause. It was an important factor in the decline though. Because of overpopulation a bigger food source was needed in order to support the many people of the civilization. Unfortunately the area they were located in was incapable of providing the amount of food that was needed for the massive civilization. Also because of the amount of food that was needed forests were burnt down to make more room for crops, but because of the natural cycle of extreme rainfall and extreme drought that the area had it made it difficult to maintain the crops needed and therefore unable to feed the huge population.
Self-destruction I would say is the main cause of the decline of the great Mayan civilization. The self-destruction was caused by the culmination of the many factors that lead to the decline of the Mayan civilization. Because the Mayan was doing something not done before in the area, having cities and large populations, all the problems they faced were the first time they were ever faced. Because of this they had to figure out everything themselves through trial and error. This then lead to possibly more errors then successes and because of that put the civilization into a decline.
Like they say every great civilization has their fall. The Mayan civilization is just another example of this. Because of the many new challenges that the civilization had to face, which they never faced before, they could not keep their great civilization together. Because of their and other great civilizations fall we better know now how to keep of society together because they did the trial and error for us, just like we are doing it for future civilizations.

Summer Plans

This summer I have a good amount of plans. Though I do have a lot less plans then I have had in previous years. Most of my plans for this summer involve recharging my batteries for next semester. This semester just burnt me out. Hopefully I will be ready for next semester and hopefully next semester won't be as difficult for me as last semester was. As of right now I know that I am going to have a lot of movie watching time and reading time. I have a huge backlog of dvd's I need to watch and books I need to read. So for about the first week I will just chill and pretty much do nothing besides reading and watching movies. Hopefully that week will accomplish two things. First hep me relax and recharge my batteries and second hopefully it helps me get my backlog of dvd's and books smaller. After that week of rest I have a few places I am going. First on May twenty seventh I will be attending an advance screening of Toy Story 3 at Pixar studios. I will be going with my aunt and we are going to make in into four day vacation. The Pixar studios are located in Emeryville in northern California near San Fransisco. We are going to leave on the twenty sixth in the morning. Originally we were going to leave Tuesday the twenty fifth in the morning but for some stupid reason my Native American History teacher wants to give us our final on that day and of course my class is at night for 7:00 pm to 9:50pm so we were forced to leave the next morning. It is really annoying because by the end of this week I will be done with all of my classes except that one. Also we could have easily taken our final this tuesday instead of watching some boring videos. Anyways that enough going off track. So we will be leaving Wednesday morning and probably get there in the late afternoon. We are going to rest and relax until the screening of Toy Story 3 the next day, Thursday May 27. On Friday the twenty eighth we are going to go to the Disney museum in San Fransisco and see what the is like. On Saturday the twenty ninth we are going to go to my favorite place in the world, The redwood national forest. We are going to spent the day going through there. Then we will head back home on that Sunday. It should be a fun trip. I am really looking forward to it. Usually we go on a longer trip but because we had to move we have to pay more rent so we can't afford to go on a longer trip. I am still happy though because while this is a short trip I get to go to some of my favorite places ever. I get to go to the redwood national forest, which I hope I can go to every year. I also get to go to Pixar studios, the place that makes some of my favorite movies of all time. So after this trip I have to get back into work mode. I have to try to work on writing some more to get more practice. I also am thinking about maybe getting a job but only if it is at a movie theater or a book store because those jobs are still related to the career I want to pursue. So hopefully it is I great summer, I need it.

Almost Done

It's close to the end for this semester of college and I can not wait until it's done. There is a lot of things I want to do this summer, but that will be material for a different blog. For this blog I am going to go over what I thought about this semester and what I hope for next semester. Overall this semester was not as good as last semester. I can't really explain why I didn't like this semester as much as last semester. Especially considering that last semester wasn't fun really either. I guess last semester had less work then this semester had. Well not necessarily less work overall but last semester did have a lot less weekly work and they work I did have was more along the line of a few big projects that you get the semester to work on. This is more of the style of learning that I did throughout high school. For my four years of high school I went to a charter school in Tustin. The charter school is basically a hybrid combination of homeschooling, independent study, and classes at the actual school. Much like the way college works, I went to school about two to three times a week, classes were two hours long, and the rest of the work was done at home. This prepared me better for college and arranging my time to get my work done. I did this very well in my first semester but for some reason I just wasn't able to do it this semester. That's why I think this semester was not as good as last semester because with so much assignments due weekly it made me have to adjust how I have been working for the last couple of years. Hopefully next semester I will be able to get back into the groove, get all my work done, and enjoy all my classes.

As for my classes I took this semester they were not as good as I hoped they would be. The biggest disappointment was the Native American history class I took. It was just to boring. The teacher took three hours to explain one insignificant point and then a few minutes to explain an interesting point. The thing that was really annoying about the class was that you never knew what was going on until you went to class. He gives a syllabus but it does not break down weekly what we are going to be doing. I like to know what I am going to be learning about ahead of time. Anyways the class was just a disappointment because I really was hoping I would love the class. The other class I didn't like was my math class. Of course almost everyone doesn't like math. What I didn't like is that everything, the book, quizzes, and homework were all online so I have no idea why I even had to go into class because it basically was an online class. The rest of my classes were not too bad. Oh well hopefully next semester will be better.

Unexpectedly loving that movie

This is happening more and more often. I see a trailer for a movie and it looks really bad or stupid, but when I go see the movie when I either have a free ticket, someone else wants to see it, or there is nothing else to see, I end up loving the movie. It is very annoying because the trailer makes the film seem like a totally different kind of movie but I after I see it it turns out to be something I actually really like. I hope they stop making trailers that are made to appeal to a certain demographic when the movie is really not for that group. If the trailer would have just showed what the movie really was about then I probably would be able to better decide if I want to see the movie or not, but when they make this really bad trailers it becomes difficult. The most recent example I can think of is the movie Kick-Ass. When I first saw the trailer I thought it looked like a teenage PG-13 superhero spoof, but man was I wrong. After hearing all the controversy and complaints about one of the characters in the movie I decided I should go see if the movie is really worth fussing over. The big controversy was sparked by the character hit-girl who is a twelve year old girl who kills bad guys and swears a lot. When I first heard about the controversy I thought that that did sound horrible, but then I remembered how a lot of people, especially parents like to exaggerate things so they can try to get rid of it. So I went to see the movie. It was nothing like the trailer. The movie was a very hard R rated action movie with some comedic elements but mostly dark comedy. So I was mad because I would have seen the movie the weekend it came out if I knew it was like it was and not like the crappy trailer. On the controversial side it was as extreme as they complained about, the girl kills people, cusses a lot, and she is only a kid. There is one thing that the people complaining forgot to talk about and that was why the kid was this way. The people complaining gave the impression that the little girl did all this stuff because it would be "cool," but that is far from the truth. In the movie they give a very good and believable explanation for this girls behavior. Here father was put in jail for outing a crooked cop and while in jail his wife is murdered by the people the crooked cops worked for. So ever since he got out of jail he became hellbent of getting revenge and in the process he trains his daughter to help him. With a crazy parent like that it is more understandable why a little girl would be killing people because her father who she loves told her to because it was to kill the murderers who killed her mother. Well anyways back to the topic. I am glad I decided to see the movie Kick-Ass even thought the trailer made it out to be a bad movie. I am always glad when I unexpectedly stumble across something that I never thought I would like but end up loving it.

T.V. Show Watching Mood

For about the last week I have been on a big T.V. show kick. For some reason out of the blue I decided that I wanted to watch more T.V. shows. First it should be known that I don't really watch very many T.V. shows and the few that I do watch are starting to get a little boring. So I find it extremely weird that for some unknown reason I would feel like watching more T.V. shows. I guess it could be possible that I have grown a little tired of watching feature length films. It also might be that I feel like watching something shorter then normal. I am not entirely sure why I have been in a T.V. show watching mood but I can saw that what I have been watching has been pretty good. I have watched a lot of T.V. shows this last week so I am going list what I have been watching and give my thoughts on the shows. Here is the list:

Firefly- As I have discussed in a previous blog I have recently discovered this show that I am really enjoying. The only thing that has chanced since my last blog is that I have since watched all fourteen episodes. I liked where the show was going and it is really too bad that the show got canceled because a lot of the episodes were leading up to a lot of interesting things. Fortunately after the show was canceled it sold so well on dvd that the creator of the show, Joss Whedon, was able to get financing to make a feature length film tying up some loose ends from the show. The film is called Serenity and along with the show I also watched this movie. I thought it was good but It still left me wanting more from this shows universe.

The Big Bang Theory- I was a little skeptical going into this show. I don't really know why especially because a lot of the stuff in the show is the type of stuff I like. well this last week I finally decided to give it a chance. I got the first disc of season one from Netflix and quickly watched all six episodes on the disc. I have since added the remainder discs from season one to the top of my queue. I was surprised I really liked the show. I mean it was not amazing but it did have enough interesting and funny stuff to keep me watching. I will see were it goes from here when I get the next couple of discs, if I am going to watch the next couple of season or not.

Party Down- This is a comedy show from Starz channel. I watched the first season a while ago and this last week started to watch the second season. It is a decent show, nothing to great but not horrible. It has some funny and entertaining bits that make me at least a little interested in seeing the next episodes.

X-Files- I own all the seasons on dvd. After watching the first two seasons I just started buying the season dvds because I loved the show. I was almost towards the end of season seven, out of nine seasons, a few months ago but for some reason I have been kept from finishing the season and moving on to the rest. So this past weekend I decided that I should get back on track and try to finish the series by the end of summer. Hopefully I will have time to but I was able to watch two episodes this weekend so hopefully that is a good sign.

Those are all the shows I watched in the last week. It is a lot more T.V. shows then I usually watch in a week. Let's see what next week is like.

My Favorite Albums Of The 90's

In my opinion the 1990's were the best time for music. I know that there are whole lot of people who would disagree with me but I don't care. I understand saying bands from the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, and even a small few from the 1980's greatly influenced music and without them there would not be the bands I like. I get that but I definitely don't think the music that influenced other music is better music simply because it has influenced others. I also don't think that because a specific band changed things outside of music doesn't mean they have good music it just means they are good at other things besides music. Anyway to get back to the topic, I think 1990's was the best decade of music in my personal opinion. It is the decade that contains the most bands that I currently listen to. The 1990's is my favorite decade for music because in almost everything from all genres took a darker tone and being someone who for some reason likes that type of thing this decade was perfect. At least until the later in the decade were things took a more fun a light style and sound. I am going to give a list of some of my albums of the 1990's. Also when I say best albums I don't mean albums that I like one or two songs on a lot I mean that I can listen to the entire album, not skip a song, and enjoy it. Another thing is I am not going to list multiple albums from the same artist in order to make the list more varied. so here are a few of my favorites (in no particular order):

1. Alice In Chains - Alice In Chains: This is one of my all time favorite albums of all time. It is a super creepy sounding album filled with sludgy guitars, harmonizing vocals, and amazing lyrics. Alice In Chains is my favorite band of all time. With their original singer they have released three albums and two ep's. In my opinion the albums create a full transition from life to death with the the two ep's bridging between each album. Their first album Facelift is a more "fun" type album which would be the birth, the beginning of the band. Next would be their ep Sap which is a mostly acoustic record feature more personal lyrics. This would be the growing up phase. Next would come their second album Dirt, which contains almost an entire album worth of songs about how drugs are killing them. This shows the decline and the brings the choice of life or death. After that would be their second ep Jar of Flies which like Sap feature mostly acoustic music. This would be were they know they chose the path of death but feel that they can't change their course. Finally their third and final album would be the self-titled Alice In Chains. This album is the part where they are dying and the sadness and depression that brings. This idea is not entirely based on the actual lyrics of the music but more of the feeling the sounds of the music conjure up in my head.

2. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream: I love just about all of their music but I feel like this is their most complete album. All of the songs are done in a very similar style meaning it sounds like every song on the album was meant to be together on this album. The sound, lyrics, and vocals are all great on this album. A perfect album.

3. Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth: During the 90's a trend coming out of the New York hip-hop scene was a more darker and tougher with minimalistic beats style. The lyrical content of these types of albums were about the hardships of inner city life. I personally love the sound of this style. They have an almost creepy dark rock type sound that I love. I don't really consider myself a rap guy but this is the type I can listen to and has real artistic merit.

4. DMX - It's Dark And Hell Is Hot: This album has a very similar style to the previous album. The difference though is that while the previously mentioned album has a more dark and depressing tone this album has a more gothic scary style in both it's sound a lyrics. I love this album.

5. Sepultura - Chaos A.D.: This is one of my favorite heavy metal bands. This album is made up of almost 100% rage. This album just gets me pumped. It's basically an album filled with everything wrong in the world and how messed up it is. This album is fueled by the contempt the band had with their government and the problems of society. I just love this album it's just transfers pure energy to me whenever I listen to it.

Honorable Mentions: Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral, Dr. Dre - The Chronic, Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle, Stone Temple Pilots - Purple, Korn - Korn, Soundgarden - Superunknown, Staind - Dysfunction, White Zombie - Astro Creep: 2000, Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), 2pac - All Eyez On Me, Pantera - Far Beyond Driven, No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom, Mad Season - Above, Jerry Cantrell - Boggy Depot, Garbage - Garbage, Deftones - Around The Fur.

As you can see there is a lot and that's just albums that I like every song off of. It does not include individual songs.

Underrated Movie: Signs

To continue the theme of underrated movies I have chosen to discuss another movie that I love and feel is underrated. The director M. Night Shyamalan gets a very bad deal when it comes to his movies. While the harsh criticism is warranted for his later films his first couple of films are really great movies. His first three movies I believe are great movies and more true of an example of the directors skills. Those three movies are the generally universally loved film The Sixth Sense, The very enjoyable Unbreakable, and my personal favorite of his Signs. I think because The Sixth Sense was such a huge both financially and critically everybody wanted him to top it with his next films. Unbreakable was unable to do that which is why a lot of people don't like the movie. The other complaint about Unbreakable is it's weak ending. I have to agree with that point the ending is a little weak but it still is a great movie. One reason why I like Signs so much is that it does not have an ending similar to The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable. In both of those films the director used his now signature twist endings. In Signs there is no real twist ending like the other two films. In Signs it's all about the characters and how they react to the situations they are in. Unlike in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were everything is done and built up to this one twist ending that you do not expect. While it worked in The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable it definitely has become a bad trend with his movies because after Signs just about everyone of his movies are made for a twist ending. It is so common that the twist endings of his movies were rendered useless because almost everyone was expecting a twist ending. I think it is because of these expectations that people have for his films that made Signs be pushed into the underrated category instead of the great movie category where it belongs next to The Sixth Sense. Why I feel that more people should like this movie is it is just an all around good film. The film has great performances from all it's actors. A very well written story that works and accomplishes what it set out to. It has a very good score that is reminiscent of a more classic style thriller. Lastly it just is a very effective thriller that is thrilling until the end and it does not rely on a twist ending.

When it first came out I don't think it would have been considered an underrated movie because it make quite a lot of money at the box office, one of the highest grossing movies of 2002, and it did pretty well critically better then Unbreakable but not as high as The Sixth Sense. So with those factors one would not really consider it a underrated movie but I feel since it's release it has been moved to the underrated category. Not a lot of people talk about it and when people think of M. Night's movies they always say that The Sixth Sense is his only good movie. So because of that it is underrated. I like it a lot more then The Sixth Sense so I recommend everyone to see it.

Underrated Movie: A Bug's Life

There are a whole lot of different movies that I personally think are great and amazing but a lot people either haven't seen them or even know about them. The movie I am going to focus on for this blog is the Pixar film A Bug's Life. It was released in 1998. It was the second movie from Pixar studios, the first being Toy Story. While it was successful and did well critically it was not as popular as Toy Story. Also it is now one of their most unknown movies from Pixar studios. It is overshadowed by huge critical and financial hits like Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Up. I personally love A Bug's Life the best. It might be because it was the first Pixar movie I ever saw or that it was just a great movie. I will have to think it is a little bit of both. I consider myself a huge Pixar fan. I own every movie and a lot of them rank high on my list of favorite movies, especially A Bug's Life. The movie has many themes that I love and are really important for me. I feel that A Bug's Life is their movie with most mature themes, even compared to the themes of Wall-E. The are many themes that are very prominent in A Bug's Life. The first is the breaking expectations theme. This is one of my favorite themes and something I try to do in my own life. Basically in the movie the main character is expected to be a failure and the group which he belongs to in the movie has him go on a quest that they are sure he will fail at. He ends up proving everyone wrong and saves everyone. Another big theme featured in the film is fighting your own battles and standing up for yourself. In the film the main character is told to go on a quest to find great fighters to defend the colony, a task which he accomplishes, but in the end he is the only one who can save the day. Another theme the movie contains is revolution and learning that you don't have to do what other people want you to do especially when it is negatively affecting yourself. The movie portrays this theme with a scene towards the end of the movie where the colony up rises against their oppressors because the main character was willing to sacrifice himself to stand for what he believes is right. This leads into the next theme of doing what is right even when it is the most difficult thing possible. The main character is about to get killed by the villain and is about to go willing because he knows that no matter the sacrifice it was the right thing to do. Fortunately for him this inspires the rest of the colony to rise up stop the oppression put upon them, so he does not have to die. These are just my favorite of the many different themes this film contains. While it all sounds doom and gloom it most definitely not that way. It is a lighthearted comedy family film that has strong themes that are important to teach children. I don't think I recognized these themes when I was a child but I do think that I was able to subconsciously absorb the content and themes, put them to use, and later as I got older realize what they meant.

Most Anticipated Movies November-December

For the last two months of they year there is usually not that many movies I want to see but this year there is actually quite a few I want to see during these months. It has become increasingly more common for the winter months, especially December, to have big budget movies being released. In these uncrowded winter months the bigger budget movies have a good chance to make big money at the box office. So There will be a couple big movies I will be seeing during these two months.

November: In the month of November there is four movies I want to see. The four movies I want to see is Due Date, Megamind, Red Dawn remake, and the next Harry Potter. Due Date is a comedy from the director of The Hangover and stars Robert Downey Jr. From what I have heard about the movie it sounds like it will be funny and I like everyone involved so I will be seeing it. Megamind is an animated movie from Dreamworks about a super villain who accidentally kills his superhero nemesis and now he doesn't know what to do. It sounds like an interesting concept. The original voice of the villain was supposed to be Robert Downey Jr. which I was excited for but I guess he did not have the time so they had to get someone else. They instead got Will Ferrell so it makes the movie a little less excited but I will probably still see it. The next movie is the remake of Red Dawn. I didn't really like the original but I really like the concept. I hope that the remake will be better thanks to better technology and effects. The last movie I want to see is Harry Potter. I really didn't like the last one so I don't really know why I want to see but I will decide for sure if I will see it when a trailer comes out. That is it for November.

December: For the month of December there is only two movies I really want to see but they are two big movies. The two movies I want to see are the next Chronicles of Narnia movie and Tron Legacy. A lot of people didn't really like the last Chronicles of Narnia movie and because of that the new was almost not made but fortunately they still made it. People, mostly parents, complained that it was to dark when compared to the first movie. This is exactly what I loved at the movie. The other movie I really want to see is Tron Legacy. I really liked the original in a cheesy movie type of way but this sequel looks great. The trailers I have seen for Tron Legacy look great. A lot of action and cool special effects just like the original was supposed to be. Only two movies for December but they are big ones.

Most Anticipated Movies August-October

I previously did a previous blog on my most anticipated movies of the summer. Now I am going to list my most anticipated movies of the the following three months after summer. I am going to list my most anticipated movies between August and October. In the next blog I will talk about my most anticipated movies between November and December.

August: For this month there is only one movie I really want to see and two I might see but I am still not sure about. The movie I really want to see is The Other Guys. It's a comedy with Will Ferrell and its from the same director who directed Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and Step Brothers. All of those movies are pretty much the best Will Ferrell movies in my opinion so I hope this next team up with be just as good as the last ones. The two movies I might see but still not sure about are The Expendables and The Last Exorcism. Both of them sound kind of bad but I think they might just be fun movies not really good movies so I might see them maybe. That is it for this month.

September: Unfortunately for the month of September there is not even one movie I am interested in seeing. So during this month I will just be watching movies at home until the next month where there should be some movies I want to see.

October: For the month of October there is two movies I want to see. The first movie is titled Let Me In. It is a remake of a foreign film, I forgot what country, called Let The Right One It. It is a movie with a very different take on vampires. I hope it is as good as the movie it is based of is. The second movie I am interested in seeing is Paranormal Activity 2. I am more curious then interested. The first Paranormal Activity was fun and entertaining. With the sequel I am curious to see where they will go and in what style it will be in. Well kind of another slow month will only one movie I really want to see and one I might see.

That is it for these three months. For these three months there is only two movies I really want to see and three that I might see. It looks like during this time I will have more time to watch some of my back logged DVDs. In my next blog I will talk about the movies that I want to see in the months of November and December

Most Anticipated Summer Movies

With the summer movie season officially kicking off with the release of Iron Man 2, the next few months will have very crowded theaters and I will be among the crowd that goes to see the summer blockbuster movies. I am going to talk about the summer blockbuster movies I am most excited for. I also will talk about some blockbuster movies that I will not be seeing. I will be going from the beginning of May until the end of July.

May: For may there was only two movies that I really want to see, Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood. I have since seen both, Iron Man 2 twice. Iron Man 2 I really loved. I thought it was a great movie and probable will be seeing it again. On the other hand I did not really like Robin Hood. It was not necessarily bad but not really good either. It just felt like one of those movies that feel like they have no real purpose. I know it was supposed to be a prequel to more well known era of Robin Hood. It is supposed to explain what made him become the man he was in all the other stories and movies. It just didn't feel necessary. Other than those two movies there is not really any other movies I want to see in May so that gives me more time to probably see Iron Man 2 again.

June: There is three movies I really want to see and one I might watch. The one I want to see the most is Toy Story 3. Toy Story in one of my favorite movies of all times and I can not wait until Toy Story 3 comes out. It looks like it is going to be just as good as it's predecessors. Another movie I am really excited for is Splice. It is produced by my favorite director of all time Guillermo Del Toro. It has stars a really good actor that I like a lot, Adrien Brody. The third movie I plan on seeing is Jonah Hex. The preview makes it look like it is going to be really bad but in a way were you will get an enjoyment out of how bad it is. Other then those three there is one more I might see and that is Grown Ups. The preview has a couple funny parts but it feels like one of those movies were the best parts are in the previews. I might give it a try but I am still not sure about it. That is all for this month.

July: There is only two movies I really want to see this month. They are Predators and Inception. Predators looks like it is going to be great action fun like the first movie. I hope it turns out as great as it looks like it is going to be. Also it has a lot of good actors in it so hopefully it turns out good. The other movie I want to see is Inception. It is from the director of The Dark Knight and it is supposed to be a mind bender type movie. It also has a lot of great actors that I enjoy so hopefully it turns out good because of the previews I have seen so far look intriguing but not great.

So it seems like a pretty short summer movie wise with only 7 movies I really want to see in three months time. I hope I am able to see them all and they all turn out good.

My Thoughts On Iron Man 2

I previously wrote a blog were I talked about how I was just about to leave to go see Iron Man 2 midnight showing on Thursday May 6th. I have seen gone to that showing and also another showing on Sunday May 9th. So basically you can figure out what I thought about the movie. If for some reason you did not get the picture, I loved the movie. So mush so that I saw it twice in it's opening weekend and plan on seeing it once or twice more in the upcoming weeks of it's theatrical run. Also if they do like they did on the DVD release of the last Iron Man movie then I will be going to the midnight release of the DVD whenever it comes out on DVD just like I did for the last Iron Man DVD release.

I thought the movie was amazing. It took everything good from the first and elevated it to the next level. The pacing was quite fast and there was no slow parts. The first movie had a few slow parts but eventually made up for them. In this sequel there was no slow parts, at least in my opinion. The common thing people keep on saying about the pace of the movie is that it is slow. In my opinion they believe it is slow because the entire movie didn't have Robert Downey Jr. being funny. It involved other good supporting characters that will help create a bigger universe for future installments. I thought all the supporting actors were very good. They were all able to stay at the same level as Robert Downey Jr. The comedy and action in this movie are a lot better then in the first one. I personally loved this movie and cannot understand why people don't like. I think people don't like it is because it is not a movie about Robert Downey Jr. instead it is a movie about the movies titular character Iron Man. I also think the people who did not like the movie as much as I did or even as much as the first movie are people who do not like comic book movies. Iron Man 2 is definitely a superhero comic book movie. It has a superhero universe, supporting characters that are there to help set up future projects, and it has crazy villains. The first movie was more of a movie that every one can enjoy because it mostly talked about the Tony Stark character and had only a few moments with Iron Man action. Besides what all the people who don't like comics say I think it was another movie set in the Marvel Movie Universe that adds more to the universe and makes me want to see the next movie set in this universe really bad. The next movie in this universe is Thor. Then after that is Captain America then all the Marvel movies released so far will culminate to one huge movie about the superhero team-up Avengers. This is exactly what every comic book lover is always been waiting and hoping for, I now I have been.

Firefly

A few days ago I was bored and felt like watching a T.V. show, the only problem was I had know idea of what I felt like watching. So first I turned on the T.V. to see if I could find anything that interested me. After unsuccessfully browsing through hundreds I was unable to find anything that I felt like watching. So after that failed attempt to please my wanting mind I went to the computer. I have Netfix so I can also use their watch instantly function to watch movies or T.V. shows on my computer. While browsing things to watch on Netflix to watch instantly I found a few things that I might take interest in but nothing I really wanted to watch at that moment at least not until I saw this one show. The show I found was Firefly from Joss Whedon. I was reluctant at first because it seems like everyone who likes his work is extremely obsessed with him and his work. He is best known as the creator of the very popular T.V. series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So I was reluctant because I thought his work might be overrated and I thought people were weird for being so obsessed with a T.V. show. I was eventually won over so I decided to give his show Firefly a shot. It was a mix so some genres I like, Science Fiction and Westerns. After watching the first episode I was amazed. I thought it was very funny, interesting, and hat a lot of great characters. Also it didn't take itself to seriously. While it was serious it definitely found time to appropriately place humor in the situation to make it even more enjoyable. Since watching that first episode I quickly watched the next couple of episodes. As of now I only have about three episodes left in the show. The show is 14 episodes long. So overall I am pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed this show as much as I did and now I am in the mood to look for more Science-Fiction T.V. shows. For some reason before this show I never really thought of watching Science-Fiction T.V. shows. I guess I always assumed that they wouldn't be action packed or filled with cool special effects. In a way that is true because of limited budgets these types of T.V. shows do not have the money for all that kind of stuff. So basically this show made me want to watch some more Science-Fiction T.V. shows that show a different style of Science-Fiction that is more about characters and themes than special effects and action, even though it does have both.

Iron Man 2

This was written a few days ago but I forgot to post it.

I will be leaving in a very short while to go to one of the many midnight showings of the movie Iron Man 2 at my local movie theater. I am really really excited. I loved the first one and have been excitingly waiting for the sequel. For the last few days I have been avoiding reviews so I can go into with a free mind and make up my opinion of the movie on my own. I hope I enjoy Iron Man 2 as much as I liked the first movie. The hype for the movie has been huge. Online I read that it is quite possible that it will break the Dark Knight's three weekend box office gross. If I remember correctly The Dark Knight opened to around $155 million in the first three days including midnight showings on Thursday. They say that Iron Man 2 could open to about $150-160 million for the first three days including midnight showings. I hope it can because I want genre films like this to continue to make a lot of money because I want studios to continue to make the type of films I enjoy. That does not mean though that I want studios to make bad movies just so they can continue to make more movies faster and make more money. It means that I want them to continue to make quality genre films and hopefully they will take notice that when they make a quality film it will make a lot of money. As of writing this I have not seen Iron Man 2 so I cannot say that it is a quality film but I believe that everything about it has the potential to make a great movie. I am very excited to go to a midnight showing of Iron Man 2. When the first one came out I was not expecting much because I did not know much about the character but once I saw it I loved it. If I remember correctly I think I saw it four times in theater and I also went to a midnight DVD release of the film at a local Best Buy. So it is quite obvious that I really enjoyed the movie and because of how much I enjoyed it I have high expectations for the sequel. I hope it lives up to my expectations, but I feel that it is highly likely that it won't live up.

Free Comic Book Day

The first Saturday in may of every year is Free Comic Book Day. World wide retailers get special comics specifically for this event and then hand them out for free. This year I went to my first Free Comic Book Day event. I heard about the event a few months ago and have been patiently waiting every since. The store I chose to go to was The Realm Games and Comics in Brea. I have been regularly getting my comics there so I knew it would be my first choice when the event came around. From what I have read about the event online is that it tends to get very busy so if you want the best choice of free comics you should arrive early. So I did just that and arrived a few minutes after it opened at 10:00. When I got there there was a few other people but not too many and the comic selection was still very good. I was able to get 20 free comic books which was the maximum. After looking around online at all the other places having this event most places give a lot less books for free typically 3-5 per person. So in that respect the store I went to was a lot better because of the 20 comics per person. The only thing that was lacking at the store I went to was the Free Comic Book Day event was not made into an "event." When looking around online I saw that the store I go to did not fully capitalize on the event like a lot of other stores were doing. A common theme a saw throughout the many other store participating in this event was they made it a day long event. They would bring in writer and artists to sketch and sign stuff, have games and activities for children, provide free food and drinks, and the best part a big sale on everything. I thought by a store having all these great extras that made it into an all day event that everyone would enjoy and remember. Also it kept people in store all day possibly leading them to buy some stuff. I wish my store did stuff like this but it is more of a game store then a comic store so I don't think they want to put too much into it. I really enjoyed the day and I am definitely planning on going next year, but I will have a plan. This year I did not really have a plan because it was my first year and I did not know what to expect, but now that I know I will have a plan for next year. My plan is to go to my store first because they are not as busy as other shops and they also give you the most comics. After quickly going to my shop I will go to one of the other shops that are have day long activities and go check those out to see if I like it. The other reason I enjoyed this day was that it got a lot of people who don't normally read comics or think all comic books are about superheros to come out and find out that there is something for everyone to enjoy. I also know for me personally the purpose of the day, to sell stuff along with giving out free stuff, worked on me because I ended up buying a few books that I did not know about. I personally can not wait until next year to go to the next Free Comic Book Day.

Watching Hockey

Ever since I went to two hockey games a couple of weeks ago I have become more and more interested in hockey. When I was young I used to play with friends all the time and had great times playing, but never went to games or watched the sport on the television. When I was young two of my friends who lived in my apartment complex played in hockey leagues so because of them we played the sport often after school. Though I played it often when I was young I did not ever go to a professional game except for once which I don't remember much. I probably haven't played in like 8 years so I kind of forgot about the sport and all the fun I had playing the sport. So when a friend asked me if I wanted to go to a game because he got free tickets I figured why not I used to like it when I was younger. I came in not expecting much from the game but was extremely surprised to find out that I loved watching hockey. After that first exciting game I was just waiting and hoping that I could go to another game before the season ended in about a month. Luckily I was able to convince my uncle and grandfather to go. I went with them to my second game about a week and a half after my first game. I was very excited this time and I hoped that this second game would live up to the excitement that I had when watching my first game. The game did not disappoint. If anything it exceeded my expectations by far. The first game I went to the team I was rooting for, the Anaheim Ducks, lost the game, but at the second game they won and made it that more exciting. After that second game I knew it was certain that I could consider myself a fan of hockey and a fan of the Anaheim Ducks. I tried to make a few more games but I was unable to. So when next season comes around I will be ready and prepared to go to as many games I can go to throughout the season. I think it is funny that hockey would be the sport I love especially since I am really not a sports kind of guy. I enjoy going to baseball games and stuff like that but I never found a sport that I was actually interested enough into to follow it throughout the season. I also find it interesting that the sport I enjoy the most is one that is not extremely popular. Well I am glad that I by chance got to go to a hockey game and in turn discover that there is a sport I enjoy and one that I like enough to follow. Unfortunately now that the season is over it will be another four months before I will be able to go to a game again, but it will be worth the wait now that I consider myself a full blown fan of the Anaheim Ducks.

Captain Planet

Yesterday I watched a few episodes of Captain Planet that was part of a marathon for the upcoming Earth Day. I watched around three episodes. The first two were typical of the show, cartoony, preachy, and kiddy. Fortunately I stuck around for the third episode. The third episode was a very mature and realistic episode. I felt like it was a perfect episode of what the show is about. The show is all about environmental activism. The episode was about deforestation. The group of kids come to a logging town where a rich businessman is tearing down the forest. While hiking through the forest they discover that endangered species of animals live in the forest. The kids go to the authorities to tell them that they have to make him stop cutting down the forest. They are told that they need proof and that they need to file some paper work. They are also told that they only have three days to show the proof that is needed and the paper work completed. Half of the group goes to file all the paperwork while the other half goes to get pictures of the endangered animals. With the group that is doing the paperwork they show that it is a difficult process with wrong agencies, wrong color ink, and the long processing periods. This is one of the parts I really liked. It showed that in activism there is a lot of hoops you have to jump through to get what you want accomplished. The group trying to get pictures of the endangered animals are unsuccessful of getting the pictures in time. The group is unsuccessful of getting what they needed in time and when they go back to the forest it is all torn down. I thought this was a great lesson to teach kids, especially in the field of activism. It taught kids that even if you try your hardest you still might not be able to get what you want. The great activists are the ones who keep on coming back no matter how successful or unsuccessful they are. I was surprised that they would make an episode where the good guys lose but I am glad they did make it. The other great aspect of this episode was that it only had captain planet in it for around one minute. This helped make it a more mature episode. Overall I think The show should have had a few more episodes like this that make it feel more real.

Kids These Days

When I say kids I mean a good portion of people between the age of 15 and 25. Over the course of the last few weeks I have been noticing a shocking trend with people around my age, they are all extremely boring. Whether I am at school, Disneyland, or just out shopping all I hear people talk about is partying, drinking, smoking, or having sex. While this is just quick spurts of conversations I have been hearing it is so common that I don't see how it could not be common all around. While those things are great and exciting there is more to life then those things. To me when I hear these things all I can think of is how no one has character. No one is talking about a great book they have read, the new hiking trail they went on, how they traveled overseas, current events, politics, social ideas, films, and so on. I have been analysing this trend and been wondering what is it's cause, where is the root of this problem. I am sure many people would take this as me just trying to act like I am better then them. I don't know maybe I am acting that way, but I surely hope not because that was not my intention. My intention is to show people that there is more then just those things and that difference is the excitement of life. Some possible answers to the cause that I have come up with are people want to be "cool" and fit in, they want to be young forever, they want to these things now before they have to settle down and be responsible, or the media.

Being "cool" is always a factor in popular trends. A lot of what people do whatever will make them "cool" and in turn popular. People just want to be loved and adored, but the understanding of these concepts are lost to these newer generations. Having a lot of drinking buddies and sex partners is not real love and adoration, it's instant gratification. It then turns to a cycle of new drinking buddies, new friends to smoke pot with, and new sex partners. A new one to replace the old one that left. A cycle that continues until you hit a realization that you will probably be lonely forever. To clarify when I say lonely I do not mean alone I mean that you have a constant emptiness that can never be filled with the current situation you are in. People will soon realize, hopefully, when they get older that people love you and adore you for whoever you are. So I would consider this a pretty big factor in the cause.

While wanting to be young has been a common trend since the beginning of time, it currently has been growing to an almost psychotic level. Cougars, milfs, gilfs, and many other names have become common terminology nowadays. These people are supposed to be the role models for these newer generations, but they are acting just like their children or grandchildren. Mothers and grandmothers going out partying with there children is just irresponsible. It is becoming more of a commonplace for these parents to be the ones who introduce sex, booze, and drugs to their children. This is a big problem, they should be teaching them both the positive and negative effects of these things instead of teaching them to just have fun and not worry about the consequences. These people just cause me to go into an insane madness. So I would consider this another big factor.

Another factor is one that is more understandable but is still just an excuse to be irresponsible and that is wanting to have all the fun now before they have to settle down and be responsible. Who says you can have no fun when you get older? Thinking that way is a little naive and also quite sad. I believe there is two ways to live you life, have all the fun now and none later or have fun throughout your whole life. It is impossible to have both because the consequences of one directly affect the other. This is just my belief. I would say this is a factor but less than the other reasons.

The last factor I believe may be the biggest is the media. The media is a big thing in everybody's life whether it be through T.V., radio, books, internet, music, movie, or anything like that. Because of this onslaught of influence constantly hitting us from all of it's various forms, media plays a big part in how we act. While it might not all be noticeable it definitely is taken all in. It decides what is right and wrong in our current society. For example throughout all media it shows that killing people is bad, while there are certain exceptions there is more that says it is bad that it is good. Unfortunately there are a few areas where it tells us bad things are good. For example drinking alcohol. Alcohol has almost no benefits and is constantly destroying lives but none of those aspects are shown in the media, especially t.v. and film. Instead it shows how cool and fun it is. In this case there is more places where it says it is good then it is bad. It then becomes a good thing in the eyes of most people.

After overhearing all of these people I have found a common theme:
A teenage boys funniest story is how how he had sex with this drunk girl.
A teenage girls funniest story is how she got wasted and can't remember anything that happened.


This is our future.

February, the month of scares and thrills

For this blog I wrote about how in the month of February every week there was a new horror/thriller movie coming out. I went every week to see the new horror/thriller movie coming out because I am a fan of those types of movies. I originally wrote this at the end of February but I guess I did not post it. When I was looking over the blogs I have written it said that this particular blog was just a draft and was not posted. So now I am going back and posting this one I forgot to post.

This month there was a new horror/thriller movie coming out every week. I was fortunate enough to go see them all on their opening weekend. Here is what I thought about each one of them.
February 5 - Frozen, imdb: I really enjoyed this movie and thought it was a very effective thriller. It was able to be a great movie even though it only takes place at one location for most of the movie. Usually this can make the movie become boring by staying in one place for most of the movie. Another thing I liked was the man vs. wild element. In most thrillers someone is trying to escape a killer. In this movie a group of friends are stuck on a ski lift in the middle of a snow storm trying to survive from the bitter cold, frostbite, and the pack of wolves down below. Overall I though this was a very good movie and I definitely recommend it to everyone who loves a good and effective thriller.

February 12 - Wolfman, imdb: I have not seen any of the old werewolf movies or even a movie with a werewolf now that I think about it, so I did not have very much interest going in to the movie. I remember hearing how this movie has been delayed for almost 2 full years but I can't remember exactly why, I think It had to do with editing or special effects. After hearing that my expectations were lowered a little more because with that much delays it usually means the movie is not very good. Now after watching the movie I can definitely see why it has been delayed so much, after all the filming was done and they started editing they must how noticed like I did that there was not really a story. This was one of those movies were it feels like there was no purpose because there was no real character arc. So overall I thought the movie was not very good but I did really like the effects they were done well.

February 19 - Shutter Island, imdb: This movie I came in expecting a great movie and was not disappointed. The only disappointment I had was it was delayed from last November to this February which pretty much takes away all of it' s chances come awards season. Overall It was a great movie with great directing, acting, and writing. While you can pretty quickly figure out what is going on it's still great especially the journey to the end. I loved the movie so I went and bought the book it was based on, I haven't read it yet but I can't wait until I do. This is I movie that I would recommend to everyone who hasn't seen it, it's a great ride.

February 26 - The Crazies, imdb: This movie is a remake of a movie that I like, so coming in I was hoping that would make it different from the original but keep the same concepts that the original had. They did exactly that. They made it new and fresh but kept close to the source material. Overall I enjoyed the film, it was not amazing but it also was not bad. It was somewhere in the middle, I will probably watch again on dvd. The only problem I had with the movie was the pacing. The pacing didn't really feel right and I found my self bored at some parts but I still thought it was an entertaining movie.

Just One Of Those Semesters

I am sure everybody who has gone to college has had one of those semesters where pretty much all of their classes are boring and uninteresting. That is what my current semester is like. My last semester consisted of all required classes and I figured it would be really boring because it was all subjects I did not like. Fortunately it turned out not to be so bad and the classes were actually quite good. This semester on the other hand has not been quite as good. I know it is only a few weeks in but they have been very boring. This semester I decided since I only took classes I didn't really want to take last semester this semester I would do half and half, two classes I wanted and two required ones. It has not worked out as I had hoped it would.

This semester I am taking four classes, English 100, Math 40, Native American studies, and Screenwriting. Of those four classes I have only one enjoyable class, Screenwriting. Here is the breakdown of classes:

Screenwriting: Basically the only class that is bringing me back this semester. Of course it helps that it is something I am interested in doing for a career. The class is very well designed. Besides teaching you a lot of valuable things it also shows you how those things would be used in real life.

Native American studies: I came into this class extremely excited. It is a subject that I was really interested in and have been for a long time. Unfortunately it turned out to be something completely different then I thought it would be. I honestly cannot tell you what each class was about. All I can remember is two and a half hours of lecturing but I am pretty sure it was only an hour long lecture but an hour and a half long repeating the same thing. I don't mean talking about the same subject twice I mean saying individual words multiple times. I know professors like to repeat words because they are more important but when basically every single word is repeated I don't think any of it is important. The other annoying part is the there is like no lesson plan and it seems like the lectures are just random facts and ideas. So basically nothing like I was hoping and extremely boring.

Math 40: I was already going in with really low expectations, but I was surprised to learn that it was even worse then my expectations. I honestly do not know why I have to go to class because every single thing is online, the book, the h/w, and the test/quizzes. Also I hate having to do math lab hours. I feel that they should be optional, yes it is to your benefit but what if I do just fine without going? It's like making a vegetarian eat meat because it provides protein. Horribly boring can't wait until I am done and don't have to take any more math classes.

English 100 (The class this blog is required for): So the teacher of this class should not take any offense or take any of the following personally. I don't like this class. I am sure it is because the teaching style is completely different then my learning style so that constant conflict makes it difficult for me. Fortunately the class is not boring it's just I don't really like it. I hate MLA formatting and have been having to use it for the last few years. I know that I am never going to use it in my life besides in school so I feel that it is unimportant and should not be required. For some reason with restrictions like those in the MLA formatting all of my creative juices are drained from me.

So that is about it and next semester I hope I get some better classes.

Last movie watched: Deadgirl
Currently reading: haven't read in a while

Why feel bad?

I consider myself a good person (who doesn't?) but I always seem to find myself feeling bad about situations I have no control over. There are many times where I feel extremely stressed over a situation where it is completely not worth it and I know the person or persons causing the stress could care less. For example for the very select few times that I had to miss school in my school career I have felt extremely bad and I just don't understand why. Most people don't really care too much if miss school as long as it was unavoidable and because there is nothing they can do. For me though even when I always have a good reason to miss school I still feel bad for doing it. It is also extremely stressful when the person doesn't care or believe your reasons. I guess I feel like I am a good person and the person has no proof otherwise so what makes them believe that I am bad or don't care? Also what makes them think I should be treated like a delinquent because of situations beyond my control? I feel like it is quite obvious to read people and to recognize whether they care are not, so why treat everyone the same?

Another good example would be caring about others before myself. I am the type of person who worries more about others then myself, while their is a lot of people in the world who have no problem only worrying about themselves.. I guess I feel it is easy to do what you want but it is more difficult to do what is best for others especially if you don't like it. I believe the world would be a way better place if people cared more about other then themselves. The thing that gets me the most upset is those commercials where they show starving dying children living in trash. I am not upset about the visuals, its the harsh reality, but what upsets me is that these organizations have to go to these great lengths to try to convince people to help someone they don't know. I feel like until we get to a point in our society where if someone says a child needs money for food people would give it no questions ask we will be a doomed society set for self-destruction. There are people out there who just don't care and it is almost impossible to change they position so why do I feel bad? I don't know why and I don't know why I care about anything in general consider people only care about themselves. I guess that is something I have to search for throughout my life and I sure hope I can find it.

The weekend rumblings

On Saturday February 13th I attended an Alice In Chains concert in Hollywood at the Palladium. It was a very good show and I had a lot of fun. They played a lot of my favorite songs as well as some of their new songs from their newest album. They played for about two hours which was awesome except for having to stand the whole time for about 4 hours. The other bad part was I could barely see they play because everyone was either my exact height or really tall. I would say it was more annoying when someone my own height was standing in front of me then someone taller than me because when it is someone my height I keep thinking, if only I was a little taller. Besides those two minor complaints it was really fun.

On Sunday February 14th I did some shopping. My plan was to go to the Habitat for Humanity re-store to see if they had good furniture because I am going to be moving soon but that changed when I found a hollywood video that was going out of business. So I stopped there and got 11 dvds. Two of them were 3.99 and the rest were 3 for 25, so it was a pretty good deal. After that fun little detour I went over to the restore. There I found a pile of Laserdisc's and started to go through them. After looking through them I found 6 that are movies I really liked so I got them even though I don't have a Laserdisc player. Now I am going to probably look for one on ebay.

That is about it for the weekend. I had a lot of fun but now I have to go back to doing school work and homework.

Last Movie Watched: The Hills Have Eyes (Remake)
Curretly Reading: The Stand by Stephen King (haven't read in a while, need to get back into it.)

Dvds

I could not think of anything to write as shown by my last blog being around a week old. So I am just going to write about something kind of boring and very unimportant.

Over the last few days I have been kind of going crazy on dvd purchases. I have bought about 40 or so dvds. Before you say that I am crazy or stupid for buying so many you have to know that most of them were around 6 dollars so it is not as much as paying full price which is around 23 dollars. I got most of them on amazon where they were having a big sale. The sale had a lot of film noir, especially the Fox Film Noir collection. They also had a few other movies but not to many. Because of this sale it made me want to buy some other films I love but have yet to purchase. So in the end I ended up buying a lot more than I should have, especially when considering that I already have about 40 movies that I still need to watch.

Here are all of the dvds I purchased over the last few days:
14 Hours (Fox Film Noir)
Daisy Kenyon (Fox Film Noir)
Dangerous Crossing (Fox Film Noir)
Fallen Angel (Fox Film Noir)
I Wake Up Screaming (Fox Film Noir)
Kansas City Confidential (MGM Film Noir)
Moontide (Fox Film Noir)
Night and the City (Criterion Collection)
The Night of the Hunter
Saw
Shawshank Redemption
Some Where in the Night (Fox Film Noir)
The Stranger (MGM Film Noir)
The Third Man (Criterion Collection)
Whirlpool (Fox Film Noir)
The Break-Up
Breakfast At Tiffany's (Paramount Centennial Collection)
Chinatown (Paramount Centennial Collection)
A Bullet for Joey (MGM Film Noir)
Cabin Fever
The Changeling
Children of the Corn
The Dark Corner (Fox Film Noir)
The Hills Have Eyes (remake)
House of Strangers (Fox Film Noir)
The House on Telegraph Lane (Fox Film Noir)
Kiss of Death (Fox Film Noir)
Nightmare Alley (Fox Film Noir)
No Way Out (Fox Film Noir)
Panic in the Streets (Fox Film Noir)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
The Princess Bride
Saw 2
Shock (Fox Film Noir)
The Street With No Name (Fox Film Noir)
Trick R' Treat
Where the Sidewalk Ends (Fox Film Noir)

For the most part I have not seen the movie. Well that's about it

A little late but whatever

I am currently stuck and have no idea of what to write about so I am going to go back to the old fail-safe, talking about me. I am going to talk all about me and what I like. So I am in my first year of college and it is definitely not as bad as people say. A lot of people were telling me that there is a lot of homework and tons of long papers. So far I have not faced that. I have had a lot of homework and papers but you get almost the whole semester to work on them and if you actually go to class it is a lot easier. The good thing for me when compared to most students going into college is I have known how to schedule my time for at least 4 years. I went to a charter school for all 4 years of high school. The school was basically a college because I only had to go 2-3 times a week and do all of the rest of the work at home. So I was definitely ready for college.

I have a few hobbies. I love to watch movies and going to the movies. I would consider it my favorite thing to do. I go to the theater on average of once a week. Luckily I have a family that loves movies just a much so I get to go a lot. I also watch a lot of movies at home too. I enjoy traveling. I have a personal goal of setting foot in every state. I am currently at 35 I think and should be adding 2 more this year. I have recently started to read more over the last few months, mainly horror/science-fiction novels and comic books. To a lesser degree I am a gamer, but not very good. Like almost every other person I love music and like every other person I like a little bit of everything.

For a career I want to be a screenwriter, some one who writes a movie. Family wise I am one of the few younger men who will say that they do want to get married young and do want to have children. Political views are almost completely center. That's all I can think of so I guess I will do some lists.

Here is the basic list of top five favorites:
Movies:
1.Blade Runner
2. Star Wars (all six)
3. Vertigo
4. Night of the Living Dead
5. King Kong (2005 remake)

If you were to ask me tomorrow what my favorites were they would be different, on the other hand though the next list will probably never change:
Music:
1. Alice In Chains
2. Rage Against the Machine
3. Smashing Pumpkins
4. 2Pac
5. Sepultura (older stuff only)

That's pretty much it but I will be nice and give you one more list:
Directors:
1. Guillermo Del Toro
2. Alfred Hitchcock
3. Steven Spielberg
4. Ridley Scott
5. John Carpenter



Last Movie Watched: It
Currently Reading: The Stand by Stephen King

2010 Oscar Nominations

The nominations are in and for the most part I am pretty excited. Some films I enjoyed got some nominations as well as some movies I hated. I think this year is the audience had the most effect on the Oscars since a long time. This is probably the first year where I have either seen or heard of almost all of the movies nominated in every category. Now I will say who I want to win for most of the categories.

Actor in a Leading Role: I hope for Jeremy Renner, but I am 100% sure that Jeff Bridges or George Clooney. I will be extremely mad if George Clooney wins. While I liked Invictus I felt the film was more of an ensemble and each actors part was equally important, therefore I don't think Morgan Freeman's performance was a standout. Who I wish got nominated was Tobey Maguire for Brothers.

Actor in a Supporting Role: Don't really care to much for this category this year. I only saw two of the movies the actors are nominated for, Invictus and The Lovely Bones. Both of the actors nominated for their roles in those films were good but not Oscar material.

Actress in a Leading Role: I have only seen The Blind Side and Precious so of those two I would say Gabourey Sidibe for Precious. If see was to win though I would hope see would continue acting in great roles, unlike many people who win an Oscar early in their acting career.

Actress in a Supporting Role: I have only seen Precious so I guess I will hope for Mo’Nique.

Animated Feature Film: Up has to win even though I haven't seen any other nominees. It was an Amazing movie worthy of Best Picture (which it is also nominated) but most likely won't win there so it has to win here.

Directing: It seems Kathryn Bigelow has a very good chance to win and I hope see does. I loved The Hurt Locker. I will be furious and possibly never watch the Oscars again if James Cameron wins. Also Tarantino sucks.

Documentary (Feature): I have only seen The Cove, but it has to win because it is an amazing documentary that is a perfect example of what documentary film making is about.

Music (Original Score): I hope Up wins here. It was a great score. Avatars music sucked.

Best Picture: Of the five with the higher chances to win, Avatar, Hurt Locker, Precious, Up In The Air, Inglorious Basterds, I hope Hurt Locker or Precious wins. Of the five that have very little chance to win, Blind Side, District 9, Up, An Education, A Serious Man, I hope Up Wins or District 9.

Visual Effect: Avatar is going to win but I think District 9 should win because the real actors and effects blended together a lot better then in Avatar, which always felt like a real actor scene and effects scene.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): I hope District 9 or Precious wins. I haven't seen the others.

Writing (Original Screenplay): I hope Up wins because it was amazing. I would also be ok with The Hurt Locker winner, but I will be mad if inglorious basterds wins because Tarantino is annoying.

Hopefully the ones I want to win will and Avatar loses in every category. I can dream.

Last Movie Watched: I Love You Man
Currently Reading: The Stand by Stephen King

What to write?

For a class that I am taking their is a semester long assignment that is to basically write a blog and have at least three entries a week. At first I thought it should not be to hard especially since the explanation given was to write whatever you want or was on your mind. I did my first blog relatively quick after the assignment was given. I was inspired by a headline I read online that the film Avatar was now the biggest movie gross ever. It has now been over a week since my last post and I am still finding it difficult to find something to write about.

I have learned that, while people say this assignment will be easy much like a hand written journal, the assignment is extremely difficult. I do not care what people say but when writing something that is to be read you should want to write about something that people would want to read, therefore eliminating a good portion of material to draw from when you are solely writing what is on your mind. For example, I am thinking about what I want for dinner. It is definitely something that I could write a long blog post about. I could explain my many options, my different cravings, or my preferences of food. The problem is that it would have no importance. I am sure you can write it entertainingly enough for people to read it but I still feel that it is a subject that does not hold any importance.

What I am trying to get at is that I feel that, speaking for myself only, this assignment is difficult and very time consuming because it is difficult to find a subject to write about. I tend to only do things that I feel are important and therefore find it hard to write what is on my mind because I do not feel that people care what I am thinking about, ex. what I want for dinner. I hope as time goes on that it will be easier for me to find subjects to write about. Also I have to say that I want people to understand that I am not complaining and instead performing the task of the assignment, writing what is on my mind.

Last movie watched: The Last House on the Left (2009)
Currently Reading: The Stand by Stephen King

Avatar is now officially the highest grossing movie of all time

So before I begin let me say that I am one of the select few to remove their blinders and recognize that Avatar is a horribly overrated movie that is basically a culmination of many great movies. So now with that out of the way I can begin my rant about Avatar.

I saw Avatar on opening week, which I do quite often for highly anticipated movies, and was ready to see a mind blowing movie that will change the movie industry forever. In those ways it came through. My mind was blown away at how people could believe such a bad movie is the next Star Wars. It also succeeded in changing the movie industry forever because now crappy movies and going to get bigger budgets and make more money, much like Transformers 2.

Let me break down what I didn't like about Avatar in categories:

The Story- Basically a rehash of Dances With Wolves with blue people in 3D. Honestly that's about it besides just a few slight differences that are not important. The other thing I hated was Cameron basically thought of all the most popular things at the moment and put them into the movie. For example Star Wars(New worlds filled with different creatures), Star Trek(Creating a language that fanboys can speak in at conventions, Like Klingon), Saving the Environment and hating corporations(Put the setting on forest planet with the main focus on an evil corporation trying to destroy a lovely tree.) This is a story of themes not a story with a theme, which probably explains why I did no like it.

The Acting- Horribly acting all around, especially the lead Sam Worthington. Unfortunately he is going to be the next non-American American action star, but that is for another blog.


The Characters- All one-dimensional characters. The bad guys act bad and only do bad things without an ounce of redeeming qualities. The good guys act good and only do good things because they are good.

The Creature Design- Here is how I think the conversation went down, Director- "So here we have a planet very similar to earth filled with tall blue natives and now we need to complete the ecosystem by designing new plants and animals, Any ideas?" Designer- "How about for animals we add another pair of limbs and for plants we'll keep it simple and make them look like earth plants, but to make them different we can have them light up when they are touched like the Michael Jackson music video" Director- "Brilliant"

In the movie all the animals have an extra pair of limbs. For example the flying "Birds" have four wings, and an animal that closely resembles a rhino has six legs instead of four. Also at night anytime they touched a plant it would light up, so when they walked around it looked like the "Billie Jean" music video

The Acclaim- It makes me sad that one of the very very few times award shows recognize a genre film is the time when it is a horrible movie, especially in a year where there was a lot of better genre films like District 9, Watchmen, Knowing, Star Trek, and others. I still can't believe it won the Golden Globes for Best Director and Best Picture, both of which should have been more deservedly awarded to The Hurt Locker, and pray that it is not a precursor to the Oscars.


The Box Office Gross- Officially the highest grossing movie ever, without inflation. Why does it always seem that the movies that gross the most don't deserve it and the ones that don't make as much should make more. To me District 9 should have made a lot of money not Avatar. I guess this has always been the case especially since renowned classics like Citizen Kane and Vertigo were not that popular upon release.


The Director Himself, James Cameron- To me he is the most overrated director of all time. Some say Spielberg deserves that award but while not all of his movies are amazing he has way more classic status movies than Cameron does. I count Spielberg- 9(not including producing credits that would boost it up to around 20) Cameron- 1. This is all my own opinion, but The only Cameron movie I like is Aliens. Yes that means I do not like the Terminator movies that much.

So now that I am done complaining I am going to go take a break to cool off.

At the end of every blog I will post the last movie I have watched and the book I am currently reading.

Last movie watched: North By Northwest
Currently Reading: The Stand by Stephen King