THE NATURE & PURPOSE OF STOODERT

Resolutions! (2012 Edition)

2012-01-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

Gonna make this a short post because I’m not really “feeling it” today (kinda tired).

I just wanted to list my New Year’s resolutions for 2012 in hopes that they’ll get accomplished this time (even though I didn’t do all of the ones I made for 2011).

Lose weight (again) – At the end of 2010, people pointed out that I was a lot thinner than I used to be, so I stopped watching my weight and relaxed my exercise routine a bit. I guess it paid off because now I’m finding my stomach sticking out a bit more and pants fitting a little less than they used to. So I’m getting back into shape…..or trying to; I’m almost thirty and am wondering if I’m just starting to gain all the weight that people do when they get older.

Find a new job – I always say I’m going to do this, but the company keeps pulling me back in with offers of promotions, my own business cards, and a higher salary. The inter-office co-worker drama is starting to show, though. So hopefully this is the year I finally break free from the job that’s been so good to me.

(Re)Start writing stories – I just miss doing this. I hope I still haven’t lost whatever talent I had at this….!

See more shows – this includes seeing more plays & going to more shows to see bands / artists that I like. It’s going to be tough (and expensive), but I’m off to a good start – They Might Be Giants is playing at UCLA Live at the end of the month & I already have tickets!

Use Wikipedia for reasons other than looking up plots to popular TV shows – self explanatory.

Lastly, I’m switching back to Xanga; Blogspot is nice and all, but I really miss the sense of “community” that I had with Xanga and none of the bells & whistles of the other blogging sites can match that.

Thanks for the domain, blogspot! I’ll keep you up & check in from time to time!

About the journey....!

2012-01-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

So it’s January again (2012 edition) and I’m back once more to tell you all about my annual pilgrimage back home to see family and friends.

My high school class ~~met up at~~ held an unofficial “ten-year reunion” at Kochi’s this year and while I didn’t go (it was scheduled for a few days before I went back), I got to hear from a few of my friends who did what everyone’s been up to.

LONG STORY SHORT - A lot of us are still in school (as teachers or students).

Hearing about everyone this year showed me how “grown-up” we’re all becoming; several of my friends have already bought their own houses. It makes me feel like I should start looking into that too. But I can’t picture myself living in Hawaii (or LA) long enough to do something like that yet.

It’s like that movie, “Big Fish,” where the young Edward Bloom, played by Ewan McGregor, finds the perfect town of Spectre. It’s a wonderful town where the grass is always green, you never need to wear shoes, and everyone is really relaxed and happy all the time.

And while everybody likes him and wants him to stay in Spectre, he says he can’t because he “arrived there too soon.” To him, it was a place you “end up at, not pass through” and if he stayed there for a while, he knew he’d never leave.

That’s how I feel – if I ever move back to Hawaii, I know it’ll be for good, so I don’t want to until I’ve had my fill of the rest of the world.

PS – Big Fish is a good movie; if you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you do. Don’t worry, I haven’t spoiled the plot for you.

OTHER THINGS I LEARNED IN HAWAII THIS YEAR:

There’s a secret ingredient to Zippy’s Chili; it’s either mayonnaise or peanut butter.
Hawaii has way too many geckos.
Television is my Kryptonite; it makes me lazy and gives me an amazingly short attention span
Some of my friends from high school are now amazingly racist against Filipinos.
Generally speaking, people in Hawaii are short. I’m only 5 ft, 6 and I felt tall there.

Xmas on a budget

2011-12-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

Two blogposts in one week? Insane!

But I figured, since it’s the Christmas season – and I have a Christmas-related blogpost – I might as well post it while it’s timely.

Anyway, I just wanted to ask those of us who give gifts: how many people do you give gifts to during the ~~Christmas~~ Holiday season?

I ask because I’m at a point in my life where I can no longer use “I’m broke” as an excuse for not buying friends / family members gifts anymore. But if I end up buying gifts for everyone on my list….I think I *will* go (broke)!

I can see where I *could* shorten the list, but I don’t think I should; a lot of the friends I’m getting gifts for have boyfriends or girlfriends…and usually they’re inseparable. If I give a gift to one, I kinda have to gift a gift to the other, don’t I?

Here’s my list so far: Is this too many?

Mom
Grandma
Brother
Cousin
Aunt
Friend 1
Friend 2
Friend 3
Boss
White Elephant gift
Office Xmas party gift

Everyone's a critic

2011-12-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

Now that I’ve fully transitioned to my “new" (old) department, I thought I would try this old thing out again….seeing as I now have a little more free time to update this……at least for now!

While I was away, a new guy started working here (as my replacement) and since I’ve been back, we’ve been chatting & getting to know one another; he seems like a pretty cool dude with similar tastes & preferences for things like Lord of the Rings and Batman….!

…or he did until I mentioned The Dark Knight to him.

WHAT DID YOU SAY?

Even though he’s a big fan of the Batman comics (and loved Batman Begins), he thought that The Dark Knight was terrible – not so much as a regular action movie, just as a Batman movie.

Needless to say, I thought he was nuts. But then he handed me a 4-page essay, outlining his reasons for disliking the movie (and citing specific examples throughout the movie). Having a written essay handy for just such an occasion worried me for a bit, but I’ve also been known to write a few choice blog posts about movies I thought were less than great too, now haven’t I?

So I read it – and while I readily dismiss the majority of his arguments (ex. Movie inconsistencies, plot holes, etc.) as movie goofs -- he had many issues with Batman’s new costume, his “Bat-cyle” and the scene where Harvey Dent & Batman set a trap to catch the Joker – I have to admit that his character issues are pretty strong.

For example - the backstory for Harvey Dent / Two-Face differs from comic to movie adaptation. Harvey is a lot more bi-polar in the comics, being secretly abusive to his wife and family while generating a clean-cut image for Gotham’s media. In the movie, he’s “Gotham’s White Knight” through and through. And while this may have served the movie’s theme better, my co-worker’s problem with this is that it’s not true to the comic. So, praising this as “the best Batman movie ever made” is a false claim.

The same issue comes up with Heath Ledger’s depiction of the Joker.

While Heath Ledger's Joker was indeed a great villain for the movie, my co-worker felt that he just wasn’t the same Joker that he grew up with in the DC comics. Not only is the physique wrong (the Joker is always depicted as being a lot thinner and more feminine than Ledger’s character was), but he also got the very essence of the Joker wrong. According to my co-worker, the Joker isn’t a psychopath who orchestrates grand schemes in order to prove a point to people like Batman, he’s just a random doer of evil, changing plans on a whim for no reason other than “he feels like it”. (This one I’m a little iffy on, but I’ll take his word for it for now)

But while he may be right that this movie may not have been as ‘true to the comics’ as Batman Begins was, it was a pretty damn good movie. And maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up with Batman like he did (I went with Marvel over DC), but I personally think these discrepancies from the comics made the characters *better*.

And now that I’ve said that, I almost feel dirty after my last rant about how untrue to comics X-men: First Class was.

"Just Roll w/it."

2011-11-07T10:51:00.000-08:00

I would have to say that it’s been a crazy couple of months for me. In addition to getting into that car accident and everything else, there have been a lot of really big changes for me going on at work.

First of all, somebody in my old department got ~~fired~~ let go a couple of weeks ago, leaving them an employee down. And since they’re a pretty vital department to our company (they work very closely with our database system), the bigwigs at the company ~~made~~ asked to step-in and help them out for a few weeks since I still have a pretty good working knowledge of said system and it would take a while for them to hire a replacement.

A few days later, after I had a chance to re-acquaint myself with the job, they called me into their office and asked me if I’d like to return to my old department….that I only left a year ago to advance my career.

Apparently, aside from my old boss, I was the only person in the company who knew the system so well. And with my old boss being so indispensable (enough so that she can’t even go on vacation), they realized how vulnerable this potentially left the company should she decide to retire / leave. As an incentive to return, they promised me an increase in pay as well as some managerial duties with a promise to promote me once my old boss retires (she’s sixty-one right now and will probably retire at sixty-five).

Ultimately, though, they said the decision was mine; I could either move back to my old job and return to the boring old system-work that I used to do, or stay where I currently am and leave the company to fill that position from the outside.

Initially, I was pretty hesitant. It felt like a step back in my career (such as it is). Plus, I didn’t particularly see myself being there for that much longer considering how overworked I’ve been lately (barely enough time to blog). Plus, as much as I complained about how stressful my current job is, I have to admit it’s never boring: I now deal with multiple aspects of the company (billing, service issues, contracts, etc.) and have acquired quite a few job skills in the short time I've been doing it.

Plus, commiserating with your co-workers is half of what makes the job fun.

After talking it over with my mom and a few others, I decided that it’s better to not look this ‘gift horse’ in the mouth (especially in this economy). So I’m taking the “senior position” that management created for me (along with a hefty pay increase – or so they promised; otherwise I'm staying where I am) and waiting for the job market to heal.

Hopefully this means I’ll have more time to blog again. I’m not sure how much more work will be required of me (more money = more responsibility), but hopefully I’ll have a little more free time on my hands.

**NOTE** For those of you who know where I work, please don’t say anything on this blog. They have this “tracker” thing that catches anything that mentions the company online and I’d rather not have this post show up in the company E-Newsletter, okay? I’M TRUSTING YOU HERE.

"First World Problems"

2011-09-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

So I finally found myself having a few minutes of free “internet time” to give you a quick update on my doings.

Things have been kind of rough the past couple weeks and I’m a little wary of posting this because of my policy on “whiny” blog posts. But I figured that I should let people know in case they wonder why I’m not my usually chipper self:

First off, my orthodontist told me I have to start wearing rubber bands over my braces. This means I can’t really open my mouth too wide (yawning is kind of difficult now) and my teeth are more tender than usual due to the extra pressure from the bands. Plus, I look like that much more like an awkward teenager. I’m not really sure how long I’ll have to keep them on (*at least* five weeks, maybe longer, according to the orthodontist) but I hear that it’s best to just keep them on all the time (except while eating / brushing) to keep from having to wear them too long.

@#$%^& Hate this

Right after I heard the “great news” about my teeth, my car got “sandwiched” on the freeway after a guy a couple cars in front of me stopped a little too suddenly for the guy behind me. It didn’t look like a big crash but after taking my car to a mechanic, I found out that it sustained about $1400.00 in repairs. Fortunately, we all had insurance no one was hurt. And I’m now driving a rental for the next couple of days while the mechanics repair the damages to my car. I’m driving a (gas-guzzling) Ford Escape right now and I feel pretty big on the road. Good news, though – the mechanic called this morning saying I can pick up my car today!

Not Actual Accident, but you get the idea

After I got home that day, my roommate told me our apartment lost it’s internet service. I’m not 100% sure how that happened, but my roommate told me it had something to do with the online business he’s starting & how he tried to re-direct the phone number he created for it to his cell-phone. Apparently, he also re-routed our landline (which we use to run our DSL), cutting off our access to the world wide web. So now I can only go online at work. Supposedly this’ll be fixed by Friday (9/23/11), but I’m not holding my breath….!

A few days later, I got a big scare at work. I’d rather not mention what happened, but it’s caused a lot of us to wonder about the security of our jobs.

So yeah…..a lot happening in the past two weeks. I figure I’ll let the older stuff go unsaid for now…..!

Unrealized Dream #243

2011-08-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Twitter doesn’t allow you to create a username with the word “Twitter” in it?

I realized this when I had a brilliant idea to create a joke Twitter account named “The Twitter.” The plan was just to follow everyone I could find with this account, and tweet as if the self-named account had somehow achieved self-awareness and was gathering information similar to how newborn children do.

This was how I planned to achieve greatness…..even Godliness.

This was going to be my Profile Picture

But unfortunately Twitter had foreseen this and prevented my tomfoolery from commencing. And my dream of greatness was never realized.

I’m sure someone else already thought of this before me, probably around the time Twitter was becoming popular.

But on the small chance that no one has, I’m writing this post to TM my idea.

Sleep Self-Hypnosis

2011-08-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

Last night I made the mistake of falling asleep with the TV on and now I’m worried it may have screwed with my head.

I had a DVD playing (Season 2 of Arrested Development ) and it has one of those “looping scenes” in their main menu where they play clips from the show over and over unless you do something about it.

Anyway, I remember dreaming about specific lines from the show…and people saying them over and over again (Imagine a world where you try and speak to someone and they only repeat the same sentence over and over again; it’s hauntingly terrifying).

When I woke up, I realized this was due to the fact that I had the TV on so loud that I could hear those lines in my sleep….and that they were influencing my dreams.

Now I’m a little worried about how *else* those looped scenes might have affected my sub consciousness.

This is your brain on TV media

If I start acting funny, get me professional help, okay?

Originality is dead?

2011-08-04T00:09:00.000-07:00

So Camp Hollywood – the annual swing dance camp I journey to every year for 3 non-stop days/nights of dancing – has come and gone….and there’s not much to say other than MAN, WHAT A GREAT TIME I HAD!

Pretty sure I lost a couple pounds due to all the sweating (I sweated through 12 T-shirts) and a lot of people have said my form has improved since last weekend.

Other than that, not much to say – but here’s a performance from the Showcase competition that I think you should all watch:

Hard to believe they only placed 4^th in the contest (I guess it didn’t have as much actual ‘dancing’ as the other showcase performances did); but anyway…..!

I hung out with my friend (and fellow ECLS major), Susan, the other day to catch up on what’s been going on in our lives. I told her about Camp Hollywood & my trip to New York last month and she told me she was traveling to Italy soon for a friend’s wedding. (Rich friends, amIrite?) And while we initially planned to see a movie as our scheduled “friend activity” (aka ‘excuse to hang out’), we couldn’t decide on what to watch.

(See, Susan was also a film major and has a huge pet peeve about movies being original – everything in the theatres was either a remake, a sequel, or based on some book / graphic novel franchise and she wasn’t about to pay good money to see those)

So we ended up going to Barnes & Nobles and browsed their “summer & back to school reading” sections to see how many we’ve read /what we *really* thought of them. It’s actually a pretty fun way for English Majors to pass the time!

But getting back to Susan’s pet peeve: I’ve heard this gripe before from a lot of other film buffs and I got to wondering when this started. I mean, aren’t all stories derived from previous ones that came out before them? And those that aren’t based on stories are based on real life experiences instead, so they’re not truly original either. So were there ever any original ideas?

If not, where did the idea of “there were original ideas before” come from?

Maybe *that’s* the only true original idea……..!

Or not.

Sorry - it’s late and I’m rambling, trying to get ‘inspired’ to write a blog post.

What does it mean?

2011-08-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

I had the strangest dream last night.

I dreamed that I was out in the ocean by some harbor and casually swam into the open mouth of a Blue whale that came up to the surface.

The inside of the whale mouth was furnished with nice couches and tables, etc. but flooded waist-deep with water. Also - the inside of the whale’s mouth was transparent (like glass) so I had a really nice view of the ocean from the whale’s perspective.

My first thought upon seeing this - “what’s the rent on a whale like this, and can I afford it?”

Then I noticed this girl floating / sleeping / drifting next to me. She was a girl I knew from college. On the far side of the whale, I saw a guy I went to high school with doing the same thing (floating).

The whale then dived down back into the ocean and only then did I start panicking:

“How the hell am I going to get out of here??”

I grudgingly woke up the girl floating next to me and explained to her my problem and she casually explained to me that the whale goes back to the surface for air every few hours or so and that I could probably leave then.

Now calmer (but still a little freaked out), I swam over to the “window” of the whale and admired the view of the ocean.

And then I woke up.

ANY PSYCHO-ANALYSTS WANNA TELL ME WHAT MY DREAM MEANS?

(Don’t say “I have a whale fetish” cuz it’s not true)

Vacation Rationing

2011-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

So by now you all know that I got a promotion at work and have this new job with all these cool & crazy responsibilities; I’m totally an essential part of my department and contribute to the growth of the company, blah, blah, blah…..!

And while that’s really great – something I felt was really missing in my last position – it means that I can’t afford to take as many vacations as I used to.

……which really sucks, because I feel the need to take more of them now since this job is kind of stressful.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because I might not be able to fly home for Christmas this year. My vacation time was cut down significantly by my recent trip to New York and I’m not sure I’ll be able to accrue the needed days-off for a Christmas vacation this year.

It gets even trickier this year because half of my current department consists of L.A. transplants - people originally from the South, the East Coast, Scotland,…..and now Hawaii.

My old department consisted of people whose families lived in Los Angeles and could afford to work during the Christmas holidays. Christmas vacation was never really an issue back then.

But now….I’ve heard it can get kind of vicious around the holidays when it comes to asking for time off – begging, bargaining, lots and lots of toadying to the boss, etc. etc.

I don’t even want to think about what I’ll have to go through to get time-off approved for Evan & Mahea’s wedding in Hawaii next year.

Ah well, working up the nerve to ask today – wish me luck!

X-Men: First CRAP

2011-07-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

So by now you’ve probably all seen X-Men: First Class (and loved it) or decided that it’s not really worth seeing. I’m counting on this being “a given” so I can rant about this movie without any guilt about spoiling for anybody, but in case there are some of you who are waiting for it to come out on DVD…….!

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-- HERE BE SPOILERS---

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I just don’t get how this movie gets an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. If the major demographic of this movie franchise is “comic book nerds” like me, then how the hell did everyone else love it?
First of all, there are many, MANY, *MANY* discrepancies between the comics and this movie….as well as between the past 4 other movies! They include, but are not limited to, the following:

Moira McTaggart is an American CIA agent? (She’s supposed to be Irish, and was played by Olivia Williams in X3, and at least she sounds like she’s from the same continent!)
Alex Summers – aka “Havoc” - is (approximately) the same age as Professor X? (Alex is supposed to be Cyclop’s *younger* brother. If this movie takes place before the X-men were formed / born, why is Havoc here???)
Mystique & Professor X grew up together as ‘brother & sister’? - (They’re mortal enemies in the comics, and are pretty much complete strangers in the first 3 X-men movies. What, they just forgot about each other after being “brother/sister” for all those years?)

Secondly – the movie made some poor choices regarding what mutants / characters to portray in this movie. The biggest offender would be Angel Salvadore - the stripper with fairy wings who can spit fire. Were there not any other choices available? Since we’re throwing continuity out the window, did no one think of cannonball? Polaris? Sunfire? Marrow? (Not Pixie, though – she’s practically the same character)

Also, did it not occur to anyone else that the devil guy (Azazel) is just a red (& evil) carbon-copy of Nightcrawler?

And I just do not agree that Kevin Bacon was the best choice to play Sebastian Shaw….or that Sebastian was the original creator /owner of Magneto’s helmet. It didn’t look that great on Ian Mckellen and it looks plain idiotic on Kevin Bacon.

vs.

who wore it better?

And finally – the whole Mystique & Professor X vs Magneto fiasco; that whole plot arc / storyline just seemed to fizzle out halfway through the movie, only to suddenly snap into place so Mystique lines up with Magneto for the first X-men movie. Did anyone else notice that she comes to this decision for almost no reason while her supposed brother lies dying right next to her????

“Hey Mystique, I know you secretly want to join Magneto’s team, but you’re just too scared to tell me, but you can go with him. Don’t worry, I’m okay with it. I’ll just lie here now that I'm paralyzed. I’ll be fine. It’s not like we formed this really strong bond growing up together or anything.”

........I know, I know; I sound like a huge nerd, don't I?

BUT I DON'T CARE. THERE ARE DISCREPANCIES TO MY BELOVED GRAPHIC NOVEL SERIES & I WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT.

NYC Trip - The Oddities

2011-07-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

All right, just bear with me; this will be my last "pic post" entry about my New York vacation.

I'm not sure I should even bother writing this post, but I really want to take some time to tell you about one of the funnier things I experienced in New York during my visit to Wall Street - made famous by the New York Stock Exchange and that Oliver Stone movie starring Michael Douglas.

NYSE - wooo!

It's a very popular area for tourists - filled with a bunch of old statues. The one in particular I want to bring to your attention is a statue of a Golen Bull - probably built to symbolize the "Bull Market?"

It's a pretty popular statue, it seems. A *lot* of people were gathering around the statue, trying to get their picture taken next to it......specifically the back of it.

.....where the bull's balls are.

EVERYBODY WANTED TO GET THEIR PICTURE TAKEN TOUCHING THE BULL STATUE'S BALLS!

Pretty strange (and hilarious), right?


PROOF of this really strange & creepy phenomenom

So that's it, folks! Enough of my trip to NYC. I hope to have something else to post about real soon!

NYC Trip - The Food

2011-06-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

So here's the thing about my trip to New York City - I didn't go see the Empire State Building.

...or the Empire State Building.
.........or the Chrysler Building.

I did go see the Statue of Liberty, but it was from a ferry going to & from Staten Island. Here's a picture showing the closest I got to it:

Objects in picture were actually closer than they appear

The reason I didn't see those things was that I only had a limited amount of time to see "everything" in New York and everyone I met there told me that the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty weren't really worth the time it takes to see them. (Seeing the Statue of Liberty can take a whole day!) So I decided to skip them in lieu of seeing everything else.

Like Times Square......

It's like being in the Future.

And Union Square.........

And Washington Square...........

They filmed a scene from Ghostbusters 2 here!

Even Madison Square..........!

(Sorry, no pictures of Madison Square....!)

Hey, there are a lot of "Squares" in New York City.....!

Anyway, I heard that what I really needed to do while I was in New York was try the food......so try the food I did!

One of the first places I went to was a place called Dumpling Man in the East Village area of New York. Like almost every restaurant in New York, it's a small, hole-in-the-wall place to eat that's locally owned....and it was one of the best places I ate at in New York.

Here's a picture of me in front of the (now-famous because I've blogged about it) Restaurant.

And here's a sample of what they have to offer - it was only $5.00!

So good....!

Another place that I remember with great food was a Cuban place called Cafe Habana. It was like a fancier version of really great Mexican food - I highly recommend coming here to eat if you ever get the chance to visit New York.

Good thing New York is such a "pedestrian" city that encourages walking. I think I would've gotten really fat if I wasn't forced to walk to get everywhere.....!

There was also some really great coffee in New York. Take a look at this cup of coffee from the Blue Bottle in Brooklyn, NY!

This is like....coffee art right here

Tastes good, too.

Although now that I'm back in Los Angeles, everyone's been asking me if I saw the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, so maybe I should've? Ah well, maybe next time.....!

MORE PICTURES OF NEW YORK SIGHTS:

9/11 Memorial Site

Grand Central Terminal

New York Public Library - they filmed "Ghostbusters" here!


The World Trade Center Site - Construction in progress since 2002.


@ the Astor Cube

NYC Trip - The sights

2011-06-28T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, remember when I said I would try and do a better job of posting more?

Well, I obviously failed - but that's okay, because I finally have something to blog about now that I went on my trip to New York City!

Back in March, I decided that I needed a vacation and asked my friend, Lucas, who lives in Brooklyn, NY, if I could come up to visit him (and crash at his place). Once he got back to me (and said 'yes') I immediately began searching for deals on when was a good time to visit. Mid June (10th to the 19th) seemed the cheapest, and a good a date as any, so that's when I asked for my time off.

Now the first thing I want to say about New York is that it's a classy town. That was the first impression I had once I got off the plane. Where else can you see a SKYLINE Bar in an Airport terminal?

And the rest of NYC turned out to be just as glamorous....as you can see from some of the pictures I've posted below.

Not the first couple of days, though.....turns out I got there right as the "June gloom" was ending.

My first day of sightseeing - rained out.

But as the week went on, the rain cleared up & I got to see what I think I liked best about New York -- the parks.

They're really beautiful and a lot different from some of the ones in Los Angeles. For one thing, they're a lot *bigger*. Take a look for yourself!

So many trees....

.and oddly enough, pianos!

The park was so big that we didn't get a chance to see everything (like "Shakespeare in the Park")

But we did get a chance to see some of the musicians that perform there every so often, though!

I gotta admit - for a city that's about a tenth the size of Los Angeles, I'm pretty damn envious that NYC has the kind of parks that it does. I really enjoyed walking through them. Something about the way they're designed just makes them an excellent place to hang around; all the trees made for great shade and I felt more like I was in some kind of Nature Reserve.

Anyway, yeah.....I really liked the parks in NYC.

OTHER PICTURES OF PARKS I VISITED:

Me venturing into Battery Park

This was....well, not a park, but it's by the Hudson River area next to New Jersey

The Korean American War Memorial in Battery Park

Happy B-day, Frankie!

2011-05-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Some of you may not know this, but today is a special day for swing-dancers - lindy hoppers in particular.

Today is Frankie Manning's birthday.

Frankie Manning was considered one of founding fathers of the swing-dance revival scene. A big time movie star back in the 1930s & '40s (dancing movies like Hellzapoppin' & Jittering Jitterbugs), his real legacy began in 198 when he was contacted by a couple of local dancers in New York City. Seems these youngsters heard he knew of a little dance called the Lindy hop and they asked if he could teach them how to do it too.

The dance caught on when his two students moved to California, and Frankie Manning began cool cats & kittens the Lindy Hop all over the world.

So, in honor of his contributions to the swing-revival, lindy hoppers everywhere are dancing a special dance he helped bring back tonight - the shim sham:

AND YOU CAN LEARN IT TOO WITH THE HELP OF YOUTUBE!

EVERYBODY SHIM-SHAM!

We were all left behind

2011-05-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

So I've apparently been out of the Biblical loop because I had no clue that the ~~Apocalypse~~ Rapture was supposed to happen yesterday (at 6pm!) until last week.

A lot of people sure are talking about it now, though....and making jokes. And while making fun of extremist Christians sure sounds fun, I can't help but think that those people must be feeling pretty foolish and sad right about now.

I was reading about this all weekend online; all the up-to-date news reports on what people were doing and everyone's opinions, all the little internet jokes -- I gotta admit this "Raptor / Rapture" one *was* pretty funny....!

....and while I can't find the article anymore, I read somewhere that there was a group of people waiting nearby those believers who thought the Rapture was happening waiting to counsel them to help them deal with the eventual disappointment when it didn't happen. I thought that was kind of nice.

On the flip side, though, a lot of Rapture-related internet scams seem to have popped up because of all this - the most noteworthy I can find being the "After the Rapture Pet Care" - where those of us who were "left behind" will take care of the pets of those of who ascend after the Rapture comes - because as it supposedly common knowledge - pets can't ascend to heaven.

After doing a bit of research, I actually found a lot of forums, movies and other media discussing and dealing with this historical date that people seem to be anticipating.....I actually find myself wanting to see Kirk Cameron's "Left Behind" movie now....!

I am absolutely *POSITIVE* I will regret watching this.

But getting back to this whole "Rapture" media frenzy, I just have to ask - if this whole episode was just the act of some extremist religious cult......

....how did this get so much media attention?

My own theory is that religion is ingrained in us from a very early age so no matter how logically ridiculous it seems, we still believe in it a little no matter how much we try to deny it. It's very similar to why The Exorcist and Paranormal Activity were such scary movies. We know that they're just movies and that "the supernatural" doesn't really exist (or does it?) but it scares us anyway because a part of us still believes in it no matter how much we tell ourselves that there's no such thing.

What do you all think?

Were you even slightly worried that the Rapture might actually happen yesterday?

Coming up Next - NYC!

2011-05-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I bet you thought I gave up on this blog, huh?

Well, you were close – I *did* forget about it for a while. But a recent break in the onslaught of work, etc. has allowed me time to update you on the nothings going on in my life. And believe me; I’ve been doing a lot of nothing. It’s been kind of boring / frustrating, actually….!

I guess that’s the way life goes sometimes, right? You can’t be wild & crazy all the time….or else when would you ever sleep?

But exciting things are in the works – I’ve got a big trip planned to NEW YORK CITY coming up next month! I leave in about three weeks and am staying there for about ten days. I’m gonna be sight-seeing and visiting my ole friend from college, Lucas, who keeps his own photo blog http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcometto/ of the stuff he sees around New York.

Gotta admit – I always get a little excited for my trip every time I browse through his photos.

*Due to Flickr's photo policies & my inability to link pictures from a URL, you will have to click on the links below to see these awesome photos. Sorry for the inconvenience.

New York State Capitol

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcometto/5701886869/in/photostream

Wall Street

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcometto/5697466702/in/photostream

Street Art? – Urs Fischer’s “Untitled (Lamp/Bear)"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcometto/5676857025/in/photostream

Fuerza Bruta, Daryl Roth Theatre
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lcometto/5711479193/in/photostream

I’ve got a giant list so far of all the places I want to see when I go there, but I’m always up for adding new places to the list. I heard that it’s possible to see all the main tourist sites - Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, etc. - in a single day (it’s not recommended, though).

ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR ME?

No More Coffee?

2011-04-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

So I think I have to quit Coffee….at least for a while.

I’ve been having some prolonged problems with my stomach lately (heartburn, acid reflux, etc) and while I’m hoping I haven’t come down with an…

….it seems like I might have one.

I’m not sure how I came down with it, either, but I think a lot of it had to do with stress, the cold I came down with because of the stress, the Advil I was taking, and all the junk food / late night snacks I’ve been eating with my roommate. Alone, none of those things are bad enough to cause indigestion at my age, but the combination of all of them pushed past my poor stomach’s defenses and got through with its acidic evils, causing my doctor to give me a prescription and send me down to the lab for some blood work.

I MISS YOU, BABY!

This really sucks because coffee shops are *EVERYWHERE.*

I feel socially handicapped because of this. Getting coffee has become the modern-day equivalent of smoking - it's the all-purpose ~~excuse~~ occasion for social activity!

.....and until I get better, I'm gonna be missing out on that.

I’ve gone “Cold-turkey” without my lady caffeine for a good week, hoping that would be enough time, but it doesn’t seem like it; I had a couple sips this morning after eating some cereal and milk, but still felt it in my stomach like I did when this problem first started.

I’m hopeful, though. This is very similar to something I had in the past where it turned out to NOT be an ulcer, and my stomach healed rather quickly. (at least, that’s how I remember it)

I’m gonna wait another week and see if my stomach can handle coffee by next Monday. If not, I’m just going to have to quit altogether.

Anyone else have this problem?

Any suggestions / tips?

America's Responsibility?

2011-04-21T16:39:00.000-07:00

We were discussing politics at work the other day (already a bad sign), specifically the recent & numerous crises that have hit Japan, and one of my co-workers voiced the following opinion:

“America has too many problems of it’s own to be helping Japan right now. Don’t get me wrong, my heart goes out to them. But I just think we should try solving our own problems first before we go off spending money helping someone else.”

When I first heard this, I thought my co-worker was being kind of an ass. But I thought about it later and I came to the conclusion that, even if the majority of Americans agree with that statement, that’s not really a stance that America can take these days.

Sure there are probably some other (good?) reasons why America shouldn’t help Japan – but I

First of all, it’s a bad move from a Diplomatic viewpoint. Considering how other countries went out of their way to help us during the Katrina tragedy, not helping Japan during their time of tragedy would do some serious harm to our foreign trade relations.....!

Not to mention cause us to look, as a Nation, like serious dicks.

Secondly, America’s already set a precedent as being the country that helps other countries out. We’ve been “THAT nation” since we got involvedin World War I and haven’t stopped being that “helpful neighbor” ever since. It almost seems like other countries expect us to help when something like this happens.

Incidentally, this also reminded me of the Arizona Immigration issue. I heard someone (else) once use this same point to argue why America shouldn’t allow illegal immigrants to stay in the country. I feel this is a different issue and haven’t quite sorted my thoughts on this one just yet.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

For your Bad movie Consideration....!

2011-04-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

- BEHOLD -

HOLLYWOOD COP!

FYI - you can probably tell without even watching,but this video is kinda NSFW.

A Psychic's Influence

2011-04-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

My brother went to see a Psychic about a month ago. He went with a friend of his - mostly for moral support (or so he said) - and had his fortune told.

A few days later, he called to tell me what the Psychic had to say - about me.

And I had to admit, I couldn't wait to hear what the Psychic said.

She (the Psychic) seemed to know that our Dad passed away -- albeit ten years ago, and not "recently" as the Psychic indicated -- and that his spirit was still lurking around our house......and that he was worried about me; specifically my "financial problems."

Not sure if that was the reason my Dad hasn't moved on yet -- the psychic didn't say -- but it was important enough to my brother for him to mention it to me.

My mom also called me the same day to ask if I needed money.

The next week my mom told me she wants to get our house blessed and asked if I wanted her to wait until my usual trip back for Christmas.

Now lemme just say that I'm not a big believer in Psychics, ESP or the afterlife; my family's not religious and I personally don't believe in life after death. Don't get me wrong, I personally think religion's great (when used correctly), I just choose to believe in Science.

But on the off chance that we're wrong and there *is* an afterlife, it doesn't hurt to take a Psychic's advice every now and then, does it?

WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? DO YOU BELIEVE IN AN AFTERLIFE?

Another Book Review!

2011-03-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

......no dinosaurs, though.

PROBABLY THE BEST & LAST CHILDREN'S BOOK YOUR CHILD SHOULD EVER READ.

My Review: While I feel that this story is incorrectly titled, Bruce Eric Kaplan's "Edmund & Rosemary Go to Hell" is actually quite an intelligently written tale of a happily married couple who come to the not-so-shocking realization that they are actually living in Hell -- as opposed to going there -- and their struggle to get out of it.

READ IT.

Dinosaur Review!!!!!

2011-03-20T23:27:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading Chuck Klostermann's latest book, "Eating the Dinosaur," and I figured I needed to take a blog post to review it.

You see, I read (and buy) Chuck Klostermann books to learn his insightful views on pop culture. And man, they are good. If I had to describe his writing style, I would call it "pretentious, but with every right to be."

My friend, Nico, first introduced him to me back in 2005(?), letting me borrow what was probably his most famous novel at the time - Sex, Drugs & Cocoa puffs - and after reading just a few chapters, I had to say I was hooked.

But what often happens after reading a Klostermann book is a period of self-loathing because I realize that I do some of the things he states are "idiotic."

(In the case with this book, it's "putting exclamation marks at the end of unremarkable sentences in blogs to indicate my "ironic self-awareness" - read Chapter 10, "Ha ha, he said. Ha ha")

But what I've realized lately after reading Chuck Klosterman's essays is that he's: a) criticizing things that everybody seems to enjoy while b) simultaneously defending things that nobody else loves; and c) purposely arguing controversial opinions (like agreeing w/the Unabomber's opinion of technology) to get a rise out of his readers

And I'm getting the feeling that he has these opinions so he can:

a) sell books;
b) feel superior to everyone else.

But this is a guy who used to laugh into his TV because he thought TV sitcom laugh tracks were the actually the laughter of other people laughing from their homes. (same chapter)

So maybe I need to start taking his opinions with a grain of salt and not feel so bad when he thinks certain things are inane.

Incidentally, I have a feeling that the overuse of exclamation marks to indicate self-awareness came from the popular Dinosaur Comics! - another piece of literature that I respect for it's intelligence and unique insights (in an ironic sort of way)!

See!

Does hoping / prayer help?

2011-03-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

So there's been a lot of tragedy going around in the world these days.....!

Obviously, there's all the crap going on in Japan - the earthquake, the tsunami, the 2nd earthquake, and now this media frenzy about their Nuclear reactor - but a lot of friends / people at my work have just had bad things happen to them for no reason:

- a co-worker's mother passed away
- another co-worker has lung cancer
- a third co-worker suffered a stroke
- another friend came down with breast cancer

And it just goes without saying that we all sign "Get Well Soon" cards and write sincere, heart-felt messages about how they'll "be in our thoughts & prayers".

But those of us who are a little more *cynical* tend to think that prayers and well-wishes are bullshit and don't do anything but make those who say them feel better and dare everyone to do something more.

(And by "us" I'm referring to those of us in the general E-society where Internet trolls roam)

Now I have to admit that there is a certain truth to this criticism of praying and well-wishing -- that it's a lazy version of "caring without really caring" -- I don't really think that people do it just to make themselves feel better about not doing anything. A lot of times, there's not much else you *can* do but hope that things get better for someone.....especially if they live thousands of miles away or are suffering from a stroke.

Plus - I actually think that it helps sometimes.

And if you think about it, keeping someone in your prayers during their time of need is a lot like wishing them a happy birthday over the internet - THEY'RE BOTH FORMS OF WELL-WISHING!

So to those of us who call everyone out for not doing more than praying / hoping / raising awareness, etc. and just so happened to wish me a happy birthday on facebook

WHY DIDN'T YOU DO MORE & GET ME A BIRTHDAY PRESENT, HUH??

Just sayin'......!

**EDIT**

For my birthday, you can line dance for Charity like these guys did.

Ugh, not .AGAIN.

2011-03-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

Hey there, everyone who (still) reads my blog!

So it's been a while since I last blogged; not sure if you knew this, but I turned 28 a couple weeks ago (hope you celebrated with me). And while I usually write a post about what it means to age another year / how I celebrated it this year, my new job / the fact that there wasn't anything extraordinary about it prevented me from doing so.

Instead, I figured I would write another post about the most important patriotic duty that I'm obligated to fulfill as an American citizen (again):

- Jury Duty -
(again)

That's right - I have to call in for Jury duty again - starting Monday (tomorrow). And while I viewed it as a kind of paid vacation last time, I really want to avoid serving on a jury this time if that's at all possible. (I have a lot of projects due this month and a few items that really need my personal attention and I'm just worried about what will happen if I leave it for someone else to do while I'm out).

So I'm hoping that you, dear readers, have some kind of "secret strategy" that'll help make me seem like a less-than-ideal juror to lawyers and judges. I've already asked some of my friends about this and they've given me the following advice:

- Appear very racist. (Jurors are supposed to be impartial).

- Say you distrust all forms of authority (cops, lawyers, etc.)

- Say you know someone who works in law enforcement. (Somehow, this always gets this one person I know excused).

- Pretend you don't understand English very well.

This makes me a bad American, doesn't it?

**EDIT 3/12/11**
We got excused after the 2nd day when the trial I got called for settled out of court. (Yaaaayy!)

Dear Stuarts,

2011-02-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

ATTN: STUARTS OF THE WORLD!

A long time ago, back in College, I grew very frustrated one day at all the people who misspelled my first name. In an attempt to cool off, I logged on to Facebook and started stalking people.

I noticed that some of my friends who had unusual names belonged to various “common interest” facebook groups where everyone who was a member shared the same name. That sounded appealing to me so I tried searching for one with my name….only Facebook didn’t have any listed.

So I created one of my own.

A few days later I forgot all about it.

*
*
*
*

Fast forward to 2011 – and the group now has over thirty members in it. Pretty good for a Facebook Group with almost no advertisement! But now I’m figuring it’s time to start advertising!

SO - if *your* first name is Stuart and you happen to read this blog – please join my Facebook Group!

You won’t regret it….and and will probably forget all about it a few days later.

It's not me, it's you

2011-02-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

Hey TV, do you have a minute? We need to talk.

Maybe you should sit down for this…..!

I know there’s no easy way to say this and rather than tip toe around the issue like we’ve been doing the past few years, I’m just going to come out and say it: I’m breaking up with you.

And just so we’re clear it’s not me; it’s you.

I know it seems like I’m springing this on you, but can you honestly say you didn’t see this coming? The quality of your prime-time programming just doesn’t satisfy me anymore. My once-favorite shows like The Office & How I met your Mother have just dropped to an all-time low. And why the hell is Two & a Half Men still on the air? 3 times a night every night, no less? That show’s terrible! And where are all these Reality-TV shows coming from?? You know how much I hate that crap!

Look, I don’t mean to yell but I’ve been feeling this way for a while now and I’ve come to the conclusion that we would both be better off if we just didn’t see each other anymore.

Don’t get me wrong; I still think you’re beautiful. Heck, you’re even more beautiful than the day I met you. How could you not be now that you switched over to satellite and hi-def resolution? But ever since you did that, things have gotten really expensive / complicated. I can’t even keep track of all these cable programming packages I need just to see you.

Look, I know there are reasons to stay; I hear great things about Community, 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Weeds, South Park and Modern Family…..but let’s face it: I’m never gonna be around to watch those.

And yeah, since you asked, there *is* someone else. Her name’s Netflix, and she’ just cheaper and easier to be with than you. Hey – she is *NOT* a slut. How dare you call her that? You don’t even know her!

Stop, just stop; I’m not going to argue with you about this. It’s too late to change my mind. I’m going. I’m leaving now to give you some time to process this information with your regularly scheduled programming. I already canceled my subscription to TV guide and you can keep have all the remotes. I’ll be back to pick up my DVD player later—

Wait – did you say Parks & Recreations: Season 3 just started?

I’M BACK, BABY!

Internet-dependent thinking?

2011-02-01T00:17:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder if we rely too much on the internet to "look up" stuff?

It's pretty easy, if you think about it - someone asks you a question; just google it.
....or look it up on Wikipedia;

or god-willing, we can even Ask Jeeves.

And while we all know by now that we should double-check all the info we get from online resources (so sayeth the English major in me), how often do we remember what we look up?

I ask because in the past week, my co-workers and I have looked up random trivia online, only to forget it later that day.

- once when my co-worker had to look up who the Lindbergh baby was. (she forgot it that afternoon)
- and another time today where I looked up if Jehovah's witnesses celebrate birthdays (they don't)

I didn't consider it a big deal at the time, but I was driving home from work today when I tried *again* to remember if Jehovah's witnesses celebrate birthdays (turns out they don't!), I started to wonder if we take all this available-at-your-fingertips information for granted and don't really bother to learn it.

Kind of makes me appreciate all the studying I had to do in school. (Or maybe I just have early onset Alzheimers).

"So How was Hawaii??"

2011-01-25T16:17:00.000-08:00

Did I mention on this blog that I went back home to Hawaii yet?

I go back every year around Christmas to visit my family and old friends from high school who still live on the island. I always have a great time catching up with people and reminiscing about the ‘good ole days’ when we were young and stupid, er….not as mature as we are now.

But whenever I tell people here (“on the mainland”) that I’m going back home to Hawaii, they bring it up ad nauseum.

“So, are you excited to go back to Hawaii??”
“When are you going to Hawaii??”
“Are you counting the days?”

And here’s the thing about being asked the same question over and over again; after a while, you start to lose your enthusiasm for the topic. In a way, it’s kind of like being bombarded with the same piece of news over and over again….!

Until, eventually, I got sick of people asking. And it’s the same thing when I get back…..!

“So how was Hawaii?”
“Did you go surfing??”

“You look so tan!”

“Was it fun?”
“Did you have fun?”

And usually that’s when they look at me expectantly, waiting for me to give them their vicarious thrill-fix. (My stories usually disappoint them)

Don’t get me wrong – going back home is *always* great. Christmas is a time for family and I appreciate being able to come home a lot. But, to me, Hawaii isn’t some exotic place where I can be adventurous and try new things; it’s not that kind of vacation. I go back to visit family and reconnect with friends. In fact, when I go home, that’s pretty much *all* I want to do.

That and eat the “ono food”….it was probably the one thing I didn’t get sick of talking about!

I even made a list of all the food I wanted to eat as soon as I got back, entitled “THING TO EAT IN HAWAII:

- Shave Ice

- Mochiko chicken

- Curry house curry

- Zippy’s Chili

- Ahi Poke

- Jello cream pie

I’m glad to say I finished the list.

*NOM* *NOM* *NOM*

Resolutions 2011

2011-01-14T16:12:00.000-08:00

As is my tradition during Januarys (Januaries?), I try to come up with New Years Resolutions to follow through on in hopes that I grow and become a better, more evolved human being.

It doesn’t always work, but the important thing is that **I TRY.**

So, after spending (literally) a few minutes thinking about how I want to improve myself this year, I came up with the following resolutions:

Say “No” more often: You ever feel like you try to do too much? I feel like that a lot these days….and the majority of it has to do with my inability to say “no” to people; different friends will invite me to hang out with them at the same time and I find myself saying “yes” to them regardless of the scheduling conflict. It’s what causes me to leave early and arrive late.

Make more plans: This is the other effort I’m making to manage my free time better. By organizing my own get-togethers, I can invite whoever I want

Take a summer vacation (for real this time): I broke this resolution last year, but I intend to keep it in 2011. Not sure where I’m going yet, but……….hoping to see my friend, Amos, in Europe!

Take the GRE: Not sure if I ever mentioned this before (too lazy to look back in my Blog archives right now), but I made a plan to go back to school before I hit 30. It’s a slow process as Grad School isn’t cheap and I’ve only started saving since last year (2010). The cost of tuition alone is very discouraging. But they say to take things one step at a time, so that’s what I’m going to do starting at the beginning. And that first step? Take the GRE (and get a good score).

So there you have it, folks – my New Year’s resolutions for 2011. It’s not the traditional kind that most people do, but I think keeping them specific is what helps you achieve them.

DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS??

In the year, 2010...!

2011-01-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogspot – long time no post!
(Sorry about that, btw)

So I think I kept about a third of my New Year’s resolutions for 2010: 2 out of 5 isn’t great, but it’s better than nothing, but it’s better than nothing….!

- cut back on the sugar.
- keep this blogspot account for the whole year.

And while I didn’t really keep track on exactly how much less sugar I consumed last year, I have to say that I’m pretty impressed I was able to blog as much as I did in 2010. And while I tend to think that 2010 was an overall crummy year in my life – see posts from last year – I’m pretty proud of some of the posts I wrote.

….particularly the one about Hipster-hate & my theory on why people hate L.A. (Although the one entitled “Speaking of movies…!" got the most comments by far ~ mostly SPAM, but still….!)

I’m also pretty proud of a lot of the things I actually set out to do that I got accomplished: my volunteering, competing in dance competitions, my promotion, etc. etc.

So maybe it *wasn’t* such a crummy year….!

Anyway – as I said in my first post of 2010 – I wanted to keep this blog for a year to see how I liked it….and I do (like it). And especially now that my new job takes up a lot more of my time, I probably won’t be able to commit to a blog like I should if I went back to Xanga, so I think I’m going to stick with Blogspot.

Also – it’s kind of a pain (for me and all of you) to just up-and-move blogs again……!

Happy 2011, everyone!
May it be the best year we’ve had yet!

My "To-Do list" Life

2010-12-16T16:13:00.000-08:00

My friend, Evan, noticed a habit of mine where I refer to everything that I do as a nagging obligation, even activities that I normally enjoy. I didn’t believe him at first, but then I looked at one of my infamous “To Do” lists and realized he was right:

TO DO:
1. Watch Netflix movies
2. Check facebook / catch up on webcomics
3. Drinks at Lucky Baldwins

And while I have now added “do not refer to fun activities as obligations” to my list of things to do, I had to argue that, in the hectic lifestyle of the modern-day twenty-something year-old, I kind of *need* to think of those things as obligations…..otherwise, I’ll dismiss them in lieu of other, more pressing things that I feel I need to do.

But really – I need to devote as much time to the fun things in life as I do my responsibilities….and thinking of them as obligations is how I get it done.

I started this train of thought when I realized I don’t write as much as I used to anymore. In college I did a lot of writing; even produced a play or two. But I always viewed it as more of a ‘hobby’ than anything else….and work would always come first.

Later, as my work / responsibilities piled up, the less time I had to devote to writing and now….I don’t write. At least not the way I used to.

....and I kinda regret that.

Sorry this post is such a downer, but I've been meaning to write it for a while.

Not so X-mas-y movies

2010-12-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

I dunno if you can tell from reading the entries on my old blog, but I kinda like Christmas; people tend to make an effort to be a lot nicer (and closer) to each other around this time of year. Maybe it’s all those sappy “Christmas movies” I used to watch over and over as a kid…!

(24 hrs of “A Christmas Story” on TNT- FTW!)

But I have noticed that I’m a little de-sensitized to “Christmas-themed” movies after all these years. So I like to watch some of the “non Christmas-y” movies that pop up on cable around this time to get a break from all this “Holiday Cheer”

DIE HARD

That’s right – the original John McClain action movie was set during his wife’s Christmas party. It was kind of easy to forget with all the blood, explosions and crawling through vents that happened in this movie.

GREMLINS

Remember that Gizmo was originally bought by Billy’s dad as a Christmas gift for his son! I think my favorite scene in this movie is when the mom is fighting off the Gremlins in the kitchen, brandishing a butcher’s knife.

THE REF

This movie wasn't so much about Christmas as it was about marriage & family counseling. Kevin Spacey & Judy Davis do a pretty good rendition of George and Martha from "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in this movie, with Dennis Leary as a burglar-turned-hostage taker.

IT’S A VERY MERRY, MUPPET CHRISTMAS MOVIE

Okay, so this is a pretty big “holiday-themed” movie, but the scene where Kermit finds out what happens to the Muppet Theatre if he was never born is worth the 2 hours it takes to watch this movie I couldn’t find a clip of it on youtube, but the Muppet Theatre turns into a Rave club - I'm not joking.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Not so Single Helping

2010-11-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody - guess who's back to blogging?

That's right - it's me.....kinda.

I just had a really good idea for a blog post....and here it is!

A lot of people think that Thanksgiving can be a pretty rough time for people like me who are single and living away from their families. I mean, the holiday obviously reminds us of how we don't have anyone to cook Thanksgiving dinner for us like we used to when we were little. And it can even make some of us feel a little lonely at times. But it you know your way around the Holiday--and how to manipulate it to your advantage-- Thanksgiving can be pretty awesome.

For you see, Thanksgiving is a "Family Holiday" - a time when everybody gets it into their heads that if they're not part of some wedded, coupley, baby-harvesting, child-rearing collective, then they're unhappy. And that widely-held belief (which might possibly be true) is how you can manipulate tons of families and couples into inviting you to their Thanksgiving meals!

All you have to do is mention you don't have plans for Thanksgiving to your "coupled" friends and one of them will eventually invite you to theirs. And if you mention this multiple times to multiple people, you will get invited to multiple Thanksgivings.

That's right - MULTIPLE THANKSGIVINGS.

And if you're lucky enough to have friends who are celebrating Thanksgiving at a different time of day, you can go to ALL of them....and win Thanksgiving.

Please sir, can I have some more? I have no one to share Thanksgiving with!

Obviously there are drawbacks to celebrating this many Thanksgivings: it's greedy, manipulative, and takes advantage of your friend's well-meaning generosity. Plus, eating all that turkey is bound to make you fat. Maybe man was not meant to celebrate Thanksgiving more than once.

......but it's a fun thought, isn't it?

Blogging Return - TBD

2010-11-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody who follows my blog!

So I dunno if you realized by my lack of posts this month, but I’ve been slacking on my blogging lately. Otherwise you'd probably be seeing some obligatory posts about the Election, Daylights Savings and Halloween (again).

Unfortunately there’s a good reason for that. I got promoted to a new position at my job this past week and the training is turning out to be pretty intense! And since the majority of my posts are written during work hours, I just haven’t had time to write (or think about) new posts.

I’m *HOPING* this will change once my training is over (next month) but the job seems to keep a lot of my new co-workers really busy, so the blogging slump MIGHT be a permanent change.

On the plus side though, I get business cards through my new position! Now I can toss them into fishbowls at Sandwich shops in hopes of getting a free sandwich!

See you when I see you....!

More Fun w/Zombies!

2010-10-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

OH JAPAN, YOU SO CRAZY...!

Getting into the Spirit

2010-10-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Since Halloween is coming up, I figured I would post some "Halloween-related" videos for your viewing pleasure.

Hope you like this one!

Pre-Halloween / Party Foul

2010-10-26T14:57:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Lauren and Ryan invited me and Carol over to a Halloween Party Ryan’s cousin was hosting in Thousand Oaks. Not sure why they were throwing it the weekend BEFORE Halloween, but I think it might have been someone’s birthday as well?

Anyway, this meant I had even less time to throw together a Halloween costume – luckily I already knew what I wanted to be since last year.

THIS GUY

So Carol and I drove up to Thousand Oaks, costumes in hand, ready to meet up with Lauren and Ryan.

The party was a rather posh-looking mansion up in the Hills, complete with a pool, catered food and a couple of DJs to help get the party going. Apparently, Ryan’s cousins were rich and threw out all the stops when decorating for their party. (The entire ground floor was covered in Halloween decorations!)

Anyway, here are some of the better pictures I took that evening.

BLIND REFS

CAROL WENT AS A GHOST

CHILEAN MINER - One of the better costumes at the Party

RYAN (AS LADY GAGA) & ME, CLEAVIN' SOME CLEAVAGE)

"ENERGIZER BUNNY"

I HAVE NO IDEA WHO THIS LADY ON THE RIGHT IS

I THINK THE GUY IN THE MIDDLE (THE ANGEL) IS THE HOST

LOOKIT HIS HUGE ARM!

RYAN & HIS SISTER

GHOSTLY GAGA

TEQUILA SHOOTERS

AfterI got back from the party that I realized that, if you didn’t already know who Uncle Istvan was, I probably looked like some kind of Terrorist.....which is in pretty poor taste as far as costumes go.

Maybe if I get rid of the beard...

Maybe I should find something else to wear for THIS weekend......!

(In)tolerance

2010-10-20T16:59:00.000-07:00

With Election Day coming up in California, (Tuesday 11/02/10!) I’ve been watching some of the Gubernatorial debates. (Meg Whitman vs. Jerry Brown) I’ve also been listening to a lot of people go off on their opinions about the Propositions that are on the ballot this year. And it’s gotten me thinking about how tolerant / intolerant people get when it comes to their opinions.

I think a lot of people believe they’re “tolerant” and “accepting of others” because they don’t go out of their way to convert people to their way of life. This is otherwise known as the “live and let live” policy of life. (As long as you don’t bug me, I won’t bug you)

But somehow I think “tolerance” goes a bit further than that.

To me, it’s more than letting other people live their lives as long as they don’t bug you. It’s not much further, mind you, but I tend to think of “tolerance” as letting someone voice a different opinion than you and not telling them they’re wrong.

Every debate I’ve seen or ‘discussion’ I’ve listened in on about this or that issue has always had both parties trying to yell on top of each other, interrupting each other and both mocking the other’s opinion.

And I’m starting to notice that it doesn’t just happen around Election season.

Test it out: Find a group of friends who think alike and try to voice an opposing opinion. It doesn’t have to be something you believe, just something that you can objectively see the logic behind. And see what happens.

POST YOUR RESULTS IN THE
COMMENTS SECTION!

"Stay in School, kids"

2010-10-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

HEY KIDS - STAY IN SCHOOL

....OR WIND UP LOOKING LIKE A MORON ON THE INTERNET.

Worst Costume Ideas

2010-10-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

I went shopping for Halloween costumes this weekend.

When I went to look at what some of the stores had for their ‘Adult Costumes,' these were all I saw:

"ONE NIGHT STAND"

"HAPPY CAMPER"

"HOT DOG VENDER"

"BEER KEG"

"BREATHALYZER"

"CHICK MAGNET"

"CHOKING THE CHICKEN"

UH...SOMETHING TO DO WITH MUSCLE MAGAZINES?

"GOD'S GIFT TO WOMEN"

"GREEN-EYED MONSTER"

"HUNG LIKE A HORSE"

THESE COSTUMES ARE TERRIBLE.

DOES ANYONE ACTUALLY WEAR THESE?

Hipsters are People too

2010-10-07T12:10:00.000-07:00

A lot of people make fun of “Hipsters” these days:

- I saw this youtube video parodying them called “Hipster Olympics”

- Not to mention the website “Look at this Fucking Hipster”

- There’s even a song out called “Fuck you Hipsters”

One could even say that there’s an “Anti-Hipster” movement on the rise. I recently read this blogpost and then this article about “Hipster discrimination” up in Portland, OR. And another one in New York.

Isn’t that a lot of negativity directed towards a certain group of people?

From what I’ve heard, it’s because “hipsters think they’re too cool for school,” or that “it’s what they get for dressing /acting like that.” And while I admit that some of them can be pretty weird to the point of obnoxious, we all need to remember:

Hipsters are people too.

And just like people, some of them can be the jerky-jerks who deserve a good ass-stomping. But, also just like people, (you see where I’m going with this?) they can be really cool if you get to know them.

For one thing – hipsters are pretty well-educated / well-informed about certain subjects. If you actually take the time to listen to one of them, instead of dismissing it as “hipster devil-speak,” you might find that they’re pretty knowledgeable about this or that.

(Granted, you should take anything anyone says with a grain of salt until you can verify it yourself)

Also – hipsters are pretty thrifty and know a lot of ways to save money. Shopping at thrift stores? Buying / drinking “two-buck chuck”? Riding a bike or taking public transit instead of buying a car? All made popular / socially acceptable by hipsters. You should be thanking them.

And finally – hipsters can be pretty fun to hang out with. They’re usually very creative and witty (smart) and know a lot of fun things to do that don’t cost a lot of money. I think they’re (partially) responsible for the “Ugly sweater Christmas Party” I went to a couple years ago and the resurgence of the artwalks.

Now I’m not saying you shouldn’t hate that one jerk hipster who made fun of you for still owning CDs or the other one who thought you were a fascist for eating meat. Those people are judgmental and naturally inspire feelings of anger/disdain. But don’t use those people to signify the whole subculture of hipsters in general; underneath that flannel shirt and hidden behind those Buddy Holly glasses is a person like you who deserves to be treated with respect.

And if you don’t, then you’re a bigot – and I will no longer consort with the likes of you!

GOOD DAY!

Corned Beef Hash

2010-10-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

Realizing that I had all the ingredients, I decided to make some Corned Beef Hash last night for dinner like the kind my mom used to make when I was little. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS: 1 Can of Corned Beef
1 Raw Egg
A small potato
half an onion
some green onions
Pan-ko (bread flakes)
Seasonings (salt, pepper, etc.)

DIRECTIONS: Frist - wash the potato and nuke it in the microwave for about five to six minutes. While you're waiting, chop up the onions (real small-like), green onions and pour it, along with the corned beef, into a mixing bowl. When the potato's done, peel it and mash it in with everything else in the bowl. Then crack the egg over it all & mix it all together.

After that, take a clump of your 'batter' and start sculpting them into hamburger-like patties, "breading" them individually with the bread flakes (or flour in my case) when done.

When they're all "pattied", toss em on the stove and fry em until they're evenly cooked. Then you're ready to eat!

Delicious, AMIRITE?

.....okay, maybe they don't look so great (still working on "presentation"), but trust me: they *are* delicious.

*NOM* *NOM* *NOM*

**EDIT**
Add ketchup to make it taste even better!

Movie Review - Machete

2010-10-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, I saw Machete in theatres. And I have to say that this movie deserved every bit of hype it got:

The Plot: Betrayed and left for dead in a burning building, Ex-Mexico federale, Machete, is now nothing more than an illegal day laborer on the streets of Texas. Until one day, a mysterious stranger offers him a million dollars to take out the Mayor of Texas himself (played by Robert DeNiro) who promises to crack down on illegal immigration and tighten up border security.

Machete takes the job, but is betrayed (again!) by the very man who hired him. Now on the run from the Law, Machete vows revenge against the man who hired him and, in the process, uncovers a nationwide conspiracy to control the Border patrol between Texas and Mexico.

My Review: After watching the Trailer, I pretty much assumed that this would be “Black Dynamite” but with Hispanics. And considering that I loved Black Dynamite, I figured I would love this one just as much.

AND I WAS RIGHT!

Within the first five minutes of the movie, I saw about twelve people die and a completely naked woman waiting for Machete to rescue her. And considering the movie is about two hours long, rest assured that the rest of it was filled with similar mayhem and sex.

My favorite part had to be where Machete ripped someone’s stomach open and used their small intestines to repel off a wall.

But the movie isn’t JUST hilarious, over-the-top blood and gore; it’s also (slightly) political in it’s timely message of the country’s problem with illegal immigration / the plight of Mexican immigrants trying to make it in the U.S. That message is a constant theme throughout the movie. (slight though it may be) In fact, I figured that was the only way they could get Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez to do the movie. (and get her to wear that eye-patch)

Now, as great as I found this movie to be, it *did* start to spin out of control into non-sensical shock humor that I didn’t care for. This movie featured a bunch of “all-star” actors that people love to roll their eyes at. And while Don Johnson and Steven Segal weren’t too bad in their respective roles of “corrupt town sherriff” and “Mexican drug lord,” I had no idea why the hell Lindsay Lohan was in this movie - she plays the drugged-out daughter of the man who hires Machete, but somehow ends up as a gun-toting nun by the end of the movie. (no real explanation).

I got the feeling that, since the movie started as a spoof trailer for “Grindhouse,” they had to include her…..but couldn’t figure out how to fit her in the movie.

In any case – Machete is worth seeing. I suggest you do so while you still can. A great movie like this is only going to be around for so long.

Stay Cool....!

2010-10-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

Work's been tough this past week. (also the heat)

I wanted to blog once more during September (to make it an even 'ten posts' this month) but I just got too busy.

So I'm gonna make it up by posting more this month (October).

Don't really have any thoughts sorted out right now though - so I'm just gonna post this video from my "new" favorite show: Flight of the Conchords - check it out.

from the episode "The Tough Brets":
Bret creates a gang to help protect him from all the
rappers that he 'dissed' in his latest song.

STAY COOL, BRETT!

"It could be worse...!"

2010-09-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

So I got a ticket over the weekend for "talking on a cell phone while driving."

I apparently need to go to court(?) and pay some kind of fine. (dunno how much)

Needless to say, it put a big damper on my day.

But when I got home, I saw this.....

A tree fell on this car!

...... and remembered that it's not the worst thing in the world.

Outsourced - the Movie!

2010-09-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

Did you know that new show, “Outsourced” (premiering tonight), used to be a movie?

It starred Josh Hamilton as “Todd” & Ayesha Dharker as “Asha” and has the same essential premiset as the series: a Novelty Salesman who gets downsized & has to relocate to India to train his Call Center team which has been outsourced.

The movie is pretty much about Todd learning about Indian culture while trying to train his staff (which includes Asha) and encounters several work-related problems and becomes enchanted with their way of life after experiencing a few Traditional Indian Festivals (such as The Festival of Colors).

I imagine the new series will include all of this…probably all in the first 6 episodes.

Added to the movie (to make it more interesting) is Todd’s blooming romance with Asha….who’s already arranged to be married by her parents to another man.

Hmmm...sound familiar?

It wasn't a bad movie overall – but it’s probably gonna work better as a series….as long as they tone down the “enchantment with Indian Culture” thing.

Spoilers for how the movie ends below!

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

A

L

E

R

T

!

At the end of the movie – the entire team in India gets outsourced to China (I guess labor there is even cheaper than in India?) and Todd returns to America. (without Asha – she stays with her arranged fiancée)

Why I go

2010-09-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

My friend, Tessa, & I always try to go to the L.A. Comic & Sci-Fi Convention every month since we found out about it last year. It’s not as big as San Deigo’s Comicon, but we like it just the same.

It’s cheaper, for one thing (Only $8.00 admission!) For another, you get a really good deal on comics (sometimes).

And finally – you find things like this:

Barack the Barbarian - ISSUE #3!

I took a glance at this when I got home and it’s as cheesy as it looks:

THE STORY: Up in the frozen North (Alaska?) an old man tells some kids the story of “Barack the Barbarian” and his companions, Manny, Bill, and Hilaria as they fight against Red Sarah & the evil Elephant Cultists (composed mainly of the elderly & easily confused villagers) for the treasure of the (Economic) Stimuli.

Lost Skeleton of Cadaver

Much in the way that "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz," "Black Dynamite" & "Machete" are homages to their respective genres, so is "Lost Skeleton" a love-letter to the 1950s science-fiction "B-movie." A vendor at the Convention told me about this one, and judging from the imdb page - it's gonna be gold.

The IT-Crow Season 4!

I didn't even know this show was still on the air! BUT IT IS! Thanks for letting me know, LA Comic & Sci-Fi Convention!

Where else could you go to find such gems?

Speaking of movies....!

2010-09-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

I'm sure movies like "The GodFather" and "Citizen Kane" are great......

.....but I just think someone is lying when they say a film like that is their *favorite* movie of all time.

Unless it’s “Star Wars” or something……then I believe them.

The Ferris Bueller Synopsis

2010-09-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

You know what makes a good movie?

CONFLICT.

There are four basic kinds:

- Inner Conflict (Man vs. Self)
- Relational Conflict (Man vs. Other Man / Woman)
- Societal Conflict (Man vs. Society)
- Situational Conflict (Man vs. Obstacle)

In other words, the main character(s) in a movie should be struggling to overcome *something* that he / she is up against. Audiences should be able to identify this in every movie that they watch.

And yet – some movies don’t have them. In these, the audience just watches the main character(s) enjoy a conflict-free life for 90 minutes or more…..and it’s boring as hell.

I call this the “Ferris Bueller Synopsis” because it’s the first movie I can recall seeing where this happens.

Don’t get me wrong – I *liked* Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when I first saw it. Hell, I’d probably still like it if I watched it today. But the premise of the entire movie is him and his friends having fun in the City.

That’s it.

He doesn’t overcome anything;
Or learn anything;
Or even really face any sort of enemy of any kind because everyone loves him.
(I *GUESS* his Principal / his sister count as ‘enemies,’ but they play such a minor role in the movie that I don’t really count them)

And yet, SOMEHOW, everyone (including me) loved this movie.

The only reason I can account for this is that it was the first of it’s kind? (Unlikely though) But since then, the movie industry has somehow gotten the idea that they should make more of these ‘feel nothing but good’ movies.

The most recent of these that I’ve ~~seen~~ heard of is Eat Pray Love: that one where Julia Roberts basically travels around Europe, eating, praying and loving.

OTHER MOVIES GUILTY OF THE FERRIS BUELLER SYNOPSIS:
- Into the Wild
-The Lizzie McGuire movie
- I hope they serve beer in Hell
- Sex and the City 2
- The Darjeeling Limited
- Oceans 13
- Crocodile Dundee
- Outsourced (yes, it was a movie first!)
...and countless other movies shot “on location” where ‘experiencing an exotic culture’ is an essential plot point.

CAN YOU ADD TO THIS LIST?

Keeping in Touch

2010-09-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

I have a tendency to run into a lot people I used to know at one time or another.

The biggest category of people I meet are usually “old classmates from College.” And since I liked most of them, I usually stop and say hi so we can catch up. And sooner or later, they always ask the same question:

“So, do you keep up with anyone

else from College?”

This always struck me as an odd question to ask because: yeah, of course I do.

It just seems to me that, if you go to a school in a city as big as Los Angeles, you’re going to have a few friends who decide to stick around. And these are the people who you’ll end up hanging out with while you’re there because hey - they’re still around.

These are also the people who will listen to you complain as you look for your first job; who will help you move into that first apartment when you’re too poor to afford to hire movers; who you can ask to be your roommate so you can both save money on rent; and who will even show up to that party you’re throwing over the weekend – with a case of beer in hand.

Also - there’s really no excuse for you not to in this day and age of social media / free networking.

But I guess a lot of people don’t realize that as they go off to try and make it in the real world because I keep hearing that question.

I make it a point to keep in touch with the friends I’ve made over the years because friendship *is* something that gets easily taken for granted.

- My friends from high school always get a call to let them know I’m coming back home.
- Saturday mornings are usually reserved for Coffee w/Carol.
- I comment on people’s blogs whenever they make a post.
- Facebook friends who live far away always receive “Happy Birthday” wall-post from me.

They do the same. And we stay connected. It’s simple, see?

In fact – staying in touch with Fred gave me a place to stay when I visited Japan!

What about you all?

Do you keep in touch with old friends?

Scientists Reveal!

2010-09-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

(TAKEN FROM ROADLESSTAKEN'S XANGA)

So apparently, scientists have been working very hard to determine what makes someone “a good dancer.”

THIS IS WHAT THEY’VE COME UP WITH:

"GOOD DANCER"

BAD DANCER

LADIES - DID YOU SWOON?

"Clothes make the Man...."

2010-09-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

….which is why naked people are never taken seriously.” (Mark Twain)

I bought a long-sleeve shirt the other day……from the Gap. It looks something like this:

I’m a little ashamed to admit I bought this, but I can’t quite put my finger on why.

Am I worried about that shopping at The Gap makes me conformist?
Am I worried that this is a sign I’m becoming more & more superficial?
Or am I worried that I’m trying to be something that I’m not?

(Probably all of the above)

Shopping at places like the Gap / Urban Outfitters / some thrift store comes with certain stigmas of being a preppie / poser / hipster type. I used to worry about this in college (not high school though; I just wore whatever my mom picked out for me back then) and stayed away from those places so that I wouldn’t be “labeled.” Instead, I bought all my shirts from online stores and various places that sold ‘specially made shirts’ in hopes of being thought of as ‘an individual.’ I noticed that these were the kinds of clothes that had designs on them which made me stand out, whereas “designer” clothing did not that made other people blend in with the crowd. (Weird, rite?)

So I think these are (for the most part) valid concerns because my appearance” is a very important part of I am; it’s the part that people see the most and, consequently, rely on to get an accurate judge of who the rest of “me” is. And since my wardrobe is one of the two things about my appearance I can actually control, (the other being ‘my hair.’) I think buying clothes from The Gap says the wrong thing about me (that I’m rich, vain, etc.)

But on the other hand, there’s really nothing wrong with buying shirts from the Gap. A lot of perfectly normal (& awesome) people do it too. True, people are going to make certain assumptions about me for shopping there, but aren’t I a little old to be worrying about what clique I fall under these days? And shouldn’t I *want* people to realize that I can now afford to shop at nice stores instead of where I used to go? (Target)

And for that matter, aren’t I a little old to be wearing shirts with funny designs on them? (Maybe)

……

………

………..

…………… this is an awful lot of thought to come out of me buying a shirt, isn’t it?

Sorry that this was another odd / boring(?) post. I just had to get this all out “on paper” and thought it would make a good blogpost at the time.

Real Exciting, AmIrite?

2010-09-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hey all – long time, no post!

Apologies about that – stuff’s been happening but not a lot of it’s “blog-worthy” y’know? Or…I guess it was AT THE TIME, but I was either AFK (away from my Keyboard) or just not in the mood to blog about it.

Plus, I still haven’t bought a new camera yet so I’ve got no pictures / video to go with some of the more “you had to be there” parts of the post.

So this’ll be just another mish-mash of “this is what I did” updates.

First off – I applied for another (higher-paying) position at my job……and didn’t get this one either. I was really surprised this time because I not only thought I did really well in the interview (which I didn’t feel last time) but pretty much everyone around me already assumed I got it before I even met with the Supervisor. But they ended up hiring someone from another branch (who, of course, had more experience) to fill the position.

After word got out about that, everyone came by to express their condolences / tell me not to ‘give up’ etc. But I was still kinda bummed. Just a note to anyone who’s trying to console someone in a similar situation: phrases like ‘cheer up’ is one of the last things people want to hear when they’re in a bad mood.

Moving on…..both Lauren & Warren came down for Labor Day weekend so OF COURSE we went to All Star Lanes for some bowling & Karaoke. The Karaoke Bar was pretty empty when we got there, so we were feeling pretty brave with out song choices. Have to thank Carol for daring me to sing Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself” – I think it turned out pretty good! (Or maybe that was a side-effect of the alcohol messing with my brain)

Sometime over the next half of the 3-day weekend I got sick – some kind of fever / sore throat thing that I’m still not 100% over. That and Rob (my roommate) forgetting to pay our internet bill on time led to me being kinda bored the next couple of days. But I did manage to buy the Scott Pilgrimm vs. The World soundtrack. And don’t worry, all the good songs from the movie are on the CD. I had to think a bit about where to get the actual CD cuz all the record stores are pretty much extinct (ended up at Borders).

So yeah – that’s my past couple weeks in a nutshell. I’m planning on being more exciting next weekend, I promise.

Communities

2010-08-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is having a hard time with their new job and was asking for ways to deal with the stress.

A lot of people suggested yoga, exercise, positive affirmations, remembering to take vacations, movies, blogging, etc. all things that one could do by themselves to relieve the stress / frustration of his job. And while those are good ways to relieve the symptoms of stress, I don’t believe that doing those things will help you deal with the actual cause of it all.

My recommendation was ‘going to Happy Hour at the local Bar,’ which I admit SOUNDS like a bad way to relieve stress (“drinking makes the pain go away, lolz!”) But in my experience, “Happy Hour at the Bar” is when / where people go after work to blow off steam & complain with other co-workers and is a very good place to build a community of support. Exercise, meditation, etc. may do a good job of relieving stress – but so does talking with other people who know what you’re going through.

These people listen (something that a ton of other people in therapy have to pay $$$ for) and help by giving advice, sharing their own experiences, and agreeing that “yeah what you’re going through is pretty tough.”

I think people these days try to replace the idea of “building a community” with things like “commodities” & “comforts,” but I just don’t think it has the same effect.

What do you all think?
Also - how do you relieve stress?

My New Obsession

2010-08-23T11:54:00.000-07:00

So I’d like to show you some pictures from The Magic Garage 6 that I went to this weekend, (because honestly, words just don’t cut it at Art shows) but I can’t – because I didn’t buy a new camera yet. (It broke several weeks ago)

But here’s some words anyway: Evan had some oh his photographs posted up there so he invited a bunch of us for support. I went & I saw, along with Nico, Arturo, & Andrew (who I haven’t seen in a long while – I suggested they throw another party to remedy that) and got to listen to a few of the musical artists that were performing as well. (I thought Zaptra & Icy Lytes were particularly good)

So that’s that.

But what I really wanted to post today about is my new obsession, which is learning how to do this:

It’s called “The Big Apple” and when I first saw the swing team at Memories perform this, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I have about half of it memorized (up until “The London Bridge”) but still need to work on learning that last half.

Unfortunately, the rest of my practice group wants to work on Aerials – we’re having a workshop on that in October – so we’ve been doing all exercises where the follows jump / step / climb on us leads while we try our best to remain grounded. (My legs are pretty sore right now from being stood on last night)

So I guess I'll have to learn it by myself. :-p

Let the Flame War begin!

2010-08-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

Apparently one of my friends started a friendly “flame war” with me over Facebook, implying that I’ve said some horribly racist / discriminatory things by referring to them in posts that he writes on my Facebook wall.

It caught me off-guard at first, but I’ve learned to just “run with it” whenever he hits me with something like this and try to “give as good as I get” whenever possible. It’s actually kind of fun, trying to think of new ways to slander / libel old friends like this.

So, just in case you were wondering (those of you who can see my facebook profile), I don’t really feel that way about interracial marriage, the working class, or white slavery.

But I do think the characters on Seinfeld got what they deserved. (just sayin’)

Oh yeah – and my so-called "friend" is indeed a racist…….a BIG one.

And a pedophile. (No, I don't know why I'm friends with him)

THIS SHIRT

2010-08-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

WHERE CAN I FIND IT???

I've got a small collection of 'awesome' shirts like this. A bunch of them are from Amorphia Apparel, but I find similar ones every once in a while on the merchandise pages of the webcomic sites I read.

I saw this one the other day at the 826LA Time Travel Mart (in Echo Park); but they only had it in a kid's / girl's medium.

So I tried looking up the text online ("All my friends are dead") and found the design on Etsy - but here's where the trail ends & the drama begins:

Apparently, the shirt design (or something similar) was being sold by rival t-shirt companies and a huge debate arose over who ripped off who.

So now, maybe it doesn't exist anymore??? That would suck.

DOES ANYONE OWN THIS SHIRT / KNOW WHERE I CAN GET IT??

**EDIT 8/19/10**
So if you read the comments, you'll see that the designer of the (above) shirt found this blog & told me how I could buy it! I had to put a little work into "tracking it down" (i.e. calling a store in S.F. called Little Otsu that carried it) but I think it was worth it.

Many Thanks to the people at Little Otsu Publishing & Avery Monsen of Big Stone Head!

Update – Volunteering

2010-08-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

So I’m finally getting into the swing of this whole “Volunteering” thing.

This Saturday, I went down to the Norton Simon Museum (got in for free!) to help out 826LA with a writing workshop they put on for kids; this one was about “symbols” and how they can tell / help us develop stories: it consisted of a short lecture by the Museum staff about how the symbols found on Indian Art work was used to tell a lot of stories about the Culture and religion. The children then roamed around the museum, looking for / listing all the commonly-used symbols found on Indian artifacts that they liked. Finally, they sat down to write a story based on either the symbols they found, or ones that they made on their own. The hardest part about this project was getting the kids to think of a story; they only had a half-hour to write one but lot of them seemed to think they had to come up with something good to share.

I figured the best way to get them to overcome this was to write a (rather crappy) story of my own. So here’s the story I wrote:

Once upon a time there was an elephant. He had 8 legs!
Way more legs than all the other elephants!
He felt pretty bad about it until he was discovered by Hollywood and became a movie star.
The End.

Surprisingly, it worked.

One of the kids eventually asked me how I thought that one up. I told her all great stories start with “once upon a time,” so I just started from there.

(I wanna try and see if I can come up with my own worshop for them - doesn't seem too complicated!)

They also held a Fundraising event - Spelling Bee for Cheaters! - out of their west coast Branch (in Santa Monica) where they raised a lot of money & invited a lot of celebrities! But I didn't go to that so I can't really tell you anything about it!

Afterwards, I hung around and checked out the Hiroshige Art exhibit they had up - it was pretty cool to see the hundreds of intricate woodblock paintings he drew.

After that, I drove down to Garden Grove with my friend, Susan, (one of the people I practice dancing with) to “Keep Alive the Spirit of ‘45” - a Celebration of the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII put on by the American Veterans (AMVETS) Dept. of California……but really, we just went to see the Bill Elliot Swing Orchestra (from Boston) play.

The event itself was a lot of fun – the band was great & a lot of people were dressed up in Vintage 1940’s clothing - and Susan & I got to show off a lot of the moves we’ve been practicing. Several people (mostly U.S. Veterans) came up to compliment us on how good we were.

……that was a nice boost to the ol’ ego.

Today is a Special Day

2010-08-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to jot down that today I did something that my gut tells me I'll regret for the next couple of years (should everything go as planned)

Since this is a public blog, I can't really say anymore without shooting myself in the foot, but look at the labels to get a hint at what this refers to.

PRAY THAT IT ALL WORKS OUT FOR THE BEST!

Optimistic Pessimism

2010-08-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

I can never tell if I’m an optimist or a pessimist.

Some time ago – I forget when – someone told me it was better to be pessimistic about everything because it meant that you would never be disappointed, only pleasantly surprised , when things turned out differently than you expected.

The ‘never be disappointed’ aspect of that philosophy really appealed to me (I wonder what that means) so I tried to adopt this way of thinking from that point on. And I’ve found that it’s helped to keep me grounded in a lot of ways.

Anyways, I’ve just always wondered if this outlook was considered ‘pessimism’ or ‘optimism’: I mean, on the one hand, I never expect anything good to happen. (Maybe that explains why I didn’t get that job) But on the other – I’ve noticed that I tend to look on the bright side whenever I hear something negative happen. (People have told me this)

I think the two are connected somehow…..!

What about you, readers?

Are you more of an Optimist?

Or a Pessimist?

The Bechdel Test

2010-08-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Have you all heard of the Bechdel Test?

It’s a simple 3 question test that points out the lack of female characters in movies and a lack of female character development for them other than how they relate to men. I read about it here on John Scalzi’s blog – Whatever.

Here are the questions for the test:

1. Are there at least two women in this movie?
2. Do they ever talk to each other?
3. About something besides a man?

If the answer to all three of these questions is “yes,” then the movie passes the Bechdel Test. A list of movies that pass / fail the Bechdel test can be found here.

I looked through my shelf of DVDs and discovered that a lot of the films I like don’t pass the test.

Not to say that a movie which fails the Bechdel Test is bad. A lot of movies that pass the Bechdel test are awful. (ex."Alice in Wonderland") But still, it’s a little odd that, in this day and age, there aren’t better roles for actresses these days.

So listen up Hollywood – hows about we change some of our male characters into female ones, huh?

How many movies do YOU own that pass the Bechdel Test?

My Theory on the L.A. Hate

2010-08-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

So I think I’ve found one of the reasons why “people from L.A.” have such a bad reputation:

Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the U.S. As such, a lot of people who want to “make it” in the world eventually want to move here - the logic being that larger cities have more opportunities, ensuring its inhabitants a greater chance of success.

And while this is true of all major cities – such as New York, which some consider is ‘the greatest city on Earth’ –L.A. stands out from the rest of them in the way that, over the years, it’s become increasingly notorious for making people “famous” for no apparent reason.

Because of this phenomenon, Los Angeles has become known as this place that grants fame to people just for living here. And this “fast track to celebrity” (which we so often mistake for “success”) attracts a certain kind of people – the kind who want to be noticed.

Keep in mind that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to be noticed or appreciated. It’s a very human trait that’s inside all of us at some level. But some people want / need it more than others and those are the ones that flock to L.A. (specifically Hollywood)

But what these people fail to appreciate when they finally get here is that everyone else has the same goal. And it is incredibly difficult to achieve that goal in a city this large with that much competition against you.

For a person to truly stand out, they need to market themselves..… constantly….to a greater degree than everyone else….who are already doing the exact same thing.

And it’s this kind of 24/7 “mega-marketing” that has them practically shouting LOOK AT ME! all the time (to no one in particular) that creates the kind of self-absorption, elitism and conceitedness that everyone hates about this city.

But the only reason people think “everyone from L.A.” is like this is because that’s how well those people market themselves.

So….yeah. L.A. attracts a lot of obnoxious people that get a lot of attention. And I think that’s one of the reasons why people from here get such a bad reputation. Am I right / wrong?

What do you all think?

Camp Hollywood XIII (2010)

2010-08-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

So lemme just tell you how awesome Camp Hollywood XIII was:
VERY MUCH SO.

I’m not sure if this year was just an incredibly great year to be there, but Camp Hollywood just meant more to me this time. I think it has something to do with all the friends that I’ve been making while dancing; as I become more involved in the ‘swing scene’ / get to know more about the people who are so active in the community, the events become more and more significant.

Special thanks go to Nathan, Susan, Alan & Heather for letting me crash at their hotel room in between dances / classes / competitions.

Speaking of which – on to the Competition videos!

Unfortunately, I don’t think I can accurately describe how many people “brought it” this year in words – I’m just not that good a writer.

ALSO unfortunately, there was some rule about not filming the competitions unless you had some kind of “video pass” (which I knew nothing about).

What’s even more discouraging was the fact that my camera decided to crap out on me after only a few pictures (same problem as last time, too!)

But FORTUNATELY, a lot of other people have already uploaded youtube videos from this weekend that I can use!

1st PLACE IN THE TEAM COMPETITION: The Fly-Rites

1st Place (?) for "Showcase" (couples performance): Patrick & Natasha

SHOWCASE HONORABLE MENTION: JOEL & VALERIE

Look at how amped the crowd was by their performance.

UNDERGROUND FINALS

If you’re noticing that people are tired in this video, it’s because this contest was held at 2:00AM with even more dancing afterwards. I didn’t got to bed until 4:00AM myself that night.

As for my competition (the amateur Jack & Jill contest), I did about as well as I expected. In other words, I didn’t make it to finals. That’s about as specific as the scoring can get when the judges have to keep score for over 100 people. Either you stand out, or you don’t. I had a lot of fun though, and that was the whole point.

I got lemons

2010-07-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I found out I didn’t get that job / new position I applied for.

H.R. (somehow) left me a message on my work phone w/out calling – I guess so they could personal, yet non-confrontationally, break the news to me.

Now I told myself I wasn’t gonna get too worked up over not getting it, but I’m a little bummed about the whole situation.

I’m planning on channeling all my negative “bummed” energy into working towards my new goals (which I do have, just so you know) as well as getting feedback on what I did wrong / could’ve done better.

After all - "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" right?

Dance Ever-y Day

2010-07-28T12:29:00.000-07:00

So I dunno if I've been getting too annoying about this, but it feels like I’ve been blogging an awful lot about swing-dancing. Probably because it’s how I’ve been spending a lot of my free time. (cuz of the upcoming Camp Hollywood so expect to see at least one more after this weekend)

But what's a couple more blog posts here & there, right?

Speaking of which - did you know that, if you wanted to, you could go out dancing here in L.A. EVERY NIGHT?

Sundays: Maxwell DeMille’s Cicada Club (Downtown, LA)
$10 cover / free with a dinner reservation
Live bands / Formal Dress code (enforced!)

Mondays: Memories (Whittier, CA)
$3 cover
DJs / all ages

Tuesdays: Dance @ Joes (Burbank, CA)
No Cover!
Live Band / also on Mondays / 21 & over only

Wednesdays: Strutters Ball (Orange County, CA)
$10 cover
DJ? / tons of workshops & classes

Thursdays: Lindygroove (Pasadena, CA)
$7 cover
DJ / where I go to dance / all ages

Fridays: Atomic Ballroom (Irvine, CA)
$8.00 cover
DJ & live band (depending)

Saturdays: Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association (Pasadena)
$15.00 cover
Live band / free snacks / all ages

That’s A LOT of places to go to dance – and I don’t think I covered all of them…..! How many other cities (in the world) can even make this claim?

ALSO – here’s a video I took this past Saturday of some friends who competed in a “Strictly Lindy” competition to prep for Camp Hollywood. (they’re the guy in the white shirt / girl in the blue polka-dot dress)

Also – the gray-haired guy standing in the middle with his arms folded (one of the judges) is our dance teacher.

But as good as they were, I don’t think they were able to compete with some of the pros who were also there. Below is a video from the semi-finals. (Take a look at some of the aerials they do)

I have yet to see a video of me dancing (and show it to me) but I hope one day to get caught on camera…..and look good.

Thanks again, EIT!

2010-07-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

If the new "Karate Kid" movie were more like this,
I'd have gone to see it.

This is what happens when kids learn martial arts -

THEY BEAT PEOPLE TO DEATH!

Spinning Cat Illusion!

2010-07-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

You may have seen the "Spinning Dancer" Optical Illusion, but have you see.....

.....THE SPINNING KITTY???

Taken from Mighty Optical Illusions:

This one's a little more difficult to make spin in the opposite direction.....for me, at least.

Wait, is it even spinning?

Ah !@$%^amp%&# - just go to the link. (Might Optical Illusions) and see it there.

It's really cool! You gotta trust me on this....!

In Person vs. On Paper

2010-07-22T12:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a weird contradiction / paraodx I noticed one day while I was talking with someone about how to be persuasive when in a debate.

This is based on what I learned in High school / college ("on paper") and what I picked up from just talking to people / keeping tabs on elections the past several years. ("in person")

HOW TO ARGUE ON PAPER

- USE STRONG LANGUAGE
Stating things as ‘fact’ rather than ‘opinion’ strengthens your argument.
Ex. “Murder IS wrong,” not “I think murder is wrong.”

- DON’T REPEAT YOURSELF
Using the same words / phrases over and over again disrupts the flow of your essay. Keep a thesaurus handy and find ways to say the same thing using different words / phrases.

- KEEP IT IMPERSONAL
Never say “I” or “you” in an essay – it implies bias which the reader may not be able to relate to. Your paper will come off as more subjective, than factual.

- BE AS IN-DEPTH AS POSSIBLE.
The strongest argument is the one with the most evidence supporting it. Use it to the fullest.

HOW TO ARGUE IN PERSON

- USE “I” STATEMENTS
Ex. “I believe, I think, I feel” because you don’t want to sound too judgmental.

- REPEAT YOURSELF
Repeating Key words & phrases in your speech will help your audience remember what your argument is. (Plus, it’s catchy!)

- MAKE IT RELATABLE
A personal story will help the audience relate to you (and sympathize with your argument) better.

- KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!
People have short-attention spans. They’re not going to remember everything you say unless it’s short (and catchy!) so make sure you don’t go on for too long.

What do you all think? Am I right? Wrong? Did I miss any other similarities??