Ramblings of a Constipated Mind

On Monday I go off to Guatemala for Mission Meeting. I come back Saturday, then the following Wednesday I'm off to the USA for college. Time flies. I'm gonna miss it here.

We had fun with the Salinas'. We basically sat around, watched movies, and played video games. I saw some of the most incredible Worms: Armageddon moments ever...most of which occurred by accident. The full list of movies they watched with us:

Airplane 2
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Batman Begins
Primer
Memento
Fight Club
Raising Arizona

Hm. In other movie news, I saw the first half of Heat today. Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow, since so far it's really good. I had to stop in order to go with Souwa to entertain some people that were visiting here on vacation. We ended up going to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith. That means I've seen it three times in around two weeks. It's still a great movie though - I notice new details each time. It just all seems to flow again perfectly in terms of style and structure.

That's all for now.

Quote of Da Moment:
"Mom! We're on high alert here! I almost killed you right there!"
--Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Yup, that's right, I've seen even more movies lately. And tomorrow (or rather, today) the Salinas' are coming so we'll probably end up watching even more movies with them! Here's the two I saw recently:

Gandhi - It's about, uh, Gandhi. It's really interesting; Gandhi was basically a whole lot like Hitler, just good. I really didn't understand how much influence he had on India until seeing this movie. He was basically the Jesus Christ of India. I think it's really cool how he didn't favor one religion over another, even though I'm certainly not that much of a universalist. He was raised Hindu, but read the Koran, and followed some of the teachings of Christ. Here's a guy who really did take the phrase "turn the other cheek" literally. It's amazing how much power one man can have over people, without doing so in a violent way. Ben Kingsley deserved the Oscar. Good movie.

Madagascar - Not bad, for a kid's movie. Some jokes work, others don't. Being a movie buff helps. I think I might have been the only one in the audience who recognized certain jokes as movie spoofs. The American Beauty spoof was great - I haven't even seen that movie, but I recognized the music and the scene it was spoofing simply because that's probably the most famous scene. I think I laughed the hardest at the Planet of the Apes gag - it was certainly one of the smartest jokes in the movie. I'm fairly certain I'm the only person who recognized that one for what it was; everyone else just laughed because the lion was acting goofy. Unless one of the other few people in the audience had seen the original, instead of just the inferior Burton remake, which is unlikely. Overall, it was pretty funny. The penguins deserve their own spin-off.

Quotes of Da Moment:
"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."
--Gandhi

"Me! Me! I'm steak! Oh, me! I'm steak!"
--Madagascar

I saw two movies starring him, two days in a row. Both were good.

The Machinist - He lost 60 pounds for this role. That's 1/3 of his body weight. Talk about dedication! It was really kind of disgusting to see a fully-grown man who's even thinner than me. You could see the long, narrow muscles on his sides. If you like weird movies, this one's for you. It's about an insomniac. Little weird things start happening to him and gradually escalate until the final climactic moment. I thought the ending was kind of rushed and not linked to the rest of the movie enough, but overall it was a good finish. It really makes you think a lot.

Batman Begins - Bale gained all his weight back for the Dark Knight. This movie was really good. I don't know if I'd go as far to call it the best comic-book movie ever made, like some critics are, but it's certainly up there. I really enjoyed it, but it kinda caught me off guard. I was expecting something a lot different, even after having read the reviews. I really enjoyed it, but I think I'll probably enjoy it more if I see it a second time.

The movie does a great job of getting into the character of Bruce Wayne. It's more about him than it is about him as Batman. The filmmakers covered all the details: why he chose a bat as his symbol, why he wears a cape, where he gets his gadgets, etc. Bale was the perfect choice for Batman, the new Batmobile is pretty cool, and Alfred is awesome. They should find a way to give him a bigger role.

This movie once again proves that Christopher Nolan is incapable of making a bad film. There'd better be good sequels.

Quote of Da Moment:
"A guy who dressed up like a bat clearly has issues."
--Batman Begins

I saw The Aviator. Great movie. DiCaprio does a great job, but I still think the Academy was right to give Foxx the Oscar. As for whether or not it was robbed for Best Picture...it's hard to say. I think Scorsese was robbed for Best Director though.

Also, I just got back from seeing Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Awesome movie. In terms of just pure fun and entertainment, it was excellent. Lots of action, lots of comedy. And yet, for the thinking crowd, there's tons of little details and symbols to analyze. I'd offer examples, but then the whole world would realize just how much of a geek I am and how IB English has affected my ability to watch movies. It was also kind of nice to see a pro-marriage movie come out of Hollywood.

If you watch it, look closely to find a reference to one of Brad Pitt's other movies. You gotta love little nods like that.

So I graduated on Thursday. It lasted a long time, but Hugo gave an awesome speech and I got crushed like a sardine at the end when everyone crowded in together to celebrate at the end.

The gala on Friday was pretty cool. The food wasn't too bad. Sonia was wearing a great dress. I got to dance for a while - yes, that's right, to all you Baptists reading this, I danced. I guess I'm going to hell now.

One thing I have noticed about Salvadorean teenagers is that they tend to decide to do something, go through a lot of effort to do it, and then not end up doing it. At 2 AM everyone decided to go to a discotec called Code to party some more. When we got there, people started complaining about how they didn't have enough money to get in or didn't want to dance anymore. All I want to know is why they decided to drive over there to begin with!

Then, we decided to go to Claudia's house and sit around for a few hours until we could go eat breakfast at 6. So we sit around, talking. It was kinda boring for me - none of the conversation was particularly exciting. Then at 6, we drove to McDonald's, and it was closed. Go figure. So I went home and slept until 2 in the afternoon.

Overall, though, I had a good time. Since then I've just been relaxing and trying to catch up on sleep. That's basically it. In two weeks I'm off to Guatemala for Mission Meeting, then to the USA to start college in August. Time flies.

Quote of Da Moment:
"Colleges are like old-age homes, except for the fact that more people die in colleges."
--Bob Dylan

It is 2:10 AM. Today I graduate. Yay.

Also, yesterday I saw The Interpreter. It was pretty good. More of a character drama than an action movie, but pretty well made. I enjoyed it.

That's all. Nighty night.

I had my first rehearsal for graduation today. Holy crap. There is a definite possibility I am going to fall asleep during my own graduation ceremony. I have to walk in, sit in the back row on stage, and do nothing for probably 60-90 minutes while people give speeches and awards are handed out to people. Then I'll have to wait another 15-20 minutes for it finally to be my turn to get a diploma. This sucks. The teachers can't seem to understand why students can't sit in an uncomfortable chair with their legs together and their heads held high without moving for that long. If you fidget, yawn, scratch your nose, or swat away a bug that's flying near you, they'll get on your back about it. I'd like to see them try to do it. My legs were starting to feel like rubber and I was almost asleep by the time it was my turn to rehearse getting my diploma.

Tomorrow I have to go to another 3-hour rehearsal. Then most likely to another one on Wednesday. I think I've got it down by now. I don't need to go waste 6 more hours of my life.

In other news, tonight we took Mrs. Serrano out to dinner, which was fun. She's been an awesome teacher, and this was just our way of saying thank you. We went to Cebollines and I ate 5 tacos. Yum yum.

In other news: the script I wrote for another film festival was scheduled to be filmed this weekend. However, the director has just informed me that he has just gotten a job offer he can't refuse, and that they want him to start working this weekend. So it looks like my script won't be made into a movie just yet. That kinda sucks. But oh well, this gives me a chance to develop the idea more without the limit of time constraints. And there's always a chance someone will volunteer to try directing it this late in the game.

I have to get up early tomorrow to go to rehearsal. Kill me now, please.

Quote of Da Moment:
"A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement
speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical
caps and gowns that 'individuality' is the key to success."
--Robert Orben

I saw two movies today:

In Good Company - A pretty good movie. Dennis Quaid needed something like this to show people he hasn't stopped acting in movies that are good. It's kind of weird to see Topher Grace acting serious - it's hard to get the image of Eric from That 70s Show out of my head. It wasn't as much of a chick flick as I thought it would be - the romance wasn't focused on as much as the trailers made it appear. I liked it. It's a good movie to rent if you're just looking for something light, but not too light, and dramatic, but not too dramatic. It has a nice balance of both.

Shaolin Soccer - The directorial debut of Chinese director Stephen Chow. All I have to say is, wow. He's taken an original concept and made it work. This movie shows what you get when you mix kung fu, soccer, and Looney Tunes-style-humor all together. It's exaggerated, it's fun, it's funny, it's campy, it's good. The CG effects aren't spectacular, but help to give it a cartoony feel. Now I really want to see Kung Fu Hustle, Chow's latest film.

My grandparents come in tomorrow. Woohoo! And after a disappointing event yesterday (there was basically 10 minutes of "event", and the other couple of hours was spent mingling), I start graduation rehearsals on Monday. Supposedly there will be three 3-hour rehearsals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I think 9 hours is overkill. One day should be enough. How hard is it to walk down an aisle, shake hands, and grab a piece of paper?

Quote of Da Moment:
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted."
--Groucho Marx

Today - well, technically yesterday since it's 2:20 AM now - I attended the first of four events that occur for the graduating senior class: The Ring Ceremony. Basically, what happened is that I had to get all dressed up, walk down an aisle with my parents, and receive a gift and my class ring. Afterwards, there was a "cocktail".

This year, they decided to change the "cocktail" a bit. Whereas in past years it was basically just a buffet where you get whatever you want and mingle with everyone, I don't think it's safe to call what they had this year a cocktail. More like a "fancy shmancy sit-down dinner." Each student had their own table where they would eat with their families and whoever they invited - we didn't invite anyone since we didn't realize it would be so formal. It was kind of surprising to sit down and be faced with three forks and two knives, since we weren't expecting something so formal. We were probably the only table that hadn't invited anyone to attend with us, so that was kind of awkward.

The "salad" consisted of tomatoes and cheese on top of a lettuce bed. I don't call that a salad. I call that decorative vegetables.

The main course was pretty good: chicken lasagna. Other than that, I mainly just chowed down on rolls and Coke.

Something really weird happened though. Before leaving, we noticed a piece of black rubber lying on the ground upstairs. We figured someone had scraped their shoe or something and it had fallen off. No big deal.

When my dad got out of the car at school, his entire right heal was missing. Just gone. Left in the floor of the car. Turns out he hadn't worn those shoes in years and years, and they were so dry they were basically falling apart. It was kinda funny to see him hobbling around trailing black chunks of rubber. Eventually it got to the point where he had to change shoes with James since he was afraid his shoes would completely fall apart as he was walking down the aisle. By the time the evening was over, the other heal was gone and the sides looked pretty rough. Something tells me that pair of shoes is going into the trash.

Lesson of the day: Wear all your pairs of shoes on a regular basis. Otherwise, when you finally do get around to wearing a pair you haven't touched in a long time, they'll fall apart as you walk.

After the ring ceremony I went out with Souwa to join the whole rest of the grade in "celebrating". We ended up going to this bar. Now, I had never been to a real bar or discotec in Central America before. Anyways, we paid $5 to get in, and the guy at the door asked us, "What are you going to drink?" Souwa and I, not planning on consuming any alcohol, simply said, "Coca" - short for Coca Cola. It was really noisy and the guy evidently didn't understand what we said, since he marked us down as drinking "vodka". If the vodka was served in bottles, I was planning on using that to get two bottles I could take home and post pictures of here. After all, better to have vodka at my house not being drunk than causing some moron to drive and die. But alas, it was served in glasses, so I didn't get anything to drink or carry home.

The bar consisted of an pretty small area where people were smoking and drinking. It was freakin' crowded. Now I know what a sardine feels like. Seriously, at times we couldn't move because we were surrounded on all sides. When I first walked in I could hardly see anything because of all the smoke - and I came home smelling like smoke, which kinda sucked. Souwa and I had been standing around donig nothing for 15-20 minutes when a guy from our grade came and announced, "It's two for one at Code!" Code is another bar/discotec, and they were letting two people get in for the price of one. As a result, the entire grade basically left and went there. Souwa and I didn't feel like going to another bar or dancing, and we didn't want to spend any more money, so I called home and my mom came to pick us up.

Right as she pulled up, we were informed that students from our school could get in for free. Oh well. It didn't matter - we just weren't in the mood.

It was kinda sad to see so many people crammed into a smoke-filled room smoking and drinking, with music so loud you had to shout in order to talk. I saw a few 9th or 10th graders in there - underage drinking is extremely common here in Central America.

Ah, well. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.

Quote of Da Moment:
"If you need an excuse for why you don't drink alcohol, you could say that addiction runs in your family and you don't want to try it even once because you may not stop until you are dead in a puddle of your own vomit or smashed into the side of a mini-van with children's body parts scattered all around your corpse."
--Duane Alan Hahn