Ramblings of a Constipated Mind

I have too much work to do.

Today Cherry and I both ignored our alarms. I woke up and awakened Cherry at 10:20, an hour before my first class. However, the whole point of setting our alarms was so Cherry would get up in time for his first class at 10:15. Luckily, his teacher had postponed the class until 10:30, so he threw some clothes on and managed to make it on time, or at least wasn't late by a lot. Lucky him.

I've pretty much been working constantly all afternoon. I had a ton of reading assignments to get out of the way. Also, I'm now getting ready to do job-related work for a few hours. Evidently, there are a lot of cross-browser problems with the web pages I've been working on, so I've got to fix those up. Not to mention the fact that tomorrow I have a quiz in Calculus - oh joy. Oh, and I need to do all of my weekly Spanish work before I leave on Saturday. Fun fun fun.

That's really all that I've been doing. Oh, except I thought about the Stairway to Heaven thing some more. The truth is, if you're not reading the lyrics, at times it just sounds like gibberish. There are 3 possibilities here:

1) Led Zeppelin intentionally put a Satanic message in it. This could be due to the fact that they supposedly were friends with one of the founders of a Satanist sect, and perhaps actually practiced the occult. I heard that at one concert they actually encouraged the audience to sell their souls to the devil. True? I don't know. It's also possible that they did it intentionally for artistic reasons. After all, a backwards Stairway to Heaven is a stairway to hell...

2) It's all coincidental.

3) It's all due to false perception. Namely, that if you're following along with the lyrics, the power of suggestion causes your brain to think you actually hear words that aren't there. This is definitely a possibility, especially considering how warped the lyrics can be at times. Then again, it's supposedly much clearer on the original vinyl.

Does it really matter? No. Whether or not it's real or just your brain making it up, you can't deny that it is possible to hear Satanic lyrics in the song. And frankly, it's scary.

See, now what's cool is when musicians intentionally put secret messages in their music that is loud and clear. Such as the Pink Floyd sample on the webpage I posted a link to yesterday. Since then, I've discovered two songs which intentionally have reversed messages:

1) "Karate" by Tenacious D. If you reverse the song, Jack Black exclaims "donkey crap" loud and clear at the beginning/what is actually the end.

2) "Guitarras de Amor" by POD. Played forward, it's just a guy speaking gibberish with music playing. Played backwards, you can understand exactly what he's saying, except for the times when the music gets too loud.

Isn't playing with music tracks fun? Someone should make a band that only composes songs that can be played both forwards and backwards.

Oh, look at the time. It's dinner + work time. Yech, can't wait until Saturday.

You know those myths that claim that if you play certain songs backwards, you can hear secret Satanic messages?

It's true. Go to this web site for samples: http://jeffmilner.com/backmasking.htm

Also: according to this page, Stairway to Heaven played backwards is a separate Satanic song: http://jeffmilner.com/2004/06/stairway-to-heaven-backwards-full.htm#108696961702441092

Well, guess what. I tested it out. I loaded my mp3 of Stairway to Heaven into a program called Audacity (which is available for free download, if you Google it). I then went to the Effects menu and reversed the song and played it. I followed along with the lyrics on that web page.

The result: it's freakin' true.

Yes, you heard me. If you play Stairway to Heaven backwards there is a separate song. Now, I'll be the first to admit that yes, the lyrics are warped so they aren't 100% clear, but they're clear enough. The thing that really cements it in my mind is that played backwards, the lyrics match up with the rhythm of the song, and the song has its own separate melody that even goes into some solos, such as at the end (or technically, the beginning). This had to be intentional; the odds of it being coincidence are astronomical. These are the three things you've got to take into account:

1) Words can be heard quite clearly at times
2) These words make sense when strung together
3) These words match up with the music

I will never look at Led Zeppelin in the same way again. The myth is true. Stairway to Heaven played backwards does have Satanic lyrics.

Cherry and I are still trying to cope with it. It's just creepy. I won't be surprised if I don't get much sleep on account of this.

Let's see...there's nothing extremely interesting going on, but here are the latest details.

This weekend I'm going to Washington D.C. to visit Souwa. I've already got train tickets and a hotel room reserved. Can't wait. As a result, I'm working hard trying to get all my work done by Saturday.

I spent an hour or two a few days ago working script details and outlines. I also wrote out one of the weirdest scenes I've ever written, dialogue-wise. As a result I'm feeling brilliant and perverted both at the same time.

I've been listening to new music lately. I've discovered that Tenacious D is an awesome band. Unfortunately, Jack Black has this thing with profanity I don't like. Tribute and Wonderboy are the only songs I listen to. Same goes for The Streets - they're one of the few rap/hip-hop groups my eardrums can bear, yet the only song I really like is Let's Push Things Forward. They're British, though, so maybe that's some sort of excuse for the occassional f-bomb.

Also: My favorite new genre is a cappella. I've listened to the main a cappella group here at NCSU, and they're really good. Cherry auditioned for them the other day, but we don't know if he got in yet. Instruments are overrated.

I Heart Huckabees is much better the second time you see it.

I went to see Crash last night at the campus cinema.

Wow. Great movie. Paul Haggis' is one heck of a writer (he also wrote Million Dollar Baby) and his directorial debut indicates that he's here to stay. The story weaves effortlessly between the lives of people of various races in LA, and shows how their lives connect and "crash" with each other. It's definitely one of the few films I've seen in recent years that deals with the problem of racism so well and so masterfully. In fact, off the top of my head it's the only film I've seen which deals with racism in general, rather than racism of a particular race. Sure, we've all seen movies about the discrimination of African-Americans. But what about Hispanics? What about Persians? This movie shows us that blacks aren't the only people affected by racism - the problem goes much wider than that.

The movie has a large cast of characters, and Haggis manages to develop most of them. There are a few characters that aren't quite as fleshed out as much as I would have liked, but they're developed enough so that we understand their basic motivations and thoughts. And speaking of the characters, the actors do a very good job. Sandra Bullock manages to hold her own, surprisingly, against people like Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon. Terrence Howard is most likely going to have a very promising career in Hollywood after this and his supposedly magnificent performance in Hustle and Flow. Even Thandie Newton, who was probably the weakest cast member, does well enough that there are very few instances we question her character.

The film also works well in terms of mood. At its core, it's an intense drama, and yet some of the dialogue and characters had people rolling with laughter. Which is good. Some of the moments in this movie are extremely dramatic (read: tearjerker), so the comedy needed to be really funny in order to balance that out. Haggis is a skilled enough writer to make that happen. He's also smart enough not to have all of the characters meet the same fate. I wouldn't call this movie a downer, but I wouldn't call it a happy movie either. Some of the characters find tragedy, others find redemption. This movie is at times extremely dark, and yet manages to pull off moments of spirituality that are breathtaking and refreshing to see in a Hollywood picture.

If you're looking for a good drama that has something important to say about how we relate to other people, check out this movie. It's the most perfect blend of drama, comedy, realism and the miraculous that I've seen in a long time. My only complaint would be that its most dramatic scene (you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it) is too long before the end of the movie, and as a result the rest of the film isn't as emotionally exhilarating. But pacing problems aside, Paul Haggis is a force to be reckoned with.

After the movie, I came back to the room and saw Pulp Fiction.

I now have seen and own all of Tarantino's movies. And you know what? This one's the best. There's a reason this movie is on every single list you see that talks about the Best Films of the 90s. Lots of people thought this movie should have beaten Forrest Gump for Best Picture, and for good reason. Forrest Gump is a great movie, but on the whole Pulp Fiction might be slightly better.

I now understand more than ever why people consider Tarantino to be the king of dialogue. The dialogue in this film is some of the best I've ever heard. Only with Tarantino would two hitmen talk about how McDonalds in France is different from McDonalds in the USA. Only with Tarantino would people dying actually be some of the film's most entertaining moments. Only with Tarantino would someone quote the Bible before blowing someone's brains out.

My parents wouldn't let me see this movie before I went to college for the simple reason that it has 260 f-bombs. Did it really have that many? Tarantino's dialogue sounds so incredibly natural that most of the time I barely noticed when someone swore. It doesn't take very long to get used to the way these characters speak. I can't remember another movie off the top of my head where constantly swearing didn't flow so well. I've always said that if the script or the characters call for it, then swearing shouldn't be discouraged. It's only when it seems unnatural or out of character that I have a problem with it, from a filmmaking perspective. With this movie, the profanity is placed so well within conversation that at times it seemed more awkward for the characters not to swear. That's how effective it is in regards to the characters.

One thing that surprised me about this movie was that it added an element of spirituality that I wasn't expecting. By the end of the movie, one character has had what appears to be a life-changing revelation. Some people say that Tarantino's movies are pointless pieces of trash that glorify violence, but I disagree. There is more going on beneath the surface if you're just willing to step back and look.

This movie really is a cinematic landmark. The script is astounding. The directing is nearly flawless (note to self: long shots are good). If I had to rank Tarantino's films, this one would be at the top. This is Quentin at the top of his game.

And now, before I finish posting, here is a weird video that will drive you crazy: http://www.durp.net/grandaddy-nature_anthem.php

People have too much time on their hands.

Quote of Da Moment:
"Nobody's gonna hurt anybody. We're gonna be like three little Fonzies here. And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda what's Fonzie like?"
--Pulp Fiction

"It's just black people demeaning other black people, using that word over and over. You ever hear white people callin' each other 'honky' all the time? 'Hey, honky, how's work?' 'Not bad, cracker, we're diversifying!'
--Crash

And I don't have much planned except to work, watch movies and play Halo.

I've got a bunch of assignments I need to get cracking down on. I need to finish up a Calculus assignment online. I also have a ton of Spanish work to do. First off, I need to do a little self-evaluation of my Spanish skills. Secondly, I have to do what we're all supposed to do every week: engulf myself in the Spanish language through the use of technology.

Every week I'm supposed to watch two episodes of news in Spanish. Then I'm supposed to take two news stories from each episode (4 total) and briefly summarize them. I'm also supposed to find fifteen vocabulary words I don't know, write down their definitions, and write sentences with five of them.

Also, beginning next week, I'll have to take part in some sort of bilengual chat community for one hour a week. It's done in connection with a school in Puerto Rico where the students are studying English. Basically, I'll have to chat with someone in Spanish for half an hour, and English for another half hour.

As I've already discovered, accomplishing all that every week is going to be a challenge, at least at the beginning. This is primarily because:

a) I have yet to find a Spanish news program. There are two Spanish channels - however, it seems that they're never for news, just soap operas and television shows. What happened to CNN en Espanol?

b) I've lived in Central America for 7-8 years. Does this guy really think that by watching news in Spanish I'll miraculously come into contact with fifteen words I don't understand every week? It's possible, but I doubt it. I think I'm going to have to check out a book in Spanish or something in order to find big long words that I don't understand and that sound pretty but that would never be used much in actual conversation. And seeing as how the class is on conversation, I fail to see how that helps me.

c) I still haven't figured out how to change my keyboard to Spanish on a Mac. That's going to really hurt when it comes time to chat.

So yeah. A lot of this weekend is going to spend working on Spanish work I already should have done this week, despite the fact that he only told us about it 3 days ago and has yet to clarify when actual news is going to be shown on television.

Plus, let's not forget I have a job. I've spent around four hours this week working on philosophy research. Tomorrow I'll spend another two working on it, in which time I'll hopefully be able to finish the foundation of this current project. After that, it's only a matter of fixing the small details.

Oh, and let's not forget that I have to read some English literature for my class on Tuesday.

Okay. Assuming I finish all of that work this weekend, here's how long it's going to take:

Probably around 30 minutes for Calculus, if I'm lucky.
One hour to watch two Spanish news episodes (after I find them).
30 minutes to type four brief summaries on two reports.
30 minutes minimum to find fifteen vocabulary words and do everything I've got to do with them.
45 minutes to read English.
Two hours to work on philosophy research.

That brings the total amount of work time to approximately 5 hours and 15 minutes. That's a lot for a weekend.

I'm also hard at work on an outline for a script. I need to work on finishing that, get started on writing the actual script, and also get started on a shorter script that I might actually have a chance of filming some time soon.

Anyways, hopefully I won't find myself too busy. I plan on going to see Crash tomorrow with a group of friends, and I'll probably end up watching Pulp Fiction some time soon. Should be fun.

One thing's for certain: I won't be going hungry any time soon. I had a few meals left over this week, so I decided to stock up on tacos. I've got enough Taco Bell in my refrigerator to feed a small army. My plan is to go to the dining hall a few times this weekend, and whenever I'm hungry in between meals I can chow down on whatever's left in the fridge. Maybe this way I might actually have a chance of gaining some weight. I just wonder if I'll start to get tired of Taco Bell. I mean, I usually eat there for at least one meal on Tuesdays and Thursdays, since it's close by after my dance class. Now I've got a weekend filled with tacos. It's possible I'll start to eat at the dining hall more often just for some variety. We shall see, we shall see.

Yes. I know the quality sucks. I used a camcorder, what do you expect?

Oh 8:30 class, how I loathe thee. I just got back from Sociology. Having to wake up at 7 when you went to bed at 2 really sucks. I'll need lots of caffeine if I'm going to make it through today.

Also, I officially started my job. I just have to work 6 hours a week, and all the work can be done safely from the comfort of my dorm room. Sweet. My current project will involve researching philosophers, summarizing what I find into HTML or PDF files, and then linking to those files from a main HTML page. It shouldn't be too hard. My main concern is just getting the format and content right so that Prof. Bykova likes it. I think I'm going to set up some sort of work schedule. I'm thinking it would be best if I only work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are already packed full.

And now, onto the question all of you (or at least one of you) are thinking: How did it go with Bruce "Don't Call Me Ash" Campbell?

To begin with: I have pictures. They're not very high-quality pictures since they were taken with a video camcorder, but they're still pictures. If anybody can tell me what Mac program to use to convert DV pictures into JPEG files, I'll be more than happy to post them for all the world to see. Until then, you'll just have to trust me when I say that I have documented proof that I shook hands and talked to a cultural icon.

Well, things started with me arriving late. The signing was supposed to start at 5:00, and I got there at 5:30. The good thing was that Bruce didn't really say anything (at least so I've heard) before the signing began. The bad thing is that I became the 196th person in line to get my book signed. They were only on the 30th person or so when I first walked into the theater. Bruce was up at the front at a table, and numbers thirty through forty were in line down the right aisle. So I sat down. And immediately came to realize two things:

1) Sweet! I'm in the same room as Bruce Campbell! He's right up there!
2) Oh. This is gonna be a loooooong wait...

I occupied myself at first by finding out what the policies on video cameras were. I hadn't been able to find anyone who could lend me a digital camera, so I was forced to take my camcorder. I was informed that Bruce didn't like anyone to videotape him. This wasn't surprising - I can understand how he wouldn't want pirated videos of him leaking out onto the Internet. Also, I have a strange suspicion that this policy is linked to a guy I know online who I've heard used a book signing a few years ago to get Bruce Campbell to say a line for his short film; it was a stunt that seemed to work, until the Screen Actors Guild realized that this guy was going to sell the short film on DVD, and went bonkers over it (at least, that's what I've heard). Campbell ended up being cut out of the movie, but I'm proud to say that I have a copy of the original short film saved on my hard drive, complete with Campbell goodness. But that's getting off topic.

I found out that it was okay to use my camcorder as long as I just used the Photo option. That was fine...except for the fact that I had never really used that option before. I took a few minutes to play around with it, and discovered that the pictures weren't going to be very good quality. If the subject was moving when taking the picture, it ended up being really blurry (as you will see whenever I figure out how to convert them to jpegs).

I sat around in the theater a while and paged through my book. I read the first few chapters; so far it's pretty interesting, and funny as well. At one point I went and visited an ATM since I was running low on cash. Waiting around for a couple of hours wasn't exactly fun, but it wasn't too bad. It gave me some time to think and read. Could have been worse.

Bruce took a 5-minute break from signing after #195. Wow. So close, and yet so far.

After I got my book signed (which I will talk about soon, don't worry), I overheard a group of friends talking. One of them said he went up and on a dare asked Bruce a completely bogus question: "Who would win in a fight, Count Chokula or that Count dude from Sesame Street?"

This guy was #195. Coincidence? Hmmm....

On his way up the aisle on the way to his break, two guys sitting in front of me decided to pull a little joke. As he walked by, one of them exclaimed loudly to the other, "Dude! Bruce Campbell could totally beat the crap out of Arnold Schwarzenegger!"

Bruce didn't hesitate a second. "Yeah. But I don't really want to." One thing I was constantly amazed it throughout the evening was how quick this guy is. He's extremely witty and funny, and knows how to take a joke.

Anyways, onto the signing. I went up, gave the photo guy my camcorder and showed him how to use it, and walked up to Bruce.

Our conversation was brief, but that was to be expected. I should mention that I was wearing my pink t-shirt to see if he said anything about it; the one that says "All my black shirts are dirty!" Our brief exchange went a little something like this:

Bruce: Nice shirt, man. I was at a convention last week, and almost everyone there wore black.
Me: Heh, thanks.
Bruce: So (looking at inside of book where my name was written) you're Andrew, huh? Where are you from?
Me: Well, I'm here in North Carolina for college. My brother told me to tell you hey from El Salvador. My family is there.
Bruce: Wow, that's cool. What are you planning on studying?
Me: Film, actually.
Bruce: Awesome. Make something good.
Me: Well, I'll do my best. Have any pointers?
Bruce: Yeah, don't be derivative. Be original. Find your own style and your own voice. Make your own movie. Don't copy someone else's idea - be the guy that someone else ends up copying.
Me: Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.
Bruce: Good luck.
Me: It was a pleasure meeting you.

We shook hands, and that was it. I took my book and went to get something to eat. That something happened to be a huge messy burrito that fell apart before I could eat it all. Smooth.

I returned to the theater around 8:30. The movie screening wasn't supposed to start until 9:30, but I had heard Bruce was going to talk and have a question-and-answer time at around 9:00. Well, turns out that was at 9:30. Waiting sucks.

At around 9:15 they announced that we had to have a ticket to see the movie. That was kind of annoying, since they hadn't announced that when I first arrived. The tickets cost $10. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that tickets aren't usually that expensive; this theater was pretty small, and nothing special. The kind of theater that would attract lots of college students. I didn't like it, but I paid up for these reasons:

1) It wasn't just to see the movie, it was also to see Bruce Campbell live for 10-15 minutes.
2) I had already been at the theater for nearly 4 hours; I was gonna see the movie.

Anyways, at 9:30 Bruce came out, and everyone cheered. The theater was pretty crowded. Bruce told us a little about the movie. It was shot in Bulgaria. It was made for a little over a million dollars, and produced by the Sci-Fi Channel. I do remember this little piece of dialogue which had everyone in stitches:

Bruce: Can anyone guess why it was made in Bulgaria?
Crowd: Because it's cheap!
Bruce: How cheap?
Crowd member: Really cheap!
Second crowd member: Dirt cheap!
Third crowd member: Sci-Fi Channel cheap!
Bruce: That's exactly right!

The movie had been shown on the Sci-Fi Channel - I didn't realize it was a tv movie, but I didn't really care since I had just assumed it was going to be a low budget B-movie. Evidently it had aired right after another movie called Alien Apocalypse, which Bruce called "retarded." He said that one of the main reasons Alien Apocalypse sucked was that it was shot in Bulgaria, and in post-production the dialogue was dubbed to get rid of the Bulgarian accents of the actors. Evidently, this was not the case with The Man With The Screaming Brain. It was originally supposed to be set in LA amidst a latino community, but since they ended up filming in Bulgaria (which isn't exactly known for its latino population) the script was modified so it would make sense (set in a Bulgarian gypsy community) and Bulgarian accents would work just fine.

Bruce also claimed he was confronted by a pack of wild dogs every day when walking to work. He had to carry a bag of dog food with him. He'd throw a handful of food in the middle of street, whistle really loudly, and wild dogs would flock to it. When they were finished, they would glare at him with a look that seemed to say, "You're lucky." Note to self: don't ever shoot a movie in Bulgaria.

He then had a general question/answer session for around ten minutes, but I'll get to that later. For now, I'll talk about the movie: The Man With The Screaming Brain.

Overall, I enjoyed it, though I can see why many critics hated it. It's just what I thought it was going to be: a low budget B-movie. The good thing about it, though, is that it doesn't take itself seriously. It's just fun, and that's all it was ever meant to be. I got the feeling that I probably wouldn't like it as much if I was watching it by myself; the group experience of seeing it in theaters is what really made it shine. There are lots of jokes that normally would probably only make you smile, or not even be funny at all. But as long as you approach the movie lightly you'll find that these jokes will make you laugh out loud - or at least, I did. I doubt more than 2 minutes went by at a time without at least a few people cracking up at something. I'd recommend it to anyone, as long as they realize it's not trying to change the world and watch it with a group of people. It's exactly the kind of thing I'd expect from Bruce Campbell.

Anyways, at the end of the movie, everyone cheered, and that was it. However, for those of you who are interested, I'm going to post what I remmeber of the question-and-answer session with Bruce. Some of what he said is very interesting, and most of it is at least a little humorous. I actually got to ask him two things: one, what kind of camera he used for The Man With The Screaming Brain, and two, what his personal favorite of all his movies is. Unfortunately, I found that in my case, he didn't exactly answer the questions, at least not to the extent I wanted him to. But overall, he was good about answering questions - except of course for those he couldn't answer due to confidentiality stuff (such as questions related to Spider-Man). Here we go:

What kind of camera did you use to film this movie?

I used one of those Aeonflux cameras that make tons of noise.

He answered quickly and it was hard to understand what he meant, especially since I don't know a lot about cameras. Either Aeonflux is a camera brand, or he used one of the same cameras that was used to film the soon-to-be-released movie Aeon Flux.

What is your favorite movie?

The Bridge on the River Kwai. Not only does it have an incredible score and an awesome storyline, but William Holden is probably my favorite actor of all time. He could kick Ben Affleck's ass any day!

Will you be working on Bubba-Hotep 2?

Where did you read that, the Internet?

No, actually I heard it from the director last week in Durham.

Well, in that case...yes.

Everyone started cheering at this piece of news.

However, my schedule is filled. Don't expect major work to begin on it for at least another year.

Do you have a room in your house dedicated to memorabilia?

No, definitely not. I don't have anything in my house related to what I do. Things are different with me than it is for other people. I don't read anything except non-fiction and biographies. For me, I live in fiction and unreality. When I come home, I want to take a break from that. It's different with you guys. You live and work in the real world, so when you come home at night you want to come home at night and watch something unreal...like The Honeymooners remake.

Is there going to be an Evil Dead IV?

Hmm...

He strokes his chin.

You know, I hesitate to answer because I've never been asked that before...

Everyone laughed. For good reason. I mean, duh. You knew someone was gonna ask, even though on Bruce's website it clearly states that there are no plans for a new Evil Dead movie any time soon.

Seriously, though. If you want Evil Dead IV to be made, you've got to call Sam Raimi. Tell him to work on Evil Dead IV instead of Spider-Man 3. Good luck convincing him to do that!

Is there anyone you would really like to work with?

No. I don't play that game. I'm not the kind of guy who thinks to himself, "I really want to work with Martin Scorsese!" because I'm smart enough to know that that's not gonna happen. I don't see any point in thinking that way.

What have you observed about Hollywood that would probably surprise most of us everyday people?

That a whole lot of the people working in Hollywood don't like movies. The studios are run by lawyers and people with MBAs. You have to remember that Hollywood may work in the business of film, but it's a business nonetheless. That's why so much of what comes out of Hollywood these days is crap.

I mean, just think about it. When people think of B-movies, they generally think of low-budget films with bad writing, bad acting, and stupid plots. Well, guess what? These days Hollywood is churning out B-movies by the dozen. I mean, come on, a guy who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and somehow gets superpowers? Sounds like a B-movie to me. The only major difference between the movies Hollywood makes and the movies people like me make is that there's a few extra zeroes on the end of the budget.

Why did you make Bubba Ho-tep?

I didn't want to make a movie that would be shown on an airplane.

Really, you know what you see on airplanes? All of the unoriginal crap that Hollywood is putting out. Let's take a look, shall we? The Longest Yard: a remake of a movie from the 70s. The Dukes of Hazzard: a remake of a shitty tv show from the 70s. Everything is remakes or sequels these days. What's next? Batman Begins...Again? And just look at Tom Cruise's most recent movie. Do you realize that that's a story that was originally written in the late 1800s? Then in the early 1900s it was a radio drama. Then in the 1950s they made a movie. Now they're making another movie. War of the Worlds gets remade every fifty years! And it's just about something we've all seen before: an alien invasion. It's about the same thing as Alien Apocalypse.

If I were running a studio, instead of making one movie with a budget of $100 million, I'd make 100 movies each with a budget of $1 million. Really. The end result would probably be around 50 movies that really suck, 25 movies that are okay, 15 movies that are pretty good, and 10 movies that are excellent.

Is Terminal Invasion going to be released on DVD?

Um, why do you care?

Who are you going to play in Spider-Man 3?

Well, let's take a look back, shall we? In the first one, I played the first guy to ever refer to the hero as "Spider-Man." Without me, he would have been called The Human Spider! In the second one, I'm proud to say I played the only character to ever have defeated Spider-Man. Look at Doc Ock, he was way down in the river, but not me! I think it's pretty obvious that in the third one...well...

...I am Spider-Man!

This was obviously a joke. I'm guessing that he can't reveal his role just yet, and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even know who he's going to play yet. I recently read an interview in which he stated he was just given the pages of the script he'll appear in, but they haven't told him his role. However, he said it's possible he'll be playing a guy who just keeps annoying Spider-Man. Knowing Bruce, and taking his role in Spider-Man 2 into consideration, that seems very likely to me.

Of all the movies you've been a part of, which is your personal favorite?

You know what, let's take 30 seconds and play a different game. I'm going to slowly turn around. As soon as my back as turned I want you all to yell out the name of any movie I've been in that you absolutely hated. Ready?

He slowly and dramatically began to turn around. Before he was all the way turned, the audience was already shouting. Somebody shouted out "Congo."

Oh, yeah. Congo sucked, didn't it? Let me tell you why. They based it on a book by Michael Crichton, who is an awesome writer. The screenplay was written by John Patrick Shanley, who won an Oscar for Moonstruck. It was edited by Anne Coates, who did Lawrence of Arabia. It was produced by Kathleen Kennedy, who helped produce Jurassic Park, E.T. and a whole lot of Spielberg's other movies. Seems like the end result ought to be a good movie, right?

The only problem was that they forgot to hire a director.

Okay, now let's do this again. But don't say anything until I'm turned all the way around...

People started shouting out different things, until someone yelled, "Sky High." Bruce immediately exclaimed:

No, Sky High is a great, original movie and you should all buy tickets and go see it now!

The whole theater started laughing and cheering. People started calling out more movies. Someone said, "Serving Sara."

Yup. Serving Sara. I knew it was gonna suck when I was making it. One day I was walking to the set with Matthew Perry, and he looked at me and said, "You know, that Evil Dead video game really sucks." I said, "Do you play video games?" He said, "Well, yeah. And it sucks." So I asked him, "Have you beaten it yet?" And he was like, "Um...er....no." So then I just told him, "Well then maybe the game doesn't suck. Maybe it's just you who sucks."

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that if I gave you all time, eventually someone would have said they hated every single one of the movies I've made. And, on that note, it's my pleasure to present The Man With The Screaming Brain.
----

I didn't really like that answer of his, since it really didn't answer my question. I almost got the impression he personally doesn't like anything he's ever done. But anyways, that's all I have to say right now about my time with Bruce Campbell. Like his new movie or not, in person the guy has a great sense of humor and seems really down-to-earth. I think his ego is kept in check for the most part, which is quite a feat considering he's got a cult following.

I really enjoyed my evening with Bruce. I might go see the new movie he's in (The Woods), and I'll definitely be keeping a sharp lookout for him in Spider-Man 3. All I have to say to conclude is, if you have no idea who Bruce Campbell is, go rent The Evil Dead and The Evil Dead II right now. You won't regret it.

Quote of Da Moment:
"You killed my husband, bitch! And now, I'm going to kill you!"
--The Man With The Screaming Brain

On Friday afternoon I went with my dad to spend the night at my cousin's house. Yay, a really hot shower and a comfortable bed! My bed here at NCSU is comfortable, but not like that. I didn't do much in Wilson except go to a cookout and sleep, but it was fun.

Yesterday when I got back I went with Cherry and Josh to Sam's Club. On the way back, we saw this van with a license plate that said LLAMABUS. There was also a sticker that said something to the effect of, "Our llamas will touch your heart" - I don't remember the exact words, but that was the general gist of it. Then the sun shone through and we saw the silhouette of - you guessed it - a llama. Karen would have gone nuts. We were just kinda like, "Wow. Never seen anything like that before." It was probably heading for the veterinary school or something. We considered following it but it was too slow to keep up. Stupid bus.

At 7:00 I went to the Campus Cinema to see Sin City. Awesome movie; well worth the $1.50 I paid for it. Everyone should see it simply because of its visual style - it's the kind of thing that will be studied in film school years from now. It looks and feels exactly like the graphic novels. I loved it. The characters are the kind of heroes that exist in every male's fantasies. The men are tough and aren't afraid to die or kill a whole lot of people for something they believe in, whether that be the lives of others or simply revenge. The women are mainly hookers or strippers who alternate between being sex objects and kicking bad guy booty. Morally, the characters are extremely flawed, and yet there's just something about them you can't help but root for. The first story presented is the best (I will never look at Elijah Wood the same again), but the entire movie is one of the best films I've seen all year. There's just something about it that resonates long after it's over. I'll be very surprised if it doesn't win an Oscar for art direction or something similar.

At around 11:30 I saw Jackie Brown with a bunch of people in my room. It was a good movie; probably the worst of Tarantino's films, but good nonetheless. The main actress did an amazing job; I don't remember seeing her in anything else, which is surprising considering how good she was. There were a few pacing problems, but overall I liked it. The dialogue was typical Tarantino goodness; very funny at times.

Hm. Today I went to Grace, which is an on-campus church. It was okay; could have been better, could have been a lot worse. In a few hours I'm going to go with Andrew Futrel to another church, so we'll see how that goes.

Also, this afternoon I went to the bookstore and bought a book: If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell. I bought it for these reasons:

1) I had looked at it before in Barnes & Noble, and it looks interesting. It's basically Campbell's autobiography, and deals with how he became probably the most popular B-movie actor of all time. Not only did he star in The Evil Dead trilogy, but he does have some television directing experience, so I might learn something.

2) It was in paperback. He has a new book that just came out, but it's in hardback, which means it was $10 more expensive. I'm a college student; I just can't do that. Plus, it's a work of fiction, and supposedly nowhere as near as good as his first book.

3) Bruce Campbell is going to be in Raleigh tomorrow, and I intend to go see him. He's going to be at a local theater doing a book signing, so I figured I might as well pay a few dollars to have something for him to sign. I was going to buy an Evil Dead poster for him to sign, but there aren't any more on-campus poster sales going on. I missed them. Argh. Anyways, he'll also be screening his new movie that he wrote/directed/acted in: The Man With The Screaming Brain. It's gotten mixed reviews - some people say it's the most god-awful piece of trash ever, and other people say it's an excellent cheesy B-flick in the vein of his other work. I might as well go see for myself, especially since it'll be cheap and I've never been to an actual screening before where the director showed up. I mean, come on, it's Bruce Campbell! Bubba-Hotep himself. Should be a good way to wind down before busy busy Tuesday.

I just realized: I need to find a camera. Then I can take a picture of me with Bruce Campbell to document the moment for all time. Every time I watch The Evil Dead movies I'll be able to think: "I met that guy," and have proof to back it up.

Here's hoping I can find transportation.

Quotes of Da Moment:
"When it comes to consoling 19-year-old girls, I'm about as expert as a palsy patient performing brain surgery with a pipe wrench."
--Sin City

"I'm serious as a heart attack."
--Jackie Brown

I woke up at 7 today. That's too early.

Sociology was at 8:30. I'm really looking forward to this class - the professor is funny and the syllabus looks really interesting. We're going to be talking about marriage, relationships, sex, etc. By the end of the semester I have to interview four couples and write a report on them: a newly married couple, a couple who has been married for 5-10 years, a divorced couple, and a re-married couple. I'm excited.

After that, I had a break until Calculus at 12:25. Great Coke cans of doom, I hate this class. The temperature is at just the level that makes it easy to fall asleep. I understood some parts of the class, and for other parts I just saw x, a, b, p, c...my goal is just to pass this class. I don't care about it at all.

The verdict on my other classes:

PE - Social Dance: The jury's still out. I haven't actually started dancing yet, but I heard it's a really fun class.

Spanish: There was a substitute teacher today (the real one's in Puerto Rico), but I think this class will be pretty easy considering my level of Spanish. I have some really easy homework to do by Tuesday. This will be a welcome break, and maybe help balance out Calculus.

English - Major American Writers: The teacher seems like the kind of guy who will make this class really interesting. We'll have to wait and see.

Anyways, I'm exhausted. I've been walking around all day with a backpack full of books. I think I'll probably end up not doing any homework on Tuesdays or Thursdays, just because they're already hectic enough. There's more than enough time for me to work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

I think I'm going to go collapse now.

Today was awesome.

Note to self: Bring cell phone to class in order to keep track of time.

I woke up at 9:15. Breakfast consisted of coffee and a Pop-Tart. At 11:00 I was out the door headed for my 11:20 Philosophy class. I got there in plenty of time.

My philosophy syllabus lists everything we're going to be doing every single time we meet, and it looks like it'll be really interesting. We'll be talking and thinking about issues like animal treatment, abortion, human rights, euthanasia, etc. I think it's going to be cool. Probably very liberal, but cool.

The teacher said, "Okay that's it..." and everyone started to get up and leave, so I left thinking class was over. I arrived in front of my Calculus classroom before the previous class had finished....which means I was probably there at around 12:05. That's weird, because my philosophy class isn't supposed to end until 12:10. I hope I didn't miss anything and she just let us off early today...

Calculus looks like it will probably be as hard and boring as I thought it would be. The teacher is a grad student, and this is her first time teaching by herself. That should make things interesting. All of the homework is gonna be done online through this program called WebAssign...and I have to pay $10 for an access card. Great, I'm paying to do homework.

Also: calculators will not be allowed on tests.

Wow. I just spent $150 on a graphing calculator that I won't even be able to use on exams. Who knows if I'll even need it in class.

Anyways, after Calculus I grabbed a bite to eat at Chick-Fil-A, and now I'm done for the day. Except for going to the bookstore and buying a few things (like the access card and a Spanish-English dictionary for Spanish class tomorrow). Life is good. Aunt Brenda is coming up to visit me so she can give me my social security card - I need it in order to fill out paperwork about my work-study job.

Au revoir.

I'm sitting in front of my computer with a Coke and Taco Bell within reach. This is what college is for. Pure perfection. I am at the zenith of enlightenment.

Yessirree, there is no better way to spend my last day of freedom before classes start. I've got the room to myself (Cherry's hanging out with old high school friends of his), I've got music playing, the tapestry over my light gives the room a mellow and relaxed feel, I'm surrounded by movie posters, and I'm munching on some tacos. Oh yeah.

I finished reviewing my Calculus. I almost fell asleep. I can't believe I'm going to have to think about that for at least 50 minutes every day. It's insane. I already know most of the stuff, but I have a feeling it's going to get a lot harder. Knowing my luck, in the end I probably won't even take any computer classes that require it.

Oh, and I got the job.

Now, pardon me, but I think I hear a burrito begging for mercy. It is of the utmost importance that it be silenced.

Quote of Da Moment:
"Did you ever notice they never take any fat hostages? You never see a guy coming out of Lebanon going: I was held hostage for seven months and I lost 175 pounds, I feel good and I look good and I learned self-discipline. That's the important thing."
--Denis Leary

I just got an email saying I need to review Sections 1.1-1.4 in my Calculus book before my first class...which is tomorrow. That's around 50 pages. Yay. I really hope I already know most of what it talks about. The timing couldn't have been better.

I also just found out I didn't get the first job. Oh well, I didn't really think I would. I am Jack's passive indifference.

*gets out his 1000-page Calculus book*

This one went waaaay better than the first one.

I didn't have any problem finding the building, since it was right next to the one I had been to before. This interview actually took a good 20 minutes and focused on the job and my qualifications, rather than my ability to follow orders I don't agree with. The professor (Ms. Bykova) was really nice, though she speaks with a strong German accent and at times it was slightly hard to understand her. She actually seemed interested in who I am and what I like to do.

Around 5-10 minutes was spent on discussing my background and qualifications, and I spent the rest of the time just listening to her explain what the job would require. It sounds a whole lot better than the other one, even though it pays less. Before today I thought the other job would be the best one for me (I thought every job I applied for would focus on secretarial skills), but now I realize I was wrong. Sure, it pays more money, and the work would be no problem, but why sit around shredding paper when I can actually do something to help teachers for their class? With this job, I'd be spending most of my time helping Ms. Bykova design web tools for her Philosophy students. I'd basically just be looking for information related to certain topics, and linking to such information. A basic knowledge of HTML is required, and while I haven't used HTML since the last time I updated my movie reviews site (let's not go there), the basics aren't that difficult at all. I got the impression that as long as I know how to make a hyperlink, I'll be fine. So I'll basically spend most of the time researching and writing code. It didn't sound that difficult, and I'd probably get read a lot of things about philosophy, which is cool.

I'll find out later this afternoon whether or not I have the job. If I get it, I'll have to start working tomorrow, which is fine. I'm just not sure what I'll do about my other interviews. If I get accepted for both the jobs I've applied for, do I have to decline one? That would really suck for the department to have to notify somebody else and say, "Well, we told you you didn't get the job, but guess what? We changed our mind!" And I'm wondering if I'll have to cancel the interview I have tomorrow. But oh well. I'll deal with that depending on whether or not Ms. Bykova hires me.

Tomorrow I start classes. I only have two on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Philosophy (yay) and Calculus (noooo). Wish me luck.

I just returned from my first job interview.

Okay, so my alarm goes off at 9:45. I get up, find some decent, semi-dressy clothes to put on. I make coffee, and drink it while munching on some Pop-Tarts.

Anyways, my interview is at 11. By 10:40 I'm rushing, trying to brush my teeth and put on deoderant and use the bathroom and find my campus map (in the end, Cherry drew one for me *phew*). So I rush out the door at 10:45 and manage to find Tompkins Hall in 7 minutes. Then I proceed to look for room 225 - 5 minutes later, I realize it's the number for a little cubicle. This lady meets me and says she'll be doing my interview for Mr. Schreiber, then we go into an office, and the interview begins.

I tell her some about my background, why I don't have much work experience (but make up for that in life experience), etc.

Then she pulls out a question I wasn't expecting: "Has there ever been a time in your life when you were forced to comply with a policy you didn't agree with?"

My mind went blank. What, do they want to make sure that I'm not some kind of workplace revolutionary? That I'm not some sort of Tyler Durden? Hello?! I'd be doing filing and shredding and grunt work like that! It's not like I would refuse to do that sort of stuff or anything...I wouldn't be applying for the job if that was the case.

Anyways, I pulled out the first answer I could think of, which is still the only answer I can think of. And guess what: it's a terrible answer. But when you're desperately searching for an answer, you'll grab at anything...

I told her how I was forced to wear a school uniform in Central America because that was school policy, and I hated it.

Yeah. That's what I said. I am Jack's raging sense of stupidity.

Then she asked if there was a time in my life when I had ever had to really prioritize myself, and I talked about how at the end of 12th grade I had tons and tons of projects due around the same time, so I had to carefully plan out how I was going to work on them. I guess that was an okay answer. But it still brings up the question: what does that have to do with filing and shredding?

And that was the end of the interview. I walked in the hot sun and nearly died of nervousness over an interview that lasted 3-5 minutes. Talk about a disappointment.

Anyways, I doubt I'll get the job. But if I do, that's cool. She told me there's a huge closet filled with old papers that need shredding, which is awesome. I love shredding. It's really good for stress-relief. "Die papers die!"

I leave in around 40 minutes for my next interview. I hope that one goes better. It pays less, but the work might be more interesting. We'll see.

...is going on. Let's see...

I finally got a two-button mouse that works with my Mac. Yay.
I also got some lightbulbs. Yay.
I went to the bookstore and bought the calculator I'm going to need for Calculus 1. It was $150. That's some major moolah.

Oh, and I walked my class schedule. Calculus 1 is going to be my worst class by far, I think. The room is small, and the desks are packed really close together. Plus, there's barely enough room to set a notebook on, let alone a $150 calculator. A calculator which I don't even really know how to use. Not to mention the fact that the room is on the third floor. And I have Calculus every day.

Please kill me now.

I'm, like, in college now. For serious.

Yesterday morning I drove up with my dad and James. We met my roommate, Andrew Cherry (who everyone just calls Cherry), and with his help proceeded to re-organize the furniture so we'd have more space, since both of us have a ton of stuff. We lofted the beds. All the computer and tv-related stuff is under one, and there's a couch under the other. Our drawers, refrigerator, microwave, etc. are at the back.

So far things are going okay. I put up all my posters and set up everything major that needed to be set up (except for my printer, which I need to get around to installing). All of my posters are up, so the room is starting to feel like home - and believe it or not, there's even room for at least 6-7 more. I've been playing around with my new Mac G5, which is teh awesome.

Before I go on, I should clarify: "teh" is Internet slang, most often used in place of the word "very."

Anyways, I'm starting to love my Mac. Things are pretty easy to get the hang of, and it comes with a lot of cool programs already installed. The only problem is that for some reason they lost my particular Mac order, so they gave me a spare they had. It doesn't have as much RAM or hard disk space as I want...but that's okay, I can always order more. The CD drive, hard drive, and everything else that you would normally find in a CPU for a PC, is built into the monitor. I just slide CDs and DVDs straight into the monitor, and hit the Eject button on my keyboard when I'm done. Yup, there's an Eject button on my keyboard. It took me a while to find it - Macs are so simple that if you've used a PC you'll overlook the obvious.

Cherry's a pretty cool guy, too. I've basically been following him around everywhere, which I hope doesn't annoy him. Today I actually went and ate the dining hall by myself, so I feel proud of myself for that. We had a little "bonding time" after my dad and James left - I couldn't figure out how to put together my DVD case. Now, when it comes to putting things together I can handle the basics. But other stuff is really beyond me. I couldn't even figure out what I had to do with the diagram. Anyways, Cherry helped me out. He's majoring in Industrial Design, so he knows all about construction stuff.

Last night we sat around with a friend of his and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on my Mac. It was pretty cool - my new speakers were well worth the $50 I paid for them. I'm seriously considering naming my Mac, since it's so cool. Actually, maybe I'll just call it, er, Mac. Everything isn't perfect though - I did have a few problems. For example, the modem cable that came with it didn't work. Luckily, Cherry had a spare, standard one he let me use, which I set up a few hours ago, and it works fine. Also, the two-button mouse I bought for it only works for PCs. I'm such an idiot. Oh well, at least I already have a mouse bought for whenever I get my gaming PC built.

I'd say the biggest problem so far is that I'm one of only around 5 freshmen in my hallway. Seriously, today I met the first freshman other than me since I've been here. Cherry's a softmoare, and most of the people he's introduced me to are sophomores. They're already used to this place, so they talk about things I know nothing about. They're cool people, it's just hard for me to connect with them. I guess that will come in time. Hopefully, once classes start I'll also be able to make a few other freshman friends who are as ignorant and retarded as I am when it comes to college.

On Tuesday I have a job interview at 11 AM. Tomorrow I'll have to call two teachers and try to set up two more interviews. I'll keep you all updated on my job situation.

Anyways, that's all for now. It's time for me to return to my other duties...like surviving until Wednesday. There isn't much to do around here when classes are out except eat, sleep and chill in the dorm.

Quote of Da Moment:
"You can lead a boy to college but you can't make him think."
--Elbert Hubbard

Bottle Rocket is a pretty good movie.

Downfall is fascinating. I really liked it. It's really interesting to watch a movie that focuses entirely on the Nazis, rather than the Allies. Bruno Ganz did an amazing job as Hitler. It was really surprising. The movie takes place during Hitler's last days...instead of a strong, proud leader of Germany, we're presented with a short old man suffering from Parkinson's, who doesn't look like he could hurt a fly. Except for the fact that he's prone to fits of rage, of course. I had never really thought much about the specifics of the end of World War 2, but this movie gave me a lot to think about. It really does show how much impact the Nazi Party had on people, and how devoted they became to it.

It even made me feel a little sorry for Hitler...yes, he was a man who did terrible things (and the movie doesn't attempt to make us forget that), and it didn't leave me feeling good about him in any way...I just feel pity. He was so determined and so patriotic, and yet at the same time so misguided and blind... I've never really felt that way about Hitler before. There is more depth to him than the simple "Hitler was a sadistic dictator from hell, let's hate him" idea that many people have of him. You have to remember that he was doing what he thought was best for Germany, and people wanted him in power. He was a really popular guy, after all. I don't know. When I used to think of the Holocaust, I used to think the killing of the Jews was sad. Now I'm not only saddened for the Jews, but also for their murderer. Such a strong leader, such blind ideas.

Anyways, I'd definitely recommend this movie to anyone. It really is quite unique, and shows you elements of the Nazis and Hitler you wouldn't expect.

And, that's all my movie reviews for a while, which should please some of you. Tomorrow (or rather, today) I'm moving into college. I'll update as soon as possible.

Quote of Da Moment:
"The war is lost... But if you think that I'll leave Berlin for that, you are sadly mistaken. I'd prefer to put a bullet in my head."
--Downfall

I've been doing nothing except surfing the Internet, driving places, and of course, watching tons and tons of movies. My thoughts:

The Insider - Michael Mann can do no wrong. It's a good movie, based on a true story about a tobacco scientist and all the things that happen to him (death threats, etc.) because he tries to tell people the bad stuff that goes on at his company. Russell Crowe and Al Pacino are good actors, the drama/suspense is good, and tobacco is evil.

Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness - the two sequels to The Evil Dead. Evil Dead II was awesome, and definitely the best of the trilogy. With the first one, it was like the creators were trying to make it scary and funny at the same time...but it was more funny than scary. With the second one, they made the wise choice in going strictly for the comedy. It's dark comedy, to be sure, but hilarious stuff nonetheless. Bruce Campbell is awesome, awesome, and more awesome. Army of Darkness was pretty disappointing, unfortunately. They should have stayed with the whole "a-few-people-vs-tons-of-zombies" idea instead of turning it into some kind of war movie. The best part of the third one is Bruce Campbell's lines - there isn't a lot of dialogue, but when it is, it's usually hysterical. I can see why this trilogy is considered by some to be the ultimate cult movies of all time. They're good, funny, gory, action-packed, and do original things with unoriginal ideas.

Kung Fu Hustle - Great movie! It's the same cartoony kung-fu stuff of Shaolin Soccer, just even better. Good action, great comedy. I loved the spoof of The Shining - I wasn't expecting that in a Chinese movie. I highly recommend renting this.

The Big Lebowski - An okay movie by the Coen brothers. This movie has a cult following, and I don't know, I was expecting it to be better. It had some funny parts, and I guess I can see why some people love it, but I don't know. It just didn't click with me like I thought it would.

Bringing Out the Dead - Martin Scorsese movie. It stars Nicholas Cage as a parademic who drives around New York in an ambulance trying to save people's lives, and sometimes being unable to do so. He's haunted by ghosts of people he failed to save, he hates his job, and has a pretty frustrating few days. I liked it. It's not particularly excellent, but overall it's good.

My dad flies in in around an hour. I'll see him tomorrow. Yay.

Quotes of Da Moment:
"Saving someone's life is like falling in love. The best drug in the world. For days, sometimes weeks afterwards, you walk the streets, making infinite whatever you see."
--Bringing Out the Dead

"Hail to the king, baby."
--Army of Darkness

I'm back from the mountains. Umhm.

Tonight I saw American Movie. It's a documentary about this filmmaker in 1996 trying to make a short film. It was interesting. The guy was basically what you'd think of as "white trash": he didn't have much money, he looked like a hillbilly, he drank a lot, his friend had drug problem, he swore a lot, etc. It was hard for me to sympathize with him as a person. But as a filmmaker, you've got to give him credit. The guy was determined - he spent 3 years working on a 30-minute short film. That's true dedication. No matter what problems seemed to arise, he always kept moving forward.

I also saw a Woody Allen movie I had bought, since I'd heard it was good but hadn't been able to find it anywhere, even at Blockbuster. It's called Crimes and Misdemeanors, and deals with the concept of morality. Is it okay to do something wrong, as long as you get away with it? Is God watching our every move? It was a good movie, I liked it. It gives you a lot to think about it. I can't say I agree with the conclusion Allen seems to come to (which leaves God out of the equation entirely), but I still enjoyed it. Basically, it involves two people in two different situations - one a crime, and one what most of us would probably call a moral misdemeanor. It shows how our moral choices, no matter how big or small, can influence our lives. I recommend it.

It's weird. Both Crimes and Misdemeanors and Manhattan at one point or another involve a couple being separated because one of them moves to another country for 3-4 months. I can relate. In one, we never learn what happens to the relationship, and in the other the girl comes back engaged.

Wow, Woody. Thanks for the encouragement.

Quote of Da Moment:
"Honey, you're the one who stopped sleeping with me, okay? It'll be a year come April 20th. I remember the date exactly, because it was Hitler's birthday."
--Crimes and Misdemeanors

The title says what I've been doing lately.

On Friday night, I saw the orignal 12 Angry Men. Good movie, I can see why it's a classic. It gives you a few things to think about regarding justice, perception, and innocent until proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Yesterday, I went to see The Island. This was a pretty good summer flick - Michael Bay has definitely matured in his style of directing since Armageddon. I'm surprised it's doing so poorly at the box-office. I thought the marketing campaign was really good; it made me want to go see it, anyway. It was anti-cloning, as was to be expected. Was it just me, or was that a quite blantant anti-abortion statement at the end? I don't see how it could be anything else. I'm surprised Hollywood would do something like that, but I'm surprised in a good way.

Yesterday I saw Fight Club with Terri. I'm always in the mood to watch that movie - it never gets old. I notice new details every single time.

After watching The Island, we went to buy some backpacks and a computer for MFEMF's friend, Natalie. I ended up buying three DVDs:

1) Fight Club, the two-disk special edition. If I'm going to own it, it's a movie that deserves going all the way.

2) Being John Malkovich

3) Pulp Fiction. I'll watch it with my dad when he gets here.

Anyways, I'm off to church with Terri. Bye bye.

I've been spending the past few weeks casually working on making myself an online forum to run. I managed to find a free service, Proboards, which makes it pretty easy to start one. It's not the best service, but hey, it's free.

Basically, my forum is just a place for people to talk about movies and social issues. There are also a few boards devoted specifically to myself and my personal projects. I also have transferred all of my reviews from my Angelfire site to the forum - a forum environment will allow people to discuss the movies I review, as well as comment on the technical aspects of the review itself, so I can improve. I'll still be adding new reviews to my Angelfire site, at least for now. I'll just also be posting them on the forum.

Right now, the color scheme is pretty basic. Any ideas on a cool color scheme would be appreciated. Without further ado, here's the link:

The Candyman's Movie and Social Forums

If you like what you see, please join and help kick it off to a good start. Right now there are only 2 members, including myself. The more the merrier!

I'm here in the mountains again. Just chilling. I've been reading and watching movies. The usual.

Taxi Driver is a classic movie. I don't really see why. I don't know. I just didn't get into it. It started out okay, but then got worse and worse. The climax was awesome, but the resolution felt kinda off.

Basically, the movie follows Travis Bickle, a taxi driver in New York. Travis feels like women are distant and cold. Actually, he's the one who is distant. He is completely disconnected from everything. He doesn't follow politics. He doesn't keep up with music. And he has no idea how to relate to women at all - he takes a date to go see a porn movie. When she leaves after 30 seconds, he really is surprised. He just doesn't understand.

After the break-up, Travis starts to gradually spiral down and down into madness. He starts buying guns, talking to himself, practicing using them. He wants to go to war with the "scum" of the city - the hookers, the drug-dealers, the blacks. Jodie Foster, in her first movie role (at least that I know of), plays a hooker who might be able to help him find redemption. The ending is...graphic and startling, but confusing. In the end, I guess it would be fair to say that Travis has changed for the better. I'm just not sure what Scorsese (who has a cameo) was trying to say, particularly about violence. Can terribly violent acts be good things? Do some people really need to die? Can violence provide redemption, of all things?

I don't know. It just wasn't clear to me. It was an interesting movie, and I can see why lots of people like it, I just don't know why it's considered such a classic. I guess I'm stupid.

Right now, I'm in the middle of reading The Question of God. It's a fascinating book. It basically takes the arguments of Freud and C.S. Lewis on various subjects and places them side-by-side, so you can see the arguments made by the devout believer and the nonbeliever. Naturally, I'm partial towards Lewis' views. But Freud does have some really good arguments, especially when it comes down to his specialty: psychology. When you learn the basics of Freudian thought, especially how children relate to their parents and stuff like that, it really can open up a new layer of things to analyze.

Like Fight Club. I just finished reading the book, and it's just as good as the movie. The writing style takes a while to get used to, but once you do it works perfectly. The structure is perfect. Unfortunately, if you know the twist ending, the book seems to make it extremely obvious. If you haven't seen the movie, I wouldn't be surprised if you guessed the end after reading some of the book. I had heard what the ending was before seeing the movie, but Fincher handled it so well I was beginning to have my doubts as to whether or not I had heard right by the end.

But anyways, the book and movie deal somewhat with the relationship between the main character and his father. And that's where Freudian psychology comes in. It really makes things interesting when you see how he relates to other people.

The book had at least one scene that wasn't in the movie. I can understand why it wasn't put in the movie, but I can't help but wish it was. It's so darkly funny it might have been worth wasting five minutes of screentime for. Also, the ending to the book was different. It was definitely darker and more pessimistic than the one in the movie. But I still liked it. It made me go, "Whoa."

Hm.

This is cool.

Quote of Da Moment:
One minute was enough, Tyler said, a person had to work hard for it, but a minute of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection.
--Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

For thousands of years, human beings had screwed up and trashed and crapped on this planet, and now history expected me to clean up after everyone. I have to wash out and flatten my soup cans. And account for every drop of used motor oil. And I have to foot the bill for nuclear waste and buried gasoline tanks and landfilled toxic sludge dumped a generation before I was born.
--Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

As part of my financial aid offer at NCSU, I have to get a federal work-study job - preferrably on-campus, since I won't have a car.

Today I was able to get online and look at all the possibilities. Most of the jobs involve secretarial work; typing, filing, helping with presentations, etc. But hey, that's okay with me. If I survived ten days at the Canadian Embassy, I can survive that. Especially since I'll be getting paid this time.

Hehe. Knowing my luck I'll probably get stuck working a job I don't like for an amount of money I don't like either. But hey, that's life. I guess if I'm desperate I can always find a job off-campus that I can walk to. Or even a job on-campus that's just really, really far away from my dorm. Walking is good for you. There was this one job that sounded really cool, doing work for the Zoology department. It involved working with snakes. Snakes! Woohoo! That'd be awesome. Even though I'd have to clean cages and stuff, it would still be interesting.

I'm hoping I'll at least get a job I enjoy...or at least end up working for someone cool. Who knows, maybe I'll actually learn something. The last thing I need during my first semester of college is to be working for someone who hates me.

Then again, I'd always be able to cuss them out in Spanish and get away with it. I guess, when you look at things that way, I'll be able to survive no matter what. There's always a bright side to everything.

I have nothing to say except that I modified my previous post. It was written in a rush, so some things didn't make a lot of sense (particularly my introduction), and I forgot to mention one or two points. It's fixed now.

Yeah, I know, I'm boring.

Well, I haven't seen any movies yet, so I thought I might as well use this time to write a detailed argument for my opinion on homosexual marriage (I know, what kind of guy does that?). It's an issue I have tried to see both sides of. I have spent time reading the opinions of both those opposed to it, and both those who support it.

My conclusion: no matter what I believe about the act itself, I must emphatically support that gay marriage be legally allowed by the government.

The issue of homosexual marriage is one that has ignited aggression in the church, and for good reason. Christians argue: I do not support gay marriage because I do not approve of homosexuality. The response usually is something like: You are close-minded and are violating the rights of homosexauls.

As I already stated, I support gay marriage. It is a reluctant support, of that I am certain. I do not particularly want to support it, and yet, when I try to examine all the aspects that much be taken into account, I find that I have to. Not only as an American, but as a Christian as well.

Before I go on, I must explain what I mean when I say that I "support gay marriage." I need to make it clear: I am not referring to the act itself. I do not support the idea of two gay people becoming married, because as a Christian I personally think homosexuality is a sin. What I mean when I say that I "support gay marriage" is that I support what the current debate has to do with: whether or not it should be allowed by law. I believe that, whether I agree with the act or not, homosexuals should legally be allowed to get married.

Now that that's out of the way, I am going to do my best to describe all the elements I have taken into account when coming to this conclusion:

1) I am a Christian, and as far as I can see, Christ does not support gay marriage. I have heard arguments that the Bible can be interpreted to not directly be against homosexuality, but I have yet to find such passages. Rather, I have found many passages (particularly Romans 1) which seem to directly condemn it. So, from a purely Christian standpoint, I must be against the act gay marriage. If only it were that simple. Unfortunately, my Christianity is one the only element to take into account when dealing with this issue, not to mention the fact that the act of gay marriage is not what we are currently debating. There is always the fact that...

2) I am an American. Many people have argued that our founding fathers were strong Christians and modeled the Constitution after those beliefs. I somewhat agree with the second part, but not with the first. I find it hard to believe that everyone responsible for the Constitution was Christian. Also, if you take a look at the Constitution, it is not a very rigid piece of rules. It seems to be designed in a flexible way; the founding fathers knew that times would change, and that the United States would have to change with them. They left the Constitution open to amendments, and never directly supported nor opposed social issues. Looking at the Constitution will give us no direct answer on the matter of gay marriage.

However, I feel it does provide an indirect one. The Bill of Rights in particular seems to be founded on one main idea: equality. The concept that we are all equal before God. We are free to say what we want, believe what we want, print what we want, etc. According to the idea of "separation of church and state", the government cannot hold any particular religion its ideals as more important than those of another. This means that a Christian President should not officially support Christianity above all other religions. It means that his/her faith should not be treated superior to those of others.

Anyways, the bottom line is that America was foundedo n the idea of equality and equal opportunities. Which means that...

3) As an American, I cannot oppose gay marriage. To do so would be against the very idea of equality that America is associated with - or at least, used to be associated with. The government cannot promote one religion over another. It cannot promote one age group over another. It cannot (though it wasn't always this way) promote one sex over another. In the same way, I do not think it should promote one sexual orientation over another. To say that heterosexual marriage is okay, but homosexual marriage is not, goes against what I hold to be the most important ideal of the foundation of the United States: that government favoritism should not be tolerated.

This is the main conflict: from a religious standpoint, I shouldn't support the option of gay marriage because I do not support homosexuality, and yet from a political one I must. Some may ask: which is more important to you, the fact that you're a Christian or the fact that you're a citizen of the United States? The first one, obviously. However, the next important aspect to take into consideration is...

4) Although I am a Christian, others are not. Although I may oppose homosexual marriage for religious reasons, that doesn't matter to a person who isn't a Christian. From a purely American and human rights standpoint, they have no reason not to support it.

And that is what I especially dislike about the church these days: they simply cannot understand that non-Christians look at things from a completely different perspective. If you tell them, "Don't support gay marriage; Jesus preached against homosexuality," they'll probably respond, "What does that matter to me?" Christians look at things (or try to, anyways) from the perspective of Christ. Non-Christians do not. So telling them they shouldn't support gay marriage because of what Christ said not only is pointless, but probably annoying to the non-Christian as well.

The next, and perhaps most important point I'd like to make is...

5) God gave mankind free will. It all started in the Garden of Eden, when God said: "Here's a fruit. I recommend you don't eat it, but the choice is yours." God didn't say, "It is impossible for you to eat it" or "I will force you not to eat it." He said, "Obey Me if you want nothing but Me. Disobey Me if you would rather please yourself."

God gave us a choice. And as Christians, we should do the same to others. We should not try to force them to believe what we believe, or to forbid them from believing something else. Although I do think Christ would be against gay marriage, I don't think he would approve of the government not offering both options to their full extent. If we offer people heterosexual marriage, we must also offer them homosexual marriage. The choice of their sexual orientation, and what they do about it, is up to them. If we marry liars and murderers and thieves and adulterers and other sinners, it is not fair to not offer the same opportunity to homosexuals.

Christ said, "Love me, and follow me." He did not say, "Force others to do the same." It is my opinion that opposing the offering of gay marriage not only goes against against the ideals the United States was founded on, but also the attitude of God towards His creation.

As my final point, I would like to use an example of what I mean that isn't related to gay marriage...

6) Put yourself in the shoes of somebody else. Imagine you are a Jew. However, the government is run by a Nazi President. This President passes a law saying that everyone is free to have a high-paying job...except for Jews. Jews can only receive minimum wage, because the President's personal beliefs are that Jews are inferior to everyone else.

You're a Jew. I'm guessing you wouldn't really like that. Everyone else would, but you wouldn't. And for good reason: it's not fair. The government is denying you a privilege that everyone else has simply because of your race.

Now imagine you are a homosexual in today's society. The President makes it legal for everyone to marry...except for homosexuals. Homosexuals can live together and have relationships with each other, but they can't get married. They can only get "minimum wage." Why? Because the government (and many sections of society as well) believe that homosexuals are inferior because of thier sexual orientation.

Can you see the similarities? If the tables were turned, and the law claimed only homosexual marriages were legal, I'm guessing you'd all be upset. You'd protest and say, "It's not fair! I have the right to marry as well! If this country is based on equality, I should be allowed the same rights as everyone else!" And you'd be right.

That is why I support gay marriage (civily, not religiously) - not the act itself, but the existence of the option. Although I do not support homosexuality, that doesn't mean homosexuals should be denied the right to marry, any more than it would be fair to deny marriage to any other type of sinner, or person whose lifestyle I did not approve of.

I may not like it, but to oppose gay marriage would go against the basic beliefs I have about God and my country.

That's right, more movies. Three, to be exact.

13 Conversations About One Thing: Great movie. It basically involves a bunch of different characters and how their lives intersect with one another. The "one thing" mentioned in the title is a general term that relates to happiness, fate, destiny, etc. It really is an intriguing look at how our lives may or may not be composed of random, meaningless events, and whether or not there is a purpose behind them. I enjoyed it.

Snatch: Guy Ritchie's second movie. I liked this one just as much as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Once again, it is both serious and comical at the same time. It's incredible how Ritchie can suddenly turn tense and violence scenes into bizarre, hilarious situations. Also: I couldn't help but link Brad Pitt's role in this movie to his character in Fight Club. I guess it was the whole unlicensed boxing element. Anyways, it's a good film, and I recommend it. I can't wait to see his new movie (I'll skip Swept Away).

Oh, and I can't remember another movie I've seen where one of the coolest and funniest characters is a dog. This movie is worth renting for the dog alone.

The Evil Dead: The horror cult classic. It was pretty good. It definitely had that low-budget, B-movie feel to it, but it's all the better for it. It's just campy fun. The acting isn't great. Some scenes are pretty suspenseful, but most of the time it will just make you go, "Eeewwww!" It's one of the goriest movies I've seen, but it's all so exaggerated and fake I ended up laughing out loud a lot of times. It's also has some pretty original scenes in it...for example, the first "scary" scene involves a woman being raped by possessed trees. It's not so much horrific as it is absurd and funny. But it finds a pretty decent balance between "this is really tense" and "that's just messed up and gross" and "this is really funny." Good stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to see the sequels soon.

Quote of Da Moment:
"You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity."
--Snatch

I saw two movies tonight. Here are my brief thoughts on them before I go to bed:

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: I really enjoyed this movie - it's probably the best "crime" movie I've ever seen. But that, I mean the kind of movie where the protagonists are criminals and you're rooting for them to win. It basically revolves around a group of thieves who, after one of them loses a game of cards, have a week to get half a million dollars, or their fingers will be cut off. What I really liked was how the style is very dark and gritty and yet at the same time, some scenes and bits of dialogue are extremely hilarious. I've got to hand it to Guy Ritchie: he does an amazing job of turning groups of people killing each other into something funny. There's tons of plot twists, the dialogue is witty, and the characters are engaging. I liked it and highly recommend it.

American Psycho: This movie is just messed up. I'm not sure if it had a point. It was basically a really dark social satire. I think. The satirical stuff was kinda hard to see. Basically, it's about an...er...American psycho. What makes this guy creepy is that he really is just a normal guy. Except for the fact that he happens to have a thing for brutally murdering hookers and fellow businessmen. He is nearly completely emotionless about his life. He literally has no qualm with simply pulling out a gun (or an axe or chainsaw) and killing someone with it. He's insane and he knows it. That's the scary part: that he really does act like a killing machine. Nobody knows his secret; they all think he's perfectly sane. He does act normal, after all. I recommend it if you want to see a dark cult classic. But otherwise, it's probably not worth your time. The only really good things I can say about it is that the ending does make you question what's really going on, and Christian Bale gives one of his best performances ever, if not the best.

Quote of Da Moment:
"Will you keep it down? I'm trying to do drugs!"
--American Psycho