To Be Honest, I Feel A Little Out of Place

The culture shock that comes with this move is out of the world at times. Moving from Coeur d’Alene, ID to Scottsdale, AZ is not as seamless as I would have thought. Having lived so many places, I figured that the transition to this area would be the same as any other place I’ve lived. New people, new faces, new house, but same ole routine.

I was trying to think today about why this move is effecting me more than moves have in the past. First, it’s hard to be apart from the one you love. Raquel is staying up in CDA until the end of April to pack up the house and work out the CDA office, training her replacement. Congrats to her for getting the job she has been striving for! There are definitely some big professional changes on the horizon – all of which we are beyond excited for.

But, on the other side of the coin, moving from the culture of a small lake resort town in North Idaho to one of the largest metro areas in the country has proven to be more of a societal eye opener than anything else. It seems as if the urban sprawl in this area has simply become a land grab to illustrate riches. The further away you get out of town, the more you establish your place in society. I was sitting at lunch today with a group from work and they were talking about how much this city has changed in the last two decades. Stock statements as in “I remember when Sun City didn’t even exist” et al.

It’s tough driving around in your beat up old Ford truck when you see cars worth more than what you’ve made in your entire life come flying by you. I feel, in this situation, there are two things that can be done:

1.) Conform.

2.) Categorically reject what you see around you and use it to reinforce the way you look at life.

The first choice is obviously the easy route. We see it everyday in fashion trends, popular music, and popular celebrities. Societal hive mentality exists. In our constantly changing cultural landscape, there is one new thing after the other. To totally reveal my Thursday night television viewing habits, Heidi Klum delivers the best punch line: “One day you’re in, the next day you’re out.”

The second is harder because it involves actively rejecting several of the concepts thrown in our face daily through the mass media. It seems that there is not enough emphasis on simply being a good person these days. On making sure that the effects of your decisions impact other people in the same way that you would want to impact you. Not enough of a social conscious – or looking out for the person next to you. When it all comes down to it – isn’t that the most important concept?

P.S. – I heard the best term today. For those of you who haven’t been to Old Town Scottsdale, there is a lot of douchebaggery afoot. Ed Hardy and Affliction shirts as far as the eye can see. Steroid infused arms everywhere. In other words, the hours of 9 PM to 2 AM are prime peacock observing hours in Old Town. One of the guys I work with referred to several of the guys in Old Town as “$30k Millionaires” because they make a paltry salary, yet pour it all into their outward appearances (cars, clothes, accessories, etc.) And people wonder why the banks don’t give anyone credit these days.

Here’s To New Adventures

When the clock strikes midnight tonight, its chime will signal the end of my first full day in Scottsdale, AZ. For those of you who don’t know, the headquarters of the company I work for moved to Scottsdale recently – as did my job. I was excited, in a sense, to get out of Coeur d’Alene. While I love my friends, the townies, and the area, I felt as if there wasn’t much else for me there other than work. If it was a place that I had lived in ever since I was little, I could understand that the decision I made would have been a different. But, truth be told, I’ve lived in 7 different states so moving is not something that is terribly new to me. States have a 2 year shelf life before I have to move on. At least that seems to be how it is.

I had this grandiose plan when I left that I was going to compose two or three posts around the actual act of moving. But the moment I started up the truck and hit the highway, my ancestral trucker instincts* kicked in. I was Hell-bent for leather the entire trip down here. If I could have, I probably would have tried to drive all the way through to Scottsdale without stopping to rest. It’s one of those young and invincible sort of contests that I felt I needed to have with myself. But, due to weather and traffic conditions, I decided to stop in Provo, UT.

I’m not sure if there’s a city in the United States that has received a bigger “initial disapproval” from me. It could have been the fact that the hotel was 4 miles off the highway. Perhaps it was the gigantic Ty Detmer poster staring down at me in my room. Or it could have been the hotel clerk that didn’t understand the concept of a “Wake-Up Call”. The hotel room sucked – that was for sure. It was as if the Utah Correction Facilities master architect had designed a Super 8. Friday night was a blur of energy drink withdrawal and The History Channel’s “Gang Land”. By 5 AM, I was back on I-15 south.

For those of you that haven’t been to Provo, UT, it looks extraordinarily different in the daytime than it does at night. I don’t know that much about Provo or its surroundings, but it does look like a place that is worth exploring.

The drive down through central Utah was a little boring – very hilly in spots and surprisingly covered in snow. I say surprisingly, but there are probably those of you reading this who are thinking, “Uh…it snows there, idiot.” For me, when I know that my end result is the desert, I seem to make the rationalization that everything between my departure and arrival should gradually turn into desert.

Southern Utah is a lot prettier than I imagined it to be. I fell in love when I saw the coral pink rock faces running parallel to the highway. I could only imagine what it must be like to stand on top of those ridges and have the ability to literally see as far as the eye can see. I am utterly fascinated with the way that the solitary nature of the desert can make one feel so secure.

Now if that isn’t a place that invites aimless meandering, I don’t know what does. Flagstaff, AZ reminds me a lot of a mini-Coeur d’Alene. Or at least the Arizona equivalent. The drive down I-17 into Phoenix was fairly quick – only one wreck to slow traffic. I’m not looking forward to making that drive again in a month with a 24-foot moving truck. Ugh. Let’s not get into all that.

Phoenix itself was a bit of a culture shock. Being in North Idaho for the last couple years has really made me sensitive to traffic. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been in a true traffic jam. When I hit the AZ-101 Eastbound, traffic was stopped nearly bumper to bumper. For no real apparent reason. There was no wreck anywhere. And then, as if the flagman dropped the Green, all of the traffic floored it to 75 MPH. I’m definitely going to have to get used to the traffic again.

All I can say is thank God Raquel bought me that satellite radio before I left. The comedy station kept me entertained the whole way and I had the ability to listen to all of the basketball games. It was a long, long trek (nearly 1,400 miles). I made it fairly quickly because I only stopped to use the restroom and gas up. I should have taken a picture of the floor of my truck – it was littered with Amp and Red Bull cans.

So, as I said, I’m now an Arizonian. This is another state that will go on the list of “States I Never Thought I Would Live In”. So far that list is:

1.) Missouri

2.) Idaho

3.) Arizona

Stay tuned for more to come. Being away from Raquel makes me extremely lonely, so I’m sure I will spend a lot of time creating material for the website. Which, as you can see, has changed appearances again. I like the old format that I had, but it was a little too busy – didn’t focus enough on the content.

With that, I’m going to eat some dinner and watch the Amazing Race. Have a good night!

*I do not have any trucker ancestors.

Worst. Movie. Ever.

I can watch almost any movie at any time. It doesn't matter what genre it is, who's in it, when it was made, or anything else. I love movies for a lot of the same reasons I love books -- the lives of the characters are microscopic and temporary. Movies allow the same thing, just in a bite size piece. Artistic finger food. Also like books, the amount of time that movie crews devote to their craft warrants a look-see. But, as we all know, what we find can typically be crap. Just because you see a preview for it doesn't mean it s good. Just because you see a book in the "Featured" section at Barnes & Noble doesn't mean it's a masterpiece. It's merit is not justified by its existence.

All of that being said, I can conclusively say that I've found the WORST MOVIE EVER. Finally! After all these years of searching -- the recent Fame remake has shocked me in so many ways that I never have to look again. It's really a major milestone in American cinema, if you think about it. It is Absolute 0. Every film maker from here on out can sleep easily. As long as they use one iota of logic and show some originality in their film, it will be light years ahead of Fame. I feel bad (sort of) for bashing the movie so bad, but it is so stereotypical (in the worst way) and superficial that there is no possible way it could save itself from itself. There are plenty of bad movies that come out, don't get me wrong. But at least movies like Sex Drive, Crank, and Step Up don't hide behind their gimmick. They know they're crap. But at least they're good for something original (jokes, absurd action, and dancing, respectively).

I don't even know the names of any of the characters. Well, scratch that. The angry black kid is Malik. And there's a Jenny in there somewhere. In the beginning, this movie has ambitiously started 46 different story lines only to find itself an hour and a half in saying..."Oh shit..we're running out of film." Boom. Finish. Senior year. Forty six different story lines, zero resolution on any of them. Nameless emo kids graduate from Emo Kid High...just the same as the rest of the fodder in normal schools. If the movie's goal was to make an 11-year old girl somewhere smile, then it probably excelled to Oscarian heights.

While the quality of this Family Guy clip is crappy, it is the perfect 23 second reenactment of Fame.



In Raquel's words, "Out of all the talent in the whooollleeeeeee world, this is the cast they chose?!" They didn't even sing the damn song!!

End scene.

Look What Happened by Accident!!

I know I promised more content, but I got drunk instead. So...this is so my fault. I played the worst darts of my life tonight and now I'm resigned to Burger King, Amazing Race, and the Oscars. Get excited for the obligatory Oscar's post tomorrow. It should be good. Hopefully. If 'The Blindside' wins anything, my post will be entertaining. Trust me. For now, enjoy this irreverence.

More to come, but for now -- smile!

Sunday Night Irreverence

Gotta love it...

Great way to enter the work week!

On Chatroulette

Thank God for the internet allowing us to live in such a glorious age. Right? It depends upon who you are. But, nevertheless, the internet has become the hugest depository of mindless entertainment and humor ever assembled. If one has time that needs killing, the internet is the pale, bald headed hitman that double taps time in its sleep. For free.

Case in point – Chatroulette. This site is the epitome of the irreverent nature of the internet. For those of you that haven’t been there yet, the main gist of the site is cam-to-cam chatting with complete strangers that could be doing literally anything. All you do is flick your webcam on and away you go. (Caution: the male anatomy is very present on this site…which makes me worried for the world.) The fact that this site exists shows that the vast majority of the world has nothing else better to do on a Sunday night. But, its existence also proves to me that the internet is our only direct pipeline to clinically insane people. Which is the beauty of it all, really.

The first cam that popped up on my screen was a group of 6 guys, dancing to some techno song. While fairly hilarious, I knew that there had to be something crazier out there. Then, the cycle started. Member after member, laying in their bed on their sides, staring into the camera. 100% middle aged men.

What in the high holy hell are these guys looking for on this site? It was created by a teenager. And is really dominated by teenagers. What could they possibly gain from this? I’m not going to delve into this theory too much – too disturbing.

The site is not for everybody – but for those of you that can stomach the more repulsive side of the site, it can provide some unpredictable and rather unforgettable hilarity. I would definitely say it’s worth a look-see just for the sheer morbid curiosity of it all.

Here is an amazing video on Chatroulette:

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

On Why I Love (And Will Subsequently Miss) North Idaho

If there’s anything I’ve been trying to preach on here recently, it’s having the ability to roll with the punches. You have to do what you have to do. The good thing, at least, is that Raquel and I both have a ton of friends in the Phoenix area, so it will allow us to have a broader support system than we had when we moved to Liberty Lake three years ago. If we can make it through that, we can make it through anything.

What puts me in a melancholy mood, however, is how attached I’ve become to the Idaho panhandle. Idaho is one of those irrelevant states (i.e. those of you who read this and say “Idaho panhandle? What the hell?” You know who you are.) One of my favorite ways to pass time is to watch Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel because of all the serene, peaceful, and down right amazing things that exist in the world. I think that the point of our lives here on this planet is to get out and see as many of God’s creations as possible. This weekend – I was able to do so.

A couple weeks ago, II spent the weekend at a friend’s house up in Sandpoint, ID on Lake Pend Oreille and, frankly, it was hard to come back to Coeur d’Alene. Actually, it was hard to come back to the real world. Not necessarily Coeur d’Alene. I love this little town. But everything on that lake is just brilliant. When we woke up, we drank a cup of coffee in a sun room that looked out over the northern arm of the lake and the surrounding mountains.

That picture was taken with a cell phone, but you get the point. How great of a life would it be if you woke up every morning, sauntered sleepily out onto the deck, and, once you rubbed the sleep out of your eyes, you were greeted with this scene? 

On Google AdSense

So, recently I was reading some articles in regards to Google AdSense and figured...what the hell? I might as well give it a try. But, as you get deeper and deeper into the AdSense world and start learning about writing for SEO, it seems (as cliche as it is) that you can quickly move away from whatever the main topic of your blog may be and create a shell of a website designed to maximize the amount of clicks on a certain advertisement.

This morning, I was doing some research on how to optimize the money you might receive on Google AdSense and, to me, it did not necessarily seem worth it. The advice basically said to create a blog/site geared towards people who are not "internet savvy". Through this, you can make your articles sound like you know what you are talking about so that the naive (and, I'm assuming, elderly) people surfing the web can stumble across your website on a Google Search. Once your "Google Page Rank" is high enough, your website will actually show up on Google searches of a certain topic, thus increasing your revenue.

(By the way, this is insanely off topic, but why were there three Jurassic Park movies made? I'm watching third one now...awful.)

I feel like there has to be an acceptable medium between the two extremes -- namely, creating a site that is designed only to maximize clicks on ads or creating a site that expresses the ideas and emotions that you want. The latter obviously is not in the top of 5 of maximizing revenue, but I feel like you can do both by creating a site that people want to read. Yes, you have to leave your link all over the place on other blogs and be an active member in the online society to grow your readership, but the success that I have (or don't have, realisitically) with Google AdSense will strictly be derived from whether or not I create a product that someone wants to read.

My readership is small or non-existent at the moment, which is something I'm working on. However, I would love some comments from people who have used Google AdSense in the past with a similar tactic as the one I lined out above. Have you had success with it? What did you find helped you the most? Overall, was the "product" you were creating (blog, site, etc.) something that you were ultimately proud of as an author/creator?

Have a good day!

On Stress

My last post was January 25th – I’m already neglecting my duties as a responsible blogger. But I have an excuse! Really!

Ok, I really don’t have a good one – saying that one is too “under stress” to do anything is probably the worse cop out in the history of cop outs. Shouldn’t stress be something that we can easily deflect? I mean, think about it. We have so much stuff surrounding us in our daily life that we should be able to take our minds off what is bothering us (for instance, substance abuse).

Yet, every night when I get off of work, I find myself too mentally fried to do anything at all. I basically become a permanent fixture on my couch and flip on my beautiful television. I’ve gained weight. I’ve lost a ton of sleep. I’ve drank a little more than I probably should be. But I sure have watched a shit load of college basketball. I already have my bracket filled out and, dammit, I’m going to win.

Here’s hoping that, for better or worse, the cause of my stress will come to an end next week so that I can start worrying about something else. Is it all really just an endless cycle of worries? Maybe I should start working out. Endorphins, and the like.

When worried, I can never make a solid decision on anything.

On Dart League

So last fall, Raquel and I joined a local dart league at Willie’s – our favorite little haunt in CDA. It was kind of a nerve racking decision because we were going to devote 10 straight Sundays to playing 17 games of darts with some of Idaho’s finest. And I mean no disrespect by that – you just know who you are. We had always played darts recreationally while we were in Missouri, but we had never really thought of going pro until one of our coworkers approached Raquel about the idea.

The first day of dart league last fall was at a bar called Paddy’s and it was kind of a nerve wracking situation – just think bad blind date in a bar with NASCAR murals on the wall. I met my two partners – Rick and Vick – and, with a cursory glance to the others in the group, I honestly thought that this was a bad decision. I felt like we had nothing in common – the age gap was roughly 15 or so years between us all, a lot of them were married, had kids, had real world problems. Above all else, they were fucking great dart players.  So not only did I feel like I was going to be dead weight on my team, I had this nauseating fear that I was going to follow up my atrocious play by being the “silent-silent” partner that sits in the corner. (As an aside, for those of you who may not know me, when I get in uncomfortable group situations, I tend to clam up and migrate to the fringes of the group.)

As it turns out, when you get a group of people together who like to drink, you tend to find a lot of things in common with each other very quickly. That first night of darts went very well – I think I played well, but, regardless, I made friends with those around me.

This brings me to the point of all this – I think it’s a rare thing in today’s society for people to open themselves up to different groups of people. It may sound a little trite, but we have found ourselves in an age where we truly are defined by the things we own and our outward appearance. Everything we come in contact with is judged within a first, momentary glance. Just think – in the era of DVR and TiVO, we no longer have to sit through commercials or boring parts of television shows or the news in general. We can skip and jump to the bits and pieces of information that we want, right now. So when we see something in the real world that we dislike or does not fit our normal perception, we “fast forward” to the next thing – which, I’m not going to lie, I did when I first met a lot of the people in the dart league.

But, lo and behold, I look forward to Sunday night more than any other night of the week not only for the sheer enjoyment of playing darts, but to see everybody. I feel like dart league is a make-shift therapy group where you have a group of real world, middle to lower middle class, blue collar folk gathering to throw darts, drink some beer, talk a little shit to each other, and just forget about the normal everyday grind. You never know where you’ll find a group of people that helps you escape – so don’t just fast forward to the next thing each time you run into something uncomfortable (cheese ball moral, yes – but it’s true and understated).

Corporate America is now all of America

Granted, I don’t watch enough news television as it stands, so I’m not sure just how much coverage the recent Supreme Court ruling has received. However, the fact that it’s not absolutely everywhere makes me believe that people are not taking it as seriously as they should. For those of you reading this who may not know what happened, the Supreme Court over turned the previous ruling that corporations could not back or fund candidates for the presidency. Now the most powerful candidate is going to be the one who can campaign to the most powerful companies in the nation – as opposed to campaigning to the people they are supposed to represent. It’s going to become, Wal-Mart presents the President of the United States of America!

I think what’s far scarier is the influence that foreign corporations have in our marketplace and how their agendas can be furthered through backing a specific candidate. Does this mean that companies can come together and front their own candidate? Is that really out of the realm of possibility? We saw in the Obama election that fundraising really help put him over the top against McCain. It allowed Obama to do things that McCain could not. With this in mind, you would think that if one company (say, Microsoft – not inflammatory, just example) wanted to put a candidate on the ticket – doesn’t said corporation’s deep pockets give their candidate an unfair advantage over traditional candidates?

I’m going to keep this short because I think that this can be extrapolated all the way to the apocalypse if we wanted to (and I’m sure several news outlets probably are). But, I’m going to stop off with two links. One is to a well written article on AlterNet.org and the second is a song that speaks very well to the situation.

When it comes to homework for the readers, I challenge someone to come up with a positive spin on this ruling. I’m grasping at straws trying to find them – and am completely open to any other opinions.

The Point Between Where I Was and Where I May Be

You don't look at the things you have. You only look at the stuff you don't have. Those guys are right about you, you're money.

- Rob (Ron Livingston) to Mike (Jon Favreau) in the movie "Swingers"

You know, there really should be a class that you take right before graduation that will give you a little preview of what life outside of academia consists of. Just like I don't believe that high school prepares you for college, I don't think college prepares you for the real world. Sure, it may prepare you for a job in the real world. But there's no direction at all when it comes to life outside of establishment.

Having 22 years (or so) of your life mapped out really can give you a false sense of security in the world. Just because you excelled in high school doesn't necessarily mean you'll excel in college and the same goes for college out into the real world. Just because you got a 4.0 in all of your business classes does not mean that you will be the best businessman when you enter the work force. But you're never told these things in college because it would discourage, I think, a great amount of people from going. Yes, the degree means a lot when it comes to getting a job outside of college -- but straight book learning really does not build much of a foundation for you to stand on, in my opinion.

For instance, I studied Literature and Creative Writing in my undergrad work. When I was sitting in my capstone class, the university's English counselor walked in and gave a presentation about "what to do with our English degrees". He handed us these little pamphlets that looked like he printed them off 5 minutes before coming to speak before our class and, with a straight face, told us that the only future we had was either Teach for America or the Peace Corps. I told him that I wanted to get an MFA and work on my writing further, but he stared right at me and told me that was a bad idea because no business people will be at my graduation waiting to hire me. "It doesn't work like that, in the real world," he said to me.

So you throw your cap in the air, hear Pomp and Circumstance while you march across the stage and shake some nameless faculty member's hand. You hug your friends and stand in the glaring sun outside of the arena and realize, "I made it. I did it." All through your childhood, it was drilled into your brain that you need to do well in school, go to college, and graduate. From there on out, life is easy because you have a degree. The whole world opens up for you. The sky is the limit.

Well, as most graduates find out within a first couple of weeks after the ceremony, that's a bunch of bull shit. When you enter the workforce as an entry level employee, you often find that there are several people -- colleagues, so to speak -- that are minus a college education. Or in the process of getting an online education. But don't worry about the fact that they're making more than you because they have more experience since they didn't take the time out of their lives to go to college.

Here's the moral of the story and what I'm really trying to hone in on: you have to be able to connect with the present state of your life. There is that cliche saying out there that the past is history, the future is unknown, so there's nothing to do but focus on the present. I think this may be one of the most overlooked and undervalued bits of advice given to young people. I should know, I never paid attention to it.

A lot is made these days about the value of money and what it can get you in life. Especially with the recession, student loans, credit cards, car payments, etc., it seems as if money is constantly the 400 pound gorilla standing in the middle of the room.

So thus, we are in the conundrum that we have transitioned from a life where all we had to do was study for tests, write papers, and make sure we went to class. Our free time was ours -- we could go running, go drinking, hang out with our friends. Our days were truly our days. But now, working all day in a cubicle staring at a computer screen can be such a drain that, when we get home, we no longer have the energy or wherewithal to go do anything. Can't go out drinking or stay up late because we have to be up at 5 A.M. every morning. Weather is just now finally getting nice, so we can go outside. But the fact of the matter is that we need to start realizing that this desire to go back to the old days and the yearn to be far enough along career-wise immediately in order to get out from under said 400 pound gorilla makes us lose the ability to focus on anything good happening in the present.

We'll take my current situation. I have a wonderful girl friend, I love my apartment, I love my dog, I love my books..I have all this stuff in my life right now that I can say that I love, so it makes me wonder why there are still those afternoons where I feel like I'm floating in nothing. The quote way back in the beginning of this post is dead on. We have a tendency to only see the things that we don't have because we take what we do have for granted. What we have is around us all the time -- thus, we inherently lose the abiliy to appreciate it the way we did when it first entered our lives. We may not have things other people have but it is not our judgment call to say that we should have those things as opposed to that person. To make statements like "Well, I deserve that more than she does". These sorts of attitudes turn our eyes away from what is good in our lives and become envious of what others have in theirs.

Please, please, please try to take a second everyday to just look out of the window, focus on the horizon, and take account of all the things in your life that you love. Not only does it make the day to day easier to bear, but it can also put things in perspective as to what your future goals are. Your goals should be your own -- not the goals of anyone else. You should strive to get where you want to be, not where other folks think you should be.

The Fall of David Ortiz

It's hard to imagine that David Ortiz no longer makes the knees of opposing pitchers knock together when he saunters up to the plate with runners on base. Watching the Mets/Red Sox game this weekend showed the pitchers are starting to buy into the hype that Ortiz has completed his fall from grace. They were not scared of Big Papi, which means that pitchers across the league are going to start gaining confidence. This is especially big for the young pitchers that Ortiz used to feed upon in pressure situations.

For the sake of conversation, let's take a look at Saturday's game against the Mets. The Red Sox dropped 16 hits and 12 runs on the Mets pitching staff. Everyone in the Red Sox starting lineup had a hit -- except Papi. Seven of them had 1 or more RBIs -- not Papi. In a day where the Red Sox let loose the fury against the Mets, Ortiz went 0 for 5. He struck out twice and left two runners in scoring position with two outs. Even though the 6 through 9 spot hitters went 12 for 20 with 7 RBIs against Mets pitching, at least they could be rest assured that there was a sure out sitting in the three spot.

Granted, now, the Red Sox are still a formidable team as yesterday's game moved them into sole position of first place in East. But, do they have the ability to survive an entire season and have any life in the post season? (This question actually goes for any of the teams in the East). But at what point do you give up on Ortiz? When does Francona sit David down and give him the "I think we need to change things up" speech? If I was him, I would do it now. He needs to either move down in the line up, or exit it completely. The last two seasons have shown some pretty marked reductions in power numbers and, if his form holds true, this season is definitely not going to be any better.

The Red Sox are an aging team and they don't have a great amount of talent in their farm system. I think, if I was Theo Epstein, if Papi has some sort of torrid turn around before the All-Star Break, I would trade him. If Papi survives the media and fan criticism of this year and finishes with his worst season to date and follows it up with another subpar season in 2010, there's no way he'll be a Red Sox any longer. Papi has one more year in the $12.5 million contract extension he signed in 2006, but I think that's the last full season we'll see Papi in Boston -- possibly, in the majors. If he has a bit of a turn around before the All-Star break hits, I might try and dangle him out there and see if any teams looking for a "power" (I use the term lightly here) bat to get them over the hump will bite.

It's a sad realization about the state of the game today when you peruse various comment boards on popular sports websites and see that many people are associating this decline with performance enhancing drugs. No one knows if this is the case or not, at this point can be nothing more than speculation from anyone. But the damage is done as soon as the first person asks, "Oh, well there steroids have worn off -- what else did you expect?" Once revered power hitters in the Majors will start to have this question thrust upon them more and more as they make their inevitable fall from grace. If any kids out there in school are studying McCarthyism need a modern day parallel, just look at the steroid rage in baseball. All someone has to do is throw the "s" word at somebody, at it can be enough to ruin their reputation. Or at least push it so close to ruin, that the athlete will be forced to make an impassioned speech about their non-use of PEDs, or the "mis-remembering" of their teammates (*ahem* Roger). Then, even once they've made their speech outlining their innocence, the television personalities and bloggers everywhere still question if the accused was genuine or not.

For Papi's sake, I hope it's just age and not anything steroid related. Even though I am a die hard Yankees fan, I'm a fan of the entire sport first. Papi was an extraordinary specimen of power and I, for one, will miss watching the pitcher's entire demeanor when stepped into the batters box.

Frost/Nixon

So I lied in my last post, I haven't made it outside this weekend. It's been pitiful and, if I were to show you a 360 degree angle shot of my living room, you would call the CDC and have them quarantine my apartment. Yes, it really is that bad.

But! This has been a weekend of movies, for sure. And I've watched a whole wide range of flicks (just got done with Kung Fu Panda again..haha). But, last night I watched the movie Frost/Nixon. I've been trying to knock out a lot of the movies there were all the buzz at this year's Oscar's since I did a poor job of seeing them in the theaters. It may seem a little redundant to review a movie that probably has been reviewed and criticized into the ground already, but this movie made me want to be a camera man. I think the movie as a whole was just along that steady line of decency, but there were a couple of moments that redeemed the whole thing.

The movie, for the most part, made the reported David Frost look a little worse than the ex-President they were trying to publicly crucify. He looked his role: a talk show host. And his crew could tell and did not pull any punches when letting Frost know that Nixon was using him as his debate play-thing through the first 11 interviews. I'm not entirely sure what switched turned on in his head, but the final interview was one of the most intense dialogues that I can remember in cinema -- right up there with the A Few Good Men back and forth. I'm obviously far too young to have any frame of reference when it comes to the actual Frost/Nixon interviews, but I could only imagine that staring through the view finder on the camera, using it as a blinder to the contextual world around us, that scene between Frank Langella and Michael Sheen had to be genuinely moving to the point of chills down the spine.

As a movie maker, that has to be the kind of scene that you dream for. If you do not have chills shooting through your body when Frost corners Nixon, then God help you. I'm going to place this movie, along with Doubt, in my top 5 I've seen in 2009. I'm going to work on a list and put it all together.

Memorial Day Weekend

What's happening peeps? It's Memorial Day weekend and I think I've stepped outside maybe...twice today? Actually, let me refine that a little bit. I've been out on the porch for awhile, but only a couple of times outside of the confines of my apartment. Everyone tells me that I should get outside and enjoy the weather -- but I just don't want to! I may go out tomorrow, but, as for today, I'm going to just sit here with my brain off. It's so relaxing.

I watched the movie Doubt this morning and I would probably have to rank it in the top 5 of my movies seen so far this year. Possibly cracking a top 10 All-Time List, if I had one created. There's an idea for a future post right there.

It stuns me how every time I see Phillip Seymor Hoffman in movies, I always make some sort of comment half way through that shows my adoration and sense of awe of him. He is great, especially, at the dirtier roles -- there's just something about the way he talks and the looks he has on his face when he's at his worst. But, the fact that he can single handedly hold up a romantic comedy like Along Came Polly just shows what kind of range he has as an actor.

And, I was pleasantly surprised by the performance turned in by Amy Adams. She played her part very well and when she spoke her piece about her life to Meryl Streep, it actually gave me chills. The ending I thought was well done, highlighting the doubt and guilt felt by Meryl's character over what had happened. I don't want to give away any spoilers for those who haven't watched this flick yet, but I was hoping it would go another direction and have something happen to the child.

This evening is packed with television -- Penguines and Hurricanes Game 3, Nuggets - Lakers, Mariners, Yankees won this afternoon. It has been a great day, I can only hope that I fall asleep in my bed tonight as opposed to on the couch. I don't really remember falling asleep last night, I just know that I woke up with the Spanish channel on. Alright, I'm out of here to finish watching the Pens game.

All you readers out there -- get out and enjoy the weather! I'll come outside sometime..I swear.

All Alone Am I

It's amazing that when you spend so much time with someone, their absence seems completely unnatural and unfathomable. Ever since Raquel and I moved up here to Spokane, we have done literally everything together, even as far as now working for the same company. Although we work on different floors and don't see each other very much during the day, we still ride to work and come home together. A lot of people have wondered how we are able to spend so much time together without getting sick of other, but I just could not picture life any other way -- especially since I'm sitting at home by myself right now.

Today was my day off and to say I made the most of it would be a joke. There's more stuff I probably should have done to make today more memorable -- gone for a walk with Timber, read a book, etc. -- but instead I spent most of the morning trying to cope with the fact that I was going to be all alone all day. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that she is traveling and I know she is having fun, but life seems so unnatural right now because she isn't here. This makes me respect my grandma who lost her husband after 5 decades of life together...I couldn't imagine that. Sigh. I don't want to talk about this anymore, but I'm just saying that none of the stuff that we do or watch on television is nearly as fun or enjoyable as with her.

By far the coolest thing to come out of Fox News....

FOXNews.com - Python Filmed Attempting to Swallow Kangaroo Whole - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News


Make sure you click the link at the bottom of the article to watch the video. Good stuff.

One last thought before hitting the polls

The Insanity of Mass Democracy

If you out there tonight, surfing around the internet and trying to ignore that indecisive twang in the back of your head about what to do tomorrow -- give a read to this article by Anthony Gregory.

I have no way of conducting a mass poll obviously, but I wonder how many of the truly undecided voters out there are that way because they are simply trying to determine which candidate is the lesser of two evils? It's fairly clear cut -- at least from this current standpoint -- that Obama could be better for the nation, but worse when it comes to foreign relations and vice versa for McCain. Aren't you sick of having to make this decision? Which of these two candidates will slow the descent of the nation?

You will be berated and I am sure whoever may read this blog will spew some sort of democratic rhetoric in my direction, but the sheer reality of the situation is that the the majority vote is simply that -- a majority. 51% to 49% is a majority victory. So, who is to say that the current president is the "president of the people" when nearly half of the nation did not vote for him? Campaign promises are made by both sides and then once the smoke settles from the election, it seems to be business as usual. Politicians sell their souls to the small interest groups and lobbyists on the campaign trail and spend a great amount of their time in office helping to prove to these people why they supported the right candidate -- thus putting the Middle Class out in the cold.

So think about it this way. If there is so much power posited on the concept of the "people's president", what would happen if vote turnout was dismal? Would the politicians and media carry on the status quo and just attribute the lack of voter turnout to some other excuse? Or would they really stand up and realize that the American people are trying to make a statement? I would seriously hope the latter, but it would be just as easy for the media to say, "Well, didn't see that coming, but it doesn't change anything." At 5:00 PM, everyone is still going to turn on the local and national news broadcasts, and a great amount of knowledge they will amass about the world will come out of the mouths of news anchors. I'm not trying to say that this is a bad thing (unless you're listening to Bill O'Reilly), but people just have to realize that this medium is much easier to control. Do not write something off because it seems too radical. And on the other end, do not write off the criticism of radical ideas. It is only through understanding all the elements of an issue that will come to realize what you, as an autonomous being, truly believe. Do not simply take what hear on television at face value.

But just remember, voting against one candidate in protest of their theories is not a protest in any means. It is just a vote for a candidate who probably has a few ideas that you don't agree with as well. Just interesting to wonder what would happen if we got to the close of polls tomorrow and we saw news anchors shaking their heads in disbelief at the lack of voter turn out. It would send a message to Washington that the people are sick of voting for the candidates that are chosen for them, simply because the respective parties believe that their candidates will be the mainstays of their ideals for the next 4 years.

A thought for tonight...

Faces of War

Why is it that we don't hear more about this? How is it that one "war" is more important than something else? How many people have been slaughtered Iraq and Iran in the last few days?

So is the amount of armed forces present in a country directly related to the amount of oil located under the ground?

Just a thought.