Maybe when that happens, we'll have hockey again. Let me start out by saying that some of my best friends are hockey players. I understand why the NHLPA doesn't want a salary cap, but dammit! I'm way over this lockout crap. It's petty and stupid and childish. The players are wrong. The owners are wrong. It's just greed feeding upon itself on both sides. It seems like only yesterday that we had the shortened '94-'95 season and that sucked, but at least they managed to salvage part of a season. There's no way in hell that happens this time. The NHL won't play. The All-Star game has already been cancelled and barring a Christmas miracle the rest of the season will follow shortly thereafter. The owners are already talking replacement players for next year. ('Cause that worked out soooo well for baseball.) That would be great for a lot of my friends that are playing in the minors, but it's bad for the sport overall. I love Kimbi, but there is a reason he's not playing in the NHL anymore. Hockey does not have the foothold on the American psyche that baseball does and look how long it took for that sport to come back from a strike. Hell, most would say that it still hasn't recovered. I don't know that the NHL as we know it will survive this; which is a fucking shame. Hockey is a great sport. It's the only sport that I really follow. My interest in baseball and soccer is fleeting at best. I watch them, but I don't love them like I do hockey. It's disheartening to see that the players and owners have fallen as far as they have. They all need to be adults and look past the dollar signs and work this shit out. Concessions are going to have to be made by both sides for this to work. Here's hoping they can all still step up in time to save the sport... since obvisouly they aren't going to get their shit together in time to save the season...
"How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?" - Jacques Plante
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Sunday, November 28, 2004
A Long Day's Journey Into Night
I'm back in Atlanta. Can't say I'm glad. My time off was definitely not long enough. I need at least another week. No such luck. I am glad that the actual travel part of my vacation is over though. The trip home was basically an all day affair. It's a 2 hour drive from Joplin to the Tulsa airport, then we hung out at said airport for a couple of hours. (My mom and step-dad are worst case scenario travellers. We always leave for the airport way sooner then we need to.) Try as we might we could not get on a non-stop flight from Tulsa to Atlanta so that meant a pitstop in the black hole that is the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. I recommend avoiding DFW at all costs. It's just a horrible airport to have to navigate through. Then it's an hour and ½ flight from DFW back to ATL. We left Joplin at around 11 AM and I got home shortly after midnight. It was just a long fucking day. So no major plans for today. Go check on the horses. Maybe hit a movie. We'll just see how the day goes. Tomorrow it's back to work :P That whole running away to Europe thing keeps looking better and better....
"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can.
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet,
And whither then? I cannot say."
-- JRR Tolkein - "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can.
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet,
And whither then? I cannot say."
-- JRR Tolkein - "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
Friday, November 26, 2004
A Greek Thanksgiving
So Thanksgiving was great. As usual, everyone ate too much, but a good time was still had by all. I managed not to get drawn into any political debates (pretty much everyone here is an ultra-conservative Republican – if you want to really wind them up just mention abortion, John Kerry, or Hilary Clinton). Not surprisingly I long ago managed to suck my sister into my movie-going madness. We have a longstanding tradition in which the girls all go out to see a movie every Thanksgiving night after dinner. (It’s a leave-the guys-home-with-the-kids escapism kinda thing.) The choices of what to see this year were not particularly promising, but considering we’ve seen such “gems” in the past as “Alien 3” and “Solaris,” I still had hope that we could at least top those. So it came down to seeing “National Treasure” or “Alexander.” Despite my insistence to my mom and sis that I would be perfectly willing to sit through NT again, they didn’t seem to believe me, so “Alexander” it was. (I think the fact that “Alexander” started almost an hour earlier had something to do with it as well. They must have missed me telling them that it was 3 hours long.) I did not have high hopes for this film. I had heard some really, really bad things about it. Well, it was not Oliver Stone’s best film by any means, but it was definitely way better than I expected. Oliver Stone is a great director; even with his films that I hate, I am still willing to admit that they are beautifully shot. From a totally artistic perspective they are always extraordinary. “Alexander” is no exception. A lot of it is very dream-like and different from what you would normally find in what is largely a battle epic. One scene was even shot using color infrared film and is a very cool technique that you don’t see very often. The movie is worth watching for the elephant battle scene alone. Val Kilmer is great as Alexander’s father, Phillip - a nomination for Best Supporting Actor would not be unwarranted here. We all know how I feel about Angelina Jolie and she does a decent job as his mother, Olympias. In some scenes she is really great. In others she seems to be trying too hard. I expect better from her. I have been skeptical about Colin Farrell playing Alexander since I heard he was cast like a year ago. He did a better job than I ever would have thought possible, but I still stand by my initial reaction that he was horribly miscast. Like Angelina, there are some scenes where he gives a really great performance. Then there are others where he is just horrible – that Irish brogue of his slips through a couple of times and is just bad, bad, bad in the context of the film. The story is good and is based fairly firmly in what historical information exists regarding the real Alexander the Great. (There are a couple of great scenes with his horse Bucephalus that of course I loved.) The script could have used some tweaking. I know it’s supposed to be an epic but that 3 hour run time could have been cut by probably ½ an hour and I don’t think the film would have lost anything. In fact, I think it would have made it tighter and less “rambling.” Colin gives a few too many inspirational, “rally-the-troops,” kinda speeches and after like the 3rd one, I was pretty much over his proclamations. Still, for people who like “sword-and-sandal” films, it’s definitely worth checking out. It’s nowhere near as good as “Gladiator,” but I liked it better than “
“Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.”
– William Shakespeare – “Hamlet” - Act II, scene ii
Oh, and I almost forgot - fuck ;)
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Baking Under the Influence
Not much to report today. I woke up to snow. It died off by late morning, but still snow is snow. Mostly I just sorta hung out with the family. It was very non-stressful and non-stressful is always good in my book...
Over the past few years my sister Shannon and I have come to be in charge of desserts for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a task we sorta brought upon ourselves. When Shannon first moved to Missouri she was not allowed to bring anything to the dinner. Her first year she was in charge of celery. The next year I showed up to the shindig and we decided to stage a dessert coup. We just made whatever the hell we wanted and brought it along. Fuck everyone else if they decided not to eat it. Well, Shannon is a hell of a cook and I'm pretty good when properly supervised (i.e. when someone keeps an eye on me and makes me follow the recipe and not improvise too much). After that first hostile take over things just kinda snowballed. Our desserts went over huge and so now 8 years later, her husband's family has just thrown all the responsibility for them to us. My specialty is a chocolate, bourbon pecan pie. Not to brag or anything, but it is to die for. I am not the domestic-goddess type in even the remotest sense of the word, but this pie is the one thing that I can make. It honestly might be better than sex... some sex anyway :) Needless to say, we make at least one of those every year. So Shannon and I got most of our baking out of the way this afternoon, which is pretty impressive considering that we started drinking Kahlua Mudslides shortly after we started. It's amazing how quickly the afternoon went by. We were pretty amused with ourselves by the time we were done. Our brother Mike found us much less funny than we found ourselves. He apparently does not like to have pie dough thrown at him. Go figure. All-in-all a fun afternoon. I love this time of year.
"A lot of men get very funny about women drinking: They don't really like it. Well, I'm sorry lads, but if we didn't get pissed, most of you would never get a shag." -- Jenny Eclair
Over the past few years my sister Shannon and I have come to be in charge of desserts for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a task we sorta brought upon ourselves. When Shannon first moved to Missouri she was not allowed to bring anything to the dinner. Her first year she was in charge of celery. The next year I showed up to the shindig and we decided to stage a dessert coup. We just made whatever the hell we wanted and brought it along. Fuck everyone else if they decided not to eat it. Well, Shannon is a hell of a cook and I'm pretty good when properly supervised (i.e. when someone keeps an eye on me and makes me follow the recipe and not improvise too much). After that first hostile take over things just kinda snowballed. Our desserts went over huge and so now 8 years later, her husband's family has just thrown all the responsibility for them to us. My specialty is a chocolate, bourbon pecan pie. Not to brag or anything, but it is to die for. I am not the domestic-goddess type in even the remotest sense of the word, but this pie is the one thing that I can make. It honestly might be better than sex... some sex anyway :) Needless to say, we make at least one of those every year. So Shannon and I got most of our baking out of the way this afternoon, which is pretty impressive considering that we started drinking Kahlua Mudslides shortly after we started. It's amazing how quickly the afternoon went by. We were pretty amused with ourselves by the time we were done. Our brother Mike found us much less funny than we found ourselves. He apparently does not like to have pie dough thrown at him. Go figure. All-in-all a fun afternoon. I love this time of year.
"A lot of men get very funny about women drinking: They don't really like it. Well, I'm sorry lads, but if we didn't get pissed, most of you would never get a shag." -- Jenny Eclair
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Vacation
I am however; glad to be getting the hell out of the ATL for a few days. The weather here is really screwy right now. It’s still rainy and ugly but now it’s like 70 freakin’ degrees out. I also really, really need the break from work… I should head out to my gate shortly, but Delta’s internet connection appears to be down so it looks like I’ll need to post this once I get to
I don’t really have any good travel-related quotes to use, so I’ll just pull a random one from my “Good Girls…” book. I kinda like this one from
“A girl can wait for the right man to come along but in the meantime that doesn’t mean she can’t have a wonderful time with all the wrong men.”
Monday, November 22, 2004
Let's Talk About Sex... and Snow
First off, my apologies to Liam Neeson for not including him on my list of award hopefuls yesterday. I have not seen "Kinsey" yet, but from what I hear, he gives a hell of a performance. I can't wait to see it. Peter Saarsgard from "Garden State" is in it as well and I totally adore him.
Not much to report today. The weather here is really crappy. I'm all packed and ready to fly out to Missouri tomorrow morning. They're predicting snow there so that might be fun. I'm not a huge fan of cold weather, but I'll take cold and snowy over cold and rainy anytime...
A friend of mine gave me a book this weekend called, "Nice Girls Finish Last: Wicked Words on Drinking, Shopping, Gossiping, Sex, and All Your Favorite Bad Habits." Long title. Great book. It's basically full of quotes that apply to those "bad girls" who live life a little differently than society would probably like. Girls who like to use the work "fuck" in their blog a lot. You know the type ;) I'm sure a large number of these quotes will end up on here at some point. Here's one for today:
"It doesn't matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don't do it in the street and frighten the horses." -- Mrs Patrick Campbell (She was a prominant London actress in the early 1900's)
Not much to report today. The weather here is really crappy. I'm all packed and ready to fly out to Missouri tomorrow morning. They're predicting snow there so that might be fun. I'm not a huge fan of cold weather, but I'll take cold and snowy over cold and rainy anytime...
A friend of mine gave me a book this weekend called, "Nice Girls Finish Last: Wicked Words on Drinking, Shopping, Gossiping, Sex, and All Your Favorite Bad Habits." Long title. Great book. It's basically full of quotes that apply to those "bad girls" who live life a little differently than society would probably like. Girls who like to use the work "fuck" in their blog a lot. You know the type ;) I'm sure a large number of these quotes will end up on here at some point. Here's one for today:
"It doesn't matter what you do in the bedroom as long as you don't do it in the street and frighten the horses." -- Mrs Patrick Campbell (She was a prominant London actress in the early 1900's)
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Nominations All Around
It's getting to be that time of year again. The time when the studios start putting out the movies that they think should win awards. Golden Globes. Oscars. All those little statuettes looking for new homes. I've seen a lot of movies this year. Some good. Some not so. This afternoon I saw "Sideways." It's a fairly "small" movie, but I wouldn't really call it an indie. It was outstanding. Well-written. Beautifully shot. Great performances by the entire cast, but the real standout was Paul Giamatti. It will be a fucking crime if he doesn't get a Best Actor nomination for this film. Paul has always been a great character actor, but this is really a breakout performance for him. Thomas Hayden Church was great as well, but I don't think he was strong enough to garner a nod and his part was too big to really be considered a "supporting" role.... So, with Giamatti thrown into the mix, here's my take on who should get best actor nominations come awards season. First up, there's no way in hell Jamie Fox won't get nominated for "Ray." That's sorta the no-brainer. Then I'll go with Giamatti for "Sideways" and Johnny Depp for "Finding Neverland." I think that's it for performances so far, but there are some big movies coming out in the next few weeks that might get some attention. Hopefully "Beyond the Sea" will be as great as it looks and Kevin Spacey will get another nomination... but then of course I'm always pulling for Kevin :) Based on what I've heard, both "Alexander" and "The Aviator" have some serious issues so I don't think we're looking at noms for DiCaprio or Farrell. That opens the door for some more independent stuff to get a look. Maybe Christian Bale for "The Machinist" or Zach Braff for "Garden State." In a perfect world, GS will get a bunch of nominations, but I don't know that I'd be willing to lay bets on it. If nothing else, Zach better get nominated for best screenplay. So there it is. Just some rambling thoughts on how I think the awards race is starting to shape up...
Along with my plans to start including "fuck" in all of my blogs, I think I'm going to start including more quotes as well. I've got a huge collection of interesting quotes I've picked up over the years and figure this might be a good place to share them. The challenge may prove to be finding ones that are at least semi-relevant to my post for the day. So in honor of great performances by actors everywhere, here's one for all the dreamers out there who have the balls to live their lives on their own terms:
"live with imagination.
walk to the edge.
listen hard.
practice wellness.
play with abandon.
laugh.
choose with no regret.
continue to learn.
appreciate your friends.
do what you love.
live as if this is all there is."
-- Mary Anne Radmacher
Along with my plans to start including "fuck" in all of my blogs, I think I'm going to start including more quotes as well. I've got a huge collection of interesting quotes I've picked up over the years and figure this might be a good place to share them. The challenge may prove to be finding ones that are at least semi-relevant to my post for the day. So in honor of great performances by actors everywhere, here's one for all the dreamers out there who have the balls to live their lives on their own terms:
"live with imagination.
walk to the edge.
listen hard.
practice wellness.
play with abandon.
laugh.
choose with no regret.
continue to learn.
appreciate your friends.
do what you love.
live as if this is all there is."
-- Mary Anne Radmacher
Saturday, November 20, 2004
R-rated blogging
I was talking to some people at work yesterday and the subject of my blog came up. Seems they were amused by the somewhat "racy" turn it has taken in recent weeks. Glad to know I've been so entertaining of late. Anyway, I mentioned that "fuck" is one of my favorite words (and as it happens, one of my favorite activities ;) and I've decided to incorporate it into my posts every day from here on out. (Let's hope I don't have any Disney films to review for awhile.) This prompted the suggestion that I answer the questions that James Lipton asks of all his guests on Bravo's "Inside the Actor's Studio." Since there isn't a chance in hell that I'll ever be on that show, it seemed like a good idea, so here goes:
1. What is your favorite word? "Nifty"
2. What is your least favorite word? "No"
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Charisma - People who are passionate about something (life in general, a cause, their work, etc.)
4. What turns you off? Dishonesty
5. What is your favorite curse word? "Fuck"
6. What sound or noise do you love? The wind blowing through the trees before a big storm.
7. What sound or noise do you hate? Lawnmowers @ 7AM on a Saturday morning
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Writer
9. What profession would you not like to do? Math Teacher
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear St Peter say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
"Wow! That was quite a ride you had!"
For some reason, the hardest question for me to answer was #1. I don't know that I actually have a favorite word, but I use "nifty" a lot, so there you go... Now, everyone go out there and have a great weekend!
"I know it hurts, but it's life, and it's real. And sometimes it fucking hurts, but it's life and it's pretty much all we got." -- Natalie Portman - "Garden State
1. What is your favorite word? "Nifty"
2. What is your least favorite word? "No"
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Charisma - People who are passionate about something (life in general, a cause, their work, etc.)
4. What turns you off? Dishonesty
5. What is your favorite curse word? "Fuck"
6. What sound or noise do you love? The wind blowing through the trees before a big storm.
7. What sound or noise do you hate? Lawnmowers @ 7AM on a Saturday morning
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Writer
9. What profession would you not like to do? Math Teacher
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear St Peter say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
"Wow! That was quite a ride you had!"
For some reason, the hardest question for me to answer was #1. I don't know that I actually have a favorite word, but I use "nifty" a lot, so there you go... Now, everyone go out there and have a great weekend!
"I know it hurts, but it's life, and it's real. And sometimes it fucking hurts, but it's life and it's pretty much all we got." -- Natalie Portman - "Garden State
Friday, November 19, 2004
At a Loss
I honestly have no idea what I want to write about today. So I'll just start typing and we'll see what happens. A stream-of-consciousness post. This might be an interesting experiment....
So, I stayed up much too late last night playing EQ. I'm like 5 good kills away from Level 13 and soooo wanted to keep playing but by like 1:30 I could barely keep my eyes open and was just not paying attention. I fell off a fairly large cliff running away from a fairly large red dinosaur and almost died. I decided that was my Q to call it a night. I'll get to 13 tonight and then I can start double-weilding my weapons. Ok, so I'm a major geek. I know this.... I finally caved and ordered DSL. It was way overdue. I work for a freakin' Internet company and was still on dialup. That's just dumb. Again, I know this. Self-awareness is not something I am lacking. (Except apparently when it comes to men. Then I can be as blind as a fucking bat as to what's really going on. Which I totally don't get. I am usually so good at "reading" people, but then I get around certain guys and it's like my brain just shuts off. I lose all sense of perspective and even seem to lose the ability to tell right from wrong. I have done some seriously stupid shit in my pursuit of some of the men I've been involved with. Does this happen to all women? or just me? I mean, I am not an emotional person. I'm very, very good at detaching myself from my feelings. So why is it that sometimes I just seem to lose my mind and get paranoid and stupid and fuck up what could be a really good thing? Maybe it's Fate telling me something. God knows with Kimball at least, Fate was screaming in my ear, "Run Forrest! Run!" and I still didn't fucking hear it. Actually, it wasn't that I didn't hear it, I just blatantly chose to ignore it. Warning to all - don't ignore Fate. It turns out badly. Sorry, that was like a major digression there. I had an e-mail from my stupid ex this morning that wound me up and it just pisses me off that he can still get me this worked up...) So anyway, I ordered my DSL on Tues, my FOC date was yesterday, and my line is complete today. That's super speedy. I remember back when it would take weeks and weeks and weeks to get a line provisioned. I'll get it all hooked up this weekend. Maybe I won't lag so fucking bad on the Plane of Knowledge anymore. Woo Hoo for DSL! No earthshattering plans for the weekend. I'm sure I'll get a movie or two seen. I'll play a lot of EQ. I'll sleep and sleep and sleep some more... and I should probably get some laundry done before I leave town on Tuesday. The weather looks promising for Saturday so I think I'll take my horse trail riding. No plans that are set in stone, which is always a nice feeeling. There is absolutely nothing that I HAVE to do all weekend. Tenetatively I want to go to the Breman Museum on Sunday afternoon. They have an exhibit on comic books right now that I really want to check out at some point....
So, I stayed up much too late last night playing EQ. I'm like 5 good kills away from Level 13 and soooo wanted to keep playing but by like 1:30 I could barely keep my eyes open and was just not paying attention. I fell off a fairly large cliff running away from a fairly large red dinosaur and almost died. I decided that was my Q to call it a night. I'll get to 13 tonight and then I can start double-weilding my weapons. Ok, so I'm a major geek. I know this.... I finally caved and ordered DSL. It was way overdue. I work for a freakin' Internet company and was still on dialup. That's just dumb. Again, I know this. Self-awareness is not something I am lacking. (Except apparently when it comes to men. Then I can be as blind as a fucking bat as to what's really going on. Which I totally don't get. I am usually so good at "reading" people, but then I get around certain guys and it's like my brain just shuts off. I lose all sense of perspective and even seem to lose the ability to tell right from wrong. I have done some seriously stupid shit in my pursuit of some of the men I've been involved with. Does this happen to all women? or just me? I mean, I am not an emotional person. I'm very, very good at detaching myself from my feelings. So why is it that sometimes I just seem to lose my mind and get paranoid and stupid and fuck up what could be a really good thing? Maybe it's Fate telling me something. God knows with Kimball at least, Fate was screaming in my ear, "Run Forrest! Run!" and I still didn't fucking hear it. Actually, it wasn't that I didn't hear it, I just blatantly chose to ignore it. Warning to all - don't ignore Fate. It turns out badly. Sorry, that was like a major digression there. I had an e-mail from my stupid ex this morning that wound me up and it just pisses me off that he can still get me this worked up...) So anyway, I ordered my DSL on Tues, my FOC date was yesterday, and my line is complete today. That's super speedy. I remember back when it would take weeks and weeks and weeks to get a line provisioned. I'll get it all hooked up this weekend. Maybe I won't lag so fucking bad on the Plane of Knowledge anymore. Woo Hoo for DSL! No earthshattering plans for the weekend. I'm sure I'll get a movie or two seen. I'll play a lot of EQ. I'll sleep and sleep and sleep some more... and I should probably get some laundry done before I leave town on Tuesday. The weather looks promising for Saturday so I think I'll take my horse trail riding. No plans that are set in stone, which is always a nice feeeling. There is absolutely nothing that I HAVE to do all weekend. Tenetatively I want to go to the Breman Museum on Sunday afternoon. They have an exhibit on comic books right now that I really want to check out at some point....
Thursday, November 18, 2004
National Treasure
Let me start out by saying, I didn't dislike "National Treasure." It's not a bad film. It's a good go to the movies, eat some popcorn (except for me, I detest popcorn), and just sit back and enjoy the ride kinda film. It's clever and makes you think more than your typical action-adventure film. All that being said, I was still kinda disappointed with the flick as a whole. It just felt kinda "disjointed" to me. Take "The DaVinci Code," "Tomb Raider," and "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade"and throw them all together... those are all fine works that I enjoyed on their own, but when you mix them all together it doesn't work out quite as well as you would think. My biggest problem with the film was the flow of the first 1/3 of the picture into the last 2/3 of the picture. The first 1/2 hour or so is basically a heist film in which Nic Cage devises a way to steal the Declaration of Independence. It's far-fetched and requires some serious suspension of disbelief to buy into and I just really didn't. After that the movie picks up. It turns into more of an action-adventure film as Nic and company start following a series of historical clues on the path to locating a mythical treasure cache. The clues they follow are all based on historical fact. They are cleverly tied together and are the most interesting aspect of the film. Nic Cage is fine as Benjamin Franklin Gates. It's the type of character we've seen him play before so it wasn't much of a stretch for him. Sean Bean is hot and plays a great bad guy. Justin Bartha is Cage's "sidekick" and he gives an outstanding performance. He's the comic relief in the pic, but he's witty without being stupid or annoying. So, like I said, I didn't dislike "National Treasure." It was a fun movie. It just wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Craving Some Ink
Let's take a departure from my morose commentary from yesterday. I adamantly refuse to be unhappy today. Let's talk about tattoos instead. I've currently got six of them and I really, really want to get my next. It's been a couple of years since my last one which means I'm way overdue for another one. Here's the link to pics of ones that I already have, a few I'm contemplating getting, and even a couple that I've drawn for other people:
http://www.ancalagonmorgans.com/Tats.html
I know a lot of people are still vehemently opposed to getting tattoos. They can't get over the old negative stereotypes that tattoos conotated in the past. They still summon up images of Hells Angels, drug dealers, and drunken sailors when it comes to tats. That kind of thinking is close-minded and stupid, but whatever. That's their perogative... Fortunately, tattoos have become much less taboo in recent years, so more often I run into people who just don't "get" the whole tat thing, but they are at least fairly accepting of it.
I don't know that I can explain my fascination with getting inked, but I'll give it a shot. It's not a rebellion thing. I didn't get my first one because my mom told me I absolutely could NOT have a tattoo. (Although she did tell me that. Words like "disowned" came up when I first mentioned my desire to get a tattoo. It proved to be a hollow threat. Six tats later and I still seem to get invited to Thanksgiving dinner.) I guess the easiest explanation is self-expression. Every tattoo that I have is symbolic of some aspect of my life, of who I am. My first ink was based on a Celtic design depicting the horse goddess Epona. Anyone who knows me knows that if there is one defining aspect of my life it is my horses. They have always been a force in my life and they always will be. (If you think I'm crazy now, you should see me when I don't have a horse in my life to "balance" me out.) My dragon tattoo reflects my belief in fate and the fantastical. I've always had an obsession with dragons. They are magical and powerful and ethereal. My dragon is wrapped around a wheel of fortune (like the one on a tarot card). He is there as a symbol of the magic that exists in my world and the idea that all fortune (good and ill) is tied to fate and that as much as we would like to control it we can't. The wheel will stop where it does, when it does, and the best we can hope for is that we have a guardian looking out for us. This blog is starting to get a little longer than I had planned so I'll wrap it up with my blue tiger tattoo. Like dragons, I have always loved tigers. They are strong and beautiful and no one fucks with them. They are masters of their domains. Tigers have always been symbols of strength and protection. I figured I need all the help I can get, so now I've got a tiger to watch my back, so to speak. He is blue with green stripes because I hate for things to be common. An orange tiger tat would have been boring and I detest boring. In my head tigers should be blue and there are stories in Sumatra of rare blue tigers stalking the forest. They are the stuff of legend and I'm a sucker for a good fairy tale :)
So, there you go. A little insight into why I have some of the tats I have. Anyone who has them will tell you they are addictive. You can't just have one. I know they are not for everyone and that's fine. As I've said many, many times before, I am a dreamer. I prefer to live somewhere on the edge of normal. My tattoos are a reflection of that and I foresee several more in my future. They are part of the travelouge of my life and I hope the journey only gets more interesting from here...
http://www.ancalagonmorgans.com/Tats.html
I know a lot of people are still vehemently opposed to getting tattoos. They can't get over the old negative stereotypes that tattoos conotated in the past. They still summon up images of Hells Angels, drug dealers, and drunken sailors when it comes to tats. That kind of thinking is close-minded and stupid, but whatever. That's their perogative... Fortunately, tattoos have become much less taboo in recent years, so more often I run into people who just don't "get" the whole tat thing, but they are at least fairly accepting of it.
I don't know that I can explain my fascination with getting inked, but I'll give it a shot. It's not a rebellion thing. I didn't get my first one because my mom told me I absolutely could NOT have a tattoo. (Although she did tell me that. Words like "disowned" came up when I first mentioned my desire to get a tattoo. It proved to be a hollow threat. Six tats later and I still seem to get invited to Thanksgiving dinner.) I guess the easiest explanation is self-expression. Every tattoo that I have is symbolic of some aspect of my life, of who I am. My first ink was based on a Celtic design depicting the horse goddess Epona. Anyone who knows me knows that if there is one defining aspect of my life it is my horses. They have always been a force in my life and they always will be. (If you think I'm crazy now, you should see me when I don't have a horse in my life to "balance" me out.) My dragon tattoo reflects my belief in fate and the fantastical. I've always had an obsession with dragons. They are magical and powerful and ethereal. My dragon is wrapped around a wheel of fortune (like the one on a tarot card). He is there as a symbol of the magic that exists in my world and the idea that all fortune (good and ill) is tied to fate and that as much as we would like to control it we can't. The wheel will stop where it does, when it does, and the best we can hope for is that we have a guardian looking out for us. This blog is starting to get a little longer than I had planned so I'll wrap it up with my blue tiger tattoo. Like dragons, I have always loved tigers. They are strong and beautiful and no one fucks with them. They are masters of their domains. Tigers have always been symbols of strength and protection. I figured I need all the help I can get, so now I've got a tiger to watch my back, so to speak. He is blue with green stripes because I hate for things to be common. An orange tiger tat would have been boring and I detest boring. In my head tigers should be blue and there are stories in Sumatra of rare blue tigers stalking the forest. They are the stuff of legend and I'm a sucker for a good fairy tale :)
So, there you go. A little insight into why I have some of the tats I have. Anyone who has them will tell you they are addictive. You can't just have one. I know they are not for everyone and that's fine. As I've said many, many times before, I am a dreamer. I prefer to live somewhere on the edge of normal. My tattoos are a reflection of that and I foresee several more in my future. They are part of the travelouge of my life and I hope the journey only gets more interesting from here...
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Hello? Have you met me?
Wow, two posts in one day. That hasn't happened in awhile. So much for me not blogging much this week... Apparently my post from this afternoon caused some concern among the locals. Rest assured there is nothing wrong with me... nothing specific anyway, just my usual neurotic self. I was having a blue day. That's partly what this blog is for; to get the craziness out of my head and put it somewhere else. It helps for me to write things down, even if it's in an incoherent, somewhat babbly kinda way. I just get this way sometimes. It's no major cause for concern. As it turns out, my behemoth of a Latin test was definitely a contributing factor to my unhappiness today. Once it was done and I stepped out of class, I felt a noticeable shift in my perceptions. So, hopefully things will be peachier tomorrow. That's not to say that I'm not still contemplating running away to Europe. That's a possibility I think I'll just keep open for now ;)
Audaces Fortuna Iuvat
YAWN.... so I'm stuck in this training class all week. I helped write a large portion of this courseware and yet here I am sitting in on the class. Technically, I'm here as an "observer." Some of the discussions have actually been productive, but others not so much. (Think of Prometheus having his liver eaten day after day only to have it regenerated and you'll get some idea of how painful some of this stuff has been to sit through.) I've got 2 more days to go too... To top it all off, I've been in sort of a funk so far this week. Nothing specific to point out as the cause. (The killer Latin test I have tonight might be part of it though.) I just feel a little trapped right now. I need a change in my life. I'm not sure exactly what kind of change, just a change. A small one. A radical one. Whatever. Just something. I'm off next week for the Thanksgiving holiday and will get to go visit my sister, Shannon and her family in Missouri. That should help... I say should, but I know from past experience that sometimes going to visit her makes me even more melancholy. It's not that I want her life. She's married and has kids and as much as I love my brother-in-law and my 2 nephews, that's just not where I see my life going, but she's happy. That's what I'm envious of. I know that my current life is not what it should be. There is something else out there for me. I just have to have the balls to go out and find it. Fortune favors the bold. Maybe just selling all my worldly possessions and running away to Europe.... now there's a thought. Of course most people will probably tell you that running away from your problems usually doesn't solve them. They are still there when you get back. Well, maybe I just won't come back. We'll see. I'm rambling. I do that sometimes...
Monday, November 15, 2004
The Edge of Reason
No blogs over the weekend. I just didn't have the time or the motivation to post anything. The weekend was just way too short. The poker party went well on Sat night. I lost $10 but finally got the check from the insurance company for the accident I was in back in Sept so fortunately $10 didn't prove to be too big a hit for me :)
Friday night (after I had sorta recovered from my afternoon tequila binge) I saw "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason." It was pretty good. Good performances all around, but the story was a little weak and tried too hard in some places. It was definitely not as good as the origianl. (Damn, there were a lot of "goods" in that paragraph - notice they were "goods" and not "greats.") Still, for people who liked the first film, I think you'll like this one as well. If nothing else, Hugh and Colin were both still yummy ;)
Not much else to report. I rode my horse and played some EQ. This week is going to be crazy at work so my blogs may end up being few. I'll have to see how things go. I'm going to a screening of "National Treasure" on Wednesday so I'll try to at least post my spin on that.
Happy Monday! and Happy Birthday! to my favorite Scorpio out there ;)
Friday night (after I had sorta recovered from my afternoon tequila binge) I saw "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason." It was pretty good. Good performances all around, but the story was a little weak and tried too hard in some places. It was definitely not as good as the origianl. (Damn, there were a lot of "goods" in that paragraph - notice they were "goods" and not "greats.") Still, for people who liked the first film, I think you'll like this one as well. If nothing else, Hugh and Colin were both still yummy ;)
Not much else to report. I rode my horse and played some EQ. This week is going to be crazy at work so my blogs may end up being few. I'll have to see how things go. I'm going to a screening of "National Treasure" on Wednesday so I'll try to at least post my spin on that.
Happy Monday! and Happy Birthday! to my favorite Scorpio out there ;)
Friday, November 12, 2004
Tequila est El Diablo
I have lost my mind. I know better than to drink tequila, especially in anything other than very small doses, but some people around me just prove to be a very bad influence at times :) I had 2 particularly strong Margaritas at lunch today and they have definitely impaired my judgement. It's a good thing I had the rest of the afternoon off or I really would have been fucked. Of course, I like to think that if I had planned on going back to work, I would not have been stupid enough to drink all that alcohol. I'm such a light weight when it comes to drinking. Two good strong drinks and I'm practially ready to dance on the bar. It also drops my IQ level a couple hundred points. I say things I definitely should not, and piss off people that I don't want to alienate. What the fuck is wrong with me? I'm 33 years old. You would think I would know better by now. Apparently not. I'm just having a weird day and the tequila did not help make things any better. I should go hop on EQ. A drunk Vah Shir running around chasing orcs would probably be pretty amusing about now....
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Sex, Lies, and a Little Secret
I have felt sorta crappy all week. I think the changing weather has been the root cause but I'm sure stress and a lack of sleep have been factored into the equation as well. (Wow, I'm using math references. I think that's one of the signs of the Apocalypse.) To top it all off, it's cold and rainy and what I really want to do is climb back into my nice warm bed and go to sleep, but no such luck. Today, not only did I wake up late, but I woke up with a killer headache. One of those that's not quite a migraine, but definitely has the ambition of becoming one. The best cure for these kinds of headaches is sex, or more specifically the endorphins released by a really good orgasm. (To all the guys out there, I'll let you in on a little secret. If a woman ever tells you she's not in the mood and claims it's because she has a headache, that's bullshit. It means she just doesn't want to fuck you.) There is no better headache relief. However, I don't think sex is an option right this minute though seeing as how I'm at work..... A nice long sleep would probably do it too, but that's not nearly as much fun and once again the whole work thing fucks that option up too. I need to kill this thing before it gets worse, but after the little Vicodin episode last week, I'm thinking I don't want to go the chemical route. I need to at least be able to function today. Maybe coffee will do the trick, but I'm thinking this headache might be beyond the healing powers of caffeine. It's looking like it's going to be a long Thursday...
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Second Star to the Right
Let me start this blog out by saying I absolutely adore Johnny Depp. This guy has more talent and charisma than a lot of the big stars in the biz today all rolled into one. He has made some not-so-great films, but even in those, his performances have always been outstanding. He often far exceeds the material he is given to work with. I'm happy to say that "Finding Neverland" is not only another award nomination worthy performance for Depp, but it's just an extraordinary film all around. Big kudos for all the solid and sometimes heartbreaking performances given by the whole cast. Even the sometimes annoying Kate Winslet does a good job here. The kids that play her sons, and in particular Freddie Highmore who plays Peter, are excellent. (On a sidenote - Freddie will be working with Johnny again in Tim Burton's upcoming film, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.") "Finding Neveland" opens this weekend. I highly recommend it.
I also want to briefly mention how bizarre some of the screenings I have been to recently were. Tonight it was almost as bad as getting through security at the fucking airport. I know pirating is a big deal in the movie biz these days, but come on. There were people with metal detector wands and some big security guy walking through the aisles before the film started telling people to get off their cell phones. Like they could reproduce the film with a fucking camera phone! It bordered on the absurd and it's basically useless. The people who go to screenings are not the ones pirating the films and selling them on the 'net. The copies that pop up online are generally too good to have been shot in guerilla fashion. They are copies that projectionists are burning from DLP prints or shooting from the booth after hours. I was a projectionist for a long time and I know how easy it is to copy a print of a film if you are really motivated to do it. It's the true die-hard movie fans who end up at most of these things and the 3rd degree security is starting to piss those people off. Hopefully the film companies will get a clue and stop policing these screenings so harshly. Sorry, just had to rant about that...
Go see "Finding Neverland." Johnny Depp, YAY! :)
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
I've always been something of a geek. I admit that, but I have a confession to make. I am now a geek of the first order. I have been sucked back into the world of "EverQuest." I'm not going to bother to give an elaborate explaination of what EQ is. If you don't know, then you probably don't want to. Suffice it to say that it's an online gaming community in which you create a character and then you go out into the EverQuest world and kill things. There's a lot more to it than that, but you get the idea. I've never been much of a gamer. Mainly because I'm not very good at video games and I've never had much patience with things that I'm not good at. In fact, I think you can safely say that patience in general is not one of my virtues. I had played EQ briefly a few years back, but never got very far so I quit playing. Well, I'm back into it now and am having a lot more fun this time around. It helps that I've got a good friend who's been playing in this world for quite awhile and has given me some invaluable help and insight. It's sorta like having a guardian angel; my own personal Obi-Wan or something... and believe me, I've needed all the help I can get :) It's amazing how much better this game is now that I at least have a vague idea of what the fuck I'm doing... rather than just running around blindly with no fucking clue. I'm still reckless and tend to get myself into situations that are WAY beyond my level. Not surprisingly, I seem to play my character the way I live my life. My blood lust gets up and I just rush into the fray without any regard to the consequences. Needless to say, I've gotten squashed by some really big monsters on a couple of occasions by doing that... but I've learned my lesson to some extent and am at least slightly more cautious now... Anyway, I'm not sure that my renewed interest in EQ is neccesarily a good thing. This is a very time consuming game and it's proving to be very addictive. Still, I guess there are worse things I could be doing with my time... no, really, I'm sure there are.... it's not like I'm going out and robbing banks as a hobby or anything... Probably the most disturbing aspect of my EQ fixation has been the fucked up dreams I've had for the last couple of nights. I should not be dreaming about running around killing skeletons and giant scorpions. Shouldn't it be some sort of red flag when you start dreaming about a freakin' video game world? There are MUCH better activities that I could be dreaming about... which is not to say that I haven't been dreaming about those things too ;)
My life is very odd these days....
My life is very odd these days....
Monday, November 08, 2004
The Incredible Sunset
My movie watching was much less ambitious this past weekend in comparison to the weekend before. I only got 2 movies seen, but they were both worth seeing, and one is destined to be a classic. So, without any ado at all here are some thoughts on them:
Friday night I saw "The Incredibles." I can't even begin to say how much I loved this movie. It may very well be my favorite of all the Pixar films, and that's saying something. I'm not ready to give it that #1 spot just yet, but it might end up there. I need to see it again. Of all the Pixar films to date, this one is the most geared towards adults, or at the very least, older kids. It's not that it's scary or anything, its just more character driven. Coming from a die-hard comic book fan, this is a great film. It pays tribute to all the comic greats and there's a whole running joke about real superheroes not wearing capes that is hysterical. There's also the typical Pixar references to great movies of the past. If you don't get the nod to "Return of the Jedi" then you are not a "Star Wars" fan. Everyone on the planet should go see this film. It just rocks. Enough said :)
Saturday there was a screening of "After the Sunset." It was good for a hiest film. Sort of "The Thomas Crown Affair" meets "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" is probably the best way to describe it. Lots of good twists and turns and it was not totally predicatable. Pierce Brosnan did a good job and was charming as usual. It was just a fun movie. Nothing too spectacular, but definitely worth checking out.
There's a screening of "Finding Neverland" on Wed night. I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to this movie. Woo Hoo, Johnny Depp!
Friday night I saw "The Incredibles." I can't even begin to say how much I loved this movie. It may very well be my favorite of all the Pixar films, and that's saying something. I'm not ready to give it that #1 spot just yet, but it might end up there. I need to see it again. Of all the Pixar films to date, this one is the most geared towards adults, or at the very least, older kids. It's not that it's scary or anything, its just more character driven. Coming from a die-hard comic book fan, this is a great film. It pays tribute to all the comic greats and there's a whole running joke about real superheroes not wearing capes that is hysterical. There's also the typical Pixar references to great movies of the past. If you don't get the nod to "Return of the Jedi" then you are not a "Star Wars" fan. Everyone on the planet should go see this film. It just rocks. Enough said :)
Saturday there was a screening of "After the Sunset." It was good for a hiest film. Sort of "The Thomas Crown Affair" meets "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" is probably the best way to describe it. Lots of good twists and turns and it was not totally predicatable. Pierce Brosnan did a good job and was charming as usual. It was just a fun movie. Nothing too spectacular, but definitely worth checking out.
There's a screening of "Finding Neverland" on Wed night. I can't wait. I'm really looking forward to this movie. Woo Hoo, Johnny Depp!
Saturday, November 06, 2004
Riddle Me This, Batman...
I had intended for today's post to be a review of "The Incredibles," but I talked to Wes again last night and he brought up some other musing I'd rather do. Wes is the lttle brother of my late boyfriend Colin. He's one of my best friends and I don't get to talk to him nearly as much as I would like. Anyway, he's currently down in Peru. He had been working on a dig at an Incan site near Cuzco. He's done with the work part of his trip and is now just spending some time climbing in the area before he heads home to Arizona for the holidays. Anyway, Wes had called me on Thurs night just to see how I was. (The bastard has a satellite phone and called me from the top of a freakin' mountain!) We caught up for a bit and he filled me in on the dig and whatnot. He called me back last night to see if I had liked "The Incredibles." (It rocked BTW! I'll post a review tomorrow or Monday.) After that the conversation turned a bit more serious. He's been down in Peru for almost 2 months now and he really misses his girlfriend, but he says that lately when he's talked to her he's gotten a really weird "vibe" from her and he has now convinced himself that she is seeing someone else and just doesn't want to tell him. They were good friends long before they ever started dating and his main concern at this point is that if she really has moved on then he at least wants to stay friends with her. The silly boy wanted my suggestion on what he should do. Let me tell you, I am the world's best listener, but I suck at giving advice. I can barely keep control of my own life, let alone try to help someone else with theirs. I told Wes as much and that really my only suggestion was to just talk to her when he gets home and to play it by ear from there. Not very helpful, I know. Still, my conversation with him got me to thinking, and to make a long blog even longer here are just some random thoughts on my relationships with some of the people in my life...
I have a lot of acquaintances. People that I know and interact with, often on a daily basis. On the surface I guess you would call them "friends," but honestly I don't have any sort of real emotional investment in them. If they were out of my life tomorrow I would probably miss some of them, but the world would not come to an end. There are also a few that I would probably make some sort of effort to keep in touch with, but deep down I know that eventually we would just fade from each other's lives. Maybe that makes me shallow and cold. I don't know. It's kind of sad, but that's just how it is.
Which brings me to the people I consider to be my "true" friends. My "people I'd take a bullet for" list. It's a really, really short list. The people on it probably don't even number in the double digits. These are the people I would do anything for and they are on the list for life. It doesn't matter how much they fuck up. I could go for years without talking to one of them and if they called me today and said they needed my help, I'd be on the next plane to wherever. Friendships like these are strange things. Some of these people I've known almost my whole life. Some I've known very intimately. Some of them I've known for almost no time at all and yet I can't imagine my life without them. Years, months, it doesn't matter. They've all somehow managed to solidify a special place in my life. I can't really even explain how this odd assortment of personalities has come to be such an important part of my life or why I'm so loyal to some them. (One in particular has fucked up my life so badly that I should want him dead and yet I still can't bring myself to cut him out of my life. Mainly because I know that if I ever really needed him to come through for me, he would...) I guess part of it is that they all accept me for who I am. They all know I'm eccentic and a little bit crazy. They may not agree with some of the things I do, but they don't judge me for doing them. Another part of it is that I just don't trust many people. I don't like letting people into the dark, scary corners of my life because I know most of the time people are not going to like what they see there and will probably run away screaming incoherently. So when I do trust someone enough to let them in, I tend to get very protective of them and will fight to my dying breath for them. This loyalty has cost me. Emotionally. Physically. Mentally. Does there a come a point when you have to let go? What is that point? Honestly, I don't think I could let any of them go. We may drift apart emotionally or geographically but in the end (at least on my side anyway) I think I have to say that their names are written on this list in blood...
So there it is. A pretty heavy diatribe for a Saturday morning, eh? Those of you who are on my "bullet" list know who you are, or should by now anyway. If you need me, you know where I am. Just send up the Bat Signal and I'll come running just like I always have...
I have a lot of acquaintances. People that I know and interact with, often on a daily basis. On the surface I guess you would call them "friends," but honestly I don't have any sort of real emotional investment in them. If they were out of my life tomorrow I would probably miss some of them, but the world would not come to an end. There are also a few that I would probably make some sort of effort to keep in touch with, but deep down I know that eventually we would just fade from each other's lives. Maybe that makes me shallow and cold. I don't know. It's kind of sad, but that's just how it is.
Which brings me to the people I consider to be my "true" friends. My "people I'd take a bullet for" list. It's a really, really short list. The people on it probably don't even number in the double digits. These are the people I would do anything for and they are on the list for life. It doesn't matter how much they fuck up. I could go for years without talking to one of them and if they called me today and said they needed my help, I'd be on the next plane to wherever. Friendships like these are strange things. Some of these people I've known almost my whole life. Some I've known very intimately. Some of them I've known for almost no time at all and yet I can't imagine my life without them. Years, months, it doesn't matter. They've all somehow managed to solidify a special place in my life. I can't really even explain how this odd assortment of personalities has come to be such an important part of my life or why I'm so loyal to some them. (One in particular has fucked up my life so badly that I should want him dead and yet I still can't bring myself to cut him out of my life. Mainly because I know that if I ever really needed him to come through for me, he would...) I guess part of it is that they all accept me for who I am. They all know I'm eccentic and a little bit crazy. They may not agree with some of the things I do, but they don't judge me for doing them. Another part of it is that I just don't trust many people. I don't like letting people into the dark, scary corners of my life because I know most of the time people are not going to like what they see there and will probably run away screaming incoherently. So when I do trust someone enough to let them in, I tend to get very protective of them and will fight to my dying breath for them. This loyalty has cost me. Emotionally. Physically. Mentally. Does there a come a point when you have to let go? What is that point? Honestly, I don't think I could let any of them go. We may drift apart emotionally or geographically but in the end (at least on my side anyway) I think I have to say that their names are written on this list in blood...
So there it is. A pretty heavy diatribe for a Saturday morning, eh? Those of you who are on my "bullet" list know who you are, or should by now anyway. If you need me, you know where I am. Just send up the Bat Signal and I'll come running just like I always have...
Friday, November 05, 2004
Purple Haze
Ok , so here's a suggestion. Don't take heavy drugs while at work. You would think this would be common sense, right? Well, sometimes accidents happen. Did you know that Vicodin looks surprisingly like Excedrin and that if you aren't paying attention you could easily mistake the two? Learn from my mistakes people. This CAN happen. I had a killer headache when I came in this morning so I pulled out my handy dandy little little pill bottle, popped 2 Excedrin (or so I thought) and proceeded to go about my day. Like 1/2 an hour later I'm sitting in this meeting and start catching trails off of things. It was very bizarre and I'm like, "What the fuck?" Then I remembered I had a couple of Vicodin stashed away in that pill bottle for emergencies. Oh shit. I check the bottle when I get out of the meeting and sure enough, no more Vicodin. I am flying high at this point. Let me tell you, work is much more interesting (and much less stressful) when you've got a chemically altered state of mind going on. It's now a couple of hours later and I'm still in a pretty happy purple haze here. It's feeling like it's time to chant down Babylon, baby.... Happy Happy Friday to all!
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Run Away, Run Away
I don't dislike living in Atlanta. True, it doesn't compare to NYC or LA or London or San Fran, but it's not a bad city as far as cities go. There are plenty of things to do and we get pretty much any movie that hits the screen (which as you all know is a big plus in my book), but I'm sooooo over living here right now. In fact I think there's a movie coming out shortly about my life here over the last few months.... something about "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Some things have been really good and I wouldn't change them for anything in the world, but overall, not a great summer and early fall for this girl. So, I'm going to rant a little just to get it out in the open. Maybe that'll help lift the dark mojo. Here's something resembling a list. To start with, both of my horses managed to get hurt. They're fine now, but dealing with leg injuries on horses is always a nightmare.... A couple of weeks ago I got mugged. I was fine and they didn't get anything important, but it was still scary and even thinking about it now pisses me off. I am a fighter by nature. I am not good at being a victim... On Labor Day weekend, my truck got rammed into and I'm still fighting with the fucking insurance company about it. Today I come to find out the adjustor that was handling my case got himself fired (which doesn't surprise me, the man was an idiot) so now I have to basically start all over. Grrrr, Argh. To top everything off I went out to my truck this morning and someone had broken into it it. I never lock my truck anymore because I'm sick and fucking tired of having to replace smashed windows so now I just don't leave anything valuable inside. If they feel they must peruse my crappy collection of mix tapes, let them. It still sucks going out to your car on a rainy morning and finding out someone went through your stuff.... There's more I could bitch about, but those are the highlights. We won't even get into the fact that the narrow-minded morons of this state voted overwhelmingly for an amendment banning gay marriage. That's a blog for another day.... I guess I just need a change. I've become complacent and bored with my current life. There's has to be something better out there....
There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There’s too much confusion
I can’t get no relief
Businessman they drink my wine
Plow men dig my earth
None will level on the line
Nobody of it is worth
- "All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix
There must be some kind of way out of here
Said the joker to the thief
There’s too much confusion
I can’t get no relief
Businessman they drink my wine
Plow men dig my earth
None will level on the line
Nobody of it is worth
- "All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Election Day
I don't have much to say today. I'm tired, I have a headache, and I have a Latin quiz that I'm not even remotely prepared for. The big news is that it's election day. I voted early so as to avoid all the craziness which I'm sure will ensue at the polls today. There are some school systems which don't have classes today since they are used as polling places. That's crazy. I don't ever recall having an election day off back when I was in school. Anyway, here's hoping that we don't have a repeat of the 2000 debacle.
Here's some Dylan for your election day enjoyment. Go out there and vote!
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
-- Bob Dylan
Here's some Dylan for your election day enjoyment. Go out there and vote!
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
-- Bob Dylan
Monday, November 01, 2004
Time Travel
Well, I planned to see 5 movies this past weekend and what'dya know, I actually got 5 seen. I'm not sure if that's sad, or obsessive, or what... Anyway, I posted my reviews for the first 3 on Sat, so here's the 411 on the other 2...
First up is "Primer." As I have mentioned previously, when they are done right, I like weird fucking movies. This is definitely a weird fucking movie. Think "Pi" meets "The Matrix" meets "Back to the Future." It's best if I don't say too much in regards to the plot of the film. I think this film really benefits from someone going into it mostly blind. I will say that on the surface this is basically a film about time travel. On a deeper level though there's more to it than that. It's about friendship, and betrayal, and the choices we make... and the consequences of those choices. The film has a good script and a really cool look to it. It is full of great performances by a virtually unknown cast. It is definitely not a mainstream kinda film, but techno-movie-geeks should all love it.
I also saw "Stage Beauty." This film was marketed badly. Based on the trailers I had seen, I went in expecting a comedy, and although it had it's funny moments, it was most definitely not what I would consider to be a comedy. Basically it's the story of an actor who has made a career out of playing women on the stage. His world is threatened when a young woman decides she wants to become an actress (which was against the law at the time) and starts getting the roles that previously would have ben his. Sounds potentially like a comedy, yes? Well, not so much... Even so, I really, really liked the movie. I'm not a big Claire Daines fan, but she did a decent job here. She wasn't great, but she was not nearly as annoying as she normally is. Billy Crudup on the other hand was outstanding. He is always pretty to look at, but he's a great actor as well. The rest of the supporting cast (in particular, Ben Chaplin) is very strong, but this is totally Billy's movie. It would not have worked without him. It is a period piece so if you're not into those kinds of films, then this might not be the movie for you. However, anyone who appreciates the inner workings and history of the theatre should love this film.... and of course all the Crudup fans out there :)
"The Incredibles" opens on Friday. It's going to rock! I can't wait!
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