It's been a couple months, hasn't it? Whoops. My parents suckered me into helping them clean all the damn leaves off their lawn. After some hard eye rolling, I agreed. It's not like I can say no. Well when you are essentially walking around a yard for three hours, your mind wanders and you think about a lot of things. So I thought it would be a good chance to make another post before the year is out. I'm sure all three of you were wondering where I had gone off to.
2012: The Year of Me
Once again we are rapidly coming down the home stretch to a fresh new year. I'd probably have to say that 2012 hasn't been a terribly thrilling year, but it was definitely a good one for me. Well that's not true (not being thrilling part)... I have been enjoying myself since the summer ended. I'll get to that.
For the better part of the year I was finishing school. With school done, my job has pretty much taken a front seat. In turn, responsibilities and opportunities just continue to grow at work. Professionally, it is extremely satisfying. It's hard to believe that is has already been about 2 1/2 years since I stopped waiting tables. Towards to the end of my serving career, I really fucking hated waiting tables and was freaking out because I was still doing it. So it really is rewarding to have that behind me and be where I am now. I really do have a lot to be thankful for.
Basically when I finished school (end of August) is when my year began. Work, School, sleep wasn't my schedule any longer. I've been able to travel, see friends and just enjoy myself with my new found free time. With more time for myself, I have been able to start working out again. Getting healthy and feeling good about yourself and your body has to be one of the top rewarding feelings in life. Getting on the scale and not have springs burst out of it, clothes fit again, surpassing previous workout struggles... they all just give you more drive and dedication.
One of the workout routines I have been doing is yoga. I did a little bit in the past and it was incredibly awkward. But like any new thing, stick with it and it starts to become easier. This time around I have been doing it a lot more. It is weird to say that I practice yoga. Let's get something straight, though. Me saying that I practice yoga is like an infant saying they can read, write and do arithmetic. It's seriously hard as balls. Not being flexible does not help. Once you get over the fact that you look like a fucking total moron trying to do these moves and remind yourself that no one else is around, you push on. Eventually you are able to hold these poses for 7 seconds instead one 1.5. I've noticed increased flexibility and development and in turn it benefits all your other workouts. I try to recommend it but yoga gets a lot of push back from guys. Understandably so, but some people act as if it questions their masculinity because they would even considering doing such an exercise. Think outside the box from time to time. There is no other workout that I've done so far where I am holding a position, not moving and profusely sweating. It's great.
What's the next big thing? Pay off student loan debt? Travel far away? Move out of the area? I don't know. That's what's great about it... Not knowing and trying to figure it out.
So a degree, a job that will help me open many doors in the future and working towards good health? I really can't complain. 2012 has been good to me.
Shenandoah
I really don't do this enough and I should. Besides a nice little kick in the pants of a workout, it's fun and offers a gorgeous view.
High School Reunion
Officially, the tens years since high school mark was in June. I've had some time for my mind to heal itself from being blown that it has been ten years and I'm almost 30. Jesus, just saying (typing) that gives me the chills... 30.
We had a high school reunion in the summer and it was complete and utter dog shit. So people were good enough to redo it again. It really was a good time. I got to see the usual great friends, friends I hadn't seen in a long time and meet brand new ones. It's always amazing, interesting, scary, sad, great, etc, how people's paths crisscross with yours. You just always wonder how long it will be for.
A Year in Review
If I don't become lazy again before the year ends, I want to do a little year in review. Things that stood out to me this year. I'll probably mainly mention movies that stood out to me this year. I'll see ya when I see ya.
Waiting tables for so many years really wasn't all bad. I took a lot away from it. I learned a SHITLOAD of social skills. You learn how to remain calm under pressure... aka someone screaming at you because they hate their life so they take it out on you. I fucking hate people. I've dealt with a spectrum of personalities. Besides translating those skills into dealing with a customer in business situations, I've met a lot of people. I've met tons of pieces of shit that are humans beings. More importantly, I've met a lot of great people that I remain friends with to this day. You can not speak to them for months, sometimes years at a time. When you speak again it's like you never stopped. Fortunately for me, those friends I've stayed in touch with for so many years were so kind as to move to different parts of the country. Nice parts of the country...
San Diego
I stayed with a couple in San Diego who I hadn't seen in 6ish years. The last time I saw them I left my fleece in their trunk. I came back from San Diego with it. It's like I got a new coat again. They are great people and it was so good to see them again. This was the second time I had been to San Diego. Unsurprisingly I fell in love with that place again. I did feel bad for them though because when I arrived they were coming down from a heat wave. San Diego never has heat waves. So here we can bitch about how hot it is and then go hide in our ice box houses. Them... not so much. Majority of San Diego does not have AC. They don't need it. I was also able to meet up with a random Changer (old PF Chang's coworker) which was pretty awesome. All around a damn good time. San Diego is beautiful so you can never not have something to take a picture of. The combination of a beautiful location and hanging out with old friends is so sweet. There is nothing sweeter. On top of that you get to meet awesome new people so the six degrees of Kevin Bacon can continue to spider web.
Then a cloud that's probably taller than any building ever made. Always love theses. I end up playing the "make the cloud into a shape" game. Shut up, I'm 12.
New York
Again, I was able to spend time with another group of awesome, awesome friends. I have a good amount of friends in NY so it always turns out to be a blast when I can get a whole group together. There is reason why NY is one of the most popular/famous cities in the world. Culture, people, food, etc... the list really could go on forever. From the history to the beautiful skylines to the food and the people, you can easily say that you could never do every single thing NY has to offer. I have taken a real shinning to Brooklyn. Naturally, I'm sure each borough could say why the one they live in is the best. Now that I'm done with school, there is no real excuse why I can't be there up there more often. For less than $40 I can take the bus and be there in four hours. Knowing such great people who would gladly house me for a couple days is just the icing on the cake. A city like NY with good people just made my weekend. I had a really good time.
Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles' new CD comes out next month. A couple weeks ago when I saw they were playing at the 930 club, I jumped at the chance to see them. It was sold out but I quickly found some tickets on craigslist. I hadn't ever seen them in concert nor had I been to 930 club before. It was a nice little double whammy. Here are two tracks from their new CD...
Here is a clip from their show...
The video upload feature Blogger has is fucking terrible.
It's Halloween season and I am week behind. Doing some horror movie showings this weekend. I haven't done a legit movie night in several years. Here was the last time...
Cheesy yet awesome
The Loves Ones (97%) - I haven't seen this yet. Probably can't go wrong with a horror movie that is a 97.
House of the Devil (86%) - Easily the scariest movie I have seen in a very long time. Fantastic, fantastic film.
In Bond news...
I am getting more and more excited for the new Bond movie. Daniel Craig has signed on for two more Bond films after this one. I'm not complaining. He is faaar better than Pierce Brosnan. Let's not get it twisted... George Lazenby is the best, oh yea and then Sean Connery. Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go) is directing it. I am a little sad though that David Arnold isn't composing it. He has done the last five Bond films. Thomas Newman is doing it instead, which is actually probably the better option. He is one of the great composers out there. Let's not forget about John Barry. He made the Bond sound what it is today. Everything he has done is GREAT.
What has gotten me really excited for Skyfall is Adele's song for the movie. I know of her but I don't really know her music. All I know is that she makes what a Bond song should be.
Other Bond songs that I think are the best...
goldfinger
thunderball
you only live twice
on her majesty's secret service
diamonds are forever
the world is not enough
That's not to say that the ones I didn't list are bad by any means. After putting this list together I REALLY want to watch all these movies now. I saved the best of all of the Bond songs for last. This song kills me. It is the most beautiful and most badass of all of them.
The problem with keeping up with your own blog that you don't get paid to do it. So there usually isn't a huge incentive to post every day. Well here I am again. It's been a little while since I've posted. It's kinda weird not to be going back to school at the start of this semester. I feel like I'll officially been done when I have my super expensive piece of paper that says I have an education.
This video is pretty good. I always say how it feels like yesterday that I would come home from elementary school, toss my backpack into the house and run outside to play. The kid in this video is lucky.
Work is pretty good. Basically where I am at right now, I am eager to get work experience and a fuckton of training. Pretty excited at my potential prospects. I guess the goal for the near to distant future is to (most import) have fun, travel as much as I can, work, try to put a huge dent into my student loans...then eventually move somewhere? I dunno. Gotta put in a couple years of work before I make that next step.
Blog writing playlist:
Crystal Castles
Band of Horses
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Passacaglia
Twin Shadows
XX
Passion Pit
Com Truise
...and Onra!
Oh shit, I just remembered about Onra. Naturally, my friend from Brooklyn told me about him. They are all so hip there. One of my random genres of music I really like is Trip-Hop. It really is a fucking stupid name for a genre. I always feel a little silly trying to explain it. It's a (wiki->) "genre consisting of downtempo electronic music." Probably not everyone's cup of tea. Well anyway... Onra's sound kind of falls into this category... sorta? I'm terrible at trying to properly categorize certain types of music into random genres. He is a French hip hop beat maker from Paris. Interestingly enough, he was born in Germany, from French parents, but his dad has Vietnamese decent. He has a hip hoppy, jazzy, Japanese kind of sound. Link to playlist below if this is your kind of jam.
I have some upcoming trips to San Diego and New York, which I am really looking forward to. It's been a good seven years since I've been to the West Coast. I always try to do my annual visit NY. It's always a blast because I stay with really great people. I've been sold on Brooklyn. It is fantastic.
This shirt just came in today. I will be sporting this attire with pride while I visit. You don't have to get the reference. Just know that "I Snake Plissken NY".
As I was putting together the posters for these TV shows, I was surprised with how many shows I actively watch. I find it interesting considering three or four years ago I rarely watched any TV shows that wasn't on HBO. It's good to say there is some actual GOOD TV shows out there outside of HBO. Luckily it doesn't seem so bad since they are spread throughout the year. As contradictory as this sounds, I don't watch TV. I only start to watch a show via word of mouth. I hate watching regular TV. There is a TON of shit on TV. A ton. I'm a snob about the movies I watch, so why wouldn't that also apply to the TV I watch. So once you have other people sift through it for you, you can watch it too. I DVR everything. If none of the shows I mention below are on, I'm watching a movie or searching through HBO's 85 different channels. Casual TV watching for me is seeing what is on HBO. When it comes down to it, HBO and AMC (The HBO of regular TV) have all the good TV shows on. Granted, there are other shows out there that have been recommended to me that I mean to watch. These are just the main shows (in no particular order) that are on my TV radar...
When I said in no particular order, I meant it EXCEPT for Game of Thrones. This has to be first. I have truly and utterly immersed myself into the world that is Game of Thrones. The show is EASILY the best thing HBO has ever done. Well maybe except for Band of Brothers. That's different. I started the books during the second season. I just finished the fourth book yesterday. The third season starts in May. Speaking interchangeably between the books and the show, the production value, story, plot, characters, world, acting etc., just offers you a rich, top notch experience. No other show comes close to it. I'm obsessed.
American Horror Story is good in an FX train wreck kind of way. It's the bottom of the barrel of my shows. In FX tradition, they get as risque as they can get. The show is by no means good but can be pretty creepy at the same time. The last season started off good because it ripped off every horror movie ever made, then kinda didn't know where to go... then ended. The promos for the second season looks creepy too. It shouldn't be that hard to outdo the first season.
This show is by no means anywhere near as good as the comic, naturally. As a whole, the show is pretty good. Not amazing and not terrible by any means but pretty good.
I'm weird when it comes to comedy. Modern Family is one of the few shows where I've had some good gut-busting moments. The the last season was OK-ish. The series overall is a very, very funny show. I like its mokumentary style of comedy.
Breaking Bad is definitely one of my favorites on TV. Every season gets better and better. I love the way it is shot. Besides the basics of what makes a show a good show, it always has very different color tones, beautiful way of shooting the scenes and a cool soundtrack. Unfortunately, it's on its last season. It just went into a mid-season break. It will be back next summer.
I really like the writer of The Newsroom. Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The American President, The Social Network, Moneyball) is fantastic. It has been argued that Sorkin has regurgitated his shows of the past into The Newsroom. Luckily for me I haven't seen any of his old shows, so I get to play the ignorant card. It's a very well done political drama that throws in a good amount of love drama. It swings to the left so some or all conservatives wouldn't be a huge fan.
Oh and God damn. I finally found out who Olivia Munn was. She is stunning. Girls that wear the hipster black rim glasses fucking KILL me. Love it.
Eh... after this past season Dexter has become my second to last bottom of the barrel show. The past season or so have really not been that good. It just seems so redundant and formulaic at this point. It just seems like they don't really know where to go. It needs to end. He also needs to stop talking about his fucking dark passenger all the time.
Community has definitely gone down a rough road. They've almost been cancelled and they lost the creator, Dan Harmon, at the end of the last season. The new season starts next month and I'm curious to see where it goes. The season premiere is Hunger Games parody. That seems like a good start. Community is one of my favorite comedies out there because it appeals to a very small percentage of viewers. It has a ton of nerdy pop culture references that make it hilarious. Unfortunately, only appealing to a small percentage of viewers is what has threatened its future.
It's been a while since I've publicly stated this, but I have a HUGE crush on Alison Brie. Is there anything hotter than the girl next door look?
Boardwalk Empire is basically The Sopranos during the rise of Atlantic City during the 1920's. It is a great period piece show. I mean it's an HBO show. It's fantastic. Steve Buscemi and his supporting cast knock it out of the park. The third season just started. It is good to have it back.
I should have put Downton Abbey after Game of Thrones. I had been hearing about this show for a while and finally got around to watching it earlier this summer. I power watched through the first two seasons and the awesome Christmas special they had. Only after watching the first episode did the show seriously knock my socks off. It took one damn episode to sell me. This is a bloody masterpiece. I am not exaggerating. The show is a phenomenal piece of work. It is my second favorite show. This is a bad description of the show but it is a very, very well done soap opera. It is also a period piece that takes place in the 1920's in England. The soundtrack is on point. It is amazing on every level. WATCH. The third season just started and I caught the first episode today. I laughed, I cheered, I cried and I loved it. I would expect nothing less from something of its outstanding caliber.
Next to Breaking Bad, Mad Men is AMCs best show; as well as the two best shows on regular TV. Downton Abbey doesn't count because it isn't a U.S. show. This is another show that continues to get better and better with each season. Mad Men follows an Ad agency during the golden age of advertising during the 1960's. The funny thing about Mad Men is that there is not a whole lot that goes on in terms of action or suspense. It is very dialogue driven, I feel. It is very clever in the fact that there is a lot of not so subtle undertones. There is always more that is going on than there is actually going on... if that makes sense. Scenes are generally very colorful and very symmetrical. Mad Men is one of my top shows. I recommend it to all.
Ok, so I don't really have a good excuse for this one. What can I say? I'm a fucking dork. When Disney runs their stats on what age demographic watches this show, I am going to be the outlier. I really liked Tron: Legacy and absolutely loved the Daft Punk soundtrack. This pretty much picks up right after the movie. It's got a cool poor mans Daft Punk sound and it has cool Tron action. It is basically like Batman Beyond but in Tron form... AKA a young kid assumes the role as the new Tron. The cast is fairly decent too: Elijah Wood, Bruce Boxleitner (guy who plays Tron in the movies), Emmanuelle Chriqui (girl who plays E's girl in Entourage), Lance Henriksen (Bishop in Aliens), Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) and Mandy Moore.
The [REC] Trilogy is about a zombie outbreak that occurs in Spain. The first two (2007, 2008) are directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The third (2012) is only done by Paco Plaza. The first two are good and scary horror films, with a whopping 96% and 69%. The style of filming is the "found footage, shaky-cam, only cameras are the ones the characters happen to be using at the time." Fortunately for them, that style was just starting to become popular and had not yet been totally beaten to death. There was a shoddy American remake that I won’t even bother mentioning. I HIGHLY recommend checking them out if you are looking for a good scare.
96%
69%
33%
To try to somewhat defend this movie, it only has 6 ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. That's not to say that more critic reviews wouldn't just lower the average.
I purposely talked about how great the first two movies are on purpose. Just to be clear, we are now talking about how smart the stupidest kid in the class is. [REC]3 has fallen into the genre of terri-great. It is so terrible it is great. Maybe Jaume Balagueró was keeping this ship afloat, because Paco Plaza made a completely different movie; a horror movie with very few scares that was a fun, tongue-in-cheek, comedic, gorefest. It is 80 minutes long. The movie starts off with the traditional feel of the first two and about halfway through, it turns fantastically sour.
The movie quickly turns into a gory shockfest while laughing your ass off at what is happening to these characters. It has its moment but all in all it is just terrible and fun to watch. I haven't enjoyed something this terri-great since Piranha 3D. Something you must watch with a group of friends.
It becomes quite fun when she becomes the Milla Jovovich of the Resident Evil movies and starts to kick zombie ass.
