the führer

i’m really considering not walking for graduation. why does it matter? i think it’s important in high school to do it because you, or at least i, have such a stronger connection to high school and friends and teachers. here i have no friends, few teachers i care about, and just can’t wait to leave. kim’s family will be coming out and probably are expecting that i walk. i don’t know. it’s just not that big a thing to me right now.

Alexander (2004): lots and lots of talking. we’ve seen the story way too much: that of the glory of war, pride, betrayal, and wicked women. the only twist on this story was that half the guys were homosexual. special effects were nothing great. the battle scenes were just the normal close up and quick cutting shots or cgi shots that were a plane’s eye view of thousands of ant sized macedonians. the impressive shots of ancient cities that we were in awe of in movies like gladiator and lotr were few in alexander. i only remember one brief shot of babylon which looked pretty accurate, but was so quick that it is easily forgotten. the acting is decent, but the story just isn’t that good because like i said, it’s all been done before. the final battle somewhere in india was amazing. besides that it’s just mediocre. there are too many characters and names of people and gods to remember. the end is sir hopkins blabbing on like an old fool. don’t see unless you are just dying to see colin farrell's balls.

Downfall (2005): this is a german movie about hitler’s finals days through the eyes of his secretary. the guy who played hitler is incredible. you really see the love that people had for this man. there are so many people in his circle, that it’s a little hard to follow. some of the people like himmler and goring are pretty well known, but a lot of others which might be common knowledge to german school children, aren’t so much to us uneducated folk in the u.s. most of the movie is set in the bunker that hilter remained in until the end and it gives an eerie feel throughout. there isn’t too much action, but it’s great for any history or wwii buff. i guess you could say the story centers around hitler, but there are so many characters and little real intimate moments with hitler, that it feels like there are no real main characters that we are viewing. the story doesn’t end up being about hitler, but berlin falling to the soviets. it’s just a long waiting game for the inevitable, with a million little details about a million different people. you do get some incite into hilter and the world of nazi germany. those years of the war are so unique in world history, that in a demented way, i envy those who were able to live and die during those times. the movie also got me thinking more and more about jews and their role in the past hundred years worth of major conflicts. with talk coming from president ahmadinejad about the myth of the holocaust it makes one realize how many people have hated jews throughout history. israel being our ally, i bet many think that they are generally the innocent victims in the world. i’m gonna check on this though and see for myself just how innocent they really are. as far as the movie, see it if you find wwii as interesting as i do, which is probably none of you.

there are so many athletes from other counties who speak english. i wonder how it is that so many people from europe are bilingual? is it from what they learn in school? you get any foreign press trying to talk to a u.s. athlete in any language and i'm sure they'd have no clue what language they were even speaking to them. the u.s. is crappy i think when it comes to teaching foreign languages in schools. i think we are required in high school to take two years, but that doesn’t do crap for us to actually learn.

someone left a comment on february 10 saying that “you’re wrong.” i’m constantly wrong but i was just curious what i was wrong about this time. please specify. also i got this crazy email from an unknown sender, which i didn’t even know could be done. the email had no subject and simply read, “Hello, beauty.” so come on ryan, fess up. just kidding. i actually have no clue who sent it or how they did it.