casa de bryant
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
the adult
tomorrow morning i graduate from college. today i had to pick up my grad stuff and go to a rehearsal thing. kim's fam is in town so it's been good seeing them, but i hate all the attention. naturally i try and be humble and recognition usually just embarrasses me or i have like feelings inside that just say that i'm actually inadequate and not really deserving of praise. i have a hard time even when kim says thank you for random crap i've done. doesn't mean i don't enjoy recognition some of the time. it's complicated. i didn't send out announcements, but i suppose i should send out a friendly email to friends and family out of respect to them. my mom will be there, emily has to work, the usual grovers, the usual wife, and possibly her aunt cindy. lia brought up a really good point today, saying that it must be really strange and difficult right now graduating from college and not having a strong idea about what is lying ahead. she's right as usual. i know what i want to do, i just don't know how possible it is. there are five law schools that i'm waiting on for decisions. five cities around the country that i might live in before the pools close for labor day. there is a lot of pressure on me coming from so many different directions. it sucks that we have to go through this crap. so many are at this strange turning point in life. folks are graduating, getting hitched, and procreating. one or two new years ago it all become so real.
you know what else is real? freaking armageddon is real. this world is going to hell. i figure that at the current rate we are headed, we will see a major world collapse in my lifetime. could come from the oil headache, having to do with good old prices, supply, and demand. gas and flying in planes will become a luxury. many economies of western and middle-eastern countries will collapse. this will further divide the rich from the middle-class and poor. many will die. next will be the avian flu. this will certainly an asterisk next to that years world census report when a chunk of the population dies. after a vaccine is created, for some reason the poor in third world countries don't seem to be getting theirs. the vaccine got caught up in bureaucracy and they all die. this all culminates to the main event of nuclear war. the order of the strikes and counterstrikes will be iran, u.s., china, and the u.k. and israel at the same time. france will stay out of it. and we'll all die. let's just hope that the bad korea doesn't have them by then, otherwise i don't think the brits or jews will get a chance to have their say in the matter. what's more likely is that the media is just doing a good job feeding us the fear.
tonight was the drum corp thing around the country at movie theaters. i know i made a strong push for it a few weeks ago, but i decided not to go because it said it was 180 minutes long. too long for my attention span that's for sure. i'm down with spending three hours watching the real thing in a stadium, but three hours on a screen is a little much. i'd still be there now if we had gone. i'm sure they will do it next year.
and a big thank you to big gay adam in fresno for saying on myspace the dumbest thing i've heard in weeks: "Why should I support this equality movement when I don't even have equal rights myself?" where are you living man? who thinks like this? there is some context behind this that lessens how dumb that sentence is, but still. it's a stupid sentence and a stupid idea. gracias adam.
you know what else is real? freaking armageddon is real. this world is going to hell. i figure that at the current rate we are headed, we will see a major world collapse in my lifetime. could come from the oil headache, having to do with good old prices, supply, and demand. gas and flying in planes will become a luxury. many economies of western and middle-eastern countries will collapse. this will further divide the rich from the middle-class and poor. many will die. next will be the avian flu. this will certainly an asterisk next to that years world census report when a chunk of the population dies. after a vaccine is created, for some reason the poor in third world countries don't seem to be getting theirs. the vaccine got caught up in bureaucracy and they all die. this all culminates to the main event of nuclear war. the order of the strikes and counterstrikes will be iran, u.s., china, and the u.k. and israel at the same time. france will stay out of it. and we'll all die. let's just hope that the bad korea doesn't have them by then, otherwise i don't think the brits or jews will get a chance to have their say in the matter. what's more likely is that the media is just doing a good job feeding us the fear.
tonight was the drum corp thing around the country at movie theaters. i know i made a strong push for it a few weeks ago, but i decided not to go because it said it was 180 minutes long. too long for my attention span that's for sure. i'm down with spending three hours watching the real thing in a stadium, but three hours on a screen is a little much. i'd still be there now if we had gone. i'm sure they will do it next year.
and a big thank you to big gay adam in fresno for saying on myspace the dumbest thing i've heard in weeks: "Why should I support this equality movement when I don't even have equal rights myself?" where are you living man? who thinks like this? there is some context behind this that lessens how dumb that sentence is, but still. it's a stupid sentence and a stupid idea. gracias adam.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
the debate: part iv
Brak: well i finally get around to respond. i enclose another article which i think is great and again i agree with. http://www.nationalreview.com/script/printpage.pref=/mccarthy/mccarthy200604170640.asp
I do feel that Bush's biggest mistake is not selling this war. People need to know better the importance of this war and he must not only respond to the critics but make them respond to him. As for the article, i think it illustrates well why we chose iraq. I konw you're going to say, where is the proof of all of these claims and I haven't checked all the sources he states, however, i respond likewise to all the claims given by the critics of the war. Where is their proof. As time goes on, the proof indeed looks stronger that Bush was right. Perfect example is that of France. Kerry and others can't get over the whole, diplomacy blah, blah. I agree with diplomacy if it is going to work, however, would france ever backed what would be necessary to deal with Saddam? NO!!! they were banking on the Oil for Food scam and we had no idea. That goes for other countries also. As for the question of Iran. Well, indeed we haven't attacked, yet. Bush has called for diplomacy and hoped the Iranians would rise up against their government. He made these choices and comments partly, I believe becuase of the current political enviroment. With so many critics who want nothing more than to see Bush fails, he knows he can't get the support necessary for another invasion. As he said today, "all options are still on the table." My perspective of Iran is this: I think that the world community will, as usual shrug away from the fight. Everyone is concerned but most lack the balls. Sanctions won't happen because what would that do? The only thing the Iranians export is oil, being the 2nd largest exporter of oil, and if you put sanctions on oil, prices would triple. This would only hurt the world. So sanctions won't happen. Let's face the fact however that Iran doesn't want nuclear power for any other reason than weapons, (I really hope you can agree to that, otherwise you are way further left than I ever imagined) If they get nuclear power, we're in trouble, not to mention Isreal. The Iranians aren't going to bargain and it may just come to military intervention. I hope it doesn't becuase I imagine that war would indeed be much worse than the current war we're in. Having said that, if the time comes to drop a bomb on Iran, I fully support it. Diplomacy isn't going to work and if we wait too long we lose the first punch advantage. We must wait as long as possible but a pre emptive strike just might come. As for the censure thing, I can't think of anything stupider and more politically motivated. It only goes to prove that all that Democrats are concerned with is playing politics. It backfired on Feingold big time, becuase it was a stupid idea. Bush has done nothing wrong!!! He hasn't lied. He hasn't trampled civil liberties. He is a president at war. He acted upon the intelligence he had and he has followed the advice to "connect the dots" by doing all he can to protect Americans, including wiretaps on certain calls. As for the stockpiles of weapons, there is indeed proof about that. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/29/iraq9575.htm ( I realize that this article points out another stategic error which is true, we should have protected these stockpiles, a strategic error still doesn't justify a censureship.) http://www.nysun.com/article/26514. As for the name thing, still nothing has come to us.
A Sound of Thunder (2005): watching this you'd think that it is a low budget sci-fi movie, but i just read that they spent a lot of movie to make it. if that's the case then this movie is one of the worst special effects movies ever and should not be seen. however, i watched it thinking it was low budget. after a while, instead of seeing just crappy effects, i began to see them as a technique to stylize the movie. whether they intended to or not, the movie looks very much like anime. it’s a very good story and has very good ideas about the way time works and traveling through time. it is somewhat along the lines of my own ideas on time, which were ripped off from me by that bastard steven hawking. but that’s for another time. the movie is basically about these tourists go back in time, do something that we don't know about, which causes the future to change and catch up with itself in ripples every few hours or so. the characters build up the suspense for the last time ripple which should bring in the new species of humans that should be enough to kill them all. so the audience waits the entire movie to catch a glimpse of what these evolved humans will be like, and when they show it, i was pretty caught off guard, making it rather comical. pre-evolved humans that came through the previous ripples were basically eight foot tall primates mixed with raptors. i was expecting more along those lines. instead, well, you’ll have to see it. sorry. it is a little unbelievable the way that time actually gets altered in the first place, or, what the tourist did to change all of time. i would have liked to see them explain that a little better. there were a few other plot holes here and there like that. nothing too distracting though. probably not a lot of sci-fi fans out there and even less that go for crappy special effects, so no one will want to see it. it’s interesting though. i think it is worth seeing because it’s so different from the usual movies we all see and movies are a delight. see it.
I do feel that Bush's biggest mistake is not selling this war. People need to know better the importance of this war and he must not only respond to the critics but make them respond to him. As for the article, i think it illustrates well why we chose iraq. I konw you're going to say, where is the proof of all of these claims and I haven't checked all the sources he states, however, i respond likewise to all the claims given by the critics of the war. Where is their proof. As time goes on, the proof indeed looks stronger that Bush was right. Perfect example is that of France. Kerry and others can't get over the whole, diplomacy blah, blah. I agree with diplomacy if it is going to work, however, would france ever backed what would be necessary to deal with Saddam? NO!!! they were banking on the Oil for Food scam and we had no idea. That goes for other countries also. As for the question of Iran. Well, indeed we haven't attacked, yet. Bush has called for diplomacy and hoped the Iranians would rise up against their government. He made these choices and comments partly, I believe becuase of the current political enviroment. With so many critics who want nothing more than to see Bush fails, he knows he can't get the support necessary for another invasion. As he said today, "all options are still on the table." My perspective of Iran is this: I think that the world community will, as usual shrug away from the fight. Everyone is concerned but most lack the balls. Sanctions won't happen because what would that do? The only thing the Iranians export is oil, being the 2nd largest exporter of oil, and if you put sanctions on oil, prices would triple. This would only hurt the world. So sanctions won't happen. Let's face the fact however that Iran doesn't want nuclear power for any other reason than weapons, (I really hope you can agree to that, otherwise you are way further left than I ever imagined) If they get nuclear power, we're in trouble, not to mention Isreal. The Iranians aren't going to bargain and it may just come to military intervention. I hope it doesn't becuase I imagine that war would indeed be much worse than the current war we're in. Having said that, if the time comes to drop a bomb on Iran, I fully support it. Diplomacy isn't going to work and if we wait too long we lose the first punch advantage. We must wait as long as possible but a pre emptive strike just might come. As for the censure thing, I can't think of anything stupider and more politically motivated. It only goes to prove that all that Democrats are concerned with is playing politics. It backfired on Feingold big time, becuase it was a stupid idea. Bush has done nothing wrong!!! He hasn't lied. He hasn't trampled civil liberties. He is a president at war. He acted upon the intelligence he had and he has followed the advice to "connect the dots" by doing all he can to protect Americans, including wiretaps on certain calls. As for the stockpiles of weapons, there is indeed proof about that. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/29/iraq9575.htm ( I realize that this article points out another stategic error which is true, we should have protected these stockpiles, a strategic error still doesn't justify a censureship.) http://www.nysun.com/article/26514. As for the name thing, still nothing has come to us.
A Sound of Thunder (2005): watching this you'd think that it is a low budget sci-fi movie, but i just read that they spent a lot of movie to make it. if that's the case then this movie is one of the worst special effects movies ever and should not be seen. however, i watched it thinking it was low budget. after a while, instead of seeing just crappy effects, i began to see them as a technique to stylize the movie. whether they intended to or not, the movie looks very much like anime. it’s a very good story and has very good ideas about the way time works and traveling through time. it is somewhat along the lines of my own ideas on time, which were ripped off from me by that bastard steven hawking. but that’s for another time. the movie is basically about these tourists go back in time, do something that we don't know about, which causes the future to change and catch up with itself in ripples every few hours or so. the characters build up the suspense for the last time ripple which should bring in the new species of humans that should be enough to kill them all. so the audience waits the entire movie to catch a glimpse of what these evolved humans will be like, and when they show it, i was pretty caught off guard, making it rather comical. pre-evolved humans that came through the previous ripples were basically eight foot tall primates mixed with raptors. i was expecting more along those lines. instead, well, you’ll have to see it. sorry. it is a little unbelievable the way that time actually gets altered in the first place, or, what the tourist did to change all of time. i would have liked to see them explain that a little better. there were a few other plot holes here and there like that. nothing too distracting though. probably not a lot of sci-fi fans out there and even less that go for crappy special effects, so no one will want to see it. it’s interesting though. i think it is worth seeing because it’s so different from the usual movies we all see and movies are a delight. see it.
Monday, April 24, 2006
the failure
so i graduate this week. i had a final tonight in one class and my witch of a teacher in the other class wanted me to be there for her class during my final. she completely arranged it with the other teach that i could take the final early in one class and still show up for her class. she wanted me there for some chick to give her presentation and it turned out the girl didn't even show. this teacher's class is jacked. i probably don’t know anyone that i’m graduating with. a few people here and there might be at a point where a head nod would be appropriate to signify that we’ve had three classes together, but have actually talked to each other less than janice and i during the week we were together in tenth grade. there have been pretty memorable teachers that i’ve had the pleasure of taking my school. i’ll spare the one-liners i have for each professor. some were the typical mormon conservative professors you’d expect here. but i had some too, that were as liberal as you'd ever meet in a lifetime. and most of them were mormon too. i’ve grown very passionate about the majors i’ve chosen to study, but there better be a payoff to them. criminal justice and paralegal studies. they are kind of blah majors. they have been a part of me for over three years now, but i just feel like, “eh” (shrugs shoulders). i just want to get it done with so i can cut this hair.
today cu’s decision came. i didn’t get in, so i guess that’s that. sorry guys.
on a brighter note, it turns out that i'm a demomcrat.
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005): i really think this would have been a bigger hit with the critics if none of fiddy's story was already publicly known. the story would have been more interesting had it been based on some nobody. the film is really good though. for someone who is portrayed in the movie as shy and who blushes easily, he didn't have a hard time praising himself so much in the movie. there are tons of cheesy moments where they really over dramatize events of 'young caesar's' life. take fiddy out of the picture and it's a great story. kind of like a modern day godfather 1 and 2. there are huge themes in this movie that basically say violence isn't so bad and is just part of society, also themes in the godfather movies. i haven’t seen 8 mile so i can’t compare this with that. fiddy did a decent job for his debut performance. if he had been a nobody, i bet his role would have gotten him at least a golden globe nomination. i probably enjoyed this movie more since i’m basically playing his role in grand theft auto every day. if you want to know what san andreas is like, then see the movie; and vice versa. the film is not terrible, but it's far from being amazing. and because this isn't a type of film that a good chunk of the population would want to see, i'll have to recommend not seeing it (east coast/dirty south excluded). sorry fiddy.
today cu’s decision came. i didn’t get in, so i guess that’s that. sorry guys.
on a brighter note, it turns out that i'm a demomcrat.
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005): i really think this would have been a bigger hit with the critics if none of fiddy's story was already publicly known. the story would have been more interesting had it been based on some nobody. the film is really good though. for someone who is portrayed in the movie as shy and who blushes easily, he didn't have a hard time praising himself so much in the movie. there are tons of cheesy moments where they really over dramatize events of 'young caesar's' life. take fiddy out of the picture and it's a great story. kind of like a modern day godfather 1 and 2. there are huge themes in this movie that basically say violence isn't so bad and is just part of society, also themes in the godfather movies. i haven’t seen 8 mile so i can’t compare this with that. fiddy did a decent job for his debut performance. if he had been a nobody, i bet his role would have gotten him at least a golden globe nomination. i probably enjoyed this movie more since i’m basically playing his role in grand theft auto every day. if you want to know what san andreas is like, then see the movie; and vice versa. the film is not terrible, but it's far from being amazing. and because this isn't a type of film that a good chunk of the population would want to see, i'll have to recommend not seeing it (east coast/dirty south excluded). sorry fiddy.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
the debate: part iii
Ethan: i haven't read your response yet, but i will soon. just wanted to drop a note and say that the news was just saying that newt gingridge (sp.) is now saying we need to pull most of the troops out of iraq now and just leave a smaller force. what does that tell you?
Ethan: also, bush said that he hopes the iranian people can find a way to overthrow their government. why didn't he say the same thing about the iraqis then? you don't see us using force against iran, and they are on their way to actually making nukes. what made iraq so different then than iran today?
Ethan: i didn't mean to minimize the efforts and impact the u.s. had in winning wwii. i only meant to point to the fact that the author was minimizing the efforts and impact that other nations had on the outcome. your #2 was a pretty good counterpoint, although i am being lazy and not going back to review what i had originally wrote. so why, out of all the dictators in the world, did we choose saddam to take over? the terrorist on every one's mind at the time we started to really pick a fight with saddam, was osama. why didn't we increase efforts in that battle instead? Does it sound like a serious threat to you that i can think of half a dozen other dictators or leaders in the world that "would have jumped to endorse anything that would cripple the u.s."? when do we begin the attack on them? and let's just say that maybe the end will in fact outweigh the means and reasons for going in the first place. i still believe bush made a mistake, and letting him off without as least censure? think about that. you totally screw up, but hey, we forgive you because everything's great now. i'm not sure why you said that about afghanistan because i never implied that they were still doing bad today did i? as far as weapons go, you talk about how important the reason is for an america-hating dictator having a ton of weapons. but i've never seen any evidence that saddam, his crony's, or the common citizens of iraq was stockpiling weapons for an attack on the u.s. in any way. your final argument is a pretty obvious statement. i think everyone can agree that terrorism and a middle-east run by terrorists are a bad thing. so have you seriously decided on a name for the baby yet? or have you at least decided on the baby's middle letter?
remember those saturday morning cartoon commercial things that would say, "after these messages, we'll be right back"? i think they had a lot that were clay-mation or whatever. i'm sure they still have some today but they are probably jap anime. on kevin's blog he had some nifty survey-type thing. follow along.
go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle.
say the following questions aloud, and press play.
use the song title as the answer to the question.
NO CHEATING.
Friends With Money (2006): the acting was pretty well done and believable. and i can believe that jennifer aniston's character would sort of date scott caan's character who treats her terribly. and i can also believe that her character could end up with this other guy at the end whose closest comparison that i can think of is hurley from lost. but what i can't believe is that she could not find a guy to settle down with until her mid-thirties. it's freaking jennifer aniston. and the character she plays isn't a bad person. she smokes a little weed and is kind of poor. none of that is too bad. and other than that she is the same jennifer aniston character seen in every other movie of her's. it is part of the backbone of the movie that she has gone all these years and is a single old poor girl, but i just kept thinking that there's no way she'd be single today. other than that it was a good movie. there are lots of different couple relationships going on, which are all very interesting. it's a grown-up movie for sure. it was also a sundance film, which makes it cool of course. it's rated r but right after leaving the movie i couldn't think of a reason it should have been except maybe for 'adult situations.' also jen tokes up a bit. so don't shy away just because of the r rating. it's cute and worth seeing.
Ethan: also, bush said that he hopes the iranian people can find a way to overthrow their government. why didn't he say the same thing about the iraqis then? you don't see us using force against iran, and they are on their way to actually making nukes. what made iraq so different then than iran today?
Ethan: i didn't mean to minimize the efforts and impact the u.s. had in winning wwii. i only meant to point to the fact that the author was minimizing the efforts and impact that other nations had on the outcome. your #2 was a pretty good counterpoint, although i am being lazy and not going back to review what i had originally wrote. so why, out of all the dictators in the world, did we choose saddam to take over? the terrorist on every one's mind at the time we started to really pick a fight with saddam, was osama. why didn't we increase efforts in that battle instead? Does it sound like a serious threat to you that i can think of half a dozen other dictators or leaders in the world that "would have jumped to endorse anything that would cripple the u.s."? when do we begin the attack on them? and let's just say that maybe the end will in fact outweigh the means and reasons for going in the first place. i still believe bush made a mistake, and letting him off without as least censure? think about that. you totally screw up, but hey, we forgive you because everything's great now. i'm not sure why you said that about afghanistan because i never implied that they were still doing bad today did i? as far as weapons go, you talk about how important the reason is for an america-hating dictator having a ton of weapons. but i've never seen any evidence that saddam, his crony's, or the common citizens of iraq was stockpiling weapons for an attack on the u.s. in any way. your final argument is a pretty obvious statement. i think everyone can agree that terrorism and a middle-east run by terrorists are a bad thing. so have you seriously decided on a name for the baby yet? or have you at least decided on the baby's middle letter?
remember those saturday morning cartoon commercial things that would say, "after these messages, we'll be right back"? i think they had a lot that were clay-mation or whatever. i'm sure they still have some today but they are probably jap anime. on kevin's blog he had some nifty survey-type thing. follow along.
go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle.
say the following questions aloud, and press play.
use the song title as the answer to the question.
NO CHEATING.
1. How does the world see me?wow. yeah that's funny. and i didn't cheat either. gracias kevin.
close to me – the cure
2. Will I have a happy life?
king nothing – metallica
3. What do my friends really think of me?
random - 311
4. Do people secretly lust after me?
still waiting – sum 41
5. How can I make myself happy?
closedown – the cure
6. What should I do with my life?
just about done – blink 182
7. Will I ever have children?
toast and bananas – blink 182
8. What is some good advice for me?
japanese interview with rivers cuomo
9. How will I be remembered?
ironside – quincy jones
10. What is my signature dancing song?
frayed ends - midtown
11. What do I think my current theme song is?
strange attraction – the cure
12. What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
downtrodden song – dennis leary
13. What song will play at my funeral?
never say goodbye – the impossibles
14. What type of men/women do you like?
now the world - afi
15. What is my day going to be like?
new joint - =w=eezer
Friends With Money (2006): the acting was pretty well done and believable. and i can believe that jennifer aniston's character would sort of date scott caan's character who treats her terribly. and i can also believe that her character could end up with this other guy at the end whose closest comparison that i can think of is hurley from lost. but what i can't believe is that she could not find a guy to settle down with until her mid-thirties. it's freaking jennifer aniston. and the character she plays isn't a bad person. she smokes a little weed and is kind of poor. none of that is too bad. and other than that she is the same jennifer aniston character seen in every other movie of her's. it is part of the backbone of the movie that she has gone all these years and is a single old poor girl, but i just kept thinking that there's no way she'd be single today. other than that it was a good movie. there are lots of different couple relationships going on, which are all very interesting. it's a grown-up movie for sure. it was also a sundance film, which makes it cool of course. it's rated r but right after leaving the movie i couldn't think of a reason it should have been except maybe for 'adult situations.' also jen tokes up a bit. so don't shy away just because of the r rating. it's cute and worth seeing.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)