Monday, February 6, 2012

Random Thoughts: Building Better Blogs

Happy (month+ late) new year! Is "new year" supposed to be capitalized? I think it is, but I now disagree with that policy. And since this is my blog, my rules rule, unless you all hate them in which case I'm sorry and let's talk about it, OK? Moving on, it's randoming time (any Power Rangers fans? Not the new stuff, but the dino-zords and ninja-zords. Let's hang out and watch the movie. I still have it on VHS)!

—For the first time ever, I've watched some Clint Eastwood westerns. Namely, I've watched the Man with No Name Trilogy. I had no idea A Fistful of Dollars was a remake/adaptation/retelling of Akira Kurosawa's excellent Yojimbo. That said, I enjoyed For a Few Dollars More more, as it was fresher to my eyes. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was a little less excellent than the second entry to me. And maybe I'm an idiot, but it was confusing to see Lee van Cleef playing a totally different character. Either way, thoroughly enjoyed them. Excellent movies, and I can't help but feel that were X-Men movies made in the '70s, Mr. Eastwood would've been spot-on as Wolverine.

Community also made itself more beloved to me after I realized the two-part end of season 2 was named for those two above movies (A Fistful of Paintballs and For a Few Paintballs More). Of course, that also makes it that much sadder than the jerkwads at NBC have still not given us a date for the "return" of the best comedy (not) on TV. Maybe instead of relying on an archaic ratings system, they should take into account things like DVR and Hulu or nbc.com viewings. But then they'd get a more accurate rating, and wouldn't be able to use ratings as an excuse to keep intelligent programming off my television! /rant

—The big news recently? The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation pulled funding from Planned Parenthood. Why, you ask? Possibly because of political pressure. See, Planned Parenthood has been under attack by conservative politicians for at least a year now. Anyone who supports Planned Parenthood supports abortion, is the general idea behind a lot of the attacks. Which is absurd. But either way, Komen pulled funding back in December. Then people went nuts this week. And rightly so. After much rabble-rousing, Komen changed their policy on funding organizations under investigation. But their image has been hurt in a very big way. Hopefully they recover.

—So I probably should've seen Warrior in theater so it could've gotten my money. Hell of a movie that wasn't a cliché fighting/sports movie by any means. The writing was superb, and the characters were all captivating, disturbed, and sympathetic. I disliked and rooted for Brendon, Tommy, and Paddy. It was shockingly sad and hard to watch at some points. And that last fight was done with serious care. This has been added to my Amazon Wish List, believe it!

—Unfortunately, the lady and I have had to cancel our trip to Austin, TX during SXSW this March. The reasoning is simple: my older sister is getting married in August. We'll need to save up money (and vacation time) to go. Why? Because it's in Spain. But not just Spain, amigos, no no. It'll be in Mallorca. Never heard of it? Well, it's an island. In the Mediterranean. Stop and let that sink in. As neither of us have been to Europe before, we're going to take a full two weeks and see Italy, some more of Spain and maybe France, too. Frakking stoked, to say the least.

—I got myself a LinkedIn (which means you'll see a reduction in the amount of cursing I'll do here) because it struck me that I have no connections in the field(s) I want to be in. Like me and/or my writing? Be a connection! Or share a connection with me. So long as it isn't like the tendril-connection-thing from Avatar. I think that was supposed to be sex without being sex. Or did they have actual sex? I can't remember. All I know is a porn parody exists, and I want nothing to do with it.

—Bamboozle is getting headlined by Foo Fighters and blink-182 (and Bon Jovi, but I'm not into them the way I was back in 7th grade. Which is funny because I'm still into blink the way I was in 7th grade) this year. And it's in New Jersey, which means I'll be going on the Saturday. Tickets are $89, but for an all day music festival that will also be featuring Jimmy Eat World and The All-American Rejects, I'm game. It'll be fun and I think you should come and join me.

—And now, for the end! I leave you with food for thought from the always hilarious, often thought provoking, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:


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